|
Practice Makes Perfect
The theme of our Sunday talks for the month of May is "Practice Makes
Perfect." The thread of continuity uniting these lessons will include the idea of
Practicing to attain Perfection, the Practices that lead to Perfection, as well
as the idea of Practicing the Path of Perfection. Sounds confusing? Let's
explore these topics.
The old joke goes,
Q. "How do you get to Carnegie Hall?"
A. "Practice, Practice, Practice."
And what exactly is a Practice? First there is the repetition of a certain
activity to gain proficiency in the activity. For the musician, this may be
three hours of practice with the instrument every day until the score is learned
by heart and the hands move effortlessly and automatically. The gymnast
commits movement to physical memory and strives through focused attention to refine
the act. The chef learns to sauté the onions until they caramelize and to stop
before they burn. We all learned to drive more or less automatically through
repeated practice, practice, practice. What every practice strives for is the
continuous improvement or maintenance of the level of skill in an activity.
This is the most common use of the concept of practice, and in Religious
Science we can apply it to the ideal of practicing Spiritual Mind Treatment and
affirmative prayer on a regular schedule until it becomes second nature.
Practices that lead to Perfection? This idea shifts the attention away from
the idea of repetition and places our focus on the nature of the specific
activity in which we are engaged. For example, we could consider the mental,
emotional, physical and spiritual merits of the general practice of meditation as
opposed to the level of ease and proficiency gained through regular practice of
this activity. We could include any number of activities in our list of
practices, such as journaling, inspirational reading, selfless service, chanting or
drawing mandalas. Each of these activities would, in turn, increase in
beneficial effect through regular practice.
Practicing the Path of Perfection? What might that look like? This is
without a doubt the most challenging application of the idea that "Practice Makes
Perfect". Yet, this is the very idea that stands at the core of Religious
Science as well as the esoteric understanding of all great Wisdom Teachings.
Practicing the path of perfection in this last sense means understanding that there
is a Divine perspective from which all that takes place in life can be seen as
the unfolding of a sacred, deliberate and purposeful plan to bring about a
greater degree of consciousness-specifically the consciousness that there is only
God. One might think of it as the Practice Of Perfection, the practice of
knowing that, not only in spite of appearances, but also because of appearances,
all is perfectly and completely in divine order! One might say that Spirit
works through appearances, as appearances in the only way It knows-perfectly. I
know it's a stretch, but maybe its time to "limber up".
Those are the highlights, stay tuned for the play-by-play.
I guarantee the month of May will challenge you to examine the way you spend
your hours and minutes. Remember this, however you choose to spend your time
and mind, that is not only what you practice, it is your practice. Is yours a
practice of perfection? Are you open to change? Could you use a spiritual
facelift?
See you in Church.
Rev. Patrick
|
