DORON’S WEB

Doron S. Antrim:  “Retired” Businessman & Entrepreneur, Lifelong Seeker of  Spiritual Truth,  Activist/Change Agent

By “applied spirituality” I mean blending my spiritual life with my existential life, living in my spiritual “zone” while also functioning fully in the day-to-day world of working, creating, accomplishing, facing problems and conflicts, interacting with others on all manner of issues. This will remain an ongoing practice for the balance of my life.

     I find it easy to relax into my spiritual zone when meditating, of course, or when on a retreat.  The difficult practice is to retain the oneness and divine guidance when functioning in the work-a-day world.  Just reading the newspaper or watching the news on TV can raise despair and worry, as can some interactions with others.

     My practice during such times is to remind myself that, while I live in the chaotic existential world, I am of the spiritual world – I am a spiritual being.  And I seek to regain my spiritual mindset whenever wrongs and tragedies and suffering of others pulls me into sadness and despair.  I realize that I must accept the existential reality as it is while working through Divine Guidance to change what I can and give comfort whenever I can.  The practices of my stool and my caring switch, described next, are powerful tools for returning me to my spiritual zone.

     Equally challenging to me is maintaining my centeredness, my respect and love for another person as a human being when that person and I hold conflicting views or opinions about something important to me, and we are seeking common ground for an agreement.  My confidence in what my logical, rational mind tells me is true or right leads me to frequently engage the other person in attempts to persuade her of the correctness of my position, and to bring her around.  My ongoing practice is to first, deepen awareness of the challenge I face in such situations; to understand myself, my conditioning, the inner drives/motives that propel my words and actions.  Second, I pray that “the wedge” will appear in my consciousness when I am moving toward combativeness in the discussion, and prompt me to reconnect with my core by pausing and taking a very deep breath.  I may even share my desire to return my comments to a respectful conversation, away from a debate.  

Doron’s Ongoing Practices

Applied Spirituality