Open-Secrets

Tag: spiritual guidance

  • Crazy Guidance Spiritual

    Spiritual Guidance Works for Crazy People

    What a day last Thursday was. With two big projects about to launch and the normal work load to attend to the day was like a walk in the Gobi desert – long, hard and brutal. crazy-spiritual-guidanceI found myself going south on a street to get to the freeway to go north.

    I was talking to my friend, Holly, and commented, “I must be crazy. I’m going south to get on the freeway, when I should be going north to do so.”

    No sooner were the words out of my mouth than I came upon the accident – a white Honda and a pedestrian in the road. It just happened.

    The older couple from the car were jabbering in Spanish and very upset. Obviously English was not their native language, they were distraught  and having trouble dealing with the situation.

    I checked with the woman lying on the pavement to determine her condition. She was conscious and did not seem seriously hurt. I got a coat to cover her, reassured the couple that things would be fine and called 911.

    After giving the details to the dispatcher, I noticed the struck pedestrian was sitting up, so I took a foam mat from the back of my Jeep and offered it to her so she could get up off the cold pavement. She could not remember her husband’s cell number, so we left a message on the home phone and I then asked her for the name of a friend that might have her husband’s cell number.

    By this time the paramedics had arrived. They ascertained that her condition did not seem serious and loaded her into the ambulance for transport. I managed to contact the family friend and got a message relayed to the husband.

    As I continued south to get on the freeway going north I was pondering – am I crazy or am I guided? I suppose I’m a little of each.

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  • Good and Evil

    Came across this today in Your Soul’s Compass:

    We’ve defined the Soul’s Compass as an intelligence located in the heart that’s capable of perceiving and responding to the good. In Hebrew there’s a concept called yetzer ha-tov – the urge to good. Sometimes yetzer -ha-tov is imagined sitting on one shoulder, and yetzer ha-ra’ – the evil urge – on the other. We grow in wisdom through our attempts to inquire into, and ultimately transcend the tension of those opposite impulses. The function of the evil urge is to clarify the good, the true, and the beautiful by motivating us to orient to the visible fruits of Spirit in our choices.

    St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit order, was the Catholic dean of discernment. In the late 15th century, when he was born, discernment was indeed centered on distinguishing good from evil in the classical theological sense of whether a thought came from God or the devil. In the theology of Ignatius, which reflected the thinking of the time, the devil was thought to be a crafty creature intent on leading us astray who was separate from our own more primitive, instinctive desires and inclinations. But regardless of where the “evil urge” originates – most likely from our own inborn nature and conditioning – we can easily distinguish it from the action of our higher nature by the inner state it produces, which Ignatius described as desolation in contrast to consolation.

    – Consolation is a feeling of inner warmth, of being loved by and loving the Creator. A state of interior joy, consolation is characterized by a quiet mind and an open heart. One feels inspired, confident, courageous… held and supported by unseen but beneficent forces.

    – Desolation is a state of interior disturbance that Ignatius called “darkness of the soul.” Sadness, sloth, and separateness from God are its hallmarks. Today’s common maladies of burnout, depression, despondency, addiction and hopelessness are all symptoms of desolation.

    This is fine example of how authors Joan Borysenko and Gordon Dveirin bring wisdom from the past and from differing traditions to their open-ended inquiry into spiritual guidance. Your Soul’s Compass is a great blend of insight from the past and present into the question – What is Spiritual Guidance?

  • Google God for Guidance

    I’m still reading Your Soul’s Compass and came across a paragraph I just have to share –

    Seeking spiritual guidance is often misunderstood as consulting a cosmic Dear Abby or a universal Google for advice on relationships, health, and illness, pathways to financial freedom, or even great car deals. While there’s guidance out there fabout everything in life, the kind that we’re most concerned with here sheds light on the spiritual journey itself. Are we going in a direction that helps us become less selfish, more compassionate, and peaceful? Or have we gone off on a tangent that keeps us tethered to old habits and perceptions, which perpetuate fear, greed and ignorance?

    That first sentence is wonderful. Many people seem to approach God, True Nature, Allah, Jehovah, Brahma… with this kind of cause and effect orientation which is clearly an anthropomorphism of the divine consciousness.

    I don’t want to get into that debate, but what do you think – can you Google God in your head or heart?

    Google-god

    I guess if that doesn’t work then…

    Dear Abby,

     

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  • Your Soul’s Compass

    Your_souls_compassMy buddy, Gordon Dveirin, and Joan Borysenko have a new book out – Your Soul’s Compass which examines the question: What is Spiritual Guidance?

    Many people feel guided. Some talk of angels, other spirits, some the heart and others their gut. This book examines spiritual guidance from the seekers perspective offering insight from some of today’s most recognized spiritual explorers and from wisdom of the ages.

    Your Soul’s Compass is for those seeking a deeper sense of authenticity – living from a real place; being true to what connects us all; integrating one’s doing with one’s being.

    By the time you’re finished with this book you will feel a compassionate kindness for the world and a calm acceptance of who you are. – From an Amazon Review

    Order Your Soul’s Compass

     

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