SPIRITUAL EXPLORATIONS – 268

WE ARE EXPLORING THE PRACTICE OF HEAVENLINESS

  

+ This is a post on the style of The Way of Prayer as we continue to explore Heavenliness through the lens of the 12 styles of the Mandala process created by Edward Bastian.  There are 3 more Mandala styles to explore after this: Reason, Relationships and Wisdom. After that, we move on to the 9 Attributes of Heaven.

+ Prayer is the flower of gentleness and of freedom from anger.

Prayer is the fruit of joy and thankfulness.

Prayer is the remedy for gloom and despondency.

Do not pray that your own will may be done, for your will may not accord with the will of God. But pray as you have been taught, saying: Thy will be done in me. Pray to him in this way about everything – that his will be done. For he desires what is good and profitable for your soul, whereas you do not always ask for this. Often in my prayers I have asked for what I thought was good, and persisted in my petition, stupidly trying to force the will of God, instead of leaving it to him to arrange things as he knows best. But afterwards, on obtaining what I asked for, I was very sorry that I did not pray rather for God’s will to be done; because the thing turned out to be different from what I expected.

What is good, except God? Then let us leave all our concerns to him, and all will be well. If you long for prayer, renounce all to gain all. At the time of trials and temptations, use a brief but intense prayer. When you are in the inner temple, pray not as the Pharisee, but as the publican. Strive never to pray against anyone. If when you are praying no other joy can attract you, then truly you have found prayer.

-- Evagrius of Pontus – d. 399AD shared in The Time of the Spirit: Readings Through the Christian Year, p 102)

+ Evagrius offers plenty of powerful guidance here, doesn’t he?  We know that we need to pray for God’s will to be done rather than our own.  We know that but we put our own will ahead of God’s from time to time, don’t we?  It takes plenty of practice to stop doing this so keep practicing, keep learning, keep growing, keep changing.  Sooner or later you will know that you are praying unceasingly.

+ The photo of a flower of gentleness is found at https://frted.wordpress.com/2014/06/01/prayer-the-flower-of-gentleness/

+ The 12 styles of Mandala: Creating An Authentic Spiritual Path: An InterSpiritual Process by Edward Bastian are listed in SE206.

+ The 7 steps of InterSpiritual Meditation by Edward Bastian are listed in SE21 and SE213. They are described fully in his book, InterSpiritual Meditation. 

+ 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