The Search:
An Inside Job
By Jim Miles
In 1958, I began a thirteen-year program of study to become a
Jesuit priest. My experiences as a Jesuit were profoundly transforming.
But the changes were not ones I could have ever imagined. After all
of my years of devoted, disciplined study, strangely, I found myself
questioning the church’s fundamental teachings, especially regarding
an anthropomorphic concept of God. Ultimately, I suppose these
troubling questions were a part of what brought about my decision to
leave the Jesuit Order.
Years later, I was exposed to the ancient wisdom teachings, and, just
like that, my soul caught fire. I devoured books and treatises revealing
the “golden thread” running through the esoteric, mystical traditions of
all the major world religions and philosophies, affirming the inherent,
intrinsic spiritual nature of man and his unceasing quest through Selfknowledge
to reunite with the All. The ancient wisdom states: “The
All is in all things just as all things are in the All.” Decades ago, this
statement was inscribed in Latin on a plaque placed on the altar when
the priest said Mass. In effect, we are present in God just as God is
present in us.
I was incredibly energized by my “personal” discovery of the existence
of the deep interconnectedness and interrelatedness of all things in
the cosmos as, localized and individualized expressions of the Divine
Mind, the All, the Infinite Living Mind, the Spirit, or what some of us
have been taught to call God; that, at its deepest level, everything in
the universe is “Spirit”; that all forms in the material universe are but
points of consciousness or expressions of the All.
In making this discovery, I was fascinated by the descriptions of
reality as reported by mystics for thousands of years, when they were
in prolonged states of transcendent awareness (a heightened state of
mind). These accounts are virtually the same as the explanations of
reality as described by today’s quantum physicists – that there is an
undeniable dynamic interdependency and interconnectedness of all
things.
Most of us have probably observed the significant merger of science
and religion that is taking place during our lifetimes. Each discipline
represents different sides of the same coin of reality, affirming from
different perspectives the experiences of all phenomena in the world as
manifestations of a basic oneness. Scientists and enlightened religious
thinkers now see all things as interdependent and inseparable parts
of the cosmic whole. Thus, in a very real sense, we are becoming
increasingly secure in our oneness: all things, emanating from One
Spirit, with all of us, humans, animals, plants, and minerals, being
sacred, inseparable parts of the One.
The sacred rituals and healing ceremonies that I have participated
in around the world affirm our oneness and sacredness. The exquisite
choir at St Paul’s Cathedral in London touched my soul, but no more
so than the Buddhist chants at the sacred temple in Malaysia. At a
tribal ceremony, the primal drumbeats of head hunters of Papua New
Guinea stirred my soul just as deeply as the Solemn High Mass intoned
at Notre Dame in Paris. The healing energies experienced at the Shrine
of the Black Madonna in Poland were just as powerful as the sacred
healing grounds of Amazon medicine women, Andean healers, and
Mayan shamans throughout South and Central America. Haunting
tones of Native American flutes, echoing in nature’s breathtakingly
beautiful outdoor cathedral, uplift the spirit just as profoundly as the
soulful Gregorian Chants resonating through the Basilica of St. Peter’s
in Rome.
My conscious spiritual journey began almost fifty years ago at a Jesuit
Novitiate in Southwest Louisiana. The rich and varied emotional,
intellectual, and spiritual experiences I have accumulated throughout
my personal odyssey have provided a greater appreciation of the
commonality of the esoteric teachings within all spiritual traditions.
Recently, I was staying at a Jesuit Retreat House and picked up a
pamphlet on Jesuit spirituality. On the cover were three lines written,
which, to me, express the ageless wisdom of universal spirituality:
Finding God in all things
Listening with a discerning heart
Choosing to live for the greater glory of God
In truth though, we don’t need to immerse ourselves in exhaustive
studies and books or to have traveled to exotic and sacred places
around the world to access or experience the Divine. When we realize
that we are vehicles for the Divine Spirit, when we become aware of
and learn to follow that inner voice which speaks through our hearts,
then our search for God is over. A subtle shift of consciousness begins.
A holy reunion emerges. The search is ended. Though we continue to
strive toward truths unknown, God, the Sacred Self, is always just a
heartbeat away.
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