Prayer of Peace
Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, …
Category: Practice
A Time for Vigilance
Lorne has recently been speaking of the importance during this time for people who are aware to be mindful of what they are giving their attention to. Awake or not, if we are able to …
Entitlement
There is a kind of disease that permeates western culture. With our up until recent stretch of prosperity, the disease became almost unchecked. That disease is entitlement. A sense of deserving, simply because of who …
Energizing Cooperation
Over on Basic Skills, I touched on the process of intention. Getting clear on what you want to accomplish and proceed to results. As I have discussed elsewhere here, what gives an intention energy is …
Basic Skills
It is remarkable to consider how poorly our culture supports living a healthy and happy life. It is full of things to enhance the ego drama, eat poorly, and suffer. Why have we built such …
Blessing
In a number of posts here, I talk of the power of gratitude. I even suggest it as one of the key steps in awakening. Gratitude steps us out of the mind and into the …
Heaven’s Bathroom
The discussion group continues to listen to Thich Nhat Hanh speak. Late on the third day he remarks that no one ever asks if you need to eat in heaven. He said “It is my …
An Awakening
Over on Tom Stine’s blog, one of the commenters, Kevin, mentioned a book, The Most Rapid and Direct Means to Eternal Bliss by Vernon Howard. Tom had read it, describing it as odd but very …
How to Listen
Recently, the art of correct listening has come up several times here and elsewhere. As Nirmala observed, a spiritual teachers job is to point the student at what is already present. The student’s job on …
Money Troubles
A friend of mine is struggling with debt and asked for some advice. This was the response, edited for the medium. First, it’s useful to understand a few things. For one, the nature of money. …
The Spiritual Teacher
In a few posts here, I’ve written about finding a teacher. In his latest newsletter, Nirmala quotes an article on how a spiritual teacher’s role is a little different than a regualr teacher: “In general, …
Surrender
When we are in the world, we are in the field of action, of doing. We need to think and plan and act and accomplish. On the spiritual path some of the same attention is …