My Spiritual Journey (Ways/Paths) is via this Journaling of my Learning, Understanding, and Practices


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


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)

The tendency of goals is to become more important than the quality of process through which they are realized.Living Presence, p150

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

The quest (search for meaningful patterns and any divine origins) is real and the myths were anchored in reality. What true religion has always done is open the door to this symbolic universe, to the world of the soul that is the primary access point for the spirit world. Healthy religion teaches us how to see, how to see more clearly, and how to see things all the way through. Every person and every event the man encounters is a necessary and grace-filled occasion. There is no wasted time, no useless characters, no random happenings. All has meaning. It is a wholly enchanted universe; God is in all things waiting to speak and even to bless. The quest is always a descent, always a terror, and for those who know the bigger story, always participation in a miracle.(Rohr)

It was called a “quest”—seeking the right question, unlike today’s insistence on the right answer. To go on a spiritual quest is inherently tied to asking life’s deeper questions: We cannot go on a quest until we know what the question is. Unless we feel it, unless we go down into the grief, into the depths, into the great unconscious, we won’t usually know the deeper answers. (Rohr)

My college years:

- I saw a collage/mosiac on the wall of my bedroom of Jesus' face which was made up of various other people's faces. I percieved this as God being broken up into each individual person and worried that He would not be whole again until mankind is perfectly harmonized. Yet, hopefully, God must also have Faith that we will.See Hologram

- I started to think of music lyrics as God singing to us, ie. Nights in White Satin: Just what the truth is I can't say any more 'Cause I love you Yes I love you



My Conversion to Catholicism:

- Im 1992-3? I went thru the RCIA program and learned Catholicism at a fairly deep level. After my conversion from a non-practicing Methodist to a gun-ho practicing Catholic I started saying prayers while jogging and started thinking about what the Holy Trinity meant. Via my rational reasoning (and GRACE) and some "Ah" moments, I have now come to the ideas presented here.

- I discovered the Spiritual Renewal Center (SRC) and for a few years attended many classes and took out many books from their library.

See Books I have read

- During '93 to '96 I developed my 'Spiritual Nuggets' wiki (click on link)



My Transistion from religious to spiritual:

I continued reading the bible, commentaries, cathecists, Pope books, Saints, Mystics, history of the church, and Eastern religions and books not included in Bible (apocrypha), ie. Book of Thomas

Some favorite authors were Thomas Merton, William Barry, Borg, Fox, Johnson, Keating,

and Willigis Jager: Search for the Meaning of Life: Essays and Reflections on the Mystical Experience, Contemplation: A Christian Path



Some Previous Points/Reflections in the Journey:

I have developed my own version of prayers (click here)

Some things I previously meditated on are:



My Current Point in the Journey:

I'm still Catholic because I don't want to shoot out the baby (Jesus) with the bath water (Religion/Dogma/Catholicism)

I'm trying to be more 'humble' and I'm trying to do 'minimalist living'

I'm trying to know God Mystically

Recently realized that being receptive is the key.

Recently learned that the body, mind, and heart (emotions) all need to be active together.

For 1 of my most recent inspiration, see Love and Redemptive

One of my most recent reflection was the Gift of gifts as being our appreciation/gratitude for our gifts, see 'Seek the Treasure' chant

Another recently, walking with God again, like in the Garden, see see God's presence

Meditating on what 'divinity within' really means see 'Know the Treasure Within'

My daily routine of practices consists of:

And then occasional practices by:

In the world, but not of the world (John 17:15)

Also see CAC.org / Richard Rohr's True Self

see Practices since they are the journey

DualityNonduality
Either/orBoth/and
Reflection and Meditative prayer: using the head, intellect, and resoningUnknowing, Faithful, Mystical and Contemplative prayer: prayer of the heart that seeks its roots inthe very source and ground of our being which is divinity/love within
Understanding/explicit, consciousnessMystery/hidden/paradox/implicit, faith and intuition
Life of Morality and purityLife of Love
Salvation via MeritSalvation via Grace
False/exterior self/EgoTrue/inner Self
Earth and HeavenOneness of the Universe
Separation/part/differientiationUnity/whole/Integral
Oppression:by disease, disorders, infirmities, fear, stress, rejection, guilt, bitternessChoice to be freed/liberated from: oppression, sin, death via submission to God's ways
Indepedence of selfDependence/surrender on God, descent into our nothingness, helplessness, and sinfulness.
IllusionTruth: God's grace emptying our minds and hearts "in order to fill them with a higher and purer light which is 'darkness' to sense and to reason."'
Light and DarknessShades of grey
ConformityDiversity
Divine and humanDivine within humans
Paraise in heavenParadise on earth
Individually/personallyCollectively
GospelsSong of Songs, Gospel of Thomas
Western religionEastern religions
ImmanentTranscendent
Denial and rejectionAcceptance to embrace the everyday realities of life
Journey to a destination/questJourney as a way/practice

Symbols for human and God

HumanityDivinity / God
Drop of waterThe Ocean
??


ALONG THE WAY - Some Enlightening / Reflective Thoughts:

Sacramental universe (SU) is a conception of the universe as sacred, a holy temple wherein divinity and creatures play, co-create, and bestow grace. According to the medieval Christian philosopher Thomas Aquinas, "God has produced a work in which the divine likeness is clearly reflected—the universe itself." All beings possess intrinsic worth, participating in divine beauty; each being is a "Cosmic Christ" or "Buddha nature," reflecting divine radiance.

The opposite of faith isn't doubt, it is certainty. (p 200, Freeing Jesus)

The opposite of fear isn't courage, it is love. Following Jesus is moving away from fear and toward love. (p 200, Freeing Jesus)

The journey is BOTH a destination (goal) AND it is the way/path (practices).

Beginner’s mind is one’s mind before the hurts of life have made us cautious and self-protective. Jesus says the only people who can recognize and be ready for what he’s talking about are the ones who come with the mind and heart of a child. It’s the same reality as the beginner’s mind. Otherwise you’re not seeking truth; you’re seeking to be in control. (Rohr)

We don’t need to know — which is faith because it is willingness to live with a certain degree of humility.

The canonical gospels emphasize 'right belief' as the basis for salvation, whereas wisdom gospels emphasize 'right practice'. (p40,Mary Magdalene)

The end of the spiritual journey is to become disciples who realize that God is enough. (p75, Oneing: Transitions)

Pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.(1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) Pray can be reflect, think, be in the now, aware, an experience connected me to something deep and true within, like Adam walking with God in the garden.

2nd coming: Contemplation is the “second gaze” through which we see something in its particularity and yet also in a much larger frame.

I try to meditate on the Lord's "Our Father" prayer daily

God is the coming together of opposites and realized thru paradox

God is realized thru an unknowing knowing and see knowing God intuitively

COMPASSION, COMPASSION, COMPASSION!!!

GRATITUDE, GRATITUDE, GRATITUDE!!!

God is wholly

Full circle back to God as a mosiac

I Am That I Am

God's Presence - Love is all around