SPIRITUAL EXPLORATIONS – 266

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.

+ Be at peace among yourselves. And we urge you, beloved, to admonish the idlers, encourage the faint hearted, help the weak, be patient with all of them. See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

-- 1 Thessalonians 5:13b-18

+ Prayer is none other than an expanding of our hearts in the presence of God.

-- John Calvin

+ For me, prayer begins with simply being still and listening to the wisdom which comes in mysterious and wonderful ways.  As a Christian I am called by the apostle Paul to pray unceasingly.  This is simple but not easy! It definitely requires practice, practice, practice and, then, more practice.  Practice throughout life.  Never stop practicing.  The goal is unceasing prayer.  We are connected to our full heavenly reality as we “pray without ceasing” increasingly enjoying the amazing experience of “expanding our hearts in the presence of God.”

+ 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 – 156

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WE ARE EXPLORING THE PRACTICE OF HOLINESS

+ The Kingdom of God is as close to us as some precious keepsake we've been looking for for years which is lying just in the next room under the rug all but crying out to us to come find it. If only we had eyes to see and ears to hear and wits to understand, we would know that the Kingdom of God in the sense of holiness, goodness, beauty is as close as breathing and is crying out to be born both within ourselves and within the world.

— Frederick Buechner in The Clown in the Belfry

> http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/quotes/quotations/view/1870/spiritual-quotation

+ I think this is what I have been saying, isn’t it?  Aren’t you  glad that we are continuing to  explore Holiness utilizing the resources of the best website in the universe.  I have never read a Frederic Buechner book but I know he is a great source of wisdom for many preachers these days. 

Jesus often taught that the Kingdom of God is near.  At one point he even said that it is within us (Luke 17:21).  Mystics tell us again and again how immanent Heaven is.  Soon, when we move on to the Journey of the Soul, we will be exploring Heaven.  But, for now, this Journey of the Body practice of Holiness continues to appeal to me as worthy of further exploration.  What do you think?  

+Spirituality & Practice offers a variety of resources on Frederic Buechner. Here is a Buechner quote from his memoir Telling Secrets which is directly related to this practice because your story, my story, our story, his story, is a very holy story:

My story is important not because it is mine, God knows, but because if I tell it anything like right, the chances are you will recognize that in many ways it is also yours.

+ Holiness is not one of the 37 Spirituality & Practice practices BUT put Holiness in their Search Engine and you come up with 460 items including 227 quotes, 168 books, 28 practices, 14 teachers, 12 arts links, 7 e-courses, 3 films and 1 blog as of 5/11/16.  Go to http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/search/?q=holiness.

+ The Body gets a lot of attention from Spirituality and Practice as you can see when you go to a link to “Body” on their search engine. You will find 1611 items as of 4/26/16.

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

STILL WAITING BUT GOD IS HERE AND I AM SEEKING AWARENESS

God is with us. Right here. Right now.

Light overcomes darkness at all times, at this time, all the time.

It doesn't always seem that way. We live life sometimes as if we are separated from God and from each other. Christmas changes that. We become aware of our unity with our creator and all creation.

This awareness is a gift from God. Sometimes it comes as a result of our spiritual practice. But there is no guarantee that any particular method will bring about this awareness. So, there are times when the only thing left to do is wait for God to give us this awareness. It comes in the fulness of time and we have no control over that.

Some people believe that the fullness of time has something to do with the calendar, the clock. On such and such a day Christ will come again. We have waited a long time for that to happen. It was supposed to happen this year according to some of the faithful. I see the fullness of time in a different way. Christ comes, awareness comes, unity comes, whenever the gift of love is given and received. This happens at all times, all the time, at this time. May we experience this amazing love today, tomorrow and all days.

love, john + www.abundancetrek.com + If there is anything I have learned about men and women, it is that there is a deeper spirit of altruism than is ever evident. Just as the rivers we see are minor compared to the underground streams, so, too, the idealism that is visible is minor compared to what people carry in their hearts unreleased or scarcely released. -- Dr. Albert Schweitzer (thanks to www.peterrussell.com - a quote of the moment)