Spirituality for Living

The language gets sketchy. Is mind thinking? Isn’t thinking just an action? Awareness goes beyond thinking. The mind as we know it comes after, not before. It’s automatic and it is why people get so tripped up. They are told to control your mind. Free yourself from your mind. Like somehow you can lobotomize yourself [...]

That sense of dissonance, of being out of place, is important now more than ever. Can serve as a motivator for change. This system we now have, how is it ok? Why should it be allowed to exist without disturbance? Maybe those of us who are out of synch, owe it to the people in [...]

If we saw our own connection to our place, even as we move from place to place in a solidly experiential way, that might change things. Realizing that everything is you and you are everything. Part of sense of place is that realization. You can’t say self knowledge is complete without it, and the relationship [...]

Taoism is one of those world religions that sort of isn’t one. Many popular Chinese concepts are connected to Taoism and actually in many ways it’s like the Egyptian faith. The basic principle is acceptance of and living with the natural way. Lao-Tzu was its unofficial founder and one of the immortals that are venerated, [...]

It is a commonly mistaken notion that Buddhists see the Buddha as especially divine. There is a school or two that does, but in fact the majority of Buddhist sects are almost agnostic as it regards deities. Zen would be one of these.
There are two branches of thought in Buddhism. One is that enlightenment is [...]

There are stories where the Zen master says something, and the student is said to be ‘enlightened’.  In that moment the words didn’t matter as much as the students thinking, and what will do that for any student differs. This is why you see the symbol of the dorje or lighting bolt in Buddhism, because [...]

How does a demon go about being spiritual? Demons are spiritual. Darkness is merely the mirror image of light, and much is declared dark from prejudice only. Bad is debatable. The spirit that challenges you to know the truth of yourself is bad? The spirit that reminds you of the value of life, or what [...]

The shamans knew about the full mind. Do everything counter to the way that everybody else did. This is the path of the Heyoka. Sacred clown. They support their tribe by showing them how things are undone, keeping them alert. They were tricksters, but because they went backwards. They just “undid” things. People kept aware [...]

The shadow consciousness theory of psychology is the notion of suppression of our selves by our judgement. When we see other people doing what we have stopped ourselves from doing, it traumatizes the shadow consciousness. Our judgement traumatizes it reflexively. Being moral entrepreneurs it brings doubts to our certainties or enforces our bitterness and jealousy [...]

Channelling is usually involuntary. Like those of flesh and blood they want me to do stuff, but don’t want to compensate nor return favours. So I generally resistant. But with someone yammering in your ear even if you ignore them…like example, ever be typing when someone is talking to you, and you type a word [...]

Is happiness the indicator of success? Yes, when you are self fulfilled then you are successful. It’s more than most peoples understanding of happiness. When you are on your path, it just feels right. Everything feels right.
Happiness is a state of mind? No, true happiness is a state of being. Contentment is another valid descriptor. [...]

The eightfold path breaks down the aspects of life, and elaborates on how they are reached and what they are like. Most schools of Buddhist thought are not “dogmatic”, so you can find many texts with very broad opinions, even by modern authors. This is no break from Buddhist teaching. They refer to life in [...]

When I give my talks I tend to just go with the flow of inspiration, regrettably it means I sometimes “leave no trace”, even in my own mind.
I like the format of these discussions, going with the flow. It gives all a chance to talk and is more interactive. People learn by doing, not by [...]

The enlightened are called by a new term in modern psychology. They refer to it as being self actualized. My condition is in a sense an enforced nihilism. I am autistic, which means that my very sense impressions seem meaningless. There is something that remains in the face of this. I have learned to function [...]

The truth put forth by any of the reputable sources have the power they do because they can be applied to experience. I have always said that religion should stop complaining about science and instead hold itself to the same standards. Not of mechanism, but of experiential reference.
Unfortunately, it seems the ‘reputable’ sources simplify everything, [...]

Self declared enlightened people seem to think it’s suppose to come with a good dose of ‘serious’, and seriousness is defined by a kinetic zeal. They are serious about what they do. If they stop doing, then where does the enlightenment go? Mother Teresa was known for not really enjoying ceremony. She preferred the down [...]

Regarding emotions and attaching them to others, it seems in defining ourselves we will over exaggerate to the point of absurdity to see parts of ourselves that we have yet defined. For example, if you said to me that Jeff sure is a long winded dude, and I had not yet defined that within myself, [...]

What would you say about someone who has killed a couple of hundred people, and accepts that, sleeping soundly knowing that only the dark part of his soul enables that same sleep? Is the soldier a criminal for having killed? Is someone who sees the world darkly an enemy for that view alone? I would [...]

I have zillions of questions about parenting. You are the seeking child. You are the loving little boy or girl. You just need to help the child out of the whole. You were good and learned what you were taught. Now be good to yourself.  Be the guide you didn’t have to yourself and anyone [...]

We won’t see unity in the world until diversity is accepted. We won’t have unity by blurring and denying duality. We won’t create enlightenment by declaring we know better than our senses, like we were some self stamped coin that we are trading in for a better bill. We are one because we are part [...]