JOYFUL WANDERING -- 59

+ Updated at 1:13pm EST on Friday, January 15, 2016

+ This post includes entries from Saturday, November 21, 2015 until January 15, 2016. Joyful Wandering posts 1 to 58 are found on The Abundancetrek Blog.   You can find them all here. Latest entries are at the top. If you would like to contribute, write JW in your subject line and send it to John@abundancetrek.com or put a comment on my Facebook page.

+ Daily Necessities 
Tips & pointers for building a spiritual life from scratch

Pray 
Meditate 
Be aware/Stay awake 
Bow 
Practise yoga 
Feel 
Chant and sing 
Breathe and smile 
Relax/Enjoy/Laugh/Play 
Create/Envision 
Let Go/Forgive/Accept 
Walk/Exercise/Move 
Work/Serve/Contribute 
Listen/Learn/Enquire 
Consider/Reflect 
Cultivate oneself/Enhance competencies 
Cultivate contentment 
Cultivate flexibility 
Cultivate friendship and collaboration 
Lighten up 
Celebrate and appreciate 
Dream 
Give thanks 
Evolve 
Love 
Share/Give/Receive 
Walk softly/Live gently 
Expand/Radiate/Dissolve 
Simplify 
Surrender/Trust 
Be born anew

from Awakening The Buddha Within by Lama Surya Das and found when scrolling down http://www.sapphyr.net/buddhist/buddhist-quotes.htm

+ Patheos offers 

Advent Two: Longing for Sunlight and Song by Jill Crainshaw. It begins: 

The songs and images of the Advent and Christmas season stir in many people a longing for peace and good will. But peace is hard to come by these days. Instead, violent world realities incite fear.

How can a fear-wearied world rejoice with songs of hope? How do we keep fear from taking over and destroying our capacity to love and care for each other and our neighbors with open hearts and minds?

+ DailyZen 12/2/15 > "If you have any desire to surpass others, or any thought of your own ability, this is egoism and possessiveness. These are sicknesses in the context of nirvana, so The Nirvana Sutra says, “Space can contain everything, but space does not entertain the thought that it can contain everything.” This is a metaphor for the disappearance of egoism and possessiveness, by which you proceed to indestructible concentration." - Hongren (602-675)

+ ‪#‎Advent‬ > http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/…/…/view/24493/advent+ The Spiritual Discipline of WAITING is a major theme of the season + One of the great spiritual practices related to waiting and patience id FASTING + Doesn't quite go along with everybody putting up their Christmas tree by now, does it? + Advent's great themes are hard to honor these days + Excerpt from this S&P resource for the season > As Pierre Teilhard de Chardin advised, we need to "trust in the slow work of God." That is what the Israelites did during their long sojourn in the desert and what Christians do during Advent.

+ The SpiritualLiteracy Blog offers "After Paris - Thoughts from Rabbi Lerner." Excerpt: "Lerner points out that the ancient strategies of revenge and payback should be out of the question; they lead only to more bloodshed. Healing will come only when we move beyond the unconscionable terrorist attacks of ISIS and the havoc the United States and other countries have reigned down on the innocent civilians in Syria and Iraq in drone attacks. He writes: 'As long as our resources (and here I include not only the U.S. and the West, but also China and Russia) are primarily focused on military, economic, cultural and political domination of the world, what we saw in Paris will become an increasing reality worldwide.'"

+ If you are on Facebook, I invite you to "like" and be inspired by the frequent (almost daily) photos and reflections offered on Weaving Home.  You can also go to The Weaving Home Blog offering wisdom regularly (often once a week). Here is an excerpt from the first post by Weaving Home creator Naomi Kelly, a Presbyterian pastor and a Spiritual Director:

We can plug into the Spirit of Christ in many ways, Weaving Home is one such guide to deepen your spiritual practices to enthuse and inspire, so that you are empowered to live out your calling to love God and each other.  

+ Spiritual Explorations posts have begun to accumulate on The Abundancetrek Blog. You can begin this series of posts at Spiritual Explorations -- 1 or you can find any one of the posts by going to abundancetrek.com/sepostsaccess.html.

JOYFUL WONDERING -- 1

+ updated at 1:07pm EST on Friday, January 28, 2011

+ ANYTHING GOES in this series of posts here on 2 of my blogs -- John A Wilde and The Abundancetrek Blog -- which I begin today, January 27, 2011.  Well, that doesn't mean I will share everything I think or believe. Not yet anyway.  But I will share a lot and I would sure welcome some support and encouragement and wisdom from fellow joyful wonderers.

+ The COFFEE BREAK SERIES OF POSTS will definitely continue and be a priority because I simply enjoy finding web pages filled with wisdom or important information on the subjects of COMPASSION, PEACE, JUSTICE and SUSTAINABLE ABUNDANCE.  The world needs far more of these things. 

+ On my Abundancetrek homepage I have changed my vision from "The New Church for the New Age" to THE NEW FAITH FOR THE NEW EARTH.  Have I become Post-Christian?  No, I don't think so.  As a matter of fact, I think I am becoming REALLY A CHRISTIAN as I open up more and more to wisdom and compassion from all over the planet.  We are lucky to live in an age when we can receive and realize the wisdom of so many great sages of the ages including many, many current sages.  A website which offers this wisdom on a daily basis is Spirituality and Practice, the best website on the planet by far. 

+ I haven't updated my CONNECTIONS GALORE PAGE recently but it will still get you to many of the best websites promoting Compassion, Peace, Justice and Sustainable Abundance.  Another place to look is right here on the sidebar where I continue to find  websites and web pages on these themes and more.

+ The need to BEGIN AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN is taught by many sages of the ages. We need a childlike awareness and appreciation of our constantly changing reality.  Nothing remains the same.  A great Zen Master particularly emphasizes this need.  I can't locate the book here in my study at the moment.  It should be on the Priority Shelf!

+ NEW JANUARY 28:

+ One of my favorite theologians is Harvey Cox.  Recently he wrote THE FUTURE OF FAITH.  In it, he quotes Einstein, one of my favorite scientists:

The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science. He who knows it not and can no longer wonder, no longer feel amazement, is as good as dead, a snuffed-out candle.

It was the experience of mystery--even if mixed with fear--that engendered religion. A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, of the manifestations of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty, which are only accessible to our reason in their most elementary forms--it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute the truly religious attitude; in this sense, and in this alone, I am a deeply religious man.

( I found this at http://einsteinandreligion.com/mysterious.html. It goes on there for another paragraph which is also profound but I disagree with his belief that we can't have a life beyond this one. There are too many experiences in my life which suggest that a life beyond this one is indeed likely but I agree with Einstein that punishment in eternity is not what God is up to.)

I will possibly come back to both Cox and Einstein in these posts since they among the most intriguing of the planet's are joyful wonderers, past and present.

COFFEE BREAK 244

+ Spirituality and Practice offers an Excerpt from Zen Heart: Simple Advice for Living With Mindfulness and Compassion by Ezra Bayda. Here's an excerpt from the excerpt: "When things upset us, we often think that something is wrong. Perhaps the one time this is most true is when we experience fear. In fact, as human beings, a huge portion of our energy is expended in dealing with anxiety and fear. Fear motivates how we act and react, and even how we dress or talk. But fear makes our life narrow and dark. It is at the root of all conflict, underlying much of our sorrow. Fear also blocks intimacy and love, and, more than anything, disconnects us from the Being Kindness that is our true nature." Read More.

AMAZING JOURNEY -- AJ4

+ The Amazing Journey continues. + Breathe. + Pray.

+ The Daily Lectionary readings include this verse: "Listen to me, my people, and give heed to me, my nation; for a teaching will go out from me, and my justice for a light to the peoples." -- Isaiah 50:4

+ In DailyZen today Zen Master Hui-neng (638-713) reminds us that wisdom and meditation are one and the same. Meditation means centering. Wisdom can only be realized in the act of centering.

+ We are all seekers of wisdom. St. Paul reminds us that God's foolishness exceeds human wisdom. We need to seek God's wisdom and the only way to do that is to engage in the spiritual practices. A Course in Miracles says that we are all required to take the course. The only free will we have is the decision to take it now or take it later. I recommend now! The course is not a book. The course is within you, within me, within us. The sages of the ages all teach us the same basic truths. No matter where we are on the journey of life, we can always become one with God instantly when we master the spiritual practices taught by the sages.

There are so many wonderful teachers of wisdom. Here are a few I like: Jesus, Buddha, Moses, Mohammad, Plato, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Paul, Lao-Tse, The Desert Fathers & Mothers, Rumi, Hafiz, John Calvin, Karl Jung, Nikos Kazantzakis, Aldous Huxley, Alan Watts, William Sloane Coffin, Ken Keyes, Daskalos, Helen Shucman, James Redfield, Caroline Myss, Elizabeth Lesser, John Biersdorf, Sallie McFague, Susan Jeffers, Joseph Naft, Shunryu Suzuki, Erich Schiffmann, Lama Surya Das, Karen Armstrong, Peter Russell, Walter Wink, Daniel Migliore, Diarmuid O'Murchu, Harrell Beck, Wayne Dyer, Louise Hay, Desmond Tutu, Marcus Borg, Bill Hudson, Don Postema, Mark Davidson, John Preston, Ted Blunk, Cheryl Little, John Kloepfer, Family & Friends.

Either later today or in future AJ posts, I'm sure more names will be added.

+ I often ponder the wisdom offered at The Church of I am. I hope you will visit this "church" too. It definitely enriches me as I continue to enjoy this amazing journey. You may find this "church" beneficial to you on your amazing journey.

AMAZING JOURNEY -- AJ3

+ The Daily Lectionary readings include this verse: "The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. Morning by morning he wakens - wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught." -- Isaiah 50:4

+ Here is today's DailyZen. Ordinarily I would not insert a DailyZen meditation but simply link to it. However, this one is profound and worthy of deep reflection:

Silently a flower blooms,
In silence it falls away;
Yet here now, at this moment,
At this place,
The whole of the flower,
The whole of the world
Is blooming.
This is the talk of the flower,
The truth of the blossom;
The glory of life is fully shining here.

- Zenkei Shibayama

+ The Amazing Journey definitely needs Zen. Zen is a fantastic wisdom tradition. It is a branch of Buddhism which flowered in China and Japan. Zen Masters are now teaching this practice and this particular kind of awareness throughout the planet. I have been informed and inspired by several great books including these 3: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Shunryu Suzuki; The Way of Zen by Alan Watts; Zen Flesh, Zen Bones which includes the classic 101 Zen Stories and The Gateless Gate.