A Spiritual Advice

Some people ask questions, some don't. This page is about spiritual closeness with God. If you are interested in seeing God directly, then most likely you would like to read the following suggestions. The advice is to how to get close to God, and how to cope with the dangers associated with such experience.

Why would you want to get close to God anyway? Do you need something that is not accessible in any other way? Maybe you are just curious?. As far as I know the closeness with God does not give anything apart from some internal peace. No miracles, no special favors, nothing that would justify or repay the effort required to attain this extraordinary state.

On the other hand, one may find some tranquility by being close with God.

Be sincere in your statements

There is a song and someone sings it. He is so smooth and perfect in the performance. There is another artist that sings with a broken voice and maybe even makes mistakes in his performance. You listen to both and you try to establish which one makes greater effect in your soul.

The first one is smooth but shallow. It is performed but not felt by the singer. The other one is deeply experienced by the singer, he expresses himself through the vocalization of his feelings. You like the first one, but only on the surface. It does not penetrate you within. The second one you understand and feel alike. You not only understand the notions expressed, but see yourself as being expressed in this manner as well. You find union with the singer through the common experience and feeling.

That second song must have been sang with genuine expression. No falsehood could be found in it. The singer was expressing himself through the song. This is how you need to address God in your words. You have to be in total agreement with yourself and the words you speak. And you need to touch a subject that is of importance to both you and God. When you do that you effectively communicate with God.

Practice contemplative prayer

To invite the Spirit of God into your soul you need to make some room within. The Spirit does not invade the soul. The Spirit enters the space that has been vacated beforehand. This is a bit like the water that enters only that space which has been provided by removing some other object.

The objective of contemplative prayer is to make room within a soul for the Spirit of God to enter. What you do is to make your soul very calm. You may use any technique to achieve this. It usually requires some form of exercise to attain this state. Such an exercise may be a prayer that is being repeated over and over again.

The point is to calm you soul. Pick a prayer that is not very engaging. You are not to think about it when you pray. Instead, try to keep on repeating it over and over again until you fall asleep. Spend an hour per day doing so. In the process try to calm your soul. The Spirit of God will come and take the place you have vacated within your soul just for that purpose.

Experience the suffering of the soul

An offering is something that is not fashionable any more. This is because people think that all required offerings have already been provided. This is not true. A personal, spiritual offering will always be valid. When you make a spiritual offering you give God something to eat. God consumes your sorrow and responds in some positive manner after that.

A spiritual offering is a state of sadness you experience, which has not been caused by your own action. Someone else has harmed your feelings, or maybe the reason is not easily identifiable. Whatever the reason, try to live through the sadness of such experience. Accept it as it is, and try to understand that God accepts your sadness and consumes it. This consummation results in something positive that will happen to you later on.

Give alms

Try to give small things (or amounts) to other people. To give alms is not to give riches. It is to make a gesture of giving but not to overburden yourself by the act. It is to generate a feeling of being able to become a source. However, the purpose is not to become someone else's sustainer.

In general, undertake any exercise or action the would make you feel as a good person. God responds to the manner in which your see yourself. If you think that you are bad, then God is upset about it. If you strengthen the feeling of goodness within, then God sees you likewise. Because of that try to undertake small actions that portray you in positive, building, and good light. Most importantly those actions must be genuine, so that in your own eyes they are building and positive. Other people may not notice any of such actions, but those gestures determine the way in which you see yourself.

Learn literal understanding

If you read Biblical texts you need to understand that most passages should be interpreted in literal manner first, and only later in some symbolic manner. For example, if Jesus spoke to a rich man as not being able to attain the Kingdom of God because of the material possessions, then you need to understand that strict and literal interpretation of this passage is called upon. If you want to be rich and to be in closeness with God then you need to find yourself a different religion. Christianity does not allow for such compromise.

On the other hand if you decided to follow the Christian way then be prepared for life in poverty. When you combine the lack of money with the acts of faith then your spiritual growth may be greatly accelerated. This is provided you put your faith in God and undertake tasks without financial backing (very difficult).

Cooperate with the Spirit of God

Suppose you followed all of the above and made some room in your mind for the Spirit of God. It is like having a large house and emptying one of the rooms so the guest may come and live there. You also open the door to that room and keep it unlocked. What happens is that not only the invited guest comes, but also some other people (you have not planned to see them at all), come and take advantage of your hospitality. This is what happens to your mind. In other words you become mental.

The spirits (and maybe a large number of them), come to your mind and try to manipulate it. The Spirit of God is the strongest of all, but the others try to have a share as well. This may be uplifting at times or depressing at others. The question is how to cope with this situation.

The advice is very simple. The stronger the interactions with the spiritual world, the more rational you need to be so to withstand them. Whatever happens within your mind, you need to analyze against the common logic you carry within. Be rational and cool. When a thought leads you in some direction try to see it in the objective light and ask rational questions about it. If you see it as constructive and rational then allow it to lead you. Good and sensible things come from God. Depression and destruction comes from some other source.

Be objective with respect to other peoples' advices

Most people would give you some advice or another. Be rational and skeptical about them. Before following them think about the level of expertise they have, and the level of objectivity they display. Even an expert may have his or her advice clouded by some emotional inclination or personal involvement. Use your own rationality to assess the validity of any advice. Rely on God whenever possible.

The best advice of all

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