“Why not ten 60-foot wells?”

Challenged by what a teacher in India once said about the importance of sticking to one spiritual path to the famed scholar of comparative religion, Houston Smith: “If you are drilling for water, it’s better to drill one 60-foot well than ten 6-foot wells,” the central question of this chapter is “Why Not Ten 60-Foot Wells?” The chapter is autoethnographic and explores the important connection between spiritual practice, study, and first-hand experience in a number of the world’s sacred traditions as one approach in doing “Theology Without Walls.” Using as its guide symbols and metaphors such as “the downward spiral” and “having the scaffolding fall away,” the chapter traces some steps along the path for one theologian without walls (me) and how the “sacred,” “the Great Mystery,” or The Divine” might lead or shape (mysterious as the process is) one to doing a Theology Without Walls that is grounded in the ancient concept of the intellect being located in the heart and not the head. “Why Not Ten 60-Foot Wells?” demonstrates how digging more than one well, in terms of adhering to one spiritual tradition or not, in more than one place reveals great treasures spiritually, theologically, and intellectually.