SPIRITUAL EXPLORATIONS – 123

WE ARE EXPLORING THE PRACTICE OF DEVOTION

+ All forms of devotion share the flavor of dedicated service combined with love. In the material world, the paradigm of devotion is that of parents to children. We also find the devotion of a scientist to science, an athlete to a sport, an artist to an art, a healer to healing, a lover to the loved one, and sometimes a worker to a job. Because its aim is service, devotion does not primarily seek profit, though profits may come. Instead, devotion bears its own success, its own inherent payoff in terms of fulfillment, in the satisfaction of doing what one is meant to do.

You may find it illuminating to ask yourself certain questions. To what, if anything, am I devoted? To what degree? Is there anything I wish I could devote myself to? Can I take steps toward that?

These questions relate directly to spiritual growth. Being devoted to other pursuits need not interfere with our spiritual work. Indeed, an important piece of our inner work involves becoming ourselves fully and uniquely, through devotion to our chosen pursuits. Your individuation renders unto God and society what only you can offer.

The spiritual paradigm of devotion is prayer, where devotion describes the inner attitude one adopts in a sincere act of worship. Though it waxes and wanes, in praying we seek moments of utter devotion to the sacred. That is a major part of the work of prayer: to unite the whole of ourselves, body, mind, heart, attention and intention, in complete devotion to the Divine.

-- Joseph Naft

You can read Joseph Naft’s entire post on Devotion at http://www.innerfrontier.org/InnerWork/Archive/2005/20051205_Devotion.htm.  There are links in that post to some of his other wisdom.  Inner Frontier is a great source of guidance for a devotee of any spiritual path.

+ I invite you to think about your devotion, spiritual and secular, past, present and future.  Here are a few things I have come up with in no particular order:

·         Church

·         Family

·         Friends

·         Meditation & Contemplation & Prayer

·         The New Faith for the New Earth

·         Baseball: especially Red Sox & Giants

·         Travel

·         Rock’n’Roll

·         Photography

·         Coffee

·         Wine

·         Politics

·         Yoga

·         Chi Lel Qi Gong

·         Star Trek

·         Peace & Justice

·         The Environment

·         www.SpiritualityandPractice.com

·         www.SpiritualPaths.net

·         www.innerfrontier.org

·         www.abundancetrek.com

I would love to know some of your devotional interests, commitments and practices.  You are wonderful.  You are fantastic.  You are amazing.  You are fascinating.  You have so much to offer.  Together, we are creating the new faith for the new earth.  This is making our planet more wonderful, fantastic, amazing and fascinating.  The more we commit ourselves to the spiritual practice of Devotion, the more wonderful we all become.

+ 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 meme above comes from that gallery. 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.

+ You can always find a link to any of the Spiritual Explorations posts by going to http://abundancetrek.com/sepostsaccess.html