Oppression, dehumanization, genocide, and persecution have brought humanity to its lowest forms. Imagine being so stripped of hope that you would dig a hole in the earth and wait there to die. Such despair was absolute for many in history’s darkest hours.

Evagrius of Pontus, one of the Desert Fathers and Mothers, wrote the first known commentary on the eight major types of sins he referred to as “evil thoughts” (logismoia) in the 300s AD. But there was a ninth sin he wrote about, which is the parent of all the others— and it is love of self (philautia.) These nine thoughts were eventually reduced in number by Pope Gregory to be known as “the Seven Deadly Sins.”

Although the soul is never truly untethered from the Divine, it can feel disconnected from God, lost in darkness, wounded, and without the fire of love.

If we are not well physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually, the quality of our lives diminishes. Illness, injury, and hardship may come to everyone, but when they arise from self-neglect, we must bear the major responsibility. Caring for our bodies, minds, hearts, and souls is not self-indulgence or drudgery. It is sacred stewardship.

Perhaps you’ve noticed that it's been a month or so since you last meditated. Maybe that spiritual book someone lent you stays unopened on your bedside table. Days seem to slip by without the practices that you hold sacred. Even though we can forget our spiritual practice from time to time, if we are devoted to spiritual growth, our hearts return us to both the study and the living application of this sacred work, time and time again.

Many years ago, at the institution where I worked, a lady caused trouble in the office. She divided people into factions and brewed conflict. Her final blow was to lead a rebellion against the administration with those who followed her. As part of the administration, I met with her to fix the situation. After being confronted, she promised me that she would be a team member going forward. My blind spot was that I chose not to see the truth: she would always feed on conflict. And I denied the truth about myself, that I wanted to be seen as benevolent. She continued her same behavior and then eventually had to be let go after causing significant damage. 

What if the truest version of you isn’t the one you’ve been refining for decades, but the one you left behind in childhood? One of the most vital aims of the spiritually conscious life is the aim to realize essence.

This morning, I saw someone I hadn’t encountered in a long time. When I interacted with them on community projects, they were vibrant, kind, talented, enthusiastic, and deeply engaged in community life. But today, as I walked through the lobby of an office building, I saw that person in a wheelchair, frail and tired, and attended by a caregiver. Their face was lined, their body weakened, and an unmistakable sadness surrounded them. They had not yet seen me approaching.

Our aims are the intentions to stay spiritually awake throughout the day. They remind us to return, again and again, to the clarity of consciousness rather than drifting into automatic reactions. One vital aim is transformative but straightforward: stay with the experience.

From our first days of life, curiosity helps us survive. As infants, we instinctively search for nourishment. As adults, our curiosity matures into the wish to know and to understand what would otherwise remain hidden.

One of the most vital spiritual aims for the new year is telling the Truth—the commitment to seeking the truth, accepting it, and telling it.

At first glance, this may seem simple. But look closely: hundreds of times each day we encounter half-truths, distortions, exaggerations, and convenient omissions. And if we are honest, we sometimes feel tempted to offer our own versions of the truth when it suits us. Why doesn’t this work?

The first sound you ever made wasn’t a cry, but a heartbeat, and it’s been telling the same story ever since. Each of us received the life force at our making and that same life force formed our bodies. Our hearts are the first organ to develop and they pump continuously until we make the transition to another form. Our human hearts reflect the heart of God. And our hearts reveal the emotions of God. As above, so below.

The grandmother, who as a schoolteacher, once nurtured children every day, can justify separating babies from their mothers, and this should terrify us all. How does a human heart travel from tenderness to atrocity? The distance is shorter than we think.

Happy New Year to you. I pray that this is the brightest year of your life! 

Firecrackers, fireworks, celebration, champagne toasts, or perhaps a quiet evening with family around the fire, looking back on the year and imagining the one to come. Whatever the setting, at this special time of saying good-bye to part of our lives, we long for life’s energy to shine as brightly as the fireworks themselves. And if we’re not celebrating, we still crave that burst of life because it is an antidote for the death of an entire year. We need something to compensate for all our losses and to distract us from the irreversible ending that will occur tonight, and all losses of the year that will take its last breath tonight. We need something to give us hope… hope that life will go on, that our life will go on. This night can be a lonely night, even if we are with people, so, some of us may find the unbridled life force by watching the teeming crowds in Times Square. 

The heart doesn’t ask permission before it fills with rage, grief, or joy. But we can choose what happens next. The heart holds our joy and our grief, our merriment, and our anger. Such strong emotions are real and valid. Frequently we cannot choose our emotional state because of the circumstances around us. For example, in wonderful events such as the birth of a child or grandchild, our joy is uncontainable. Likewise, when someone steals from us, we are naturally incensed and angry. Joy and merriment are welcomed emotions, but anger and grief are not usually so welcome.

What if everything your heart clings to could be taken away tomorrow, except for one thing? While that isn’t true, it could be. But there is more to the story…

The heart not only holds our surface feelings, but our most compelling emotions: the passions. Many of our passions are positive, such as the passion for health, for giving, for loving the needy, for leading, etc. But we also hold negative passions such as rage, envy, fear, and vengeance in our hearts. The heart can easily overflow with love which pours into every cell of our being. Yet negative passions held in our heart cannot remain there without infecting our entire being.