SPIRITUAL EXPLORATIONS – 360

WE ARE EXPLORING THE HEAVENLY ATTRIBUTE OF JUSTICE

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

+ Listen for the whisper of God everywhere. Work for justice. Know that your life is in communion with all life.

The spiritual revolution, finding God in the world, is an invitation to new birth, most especially for religion. There is no better place to start than in your synagogue, mosque, temple, or church.

And that new birth is happening. You can hear it as the earth groans for salvation, as poets and philosophers tell its stories, as scientists search the soil and the cosmos for life, as the oppressed, poor, and marginalized push for dignity and economic justice. It is time for the church to wake up. There is nothing worse than sleeping through a revolution.

-- Diana Butler Bass in Grounded: Finding God in the World: A Spiritual Revolution

I found this in a  Spirituality & Practice collection of quotes by Diana Butler Bass

+ A question for my fellow Christians: Can we connect the feast of Christmas or the feast of Epiphany or the feast of Easter or the feast of Pentecost with Revolutionary Fervor? It is simply essential that we do. This quest for compassion, peace, justice and sustainable abundance for all really is what our faith is all about. I like to call it The New Faith for the New Earth.  But it really is as old as the birth of life on earth. For Christians, The New Faith for the New Earth is as old as the Birth of Christ or even as old as creation itself. We call it new because we need to find new ways to get the job done.  We need to sing new songs, learn new prayers, create new ways to be effective peacemakers.  This is essential work. 

But let justice roll down like waters,

and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

-- Amos 5:24 NRSV

+ Spirituality & Practice offers plenty of plenty of resources on the practice of Justice and plenty of resources on the practice of Peace and plenty of resources on the practice of Connections. Also S&P provides a 12s Gallery of Memes on Justice, a 12s Gallery of Memes on Peace and a 12s Gallery on Connections.

+ 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 – 343

WE ARE EXPLORING THE HEAVENLY ATTRIBUTE OF TRUTH

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

+

Those who want to know the truth of the universe

should practice the four cardinal virtues.

The first is reverence for life; this manifests as

unconditional love and respect for oneself and all

other beings.

The second is natural sincerity; this manifests as

honesty, simplicity, and faithfulness.

The third is gentleness; this manifests as kindness,

consideration for others, and sensitivity to

spiritual truth.

The fourth is supportiveness; this manifests as

service to others without expectation of reward.

The four virtues are not an external dogma but

a part of your original nature.

When practiced, they give birth to wisdom and

evoke … blessings.

- Lao Tzu, Hua Hu Ching,

translated by Brian Browne Walker

This was the OneSpirit Daily Inspiration on October 2, 2016

+ Truth is Love. Truth is Wisdom. Truth is something we manifest more and more as we find within ourselves these virtues and offer them as a blessing.   

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

SPIRITUAL EXPLORATIONS – 176

WE ARE EXPLORING THE PRACTICE OF SIMPLICITY

+

When I Am Among the Trees

When I am among the trees,

especially the willows and the honey locust,

equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,

they give off such hints of gladness.

I would almost say that they save me, and daily.

I am so distant from the hope of myself,

in which I have goodness, and discernment,

and never hurry through the world

Around me the trees stir in their leaves

and call out, "Stay awhile."

The light flows from their branches.

And they call again, "It's simple," they say,

"and you too have come

into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled

with light, and to shine."

— Mary Oliver in Thirst

+ Nature is one of the twelve Spiritual Styles of Ed Bastian’s InterSpirituality Mandala, or Spiritual Paths.  Wisdom teachers often teach that getting out of the buildings of our lives and into the fields and forests and lakes and rivers and oceans is essential for our spiritual quest. Ed writes:

It is strange and tragic that so many have come to see themselves as separate from nature. And even  when they admit that they are a part of nature, many still insist that they are at the top of the evolutionary ladder, a superior species, chosen by God (or Darwin) to be in charge of all the other minerals, plants, and animals of the Earth. This bias toward human superiority can be found in many of the world’s religious, philosophical and scientific traditions. Fortunately, within these same traditions, are other voices that lead us back into sacred communion with nature—the mother of us all.  

Mary Oliver is loved for her many, many poems which connect nature to our spiritual explorations.  Mary Ann & Frederic Brussat of S&P suggest that her poetry adds something special to the practices of Wonder, Faith and Attention, three of the 37 S&P practices.

+ Simplicity is not one of the 37 Spirituality & Practice practices BUT put Simplicity in their Search Engine and you come up with 314 items including 117 quotes, 156 books, 11 practices, 9 teachers, 1 arts link, 11 e-courses, 7 films and 1 blog as of 6/4/16.  Go to http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/search/?q=Simplicity

+ I would love it if you offered a guest post on this practice or any practice.  And, I have work to do on my Simplicity Page.   Maybe you can help.  Send an email with the subject “Simplicity” 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