SPIRITUAL EXPLORATIONS – 260

WE ARE EXPLORING THE PRACTICE OF HEAVENLINESS

+ This is a post on the style of The Way of Nature as we continue to explore Heavenliness through the lens of the 12 styles of the Mandala process.  There are 5 more styles to explore and then we will move on to the 9 Attributes of Heaven.

+ The grand show is eternal. It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never dried up at once; a shower is always falling; vapor ever rising. Eternal sunrise, eternal sunset, eternal dawn and gloaming, on sea and continents and islands, each in its turn, as the round earth rolls.

-- John Muir

+ All wilderness seems to be of tricks and plans to drive and draw us up into God's light.

-- John Muir in Pilgrim Heart by Sarah York

This was the Spirituality & Practice Daily Quotation for November 22 2015.

+ Here is an excerpt from the S&P review of John Muir: America’s Naturalist by Mary Ann & Frederic Brussat:

Muir was born in Scotland and raised in Wisconsin, but his soul came fully alive when he arrived in Yosemite, California. There the beauty of the meadows and the groves of ancient trees took his breath away, and he was never the same. Locker best conveys Muir's attitude of wonder in a painting of him standing on the limbs high up in a Douglas fir. What is he doing there? Trying to experience the full shock and glory of a storm.

Mary Ann & Frederic Brussat point out that Muir loved the wild in wilderness.  I think we all do whether we admit or not.  Nature’s ability to shock is associated with its glory.  We are better off when we surrender to the force of nature because the ways of nature are often (always?) better than the ways we humans think we can control it.  The more we try to control it, the greater the shock and even the destruction of much of our environment  because we really do not know better.

+ I took the photo of Yosemite Falls in June, 1976.

+ 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