WE
ARE EXPLORING THE PRACTICE OF DEVOTION
+ This post is longer than most as we begin the
exploration of the practice of Devotion. You could bookmark this post if Devotion and
Body are spiritual explorations you want to work on.
+ Ed Bastian’s Spiritual Style #4 > “The Devotee” >
The Way of Devotion >
The Devotee is naturally
loyal and lovingly committed to a job, a relationship, a set of principles, a
way of life, a daily routine, a religious teacher, a spiritual tradition or a
life goal.
·
Are you
more prone to faith than skepticism?
·
Are you
are naturally loyal to a job, a person or a community?
·
Do you
yearn to be dedicated to a greater cause or higher principle?
·
Do you
long to be committed to a spiritual teaching, teacher or higher power?
MANY OF OUR MOST
important life-goals are virtually impossible to achieve without commitment and dedication. Whether
the goal lies in the fields of athletics, academics, the arts, society or
spirituality, we need to be devoted
to our objective, to our teacher, and even to the founder of the tradition of
our teacher. Why?
Because, in practical terms, devotion helps us to be steady, consistent and determined. Simply put,
devotion is a practical psychological tool for accomplishing any life-goal.
+ There are many ways to be devoted and I suspect that
you are devoted to a variety of people, organizations, causes. For some, devotion comes very naturally. Others have to work on it. I am sure that those
of us who are doing these spiritual explorations are devotees either naturally
or because of a desire to become devoted in some way.
Each and every one of the twelve spiritual styles Ed
Bastian describes in his InterSpirituality
Mandala Process are important. The
ones that come naturally can be over-emphasized if we don’t work on the ones
that don’t come so naturally. Each style
becomes more effective as we use other styles to support our efforts. Here is how Ed puts it: “it is important that
we recognize and utilize our dominant styles as beginning points, then include
and harmonize our other styles to fully actualize our spiritual potential.” I
intend to explore all of Ed’s styles and questions later this year in these
Spiritual Exploration posts.
For some reason Devotion is the only one of my
12 and his 12 that we have in common specifically. We really have a lot more in common but his
model comes at it from a different angle than mine. His other styles are: Arts, Body, Compassion,
Imagination, Meditation, Mysticism, Nature, Prayer, Reason, Relationships and
Wisdom. You can find out more at http://spiritualpaths.net.
The spiritual style of the Body, however, is clearly
related to this exploration since I am calling this portion of spiritual
practices the Journey of the Body. And
so, here is more from Ed:
+ Ed Bastian’s Spiritual Style #2 > “The Kinesthete”
> The Way of the Body >
The Kinesthete uses
physical movement as a primary mode of learning and experiences subtle
emotional and spiritual states of consciousness in various parts of their body.
·
Does your
need for physical activity make it difficult to sit still?
·
Do you
like to explore and express your spiritual insights through movement?
·
Do you
feel subtle emotional and spiritual states through your body?
THE KINESTHETE
takes pleasure and finds satisfaction in physical movement and ‘listening to
the body.’ But when a kinesthetic or somatic learner becomes physically
inactive, they can easily lose emotional balance and mental sharpness, and thus
also lose confidence and begin to suffer from stress. If your style is the Way
of the Body, you learn and practice spirituality physically, kinesthetically,
or somatically. You may find it difficult to sit still through long periods of
meditation, prayer, study or ritual. You may be drawn to Yoga, Tai Chi, Chi
Gong, or physical labor, walking, running, climbing, cooking, serving tea, or
even eating. You might even find that the focus of physical exercise helps you
to achieve a single-pointed, tranquil, endorphin driven bliss, or you’re your
greatest epiphanies arise when your body is engaged in just the right form of
movement.
+ Whether it comes naturally or not, taking care of our
bodies, indeed loving our bodies, is a very important spiritual
discipline. We need to devote ourselves
to affirming both our earthly body and our heavenly body.
+ Spirituality & Practice offers
many resources on the spiritual
practice of Devotion. You can
explore even more with this link to
“Devotion” on their search engine. You will find 2153 items as of 4/26/16. And, of course, there is a Twelves
Gallery of Memes on Devotion. The
Body also gets a lot of attention from S&P as you can see if you go to this link to
“Body” on their search engine. You will find 1611 items as of 4/26/16.
+ I would love it if you offered a guest post on this
practice or any practice. And, I have
work to do on my Devotion page. Maybe you can help. Send an email with the subject “Devotion” or
“Guest Post” to John@abundancetrek.com.
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