On Matters of Belief and Practice

[arthra]

My question for all of you who may be reading this is:
What sorts of practices do you engage in for your own religion?

Baha'is recite obligatory prayers daily. We can choose which of three prayers we wish to recite. The prayers are recited after ablutions and while facing Bahji.
We also recite the "Greatest Name" ninety five times a day.
Every nineteen days (Baha'i month) we gather for a Feast consisting of prayers and consultation and refreshments;
We fast from sunrise to sunset for nineteen days near the end of our year.
We observe eleven Holy Days nine of which require that work be suspended.
If we are able to do so we go on pilgrimage to the Holy Land at least once in our lives.

 

[Sundance]

Just as an example, when I moved to my place the first thing I did was do an assessment of the lands. Well, okay - actually I did that before I moved in. I could feel the Spirit of the Land was ailing, and it wasn't long before I learned why when I started to work with it. Like so many developments, the area where my condo was built was raped. The contractors raped the soil off the land and left it almost barren. I knew it was going to be bad when I bought the place, but I didn't anticipate just how bad the land was violated here. My state is known for having some of the richest soils in the world, and here I was on that land finding it despoiled utterly. The worst thing is that I know this is not something I can fix. It isn't in my power - it takes centuries to build the kind of soil that was once here. On top of that, the area is ripe with that biotic abomination called "lawn grass" that provides next to no habitat value for our non-human relations.

I set about correcting that as best I could, internally grumbling about the limits of living in a condo association. If it were up to me, I'd rip up every shred of that abominable lawn grass on my corner and replace it with something resembling a proper ecosystem restoration effort. Since it isn't up to me, I basically have done what I feel I can get away with and add to it a bit each year. I was concerned such small efforts would be meaningless, but I was surprised at the results even in the first year. My small tallgrass prairie restoration was a'chirr with insects and home to assorted frogs and toads. My native shrubs were beloved by the winged ones for both shelter and food. I felt I couldn't do a service to the gods with such a small space to work with, but even these small spaces provide refuge. I have wildlife habitat. Not much of it, but I have it.

Now, if only I could convince my condo association to let me tear through my entire yard and replace it with prairie...

I see, Q! How very...uhhhh....natural! Thank you for the response.

 

[whirlingmerc]

Lately, my mind has flung me back towards polytheism. This is not a bad thing unto itself. Nothing wrong, right? Not exactly. I had asked several of you about how to deeply engage with religion (in general), with @Vinayaka (bless his heart and soul) suggesting something to the effect of “DJ, stop thinking about it.”
@Quintessence had also, I think, driven home the point that religion is meant to be engaged with, practiced, not merely thought about or believed in.

Their words of advice remind me of a quote from Bruce Lee which says,

“Life is meant to be lived, not conceptualized.”

This makes it abundantly clear to me that maybe I've been trapped in the thinking, the believing, regarding religion rather than the doing, the practicing. This must change. I would like to re-orient my religious life around engaging in practices instead of beliefs, but I don't know how.

My question for all of you who may be reading this is:

What sorts of practices do you engage in for your own religion?

mediating on objective truth in the word, the beauty of Christ and being changed by it

 

[whirlingmerc]

Lately, my mind has flung me back towards polytheism. This is not a bad thing unto itself. Nothing wrong, right? Not exactly. I had asked several of you about how to deeply engage with religion (in general), with @Vinayaka (bless his heart and soul) suggesting something to the effect of “DJ, stop thinking about it.”
@Quintessence had also, I think, driven home the point that religion is meant to be engaged with, practiced, not merely thought about or believed in.

Their words of advice remind me of a quote from Bruce Lee which says,

“Life is meant to be lived, not conceptualized.”

This makes it abundantly clear to me that maybe I've been trapped in the thinking, the believing, regarding religion rather than the doing, the practicing. This must change. I would like to re-orient my religious life around engaging in practices instead of beliefs, but I don't know how.

My question for all of you who may be reading this is:

What sorts of practices do you engage in for your own religion?

Jesus said in John 4 'those who worship God must worship in spirit and in truth'
the believing, the feeling, the resulting faith in action faith working in love all matter