What is Nomadic Devotion?
“At God’s command he had to separate himself from the “establishment,” to go he knew not where, to find he knew not what. He did not know when or whether or how he would again have a home or a land of his own.”
Nomadic Devotion is the spiritual path of Paul W. Jacob (Jake). This way teaches us to let go of social conditioning and egocentric desires in order to follow our deepest calling from The Beloved. It engages both inner and outer processes, as contemplative wisdom and self-emptying become fully integrated when they rouse us to selfless service. For the authentic mystic does not seek to acquire anything for themself; they yearn to give everything away in service of The Beloved.
Jake speaking on Nomadic Devotion
Nomadic Devotion demonstrates that by being fully present in our lives, Divine Will can work through us in ways that are mysterious to the socially conditioned world. Many people have jobs, but they have not yet discovered their true calling because of fear and anxiety about their personal comfort and material needs. However, Jesus of Nazareth spoke plainly in Matthew 6:25 when he taught that we cannot add a single moment to our life by being anxious.
Nomadic Devotion imparts that our work in this world must connect us to something greater than our ego and its various wants and desires. The Bhagavad Gita, a sacred text, asserts that we have the right to work but for the work's sake only. Desire for the fruits of work must never be our motive. This means that sacred tasks are performed without selfish thoughts or greedy burdens. For a true laborer of The Beloved does not work for fame or fortune but simply for the glory of God.
Nomadic Devotion allows that our work may not revolve around one traditional job like it does for many people. As Jake shows, this could be through mentoring and cooking for at-risk youth, creating gardens for families, leading spiritual formation groups at senior centers, reading to people with Alzheimer’s, facilitating contemplative retreats at monasteries and spiritual centers, writing essays and stories spotlighting the plights of marginalized people, teaching under-served populations at community colleges, presenting workshops at public libraries, and providing food, daily necessities, companionship, and spiritual care for our homeless neighbors.
The paramount lesson of the path of Nomadic Devotion is not how your life looks on the outside to the socially conditioned world, but that we accept our calling from within and offer our work to our community and The Beloved with an open heart and a joyful spirit.
Click on the image below to purchase Jake’s book, Nomadic Devotion.
Third Printing - $12
Nomadic Devotion - A Contemporary Inquiry into the Poetics of Place
This collection of poems and essays take the reader on a seasonal journey into natural and communal locales throughout the United States and Canada. The author uses a contemplative lens to deeply guide readers into the holistic ambience and transformational power that the Poetics of Place can have on our lives.
~Published by Nomadic Devotion Books and printed in the U.S.A. on recycled paper with plant-based inks.