Byte-Sized Virtue S08E03 – Practical Spirituality
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Podcast Topic
While the cultivation of a robust and consistent prayer life — or to form a consistent habit of some form of meditation — is certainly a very obvious way to practice Spirituality, there are other means of doing so. Notably, the idea of kenosis — self-emptying, not in a “clear your mind” sense, but in a way that opens one up to becoming more attentive to the needs of others — is a very significant means of enacting the Ultima ideal of Spirituality as a virtue. Because, as we will recall, said virtue is defined thusly in Ultima lore:
Spirituality, founded on all three principles in equal parts, is the concern with one’s inner being and how one deals with truth, love, and courage. It is also the awareness of the love that unites one’s own inner being to those around one.
Another way to practice this effectively in one’s day-to-day life is to adopt an approach of gratitude, not just to people for their actions or words, but to things and circumstances as well. And it need not even be gratitude directed to any person in particular; even vocalizing gratitude for a pleasant breeze, the beauty of a tree, or some happenstance event can be a profoundly spiritual exercise.
As can the appreciation of beauty, for that matter, as well as consideration of the telos — the final purpose — of things.
Music
Stones (Electro) by George Oldziey, from the Ultima 9 soundtrack.
Stones (Chamber) by George Oldziey, from the Ultima 9 soundtrack.
Spirituality, paradoxically, is both a virtue which requires great maturity to practice deeply, but is also profoundly easy to practice daily.