WELCOME TO THE PRACTICE OF THE WORD
Once we have completed the set reading and have “chosen” a portion of text to work with, we come to Step 3- Setting a Task.
Seeking a Path
We are seeking to walk a spiritual path that is tied directly to the practice of the Word, which is understood to be the Texts of Divine revelation. These Sacred Texts provide us with descriptions of the spiritual laws or principles that govern the operation of the spiritual world or, in Logopraxis terms, states of the human mind. So, in Logopraxis we work with tasks drawn from the Text. The aim of working more consciously with our mental states is so that we can see spiritual principles in operation within our mind as we engage with the conditions of outer life. As every Logopractitioner knows, to see spiritual principles illustrated in our direct experience moves them from being something abstract to something immensely practical where our spiritual life is concerned.
Step Three – Set a Task
Looking for a Spiritual Principle
Step 3 asks us to identify a spiritual principle from the portion of Text we have decided to work with. Once we have identified a principle we then have something to frame our inner work for the remaining period of the two-week Logopraxis cycle. This supports our practice by giving us a spiritual focus that will enable us to live more consciously in meeting the situations and circumstances of our everyday life.
Helpful advice – Rework the Statement
To formulate a task, we may need to rework the statement or description we have selected from the Text in order to make it more readily applicable to the inner life of our mind. If we can identify a principle from the Text first, then formulating a task that relates directly to the Text is usually something that shows itself fairly clearly. Don’t be too concerned if you’re struggling to find something. We’ve all been there, and will be there again. It’s a learnt skill that comes with practice so just do the best you can. What you learn through your efforts will be valuable material to share with others in your group. In time, reading for application will become second nature.
Step Three – What to do
- Identify a spiritual principle – Ask yourself the question: “What are the spiritual principles or truths being illustrated in what I am reading?”
- Create a list – It can be helpful just to list these principles in as few words as possible
- Select a principle to work with – Ask of each of the principles you have before you: “Can I illustrate how I experience this principle operating in my life?”
If your answer is yes, then you may want to move on to a principle for which the answer to the question is no and work with that. But feel free to work with a principle you are already familiar with if you are particularly drawn to do that. - Formulate a task to direct your spiritual practice – Having settled on a principle, the next step involves creating a task that can guide your practice to gather material related to the operation of the principle in your life. What you experience through your effort to work with your task is what you will bring to your Logopraxis Life Group.
The fact that there is a particular principle reaching to us from the Text strongly suggests that despite what we think we might know, the focus of our work for this Logopraxis cycle is to draw a task from this particular principle.
Helpful Advice – Look to see HOW it is true in your life
It’s a given that the spiritual principles illustrated in the reading are true. In Logopraxis we are not working to prove that Divine revelation is true. What we want to know is how it is true in our life. The aim is to gain an experiential knowledge of a principle operating in our life that goes further than just a mere intellectual acknowledgement of its truth.
Example
AR 832(2) … unless one’s intellect is in the light of heaven through the Word, his will cannot enter into the warmth of heaven.
- Identify a Spiritual Principle: The light of the Word allows the warmth of heaven to be experienced
- Formulate a Task: To observe the moments when I feel ‘warmth’ and then to reflect on the quality of that state – does it feel heavenly or hellish?
For more examples on how to identify principles and form tasks, click the link below…
From the Logopraxis Handbook: Reworking a Statement
