Barefoot on Holy Ground: Twelve Lessons In Spiritual Craftsmanship
Gloria Karpinski
ISBN 0-345-43509-5
From the new disciples:
“A disciple is someone who recognizes, commits to, and is obedient to the promptings of his or her inner spiritual imperative and chooses to bring that consciousness into every aspect of life. Disciplines are responsible for themselves, knowing they are always in the process of growing and choosing to shape their personalities to serve their spiritual intentions. Disciples tend to be open, flexible, and teachable, inclusive in their worldview and dedicated to participating in the healing of planetary challenges.”
“Disciples are found everywhere and are identified by their being, not necessarily by their doing. Disciples have matured in consciousness from “saving the world” into serving the world.”
Her contents include:
Book One: Choosing to live on purpose
The new disciples
Conscious evolution
Beyond chaos
Healing the divided self
Book Two: Twelve lessons in spiritual craftsmanship
Knowing the way
1) Knowledge: The pointing finger
2) Revelation: In the twinkling of an eye
3) Discernment: Clear seeing, clear choices
4) Body: Temple, archive, and laboratory
Becoming the way
5) Love: the master key
6) Will: the divine birthright
7) Faith: cornerstone of the cathedral
Power: focus for the flow
Fulfilling the way
9) Creating: dancing with the beloved
10)Transforming: renewing the promise
11)Enduring: going the distance
12)Serving: Returning the gift
The book has several exercises in the form of questions and/or meditations. They are at the end of each of the twelve disciplines to help the reader develop greater depth with each of the disciplines. For those interested in journaling, suggestions for journaling are given for each chapter.
An example of one of the exercises:
For knowledge: “Memory Cluster and the Thousand-Petaled Lotus”
“All of us have cluster patterns—learned assumptions that are grouped in the mind. For example, is we grew up in a family that dishonored originality, the cluster might come up as: “It’s too dangerous to express myself; safely comes from appeasing and conforming; asserting my creativity will lead to abuse and ridicule.””
“Examine as many of your own clusters as possible. Sometimes we can get to our clusters through an exercise.”
- You begin by picking a seed word for something you want to understand more deeply. Draw a circle and write this word in the center, as the center of a lotus blossom. For example, you might want to place the word love in the center of your lotus.
- Next, focus on your breathing. Relax, close your eyes, and wait. Soon a word association will come to mind. You then draw a lotus petal and write the associated word in it. Don’t resist or be concerned about whether you understand it at this point.
- Then release the association and bring your attention back to the center, to the word love, and wait. Soon another association will come. You draw another petal, write in the word, release it, and return to the center of the lotus.
- Continue this process for as long as you like. But be certain to always return to the seed word in the middle of the lotus. There is no right or wrong way to do it. In time this little exercise can reveal clusters and provide real insight into hidden associations you might be carrying.
You might discover that the first associations are obvious—or
Perhaps they are so fragmented that they make no sense. Just
stay with it, even when you hit a block. That may be the point at
which you hit a block. That may be the point at which you are
peeling away to some deeper issue or vulnerability you need to
encounter.
- When your mind is slow to give a new association, pay close
attention, as your defenses are starting to show up and say,
“That’s far enough.” Then take the last word association and
make it the center of a new lotus.
Tags: body, discernment, disciples, faith, love, power, spiritual, will
