July 2012
1 post
2 tags
June 2012
1 post
10 tags
Reasonable is how I’ve always thought,
Except for when I wasn’t thinking.
Compassionate is how I’ve always felt,
Except for when I wasn’t feeling.
But Love is what we’ve always been,
Even when we refuse our being.
—me
May 2012
0 posts
“All changes, even the most longed for,
have their melancholy;
for what we...”
– Anatole France (via shaktilover)
April 2012
7 posts
7 tags
“Contemporary life can break your heart on any day, and from that wreckage most...”
5 tags
Community; Where does it fit into Spirituality?
This is a difficult question to answer because there are so many different types of communities even when talking about spirituality specifically. You could have an online community where you just share ideas and experiences with each other, or maybe you have a more formal gathering with practices and maybe rituals (and everything in-between) In my opinion, communities are a toss up. They can...
5 tags
Tolerance of others
It’s very “New Age” and hip today to say love everyone and accept everyone for who they are. It’s also true that we should Love everyone and everything (not meaning love in the romantic sense as people usually think) and we should accept people for where they are in the present moment. However, don’t confuse this non-judgement with non-discernment! It can be very...
6 tags
Spiritualty Symbols
Some believe that in spiritual practices that symbols should be avoided, because you cannot capture any kind of spiritual essence into any symbol, therefore the symbol is pointless or even damaging to the practice (since some people can focus on the symbol rather than what it represents). I am not one of these people! To me, symbols are more powerful for personal use that for sharing with...
6 tags
Understanding Healing
Is healing something you go out and get? Is it something others give to you? What is the true nature of your health? We are not separate from nature, as much as western culture would like to tell you that you are something else. We were created in nature, and thus our bodies behave just like nature does when it becomes “diseased”. Even in allopathic medicine, we assist the body...
3 tags
Social and Economic Justice
Where is the line between individual success and the well being of the whole? In western culture today, the majority of people are focused on bettering themselves. Though different people go about doing this is many different ways, and have many different goals. So, is bettering yourself selfish or is it good for everyone? That depends on what bettering yourself means to you, and by what means...
March 2012
4 posts
6 tags
Questions
In the world we live in today, some things are considered completely taboo to discuss. Even the mere proposal of questioning some things is met with at best some judging stares, and if you are lucky enough to have others hear you, they rarely listen.
If you cannot question something, you have a problem. You don’t have to know the answers to all the questions, but you mustbe willing to...
6 tags
Human Nature
Many people will tell you that humans are naturally selfish and violent. They say that “we’re just wired that way”. Shortly followed by either one of two comments. 1.You have to struggle your entire life to fight your nature (this is generally used in a religious context) 2. There is no point in striving for compassion, because nature will always win out. To this, I would like...
7 tags
“The gifts from life and the Universe come in strange and often unpleasant...”
8 tags
Anthropomorphizing the Divine
Anthropomorphize- to give human traits or form to anything non-human. One of the major causes of misconception when dealing with Spirit comes from our wanting Spirit to be like us (humans), behave like us, or reason like us. Why do we do this? It’s much easier for us (and takes much less work on our part) if we don’t have to leave our “human bubble” of perception. In...
February 2012
16 posts
10 tags
The mirror
I’ve been doing some self reflection and found that I’ve too often been living for the future, instead of the present moment. Always waiting for that moment that will be the perfect time. Then I asked myself, Why not now? What am I doing with all of these moments spent waiting for the next? There is so much I could do in these moments of the present, that would actually be fulfilling...
“Looking at my life
I see that only Love has been my soul’s companion
From deep...”
– Rumi (via thingsthatremains)
6 tags
Season connection: Winter
Winter is the time that nature conspires to help you to go within yourself. You can do this anytime, but what better time to go within than when outside is cold and unpleasant (not that Winter does not have its beauty, but you understand what I mean). Even some of the plants go within like the deciduous trees and the bulbous plants. Winter is also the time of planting your seeds and of...
6 tags
Design of the Universe →
This is a very “sciencey” video, but I find it amazing how science and spirituality really overlap if you look from the right perspective. To see how everything in the universe was totally evenly spread out, then pulled together into a pattern due to gravity (and other factors that I’m not that knowledgeable about). The law governing the universe is entropy right? So, how is...
4 tags
The beauty in silence
For many people today, silence can be torture. I personally know a few people that cannot stand silence, and they will constantly try to break any silence they find themselves in. As for myself, I have always appreciated silence. I’m a very contemplative, introspective, and somewhat introverted person. I’m always listening, thinking, and staring off into space, but “the gears...
7 tags
Wisdom from prophets and the false prophet (part 2...
When I talk about prophets, it’s not necessarily the old blind man with a staff that tells the future. I’m more referring to “prophets” like Buddha, Gandhi, Jesus, Mohammed, or Martin Luther King Jr. Basically people who actively advocated social and spiritual change. Anyone can be a prophet, and I don’t think those identified as “prophets” (I...
3 tags
What is Wisdom? part 1 of 2
Wisdom is not simply having knowledge, as most would agree. Someone can be very intelligent and have vast knowledge, but then make unwise decisions. So, what is wisdom? Wisdom is knowing how to apply knowledge in the best possible way. In our western culture we focus an enormous amount of time and energy on knowledge (not to mention money if you attend(ed) college!). The problem this creates...
5 tags
What is Divine Love?
My perspective on Love is that it is the interconnectedness of all things. We sometimes have these misconstrued definitions of Love that extremely diminish and limit it. I believe this is because as humans, we associate Love with when we feel it. However, Love is there whether you are feeling it or not, as everything is interconnected. We feel Love most strongly when we recognize and...
8 tags
Spiritual Podcast- Why Shamanism Now? →
This podcast is hosted by shamanic healer Christina Pratt. If you don’t know about Ms. Pratt, I encourage you to look her up! On Youtube or just google. Podcast also available from Itunes, just search in the store Why shamanism now. Its FREE!!! Much of what I talk about stems from this as well.
5 tags
Living a life a spiritual fulfillment
Spirituality. It’s become an increasingly popular term, and people are more often now calling themselves “spiritual” (usually as opposed to identifying as religious). However, the actual spiritual awareness a lot of times stops there. I’ve seen quite a few people who just throw around the word spiritual because they are confused, and don’t know what they believe. ...
1 tag
“Authentic spirituality awakens the soul, reconnects us with the sacred, and...”
– David N. Elkins (via trishpearson)
1 tag
“What if I should discover that the poorest of the beggars and the most impudent...”
– Carl Gustav Jung (via wisdomknowledgepeacelove)
7 tags
Thoughts on Paul Knitter's "Mystery"
For those who don’t know. Paul Knitter is a self proclaimed Buddhist Christian. He has a beautiful way of describing the Oneness of all things from a Buddhist perspective, and how the Oneness applies to all of our lives (and he also can show this from a Catholic perspective). He also uses the term Mystery to define or describe God, or as I would say the Big Dream. Oddly enough, the Big...
4 tags
Why religions can be simply different, not better
I’ll use Buddhism as an example. Firsit off I’d like to say I have a great respect for the Buddhist religion. Many of my beliefs are quite similar to those of the Buddhist tradition as well.Of course we should favor religion that is peaceful and does not impose its beliefs on others… right? Right!However, Buddhists do not hold the exclusive rights to peace and honoring free...
6 tags
7 tags
A (semi) summary of my journey
When I was young, my parents spoke very little about religion or God; we never went to church and we never prayed. Mostly, the subject only came up when I would ask questions they were uncomfortable answering for a small child like, “Where do babies come from?” However, I do distinctly remember once asking my Mother about God. I asked her “Where is God?” The answer she gave was not the usual...
