Spiritual Tree-Devotion-Spirituality
What is Practicing Devotion
Before Their was a man(woman), what was There
Devotion is built up of a multitude of spiritual values that we all face in our lives at one moment or another.
Your religion teaches them all to you. I do say religion, because that is the messages we get, through men(women) that they and we interpret to be the values of an out greater teacher (Spiritual Teacher), from which we decide what best suits our feelings and emotions at any particular time.
Our core values are set in our hearts, through our soul and we decide how we apply them. We and we alone are the builders of our path. The values we choose to follow are selected with our free will, often be based on our upbringing and messages given to us by our parents.
“Open your arms to change but don’t let go of your values.” Dalai Lama
Growth can only be learned if we have a life free of tangles that liberate us from being caught up in so much turmoil. Life often has no meaning. We often find ourselves caught in a “rut” that never ends. We are unable to grow and start reaching for the stars.
If we do not achieve this in one lifetime, we have the rest of our eternal life to attain it. This is for you to decide and learn to live with. It is always up to you. Your free will is eternal, spiritually given to each and every one of us, forever.
Being on a roller coaster all your life is up to you. No one will judge you. You will never need to fear the wrath of God. That is all man stuff. You and you alone need to be the best you, you can be at any particular time in this of any other life you are to live with.
“Every success story is a tale of constant adaption, revision, and change.” — Richard Branson
Understanding the need to provide Service to others is not a responsibility. It must come from the heart and soul. When you shed a tear for another, offer to walk in another’s shoes, choose a profession that is devoted to helping others, your begging to understand what service is. It needs to be free of worry. You need not understand why you decided to do this unselfish act, you simply accept it as a calling from the spirit to be.
More important to understand that you never need to feel any obligation to do service. It is completely up to you always in all ways. If you decide not to give anything this year at Walmart because they or others ask for money at the cash, no bolt of lightning will ever mow you down.
All of this stuff is up to you. If you ever feel the emotion that you need to give as a service to whoever, please don’t. That fear is unwanted, not sympathetic or anything else your mind is throwing at you. Eliminate all those false feelings. Please just be you, it’s ok.
“No one has ever become poor by giving.” ― Anne Frank, diary of Anne Frank: the play
Friendship is built on many levels if you look at it with an open mind and profound need to become part of more than you are. Your mate need not be exactly like you? He or she just needs to be your best friend. If you are best friends nothing will separate your bond of friendship.
Not money, sex, glory, fame, or any other personal event should separate the eternal bond you share. If you are one with the spirit you become one with all your friends, right?
We were misled to believe that marriage was sacred and that no bond should be broken. If the bond of friendship was not established, how can it not be broken?
What is happening to marriage these days, mistrust, poor or no communications? Often a huge sense of obligation that is unhealthy.
Friendship is all that matters. No piece of legal paper or religious paper will ever superseed friendship with the divine.
“A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.” – Walter Winchell
Leadership is not an ability many of us have. That is fine. We do not all have to be Rambo’s. Many of us assume that if we are not perfect we are disappointing someone. That is a joke. No one has to do anything they do not want or have a desire to do.
Leadership is not about proving anything. It is certainly not about pleasing others. You gain no more brownie points by being a leader than being a bum(no pun intended). You decide, always. If you want to be a bum, be the best, it’s totally up to you.
I am in the process of making a dramatic change in my life and I want to be the best me, in that change, that I can be. I never need to prove anything to anyone, not even myself. I choose to make it part of my life. I will be setting an example for many. What inspires me, that’s all.
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” -John Quincy Adams
If you have a character that’s great. Use it to soothe your need to be you. Never try to be someone else. Know why? Because you are unique. There is no one else on earth exactly like you. DNA can prove this. Look at the research. Google it if you do not know yet.
Having a good or a bad character will not send you any closer to hell than heaven. Again that is all man stuff. Demystify all this from your life. Spirituality is not about promises, sorting mistakes, laying blame, or any other magic bullet or imaginary problems you might seem to carry heavily on your shoulders. Wow, that is an incredible sentence.
Character is not something that you buy; it is not a commodity that can be bartered for; it is not a quality suited for only the rich and famous; rather, a character is built upon the foundational commitment of love, honesty, and compassion for others. Byron R. Pulsifer
Do you feel you have integrity? The quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness. Do you stand out in a crowd? Do you feel you need to prove that you have integrity? If I am working at a company that helps me pay my mortgage feed my family and otherwise is here to help us, I sure hope they have integrity. But what does that have to do with me?
In exchange for my services that reward me for a job well done and that should be it. If I have integrity I should be thoughtful enough to recognize what they do for me and my family? Understand? Spiritually?
Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not. Oprah Winfrey
Before Their was a man(woman), what was There
Principles, Intellect, Morality, responsibility round out the core of the Pyramid surrounding Devotion.
I never confuse religion and spirituality. One is man-made and the other is directly connected with the Divine.
We all, or nearly all have a religion or at least were born in one. Our parents made that choice and that is the best they could do. Rightfully so. They did the best they could just as we all do as parents.
Our religions also do the best they think they know how and again I am very respectfully to all these men and women who try to brighten up each and every day of our lives. They are part of the backbone of all our communities all over the world.
That is quite a calling for all of them.
We all have our individual Principles that we each live with. We all have the responsibility to communicate with our Divine God and make our decisions, live out our lives, fail if we must, and live our lives as best we can.
Devotion is built up of a multitude of spiritual values that we all face in our lives at one moment or another.
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