Spirituality
and Practice
Spirituality
and practice always go together if your spirituality is genuine and
relevant to your life. There is no such thing as spirituality that
remains theory or just in the head and does not go down to your hands
and feet.
There
are many spiritual practices such as the practice of being
kind to creation of whatever kind, visible or invisible, plant or
animal or human, or inanimate; meditating; contemplating; believing;
hoping; loving, etc.
What
is important is that you choose a spiritual practice and focus on
this for some time until it becomes part of your flesh, blood and
subconscious and lifts you up in your journey to ever greater union
with the Spirit. In this way the practice helps you lighten life's
load as you live on this planet Earth.
Criteria
for Choosing a Spiritual Practice
There
are three basic criteria for choosing a spiritual practice: need,
desire, and leading of the Spirit.
The
first question to ask is: What is your spiritual need at this
present time? You think that you are not so confident with your
work. So you need the practice of believing or faith. Or you think
that you have the tendency to be dishonest and this is bothering you
now. So you need the spiritual practice of telling the truth or
acting honestly.
The
second question is: What do you desire in your life in order to
progress in personal development or spiritual growth? The answer to
this question may be the same as your answer to the first question or
may be not. You may answer this question by saying, My desire now is
to be more confident with my ability to perform my work. In this
case the two questions have the same answer.
But
there may be cases when the answers are not the same. You feel you
need more faith but you think that you desire to know why you got to
this point in your life when you lack faith. In this case the
spiritual practice you desire is to meditate on your past life and
trace the path to your lack of faith.
And
the third question you need to ask when selecting a spiritual
practice is: What practice does the Spirit inspire me to do? Again
the answer to this question may be the same as your answer to the
first and second question but it may also be different. The Spirit
may inspire you instead to be compassionate with others because in
this way you gain confidence in your work and progress faster in your
spiritual journey.
Taking
into account these three basic criteria you ask the Spirit which of
the spiritual practices he wants you to take up as your first choice.
But do not just ask this question. Go first to what you need and
what you desire because usually the Spirit works through these areas
of your life.
How
to Know When You Have Integrated the Spiritual Practice
If
you are faithful in your spirituality and practice there will come a
time when you will no longer consciously perform this practice. It
shall have become second nature to you or part of your personality.
This is the time when you have already integrated it in your life and
then you can go on choosing another spiritual practice.
Going
back to our example, there will come a time when you become more and
more confident with yourself that you shall have automatically
developed the mentality that you can do all things that is given to
you to do. Paul the Apostle reached this stage when he wrote, I can
do all things through him who strengthens me.
When
you reach this stage in your spiritual practice, choose another
practice which you can develop. It may be the practice of hoping for
better things in your life, or some other practice.
There
Is No End to Spirituality and Practice
Yes,
there is always a spiritual practice which you can choose to develop.
You will not lack spiritual practices to develop, even in old age.
As you grow old you will need the spiritual practice of enjoying more
the life you will live after you depart from this planet Earth.
Enjoyment of this life hereafter while you are still physically
present here will give you strength to carry on the remaining days of
your life with ever greater vitality and joy.
Spirituality
and practice always go together. As you grow in spirituality you
will also develop more and more spiritual practices which will make
your life more meaningful and more enjoyable, and more helpful to
others.
for your
spiritual growth
for your health
for learning
about the new trends around us
for earning
some income from the Internet
Here
are your links to download the e-books for FREE. To download a copy
of A NEW CHRIST by Wallace D. Wattles click this website
http://bit.ly/anewchrist.
To download a free copy of A NEW EARTH by Eckhart Tolle click this
website http://bit.ly/ebookanewearth.
I hope that you enjoy reading these free e-books and profit much
from them, as I have also profited greatly from them.
