Cosmic Heart, part four

Seeking spirituality and the danger of believing

Cosmic Heart is a spiritual memoir. You can learn more and read the previous chapters here.

When Barack Obama was elected in 2008, my local Unitarian Universalist church offered a service in celebration of this country electing its first Black president. This seemed like a good time for me to visit, something I’d thought about doing for a while. I’d been to the church - a midcentury building nestled in a beautiful natural setting, when I was in college to hear a band - but I’d never been to a service, and I was curious.

So I went. The minister invited newcomers to stand and introduce themselves. I did not do this, but a woman seated behind me stood and said, “I have always been a spiritual seeker,” and her words stuck with me.

Long after my visit to the church, I thought about what she had said. I have always been a spiritual seeker. Was I also a spiritual seeker? I felt like I was, but if I was, what was seeking exactly? What was I hoping to find and why? How would I know if I found it?