The Key To Spiritual Practice in 150 Words

[Your Awakening]

 

“The practice of meditation could be described as relating with cool boredom, refreshing boredom, boredom like a mountain stream. It refreshes because we do not have to do anything or expect anything. But there must be some sense of discipline if we are to get beyond the frivolity of trying to replace boredom.”

~ Chogyam Trungpa

We invite, as Thomas Merton said, “useless trouble upon ourselves” when we expect ourselves to always be moved toward spiritual practice. The fact is that many days we will not want to sit. This is where discipline comes in.

Discipline make practice very ordinary, very boring. so our spiritual path becomes a sort of internal struggle. But in the struggle is where we find the juice.

It is precisely because we don’t want to practice that practice is a practice. Engaging in a discipline is becoming a disciple.

We are you learning to worship something other than our own finicky self-interest, which is hell. We are learning how to step beyond the limitations of our self-centered framework.

We are practicing and cultivating our capacity to do what we do not want to do, and not do you want to do.

We are exercising our inherent freedom.

 

Ben is a teacher and student of contemplative spirituality. He has had the opportunity to study and practice within Christian and Buddhist monasteries both in America and India. He teaches at the Refuge Meditation Group in Shreveport, LA. Ben has written extensively about Buddhism, contemplative Christianity, and meditation practice on his blog. Above everything he is committed to presenting contemplative principles from a practical, contemporary, and western point of view. If you would like to follow his blog, The Web of Enlightenment, on Facebook then Click here. If you would prefer to follow him on Twitter then Click here. To be notified when Ben publishes a new article on Elephant Journal, click here to join his Elephant Facebook group. Think these sort of bio's are cheesy? Then click here to read my real bio.

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