Spirituality for Living

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 [...]

My own spiritual path is based not on abstaining from passion, but on embracing it. When you truly embrace it and let it consume you, you learn something surprising. This you it consumed is not “you”. Not the all encompassing thing. Some have described me as having strong self control. I don’t actually. I don’t [...]

Many people consider the joy they find in the path, but if in distress they believe themselves to be off of the path. In fact our spiritual life moves in peace or in distress, in joy or in the “dark night of the soul”. Distress is in fact an opportunity.
When we are distressed there is [...]

Any great truth, the most powerful truths, are in fact very simple and often even a child shows an understanding of them. They make us laugh and say ‘aw, how cute‘, and often we ignore them also. This is regrettable to my mind.
Children can find joy in the simplest things, why supposedly do we not? [...]

Humour can help us let go. This is why it heals. It makes us take pain less seriously and in fact as strange as it may sound, if it still hurts that’s a good thing. You’re still alive. You can still feel and grow. We laugh at things because they aren’t a real threat. We [...]

Are the trees happy? They aren’t always. As guardians of the zoasphere they at times cause an environmental shift.
Our elders live among us, nod sympathetically at times and in despair at others. There is little joy anymore. Though as they say hope springs eternal and so there is still adaptation. Still healing. Cleaning up the human [...]

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 [...]

Life is communication. I don’t speak the language, so I have had to pantomime. People aren’t very observant, or they choose not to see or hear. Poor choice. I’m often pointing out a self destruct. If there isn’t any danger then I let them move about as they have not chosen to do. I let [...]

Some say the physical is dual, so we have to rise above the duality and become more spiritual. So the physical is profane? I find that people tend to trip over the idea of transcending the physical. It is confusing and a bit upsetting. Is this necessary? It seems to me that the spirit is already [...]

We heal by knowing why we are where we are, and maybe discovering how that can change. For all our pursuit of light, we still fall into darkness. It is a part of the cycle. The right hand is strong. The left hand is sensitive.
In general, we live with people who are eager to see [...]

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 [...]

Happiness isn’t uniform, nor is it supposed to be. I give my son spaghetti, and in the moment of eating it he will be quite happy. Give me spaghetti, and I likely will be unmoved though eating it. Give me good conversation over dinner though, and I am happy then. I’m largely unmoved by food, [...]

How do you change the focus of the mind? Well, it is pretty simple. The mind is habitual, but it has limits. There are ideas that really confuse people about the mind, and you can’t change your mind by force of will. It doesn’t really matter if you are determined, if anything being determined keeps [...]

Joy is calming. So when can you have joy?

With love.
When ever we choose.
When letting go.

All true. The idea that you can control the world is a bit silly isn’t it? The idea that change is to be controlled, and that it must have your approval. Where is your own world? Is there any separation between [...]

If you want change and change is natural, understand the part that is yours. Which is you? You can do new things when you learn new things. You don’t have to say, “I was dumb, but now I’m smart”. That isn’t true, you are you. Do you know you? You are the one who can [...]

There is a difference between a ‘natural’ law and a connived one. The natural laws arise even without human doing, but include us, and they are a part of our natures. Contrived rules tend to create resistances, they rely on denial of select elements of reality.
We know instinctively? Yes we do, and the natural rules [...]

There is giving, and then there is bribery. The difference between genuine giving and bribery is in giving there are no conditions. You give because you are adding to the world. It’s bribery if you are giving to induce a condition, and there is no reason to accept bribery.
Love. Expect nothing in return? Yes, and [...]

In truth, there is no such thing as ‘no way out’. In Taoism they compare any situation to a storm. The storm is far more powerful than any human being. If it can’t persist then how can any block be permanent? Seas weren’t permanent, we call them deserts now. But if we accept a block [...]

The Egyptian Pharaoh was both King and High Priest. At first, the ascension (not unlike the Buddha’s ascension) was considered possible only to the Pharaoh. It was only later that they came to believe that all souls could ascend, and when they transformed into the Akh they were able to wander the whole world though [...]

Let’s take a routine activity. One we often don’t worry about. Someone want to offer one?
Cleaning house? Ok, yes. For some people house cleaning is very simple, and not seemingly stressful.  Some find it stress relieving. It is, but for one reason, and we can tap this reason in every stressful situation. When you are cleaning [...]