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This display in the Silence occurs after stabilization in the Silence; so, one is not taken out of the Silence by the act. One needs to remain quiet and still, inwardly and outwardly, until one is proficient at resting in the Quiet. So, one might best, at least until grounded in the Silence, engage devotions apart from her time of silent prayerfulness.
Finally, everything occurring inside and outside in the Silence becomes one rite of worship. The whole world, seen and unseen, becomes a mandala of Spirit. Yet, most persons will not realize this, even if they intellectualize it, until years of sitting daily in spiritual contemplation. One who experiences this cannot tell another what it is, only hint at it. One has to live into this realization, by Grace.
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One of the challenges to the self-sense regarding acts of devotion is their apparent uselessness. This bias is partly for many cultures value out-of-proportion efficiency, consumerism, and productivity. Post-modern societies tend to over-value the less important and under-value the most important.
Paul Quenon, Trappist monk in his In Praise of the Useless Life -
On the day of my solemn vows, Fr. Louis (Thomas Merton) tossed off a quip: "Vows are useless." The funny thing is that one of my two companions at that profession said the same thing to me before the services. I was not thrown off balance by either one of these radical remarks because Fr. Louis had been speaking for months about how the whole monastic life is useless. By then I was ready to lead "the useless life." For all its obligations and demands, its idealism and elaborations, monastic life is a way of entering into the cosmic dance.
Hence, many see devotional acts as useless, even old-fashioned, a sign of religious fundamentalism, even ignorance, below being human. They are "useless," then, in the eyes of many. They are "useless," also, in not meeting - thankfully - the standards of value in societies that have demoted the world of Spirit to secondary value or no value. For example, in the society wherein I live, the economy is more important than the soul of the citizens. Prayer has become a nice religious thing for a few to do as an aside to life, while spending money for what one does not need and, so, being indebted to the few rich is valued highly. Now, how is the economy to help you when you are breathing your last breath? Ironically, we could engage the acts seemingly impractical, saving us from the tyranny of the truly futile. Yet, rather than surrender - implied in "prostration" - to the Absolute, the human community tends to think it can think itself to the resolution of its societal problems. Surrender opens the inner life to receive Insight that the relative mind cannot present to us.
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Physical acts can affect the inner posture. Simply bowing can effect a like posture within. This resonance is due to the unity of the inner and outer, spirit-and-matter in the Harmony.
Yet, if one is worshipping in pure Love, one does not merely act to feel or get anything (i.e., merit, God's blessing, God's favor, to go to a heaven, for a better reincarnation).
Hence, as one matures in the Way, she relies less on acting from thought or feeling, until she acts freely without regard to such ends. Acting becomes spontaneous, no idea of quit-pro-quo with the Divine, and the act itself is sufficient as an appearance of love, gratitude, and reverence.
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Hence, prostration is an act that signifies all the seemingly inefficient acts of love, not only to the Absolute, but for other beings. These acts arise from a humble heart, a spirit not lifted in pride, but lowly in gratitude - for with humbleness is thankfulness. The qualities accompanying such acts are priceless. Yet, while formless, the fruit of such a presence is not without form. One with eyes to see recognizes the fruit.
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Esteemed nondual teachers have often engaged regularly in devotional acts. That we experience we are one with the Absolute, this does not mean we do not wish to worship the Absolute. Devotion is an expression of communion: oneness is not sameness but a differentiated-unity. We, when loving others, naturally want to act to express that love. We know this joy. It is so, also, in our relationship with the Light. We need the other and Other to share love with. All spiritual devotion, of whatever form or of no form, is an act of loving.
And this offering of love is the self offering the self. Such devotion is an extension of the self loving. The person goes out of itself to image an object, so to love. Hence, in adoration, we give ourselves without losing ourselves. Instead, such self-offering enhances our lives. The gift is, ultimately, the self giving the gift.
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Even resting silently in the Silence, with an awakened heart, is an act of love to Love. While pride closes off these currents of Grace flowing between the Light and us, humbleness opens the heart to give and receive. In prayerful silence, flows the hidden streams of Grace, heart-with-Heart.
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(C) Brian K. Wilcox, 2020
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