On Monday 20th November 2023, Rev Christopher Marcus will be giving us a talk “Foundations for Spiritual Practice,” serving as an introduction to his “Spiritual Practice Circle” starting in the new year.
Rev Christopher Marcus is an ordained OneSpirit Minister (2009), Core tutor of the One Spirit Interfaith Foundation and spiritual counselor based in East Sussex. His ministry is built on the foundation of 34 years of being involved as a director and teacher in Spiritual Theatre.
Here’s what he had to say:
“It is a very wonderful thing when people vow to serve, that is to respond to the needs of others, and it is even more profound when someone strengthens their service through spiritual practice.
With both of these practices that most ministers perform, there are pitfalls; Being of service without inner balance leads to exhaustion and sometimes to a deep-seated feeling of resentment and maybe frustration. The shadow of spiritual practice can result in superiority and the tendency to ‘spiritually bypass’ events that might demand a very visceral empathic response.
The work I tried to introduce while being a core tutor at Onespirit Interfaith Foundation, was to create a solid foundation for all aspects of spiritual practice.
Just as one needs a healthy diet and exercise for the body to do good work, so does the heart-mind need to work hygienically in order to create a strong inner foundation for the spiritual structure one is trying to erect, leading to a stronger connection to the God of one’s understanding. It must be strong enough to prevent the building from getting blown away through the storms that destiny can confront us with.
This demands practice and a ‘long will’ if one really wants to overcome old habits and make way for the new you. The very concrete exercises I teach have the effect of gently opening the chakras so that they can become sensitive healthy organs of perception enabling the student to feel the delicate changes in the subtle world that surrounds them.
The work is very concrete and does not demand sitting cross-legged and being silent for any length of time but demands full wakeful consciousness and the ability to practice the old adage, “if at first you don’t succeed, try and try again”.
Nothing is achieved if one doesn’t practice.
Although the “Spiritual Practice Circle” has been advertised as being a drop-in one, I would strongly advise to start at the beginning and see it through to the end. You can’t run if you haven’t first learned how to crawl….If you drop in, you can of course get a taste of the work but it won’t have any effect on your development, the same as dropping into a gym will give you a bit of muscle pain but won’t have any effect on your constitution unless you build up a practice which, as with all things requires repetition.
I look forward to seeing you in January.
Rev Christopher Marcus”
