Spirituality for Living

I find that just as in physics, resistance plays a big part in spirituality as well. What we resist isn’t removed by our resistance, and much of orthodox religious teaching seems to extol resistance, denial, asceticism. I suppose they can create a supportive context for spiritual growth, but these days in most cultures there really [...]

I think the idea of gratitude is for the most part misunderstood. Seen as a humiliation often, but if you think about it there is nothing more ennobling. When you are in the experience of gratitude, you are in peace. You are in the present. When you cannot rest in the now, gratitude for that [...]

In the Egyptian Book of the Dead they speak of death as a journey. One of the signs on that path is a mirror. The path is a mirror. You grow in the way you are, not in the way you are told you are. Many dogmas stunt people, trap them. Is regrettable, but they [...]

Inner deaths. Those little changes that represent a growth period, but do end a facet of your existence. When it feels like an iron door has slammed shut, but was it really “abandon all hope ye who enter here”? For me it was more of an entering into the world, and in a way more [...]

Ever see Zen art? They use simple ink and they refuse to draw from memory. They seek to trap the sense impression, so the images seem very impressionistic. Suggesting the image of say a bird, because in fact as we move about in our normal consciousness how vividly does anything register on us? Usually not very. [...]

Soul mates are true, but overlooked by many. Your soul mate isn’t your other half necessarily, but there is a spiritual force that pairs people. And even if they are your other half we fight with ourselves, so why wouldn’t our soul mate fight with us? People describe their relationships as hell and heaven at [...]

When you meditate that is non doing, but many people see it as a special state of mind. We meditate to get in touch with the now, and who we are now. It isn’t by any struggle that we can do this. Struggle prevents this. Yet people even struggle to not think or do anything [...]

In trying to ‘non do’ you find yourself doing, again back to the struggling. That is the essence of doing non doing. Like thought, action arises. Thought being its precursor. You can allow action to occur through you without disturbance and without anxiety. If you experience the doing instead of trying to be the doing, [...]

The ‘Working with Chakras’ series of posts is an interview of a conversation on the chakras. What they are, and how you can work with them. We hope you find it of value in furthering your understanding of energy and personal growth. Working with Chakras: Part I starts with an overview, Part II begins to use [...]

Which matters more, money or the ones you love? Which matters more, stability or growth that keeps up with the communities needs?
Money doesn’t do much on its own. It is largely a meaningless number in a bank if you have no hope. You could be incredibly rich and have that money count for nothing if [...]

Isn’t astrology just the mathematical progression of the universe in its many forms? The insights gained can help us empower our own actions and avoid unnecessary episodes of resistance. They can help us move with the Tao of the universe itself, like a mantra, and even science says there are no closed systems. Astrology is [...]

We were all at one point happy. Literally all of us have been happy at least at one point in our lives. The reason being is that happiness is a natural state of being. It isn’t an emotion. It’s not a mood that comes and goes. Moodiness comes to replace happiness when we are taught [...]

Would you say that loneliness is a result of having become unconnected to yourself and to the universe? Unconnected to your own essence? Yes. Unconnected from how you started, to where you spiritually started. You were meant to grow from there, start from there and move forward, not jump ahead and declare that you have grown [...]

To quote Kahlil Gibran about raising children: “Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts, For [...]

Are you the real authority on you? Is anyone here the real authority on themselves, or is that discouraged? Are you busy “playing house” or rather “playing life”? Are you happy? Most parents say they want their children to grow up happy and busily deny happiness, because it isn’t responsible. I acknowledge being response able. [...]

The darkness of those who lie, like married men who don’t say they’re married. That is bad. Infidelity. Cheating on a partner.
Is sex in the virtual world of Second Life with someone married infidelity? To my view, yes it is.  But there are other ways to cheat, and not with sex. The intention is what [...]

Comfort is both a good thing, and perhaps one of our greatest evils also. We tend to neglect our instincts with comfort. We mistake comfort for ease, and we can be totally at ease but not comfortable. In that case, people tend to just suffer the stress to keep the ease.
Comfort has two domains: the stasis [...]

I practice Vipassana meditation, and when I’m with fellow mediators they say they would like to experience how relaxed I appear. I tell them, that’s only an appearance. That I’m just observing my spasming back and legs that want to move. My body is completely not at rest. That’s a good thing to tell them, [...]

I heard a talk by someone who has become hated in the medical industry. Through freedom of information act he uncovered that anti-depressants are as useful as placebos, and they have the tests to show it.
Is there such a thing as a poison placebo, like if somebody thinks a vile of water would kill [...]

We all seek comfort. Cling to it in the face of what we are told, and we often tell ourselves it is a cold cruel world. It can seem like life’s only saving grace, but comfort is both a great good, and also potentially one of the worst evils we face. It’s a natural cycle, [...]