This begins with narrowing the focus of examination. First, when you express gratitude, don’t just think of the big, obvious things that happened during the day, but also the small, subtle, surprising things that made you smile or warmed your heart. Emerson’s list is certainly not meant to be definitive. Today we will explore both of these exercises — the study of text and the study of self — as ways of training the soul. Did you fail to give due credit to a co-worker? First, action and thought form a loop, in which each vitally feeds on the other. But he also argued that certain books were vital for the education of the soul. You didn’t stay by the fire. Worthy desires are recognized so plans can be made for their fulfillment. If you’re interested in following Franklin’s self-improvement/examination program, we’ve re-created his virtue charts and good deed prompts as a leather-bound journal. Ever the ethical pragmatist, he drew up a list of 13 virtues he wished to develop: Franklin also created a chart on which to keep track of his progress in living each of these 13 virtues. Your anger will cease and become more controllable if it knows that every day it must come before a judge . Develop a biblical case for the importance of meditating on Scripture, including the benefits. Keep repeating it to yourself or out loud. You’re seeking to know not just what a text means generally, but what it means for you. You’ll find that certain themes — certain hopes, problems, issues, feelings, doubts, and frustrations — repeat themselves. “The superior man will watch over himself when he is alone. Is there an invitation somewhere in these words? Because while giving any level of attention to something will change you in return, you can control the profundity of this “ricochet” effect: The more intensely you study something, the more your mind will “conform to the order upon which it concentrates.”. As we’ve often advocated, one of the best ways of changing your internal life, is by changing your external one: in taking action, your thoughts shift to match the new reality created by your behavior. Second, study and thought should not be understood as entirely passive practices, but — especially when engaged in with mindfulness, direction, and deliberation — as actions in and of themselves. Perform the exercise mentally, or if you desire, journal your reflections. at another time, you are Mary Magdalene: at another time, Peter in the porch. Later, the Roman philosopher Quintus Sextius drew on this Pythagorean practice to create his own self-examination, which the Stoic Seneca described and commended in his writings: “This was Sextius’s practice: when the day was spent and he had retired to his night’s rest, he asked his mind: Which of your ills did you heal today? The mind is renewed by applying it to those things that will transform it.” –Donald S. Whitney. Close with an Our Father.”. . Anything that feels “devotional” in nature, that offers elevation and inspiration, that challenges our assumptions, that helps us see life in a different way, that explicates myth and archetype — anything that contains an element of profundity and expands the soul — can be on the table for spiritual study. Weaknesses are identified in order to be corrected. As Foster suggests in reference to the Gospels, “Smell the sea. Rather than cramming for a test — filling one’s head with facts that are quickly regurgitated and just as soon forgotten — the spiritual studier aims to deeply absorb knowledge and make it a permanent part of his soul. After a week of examining his particular adherence to one of the virtues, Franklin would then move on to the next, eventually going through four cycles of each of the virtues in a single year. One of its earliest iterations can be found in the Golden Verses of Pythagoras: “Do not welcome sleep upon your soft eyes Pirposely withdrawing from noise, distractions, and peole for the purpose of godliness.
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