What is for people the most important dimension of all is their concrete relationship with the spiriual dimension in their lives. “Spiritual dimension” includes God, the Divine, Avatars, Ascended Masters, Spirit Guides, whatever name people use to identify that which they seek to have this relationship with.
Most of us take our values for granted and do not recognize that they rest upon assumptions that are not absolute truths. When, for example, “everyone” is a believer, there is no necessity for most people to ground their belief in critical reflection on their own experience; belief is taken for granted. What happens, however, when institutions begin to break down? Then the web of assumptions they helped to form begins to tear, and many people feel themselves adrift in a chaotic and increasingly senseless world. They search for some way to make sense out of life or at least to ease the pain.
And so we have witnessed the rise of all sorts of movements that seem to promise some way to find meaning in life. Psychotherapy and counseling are sought, not just for help with neurosis or with career choices, but for help with living in a world whose center does not seem to hold. Encounter groups, growth groups, experience groups, and others became popular as people strove to find community and meaning. There has been a phenomenal growth of interest in the religious practices of the East, and cult groups have spread rapidly. In the ewell-founded spiritual groups (churches, yoga groups, spiritual assembly) we have seen a rise of interest in prayer and in the gifts of the Spirit. Retreats of all kinds have flourished.
People may be helped to acknowledge the existence of the spiritual dimension in their lives by attending to their own experience. Can they, however, come to the belief that this spiritual dimension (God, the Divine, Avatars, Ascended Masters, Spirit Guides) has come close and is communicating? “Does this (God)(Spirit) care for me?” “Has (God)(Spirit) spoken to me?” These are the existential questions people are asking. How do we help people answer such questions? Again, recourse has to be made to the experience of the individual.
The assumption is that World of Spirit ((God)(Spirit) wants to relate to people both as a community and as individuals. Spirit does not need anyone’s help to relate to people. But the human other does seek help to develop his or her relationship with God, (Spirit) the Divine, Saints, Angels, whatever name they want to put on their spiritual experience.
What is for people the most important dimension of all, their concrete relationship with the spiriual dimension in their lives.
If you ask people what happens when they pray (or mediate), you get a variety of answers. Some say it is hard to pray; others say it is easy; still others say it is sometimes difficult, sometimes easy. The fact seems to be that prayer, in general, is no more difficult than the formation of any deep, enduring, trustworthy relationship, and no easier. The comparison is closer than it may at first appear. If you converse with a person for a half hour or more several times a week about personal subjects, you soon find that either a close relationship has developed or that something is wrong between you and the other person. If there is mutual communication and mutual acceptance of hopes, desires, ideals, fears, and frustrations, the relationship cannot be anything but close.
Spiritual direction is offered; as we work in the arena of Interfaith activity, Ascension, and similar spiritual fields, all may, however spiritual effort is defined for the seeker.
Those seeking spiritual direction may contact us using the contact form on this website.
