The Path of Devotion into Expanded Consciousness
Part Four: Welcoming Expanded Consciousness/Spirit Into Your Life
In our context, devotion refers to a deep sense of love, reverence, and commitment to God, a divine presence, person, and cause, such as bringing healing to the people of the world and the earth itself. It can take the form of prayer, meditation, reflection, other spiritual practices and always includes loving service and action. Devotion can be a powerful avenue for expanding consciousness/spirit and deepening one's connection to God.
The first followers of Jesus were devoted to him while he was in their physical realm. Their devotion became even more supercharged with the expansion of their consciousness/spirit at Pentecost and following. They now sang to him as the Living Resurrected Jesus, talked to him, and enjoyed his exhilarating presence in their gatherings. While in trance spirit consciousness, they received messages from Jesus and other spiritual presences of guidance, comfort, encouragement, and strengthening for one another.
Significantly, within a few years after his resurrection appearances, these first, soon-to-be-called Christians were giving Jesus the same devotion they gave the awesome God of their Jewish faith.
However, their initial sense and amazement of Jesus' divinity did not stop with him. The later to-be-written canonical Gospels, especially John and the Gospel of Thomas, revealed the seeds of recognizing Jesus' divinity as inherent in all people, even though it is yet to be realized and manifested as it was and is in the person of Jesus.
Notice that I do not use the word "worship" in relation to God or Jesus. That word is so embedded in the royal metaphors of kings, courts, and servants that it is useless and often offensive to contemporary spiritual ears. I have found that the best way to leave those royalty frameworks behind is not to use the word worship but to adopt a different and devotional contemporary understanding of worship. As a follower of Jesus, that understanding for me is “Opening our hearts in devotion to God, Jesus, guides, one another, nature, truth, and our spiritual calling with gratitude, love, passion, and service.”
The Gaze of Divine Mother and Devoted Man
DEVOTION — PATHWAY TO EXPANDED CONSCIOUSNESS
Heart-Centered Awareness: Devotion usually begins as heart-centered awareness that allows individuals and collectives to open the way to more profound levels of consciousness beyond the confines of the analytical mind. Devotion focuses us emotionally, allowing us to bypass our busy and critical minds. Devotional practices emphasize opening the heart and cultivating a loving connection with all Three Faces of God She.
Surrender and Letting Go: Devotion involves surrendering oneself to all Three Faces of God She and letting go of egoic attachments and control. This is NOT ego-death. Don’t aim for that! We all need a healthy ego to navigate in life. However, notice that God Being Us is not Us Being God. Our divinity is initiated by and from God, not us. That's a big difference to our ego's healthy well-being! By surrendering the limited self to the divine, individuals can experience a healthy ego, a shift in consciousness, transcending the ego and opening up to a greater sense of unity and interconnectedness.
Transformation and Healing: Devotion can be a transformative process that helps individuals release emotional blockages, heal past wounds, and cultivate greater compassion and forgiveness. This process of healing and transformation can lead to an expansion of consciousness and a deeper alignment with divine qualities.
Mystical Experience: Emotion-filled devotion can facilitate mystical experiences, where individuals may encounter the divine presence beyond, beside, and within. These profound experiences can lead to expanded states of consciousness, spiritual insights, and a deep sense of unity and interconnectedness. We may be uncomfortable with what sometimes seems to be emotional excesses in Pentecostal and Charismatic gatherings. But make no mistake, people have genuine mystical healing experiences in such gatherings, often because they open their total selves to the experience. At ICN we want to combine full and heightened emotion with meditative prayer for an integrated thinking, feeling, sensing spirituality.
Integration of Body, Mind, and Consciousness: Integral Christianity emphasizes the integration of body, mind, and consciousness/spirit. Devotion can provide a pathway to integrate these aspects of human experience by engaging the whole being in gratefulness, prayer, and wonder. This integration can lead to a more holistic and balanced personhood.
Ken Wilber on 2nd Person Devotion God
In Ken Wilber's integral framework, devotion to a spiritual being such as God, Jesus, Mary or other advanced spiritual guides can be understood as a particular expression of the second-person perspective. It involves a deep heartfelt commitment to spiritual presences and also a path, calling, or cause.
In The Religion of Tomorrow, Wilber makes a robust case for devotion to what we call the Intimate Face of God Beside us. He deliberately aims this at the many who shy away from or even dismiss any practice of 2nd person devotion to God. He writes:
“The 2nd-person, intersubjective, or “you/we” approaches to Spirit see Spirit as a Great Other or Great Thou, and many of them maintain that they know God or Spirit exists because they have a personal relationship with that ultimate Spirit. That relationship can also run the gamut from communion to union to identity, and often does, turning—at the identity end—into 1st-person approaches that see an identity, or oneness, or nonduality, between Spirit and one's own highest Self. Spirit in the 2nd person reminds us that Spirit can be viewed as a living, conscious, vital relationship with everything in existence, including humans, and thus humans can develop a personal, living, conscious relationship with this great Spirit
It [conversation with God] is nonetheless a viable and genuine means of connecting to (or resonating with) Spirit itself. Now, Integral Theory, of course, believes that all three of these perspectives are real (because they are versions of the 4 quadrants, themselves archetypal “involutionary givens” of this universe); and this 2nd-person perspective reminds us that dialogue is a viable form of spiritual awareness, and conversation is the sincerest form of worship.
As for the actual '2nd-person' part, 'person' is defined as 'being with intelligence,' and the universe certainly has being, and it certainly has intelligence, and there's no reason whatsoever it can't be approached as such. What 2nd-person approaches bring to the spiritual arena are all the qualities that one would like to think are involved with any ultimate Spirit, but are also ones that exist when there is relationship, such as compassion, love, gratitude, forgiveness, and so on. These qualities require relationship, such as Martin Buber's I-Thou relationship, in order to truly exist.
Further, a path of devotional surrender to this Intelligence (or simple awe and wonder at this infinite Mystery) gets at the egoic self-sense in a way that other approaches just can't: you can take up a 3rd-person view of Spirit as the Great Web of Life and still retain your ego; likewise, you can imagine a 1st-person view of Spirit as your own True Self, but that always allows the self in any form (including the small egoic self) to remain stuck in the picture somewhere; but devotionally surrendering the self to this Intelligence is, well, to surrender this self in every way, if you're actually doing the practice right, and that gets at ego in a way that the others just can't.” (italics mine)
Devotion in other traditions
Devotion is often seen as a central practice in many religious and spiritual traditions such as Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Judaism. David Frawley, contemporary American author, and teacher, says that according to the Hindu sage Ramana Maharishi, Bhakti is a "surrender to the divine with one's heart." Maharishi says it can be practiced in several ways, which, interestingly, cover the Three Faces of God:
Atma-Bhakti: devotion to one's atma (Supreme Self). This is what at ICN we call the Inner Face of God Being Us.
Ishvara-Bhakti: devotion to a formless being (God, Cosmic Lord), what we see as the Infinite Face of God Beyond us.
Ishta Devata-Bhakti: devotion to a personal God or goddess. What ICN frames as the Intimate Face of God Beside Us.
Devotion can take various forms, such as devotion to God, highly evolved spirit guides, a spiritual practice, a particular philosophy, and service to the healing of the world.
In the context of spiritual awakening, devotion plays a crucial role in cultivating a heartfelt connection with the divine or the transcendent. It involves surrendering the ego, developing trust, and opening oneself to the guidance and grace of a higher power. Devotion can be seen as a way to transcend the limitations of the self and merge with something greater.
Heartfelt devotion gets us past our critical mind, which keeps us from deep inner transformation, and communicates directly with the spiritual realities that always surround us. Our attachment to egoic thoughts lessens and can temporarily dissipate. This allows us to experience the presence of God, Jesus, and spirit guides most deeply.
Devotion with Others
Practicing devotion often involves rituals, prayers, chanting, meditation, or other acts of reverence designed to cultivate a sense of closeness to the divine. It is especially compelling in the collective. Engaging in these practices with others sincerely and intentionally deepens our spiritual connections and fosters a sense of awe, gratitude, and love.
Devotional meditative prayer with one or two others can transform one's perspective and bring profound spiritual insights. It can lead to a shift from a self-centered view of the world to a more expansive, interconnected understanding. Through devotion, individuals may experience a sense of unity, oneness, and interconnectedness with all of creation.
Devotion may begin as a personal and individual experience, but mature devotion always incorporates the beauty and power of the collective. Jesus said," Where two or more are gathered in my name, I am there among them (Matt 18:20)." Of course, Jesus is always with us, so what does this mean? It means Jesus' presence is markedly potent in the group gathered in his name. This can be a powerful field for spiritual growth, self-transformation, and realizing one's true nature.
Devotion with Others: Powerfully promotes altered states of consciousness. Altered states refer to experiences in which an individual's perception, thoughts, or sense of self are significantly different from their ordinary waking state. These states can range from mild shifts in consciousness to profound and transformative experiences.
Prayer and Meditation: Engaging in prayer and meditation practices is common across many religious traditions. These practices often involve concentration, repetition of words or phrases, deep breathing, or visualization techniques. Through sustained focus and relaxation, individuals may enter altered states characterized by a heightened sense of connection, tranquility, or spiritual awareness.
Rituals and Ceremonies: Many religions incorporate rituals and ceremonies as part of their devotional practices. These may include chanting, singing, dancing, drumming, or other repetitive physical movements. These rhythmic and repetitive actions can induce trance-like states, where individuals may experience a sense of transcendence, unity, or ecstasy.
Sacred Music and Chanting: Music has a powerful impact on human emotions and can evoke deep spiritual responses. Religious hymns, chants, or devotional songs often carry profound meanings and are sung or played with great devotion. Engaging in or listening to sacred music can induce altered states by evoking strong emotions, promoting relaxation, or facilitating a sense of unity with the divine.
Devotion to the Intimate Face of God Beside Us is deep feelings, words, and images of love and dedication to God/She/Him/They and to the other spirit companions we are drawn to. This increasingly allows us to sense or see the presence of Jesus and others going with you wherever you are — at home, work, or on a busy street!
Mystical Practices: Certain mystical traditions within various religions emphasize direct experiential encounters with the divine or ultimate reality. Practices like Sufi whirling, Hindu Kundalini yoga, or Christian Christ-Bhakti aim to transcend ordinary consciousness and reach states of union with the divine. These practices often involve intense focus, self-surrender, and prolonged periods of meditation, potentially leading to transformative altered states.
Prayer languages are a mystic channel to an empty mind while simultaneously vocalizing either within or by physical voice sounds of love and devotion to all three Faces of God.
Devotion to the Infinite Face of God Beyond Us is sensing the awe and wonder of the Infinite Divine Mystery.
Devotion to the Inner Face of God Being Us means we care for our physical, emotional, and spiritual self in a loving and devoted way. We are the temple of spirit breath consciousness (I Cor 6:19) — so we take loving care of this holy place.
Choose your mode of connecting to the transforming spiritual realms of expanded consciousness.
To connect to these dimensions of consciousness/spirit, each one follows our most natural mode. For some, it will be words. For others, it will be images. For others, it will be sensations, smells, and emotions. Consciousness/spirit comes without a framework. You give it the mode or doorway that fits for you, that suits you to receive.
For more on this subject, see the four-part series on Devotion for Cultural Creatives.
Reflection . . .
Does the idea of devotion fit better than worship for you? Or not?
What forms of devotion do you find most meaningful?
Is there any area of devotion you are aware of wanting a fuller place in your life?
All Images are open-source, free-to-use, or AI-Generated used with permission/Created by ICN