O Marvel! a garden amidst the flames.
My heart has become capable of every form:
it is a pasture for gazelles and a convent for Christian monks,
and a temple for idols and the pilgrim’s Kaa’ba,
and the tables of the Torah and the book of the Quran.
I follow the religion of Love: whatever way Love’s camels take,
that is my religion and my faith. – Ibn Arabi
Jesus saith unto him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” – John 14:6
“This is the changeless Faith of God, eternal in the past, eternal in the future.” – (Baha’u’llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 136)
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A GOOD PLACE TO START: Gradually I am building an overview of One Garden inter-spirituality with live links to all of the topics mentioned.
However in working on ‘topics’ I stay conscious that they are concepts and concepts belong to the dual world. As great rebbe Abraham Joshua Heschel says; “Concepts are delicious snacks with which we try to alleviate our amazement.” By ‘amazement’ he means being in the ‘selfless’ state of at-one-ment or awe or wonder.
I delight in the dual as well as the nondual. As soon as you have ways to keep ‘clocking in’ to the nondual you delight in all the things in the dual world. Everything is much more brighter, meaning-full
The dual world is vital because it is through it that we develop consciousness and it is through enlightened consciousness that we realize the nondual. Our life journey starts in the oneness of the womb. With birth we enter the dual world and gradually come to realize duality as ‘me and the other things’, starting often as ‘me and mother’. Our necessary ego develops. We take
FOR NOW: Until I get the summary of ‘faith as inter-spiritual living and knowing’ into a developed form here is what you can do. Take a topic – there is a list below – and do a search in my main relevant blogs. E.G. re ‘Mystery’ here is all the mentions on this One Garden site CLICK HERE Similarly on the Quotations Treasury her are all of the mentions of ‘Mystery’ – CLICK HERE
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THE DRAFT SUMMARY TO DATE – The number one fact in everyone’s life is Mystery – Mystery of that Whole that isn’t you. Many ignore the mysterious Whole, or are so hard pressed as to have little time for such matters.
However in reality it is in our sensing that Mystery that we can be united. It is the only ‘place’ where we can be truly and fully united. The practice for such unity through sensing the Whole from which we emanate is stillness and silence – ‘Be still, and know that I am God’. Psalm 46.10.
United as the integrating power within us as individuals and united in groups up to and including the whole human family. Concept-trading and concept-splitting will never lead to unity between people. Standing in humility before the Mystery of the Whole in silence and stillness is the only way we can be united with other groups as well as individuals. Two enemies who turn to the Oneness beyond all words and forms are thereby immediately united. This is why inter-spiritual living and knowing – or realizing ‘the changeless faith of God’ – is the only way through which justice and development and all such ‘goods’ will flower as peace.
The spiritual life-journey is toward the goal of realizing that we are not the centre of an individualized universe, but we are emanations of the Whole. The more we can detach from our egoistic self the more we can stay in the presence of the Whole.
At the core of all the great teaching are three commands Awake:Detach:Serve others.
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TOPICS POINTERS & CHAPTERS for – One Garden: 52 inter-spiritual meditations
“Inter-spirituality is the shared mystic heart beating in the center of the world’s deepest spiritual traditions.” – The One Garden, metaphorically, is the state of heart-mind in which we feel, realize & celebrate, in communion & dialogue with others, the Oneness behind the various traditions.
INTRODUCTION interspirituality, changeless f of G, breath practice matters, one garden, etc, how to use, internet,
3 AWAKE NING: it’s a wonder-full world, k/cosmos,gratitude, returns us to the n, count blessings, encouragement, third 3eyes, shock
4 AWARENESS CONSCIOUSNESS & PRESENCE: consciousness (Freke), presence,
BALANCING HEART & HEAD – harmony, M & LOGOS, literal & scientific, at integration, healing, at-one-ment your flow v the flow
BEING, balance & becoming – I AMness – isness – we are all emanations – isness, Ted Hughes
CARING & OTHER VIRTUES, mirroring, acquisition, trust, names of G, t, b & goodn, justice, D Lama, pure, k & rad, wisdom
CHANGE & CHANGELESSNESS f & formlessness, cf art, void, Tao, the Way, living with not k, Ultimate reality, get it, Zinn
COMMUNITY & RELATIONSHIPS; parenting, partnering, friendship, gen ethic (I commit myself to nurt yr growth), new digm
CONTROL V ACCEPTANCE; the breath of God is breathing you, social control, manipulation, mystery
CREATIVITY art & spirituality,, healing, form & formlessness, Rast?,
DEVELOPING & MATURING: manifesting potential = purpose, holistic ed, PFC, de/generation, sensibility, transcend, Rohr
DETACHING from THOSE ATTACHMENTS, the world, addiction, woman with agoraphobia,
DIALOGUE & Mind: – dia-logos, manifesting the k in us, levels inner & outer
7 EXPERIENCES, ENCOUNTERS & Commentaries & other expression, art, encounters with the Whole as 1st-hand rel exp
ENLIGHTENMENT: salvation, Plato’s cave, aha, satori, revelation, get it/geddi factor,
FAITH, THE LIFE-JOURNEY & TESTS: question/s/ing, seeking, finding, refining, hero’s journey in myth, tests
FEELING GOOD v DEPRESSION: ie its opposites * – Lao Tzu – Byron Katie, joy gives us wings,
FORGIVENESS: heals, of self, grease for the slide home – never too late to have a happy childhood
*HEALING: hurts, esteem consciousness, healthy self-love, how we got sick, PDS – offer up hurts, re-enchantment, pain-body
*HEALING groups & religions, diseases cynicism, 24TV,celebrity, at-one-ment, Rast, Creation Sp, God is a verb
HEART-MIND: a better sense of interiority – the universal heart, compassion, kindness, mysticism, justice, Gnosis/Irfan,
HUMAN REALITY – being human, SunWALK, life-journey, shadows, 4 Cs
INSIGHT: realizing Insight – geddit – Heart revelation – IN-TUITION: self-learning – Insight (Insight-enlightenment?), aha,
5 KNOWLEDGE: 3 kinds head, heart & moral: Criticality scien,arts & hum dual & nond, known & k & the unk & unk , obj & subj
6 LIFE-FORCE, spirit & its levels, chi, H Spirit,
LIGHT & SEEING enlightenment,‘Becoming the giver of light’ (Rumi ghazal No.1393) -holding in the light, ph = extended meta
LOVE & STRUCTURES universal glue – content & framework, knowledge = first bifurcation
MEDITATION & CONTEMPLATION 60 Sec online med – THINKING, CON & MEDITATING, states of being
MINDFULNESS: One Garden, one year; 52 meditations – its centrality in practice – mind-emptiness, remembrance GJ, s stranger found I
1 MYSTERY: The inevitable encounter & what to do with it, mystical heart & framework, a myst centred uni/world-view
8 MYSTICISM, its de-mystification & deepening, HICK, Einstein, core of rel Rohr, cf Bolt & Mo, Heschel, Wilber, Helminski
NOWNESS – past & future La Tzu only reality & place to be happy – RELEASE FROM SUFFERING, goal setting
10 NONDUALITY & duality * – 2 wings change & changelessness – form and formlessness, post-modernism etc, Zinn, get it,
ONENESS: – humanity – messengers – messages – religions, spiritual federalism, light is light…, trinity, human face gt photog
PEACEBUILDING – personal, What is the centre-pole of religion around which all can unite?, universalism
PERENNIAL SPIRITUALITY, per philoso, per wisdom, mystic heart, changeless faith, Augustine, Messengers all HS,
9 PRESENCE MATTERS expansion space
PURPOSE & IDENTITY; we all identify, purpose gives meaning/s & QUESTIONING: what’s the ultimate?, H Spirit
REALITY & ULTIMATE REALITY QUESTION – space as no-thing
SELF: & Egoic self – ego & Self, IDENTITY – death, sub-personalities, integration, transformation, esteem
SERVICE; serving the servants, transforming – action, means of happiness, universalism, Golden Rule, work-worship
SHADOWs are a blessing, demons & lower self -sin 7 evil – guilt, punishment, absence of good, hatred, overturning negatives, demons,
SILENCE & STILLNESS : breath, God can get in, reality can get in, space – new knowledge can get in
7 SOUL BODY, MIND & SPIRIT; body/mind/spirit – I, WE & IT, AB (Danesh), l & r brain, m God’s greatest gift,
SPIRITUALITY & RELIGION : is…. Religion isn’t…. – RAST, mystics, molten lava cf cooled lava, Holy Sp, churchianity, Rohr
STORIES & STORYING; Tolle – Who would you be without your story? (Katie Byron) – fundamentalism
SUFFERING & SACRIFICE – change & changelessness – challenges – offer up hurts – peren philosophy, Zinn,
TEACHERS & TEACHINGS breath, inspiration & ex, prayer, mantras, pract in sp dev, for Sp Fed, AwDeServ, Rast, 7 x 3,
TRUST/Covenant which great teachers, standards, criteria, know them by their fruits, Socrates, Wilber, standards, false p,
WHOLENESS, HOLINESS & HEALTH:the Whole & the p, mystery – FINITY & INFINITY, hale,holy,panentheism, Ult. Reality,
2 WONDER, Awe & Amazement – it’s a wonder-full world Socrates world citizen, rad. amaze
WORDS & the Word: mind/intellect, metaphor,mirrors,water, fire – etc, you aren’t yr thoughts, servant not m., H Sp, language
*50 FLOW: integration, healing, at-one-ment, your flow v the flow, photog, peak performance, peak experiences, gratitude, get it, alignment
51 PROOF & Knowing of cf knowing with certainty (Paris = cap Fr, infi. God cf love & light
52 MEANING MATTERS Meaning & Ultimate Meaning, The m you make -0-purpose identity
MORE TOPICS – TOPICS – not in the top 52 – Intro to One Garden: 52 inter-spiritual meds
VERBS: Help, Facilitate, Enjoy, Embrace, Nurture, Quiet/ly, Realize, / Wilber, meaning & meaning-making, renewal, “The fullness of joy is to behold God in all.” Julian of Norwich, sp & Per Dev
DELETES – * DEEPENING & DE-MYSTIFYING THE MYS
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TOPICS – not in the top 52
* THE TWO WINGS through which we fly spiritually & intellectually
* BRAIN left-brain & right-brain – head & heart
* BREATH MATTERS breathing, meditation, mindfulness Breath Matters
* CHANTING / MANTRAs, Om, transformation, spiritual growth, breath, practice
* CONCEPTS – mind – “Concepts are delicious snacks with which we try to alleviate our amazement.” (A J H)
** CONSCIOUSness, awareness,
*CULTURE Ethnocentricity, community/ies,
** DETACHMENT / ATTACHMENT –
* DEATH & the DEAD – life-force
* ETERNAL FAITH / CHANGE & CHANGELESSNESS
* EVIL goodness – TBG +J – absence of light –
*GOD Being, Whole, Ultimate Reality, The Source, Mystery etc., ‘pointing’, centre + no periphery Empedocles definition, finding G, letting G find you, personal or impersonal God?, the nonsense of anthropomorphising God cf we are made in the image of God ultimately man is my mystery and I am his,
* GRATITUDE, gratefulness, practice, g. as a healing power
* GROUND OF BEING
* HAPPINESS, purpose & identity, raison d’etre,
*HEALING integration, wholeness, pain-body 7 solution
*HEAVEN heaven is a state of being, being saved, enlightenment, stillness, bliss, nirvana, breath – hell
*HOLINESS / HOLISM – sanctity, ego, freedom from ego, egolessness, Whole & whole – integration, at-one-ment, isness
*HUMAN CONDITION / cf Concepts are snacks, lost in thought, dialogue
*I AM-ness, Being, Self,
* IDENTITY – Q “Who am I?” – I AM, the world, Self, place, value, respect
IMMANENCE & TRANSCENDENCE – IMMANENCE & TRANSCENDENCE Gleanings – XC & I:
*IMPLICIT pointings, non-label communication, implied, implication, indirect, the eye of spirit, metaphor, haiku, – opposite of fundamentalism (combine with non-literalism) – the eye of spirit can sense the relationship between man and horse, the shape of the wind cf the branch, art that shows the negative space
*INTEGRITY as a virtue
*ILLUSION, mirage, Macbeth, the sick culture (to visit it is one thing, to live in it is death), reality as J & TBG,
*INDEPENDENCE – see justice, autonomy, authenticity
** HUMAN BEING see Being Human – BEING HUMAN / HUMAN BEING reason, faith, the ineffable,
*INTERBEING interspirituality
INTERFAITH – COMPARATIVE RELIGION
MANTRAS / CHANTING “Can I be the space for this?” – practice-action
**MIRROR / HEART – reflecting virtues as the purpose of life,
MESSENGERS / MANIFESTATIONS
*MYTHOS and LOGOS / LANGUAGE – mystical – Mythos & Logos – Part 1 – HERE – Links & Papers HERE
*NATURE / THE WORLD
*NONDUALITY (& DUALITY) – Black ‘Rain upon the temple roof’
* PAIN / SUFFERING healing, integration,
* PERCEPTION / THE EYE OF SPIRIT
* PERENNIAL SPIRITUALITY cf PERENNIAL PHILOSOPHY
*POINTINGs / IMPLICIT – see implicit
*QUAKER – QUAKER TESTIMONIES (A Christ-Centered Quaker Community of Ministers)
ROMAN CATHOLIC READING SPIRITUALLY from evangelii-gaudium
*ROMAN CATHOLIC ‘new’ teachers – Rohr, Merton etc
* REASON / / INTELLECT / MIND – dialogue
* RELIGION comparative religion, interspirituality
* RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE / MYSTICISM aha, satori, insights, spiritual experience, mystical experience,
*SCIENCE / INTELLECT / REASON objective truth, TBG + J
* SERVICE otherness, other-centredness, living for others,
*SEVEN TEACHERS PATHS & TEXTS The 7 Traditions, 7 Teachers, 7 Texts
*SEVEN VALLEYS absolute nothingness, formlessness
SNOWMASS CONFERENCE / INTERSPIRITUAL , guidelines, principles, mandate – THE GUIDELINES FROM THE SNOWMASS CONFERENCE – a mandate for interspirituality?
*SMILE – Be your own sunshine
ST JOHN OF THE CROSS
*STEINDL-RAST – RPs intro to Steindl-Rast’s model the Mystical Core of Organized Religion – ‘The Mystical Core of Organized Religion by – David Steindl-Rast
*TAOISM void, abyss, formless, formlessness, absolute nothingness – Don’t contemplate as mere activity/Be void contemplating void p221 365Tao D Ming-Dao – TAOIST QUOTES
* TENACITY & allied virtues, never give up,
*THICH NHAT HANH on God
TWO WINGS of SPIRITUALITY = THE TWO WINGS THROUGH WHICH WE FLY SPIRITUALLY & INTELLECTUALLY:-
*SEEING, 3 eyes – art, cameras, photography, film, video,
*SOUL /SOUL / MIND & SPIRIT / 3 EYES
SNOWMASS guidelines – as a foundation & mandate for interspirituality
*SPIRITUAL ATTAINMENT self Self, identity, unity, integration, enlightenment, salvation
*ZEN – “Zen in its essence is the art of seeing into the nature of one’s own being,
Self-knowledge – TNH
Soul Needs - One Garden 