But then, I was gathered up with other like me and shaped into a fireplace and chimney, a great thing of much usefulness. And what had been the transformation; the mortar. The mortar--the bland, grayish, pebbly "stuff" that held the stones together was the essence of spirituality. The spiritual is not some separate category, a specific type of stone or a particular stone of great beauty, but the substance that holds everything together. The mortar makes the chimney a chimney, allowing it to stand up straight and tall, beautiful in its wholeness.

 

The "spiritual" is what makes us wholly human. It holds us together. shapes them into a whole, gives them meaning, allows them to be whole. Without the spiritual, however physically brave or healthy or strong we may find ourselves, however emotionally integrated or mature we may be, we are somehow "not all there."

 

If my life, and my relationships with others, are like a great big pile of stones, if I'm going to make something of my life and my relationships, I need some mortar, a substance to hold it all together. Something to help us stick with each other. That's the kind of spirituality I need every day.