Practice Over Parables

6/4/2021

Upon reading Jason Garner's thoughtful writing on Practice over Parables, I had the below reflection:

To me spirituality means relating to life with an open mind and an open heart. It means facing life with non-judgmental awareness. In order to be free from my suffering I need to go through it with compassion. I pay my kind attention to my own suffering without being carried away by distractions. I follow the same way when I relate to someone going through hard times. This is the way we evolve to thrive personally, interpersonally and collectively.

Spiritual evolution tales time. Having someone as a model in spiritual journey has been very helpful to me. In my culture such a person is called a guru. I was blessed to have my parents as my gurus. They not only believed in simple and humble living but they lived that way. Mahatma Gandhi also was model for my father and for me. Seeing people living modestly and humbly and learning from them provided a basis for my spiritual evolution. I am very grateful to them.

Spiritual evolution is an inner work. Reading books and articles like this one written by Jack Kornfleld, having a satsanga with like minded people, Introspection, meditation, and practicing mindfulness have been very helpful to me in my spiritual journey, It is a way of living.
Namaste.

2 Comments

Therese M. Griffin, MA, AZ-LISAC link

6/5/2021 10:06:32 am

Spiritual evolution tales time, sentence jumped out at me.

"Spiritual Evolution Tales of Time," I thought of my father Henry Earl as one of my first gurus, a gentle man from the back hills of Tennessee. He attended a one-room schoolhouse around 1913-1915 up to the 3rd grade with limited reading skills. He did know the prayer "As I Lay Myself To Sleep" by memory.

I looked up some original words written by Joseph Addison in an essay appearing in The Spectator on 8 March 1711:

When I lay me down to Sleep,
I recommend myself to God's Care;
when I awake, I give myself up to God's Direction.
(Revision by Therese changing his to God's Care or Direction)

Henry Earl was the most famous Uncle Earl throughout our extended family tree. He'd walk 100 miles if you needed his help as a friend or stranger. People could see the Spiritual glow as he gently walked and talked. Little children were never afraid; they felt safe.

1975, as my alcoholism grew out of control, I found other gurus' in a Recovery Group. They accepted me with all my roughness and toughness in words and action by asking me gently to keep coming back. The Cenacle Retreat Sisters took my cussing and doubting God while teaching me how to meditate and become still in silence. My teacher JP, introduced me to go deeper and trust. JP saw that I was brilliant even though I struggled with reading and writing.

Today, I realized once I was able to embrace empathy by looking where and what road of struggles that others had walked. I notice that we were more alike than different.

Today, when the world isn't going my way, I remind myself that 'I am blessed!"

Debbie Podwika

6/5/2021 06:17:54 pm

I really loved this piece from the author. I think many people do not want to practice meditation thinking of stereotypes of those who meditate and they do not want to be like that. People fear the unknown as well.

I do agree a bit on wanting real people as gurus, but I also like the idea of having higher goals and raising them as you achieve them. You just never know what you can achieve if you do not put limits on yourself...and as you always say..."Baby Steps" and "Slowly, Slowly, Slowly." :-)

Mindfulness

Practice Over Parables

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