Spirituality for Living

Conditioning is a terrible thing to overcome, and in identifying it we resist it. It was all we were taught to do… not identifying the source, that primal world that we still come from. We didn’t arise by accident. No body does. Accidents are human, but even that is not defining. Accidents are human, but [...]

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 [...]

Two subjects go together well: bonding and harmlessness. ‘Unity’ would be both topics as one word. What is called ‘love’ ultimately…unconditioned. I will discuss the conditions people labour under and perhaps why they arise and how we can own them in ourselves instead of being owned by them.
Internal focus. It doesn’t have to be created. [...]

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 [...]

Magick is a broad subject, but has a simple essence that gets lost terribly in many sources on the subject. Most people think of the human body and mind as somehow closed systems, but in fact this is very far from the case. We absorb the material and reflexively the essence of all the elements, [...]

We remember dreams with the ‘primary’ psychic method. So this is a way to know what is primary for you. It is often why we complain we can’t remember dreams. We have heard dreams described as vivid images, so it makes everyone think that is what they should be able to recall or relate, and [...]

You may be cautious about your mind ‘making up’ a story. If so, don’t believe these words and don’t believe your thinking right now. It is the same process. Don’t believe what your body is telling you. We all take cognizance in exactly the same way, it is all the mind making up a story.
Daydreaming [...]

Rather than noticing what is, we “think” we know, and if you know, you need not “think” things. You need not construct models of the world in your mind, you will see, experience, and move and be moved quite naturally.
We cannot truly avoid thought, but we can know it for what it is. If I [...]

You never perceive reality directly with your senses. It isn’t how it works. And how and what you perceive is determined by your focus, often subconsciously according to conditioning. If you can see what you don’t see, then your perspective isn’t a trap, it’s an incarnation.
Many schools speak of a mental body, in one terminology [...]

The subject is the power of the word. It isn’t the word of any doctrine or belief, but that factor of belief is a part of it. It is the creative power of speech, of articulating thought in words. Many traditions use chant in one form or another, but modern cultures seem to have lost [...]

What about those that can’t speak nor hear? They will speak in body language. The mudra is as powerful as the mantra. They are both language, and the more fully you express, the more powerful the expression. Helen Keller could not see or hear.  She understood and could express herself, and did quite eloquently.
Your focus [...]

We shape our minds when we shape the ideas we call words. In shaping the mind we shape the world as we see it, and dispose ourselves to function according to the ideas we create.
Here is a strange idea. “Our mind”. Did we create mind? Are we the originator of mind? Did it not exist [...]

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 [...]

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. [...]

How do I find my path? This is a question most people ask. In Taoism they say if in anything you encounter resistance it is not it, but yourself. You encounter resistance because you haven’t found the way of your act. The way of your being. This resistance is a good thing. It is like [...]

Action stems from passion. You may passionately believe I am mistaken, and feel powerfully moved to tell me so. The world moves and we move in it. There is a reason they say ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.
I am not advocating a stance that in any way obfuscates personal [...]

The spiritual concept of non-doing. It’s the principle of natural action. Doing from a point of being. Known in Taoism as wu wei, but more specifically I will be talking of wei wu wei. It is a sort of paradoxical concept, but one I find very helpful. Doing non doing. There is a lot of concern [...]

In a sense I am of two minds. It is even the focus of our MySpace comment. There are many minds in a single soul, but in truth reconciling I am of one mind. They say love is a law, the highest law. Inside of me there is a part that rages, is impassioned and [...]

We have had terrible things happen in our lives. Things we did not choose. These terrible things aren’t necessarily your karma. You don’t exist in a void. For example, you do not choose another’s suicide. They do. If someone chooses to jump off a cliff, I can’t really stop them. It is the same with karma. [...]

Karma isn’t about what you do to one person. It is about the entire weight of your choices. Do you generally foster well being? This doesn’t promise you will never suffer. But tell me, do any of you know anyone who genuinely fosters the well being of others who seems to never be able to [...]