1 Being Universal/Spiritual
The crux of this is to not limit our perception of God through the filter
of any one faith or creed. Those who consider themselves to be universal
will find the Truth, Love, Perfection and Beauty of God in many, perhaps
most of the world's religions and indeed beyond them. There are many different
paths that can lead to the same destination. God, the Divine is to be discovered
in many miraculous and wondrous ways. Those who are universal are likely
to see God as multicultural, reaching out to each of his children in a multitude
of different forms. Some of these are recognised within the world's religions.
Just as there are no limits to Creation, or to the Divine imagination, we
can place no limits on manifestions of the Divine.
This is not meant in any way to detract from anyones religious
beliefs, rather to enhance them. You may even have a preference for one
particular religion but an appreciation of the Divine existing in others.
2 Our Inherent Spiritual Perfection
Our spirits our inherently perfect and complete. We can find the answers
to all our questions in a quiet place within. With patience, faith, perseverance
we can realise our own inherent spiritual perfection, as reflections of
the Divine. We can have Divine Experiences NOW. Our spirits are complete
and perfect NOW. At some point we have forgotten this. We all have that
Divine Spark within. The Divine Spark is real. It is Divine. We just need
to remember and realise that this is so. There are no real limitations to
the positive and wondrous experiences that we can have. It is we who limit
ourselves, often in beliefs that we have been brought up with. True spirituality
is Positivity; Positive Self Belief. By focusing on our imperfections, we
are limiting ourselves. WE HAVE AN INNOCENCE AND PURITY WITHIN. We were
born that way, we have always been that way. We need to wake up and remember
that this is so. Then anything is possible!
3 Experiencing Divinity.
We experience more of the Divine as we go within ourselves, in quietness
and solitude. Eventually as we progress we experience the Divine in everything.
The journey is one of Self - Discovery. With patience and perseverance,
we start to experience inner peace and our hearts open up more and more
to love. We are discovering the infinite love and peace within ourselves,
which is our heritage. Elsewhere in the site we will talk in more detail
about DHYANA, a form of fine meditation, which is less about method or even
open-mindedness than open heartedness.
4 Inward Focus.
Too often our focus is on the external. It is obvious that we sometimes
need to stop and recharge our batteries. Doing this most effectively is
a remembering of who we really are. It is a Divine experience. We can do
this in silence, stillness, with patience and without expectation. Expectation
is normally past based and can limit the freshness of the moment. We just
sit, knowing that our spirit is inherently perfect and complete; experiencing
all the love and beauty that exist within our hearts, going deeper into
that experience of love.
Isn't it sad that in our normal everyday lives we never give
time to our inner being. We are chattering, working, driving the car, watching
television, playing sports, browsing the web, playing a computer game, visiting
a local bar or eating out in restaurants. No wonder we eventually become
depleted or exhausted, we never feel that we are fully recharged or completely
happy, even in attaining all our material goals. There is still something
missing.
We think that we enjoy our own company with a quiet evening at home, reading
a book, or listening to some music. Yet even then we are immersed in outside
distractions and entertainment. We are running away from our true selves.
Only in silence, stillness and solitude will we begin to discover our True Nature, our inherent joyfulness, perfection and peace. It is only there that we can fully recharge. It is time for self- compassion and self nourishment. We can finally give ourselves the time that we deserve and crave. The rewards are rich! Let's be in silence, stillness, solitude, and experience more fully our inner riches, especially those of the loving heart.
5 The Art of Being
This is living life to the full in the Moment. Being Present. Being…..
Being…. Being. We spend so much of our time not really in the moment,
IN THE NOW. How enriched our lives would be if we could bring our focus
more into the present moment. Often our thoughts take us to the past or
we worry about some future event, even though our worries hardly ever materialize
and are conditioned by the past.
If we take a simple example such as eating, this could be really enhanced if we really gave ourselves over to it and were really present. How can we even taste our food if we are all the while thinking about a conversation we had earlier or something we need to do at work the following day? How can we be present to the beauties in Nature or all the love and blessings in our lives, when we live so much of our lives conditioned by our pasts. No wonder life becomes stale and seems to lack vitality, and freshness, nothing really excites us any more. We need to regain our child-like natures, our inherent innocence. We need to throw off the shackles of the past. Have you noticed children are so fresh and in the moment, often fearless? They have not yet built up the histories of worries, disappointments, or negative conditioning that we have.
If we don't live in the moment than we are not fully living our lives NOW. Let's be fresh and innocent. Let's experience love, beauty, and majesty in THE NOW. Give ourselves over to love. Be present to the love we share with loved ones NOW. Forget about yesterday, any past experiences that colour today's relationships. Let tomorrow take care of tomorrow. Let's see the beauty and the best in everyone NOW.
6 The Universal Law of Attraction.
Like attracts Like.
We tend to attract into our lives those who are reflections of ourselves.
With a positive attitude we will attract positive experiences and people.
This is related to the section on 'Our Inherent Perfection' above. We need
to develop our own positive philosophy to enhance this process.
In the East, they often talk about Karma, the law of cause and effect. You could describe this as 'What goes around comes around'. What we give out in the world will always come back to us eventually. It always comes back to us internally. In hurting others we ultimately hurt ourselves. We will close our hearts down at some level, and it will take special efforts from us to undo the damage we may have done. Many religions talk about the advantages of prayer. Likewise on a universal path, if we make efforts, by undertaking an inward spiritual journey, our hearts will definitely be opened again, and we will make a very positive contribution in the world. Situations will arise in our lives that will allow us to make reparation.
6 Positive Energy
We can make a difference in the world not just by what we do but by what
WE BE. In some ways this might be considered superior to taking action.
Obviously we need to do both. We change the world by first changing who
we are in it. None of this is new, but how true! By changing ourselves,
undertaking our inner spiritual journey, developing in a positive and loving
manner, we naturally help others. We do not need to say anything, still
people will feel something by being around us. They sense the lovingness
of our being, that we are on their side, that we are open and honest and
to be trusted. We are a safe place for them. They feel appreciated, unconditionally
loved and accepted by us. Even people who we had difficulties with in the
past will sometimes melt in the presence of such positivity and love. At
the very least we are so positive and loving that we are no longer affected
by their negativity. We feel compassion for them and wish them well.
On the other side of this, when we put negative feelings out into the world or think negatively of others then this is how we will tend to experience people and the world as negative and unpleasant. People are naturally intuitive at some level they sense that we do not like or care for them and will act accordingly.
This means that our experience of the world will change as we develop ourselves in a positive way. We will tend to bring out the best in others by bringing out the best in ourselves.
