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“Connecting with the Divine”: a new lab on OstadElahi-inPractice.com

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“What is prayer? What purpose does it serve? What is its role in the process of spiritual perfection? Under what conditions can one best benefit from prayer? This lab aims at helping you better understand the goal, the effects, and the conditions of prayer, and make the practice of prayer a part of your daily life.”

Here is the introductory description of the brand new lab hosted by the website OstadElahi inPractice, an organisational platform for the practice of ethics and spirituality that we introduced here when it launched in July. After a first general lab entitled Toward an in vivo practice, which you may have already tried out this summer, this second curriculum entitled Connecting with the Divine, introduces us to the essential role of prayer.

This lab focuses on the practice of a fundamental aspect of the process of spiritual perfection, with special emphasis on personal reflection and decisions. It offers richer resources and, on the technical side, an optimised user experience thanks to a system with improved stability. Some updates were also made to the FAQs, including new explanations in response to recurrent questions received by the technical support team. It should be noted that the Toward an in vivo practice lab remains online and available, which is great as it will allow users to complete any given lab as many times as they want, even though the system only enables them to register for one lab at a time to prevent dissipating efforts.

It’s back-to-school time, and in that spirit, OstadElahi inPractice encourages everyone to undertake a tailored ethical and spiritual curriculum. Thus each and everyone is invited to measure the benefits of a real, concrete and daily practice, whether through this new lab, Connecting with the Divine, or by going back to the Toward an in vivo practice lab.

The Connecting with the Divine lab will be available online as from Tuesday 23 September, 16:00 UTC.

Reminder: Getting started on OstadElahi inPractice

  1. Connect to the following url: www.ostadelahi-inpractice.com
  2. Select the language you would like to use on the site.
  3. Sign up, and make sure to indicate your location, because the various phases of the curriculum have time limits and thus involve deadlines that will vary depending on your time zone.
  4. Watch the presentation video again, if you wish — it is always available on the website and provides an overview of the practical curriculum.
  5. Read the FAQs, which contain important information about little things to know to better benefit from the site, certain things to do or to avoid doing, your account security, etc.
  6. Select a lab on the “All Labs” page, and get started!
  7. Have a look at the page containing detailed information about the 5 phases of the curriculum, which will become available as soon as you enroll in a lab. You will also receive regular emails that will guide you through the curriculum.
  8. A contact form is available for any questions, difficulties, or suggestions you may have.
  9. Finally, make sure to keep an eye on the “news” section to stay informed of any new features.

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15 comments

  1. Naghme Sep 22, 2014 6:08 am 1

    Thank you for this brand new lab ,I think Communication that builds relationships is dialogue.
    In vivo prayer has all of the qualities of a deeply meaningful conversation between 2 people.

  2. NNF Sep 22, 2014 2:28 pm 2

    Thank you for the new lab, this tool is very beneficial in helping really understand what it means to put something into practice! I’m very excited to start the new lab!

  3. mariasali Sep 23, 2014 5:41 am 3

    thanks a lot for providing these labs!

  4. Coco Sep 23, 2014 4:41 pm 4

    Thank you. Having a daily place to go to focus my efforts is very helpful to me. It feels like the stretch of darkened roadway ahead has just been lit by street lights. I’m looking forward to starting this new lab.

  5. AS Sep 28, 2014 8:32 am 5

    I just started the toward an in vivo practice lab and it seems to be very helpful. Can’t wait to start the new one once I have completed the first lab. However, I think concentrating and really being focused on each lab is the main point and to make sure when we start the second one that we are still practicing the previous one until it really becomes second nature

  6. pzlz Oct 01, 2014 4:32 pm 6

    Thank you for introducing us to these sophisticated Labs! In this particular lab, the self-knowledge survey took me to the question: “Based on what criteria do you evaluate the quality of your prayer?” and one of the choices was: “Whether it provided me with the energy I need to work on myself and make spiritual progress.” I did not pick this one, I don’t know how to link my prayer to the energy level I receive/need to work on myself. All I know is that I need lots and lots of energy to work on myself and sure am not getting it. I look forward to the next phases of this Lab hoping that it will help me make the connection between the two.

  7. ma Nov 11, 2014 11:49 pm 7

    unfortunately it requires a lot of patience, specially on line. So I found it is not for me! I or people like me who are not very young, need much more simplified ways to reach directly the point of practice and learning in vivo. But I appreciate your hard work. I wish I could make use of it too.

  8. tom Sep 06, 2017 1:27 pm 8

    I recently completed this Lab, and on the last day, I had an experience that I cannot quite understand.

    One of the ways in which my imperious self stops me from praying is by saying that I am too tired after work or that I am not in the right place/situation to pray. I decided that the best way to overcome this would be to wake up before going to work, when i have the most energy and have time, to do my prayers and some readings. I did this for 28 days, and it really worked. I am motivated to wake up, and am able to read and pray effectively.

    On the last day, as I was setting my alarm to wake up in the morning, my husband said something–totally jokingly– like ‘oh you and your alarm! you torture me!’ he smiled and said goodnight. Basically he just alluded to the fact that I have been waking him up each time I get up to do my exercise. He does not practice spirituality, and so while he understands the meaning of this to me, he does not quite get it the same way someone who did practice spirituality would.

    I think it is ok to wake him up, gently, as I wake up and do my prayers. If I wanted to go to the gym or be an early work person, I would do the same thing.

    I think I am writing this today (this happened yesterday) to make sure I am not missing anything, and that I learn what I need from this experience. Am I transgressing his rights?
    Is this another trick of my imperious self trying to get me to stop waking up? Does anyone have any other ideas?

    1. kbld Sep 16, 2017 11:10 am 8.1

      @tom
      Married life is made of sensible comprises, adapted to each situation. To me, it depends. If you had been a housewife and your husband somebody doing heavy manual work for whom sleeping well and enough is absolutely essential, you could spare him. But since it does not seem to be the case, to me, you have duty towards yourself, body and soul, and he should do this concession for your legitimate need. You have to find the right balance, and, to me, only a heavy thing could conterbalance this healthy routine you’ve adopted.
      It would be proper to discuss it with him, so that you agree and he does not develop mental prejudices against you due to the lack of explicit understanding.

    2. B Sep 18, 2017 10:58 am 8.2

      @tom.
      I don’t think you should stop setting the alarm. Like you say what if you wanted to go to the gym…. Even if it bothers your spouse a lot, which does not seem to be the case, you could find another way to compensate… I think if you play it right he might even wake you up himself for you to do your prayer.

    3. Yan Sep 21, 2017 8:02 pm 8.3

      My feeling is that since this happened to you exactly on the last day of your practice, there might be an important message in there for you.

      The book “Decoding the Spiritual Messages of Everyday Life” by Paul DeBell really helped me to see incidents in my life from a different angle, I would highly recommend it.

      You can ask youself this question: why did this happen to me just on the last day and not on any other day before or after that 28-day period?

      Maybe this happend to give you a more comprehensive and general message (maybe you need to modify some aspects of your behaviour towards your husband and in general respect his rights more – for ex. when you say if you wanted go to the gym you would set your alarm and would wake him up too – maybe this also violate his rights and you need to change this too).

      I do not mean to say that you should scarfice your morning prayer, but maybe you need to change the method of waking yourself up (ex. You could buy one of those gadgets that wake you up with just a vibration on your wrist – or any other alternatives).

      1. tom Sep 22, 2017 2:26 pm 8.3.1

        Thank you all for such great feedback.

        You have all given me so much to think about. @Yan, I agree with you that this happening on the last day is no mere coincidence. And amazingly, I have JUST purchased a fitbit device to wake me up with a vibration. Again, this is not a coincidence. I realize that I direct a lot of my negative behaviors to my husband, and I think I need to devote some time to work on this.

        I also want to say thank you for this forum. It is so incredibly helpful. Thank you for putting this together, e-ostadelahi.com, and thank you to the users for your care.

    4. adissam Oct 23, 2017 12:09 am 8.4

      This is a question of rights (and duties). I often ask myself which right has priority in this situation. For example, what should come first: turning my attention toward – and entering into a dialogue with – the One or attending to my body?

      Regarding your question, I’ve eventually found an answer in this lecture under “a few comments”:
      https://www.e-ostadelahi.com/eoe-en/human-beings-duties/

      @Tom, thanks a lot for your question.

      1. tom Oct 25, 2017 1:21 pm 8.4.1

        thank you @ adissam. It is great to review this fantastic presentation.

    5. Q Oct 29, 2018 11:44 am 8.5

      Although I liked the few suggestions made by other people and believe they might work, I would like to make another suggestion.
      You may find the solution in showing a bit more love and kindness toward your spouse. It might not be easy and need a lot of contemplation and planning regarding first how to change your mindset in that regards, and secondly how to show that new extra kindness and love to him with the correct intention. Once that is established, your home ecosystem will change. He will most probably become softer and more sensitive to your needs; he might even start showing interest in practicing spirituality or when you feel he is ready, with the nice gesture at the right time you might even be able to ask him to wake you up if you oversleep.

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