SPIRITUAL EXPLORATIONS – 287

WE ARE EXPLORING THE PRACTICE OF HEAVENLINESS

+ This is a post on the style of The Way of Relationships as we continue to explore Heavenliness through the lens of the 12 styles of the Mandala process created by Edward Bastian.  There is 1 more Mandala style to explore after this one: Wisdom. After that, we move on to the 9 Attributes of Heaven.

+ When you think of the people who have inspired you, changed your thinking, altered the course of your life, are they not the ones who spoke and lived from the heart? Are they not the ones who stand before you with the courage to be simply who they are, to share their visions, their struggles, their fears? This is the stuff of spiritual authority - this transparency, this risking, this willingness to say, “It's a new frontier here, and not one of us has a map, but with what we know together, we can surely make it.”

-- Jan Phillips in Finding Ourselves on Sacred Ground

+ I think it is helpful to see our relationships as mysteries.  I am a mystery to you and you are a mystery to me.  None of us know all we need to know about another person or even ourselves for that matter.  So, relationships can get better and better as we seek to find new ground.  The familiar is good and even necessary.  But we gain so much more when we are open to the new.  This definitely takes courage and risk but it’s worth it.  This amazing journey we are on is always full of surprises, wonder, infinite possibilities.  Let us enjoy the familiar and the unfamiliar as keep walking in faith.

+ 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

+ Spirituality & Practice offers abundant resources on the practices of Love & Compassion: The Practice of Love | The 12s Gallery on Love | The Practice of Compassion | The 12s Gallery on Compassion

+ 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

SPIRITUAL EXPLORATIONS – 273

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.

+ THE SERENITY PRAYER > The Serenity Prayer was originally written by pastor and theologian Reinhold Niebuhr in the 1940's as part of a sermon. Though the full prayer is longer, the Serenity Prayer is best known for the first three lines: "God grant me serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference." The full length of the prayer is not as well known, but is worth sharing:

God, give me grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, Courage to change the things which should be changed, and the Wisdom to distinguish the one from the other. Living one day at a time, Enjoying one moment at a time, Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace, Taking, as Jesus did, This sinful world as it is, Not as I would have it, Trusting that You will make all things right, If I surrender to Your will, So that I may be reasonably happy in this life, And supremely happy with You forever in the next. Amen.

+ This is one of the best known prayers on the globe because of its association with Alcoholics Anonymous.  Niebuhr did not get a copyright for it so it has been frequently adopted and adapted.  And why not?  It really does get to the heart of our need for prayer, doesn’t it? 

Since it is such a favorite of AA and other twelve-step programs, here are the 12 steps:

1.   We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.

2.   Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3.   Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

4.   Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

5.   Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

6.   Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

7.   Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

8.   Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

9.   Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10. Continued to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.

11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs,

Addiction comes in many forms. I believe we are all affected by a variety of addictions. I believe unceasing prayer is the only permanent remedy.  What are your addictions?  It is good to take the time and effort to know what addictions you have and to work the steps.  Simply substitute “addiction” or “sin” for “alcohol” and “addicts” or “sinners” for “alcoholics.” 

+ 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

SPIRITUAL EXPLORATIONS – 270

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.

+ Spirituality without a prayer life is no spirituality at all, and it will not last beyond the first defeats. Prayer is an opening of the self so that the Word of God can break in and make us new. Prayer unmasks. Prayer converts. Prayer impels. Prayer sustains us on the way. Pray for the grace it will take to continue what you would like to quit.

-- Joan D. Chittister in In a High Spiritual Season

https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/47093.Joan_D_Chittister

+ Yes, there are always things we need to quit doing or thinking, aren’t there?  We need to regularly ask ourselves: What is it that we need to quit doing or thinking so that “the Word of God can break in and make us new”?  There are always changes we need to make in our lives in order to become more holy, more effective. Prayer gives us the power, the courage, the wisdom, the hope get on with it.

Exploring the way of prayer could keep us going for a while, couldn’t it?  As I have said, I believe it is the spiritual category which is inclusive of all spiritual categories.  It looks like Sister Joan Chittister agrees with me.  She isn’t the only one. There are some great teachers of prayer including many we have met already on this amazing journey.  Let us seek more wisdom and guidance before we leave this essential style. 

+ Sister Joan Chittister is one of the Spirituality & Practice featured living spiritual teachers.  She is indeed  one of the great teachers of prayer in our midst. She has written a lot and it is all worth reading.

+ 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

SPIRITUAL EXPLORATIONS – 238

WE ARE EXPLORING THE PRACTICE OF HEAVENLINESS

+ Continuing with the 12 styles of the Mandala process, we are exploring the style of Imagination.

+ To bring anything new into existence, to be a creator of circumstances, we have to imagine the new, then speak the new, then usher it into reality with the fierce force of our belief in it.

-- Jan Phillips in No Ordinary Time

+ Imagination is more important than knowledge.

-- Albert Einstein

+ Imagination needs to be linked to courage if we are to create heaven on earth which is God’s will for us.  As we continue to explore the 12 Mandala styles Ed Bastian offers, we need to see how this important style can be strengthened by our efforts in other styles such as wisdom, prayer, devotion, reason and relationships.  Courage is built through our regular intentionality and practice.  Our imagination grows as we harness several styles and become more and more integrated.

  + 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

+ Spirituality & Practice emphasizes the practices of Beauty, Creativity, Imagination & Wonder: The Practice of Beauty | The 12s Gallery on Beauty | The 12s Gallery on Creativity | The Practice of Imagination | The 12s Gallery on Imagination |  The Practice of Wonder | The 12s Gallery on Wonder

+ 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 “Imagination” 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