Company on the Path to Inner Truth

Black and white photo of two children walking away from the viewer on a straight dirt path, with brush and trees on either side. The taller child's arm is around the smaller child's shoulder. The smaller child is wearing a knit sweater and a striped knit hat with a pompom.

We all need other people to invite, amplify, and help us discern our inner teacher’s voice for at least three reasons:

  • The journey toward inner truth is too taxing to be made solo: lacking support, the solitary traveler soon becomes weary or fearful and is likely to quit the road.
  • The path is too deeply hidden to be traveled without company: finding our way involves clues that are subtle and sometimes misleading, requiring the kind of discernment that can happen only in dialogue.
  • The destination is too daunting to be achieved alone: we need community to find the courage to venture into the alien lands to which the inner teacher may call us.

excerpt from A Hidden Wholeness, pp. 25–26