Mapping Your Own Spiritual Journey

by: Amy Biddle

Here’s an important installment in the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, as adapted from Joseph Campbell. It’s a wonderful story of humanity’s spiritual journey. The Knights and their King were challenged to find the Grail in the midst of the woods that grew outside the borders of Camelot. This mission sounded easy enough, except that when they all rode into the woods as a group, the Knights got hopelessly lost and somehow ended up right back when they started.

After this happened several times, someone had a light bulb moment, and the Knights realized that each should enter the woods at a different point. No longer would they crash through the woods as an army, as if the Holy Grail could be taken by force. Each man was to make his own journey to find the Grail.

This led to a number of other adventures, of course. Anytime a knight was in the woods and came upon a path cut by another knight, he couldn’t just follow it for that reason. If he tried to do that, the knight would, once again, become hopelessly lost. And then he’d find himself back where he started. The knights who found the Grail were the ones who followed their own path, which was determined by prayer, intuition, and courage – not by others’ paths.

This is not to say the Knights lived lives of isolation. They gathered around their Table regularly, to enjoy the camaraderie of other braves souls. They shared their adventures and celebrated what they found.

That’s the way is it is with our spiritual journey, too. Throughout history, people have been trying to explore the mysteries of life in the safety of a pack. Again and again, that leads to confusion and disappointment, because the spiritual journey is one that must be taken alone. We can take heart from knowing that fellow seekers are in the same woods, and that at times our paths will cross. But if we try to rely on another’s light, we soon find ourselves in darkness and confusion.

You have your own light for your own spiritual journey. Sometimes you have just enough light to take the next step (then the next, and then the next), but as you come to trust that light, you find that this is enough. Sometimes you will share a path with others, but the light within you has the map for your own way.

So how can we see the map, even if all we’re supposed to see is the next step? “There’s a guidance for each of us,” Emerson wrote, “and by lowly listening we shall hear the right words.” He didn’t mean that we have to “lower ourselves” to listen, as if listening were something less-than. He meant that we have to get quiet, get close to the ground of our own being. We breathe and focus, and we find that even in the midst of adventures, there is a quiet place deep within us, from which our guidance speaks.

You can still learn something from other seekers, though. If you pay close attention to the stories they share, you’ll hear which “knights” are skilled in lowly listening. You can’t follow their path and expect to find your own spiritual awakening, but they can teach you to recognize the hallmarks of a genuine path. And when you recover your own Grail from deep in the woods, they’ll rejoice with you and listen to your stories.

Source

Robert Recommends...

• “The Secret” of Personal Change


• Zen and the science of Awe


• Thoughts on Self Awareness


• The Hero’s Journey


• Edgar Cayce on ESP and Psychic Phenomena


• The Meaning Of Life

The post Mapping Your Own Spiritual Journey appeared first on Robert JR Graham.

Zen and the science of Awe

The awe-inspiring distance normally perceived between humans and their gods through ritual, according to Joseph Campbell, is “the one great story of myth: that in the beginning we were united with the source, but that we were separated from it and now we must find a way to return.”

Restoring this original state between man and his spiritual sources is the promise of all the great systems of belief from from early hunting cultures to Christian theology where Jesus provides the path to God to Buddism, where oneness can be reached by following the tecahings of Buddha, to Islam, where reconciliation is achieved through submission to the will of al-Lah.

The ability of ritual to produce transcendent spiritual states is the result of of the effect of rhythmic ritualized behaviors such as prayer, music, meditation and physical exercise upon the hypothalamus and autonomic nervous systems, and eventually, the rest of the brain. These spiritual activities can lower blood pressure, decrease heart rate, lower rates of respiration, reduce levels of of the horomne cortisol, and create positive changes in the immune system according to Andrew Newberg et al in Why God Won’t Go Away -Brain Science and the Biology of Belief.

Posted by Casey Kazan.

Source

Robert Recommends...

• Mapping Your Own Spiritual Journey


• The Hero’s Journey


• The Meaning Of Life


• Seventh Journey – Reviewed By James W. Astrada


• The Language of the Soul


• Stephen Hawking – “Zen and the Science of Time Travel”

The post Zen and the science of Awe appeared first on Robert JR Graham.

Mapping Your Own Spiritual Journey

by: Amy Biddle

Here’s an important installment in the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, as adapted from Joseph Campbell. It’s a wonderful story of humanity’s spiritual journey. The Knights and their King were challenged to find the Grail in the midst of the woods that grew outside the borders of Camelot. This mission sounded easy enough, except that when they all rode into the woods as a group, the Knights got hopelessly lost and somehow ended up right back when they started.

After this happened several times, someone had a light bulb moment, and the Knights realized that each should enter the woods at a different point. No longer would they crash through the woods as an army, as if the Holy Grail could be taken by force. Each man was to make his own journey to find the Grail.

This led to a number of other adventures, of course. Anytime a knight was in the woods and came upon a path cut by another knight, he couldn’t just follow it for that reason. If he tried to do that, the knight would, once again, become hopelessly lost. And then he’d find himself back where he started. The knights who found the Grail were the ones who followed their own path, which was determined by prayer, intuition, and courage – not by others’ paths.

This is not to say the Knights lived lives of isolation. They gathered around their Table regularly, to enjoy the camaraderie of other braves souls. They shared their adventures and celebrated what they found.

That’s the way is it is with our spiritual journey, too. Throughout history, people have been trying to explore the mysteries of life in the safety of a pack. Again and again, that leads to confusion and disappointment, because the spiritual journey is one that must be taken alone. We can take heart from knowing that fellow seekers are in the same woods, and that at times our paths will cross. But if we try to rely on another’s light, we soon find ourselves in darkness and confusion.

You have your own light for your own spiritual journey. Sometimes you have just enough light to take the next step (then the next, and then the next), but as you come to trust that light, you find that this is enough. Sometimes you will share a path with others, but the light within you has the map for your own way.

So how can we see the map, even if all we’re supposed to see is the next step? “There’s a guidance for each of us,” Emerson wrote, “and by lowly listening we shall hear the right words.” He didn’t mean that we have to “lower ourselves” to listen, as if listening were something less-than. He meant that we have to get quiet, get close to the ground of our own being. We breathe and focus, and we find that even in the midst of adventures, there is a quiet place deep within us, from which our guidance speaks.

You can still learn something from other seekers, though. If you pay close attention to the stories they share, you’ll hear which “knights” are skilled in lowly listening. You can’t follow their path and expect to find your own spiritual awakening, but they can teach you to recognize the hallmarks of a genuine path. And when you recover your own Grail from deep in the woods, they’ll rejoice with you and listen to your stories.

Source

Robert Recommends...

• “The Secret” of Personal Change


• Zen and the science of Awe


• Thoughts on Self Awareness


• The Hero’s Journey


• Edgar Cayce on ESP and Psychic Phenomena


• The Meaning Of Life

The post Mapping Your Own Spiritual Journey appeared first on Robert JR Graham.

Zen and the science of Awe

The awe-inspiring distance normally perceived between humans and their gods through ritual, according to Joseph Campbell, is “the one great story of myth: that in the beginning we were united with the source, but that we were separated from it and now we must find a way to return.”

Restoring this original state between man and his spiritual sources is the promise of all the great systems of belief from from early hunting cultures to Christian theology where Jesus provides the path to God to Buddism, where oneness can be reached by following the tecahings of Buddha, to Islam, where reconciliation is achieved through submission to the will of al-Lah.

The ability of ritual to produce transcendent spiritual states is the result of of the effect of rhythmic ritualized behaviors such as prayer, music, meditation and physical exercise upon the hypothalamus and autonomic nervous systems, and eventually, the rest of the brain. These spiritual activities can lower blood pressure, decrease heart rate, lower rates of respiration, reduce levels of of the horomne cortisol, and create positive changes in the immune system according to Andrew Newberg et al in Why God Won’t Go Away -Brain Science and the Biology of Belief.

Posted by Casey Kazan.

Source

Robert Recommends...

• Mapping Your Own Spiritual Journey


• The Hero’s Journey


• The Meaning Of Life


• Seventh Journey – Reviewed By James W. Astrada


• The Language of the Soul


• Stephen Hawking – “Zen and the Science of Time Travel”

The post Zen and the science of Awe appeared first on Robert JR Graham.

Mapping Your Own Spiritual Journey

by: Amy Biddle

Here’s an important installment in the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, as adapted from Joseph Campbell. It’s a wonderful story of humanity’s spiritual journey. The Knights and their King were challenged to find the Grail in the midst of the woods that grew outside the borders of Camelot. This mission sounded easy enough, except that when they all rode into the woods as a group, the Knights got hopelessly lost and somehow ended up right back when they started.

After this happened several times, someone had a light bulb moment, and the Knights realized that each should enter the woods at a different point. No longer would they crash through the woods as an army, as if the Holy Grail could be taken by force. Each man was to make his own journey to find the Grail.

This led to a number of other adventures, of course. Anytime a knight was in the woods and came upon a path cut by another knight, he couldn’t just follow it for that reason. If he tried to do that, the knight would, once again, become hopelessly lost. And then he’d find himself back where he started. The knights who found the Grail were the ones who followed their own path, which was determined by prayer, intuition, and courage – not by others’ paths.

This is not to say the Knights lived lives of isolation. They gathered around their Table regularly, to enjoy the camaraderie of other braves souls. They shared their adventures and celebrated what they found.

That’s the way is it is with our spiritual journey, too. Throughout history, people have been trying to explore the mysteries of life in the safety of a pack. Again and again, that leads to confusion and disappointment, because the spiritual journey is one that must be taken alone. We can take heart from knowing that fellow seekers are in the same woods, and that at times our paths will cross. But if we try to rely on another’s light, we soon find ourselves in darkness and confusion.

You have your own light for your own spiritual journey. Sometimes you have just enough light to take the next step (then the next, and then the next), but as you come to trust that light, you find that this is enough. Sometimes you will share a path with others, but the light within you has the map for your own way.

So how can we see the map, even if all we’re supposed to see is the next step? “There’s a guidance for each of us,” Emerson wrote, “and by lowly listening we shall hear the right words.” He didn’t mean that we have to “lower ourselves” to listen, as if listening were something less-than. He meant that we have to get quiet, get close to the ground of our own being. We breathe and focus, and we find that even in the midst of adventures, there is a quiet place deep within us, from which our guidance speaks.

You can still learn something from other seekers, though. If you pay close attention to the stories they share, you’ll hear which “knights” are skilled in lowly listening. You can’t follow their path and expect to find your own spiritual awakening, but they can teach you to recognize the hallmarks of a genuine path. And when you recover your own Grail from deep in the woods, they’ll rejoice with you and listen to your stories.

Source

Mapping Your Own Spiritual Journey

by: Amy Biddle

Here’s an important installment in the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, as adapted from Joseph Campbell. It’s a wonderful story of humanity’s spiritual journey. The Knights and their King were challenged to find the Grail in the midst of the woods that grew outside the borders of Camelot. This mission sounded easy enough, except that when they all rode into the woods as a group, the Knights got hopelessly lost and somehow ended up right back when they started.

After this happened several times, someone had a light bulb moment, and the Knights realized that each should enter the woods at a different point. No longer would they crash through the woods as an army, as if the Holy Grail could be taken by force. Each man was to make his own journey to find the Grail.

This led to a number of other adventures, of course. Anytime a knight was in the woods and came upon a path cut by another knight, he couldn’t just follow it for that reason. If he tried to do that, the knight would, once again, become hopelessly lost. And then he’d find himself back where he started. The knights who found the Grail were the ones who followed their own path, which was determined by prayer, intuition, and courage – not by others’ paths.

This is not to say the Knights lived lives of isolation. They gathered around their Table regularly, to enjoy the camaraderie of other braves souls. They shared their adventures and celebrated what they found.

That’s the way is it is with our spiritual journey, too. Throughout history, people have been trying to explore the mysteries of life in the safety of a pack. Again and again, that leads to confusion and disappointment, because the spiritual journey is one that must be taken alone. We can take heart from knowing that fellow seekers are in the same woods, and that at times our paths will cross. But if we try to rely on another’s light, we soon find ourselves in darkness and confusion.

You have your own light for your own spiritual journey. Sometimes you have just enough light to take the next step (then the next, and then the next), but as you come to trust that light, you find that this is enough. Sometimes you will share a path with others, but the light within you has the map for your own way.

So how can we see the map, even if all we’re supposed to see is the next step? “There’s a guidance for each of us,” Emerson wrote, “and by lowly listening we shall hear the right words.” He didn’t mean that we have to “lower ourselves” to listen, as if listening were something less-than. He meant that we have to get quiet, get close to the ground of our own being. We breathe and focus, and we find that even in the midst of adventures, there is a quiet place deep within us, from which our guidance speaks.

You can still learn something from other seekers, though. If you pay close attention to the stories they share, you’ll hear which “knights” are skilled in lowly listening. You can’t follow their path and expect to find your own spiritual awakening, but they can teach you to recognize the hallmarks of a genuine path. And when you recover your own Grail from deep in the woods, they’ll rejoice with you and listen to your stories.

Source

Mapping Your Own Spiritual Journey

by: Amy Biddle

Here’s an important installment in the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, as adapted from Joseph Campbell. It’s a wonderful story of humanity’s spiritual journey. The Knights and their King were challenged to find the Grail in the midst of the woods that grew outside the borders of Camelot. This mission sounded easy enough, except that when they all rode into the woods as a group, the Knights got hopelessly lost and somehow ended up right back when they started.

After this happened several times, someone had a light bulb moment, and the Knights realized that each should enter the woods at a different point. No longer would they crash through the woods as an army, as if the Holy Grail could be taken by force. Each man was to make his own journey to find the Grail.

This led to a number of other adventures, of course. Anytime a knight was in the woods and came upon a path cut by another knight, he couldn’t just follow it for that reason. If he tried to do that, the knight would, once again, become hopelessly lost. And then he’d find himself back where he started. The knights who found the Grail were the ones who followed their own path, which was determined by prayer, intuition, and courage – not by others’ paths.

This is not to say the Knights lived lives of isolation. They gathered around their Table regularly, to enjoy the camaraderie of other braves souls. They shared their adventures and celebrated what they found.

That’s the way is it is with our spiritual journey, too. Throughout history, people have been trying to explore the mysteries of life in the safety of a pack. Again and again, that leads to confusion and disappointment, because the spiritual journey is one that must be taken alone. We can take heart from knowing that fellow seekers are in the same woods, and that at times our paths will cross. But if we try to rely on another’s light, we soon find ourselves in darkness and confusion.

You have your own light for your own spiritual journey. Sometimes you have just enough light to take the next step (then the next, and then the next), but as you come to trust that light, you find that this is enough. Sometimes you will share a path with others, but the light within you has the map for your own way.

So how can we see the map, even if all we’re supposed to see is the next step? “There’s a guidance for each of us,” Emerson wrote, “and by lowly listening we shall hear the right words.” He didn’t mean that we have to “lower ourselves” to listen, as if listening were something less-than. He meant that we have to get quiet, get close to the ground of our own being. We breathe and focus, and we find that even in the midst of adventures, there is a quiet place deep within us, from which our guidance speaks.

You can still learn something from other seekers, though. If you pay close attention to the stories they share, you’ll hear which “knights” are skilled in lowly listening. You can’t follow their path and expect to find your own spiritual awakening, but they can teach you to recognize the hallmarks of a genuine path. And when you recover your own Grail from deep in the woods, they’ll rejoice with you and listen to your stories.

Source

The Meaning Of Life

by: Margaret Paul, Ph.D.

Some say that the purpose of life is to seek happiness.

Is happiness the purpose, or is happiness the result of another purpose? Is happiness the meaning of life, or is happiness the result of discovering what has heart and meaning for you?

There is not one right answer to this question. The answer lies within each of us regarding what gives meaning to our life.

WHAT GIVES MEANING TO YOUR LIFE?

Perhaps, in seeking happiness, we discover what has heart and meaning for us. Is this how it is for you? Or is it the other way around for you? Is happiness for you the result of loving yourself and others? Do you find that when you are open and loving, that you feel filled with happiness?

Maybe love and happiness are inseparable. Maybe when we are happy, we are naturally loving, and maybe when we are loving, we experience happiness. If this is the case, then is the purpose of life is to seek happiness, or is the purpose of life to evolve in our ability to be loving and compassionate with ourselves and others?

In my view, it is not important to separate out love and happiness. What is important is to discover what gives your life meaning. In my experience, meaning always has to do with love – with loving yourself and discovering how you want to share your love with others. When you discover this, you will likely be happy.

Perhaps the meaning of life is to discover what has heart and meaning for you and, therefore, brings you happiness. The questions to ask yourself are:

• What has heart and meaning for me?







• What brings me joy?

FOLLOWING YOUR BLISS

Gillian decided early in her life that what had heart and meaning for her was getting married and having children. She had decided that if she did not have children by the time she was 43, that life was not worth living. She started working with me when she was 42, unmarried, childless, and contemplating taking her life.

In the course of her deep inner work, Gillian discovered another source of meaning in her life. She discovered that learning to be loving to herself – to the spark of God that she truly is – was extremely satisfying to her. As she practiced getting to know and love her true Self, she discovered another source of meaning – helping others. She realized that working in finance was not fulfilling to her and went back to school to become a chiropractor.

Gillian currently loves helping people attain excellent health. In addition, she adopted a 10-year old girl whose parents had been killed in an accident. She has found great joy and meaning in loving her adopted daughter.

Gabriel consulted with me because he was depressed. He had become an attorney because that is what his father was, but found that he disliked it. It held no heart and meaning for him. In his soul, Gabriel knew that he was a writer. He decided to “follow his bliss”, as Joseph Campbell encouraged us to do. While Gabriel is currently not making nearly the money he made as an attorney, he is finding his happiness. By choosing to love himself and share his love through his creativity, he is finding his joy.

Love, happiness, joy – perhaps they are all One. If you choose to pursue what has heart and meaning to you, you will likely find your joy.

Source

Robert Recommends...

• 
  


• 
  


• 
  


• The Language of the Soul


• 
  


• 
  


• 
  


• Change The World By Changing Yourself


• 
  


• 
  


• 
  


• Personal Power


• 
  


• 
  


• 
  


• The Gift of Family


• 
  


• 
  


• 
  


• Do You Get Frustrated With Others?


• 
  


• 
  


• 
  


• Does Psychotherapy Work?


• 
  


• 
  


• 
  

The Meaning Of Life

by: Margaret Paul, Ph.D.

Some say that the purpose of life is to seek happiness.

Is happiness the purpose, or is happiness the result of another purpose? Is happiness the meaning of life, or is happiness the result of discovering what has heart and meaning for you?

There is not one right answer to this question. The answer lies within each of us regarding what gives meaning to our life.

WHAT GIVES MEANING TO YOUR LIFE?

Perhaps, in seeking happiness, we discover what has heart and meaning for us. Is this how it is for you? Or is it the other way around for you? Is happiness for you the result of loving yourself and others? Do you find that when you are open and loving, that you feel filled with happiness?

Maybe love and happiness are inseparable. Maybe when we are happy, we are naturally loving, and maybe when we are loving, we experience happiness. If this is the case, then is the purpose of life is to seek happiness, or is the purpose of life to evolve in our ability to be loving and compassionate with ourselves and others?

In my view, it is not important to separate out love and happiness. What is important is to discover what gives your life meaning. In my experience, meaning always has to do with love – with loving yourself and discovering how you want to share your love with others. When you discover this, you will likely be happy.

Perhaps the meaning of life is to discover what has heart and meaning for you and, therefore, brings you happiness. The questions to ask yourself are:

• What has heart and meaning for me?



• What brings me joy?

FOLLOWING YOUR BLISS

Gillian decided early in her life that what had heart and meaning for her was getting married and having children. She had decided that if she did not have children by the time she was 43, that life was not worth living. She started working with me when she was 42, unmarried, childless, and contemplating taking her life.

In the course of her deep inner work, Gillian discovered another source of meaning in her life. She discovered that learning to be loving to herself – to the spark of God that she truly is – was extremely satisfying to her. As she practiced getting to know and love her true Self, she discovered another source of meaning – helping others. She realized that working in finance was not fulfilling to her and went back to school to become a chiropractor.

Gillian currently loves helping people attain excellent health. In addition, she adopted a 10-year old girl whose parents had been killed in an accident. She has found great joy and meaning in loving her adopted daughter.

Gabriel consulted with me because he was depressed. He had become an attorney because that is what his father was, but found that he disliked it. It held no heart and meaning for him. In his soul, Gabriel knew that he was a writer. He decided to “follow his bliss”, as Joseph Campbell encouraged us to do. While Gabriel is currently not making nearly the money he made as an attorney, he is finding his happiness. By choosing to love himself and share his love through his creativity, he is finding his joy.

Love, happiness, joy – perhaps they are all One. If you choose to pursue what has heart and meaning to you, you will likely find your joy.

Source

Robert Recommends...

• 
  


• The Language of the Soul


• 
  


• Change The World By Changing Yourself


• 
  


• Personal Power


• 
  


• The Gift of Family


• 
  


• Do You Get Frustrated With Others?


• 
  


• Does Psychotherapy Work?


•