WE ARE EXPLORING THE PRACTICE OF HEAVENLINESS
+ This is a post on the style of The Way of Nature as we
continue to explore Heavenliness through the lens of the 12 styles of the Mandala process. There are 5 more styles to
explore and then we will move on to the 9 Attributes of Heaven.
+ There is One Holy
Book, the sacred manuscript of nature, the only scripture which can enlighten
the reader.
Most people
consider as sacred scriptures only certain books or scrolls written by the hand
of man, and carefully preserved as holy, to be handed down to posterity as
divine revelation. Men have fought and disputed over the authenticity of these
books, have refused to accept any other book of similar character, and,
clinging thus to the book and losing the sense of it, have formed diverse sects.
The Sufi has in all ages respected all such books, and has traced in the
Vedanta, Zend-Avesta, Kabbala, Bible, Quran, and all other sacred scriptures,
the same truth which he reads in the incorruptible manuscript of nature, the
only Holy Book, the perfect and living model that teaches the inner law of
life: all scriptures before nature's manuscript are as little pools of water
before the ocean.
To the eye of the
seer every leaf of the tree is a page of the holy book that contains divine
revelation, and he is inspired every moment of his life by constantly reading
and understanding the holy script of nature.
When man writes, he
inscribes characters upon rock, leaf, paper, wood, or steel. When God writes,
the characters He writes are living creatures.
It is when the eye
of the soul is opened and the sight is keen that the Sufi can read the divine
law in the manuscript of nature; and that which the teachers of humanity have
taught to their followers was derived by them from the same source. They
expressed what little it is possible to express in words, and so they preserved
the inner truth when they themselves were no longer there to reveal it.
This
is one of the Ten Sufi
Thoughts of Hazrat
Inayat Khan which are fully developed in a web page on The Way of
Illumination. So much of this
great teacher’s writings can be found at Wahiduddin’s Web including a daily Bowl of Saki.
+ The Sufis have a long history of representing the
mystical dimension of the Islamic wisdom tradition. I think it is fair to say that they pioneered
InterSpirituality long before the term was invented by Wayne
Teasdale. I love the idea that we
all share sacred scripture because we all have this amazing Book of Nature
which ultimately reveals all truth
to us.
+ The 12 styles of Mandala: Creating An Authentic Spiritual
Path: An InterSpiritual Process by Edward Bastian are listed in SE206.
+ To get inspired and illuminated by Ed Bastian, I invite you to set aside some time for these videos: Seven Steps of InterSpiritual Meditation (11 minutes) | 15 minute introduction to InterSpiritual Meditation and the Mandala Process | 2 hour lecture & conversation
+ I would love it if you offered a guest post on this practice or any practice. And, I have work to do on my Heavenliness page. Maybe you can help. Send an email with the subject “Heavenliness” or “Love” 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
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