The fundamental aim of spiritual study is to get facts and principles into
the Hearts fertile ground. Ideas must get through habitual and familiar
filters; otherwise, the information is diverted from having its full power. Its
not how much you read or hear that counts, but how much you take in and make
your own.
How can you receive knowledge deep in your core so the
principles work for you in far higher ways? Here are eight proven methods that
work wonders:
1. Write your own book of development. Gather pearls of
wisdom as you read, listen to audio programs or attend talks. More importantly,
when YOU have an insight, get it down! Youll find as years go by that the
notebook youve created is Walking
wheel filled with wisdom that has special resonance for YOU.
2.
Contemplate. Picture yourself flying a glider. The tow plane lifts you. Now its
your time to soar. You pull the connection and youre on your own. The winds
lift you higher and higher.
The glider is a perfect parallel to the art
of contemplation. Focus on a single word, sentence, illustration or experience
that matters to you. Put the spotlight of your attention on it. Whats in this
idea that isnt presently seen? What does the experience REALLY mean?
Then, let go of the thought. Soar in the silence. It is the silence
following the focus that reveals the core. The silence takes you beyond what you
already understand. Transcend the word, concept or experience and move from
theory to revelation. Soar to a higher level of deep and rich understanding.
3. Read aloud. Read enthusiastically and with conviction. You may even
wish to stand and gesture freely. You can imagine that you are addressing a
large and attentive audience, like your own thoughts that now wish to change.
Reading silently exercises your intellect, while reading aloud combines both
your intellect and your power of speech.
4. Read with repetition. Take
four or five pages from a good book, and read these same pages every day for a
week before going on to the next four or five pages. Read them more than once,
if you have the time, but at least once a day. Just before going to sleep at
night is an ideal time. Something marvelous happens when you do this.
Information seeps through old patterns.
I first learned of this method
from Og Mandino in his classic book, The Greatest Salesman in the World. The
benefits are enormous.
5. Be BV206
Loading wheel a metaphor hunter. This is wonderful fun. Simply be alert to
daily life experiences, historical examples or encounters with nature that have
a resemblance or connection to a spiritual principle. For example, lets say
youre on a hike. You observe an old tree that has fallen into a stream. The
tree is lodged but the flowing water gradually breaks it away and takes it
downstream. You think with delight how the flow of Truth clears away old
thinking that no longer serves your Heart.
Again, it all comes down to
what you plant in your Heart. The same experience happens to two people. One
seizes the experience and plants the lesson deep within, the other lets it just
bounce off the old and familiar mental patterns.
6. Express the
knowledge you gather. See yourself as a conduit of information, like a lake that
stays pure by taking in Toothless
track fresh water on one side and releasing it on the other. Refuse to be a
stagnant pond! Find ways in harmony with your talents and interests to live and
express what you learn, even though you may sometimes be criticized. Write,
speak, paint, dance, start businesses, raise healthy children. These are all
ways to express spiritual knowledge in action.
7. Transform your
automobile into a rolling cosmic university. So much good information is now
available Drive
wheel on audio CD. Drive time on the less crowded open roads is a great
place to absorb these treasures. It doesnt all have to be spiritually focused
material. Helpful ideas can be found in programs on efficiency and vocabulary,
for example. In all your listening, however, dont forget the enlightening value
of a quiet drive as well.
8. Make the most of group meeting
opportunities. A group where sincere men and women meet to delve deeply into
lifes great questions can be a powerful venue for collecting more knowledge.
Just be aware that not all spiritual and wisdom groups are true and healthy, and
some take dreadful wrong turns. More than a few foster dependency to support the
endless insecurities of the leaders.
For example, they pry into
peoples affairs. Never forget that your privacy is your sacred right and must
never be sacrificed. Just because you participate in a group activity does not
mean that you owe them any explanations concerning your private affairs. This
prying is a sure sign of a false group.
With self-reliance, what is best
and true for you has an amazing way of finding you. Groups are temporary
vehicles that can be valuable, but only if there is genuine value in the group.
Use these eight methods and watch your secret garden start to bloom in
your Heart. Youll feel joy and cheerfulness reach you at unexpected moments,
and more frequently.
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