Chi – Soul Needs – One Garden

We each have a different take on reality, and a different worldview or ‘pair of glasses’ through which we read the world.

Beyond all of that diversity however reality Reality is, according to all of the great Teachers down through the ages, one. Like all of the individual rays of the sun we all emanate from a Singleness.

WHAT IS SPIRIT, SPIRITUALITY & SPIRITUALIZATION?
Spirit is the life-force.
Spirit is the relationship of elements that determines levels of being; plant, animal, human etc.
Spirit is will, including the will to focus.
Spirituality is concern for the development of those virtues & positive characteristics that are pre-eminently human – chief amongst these are truthfulness, beauty, goodness and justice.
Spiritualization is the process of arranging for experiences – for self or others – that lead to the development of virtues and positive characteristics that pre-eminently make us human.

WHAT’S ‘PERENNIAL PHILOSOPHY’
‘Perennial philosophy’ is that which all, of the great world religions hold in common about the spiritual life and the journey of development that each soul makes.

REALITY as THE SEVEN MAJOR POINTS OF THE PERENNIAL PHILOSOPHY – TWO VIEWS A) BY KEN WILBER AND B) BY DEB PLATT

HERE IS HOW KEN WILBER SUMMARIZES THE SEVEN MAJOR POINTS OF THE PERENNIAL PHILOSOPHY, IN HIS BOOK GRACE AND GRIT:

1. Spirit exists.
2. Spirit is found within.
3. Most of us don’t realize this Spirit within, however, because we are
living in a world of sin, separation, and duality–that is, we are
living in a fallen or illusory state.
4. There is a way out of this fallen state of sin and illusion, there is a Path to our liberation.
5. If we follow this path to its conclusion, the result is a Rebirth or
Enlightenment, a direct experience of Spirit within, a Supreme
Liberation, which–
6 marks the end of sin and suffering, and which– 7 issues in social
action of mercy and compassion on behalf of all sentient beings.

THIS IS HOW DEB PLATT PRESENTED HER LATE LAMENTED SITE ON WHICH SHE BROUGHT TOGETHER A VAST AND BEAUTIFUL SELECTION OF QUOTATIONS FROM WORLD RELIGIONS (If anyone knows what happened to her site please tell me)

• There’s a reality beyond the material world:
• Which is uncreated.
• It pervades everything,
• but remains beyond the reach
of human knowledge and understanding.
• You approach that reality by:
• Distinguishing ego from true self
• Understanding the nature of desire
• Becoming unattached
• Forgetting about preferences
• Not working for personal gain
• Letting go of thoughts
• Redirecting your attention
• Being devoted
• Being humble
• Invoking that reality
• Surrendering
• That reality approaches you through:
• Grace
• The teacher
• You’re transformed so that you embody that reality by:
• Dying and being reborn

If there is a weakness in Deb Platt’s model it is that, unlike Wilber’s model, it doesn’t end with action in the world, i.e. compassion and service to others – though surely that is implied.