Starla

Posted 15 Years Ago

Openness
It can be said that the divine itself is openness. In its wonderful ability to be open, we can learn from the flowers, which always incarnate this principle for us. A flower simply opens to the light and warmth of the sun and receives the moisture from the earth and the rain.

Being
Individuals who are mystically awake also have the ability to just be. Indeed, they are vitally conscious of the importance of this capacity for simply being. Contemplative spirituality is a call to being: to just be who we are in the deepest sense of our nature, our contemplative, mystical being. We all have this dimension of being by virtue of our humanity; everything else we do only adds to what we already are. In this, the flower is again our teacher. The flower doesn't do anything. The flower doesn't read books, answer letters, give speeches, or attend school. It just is.


Joy
Joy is an unmistakable sign of the deeper life. It comes as an abiding gift when an individual has reached union with the divine. This inner bliss that saturates our being, life, thoughts, actions, and relationships is an expression of spiritual plenitude, the fullness of the inner journey.

- From The Mystic Heart: Discovering a Universal Spirituality in the World's Religions. Copyright © 1999 by Wayne Teasdale.