DAS Model for Spiritual Growth

I have spent many years of my life studying and applying principles and practices of spiritual growth from many of the world’s greatest teachers and masters- both ancient and modern. 

I have developed a diagram to help me organize what I have learned and continue to learn. I call it the “Divine-Align-Shine Circle” and I have chosen to organize this site around this diagram. Every article will focus on one or more elements of this diagram.  Some directly, other indirectly.   

THE ORIGIN OF DIVINE-ALIGN-SHINE 

August 14, 2007, while taking a shower and thinking about life, the following words came to my mind:

DIVINE
ALIGN
SHINE

It was clear to me that these three rhyming words were a pattern for living an inspired and useful life- the life I believe we are all meant to live. My understanding of what they meant was clear to me in a way that can't be put into words. However, I will try to do just that. These three words have become a master framework I build my understanding of life on.  It wasn't until January of 2009 that the diagram above was designed to illustrate in more detail the meaning of Divine-Align-Shine. 

DIVINE:

This must come first. What this means is tapping into our true divine nature- or "TRUE YOU". That wise, experienced spirit that is who we already are- who we were before we were born into this body we now have and who you will be when this body returns to the earth. We are first "Sons and Daughters of God" and second "Sons and Daughters of Man".

We are immortal beings in a mortal body- we are "Spirits having a human experience, not humans having a spiritual experience."

There are many good ways to experience our own divine nature- we'll be covering many of my favorites in this site- but the important part for now is to understand that KNOWING ABOUT our divine nature (through words in a book or sermon or even this site) is very different from KNOWING our divine nature by experiencing it for ourselves.

ALIGN:

Once we have gained through our own direct experience a personal realization of our true divine nature, staying aligned with that nature becomes the core of our "work" on a daily basis.

There are many ways of doing this, and we'll be covering many of my favorites in this site. But they all have in common a willing submission of our natural or physical will to the greater or higher will of "True You."

It is very easy to get out of alignment just going through our day. The more frequently we can re-align, the more inspired and effortless our lives will be.

By effortless, I don't mean no work- sit on the couch watching TV all day. I mean that life just doesn't seem like a struggle against the odds anymore. It becomes a flow- like swimming with the current instead of against it.

SHINE:

The ultimate purpose of aligning with our divine nature is so we can go forth and shine the light of that divinity to all around us. So called "enlightenment" is not about sitting under a tree or in a shrine and meditating all day (not that this is a bad idea for a day- or even a half-hour), but about going about life serving and lifting others in our path.

As the old Buddhist saying goes:

"Before enlightenment, chop wood and carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood and carry water."

In other words, in some ways, nothing changes- we still have work to do, but in other ways everything has changed because the work is no longer about self, but about service. There are many great ways to "shine" and we'll cover many in this site. 

 

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