My Spiritual Journey is via this Journaling of my Learning, Understanding, and Practices
Our journey to “know” God requires not just ideas and information, but actual making/creating, to translate our ideas into real objects and physical movements.(Rohr)
So faith must come through the knowledge of God. That’s the reason Romans 10:17 says faith comes by hearing the Word of God. The amount of faith that you operate in is directly proportional to the revelation knowledge that you have of God through His Word.
St John is talking about truth being an implanted knowing in each of us—an inner mirror, if you will. Today, many would just call it “consciousness,” and poets and musicians might call it the “soul.” The prophet Jeremiah would call it “the Law written in your heart” (31:33), while Christians would call it the “Indwelling Holy Spirit.” These terms are largely interchangeable.(Rohr)
God declares, “I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings” (Hosea 6:6)
The perception of God's presence is highly personal, and it can evolve and change throughout your life. It's essential to approach this search with an open mind and heart, allowing your own experiences and beliefs to guide you on your spiritual journey:
1. By Spiritual Practices: Engage in practices that foster a connection with the divine. This can include prayer, meditation, mindfulness, worship, or participating in religious rituals. These practices can help create a receptive state of mind and open yourself up to experiencing the presence of God.
2, By Reflect on Personal Experiences: Look for moments in your life where you may have felt a sense of awe, wonder, or transcendence. These experiences can occur in nature, during times of personal growth, or in moments of deep connection with others. Reflecting on these experiences can help you recognize the presence of something greater than yourself.
3. By Seek Guidance from Sacred Texts: Many religious traditions have sacred texts that offer insights into the nature of God and ways to experience the divine. Exploring and studying these texts can provide guidance and inspiration on how to connect with and sense the presence of God.
4. By Cultivate Awareness and Mindfulness: Practice being present in the moment and cultivate an awareness of the world around you. By developing mindfulness, you can become more attuned to the subtle signs and synchronicities that may indicate the presence of God in your life.
5. By Seek Community and Guidance: Engage with like-minded individuals who share similar beliefs and seek their guidance. Joining a religious or spiritual community can provide support, encouragement, and opportunities to discuss and explore your spiritual journey.
The presence of God may not come in a dramatic or tangible way. It might be a gradual and subtle process. Be patient, keep exploring, and trust your own intuition and inner experiences. (ChatGPT,"How can I sense the presence of God")
THE JOURNEY IS BOTH DESTINATION AND WAY
see It's a Sacramental Universe
All you need is love and humilty
see my meditations and prayer along the way, especially gratitudes
Jesus explains how he embodies a way of being in this world [that is] so close to the heart of God that God can be known in and through Jesus. Two spiritual journeys—the interior one toward knowing our true self and knowing God, and the one directed outward into the world to enact God’s justice and love. These two movements comprise the way of Jesus. This quest is a mapless journey—there is no single road—the only guides to it are nature, saints, poetry, song, and Spirit. It is a journey without destination. There is no map. Your soul will lead you.(Rohr)
The restoration of wonder is the beginning of the inward journey toward God.
My journey is really my ways or my paths. I stay on the ways/paths via the following practices:
- journaling of my learning and understanding with this website
- spirit moving music, especially where I interpret lyrics spiritually
- reading books, web, emails of religion and spiritually
- attending educational classes and seminars
- prayers, reflections, and meditations
- Christain rituals like going to church, baptism, weddings, funerals
- realizing my need for more/better people connections
- realizing my shadows and vices
If you do not encounter radical grace, being loved in your unworthiness, the spiritual journey will not continue. See Grace (Rohr)
Authority ultimately rests on the individual, who must live and embody the teachings in their own fully realized way. (p17, Zen end the Gospel of Thomas) See Gospel of Thomas logion 12
Jesus does not save us; becoming like Jesus saves us. Jesus is our spiritual guide to this end.
Writer Joyce Rupp offers different metaphors for discovering the True Self, a journey that requires opening a door from within.
The journey of discovery has the power to change not only individual lives, but can transform our entire world.
That is why the journey to our true identity is a journey along the way to contemplation. (p55, Merton's Paradise Journey)
There is nothing that is not spiritual for those who have learned how to see.(Rohr)
See Suffering is how we get to Love
See Nonduality incorporates the negative
See a Sacramental Reality thru suffering and the Catholic Sacraments
See Presence via Grace and Practice
Journey Definition and Purpose
Why do we never get an answer when we're knocking at the door
With a thousand million questions about hate and death and war?
'Cause when we stop and look around us, there is nothing that we need
In a world of persecution that is burning in its greed
And when you stop and think about it
You won't believe it's true
That all the love you've been giving
Has all been meant for you
In Christianity the way/path/journey/practice is about transformation - dying to old way of being and born into a new way of being both individually and the world. (p198, Days of Awe and Wonder)
Journey is an act of traveling from one place to another. (Dictionary)
A spiritual journey is a process of reconciliation and education through enlightenment. It is as unique and individual as each individual is unique. (Google)
The purpose of a spiritual journey is rarely to find an answer; rather, it is a process of continually asking questions. (Google)
Life is indeed a journey, a journey of transformation much more than mere education about anything.6,p16
The movement beyond oneself as the reference point is the only real foundation for any spiritual journey.7,p43
When the self is transformed, it is a journey into powerlessness, the mystery of the cross. The cross is finally about how to stand against hate without becoming hate ourselves.6,p43
If, when the wounding happens, we find the grace and the freedom to somehow see that it’s not just a wound, but a sacred wound, then the journey progresses. (Rohr,9/14/20)
Ecstasies are essential; they are seeds, glimpses of that fullness to which we are called. However, they are not the Journey itself, not transformation, not mystical union, not enlightenment. They set us on the road—perhaps they are even glimpses of the destination—but we have not yet arrived until the seeker is transformed into that which she seeks. (Rohr,6/11/21)
“How you get there is where you will arrive.” In the whole scheme of things, it seems that how one gets there is the important part. When it’s done with God at the center, it will lead to arriving exactly where we need to be.
Finding the way to where our true heart lies is the great journey of spiritual life.12,p34