Mystery 7: Do we live in a conscious universe? Answer: Yes. But this won’t make any sense if your notion of a conscious universe is filed with thoughts, sensations, images, and feelings. Those are the contents of the mind. Remove the contents and what remains is...
All the gods, all the heavens, all the hells, are within you. Joseph Campbell The Aitareya Upanishad is one of the clearest tellings of the creation myth of the Vedic culture. It is beautifully told, and fascinating when we see the parallels in it to the stories...
Is romance based first on illusion, and then the illusion wears off and now you both look raggedy because you see how it [really] is? Or was the love the reality? Which is which? I always think it's the opposite of the way the world...
The Ego is a veil between humans and God. Rumi There are people who are in our life day after day. Parents, children, spouses, bosses, co-workers. These people know where our buttons are. When our buttons are pushed, nearly always we will have a release of fight or...
He is the sun dwelling in the bright heavens. He is the air dwelling in the interspace. He is the fire dwelling on earth. He is the guest dwelling in the house. He dwells in men, in the gods, in truth, in the sky. He...
THE GUEST HOUSE This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all! Even if they are a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture, still, treat each guest...
Humility is the understanding that one doesn’t know; or that, perhaps, there is more to know. The idea that one ‘knows’ has to be set aside, so that the mind is empty to receive. Sri M There are certain things one can do to stay humble. Being...
All these small ideas that I am a man or a woman, sick or healthy, strong or weak, or that I hate or love or have little power, are but hallucinations. Stand up then. Know that every thought and word that weakens you in this...
Anxiety was found to speed the progression of cancer in hairless mice, to improve humans' sense of smell, and to be alleviated by alcohol in zebrafish who have been living alone. Harpers Magazine, July 2012 Though I wouldn't mind having an improved sense of smell, I think...
A monk decides to meditate alone, away from his monastery. He takes his boat out to the middle of the lake, moors it there, closes his eyes and begins his meditation. After a few hours of undisturbed silence, he suddenly feels the bump of another boat...