SPIRITUAL PRACTICE #3
Anything done for its own sake, to go inward, not to look good or perform, that is regular, enjoyable and sustainable and that gives balance and equanimity can be considered a spiritual practice. As in "Other" in the figure - playing a musical instrument, painting, dancing ...
When folks come to me for divinations they are often surprised when the bones say that their spiritual practice is lacking. When I ask them what they do, the practices they seem to lack are either related to their meditations not being active or embodied or not in any way involved in connecting with their spirit guides and "asking to receive" through the container of an altar.
There are basically two kinds of meditation; Active and Passive. Most of us are more familiar with Eastern Passive meditation – calming the mind so that we can attain a clear blue sky or a pond without ripples. This differs from the Ancestors’ concept of Active Meditation.
There is a difference between passive meditation and active meditation.
Passive meditation makes the effort to calm the mind from inner stimulus.
Passive meditation seeks to disengage from mental activity while active engages mental faculties to a directed focus.
Passive meditation is meant to achieve a mind empty of thoughts. It is done to better one’s state of being.
Active meditation actually animates and intensifies inner thoughts to help concentrate, reflect and contemplate. It is rather to ponder, reflect and focus until one is lost in the thought of imagining or sensing until one becomes one with it.
It engages mental faculties to a directed focus to enhance connection to the Self and the Infinite One in whose image we are made. It can also reprogram the Subconscious positively.
Active meditation involves both intellect and emotion.
Through meditation and imagery we connect mentally, emotionally and spiritually with that perfection we ultimately will embody.
We need to see ourselves in a new way, not just as someone striving and trying but as someone already having succeeded; not just intending or wanting but already at the desired level, free from all negative energy.
Guided imagery is also a powerful way of enhancing the Inner Healer and our life force to heal.
Many Eastern meditations are Mind-Passive. Vipassana or mindfulness meditation is Mind-Active - focusing on internal and external sensations to keep away from the flow of our thoughts.
Body meditative can be Active or Passive. Active as in Yoga asanas, Tai Chi, Chi Gong etc. Passive when it is done to us, such as massage, acupressure, rolfing etc.
Pranayama or breath meditation is distinctly sensory and active as are the postures in yoga - two of the eight limbs of the yoga path.
“Kabir says; what is God, the breath within the breath.”
God’s breath is heard in quietness and felt in stillness (and in connecting with the breath itself.)
Beware the noises and clamor of ego which drown at the Divine whisper. The Ancestors
The Creator wants a personal relationship with each of us. Kabbalah states that the Infinite One is playing "hide and seek" but no-one wants to engage, as in
"Search for me and you will find Me, seek me with all your heart and I will let you find Me." Jeremiah
All Four Beings of nature; Still, Growing, Wild and Talking are all animated by the breath of the Divine - each of us with a different vibration.
The breath that is in all beings emanates from the sacred wellspring making us one – not the same but all one. The Ancestors
The moment This Breath is withdrawn they, and we will no longer exist. We are continually being breathed by the breath of the Creator. When we leave the planet and the “silver cord” that connects the soul to the body is broken, that breath is taken from us. Breath meditation allows us to connect to that small microcosmic part of us made in the image of the Divine, animated by His/Her breath. Think of how desperate we become when feel we cannot breathe.
Shamanic practices that connect us to our guides are usually done through ritual as prayer rather than prayer alone. They can be requests for healing, cleansing, protection or asking for scripted dreams.
A gratitude practice has also been shown to be a powerful way of achieving inner harmony and experiencing more joy in our lives. It can increase neuronal density in the prefrontal lobe as seen in advanced meditators on F.M.R.I.'s. It is also an essential part of shamanic practice. We must ask to receive but we should also show gratitude when we receive. Gratitude is how we help them and make them come "alive", in a sense, by allowing them to do service through our free will.
The senses are used to create a supportive climate.
The Ancestors teach that we need to feel it in our bodies!
Sangomas say;
“We pray by drumming, singing and dancing.”
And there is a Chassidic teaching that;
“With song one can open the gates of heaven.”
Special songs and chants have the power to awaken the dormant and reveal the hidden and stir the energies that heal and glorify.
Similarly ...
Bhajans are devotional songs with a religious themes or spiritual ideas, specifically among Indian religions. The term is also commonly used to refer to a group event, with one or more lead singers, accompanied with music, and sometimes dancing. In other words, also an embodied practice.
From my flesh (the body) shall I behold the Creator.
The route is through our senses
The soul's fulfillment is through the experience of the senses.
Soul conversation is not of the mind.
It is best heard with the senses.
Spiritual pursuits are to be practiced with pleasure, welcomed with gratitude. We are to experience delight of the senses and be absorbed in joy - therein is the Supreme Being.
The Ancestors
There are other ways of having an active and sensory meditation; drumming. painting, journaling, surfing, hiking or dancing can be active, joyful, embodied ways of going inward.
"Joy is not incidental to one's spiritual practice it is vital."
Rev Nachman
Nature as Spiritual Practice
God’s rivers of pleasure and good are fed by the watershed of the soul's capacity for enjoyment and of their emptying into its ocean. The Ancestors
For me nature is the best place for active sensory meditation and to connect with the sacred geometry of Divine Intelligence. We can also connect with the "magic of the ordinary" with the right intention – such as a feather, a spider’s web, a rainbow - without venturing into wild places.
Some shapes and designs lend themselves more easily and align more truly to a natural connection, for instance, the circle and the spiral. Their very form speaks to essence in creation.
Nature is the Creator's masterpiece and has multiple doors and window to spirit. Moreover when we expose ourselves to wild places we of necessity are balancing the numerous polarities such as; up/down, day/night, sun/moon, hot/cold, hungry/satiated, thirsty/quenched, exhausted/ rested. In addition we balance the polarity of the seasons and experience the soft fascinations; the sun and moon sets and rises, the mantra of the bush, the wind in the trees, the sounds of a babbling brook and the aromas and scents around us, This also helps us to find the middle way of the Buddha.
An Ancestor or Spiritual Guide Practice (see prior blog)
Click, play, meditate
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