1.God Is

Currently, I am enjoying several books – they all form part of my reflective reading. They come from quite different spiritual traditions. What captures my attention, is the way the authors weave together a common experience and appreciation of God and a practical path of growing a meaningful spirituality.

The first book is Sri Chinmoy's book 'God Is'. Sri was an Indian spiritual leader and meditation teacher, and I dip into this each morning as part of my spiritual practice. The book gathers together many insights expressed over the thirty years of teaching spirituality and meditation, and his comments reveal a deeply intimate experience of the mystery we call God. I have valued and enjoyed his simple, practical soul-wisdom.

For example, he described God as having “a living breath and the name of that Breath is us”. He suggests we have to learn to see God with our heart, and that at every moment, God is taking birth within us. We need to learn to open the eyes of our mind to comprehend God is already within us - and learn to open the eyes of our senses and soul to sense and feel the presence of God within us, and in all things.

He then draws a helpful distinction between Religion and Spirituality. Religion, he says, tells us there is a God and how to believe - an activity of our mind and intellect.

However, Spirituality, says it is not enough just to know God exists. We also have to see, feel, and grow into God. This we do in two ways.

The first is through prayer and meditation.  which provides solid spiritual strength.

The second, is to train ourselves to look for and seek God in everything. This is a soul-seeking - an  inner intuitive awareness we can develop with focus attention and practice - by deliberating seeking to sense the soul inside every part of creation and deliberately commune with this 'face of the Divine' whether it be in another person or another part of creation.

Kia mau te rongo me te pai ki a koe i to haerenga
May you find peace and good will on your journey.
Phil
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Sri Chinmoy, God Is: Selected Writings of Sri Chinmoy, Aum Publications, 2012.