SPIRITUAL EXPLORATIONS – 346

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.

+ Here are The Ten Sufi Thoughts of Hazrat Inayat Khan:

1) There is one God, the Eternal, the Only Being; none else exists save God.

2) There is one Master, the Guiding Spirit of all souls, who constantly leads all followers towards the light.

3) There is one Holy Book, the sacred manuscript of nature, which truly enlightens all readers.

4) There is one Religion, the unswerving progress in the right direction towards the ideal, which fulfils the life's purpose of every soul.

5) There is one Law, the law of Reciprocity, which can be observed by a selfless conscience together with a sense of awakened justice.

6) There is one human Brotherhood, the Brotherhood and Sisterhood which unites the children of earth indiscriminately in the Fatherhood of God.

7) There is one Moral Principle, the love which springs forth from self-denial, and blooms in deeds of beneficence.

8) There is one Object of Praise, the beauty which uplifts the heart of its worshipper through all aspects from the seen to the unseen.

9) There is one Truth, the true knowledge of our being within and without which is the essence of all wisdom.

10) There is one Path, the annihilation of the false ego in the real, which raises the mortal to immortality and in which resides all perfection.

+ Number 9 speaks to Truth directly but the rest are also all about Truth and I think the context is useful, even necessary. Hazrat Inayat Khan was one of the greatest Sufi teachers of the twentieth century.  You can find plenty of his immense knowledge and wisdom at http://wahiduddin.net/. I recommend that you take a little time and read the Long Version of the Ten Thoughts where Hazrat Inayat Khan wrote illuminating explanations for each thought. Here is an excerpt from the Thought on Truth:

The Sufi recognizes the knowledge of self as the essence of all religions; he traces it in every religion, he sees the same truth in each, and therefore he regards all as one. Hence he can realize the saying of Jesus; 'I and my Father are one.' The difference between creature and Creator remains on his lips, not in his soul. This is what is meant by union with God. It is in reality the dissolving of the false self in the knowledge of the true self, which is divine, eternal, and all pervading. 'He who attaineth union with God, his very self must lose,' said Amir.

Sufism is a mystical branch of Islam with ancient roots including one of the most famous poets who ever lived, Rumi.  Two great Sufi teachers of our era are Kabir Helminski and David Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, founder of The Golden Sufi Center which is the vehicle for the work of the Naqshbandiyya-Mujaddidiyya Order of Sufism.

+ 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 – 130

WE ARE EXPLORING THE PRACTICE OF DEVOTION

+ Mysticism without devotion is like uncooked food, it can never be assimilated.

— Hazrat Inayat Khan in The Inner Life

+ Mindfulness has become very popular these days but is Mindfulness a goal in itself?  Is mysticism a goal in itself?  I think not.  What we are striving for is simply put in the Golden Rule: Treat Others the way you want to be treated.  If we do not become more and more willing, eager and able to treat others the way we want to be treated, we have missed the point of all this work.

The world needs more  compassion, peace, justice and sustainable abundance.  The next person you encounter needs your compassion, peace, justice and sustainable abundance.

+ Spirituality & Practice offers many resources on the spiritual practice of Devotion.  You can explore even more with this link to “Devotion” on their search engine. You will find 2153 items as of 4/26/16.  And, of course, there is a Twelves Gallery of Memes on Devotion.  The Body also gets a lot of attention from S&P as you can see if you go to this 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 Devotion page.   Maybe you can help.  Send an email with the subject “Devotion” 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 -- 79

WE ARE EXPLORING THE PRACTICE OF SILENCE

Observe the wonders as they occur around you. Don’t claim them. Feel the artistry moving through and be silent.

-- Jalaluddin Rumi

Life is your art. An open, aware heart is your camera. A oneness with your world is your film.

 -- Ansel Adams

+ We are surrounded by art.  Maybe immersion is a better word since art is within every one of us as well as beyond.  Art is immanent and transcendent.  The artist gets to the heart of the meaning of life and, even if dealing with the shadow side, pushes us to realize how beautiful, how  wonderful, life really is. 

+ Spirituality&Practice offers many resources on the Spiritual Practice of Silence and a wonderful photo and quotes gallery.

+ I have work to do on my Discernment page. Maybe you can help. Send an email with the subject “Discernment” 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 -- 60

WE ARE EXPLORING THE PRACTICE OF HUMILITY

+

Knock. And He’ll open the door.

Vanish. And He’ll make you shine like the sun.

Fall. And He’ll raise you to the heavens.

Become nothing. And He’ll turn you into everything.

-- Rumi.

found at http://theislamicworkplace.com/positive-quotes/

+ There are many great wisdom teachers in all traditions who offer the same basic message as Rumi did, as Jesus did, as The Buddha did, as Muhammad did.  You become your Real Self when give up your false self.  These practices are essential.  The Real Self is a given but it is received only by the humble, those who vanish and become nothing. 

I am an advocate of InterSpirituality, particularly as offered in the pioneering work of Ed Bastian of Spiritual Paths.  But Rumi, back in the twelfth century, was definitely a much earlier pioneer of InterSpirituality.  I believe it was his humility which made it possible for him to be radically open to the teachings and traditions of other cultures and religions.  In the early twentieth century, in that same Sufi tradition, Hazrat Inayat Khan also promoted what we are now calling InterSpirituality.  You can see it blossoming in his Ten Sufi Thoughts:

There are ten principal Sufi thoughts which comprise all the important subjects with which the inner life of man is concerned:

1) There is one God, the Eternal, the Only Being; none else exists save God.
2) There is one Master, the Guiding Spirit of all souls, who constantly leads all followers towards the light.
3) There is one Holy Book, the sacred manuscript of nature, which truly enlightens all readers.
4) There is one Religion, the unswerving progress in the right direction towards the ideal, which fulfils the life's purpose of every soul.
5) There is one Law, the law of Reciprocity, which can be observed by a selfless conscience together with a sense of awakened justice.
6) There is one human Brotherhood, the Brotherhood and Sisterhood which unites the children of earth indiscriminately in the Fatherhood of God.
7) There is one Moral Principle, the love which springs forth from self-denial, and blooms in deeds of beneficence.
8) There is one Object of Praise, the beauty which uplifts the heart of its worshipper through all aspects from the seen to the unseen.
9) There is one Truth, the true knowledge of our being within and without which is the essence of all wisdom.
10) There is one Path, the annihilation of the false ego in the real, which raises the mortal to immortality and in which resides all perfection.

+ 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. The image and quote above is found in that gallery.

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

SPIRITUAL EXPLORATIONS -- 54

WE ARE EXPLORING THE PRACTICE OF HUMILITY

+ Once again I turn to that great Sufi teacher, Hazrat Inayat Khan (see SE posts 22, 31, 45 and 46):

There is a story of a dervish who spoke with a young man who was very interested in his words of wisdom. The young man said, 'If I come to your part of the world, I will come to see you. Will you tell me where you live?' The dervish replied, 'I live in the place of the liars'. ... When he went to that country and asked for the dervish, the people said, 'We do not know any place of liars, but there is a dervish living somewhere here'. So they took him near the graveyard where the dervish lived.

The first question the young man asked was, 'Why did you give me a name which is not the name of the place?' The dervish replied, 'Yes, this is a place of liars'. It was the graveyard. He said, 'Come with me, I shall show you. This here is a tomb, they say, of a general. Where is his sword, where is his power, where is his voice, what is he now? Is he a general? Here, this one was called a prime-minister. Where is his ministry, where is his office, where is his pen, where is his power? In the same ground! This person was called a judge. Whom is he judging now? He is in the ground. Were they not liars? Did they not tell a lie saying I am so and so, and I am such and such?'

   from  http://wahiduddin.net/mv2/XIV/XIV_16.htm

There is a beautiful story told of the King Akbar that when he was grieving with an almost ungovernable grief over the death of his mother, his ministers and friends tried to comfort him by influence and power. Akbar replied, "Yes, that is true, and that only makes my grief greater; for while I have everyone to bow before me, to give way to me, to salute me and obey me, my mother was the one person before whom I could humble myself; and I cannot tell you how great a joy that was to me."

Think then of the far greater joy of humbling oneself before the Father-Mother God on Whose Love one can always depend. A spark only of love expresses itself in the human father and mother; the Whole of Love in God. In whatever manner a man humbles himself it can never be enough to express the humility of the limited self before Limitless Perfection. Self-denial is not renouncing of things, it is denying the self; and the first lesson of self-denial is humility.

   from  http://wahiduddin.net/mv2/archives/prayer.htm

+ These paragraphs were included in the Bowl of Saki for November 8.

+ So, as you can see, Hazrat Inayat Khan clearly links humility to detachment,  or renunciation.  Yes, stillness and detachment lead to humility and humility is heavenly.  So, remain committed to those foundational mind practices.  You can return again and again to SE posts 1 to 48 for inspiration and illumination on these practices.  Spiritual Exploration often means returning again and again to places already explored since there is always more to learn and to share.

If you have any inclination to write at all, I urge you to write about your spiritual practice.  Writing often leads to greater clarity and deeper motivation to continue on this journey.  You are invited to share your insights.  Send them to john@abundancetrek.com and be sure to write Spiritual Explorations in the subject line.

+ Spirituality and Practice offers a wonderful 12s gallery of images and quotes on Humility.

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

SPIRITUAL EXPLORATIONS -- 46

WE ARE EXPLORING THE PRACTICE OF DETACHMENT

+ It is not the actual literal renunciation which counts, it is the personal abandonment of belief in the importance of transient things. ... If there is such a thing as saintly renunciation, it is renouncing small gains for better gains; not for no gains, but seeing with open eyes what is better and what is inferior. Even if the choice has to lie between two momentary gains, one of these would always be found to be more real and lasting; that is the one that should be followed for the time. When we take the torch of wisdom to show us our path through life, we will end by realizing what is really profitable in life and what is not.

-- Hazrat Inayat Khan excerpted from http://wahiduddin.net/mv2/VII/VII_15.htm

+ Hazrat Inayat Khan (see SE posts 22, 31 and 45) wisely points out that detachment, or renunciation, is a process in itself which can lead to more and more profitable experiences in this life.  Discernment, a practice we will soon explore more thoroughly, can’t happen without it. 

As we move through these practices, more fruits become available to us.  Detachment, based so much on the practice of stillness, is a way to true abundance, not scarcity, a way to more, not less.  Deprivation is not what this practice is about.

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

SPIRITUAL EXPLORATIONS -- 45

WE ARE EXPLORING THE PRACTICE OF DETACHMENT

+ He who can be detached enough to keep his eyes open to all those whom circumstances have placed about him, and see in what way he can be of help to them, he it is who becomes rich - he inherits the kingdom of God.

-- Hazrat Inayat Khan, Bowl of Saki, June 12

+ Hazrat Inayat Khan was a twentieth century Sufi teacher who in so many ways was as InterFaith and InterSpiritual as any human can be.  I have found his wisdom on so much of life to be a wonderful source of inspiration and illumination.  Practically every day I go to the Bowl of Saki for a feast of compassion and wisdom.

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

SPIRITUAL EXPLORATIONS -- 41

WE ARE EXPLORING THE PRACTICE OF DETACHMENT

+

If you could get rid

of yourself just once,

The secret of secrets

Would open to you.

The face of the unknown,

Hidden beyond the universe

Would appear on the

Mirror of your perception.

-- Rumi

+ Beyond yourself.  That’s where we are going.  That’s where we want to go. This is quite an adventure.  Heaven is beyond the fear, the anxiety, the doubt, the insecurity, the demands and expectations of our very limited egocentric self.

This heavenly realm we are seeking is not actually a destination.  Destiny is a more accurate description. We are always exploring this glorious realm whether we know it or not.  It is a mystery most of the time.  With a few exceptions, we humans don’t get to know “the secret of secrets” fully but we can get to know it partially and even have glimpses where we get to know “the secret of secrets” fully for a moment or two.  

Complete detachment is not what we are after.  We have to be attached in many ways here on earth.  But we don’t have to be attached as much as we are.  We can let go of a lot of unnecessary baggage.  Some of us might let go of more, even a lot more, than others.  We are free to decide moment after moment how much attachment to relationships, things, beliefs, opinions, etc. we need now.  We all can detach from a lot if we think about it and pray about it.  As Thoreau said: “Simplify, Simplify, Simplify.”

+ 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

SPIRITUAL EXPLORATIONS – 22

WE ARE EXPLORING THE PRACTICE OF STILLNESS

When the mind and body are restless, nothing in life can be accomplished. Success is the result of control. … When one is restless, the conditions in life can make one experience the greatest discomfort, for there is no greater pain than restlessness. If there is any remedy for the lack of peace, it is spiritual progress.

 -- Hazrat Inayat Khan

                       

That’s found in the Bowl of Saki for November 12.  Hazrat Inayat Khan was a leading Sufi teacher of the twentieth century.  You can access hundreds of pages of Sufi wisdom at Wahiduddin’s Web.  I particularly appreciate his Ten Sufi Thoughts which demonstrate how the Sufis have been way ahead of many of us in the development of InterSpirituality.  You may want to see a more detailed version.

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

JOYFUL WANDERING -- 39

+ It has been 6 months since the last Joyful Wandering post.  No excuses.  No explanation.

+

If you could get rid
of yourself just once,
The secret of secrets
Would open to you.
The face of the unknown,
Hidden beyond the universe
Would appear on the
Mirror of your perception.
-- Rumi

I found that quote at http://www.allspirit.co.uk/sufism.html

+ Joseph Naft continues to inspire, illuminate, guide, challenge as we seek to become truly mindful and aware.  In Inner Frontier Inner Work, he has been expanding our consciousness in the project of Learning To Be.  This week: Affirming Presence. Here is an excerpt:

So how do we get engaged, get involved? It begins with attention. The secret quality of attention is that it is driven by our will, it is our will. The practice of active attention is the road to coming into our own, our own will, our I. When you pay attention to what you are doing or seeing or touching or thinking, your I is there; it is you who are doing or seeing or touching or thinking. Not paying attention, allowing our attention to be drawn hither and thither, to be distracted easily, with no staying power, indicates that we are not here, that our I has withdrawn beyond our reach. We can learn to affirm our life, our living, our presence.

And we do that first by affirming our attention, by being our attention. It may sound abstract, but the actual practice of it is simple. We just pay attention to what we are doing and/or perceiving and we get fully behind that attention. We are there attending, wholly and completely, simply and directly. If you try this, you may see that you can do it. You may see how it is different than letting your attention just wander wherever it is drawn. We bring our power, the power of our will, our I, into our attention. We become our attention for that moment. Though it is simple, this is not so easy to maintain moment-to-moment over time. To do so, we need to continually renew our attention and our being in it.  | Read it all.

 

+ The current Spirituality and Practice Newsletter has great stuff, like usual, including:

 

• Remembering a great spiritual storyteller and interfaith pioneer. New in the Remembering Spiritual Masters Project is a tribute to Anthony de Mello, including a quotation sampler, links to reviews of his books, and video clips. More profiles in the Remembering Spiritual Masters Project.

 

• A prayer for forgiveness of our daily pollutions: We're "Praying the News" by focusing on what's behind the extreme weather happening all over the world. More prayers.

FREDERIC BRUSSAT IS TWITTERING WITH GREAT QUOTES

+ This tweeter alone should sell you on Twitter! FB is a longtime spiritual guide and offers immense wisdom at Spirituality & Practice.

I am participating in a fantastic internet retreat right now. It's called Love's Universe: "A Seven-Week Online Retreat with the Sacred Poetry of Rumi. Led by Kabir and Camille Helminski, Friends of the Threshold Society, Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat."

Today is day 4 and its not too late to sign up. The cost is $40 and it is worth every penny, not only for the retreat but to support the best website on the planet!

• Go to http://twitter.com/FredericBrussat
• I twitter at http://twitter.com/Abundancetrek