Our Universe
In several of the worlds philosophies, the universe exists in grand arcs of time. The Great Year, the Ages of Greece, the Yugas of India, the astrological Ages… astronomically marked cycles of light and dark …
Category: History
Belief or Experience by example
When you explore spiritual subjects, it’s useful to be alert to where the person is coming from. Do they seem to be speaking from belief or experience? If from experience, what stage do they seem …
Varna Shiksha and Sanskrit Gender
A very old text on Sanskrit grammar was found by accident, unlabelled and mis-catalogued in a university library in Mysore. Named the Varna Shiksha, it describes a number of qualities of the letters of the …
The Lords Prayer
If you’ve grown up in the west, you’ve probably been exposed to The Lords Prayer – perhaps quite regularly and for many years. The best known version is this, with only spelling updates from the …
Metanoia
Metanoia is curious word. In psychology, it means “experiencing a psychotic “break down” and subsequent, positive psychological re-building or “healing”.” Philosophically, it means rejecting consumerism and materialism as the basis of progress. And in theological …
Oprah meets with Deepak Chopra in India
For about 40 minutes, Oprah speaks with Deepak Chopra at a palace in Jaipur, not far from where Deepak grew up. They explore happiness, death, his recent time as a monk, his family & teachers, …
The Time of Yoga
The Yoga Sutras are a key text in our understanding of yoga, meditation, non-violence and other spiritual practices. It underlies the various “schools” of Yoga, even to modern bastardizations like “hot” yoga. The author of …
The Value of a Life – Guru Dev
Periodically in history there comes someone who radiates presence so profoundly, they move a generation who go on to change the world. While the changers are celebrated, we can lose sight of the source of …
The Worlds and Gayatri – part 1
Recently, a discussion brought up the Gayatri mantra and the Lokas or worlds described in some of the eastern texts. I’ve touched on the lokas before, but more from the context of layers. The world …
Belief or Experience
When talking about God or angels and related topics, the discussion usually revolves around belief. One’s statements are categorized as Theist (believer), Agnostic (dubious), and Atheist (Non-believer). Militant atheists like Dawkins go so far as …
Past Past
In another forum, I was asked how you know a memory is a past life and not imagination or perhaps resonating with some general past event. I’ve spoken on this subject here before, but thought …
Occupy Love
This evening, I saw Velcrow Ripper’s film Occupy Love. It’s the third in the series, after Scared Sacred and Fierce Light. It was held as a free showing in a local church, a rare showing …