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 [...]

There is a simpler word for gratitude, but the word is generally seen in a more abstract light. Gratitude is love.
We didn’t make ourselves. We are not the source of our own advent. We still exist due to a process that we can’t really control and we don’t need to. Gratitude is faith, present centered [...]

Observation is really a keystone of spirituality as well as science. The capability we call observation runs deeper than the sense. As a matter of fact, there are whole scientific and military disciplines focused on “training” observation even though our senses work. The eastern teachings pointed out that senses are distracting and meditation is in [...]

People mistake consciousness for individuality. There is a transcendent and encompassing consciousness. Our ancestors knew of it…Spirits of place. There is also a natural drive to harmony, to supporting the group. Order and disorder balance where there is oneness with the greater consciousness. We see Gaia consciousness as really just regulating simple creatures.
What moved me [...]

Balance, the middle way, we hope to list toward it. At times it seems that we do not, often because we fear we are wrong. Like fumbling for a needed object in the dark, we go too far one way or too far another and we think it’s all very hard. We really make it [...]

Thinking gets you where you are and often gets you stuck and keeps you there. Do your passions arise from thinking?
Can you be angry and out of control and be aware that you are angry and out of control? If you are truly aware, then are you out of control? We are alive first, thinking [...]

I contemplate grim things in my life. I admit this freely. And some others think that I do harm in these dark meditations but I see them in the “light” of the bigger picture. I just admit my natural inclination.
Anyone ever practice scrying? When you affix your gaze in scrying, into ink or water or [...]

Do you have a very difficult time doing anything without your heart being involved? Then don’t exclude your heart. It isn’t necessary. The only way it’s ‘meant’ to be done (if that word has any meaning at all) is the way it’s naturally done.
People often expect great mystical events from meditation, yet most often meditation [...]

People doubt the overblown concepts, sensationalized belief systems, and I don’t think that’s bad. Spirituality should be just as subject to testing and evaluation as science and technology are. If there isn’t any readily available wisdom that you can apply then why believe it?
How do you test spirituality? Do the doctrines or insights of the [...]

We have to cooperate with others, but you aren’t cooperating if some principle mandates it. You co-operate when you are still being you, and working with the other who is who they are. Some say we have to compromise but it depends on your definition of compromise. You can compromise your contribution out of existence.
I [...]

How are we aware of our soul?  Well, awareness of the soul is scary. Like in the Egyptian book of the dead, it’s the encounter with a mirror. It’s an awareness of what about you can die and what changes.  That can make people feel very insecure. But unless you will see what changes, you won’t [...]

Egyptian religion was both intuitive and rationalistic.  Since its focus was so pragmatic the Greeks and Romans actually saw no reason to compromise it, and translated some of their concepts into Greek or Roman terms. Thus the cult of Osiris gave birth to the elusian mysteries, and other imagery became very wide spread. There was [...]

Is someone a wise weaver of the universe fabric? Actually no. There is a heart to it all. A sort of hyperspace. The place in Buddhism called Nirvana is not oblivion. The home of the “ascended masters”. Ultimately it’s all a creative effort. A growing up and into our full potential. The angels are our [...]

All things are dance, and those truths we poke at are the song of the piper. Never winded. The wind is his breath. All voices his voice. At any given time someone is thinking, and someone is speaking. Someone might laugh and someone might cry, and the breath with the beat of hearts goes on [...]

People project onto us and we assume roles. Young people tend to worry a lot about things they shouldn’t. Thus who has had a smooth third decade? Seems to me stories of that are rare to non existent. In their twenties, who doesn’t have some comedy of errors to relate at least, if not a [...]

The minds (or chakras) do correspond to stages of both biological and psychic development. The root chakra is the first center to be visible in a growing body. It is the tail. From our roots we have the simple animal drives and rapidly on its heals develops the enteric nervous system also knows as the [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Do people get over tragedies or do they just move on? The idea you forgive and forget is a lie, and an injurious one. You can forgive and let go, but the delusion that you can forget makes people feel bad about themselves.
Faith can be a strength, but understanding is still necessary, and organized faith [...]