What is Nomadic Devotion?
“Nomadic Devotion engages us in the authentic journey from the scattered opinions, desires, and egoic identity of a separate individual to the Unified Consciousness of our True Self rooted in the Oneness of Ultimate Reality.”
Nomadic Devotion is the conscious path of writer, teacher, and contemplative guide Paul W. Jacob (Jake). This way teaches us to let go of social conditioning, egocentric desires, and the worldly scale of values in order to realize our True Self within the Oneness of Ultimate Reality. It merges inner and outer disciplines, as contemplative wisdom and self-emptying become fully integrated when they rouse us to selfless service. For the true wayfarer does not seek to acquire anything for themself; they simply yearn to give everything in service of the Loving Spirit of Oneness.
Nomadic Devotion demonstrates that by dwelling in our True Self, Divine Will can work through us in ways that are mysterious to the socially conditioned world of the ego. Many people have jobs, but they have not yet discovered their true calling to selfless service because of fear and anxiety about their personal comfort and material needs. However, if we possess shraddhā, a Sanskrit term that has no English equivalent but which Sri Aurobindo describes as "the soul's belief in the Divine's existence, wisdom, power, love, and grace", then what is there to worry about? Thus, Shraddhā is a vital attribute on the conscious path of Nomadic Devotion.
“The Loving Spirit of Oneness is just a phrase or a theory or a belief until it becomes our living reality. Within that state of unified consciousness, we realize that our lives are divinely intertwined.”
Nomadic Devotion imparts that our work in this world must connect us to something greater than our egocentric identity and its various wants and desires. The Bhagavad Gita, a sacred Hindu scripture, asserts that we have the right to work but for the work's sake only. Desire for the fruits of our labor must never enter our mind. Therefore, when we become rooted in our True Self, we can no longer work for selfish means or worldly gains; our sole aim becomes to serve the Loving Spirit of Oneness that flows freely among us. This is why any spiritual/religious teachers or organizations who charge their devotees, followers, or adherents for their services or guidance are still stuck in the egoistic duality of the contractual world. In the Oneness of Ultimate Reality there is no separation of “you” and “me”, so Spiritual Truth is always FREE!
Nomadic Devotion allows that our True Self may ultimately lead us to varying forms of service along our path. As Jake actualizes, this could be through mentoring and cooking for at-risk youth, creating community gardens, leading spiritual formation groups at senior centers, reading to people with Alzheimer’s, facilitating contemplative retreats at spiritual centers, publishing essays and stories spotlighting the plights of marginalized people, teaching under-served populations, or providing food, daily necessities, human companionship and spiritual care for our homeless neighbors who live on the streets.
The paramount lesson of the path of Nomadic Devotion is not how our life looks on the outside according to the egomaniacal standards of the socially conditioned world, but that we accept the humble calling of our True Self within and offer that service in the Loving Spirit of Oneness.