INTRODUCTION:

     If we want to organize and focus our inner lives,
we need some practical methods of cultivating our deeper dimensions,
so that our inner sensibilities will put down deep roots and flourish
rather than, once sprouted, wither and die away.

     Solitude is the precondition of any life of the spirit.
We should not expect to be busily engaged every moment of the day
and still hope to have some inward depth.
 

 A human being who has not a single hour of his own every day
 is no human being.                         —Rabbi Moshe Leib

     If we want to become sensitive to our inward spirits,
we must find a time and place
away from the distractions of people and events.
Perhaps we should take an extended 'vacation from life',
a period of solitude to reflect
on the whole scope of our lives and deaths.
Rather than a vacation of escape—looking for new experiences—
this could be a period of probing more deeply into ourselves.

     Besides solitude to recollect ourselves,
we need some actual activities to help us to deepen our lives.
This chapter describes 6 ways to expand our spirits:

OUTLINE:

A.   Written Meditation—A Journal of Spirit.

B.   Spirit-Stimulating Books.

C.   Small Groups of People Discussing the Life of the Spirit.

D.   Letters about Matters of Spirit.

E.   Individual Sharing with other Persons of Spirit.

F.   Internet Groups of Seekers.

G.   Conclusion.

H.   If this Essay Achieves its Purpose.

A.  Written Meditation—A Journal of Spirit.  

     Perhaps contemplative monks who have spent years practicing meditation
have developed a knack for focusing their minds and spirits,
but most of us probably have difficulty directing our attention as we wish.
Writing down our private thoughts
helps to keep them focused and flowing.
The appearance of definite ideas on paper or on a computer screen
forces our minds to move ahead
without doubling back to check over old thoughts again and again.
And writing also helps to control 'irrelevant' matters of consciousness.

     Almost anything important is valid for our journals of spirit.
Perhaps personal problems preoccupy us to such a degree
that we cannot tune-in to our inner states-of-being
until we have written out everything else that fills our heads.
Maybe we will write pages of 'irrelevant' thoughts
before we get to the deeper issues.

     Meditating in writing, even on 'irrelevant' matters,
might be a way of disposing of obstructing commitments too.
When we realize how strongly our preoccupations grip our minds,
we might be moved to re-design our lives from the bottom up.

     Experimentation will lead to the best ways to use the practice of writing.
Some of us might want to establish a definite time
set aside for personal meditation in writing
—perhaps first thing in the morning.
When we are asleep, we are not persons of spirit.
So if today we are going to be alive in spirit,
we might seek to become responsive and focused as early as possible.

     Such journals of spirit can take almost any physical form:
spiral notebooks, bound blankbooks, loose-leaf notebooks,
voice recordings, a computer journal, or any other kind of electronic memory.
We might begin with one form and switch to another later.
Perhaps we will need discipline to force ourselves to begin to write,
but if writing proves helpful to our growth in spirit, we will continue.

     We might begin by writing whatever comes to mind.
Perhaps we will review our activities of the day or week before,
partly because these matters are already on our minds
and partly to discover how focused we have been.
Then we can project ahead, choosing our way into the future,
organizing our lives more clearly around our ultimate purposes.

     After we have expressed our first layer of thought,
we can proceed to the most important questions
for re-arranging our lives:
What is our fundamental inner state-of-being?
Can we tune-in better to our usually-silent inwardness?

     This practice of written meditation, consistently carried thru,
can become sensitivity-training for our spirits,
helping us to come into closer relationship with our deepest selves.

B.  Spirit-Stimulating Books.

     If and when our own thoughts go blank,
we can turn to the writings of others
who have expressed their inner lives.
Probably we will have to taste around
until we find some helpful authors.
Søren Kierkegaard, Rudolf Bultmann, Martin Buber,
& Thomas Merton have all been helpful to me
in different phases of my inward development.
Even tho I no longer agree with
some of the mythology used by these writers,
I can demythologize as I go along, finding the existential dimension,
discovering what these ideas mean for my own inner life.

     Perhaps a part of each day could be set aside
for significant reading focused around the life of the spirit.
And when we feel especially distracted and spiritless,
we might want to intensify our reading
of other people's expressions of spirit.

     We will direct and evaluate our reading,
according to what we need
at any particular time in our spiritual evolution.
And when we are stimulated to think about our own lives,
we can pause and ponder,
perhaps doing some writing in our journals of spirit.

C.  Small Groups of People Discussing the Life of the Spirit.

     Being in the physical presence of other people who are alive in spirit
can sometimes be very helpful for our inner lives.
Occasionally we can be together in very deep and sensitive ways.
If we don't know of any such gatherings,
we might have to create our own groups.

     A study-group might be the easiest to organize.
Some of the books we have found meaningful for our own reading
might lend themselves to fruitful discussion in a study-group.

     A personal-sharing group might be more difficult to gather
because it seems more risky to share our deepest thoughts and feelings.
But such a group might find ways to share
the matters we have been writing about in our journals of spirit.
Perhaps a study-group will evolve into a personal-sharing group
after we become comfortable with one another.
Some members of the group
might be experiencing similar internal difficulties.
And talking about such problems with other sensitive, tuned-in people
can help us to clarify the deep struggles we all encounter
and help us avoid some of the futile efforts others have already tried.

     It might be difficult to devise a small group with these specific goals,
but certain moments in receptive groups gathered for other purposes
might become moments in which we can share our inwardness.

D.  Letters about Matters of Spirit.

     Sending letters or e-mails about our own inward changes
to people who will understand
can help us to think more deeply about our lives.
Those who receive our letters can respond in kind,
sharing similar events in their own lives.
Such communication is completely individual,
focused on our own particular dynamics of spirit.

     Perhaps we can think of only a few people with whom to correspond
concerning the life of the spirit, but it might be worth a try.
Writing letters is sometimes intermittent communication,
but we usually take more care with writing than with talking.
Those who receive our letters or e-mails
can wait until the right time in their own internal rhythms to respond.

     Writing letters about our deepest lives can combine
many of the best elements
of the first three ways of expanding our spirits:
(A) Letters might be more directed and focused
than a journal of spirit because we know
that someone else will be reading and responding to our letters,
which could stimulate us to be more serious about what we write.
(B) Our letters might introduce our correspondents
to books and authors that might be helpful to them as well.
(C) And altho it is not as immediate as talking with a small group,
letters can still be a means of deep sharing of spirits.
Some of us might find it easier to write about our inward struggles
than to share them in face-to-face encounter.

E.  Individual Sharing with other Persons of Spirit.

     It could also be helpful for our quest to live more deeply
to talk privately with someone
who has similar concerns and experiences.
Another person who cares about our deeper lives
can help us to focus better.
And when we have a conversation scheduled,
we will not put off our deepest concerns until "later"
—which might mean never.
Such sharing of our inward struggles
can help to keep us on the right track,
keep us coming back to the problems
we might otherwise avoid indefinitely.

F.  Internet Groups of Seekers.

     The creation of the Internet at the end of the 20th century,
opened up new possibilities for communication.
Persons who shared common interests and concerns
could create electronic groups for sharing their thoughts and feelings
even if they were separated from one another by thousands of miles.

    Home computers connected to the Internet
might become a very meaningful way to expand our spirits.
The Internet empowers us to discover or to create electronic groups 
of persons sufficiently close in their expressions of spirit
that they can communicate deeply and meaningfully with one another.
An Internet group can employ several other ways of expanding our spirits.

AUTHOR:

    If you would like to explore this specific form of spirituality,
several books on existential spirituality are reviewed here:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/aws-website-jamesleonardpark---freelibrary-3puxk/B-XSP.html

    The essay above: "Ways to Expand our Spirits"
is published as Chapter 8 of
Spirituality without Gods: Developing Our Capacities of Spirit.