SPIRITUAL EXPLORATIONS – 272

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.

+ ...if we can't find enlightenment, freedom, autonomy, divinity, and bliss amid every nitty-gritty detail of life, then all the rituals, sacraments, prayers, chants, yoga asanas, gurus, and pilgrimages in the world are useless.

-- Lama Surya Das in Make Me One with Everything

+ So, then, “every nitty-gritty detail of life” is a fantastic opportunity to “find enlightenment, freedom, autonomy, divinity and bliss.” Isn’t that amazing? Isn’t that wonderful?

This is what unceasing prayer is all about.  In addition to the learning opportunity of every moment, we can learn so much from other wisdom traditions as well as our own.  There is so much variety in humanity allowing everyone to find their own way to bliss. Bliss and unceasing prayer go together.  Which wisdom tradition offers you what you need to find this bliss?  It may be that you find it all in one wisdom tradition or it may be that you find what you need as you seek wisdom in different traditions.  There is nothing wrong with that.  Indeed, it may be the only way for some of us.

I have two shelves of favorite books.  One shelf is dedicated to my first and most important wisdom tradition (for me): Christianity.  The other shelf is dedicated to other wisdom traditions and modern sources of wisdom.  This works for me.  I want this variety and I need this variety.  But not everyone does.  I suspect that anyone who doesn’t have this want and need has left this exploration a long time ago!

Those of us exploring wisdom from all over have a lot to offer humanity because humanity needs to come together and find unity in diversity.  Unceasing prayer in whatever form it takes is a necessity for the common good of all creatures.  This is bliss.     

+ Lama Surya Das is not new to these pages.  We encountered his inspiration and illumination when we did the silence exploring (SE69) and when we did the solitude exploring (SE108) and when we did the simplicity exploring (SE173) and here in the heavenliness explorations (SE250).  He is one of the Spirituality & Practice featured Living Spiritual Teachers.

+ 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 – 207

WE ARE EXPLORING THE PRACTICE OF HEAVENLINESS

+ Humanity stands at a crossroads between horror and hope. In choosing hope, we must seed a new consciousness, a radically fresh approach to life drawing its inspiration from perennial spiritual and moral insights, intuition and experience. We call this new awareness interspiritual, implying not the homogenization of religion, but the recovering of the shared mystic heart beating in the center of the world’s deepest spiritual traditions.

-- Wayne Teasdale in The Mystic Heart

+ I am not going to say that the way of the mystic is more important than any other way but I am sure you could make that case since there is that “shared mystic heart beating in the center of the world’s deepest spiritual traditions.”  I can’t imagine that Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and so many other great wisdom traditions could ever have been started or continue to empower without  this “mystic heart.”  So, whether or not you and I have mystical experiences, we do need to embrace what the mystics teach us.  This is truly an essential dimension of the practice of Heavenliness. 

+ I invite you to check out the Amazon author page for Wayne Teasdale.  His books are well written, comprehensive, inspiring, illuminating and timely. 

+ 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 “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 – 201

WE ARE EXPLORING THE PRACTICE OF HEAVENLINESS

+ Stillness is the greatest revelation

-- Taoist proverb

+ Silence, the quiet calm at the heart of nature, carries, or even hides, the presence of the Divine. Cloaked in the stillness, the Way, the Divine one dwells, always available to us through our surrender. All we need do is dispose ourselves to listening intently. This intent listening is the essence of meditation. If we lean our ear toward the stillness, the outer quiet, it will lead us into a realization of the Presence around us, within us and beyond us. Outer or surrounding stillness will deliver us to the inward stillness, the ultimate presence in which we really reside.  Eventually, as our listening and practice mature, outer and inner finally collapse into each other, and we find ourselves in the One.

-- Wayne Teasdale in The Mystic Hours, reflection #5

+ The Journey of the Soul concludes with the essential practice of Heavenliness. Is Heavenliness really a practice? I think so. But it is ultimately a gift which we receive through surrender.  In other words, we can practice heavenly patterns of behavior but we really aren’t aware of ourselves as thoroughly heavenly until God totally takes over.  We are always heavenly beings but we all too often think, feel, say and do things which do not reflect this heavenly state.  Let us try to remember as often as we possibly can that heaven is “the ultimate presence in which we really reside.”       

You probably know by now that I believe the practice of stillness is essential.  How are you doing? As you practice Stillness, are you becoming more and more aware of “the greatest revelation,” of the “presence of the Divine?” You can always begin again if and when when you realize you need to go back to the basics.  There are 40 SE posts on the practice of stillness beginning with SE1.

Wayne Teasdale is probably responsible more than anyone for creating the new and I believe essential movement of InterSpirituality.  I have found his books particularly inspiring and illuminating.  They are well worth the read.  I invite you to visit the Wayne Teasdale Amazon author page.  

I also cherish the website and the books of my InterSpirituality mentor, Edward Bastian. He is pioneering a method of InterSpirituality which includes lots of wisdom from many different traditions and several great practices.  Several colleagues including me are working closely with him. 

+ 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 Heavenlinesspage.  Maybe you can help.  Send an email with the subject “Heavenliness” 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 -- 61

WE ARE EXPLORING THE PRACTICE OF HUMILITY

+ Masters of the Japanese tea ceremony use the term kokoro ire, or "inclusion of the heart's spirit." The best tea ceremonies have nothing to do with fancy surroundings or making a good impression; the determinant of success is the sincere and humble heart of the host.

-- Philip Toshio Sudo in Zen 24/7

+ In their book review of 24/7, Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat say the author is “A master teacher of the way of enlightenment (who) makes everyday spirituality come alive.”  Here is an excerpt from the review:

With an ease that comes from spiritual maturity, Sudo delivers one marvel after another in this astute reading of zen truths residing in work, exercise, eating, laughter, and sleep.

Or as the author puts it — "Zen teaches that our approach to today determines our whole approach to life. The Japanese call this attitude Ichi-nichi issho: 'Each day is a lifetime.'

+ So, then, this state of humility we are working on could be considered everyday hospitality.  It is an attitude to be practiced 24/7.

+ Spirituality and Practice offers a wonderful 12s gallery of images and quotes on Humility
> http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/galleries/category/12s/2#/37/12-humility

+ You can always find a link to any of the Spiritual Explorations posts by going to http://abundancetrek.com/sepostsaccess.html

SPIRITUAL EXPLORATIONS -- 32

WE ARE EXPLORING THE PRACTICE OF STILLNESS

Step 5 of InterSpiritual Meditation: "May I Be Focused and Mindful Through Breathing”

Calm, steady, and focused breathing are at the heart of many secular and spiritual techniques of meditation. When we breathe properly, we become less stressed and distracted; we are able to think more clearly, and to focus on the task at hand. Our blood-pressure drops, and our anxiety disappears. Many spiritual traditions teach deep and profound methods of breathing that balance our energies and center our consciousness deep within our being, where we are able to concentrate on our spiritual practice. In this step, we allow our consciousness to recede from our eyes, ears, nose, tongue, touch, thoughts, and emotions. As we breathe gently, our consciousness rides on the subtle breath into our heart center. This is the place that many traditions call ‘the seat of the soul,’ the core of our consciousness. Residing there, we may begin our own respective meditations, contemplations, and prayers. In this process, we learn to develop the capacity of ‘mindfulness’ and to observe our innermost thoughts, emotions, habits, and memories.

-- Edward Bastian of Spiritual Paths

Everybody has a unique rhythm of breathing.  When I focus on my breathing, I like to begin with the exhale, the emptying, the letting go, the release, the surrender.  I say: “Breathe deeply.”  Then, the inhale becomes a powerful, creative, inspiring, illuminating, divine source of love and abundance.  I say: Breathe fully.”

Breathe deeply. Breathe fully.

Be still. Be silent.

Be centered. Be grounded.

Lighten up. Loosen up.

Let go. Let God.

Celebrate. Enjoy.

Be glad all over.

+ You can always find a link to any of the Spiritual Explorations posts by going to http://abundancetrek.com/sepostsaccess.html

SPIRITUAL EXPLORATIONS – 31

WE ARE EXPLORING THE PRACTICE OF STILLNESS

+ To attain peace, what one has to do is to seek that rhythm which is in the depth of our being. It is just like the sea: the surface of the sea is ever moving; the depth of the sea is still. And so it is with our life. If our life is thrown into the sea of activity, it is on the surface. We still live in the profound depths, in that peace. But the thing is to become conscious of that peace which can be found within ourselves. It is this which can bring us the answer to all our problems. If not, when we want to solve one problem, there is another difficult problem coming. There is no end to our problems. There is no end to the difficulties of the outer life. And if we get excited over them, we shall never be able to solve them. Some think, ‘We might wait. Perhaps the conditions will become better. We shall see then what to do.’ But when will the conditions become better? They will become still worse! Whether the conditions become better or worse, the first thing is to seek the kingdom of God within ourselves, in which there is our peace. As soon as we have found that, we have found our support, we have found our self. And in spite of all the activity and movement on the surface, we shall be able to keep that peace undisturbed if only we hold it fast by becoming conscious of it.

-- Hazrat Inayat Khan excerpted from http://wahiduddin.net/mv2/I/I_IV_6.htm

+ The only ones who can bring peace to the world are those who have found peace within themselves, “the peace which passes understanding” proclaimed by Jesus who also said “The Kingdom of God is within you” and “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.”  

+ I go the Bowl of Saki day after day and find immense wisdom from this Sufi master of the twentieth century. There are always several paragraphs of his wisdom compiled by his grandson like the one above.  In these 366 posts his wisdom will be found from time to time but you can go right to Wahududdin’s Web for a very comprehensive offering of this Sufi wisdom.

+ You can always find a link to any of the Spiritual Explorations posts by going to http://abundancetrek.com/sepostsaccess.html

JOYFUL WANDERING -- 55

+ This post includes entries from May 23 until June 13. Latest entries are at the top. If you would like to contribute, write JW in your subject line and send it to john@abundancetrek.com or make a comment on my Facebook page if you are a Facebook friend of mine.

+ Updated at 3:09pm ESDT on Saturday, June 13, 2015

+ Inner Frontier Inner Work this week (June 8-14) is Living in Flow, Part 4, Fluid Mind. Here is an excerpt: “Flow means freedom. We can only live in flow to the extent that we are inwardly free. And freedom in front of our thoughts is a major step toward complete liberation. What does that freedom look like? Imagine that rather than falling under the spell of and reacting to every chain of thoughts going on in your mind, you instead know intuitively and without effort that those thoughts are not who you are, that they have no power or claim over you, that they are just thoughts, just words passing through your mind, and then you return to your presence and breathe easy. If there is something useful, creative, or truly urgent in those thoughts, you may take appropriate action, but without being identified with the thoughts. One measure of our being is the extent to which we live in the deep currents of stillness beneath our thoughts, the source of true flow, rather than on the surface of our mind, where endless chatter and self-centeredness abound.”

+ Inner Frontier Inner Work this week (June 1-7) is Living in Flow, part 3: Sensory Flow. Here is an excerpt: “As this river of our sensory life cascades through time, our relationship with it determines the extent to which we live in flow. There are two primary ways we stop ourselves from living in flow. The first is by putting obstacles into the stream and the second is by letting ourselves be carried away by the stream.”

+ MAY I BE TRANSFORMED: Breath by breath I seek to be transformed into my better self, my real self, my divine self.  We all are divine in our depths.  This is a hidden reality until we accept the truth that we really are made in the likeness of God and, therefore, we are intimately, intricately and infinitely connected by a matrix of unconditional, unlimited and uniting love which is miraculous, mysterious and marvelous.  What a wonderful reality this is and how we miss it unless and until we accept the truth. 

Back to first person: I have a tendency to avoid the truth, to live in the darkness of the perception that I live in a realm of scarcity, deprivation, loneliness and confusion.  I don’t!  I am called to live in the light, the love, the joy of this realm of abundance. 

In other words, I need to embrace transformation as liberation rather than bondage, as something I can accomplish through the amazing grace of God.  I will not be fully transformed into my perfectly divine self in this life.  But I can enjoy the process of getting a little closer and maybe even a lot closer since God loves me no matter what and miracles do happen. 

+ I am a fan of James Redfield and his Celestine Vision. Now he has written an article which gets to the heart of his insights: "5 Ways Spirituality Will Enhance Your Life." Excerpt > “In the genuine search for Spirituality, the first experience one often detects is the development of ‘mysterious coincidences.’ This very common phenomenon was termed ‘Synchronicity’  by the noted, early twentieth-century, depth psychologist, Carl Jung. It is defined as ‘the experience of meaningful events in one’s life that are so timely in occurrence it feels as though some hand of fate or destiny is involved.’”

The five ways are: 

• Awareness of Synchronicity
• Intuitive Awareness
• Karmic Design
• Prayer Power
• The Ultimate Sense of Peace and Well Being

+ Here is an excerpt from this week's Inner Frontier Inner Work on "Body Flow" > “Walking is a microcosm of our life. We are active, needing to pay attention, but thoughts come, some from other thoughts, some from the sensory impressions we receive while walking. Can we just simply be in our body, as we walk? Not distracted by our thoughts, but here in our body.”

+ Cartoons can get right to the point of what's happening. Check out "Stuff Jesus Said" by Matt Bors.

+ I thought that maybe JW54 was getting too long.  

+ Where would YOU like to wander joyfully?

STORY SHARING -- 1

+ It has to happen. You can be a Christian but you’ve got to be a Buddhist too … and a Hindu … and a Jew …and a Muslim … and a Shaman … and a Taoist … and a Wicca … and a Sikh … and an agnostic … and an atheist … and a scientist … and (add your own possibilities).  I call this mutual conversion. 

+ Humanity is at a crossroads.  We have come a long, long way in our million years since we evolved from something pre-human.  But we have a long way to go if we are going to stop killing each other and killing far too many animals and plants. 

+ How are we going to do that?  I don’t know but I want to urge us on somehow.  I have a few ideas … well maybe even a lot of ideas that I want to share.  They are not original ideas.  Maybe one or 2 are, I don’t know. They are ideas I have discovered over the years as I have sought wisdom and guidance from many sources. I don’t pretend to speak to the whole human race. But I have your attention and maybe I can keep your attention long enough to influence you in a positive way so that you can contribute even more effectively to a future of compassion, peace, justice and sustainable abundance. I believe we can create such a future if we can learn how to radically embrace and own the stories of others, one story at a time.

+ It is urgent that we begin to affirm the stories of others as much as we affirm our own stories. So urgent.

+ I have a story.  It’s a good one.  It is not better than your story.  But my story is a good story and I want you to embrace it, to own it, yes, to make it your own.  You don’t have to claim all of the details but I want you, I need you, to embrace and own my story as much as you possibly can.  And my promise to you is that I will embrace and own your story as much as I possibly can. 

+ Some of my story may be easy for you to embrace and own because you and I surely share some common themes.  I am going to call these themes “gifts.”  As you look over the contents of this book I hope you can identify some gifts you have received with the same titles that I use. But, on the other hand, there may be some gifts in my story which you will not find easy to embrace and own.  That’s the challenge I put before you and me. I need to move out of my comfort zone and radically embrace some gifts which are not familiar to me, which threaten me, which scare me, which confuse me.  I believe we all need to do that. I believe our journey will become more and more amazing, fantastic, wonderful as we discover, explore, experiment, create a new and greater story by giving and receiving new and different gifts.  What do you think?

JOYFUL WANDERING -- 47

+ I have some catching up to do since it has been 2 months since I last posted here.

+ I really enjoyed an e-course on InterSpiritual Meditation which ended about a month ago.  I wrote a 17 page paper for the course and sent it to the teacher, Ed Bastian, on April 29.  Ed is the founder and president of the Spiritual Paths Institute based in Santa Barbara CA.

Here is an excerpt from the web page on the curriculum: "The Spiritual Paths Institute curriculum on InterSpiritual Wisdom is a course of study with respected teachers of contemplative wisdom and applied spirituality that combines intellect, heart, and spiritual practice. It was developed by an InterSpiritual team of exceptional teachers, each authenticated within their respective traditions. The program is based on an intellectual inquiry and contemplative experience of the teachings of the worlds sacred traditions combined with personally mentored spiritual practice."

On another page, there is this information about Ed's books and current courses: "Ed Bastian, who has led our group programs over the past ten years, is presenting a series of retreats, classes, and online courses that summarize the underlying shared wisdom offered by our teachers and courses. These courses are based on the following books and workbooks that he has authored, co-authored, or published:  Living Fully Dying Well, InterSpiritual Meditation, Meditations for InterSpiritual Wisdom and Creating Your Spiritual Path"

+ Spirituality and Practice offers its latest 12s gallery.  It's on Forgiveness. Inspirational and challenging.  Humanity needs this desperately. And don't forget to forgive yourself.

+ The current emphasis at Inner Frontier is Wisdom.  There is plenty of illuminating and inspiring and challenging wisdom in these weekly Inner Work practices.  This week the focus is on Spiritual Efficacy. Here is an excerpt: "Teachers can help by instructing us in spiritual practices. They can also help by being examples that ordinary people, no different than us, can enter true spiritual transformation. Teachers can help by easing our way into deeper experiences through the quality of their energy, when we practice in person with them. And teachers can inspire us. All of that is important, useful, perhaps even pivotal in setting our feet on the path. But it masks a fundamental truth: the spiritual path is within us, it cannot be shown, it can only be discovered."

+ (posted yesterday on Coffee Break 371 on my John A Wilde blog):
“Religion Beyond the Right" by Frank Bruni is an outstanding NY Times Op Ed column pointing out that there really are a lot of biblical values associated with the Left and the Center.  Bruni focuses on the controversy surrounding the Boy Scouts ban on gays. Excerpt: "'I find it perplexing the way the "moral values" phrase is used,' said the Rev. Mark Greiner... (a Presbyterian pastor)... 'Concern for the environment, concern for workers’ rights: those are moral values,' he told me. 'But the phrase ends up being limited to matters of human sexuality, as if Jesus was primarily concerned with what people did with their reproductive parts. It’s crazy-making.' Greiner wants the ban on gay scouts and leaders lifted." | Read the article 

JOYFUL WANDERING -- 31

+ updated at 2:52pm EST on Friday, January 27, 2012

+ Devotion is one of the twelve heavenly practices on the amazing journey to sustainable abundance.  I have collected a few of my favorite resources for this practice. Here goes:

+ The Mindfulness Bell can be set to remind you to take Mindfulness breaks.

+ Gratefulness offers a  Gratefulness Word for the Day.

+ Spirituality and Practice offers a wise and insightful Daily Practice.

+ Spirituality & Practice offers a great guide to the spiritual practice of devotion by Frederic & Mary Ann Brussat who also cover many other practices at their amazing website. They have written thousands of book reviews, movie reviews, compilations of engaging quotes and educational guides.

+ Inner Frontier offers Joseph Naft on the Practice of Devotion.

+ Inner Frontier offers Joseph Naft on the Practice of Prayer. It begins: "Prayer is the heart of the spiritual path. When you ponder why this universe exists, you might speculate that the Creator needs beings who can pray, that in prayer a necessary exchange of energies and will flows between the created and the Creator."

+ Inner Frontier Weekly Work

+ The Church of I Am

+ Daily Word -- Unity's DAILY WORD is a devotional booklet used by millions. You can be a part of a global community united for peace and healing.

+ Daily Zen -- Zen Buddhism is closely associated with the Chinese TAO TE CHING. I have found enormous inspiration and guidance by turning to this source often.

+ The Lectionary -- The Lectionary is a great way to read through the Bible on a daily and/or weekly basis. Many Christian churches use the Lectionary.

+ Hymns -- While this particular website is Presbyterian, it connects to other hymn websites. Start singing as you listen to the audio accompaniment which is often provided!

+ Centering Prayer & Lectio Divina -- Father Thomas Keating has brought new life to ancient practices of the church.

+ A Course in Miracles -- I have found ACIM to be a fantastic and very challeging course developing a heavenly way of thinking beyond any ego attachment. I have been working on the text and the 365 lessons since 1989. ACIM is definitely not for everybody although a course in miracles in one form or another is a required course. Mary Ann Williamson applies many of the principles of ACIM in her books, lectures and website. For many, she makes ACIM comprehensible!

+ WahiduddinNet offers A Daily Bowl of Saki, a wonderful devotional tool on the Sufi practice of love.

JOYFUL WANDERING -- 24

+ updated at 11:30am ESDT on Friday, August 5, 2011

+ Here is a really good take on the basic wisdom of Christianity > http://johnshore.com/2011/08/04/nobody-trips/

This take reveals that the basic truths of Christianity parallel that of other wisdom traditions. The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism comes to mind particularly.

JOYFUL WANDERING -- 13

+ updated at 3:29pm ESDT on Tuesday, April 12, 2011

+ so many possibilities + infinite + endless + abundant + overflowing + real + delightful + enlightening + glorious + profound + YOUR TURN!

+ Last night's joyful wandering took me to Fenway Park.  Well, not really.  Only through the magic of television.  The Red Sox beat the Yankees 4-0.  Pitching ace Josh Beckett allowed only 2 hits as the Red Sox won their first series of the year. I love Baseball.  Especially when the Red Sox win.  Or the Giants as in last year's World Series. The first time the Giants won that fall classic since moving to San Francisco in 1958.

+ Inner Frontier offers "The Eightfold Path" by Joseph Naft.  This is one of the best in his Weekly Inner Work series of lessons.

+ Inner Frontier offers "The Peace of Meditation" by Joseph Naft. This is the third lesson of 11 in his The Path of Liberation series.

Excerpt 1: "To see our thoughts as thoughts, as self-generating, automatic thoughts, to see our emotions as emotions, as self-generating, visceral responses and reactions to inner and outer events, we need some space, we need a place to see from, a place to gain some perspective on our inner world. That is one of the primary purposes and powers of meditation: to find the spacious inner peace of cognizant stillness, the true consciousness."

Excerpt 2: "Meditation shows us the possibility of living in awareness itself, rather than in thoughts and emotions, attitudes and reactions. Relaxing into awareness, into the cognizant substrate beneath our thoughts and emotions, takes us out of that busy stream."

THE NEW FAITH FOR THE NEW EARTH -- 1

+ updated at 10:05am EST on Friday, February 25, 2011

+ THIS IS AN UNFINISHED POST: This post will be unfinished indefinitely as I add resources and probably change the order of the resources to be in some kind of priority order.  Also, I am waiting for your ideas and resources.

+ PLEASE SHARE! I have been gathering idea for what I am now calling THE NEW FAITH FOR THE NEW EARTH for many years.  I want to share these ideas as much as I possibly can and so I am now starting this new series of posts on THE NEW FAITH FOR THE NEW EARTH.  Your ideas are welcome.  Please share them in Blog Comments, on Facebook and Twitter, E-Mails, etc.  I must begin with important websites, books and other resources which are promoting the values I cherish, particularly Compassion, Peace, Justice and Sustainable Abundance:

+ And now for THE RESOURCES IN SOME KIND OF PRIORITY ORDER:

WWW.SPIRITUALITYANDPRACTICE.COM is the planet's best website.  Simply amazing how Mary Ann and Frederic Brussat have accumulated wisdom from all kinds of sources and offer it in an accesible way.  They offer dozens of spiritual practices.  They review thousands of movies and books.  They offer great courses led by very wise teachers.  The forums allow sincere spiritual seekers to be enriched by the sharing of many people who represent a great variety of the planet's wisdom traditions.

THE CHURCH OF I AM creatively points out that there is a deep reservoir of shared wisdom about our intimate connection to God and to all creation.  This wisdom is often called The Perennial Philosophy, or Mysticism.

HOW ABOUT A WONDERFUL SONG AND VIDEO HERE: NEW SOUL by Yael Naim

THE PERENNIAL PHILOSOPHY, OR MYSTICISM: For many, many links on the Perennial Philosophy, go to http://www.mythosandlogos.com/perennial.html.  For a brief summary by Aldous Huxley, go to http://parvati.tripod.com/perennial.html

KEN KEYES: THE TWELVE PATHWAYS TO HIGHER CONSCIOUSNESS and KEN KEYES: THE SEVEN CENTERS OF CONSCIOUSNESS

THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE BOOKS:

MOVING INTO STILLNESS by Erich Schiffmann
Online at http://www.movingintostillness.com/
Yoga Instruction at its best

THE SACRED ART OF SOULMAKING by Joseph Naft
Online at http://innerfrontier.org/Practices/BalanceDepthTOC.htm
A deep and comprehensive understanding of Meditation with some powerful suggestions

THE SEEKER'S GUIDE by Elizabeth Lesser
The book is divided into MIND, BODY, HEART and SOUL with powerful spiritual exercises in each of these categories.

THE TAO OF ABUNDANCE by Laurence Boldt
Immense wisdom. Very comprehensive and illuminating.

THE PERENNIAL PHILOSOPHY by Aldous Huxley
An anthology of Mysticism by a great thinker and writer.

QUANTUM THEOLOGY by Diarmuid O'Murchu
Paradigm Shifts Galore! Defintely advocates a new faith for a new earth but solidly built on the foundation of Christian and other wisdom traditions.

THE HANDBOOOK TO HIGHER CONSCIOUSNESS by Ken Keyes. You can find his 12 Pathways to Higher Consciousness at http://community-2.webtv.net/babaluie/LivingLoveThe/page3.html
You can find his 7 Centers of Consciousness (a Western description of Chakras) at http://community-2.webtv.net/babaluie/LivingLoveThe/page4.html

+ For more than a decade I have been seeking Spiritual Websites.  Recently I added 26 more.  These are listed first in the Spiritual Websites section on the Abundancetrek Connections Galore page.  These are followed by 67 "oldies but goodies" which remain big favorites. 

+ When I get to the second post, I intend to share my ideas, hopes, dreams, visions and action plans.  And I would love to include your ideas, hopes, dreams, visions and action plans.

+ I will soon offer a post with many quotes promoting the values of THE NEW FAITH FOR THE NEW EARTH.

JOYFUL WONDERING -- 1

+ updated at 1:07pm EST on Friday, January 28, 2011

+ ANYTHING GOES in this series of posts here on 2 of my blogs -- John A Wilde and The Abundancetrek Blog -- which I begin today, January 27, 2011.  Well, that doesn't mean I will share everything I think or believe. Not yet anyway.  But I will share a lot and I would sure welcome some support and encouragement and wisdom from fellow joyful wonderers.

+ The COFFEE BREAK SERIES OF POSTS will definitely continue and be a priority because I simply enjoy finding web pages filled with wisdom or important information on the subjects of COMPASSION, PEACE, JUSTICE and SUSTAINABLE ABUNDANCE.  The world needs far more of these things. 

+ On my Abundancetrek homepage I have changed my vision from "The New Church for the New Age" to THE NEW FAITH FOR THE NEW EARTH.  Have I become Post-Christian?  No, I don't think so.  As a matter of fact, I think I am becoming REALLY A CHRISTIAN as I open up more and more to wisdom and compassion from all over the planet.  We are lucky to live in an age when we can receive and realize the wisdom of so many great sages of the ages including many, many current sages.  A website which offers this wisdom on a daily basis is Spirituality and Practice, the best website on the planet by far. 

+ I haven't updated my CONNECTIONS GALORE PAGE recently but it will still get you to many of the best websites promoting Compassion, Peace, Justice and Sustainable Abundance.  Another place to look is right here on the sidebar where I continue to find  websites and web pages on these themes and more.

+ The need to BEGIN AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN is taught by many sages of the ages. We need a childlike awareness and appreciation of our constantly changing reality.  Nothing remains the same.  A great Zen Master particularly emphasizes this need.  I can't locate the book here in my study at the moment.  It should be on the Priority Shelf!

+ NEW JANUARY 28:

+ One of my favorite theologians is Harvey Cox.  Recently he wrote THE FUTURE OF FAITH.  In it, he quotes Einstein, one of my favorite scientists:

The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. He who knows it not and can no longer wonder, no longer feel amazement, is as good as dead, a snuffed-out candle.

It was the experience of mystery--even if mixed with fear--that engendered religion. A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, of the manifestations of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty, which are only accessible to our reason in their most elementary forms--it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute the truly religious attitude; in this sense, and in this alone, I am a deeply religious man.

( I found this at http://einsteinandreligion.com/mysterious.html. It goes on there for another paragraph which is also profound but I disagree with his belief that we can't have a life beyond this one. There are too many experiences in my life which suggest that a life beyond this one is indeed likely but I agree with Einstein that punishment in eternity is not what God is up to.)

I will possibly come back to both Cox and Einstein in these posts since they are among the most intriguing of the planet's joyful wonderers, past and present.

SEPTEMBER 11 ANNIVERSARY -- 2

First, a reading from the Qu'ran:

O you who have attained to faith
Stand firmly in your devotion to God,
bearing witness to the truth in complete fairness;
and never let hatred of anyone
lead you to make the mistake of deviating from justice.
Be just: this is the closest to being God-conscious.
And remain conscious of God:
truly, God is well-aware of all that you do.
[Surah al-Ma'idah 5:8]

Then, please read the two sobering and challenging posts offered by John Shuck at Shuck and Jive today:

• http://www.shuckandjive.org/2010/09/moment-of-silence.html
• http://www.shuckandjive.org/2010/09/michael-ruppert.html

INTERSPIRITUAL WISDOM -- 5

+ In the Practice Circle of the E-retreat on InterSpiritual Wisdom I offered the following:

FORGIVENESS AND REPENTANCE
I think many of us Christians have long treated the idea of forgiveness as a task to accomplish rather than an inward change of mind and heart. (Romans 12:1-2 comes to mind). All of the wisdom shared this week has helped me understand more than ever that forgiveness is a state of being (a heavenly state always available in the here-and-now moment).

I have been re-reading MYTH AND RITUAL IN CHRISTIANITY by Alan Watts (THE book which made it possible for me to stay in the Christian Wisdom Tradition after I discovered and embraced the Perennial Philosophy, or mysticism). Watts writes:

" ... the redemption of captive Israel, liberation from Hades, the forgiveness of sins, release from the self-love of Lucifer, from the 'old Adam', and from the bondage of 'Egypt' and 'Babylon' is in every respect a deliverance from the past. Salvation is always the ending of the mind's fascinated identification with the dead and unchanging image of what it was. It is a complete reversal of the 'natural' order of things, a metanoia -- the Greek word for 'repentance' meaning precisely a 'turning-around-of-the-mind', so that it no longer faces into the past, the land of the shadow of death, but into the Eternal Present."

Watts states that our human personality is totally based on memory. So, our Holy Forgetting is not so much a task to be accomplished but an orientation change, a heavenly attitude, a connection with the divine which is beyond our knowing and understanding.

+ You can see all of my posts on Interspiritual wisdom here.

INTERSPIRITUAL WISDOM -- 4

+ The E-retreat on InterSpiritual Wisdom has begun.  You can sign up at any time.  Now is a great time!

+ The theme for Week One is Forgiveness.

+ I have reflected for years on The 12 Pathways to Higher Consciousness offered by Ken Keyes Jr. which you can find at http://community-2.webtv.net/babaluie/LivingLoveThe/page3.html 

Number 5 and number 6 seem to contradict each other but not really and maybe this is what forgiveness is all about. Here they are:

5) I take full responsiliblity here and now for everything I experience, for it is my own programming that creates my actions and also influences the reactions of people around me.


6) I accept myself completely here and now and consciously experience everything I feel, think, say, and do (including my emotion- backed addictions) as a necessary part of my growth into higher consciousness.

My own thinking about these things over the years has led me to conclude that ...

We are intimately, intricately and infinitely connected by a matrix of unconditional, unlimited and uniting LOVE which is miraculous, mysterious and marvelous.

+ You can see all of my posts on Interspiritual wisdom here.

INTERSPIRITUAL WISDOM -- 3

+ The E-retreat on InterSpiritual Wisdom has begun.  You can sign up at any time.  Now is a great time!

+ The theme of the first week is FORGIVENESS.  Here is some powerful wisdom from Shantideva, Way of the Bodhisattva, Chapter Eight, "Meditative Concentration", verse 129:

All the joy the world contains

has come through wishing happiness for others.

All the misery the world contains

has come through wanting pleasure for oneself.

+ I am continuing my exploration of the website of The Spiritual Paths Foundation.  I found "Mystical Experience or Unitive Seeing?" by Cynthia Bourgeault, one of the teachers of the E-retreat. It begins: "In my own spiritual practice I’m more and more clearly seeing the need to distinguish between two closely related but distinctly different phenomena: mysticism and unitive seeing. Much of the “bad rap” that mysticism has unfortunately gained in the mainstream Christianity of the West comes from a failure to distinguish between these two terms."

+ You can see all of my posts on Interspiritual wisdom here.

INTERSPIRITUAL WISDOM -- 2

+ The E-retreat on InterSpiritual Wisdom has begun.  You can sign up at any time.  Now is a great time! 

+ A major resource on the theme is the website of The Spiritual Paths Foundation.  This statement in the Overview section gets to the heart of the matter:

Humanity stands at a crossroads between horror and hope. In choosing hope, we must seed a new consciousness, a radically fresh approach to life drawing its inspiration from perennial spiritual and moral insights, intuition and experience. We call this new awareness Interspiritual, implying not the homogenization of religion, but the recovering of the shared mystic heart beating in the center of the world’s deepest spiritual traditions. -- Wayne Teasdale, Mystic Heart

+ You can see all of my posts on Interspiritual wisdom here.

CHRISTIAN-MUSLIM DIALOGUE -- 1

In a letter to Moslems written “on behalf of World Evangelical Alliance” by Dr. Geoff Tunnicliffe, International Director, I found this troubling sentence: “We urge you to realize that the problems of the Western world are not because of Christianity but because of the West’s increasing rejection of it.”

I must profoundly disagree with this statement. I think it would be pretty hard to convince most Moslems of that statement and I’m certainly not convinced. Europe has been a battleground for centuries. When Christianity really did dominate Europe, many things were far worse than they are today. A good case can be made that Christian Europe has exhibited far more violence, injustice and hatred than Islamic Africa, The Middle East and Islamic Asia for many centuries.  Also, I wonder when Dr. Tunnicliffe thinks that the “increasing rejection” began.  In many ways the Western world has increasingly embraced the values of Christ even as it has turned more secular.  I urge "Evangelical Christians" and everyone else to be far more aware of our history.  I suspect most Moslems have a very different perception of our history and are possibly better informed and closer to the truth than a lot of Christians.  A really good conversation about our current difficulties requires this awareness.

The letter is one of many responses to A Common Word between Us and You which you can find at the Common Word website. It is an important and powerful initiative by Moslems to find common ground and build trust and reduce violence, hatred and misunderstanding.  While the response of the WEA is encouraging at some levels, I was delighted to find many far more positive responses by other Christians including my Presbyterian Church (USA) and several Ecumenical and Reformed and Interfaith organizations and leaders.  The Common Word website offers them all.  This is well worth your time and energy.

There is more in the WEA letter that I find troubling which I intend to address in future posts.