The Spiritual Self Schema (3-S) Development Program
The Spiritual Self Schema (3-S) Development Program
The Spiritual Self Schema (3-S) Development Program
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to-day activities consistent with the <strong>Spiritual</strong> path you are<br />
designing and constructing? If there are any discrepancies,<br />
reflect on what changes need to be made.<br />
2. Meditation Practice: Training one's mind to take the right<br />
Path<br />
Moral practice alone is not enough for the construction and<br />
maintenance of a <strong>Spiritual</strong> path. A <strong>Spiritual</strong> journey also requires the<br />
ability to control one's mental processes, so that wholesome thoughts<br />
become the foundation of one's moral practice. Through the practice<br />
of meditation one develops this capacity. <strong>The</strong> three steps in<br />
meditation training are:<br />
Right Effort. Anyone who has ever tried to control the flow or<br />
content of his or her thoughts, knows that it takes enormous effort to<br />
focus the mind. Buddhists in the <strong>The</strong>ravada tradition have likened our<br />
ongoing stream of thoughts to a wild monkey in its forest home<br />
jumping here, there, and everywhere, seemingly unmanageable by<br />
those who are observing it, and disinclined to be tamed. Even those<br />
people who describe themselves as always 'in control' will likely admit<br />
that even they are not able to control the wandering of their "monkey<br />
mind." As you no doubt discovered while completing Phase 1 of the 3-S<br />
program, it is your wandering mind that at any moment can take you<br />
off on a journey of thoughts (cognitive scripts) and/or behaviors<br />
(behavioral action sequences), such that, before you know it, you have<br />
accessed a habitual self-schema, and you find yourself back traveling an<br />
old path (or superhighway) that is inconsistent with your <strong>Spiritual</strong><br />
ideals, and is extremely difficult to exit. Strong effort is therefore an<br />
essential tool for the construction and maintenance of your <strong>Spiritual</strong><br />
path and, as will be described shortly, is a tool you will learn to use<br />
skillfully in your meditation practice.<br />
Right Mindfulness. <strong>The</strong> <strong>Spiritual</strong> path you are constructing,<br />
with its moment-by-moment destinations, requires that you are fully<br />
aware of each moment. However, in the course of our normal daily<br />
lives, we are usually more aware of the past or of an anticipated future<br />
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