SPIRITUAL EXPLORATIONS – 276

WE ARE EXPLORING THE PRACTICE OF HEAVENLINESS

+ This is the final 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.

+ Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

-- Howard Thurman

+ … prayer is an attitude, an attitude of lifting up heart and mind to God. So … ask, “What lifts up your heart and mind? …”’

 … Whatever lifts up your heart, focus on that.

-- Brother David Steindl-Rast in How Do You Pray? by Celeste Yacoboni

+ There is a constant presence of grace in everything everywhere all the time.  This precious and abundant grace lifts us up as long as we are attuned to it.  Prayer is the means for this necessary attunement.  Grace is the source. 

So, constant prayer makes it possible for us to be lifted up constantly.  Prayer is never a burden.  It is always a blessing.  It may feel like a burden sometimes because of our limited awareness of reality.  We don’t realize we are always in heaven.  Ultimately, prayer opens us up completely to this awareness.  This is bliss.  Something wonderful is happening.  Always.

 

+ 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