SPIRITUAL EXPLORATIONS – 257

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.

+ It is a wholesome and necessary thing for us to turn again to the earth and in the contemplation of her beauties to know of wonder and humility.

-- Rachel Carson

+ Sometimes it really is a good idea to remember how tiny we are in this vast universe.  We even live in a possibly tiny solar system on a possibly very tiny planet.  And each one of us is tiny on that planet.  Humility is something that wise teachers emphasize again and again.  So, I invite you to use nature as a way to practice humility, the second of the 12 practices we are exploring.  Also, use nature for the joy of simply wondering about this heavenly realm so full of color and texture and taste and nourishment and beauty of all kinds.  Joy is the second of 9 heavenly attributes soon to be explored.

+ 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 – 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 – 193

WE ARE EXPLORING THE PRACTICE OF DELIGHT

+ When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.

-- Jalaluddin Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks

+ Fellow explorers, we are now in the process of transitioning from spiritual practices to heavenly attributes.  Delight is a practice which comes close to getting us into a miraculous, mysterious and marvelous heavenly rhythm.  The ten preceding practices will continue to be essential. Delight grows and grows as we practice, practice, practice all 12 spiritual practices: Stillness, Silence, Solitude, Simplicity, Detachment, Discernment, Devotion, Delight, Humility, Healing, Holiness & Heavenliness.

The intention here is that these Journey of the Soul practices of Delight & Heavenliness become so ingrained that we can experience the 9 heavenly attributes of Abundance, Joy, Wisdom, Beauty, Love, Truth, Peace, Justice & Freedom moment after moment, breath after breath.   We have been exploring heavenly realms.  We are about to go further and deeper into these realms.  Tell your friends. 

+ Delight is not one of the 37 Spirituality & Practice practices BUT put Delight in their Search Engine and you come up with 85 items including 67 quotes, 16 books, 1 practice, and 1 film as of 6/14/16.  Go to http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/search/?q=Delight.  However, it is clear that Mary Ann & Frederic Brussat are big fans of Joy. Therefore, put Joy in their Search Engine and you come up with 2057 items including 867 quotes, 835 books, 160 practices, 11 teachers, 24 arts links, 29 e-courses, 98 films, 26 blogs and 4 traditions as of 6/14/16. Oh, and Joy IS one of the 37 spiritual practices. You can also be inspired by their Twelves Gallery on Joy. 

+ Joy will come up again very soon in these explorations since it is the second of the 9 heavenly attributes we will be exploring.

+ I would love it if you offered a guest post on this practice or any practice.  And, I have work to do on my Delight page.  Maybe you can help.  Send an email with the subject “Delight” 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 – 177

WE ARE EXPLORING THE PRACTICE OF SIMPLICITY

+ A number of people in our increasingly complex world have found themselves going on unexpected pilgrimages back to the world of indigenous peoples to tap into a simpler, more natural connection with the earth and with a spirituality somehow based on that closer connection. The change is then experienced by the pilgrim as a spiritual experience, a change in values, in how they look at the world and at other people, finding wisdom in unexpected places.

— Jean Dalby, Wallace Clift in The Archetype of Pilgrimage by Jean Dalby Clift, Wallace B. Clift

+ I think these two authors get right to the heart of what the spiritual practice of Simplicity is all about.  Pilgrimage can be a metaphor for taking a journey, an inner journey, where we let go of so many things which are getting in the way.  When we go on a journey we have to let go of many of the items we think we need when we are at home.  But then we find that we didn’t need them after all because the journey itself becomes so meaningful, inspirational and illuminating.

+ 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

+ The photo comes from the S&P Twelves Gallery on Questing.

+ Questing is one of the 37 S&P practices offering many ideas and resources.

+ 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

SPIRITUAL EXPLORATIONS – 168

WE ARE EXPLORING THE PRACTICE OF SIMPLICITY

+ Here are three of the goals of The Center for a New American Dream:

·         Inspiring, engaging, and challenging Americans to re-examine their cultural values on consumption and consumerism and initiating a new national conversation around what “the good life” and the “American dream” mean.

·         Providing tools and support to families, citizens, and activists to counter our consumerist culture and to create new social norms about how to have a high quality of life and a reduced ecological footprint.

·         Providing tools and support to community members to create local initiatives that build local capacity and leadership, increase environmental sustainability, and foster greater livability and vitality.

+ I discovered this website several years ago and have all too rarely returned to it.  I am grateful for the many people who have come to realize and are coming to realize that Gandhi got it right when he said: “There is enough for everybody’s need but not for everybody’s greed.”  What’s happening where you are to “increase environmental sustainability, and foster greater livability and vitality?” If we can find our way to achieve simplicity we can renew the face of the earth and feel good about being human, called by God to take care of the planet. 

+ 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

THE AMAZING JOURNEY page 4

PAGE 4

Celebrate. Enjoy. Be glad all over.

The Burning Bush, of course, is a metaphor. It stands for the presence of Godand the unquenchable desire of God to set us all free, free to be creative, free to be unique, free to be holy.  God does not want anyone to be enslaved, oppressed, marginalized. We are all holy, fantastic, wonderful creatures made in God’s likeness. Enjoy being present at the Burning Bush. Feel the glow. You are always in that holy presence, standing on sacred ground. Wow!

The more we enter that presence of the Burning Bush, the more we discover our vocation, our calling, our purpose, our raison d’etre. God is always ready to give us meaningful and joyful work to do or play to do. We might get lost or confused from time to time but we can find our way to that holy presence, that unquenchable fire, that sacred ground, that connection which can never be broken. As we continue on the Amazing Journey we gain the incredible awareness that the Burning Bush moves with us, guiding us, inspiring us, challenging us, comforting us, freeing us, renewing us, resurrecting us. WOW!

It is so wonderful, so fantastic, so fascinating.

There is a key to realizing just how wonderful, fantastic, fascinating it all is.  That key is the practice of simply being still.  Try to be as still as possible from time to time.  It is amazing to realize how intimately, intricately, infinitely connected we are to the matrix of unconditional, unlimited, uniting Love which is miraculous, mysterious and marvelous. Wow. Simply be still and know this truth.

The sages of the ages teach this practice and emphasize how important it is.  They teach it in many ways. It’s simple but not easy to attain a state of stillness.  It is often quite a struggle.  But as I said, it is the very key to being awake, aware and connected, to being in heaven right now, right here. Wow.

First, I need to convince you that stillness is indeed the key to heaven.  Then we can look at various ways to attain this state.

If there is a heaven why would God want to deny you the incalculable, immense joy of its presence right now, right here?  Well, there is a heaven and God does not want to deny you the incalculable, immense joy of its presence right now, right here. Trust me. This is really true and no one in their right mind would want it any other way. Right?