Fri, October 05, 2012
Finding the power in practical spirituality
By
Rev. Dr. Maxine Kaye
There need be no separation between our spirituality and our everyday
lives; in fact, the more consistently we embody and express our core
beliefs, the more effectively we tend to live each day. Brother
Lawrence's exemplary “Practicing the Presence while washing the pots and
pans” is a stunning reminder that we truly can bring a sublime
awareness to an ordinary task.
See "Link to External Source Article" below to read further.
Discovering that we carry within us a spark of divinity - that this spark of God assists in the creation of a soul of immortality - can improve all aspects of a life, from the mundane chores of daily life to the spiritual mountaintops. Please see The Adjuster and the Soul for some very inspiring information that can help you in practical ways to navigate your life in God-consciousness.
In addition, living in the present moment is another way of practicing the presence every day, all day...this advice from The Urantia Book is a thought-provoker.
118:1.7 To become mature is to live
more intensely in the present, at the same time escaping from the
limitations of the present. The plans of maturity, founded on past
experience, are coming into being in the present in such manner as to
enhance the values of the future.
Labels:
Rev. Dr. Maxine Kaye
Urantia Book
spirituality
soul
worship
daily life
inspiration
God
God-within
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Fri, November 04, 2011
Feed Your Soul for Health
By
Elise Fee
This is the time of year when we place emphasis on gathering to
nourish our bodies with a bounty of food, yet it’s a wonderful
opportunity to feed our souls as well. For many, we do this through a
focus on gratitude for what we have, who is in our life, what we have
been lucky enough to not have to endure, and so on. Gratitude is a
fantastic route to replenish and renew your sense of wonder for this
world and for your life.
Yet as I reflected on how you might nourish your soul, several other possibilities came to mind.
Connect to Source
Soren
Kierkegaard said, “A man who as a physical being is always turned
toward the outside, thinking that his happiness lies outside him,
finally turns inward and discovers that the source is within him.”
Recognizing
that we cannot find happiness, peacefulness or any other state of being
by seeking outside of ourselves is the first step. Then it is just a
matter of turning inward to locate that inner essence that connects you
to a divine source.
Some call it their inner knowing,
spirit or soul but, whatever you call it, it’s important to connect with
it and know it intimately. It is the source of your best wisdom and
guidance and it will never steer you wrong.
Connect to Others
There’s
an old song that said, “You gotta have friends” and I would modify that
to say, “You gotta have family, friends and community.”
As
human beings, we function at our best when we are part of a supportive,
caring network of people. In order to truly nurture your soul, you’ll
want to make connections with others an important part of your life.
When you spend time with people who genuinely care about you and your
well-being, who truly see you for who you are and are not, and who
accept you just the way you are, it feeds your soul in a deep and
abiding way and provides a foundation of love and security that buoys
you as you go through your days.
Disconnect from Chatter
Eckhart
Tolle posits, “If this were your only spiritual practice, it would be
enough: to withdraw identification from opinions, positions, thoughts.”
**************
This is the first of a two-page article. Please see this link to see it in its entirety
What exactly is the "soul?" Maybe it's not what you've always thought... Please see THIS LINK for TruthBook's topical study of the Soul.
Labels:
Elise Fee
soul
Urantia Book
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Fri, September 16, 2011
Supersize Chi: The Spiritual Cost of Overconsumption
By
Kelley Harrell
In a culture in which more is better and excess is revered, the
ramifications of consumerist decadence on spiritual wellbeing are
pervasive. The urge to overconsume is everywhere. Try finding a unit
price of a single item that is cheaper than buying in bulk. Economic
considerations aside, the commercial appeal to the baser hunter-gatherer
mentality always pushes, "Why have one when you can have three?!"
Value meals, bulk household supplies, combo insurance premiums, BOGO
clothing ... You name it, we bloat it, then encourage all our friends to
join in. We over eat, we over consume, we overspend, frequently all at
once.
...
Individuals who overeat, over-consume and hoard may be poorly
balanced spiritually. The etheric field is comprised of the body, the
chakra system, the body's meridians, and the subtly perceivable
electrical and ethereal space around the whole works. What we call life
force (chi, ki or prana, depending on your cultural influence) moves
smoothly throughout the etheric field when we're healthy, connecting us
with the etheric fields of others, of the planet, etc. When we're not
well, the flow of life force gets out of balance; thus, we don't connect
so well with our environment.
Looking specifically at the chakra system -- seven or more primary
energy bridges roughly visualized along the spine -- we can see and
measure our stages of development in the formed world. Roughly
speaking, our upper spiritual chakras allow us to connect into the soul
realm; thus, they connect us with our spiritual purpose. The lower
earth chakras root us into the nature realm, giving us the tools to
manifest our purpose. When chakra imbalance manifests in overactive
Earth chakras and under-active spiritual chakras this state indicates
more energy is devoted to material "stuff" than to tapping into the
soul's needs. The imbalance can also occur the other way. An
overactive crown and under-active root indicates too much emphasis on
escapist dreaming of spiritual plans, leaving us without the motivation
to actually enact them. When we fall out of etheric balance, we
generally don't feel well emotionally, physically or both, and our lives
stagnate.
...
Another spiritual factor influencing the drive to overconsume is
commonly called soul loss, or what I think of as "soul shelving." When
we suffer a trauma from which we feel we aren't moving on, the shamanic
narrative interprets that state as a facet of the soul having become
inaccessible. Everyone experiences soul loss at some point, as it is a
natural state of healing and growth. When we need access to that soul
aspect and can't reconnect with it problems arise, such as chronic
patterns of depression, distress in relationships and in fulfilling
personal obligations. If soul "loss" isn't recognized for the spiritual
lack that it is, we attempt to fill ourselves with anything that will
temporarily make us feel alive.
...
Disregard for the self reflects disregard for the environment. In his
book, "Green Psychology: Transforming Our Relationship to the Earth,"
Ralph Metzner describes that interconnectedness as resulting in
ecocide.
Modernized humans, by virtue of how we live, are at war with Nature.
The trash from living lavishly has to be discarded in some ocean, some
forest. The resources to supply our demand have to be extracted from
some precious naturescape. By harming the planet we're harming
ourselves, and vice versa. On a level closer to home, we look again at
the etheric field, through which every thing is connected. What we
don't heal in ourselves we pass on to others. It shows up in our
relationships, our children, our work performance. It affects how we
live in the space around us, how we treat ourselves and others. Our
obligation to heal our spiritual wounds lies not only with ourselves but
to every thing.
******************
Please see HERE for the entire article...
And, speaking of chakras and the etheric body, as it connects with the teachings of The Urantia Book, please see this study which connects the chakras with the adjutant mind spirits and the five (so far) epochal revelations of God to man.
Also, it might be helpful to read about the soul and its importance - how to grow it, and how to keep it healthy throughout your life. Finally, a quote from The Urantia Book about materialism:
195:6.7
The mechanistic naturalism of some supposedly educated men and the
thoughtless secularism of the man in the street are both exclusively
concerned with things;
they are barren of all real values, sanctions, and satisfactions of a
spiritual nature, as well as being devoid of faith, hope, and eternal
assurances. One of the great troubles with modern life is that man
thinks he is too busy to find time for spiritual meditation and
religious devotion.
Materialism reduces man to a soulless automaton and constitutes him
merely an arithmetical symbol finding a helpless place in the
mathematical formula of an unromantic and mechanistic universe.
But whence comes all this vast universe of mathematics without a Master
Mathematician? Science
may expatiate on the conservation of matter, but religion
validates the conservation of men’s souls—it
concerns their experience with spiritual realities and eternal values.
The materialistic sociologist of today surveys a community, makes a
report thereon, and leaves the people as he found them. Nineteen
hundred years ago, unlearned Galileans surveyed Jesus giving his life
as a spiritual contribution to man’s inner experience and
then went out and turned the whole Roman Empire upside down.
Labels:
overconsumption
soul
Kelley Harrell
chakras
Urantia Book
materialism
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