Questions to Begin or Expand Your Spiritual Journey

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By Arlene F. Harder, MA, MFT and Chris Burdett-Parr

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There is a door that opens onto a path of rich spiritual adventure. In order to open it, all you need is a key, a very special key, one that only you can forge.

And how do you form such a key? You simply create it by answering questions wise men and women have asked, and answered, for thousands of years, such as "What is the meaning of life?", "Am I on the path that is right for me?", and "What is spirit?"

As you can see, the questions aren't easy, but those who have accepted the challenge to explore them have discovered the process can open a whole new world.

Therefore, we've selected a number of questions to get you started on your spiritual journey or to expand a journey you have already begun. We present our questions, which we realize are only a few of those you may want to explore, in two groups. The first group with three sets of five questions each, A, B and C, is designed to lay the groundwork for discovering a spiritual path. The second group, D, E, F and G, also with five questions each, focuses on how you can live a spirtual life in a world that can easily distract any of us from living according to our highest ideals.

You will notice we've paired the questions with pictures you might use for contemplating the answers. The reason we've done this is partly because we know how easy it is to read a list of interesting, provocative questions and tell yourself you ought to consider them. But if you're like most of us, the busy-ness of daily life will intrude and the questions will be forgotten..

However, we hope the pictures will draw you in and, by clicking from one page to another, you might actually take time today and consider the questions seriously. In fact, if you come to a particular picture and question you like, you can print it out and tack it on your bulletin board to remind you of your quest for the key. (For a further discussion of the value of using scenes of nature to ponder questions in your heart, see The Nature Connection.)

A few words of advice before you begin.

If you tackle these questions, you will find the answers that resonate with your soul, although the answers may not come as quickly as you would like.

There are those who believe they have the best answers to these questions and it is true that some of your answers might agree with theirs. Certainly the path you walk will sometimes come very close to that of another and you may walk together for a while. But the journey of life itself, as well as the spiritual journey some of us choose to take, is, in many respects, a solitary one. Yet the journey is not lonely. There are always others you will meet along the way who can share what they have learned; and you can share what you've learned with others.

You may know the key fits the door and sense you're already on a spiritual path after you've answered only one or two questions. Other times there may be several you will need to ponder before you realize you can open the door and be on your way.

Note One: There is no particular order for which group you start with, so select any one. Notice there are two sizes of pictures, which are designed for slower and faster connections. Choose the one that should work best for you.

Note Two: When you click on one of the links below, a new, smaller window will open. You can close it at any time just as you do with any browser window and that will bring you back to this page.

Note Three: If you want to only see the questions, you can click here for the text-only version, though that will not give you the advantage of slowing down and looking at each one by itself. So if you do choose the text version, we recommend you go through the list v-e-r-y slowly. (And of course we recognize that our blind readers would appreciate a different version.)

Note Four: All of the pictures are royalty-free except those by Art Fabian. (See Photos by Art Fabian Appearing on Learning Place Online and check out Photos by Fabian to find out how you can buy his cards with actual photos, not prints)

Questions related to deepening spirituality

For slower connections: A, B, C

For faster connections: A, B, C

Questions related to living a spiritual life

For slower connections: D, E, F, G

For faster connections: D, E, F, G

We would like to receive your comments on these questions and additional questions you could suggest.