SPIRITUAL EXPLORATIONS – 351

WE ARE EXPLORING THE HEAVENLY ATTRIBUTE OF PEACE

+ We are called to create and enjoy a realm of compassion, peace, justice and sustainable abundance for all.

+

The fruit of the Spirit is love,

joy, peace, patience,

kindness, generosity,

faithfulness, gentleness,

self-control.

Against such there

is no law.

-- Galatians 5: 22-23

+ Peace, in its most fundamental form, is the connection of one human spirit to another.

-- Desmond Tutu

This was the Gratefulness Word for the Day on May 25, 2016

+ This connection is available to us unconditionally.  There are no limits.  “Against such there is no law.”  The gift of freedom (coming soon as the last of the 9 Attributes of Heaven) is what makes it possible for us to create connections galore.  Peace expands as we realize the abundance of these connections and enjoy them.

Maybe you have heard this before:

We are

intimately,

intricately,

infinitely

connected

by a matrix of

unconditional,

unlimited,

uniting

LOVE

which is

miraculous,

mysterious and

marvelous.

+ Desmond Tutu is one of the great spiritual teachers of our times and he has guided us in these explorations before: SE244 | SE 314 | SE332

+ Spirituality & Practice offers plenty of resources on the practice of Peace and plenty of resources on the practice of Justice. Also S&P provides a 12s Gallery of Memes on Peace and a 12s Gallery of Memes on Justice.  Also, there is plenty of resources on the practice of Connections and a 12s Gallery on Connections.
The meme for this post comes from the Connections gallery.

+ I would love it if you offered a guest post.  And, I have work to do on the Abundancetrek Peace page. Maybe you can help.  Send an email with the subject “Peace” or “Heavenly Attributes” 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 – 332

WE ARE EXPLORING THE HEAVENLY ATTRIBUTE OF LOVE

+ We are called to create and enjoy a realm of compassion, peace, justice and sustainable abundance for all.

+ An anthropologist proposed a game to the kids in an African tribe. He put a basket full of fruit near a tree and told them that whoever got there first would win the sweet fruits. When he gave them the signal to run, they all took each other’s hands and ran together, then sat in a circle enjoying their treats. When the anthropologist asked them why they chose to run as a group when they could have had more fruit individually, one child spoke up and said: UBUNTU, how can one of us be happy if all the other ones are sad?’ UBUNTU in Xhosa culture means: “I am because we are.”

-- Source Unknown

This was the OneSpirit Daily Inspiration on April 2, 2016

+ ArchBishop Desmond Tutu highlights this African orientation to community, Ubuntu, in his wonderful book God Has a Dream. He says: "Members of a family have a gentle caring and compassion for one another. How I pray that we will open our eyes and see the real, true identity of each one of us, that this one is not a white or black, Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, or Jew, but a brother, a sister, and treat each other as such. If we could but recognize our common humanity, that we do belong together, that our destinies are bound up in one another's, that we can be free only together, that we can survive only together, that we can be human only together, then a glorious world would come into being where all of us lived harmoniously together as members of one family, the human family, God's family. In truth a transfiguration would take place. God's dream would become a reality.”

The main idea of Ubuntu is that cooperation rather than competition is what makes us human. “I am because we are.” What truly makes us human is what truly makes us heavenly. This is who we really are.  The layers of prejudice, envy, fear, suspicion, greed and selfishness are not who we really are.  We can let go of all that.  We really can.  Be still and simply be who you really are, a heavenly being here on earth receiving and giving Love abundantly. This is bliss. Now. Here.

+ We explored the practice of Love & Compassion during our exploration of Heavenliness as a practice in these SE posts: 241 | 242 | 243 | 244 | 245 | 246 | 247 | 248 | 249 |250 | 251 | 252 | 253

+ Spirituality & Practice offers plenty of resources on the practice of Love, on the practice of Compassion and on the practice of hospitality and other related practices.  You can also be illuminated and inspired by their many 12s galleries of memes including the 12s Gallery on Love, the 12s Gallery on Compassion, the12s Gallery on Hospitality and the 12s Gallery on Empathy. The meme for this post comes from the Empathy Gallery.

+ I would love it if you offered a guest post.  And, I have work to do on the Abundancetrek Love page. Maybe you can help.  Send an email with the subject “Love” or “Heavenly Attributes” 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 – 244

WE ARE EXPLORING THE PRACTICE OF HEAVENLINESS

+ Continuing with the 12 styles of the Mandala process, we are exploring the style of Love and Compassion.

+ Compassion is the keen awareness of the interdependence of all things.

-- Thomas Merton quoted by Wayne Teasdale in The Mystic Hours.

+ God's dream is that you and I and all of us will realize that we are family, that we are made for togetherness, for goodness, and for compassion.

-- Desmond Tutu

+ This quote by ArchBishop Tutu could have been used when we explored Imagination.  Love expands as we imagine and then create a realm of compassion, peace, justice and sustainable abundance for all.  It is so important to emphasize that this realm is “for all” and not for some.  There are no boundaries in heaven. When we are engaged in creating and enjoying this realm, we are awake, aware and connected to the heavenly energy which is totally available right now, right here.  This is our prayer.  This is our mission.  This is reality. This is happening.  This is bliss.  Enjoy.

+ 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

GOD HAS A DREAM -- 1

+ updated at 4:00pm EST, Wednesday, February 10, 2010

+ This is the first in a series of posts on a marvelous book, God Has A Dream by ArchBishop Desmond Tutu.

+ There is a website devoted to the book and its ideas and calls to action.

+ Spirituality and Practice offers a review by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat. Here's an excerpt: "Addressing the fear, anger, insecurity, and vulnerability that many people around the world are feeling, the author proclaims that God is present in our lives and does not ignore us when we are experiencing helplessness or hopelessness. What is the source of this assurance? Tutu responds: 'Many of us can acknowledge that God cares about the world but can't imagine that God would care about you or me individually. But our God marvelously, miraculously cares about each and every one of us. The Bible has this incredible image of you, of me, of all of us, each one, held as something precious, fragile in the palms of God's hands. And that you and I exist only because God is forever blowing God's breath into our being.'"

+ Spirituality and Practice offers an excerpt on Unity from the book. Here's an excerpt from the excerpt: "The wonderful thing about family is that you are not expected to agree about everything under the sun. Show me a man and wife who have never disagreed and I will show you some accomplished fibbers. But those disagreements, pray God, do not usually destroy the unity of the family. And so it should be with God's family. We are not expected at all times to be unanimous or to have a consensus on every conceivable subject. What is needed is to respect one another's points of view and not to impute unworthy motives to one another or to seek to impugn the integrity of the other. Our maturity will be judged by how well we are able to agree to disagree and yet continue to love one another, to care for one another and cherish one another and seek the greater good of the other."

+ As is their practice, the Spirituality and Practice team offers connections to a variety of spiritual practices. For this book they have chosen the practices of Hope, Justice, Kindness, Love, Unity, Vision. I would add at least 2 more: Silence and Transformation. I highly recommend all of their 37 practices which you can see on the S&P homepage and on their Spiritual Practices page.  Spirituality and Practice now has over 19,000 pages of inspiration, wisdom, illumination, guidance, quotes, practices and more.  It is awesome!

+ Three Utica Presbyterian churches (First, Moriah-Olivet, Westminster) are studying this book beginning this Sunday evening at 6pm in two homes. The Gospel lesson for this Sunday, the last Sunday before Lent, is The Transfiguration of Jesus.  The theme of Transfiguration is found throughout God Has A Dream. 

+ 4:00pm addition: The Seattle Public Schools developed "Time, Continuity, Change, Peace and Reconciliation" focusing on many of the ideas ArchBishop Tutu puts forward in God Has A Dream.

+ Click here to see all of my posts on God Has A Dream.