In spite of ourselves  We’ll end up a’sittin’ on a rainbow Against all odds Honey, we’re the big door prize We’re gonna spite our noses Right off of our faces There won’t be nothin’ but big old hearts Dancin’ in our eyes.  John Prine, In Spite of Ourselves   What makes it so difficult to love? Continue reading

A Brahman saw the Buddha resting under a tree in meditation. The Brahman was impressed with the Buddha’s way.   He asked, “Are you a god?”   “No, Brahman, I’m not a god.”   “Are you an angel?”   “No”, replied the Buddha.   “You must be a spirit then?”   “No, I’m not aContinue reading

The first duty of love is to listen. Paul Tillich   Sometimes it seems so difficult to hear one another, to listen to each other. So many thoughts to think, so much future to plan, so many fish to fry. Oftentimes we end up multi-tasking as a friend pours out her heart, giving our bestContinue reading

Giving up desire after desire is a lengthy process with the end never in sight. Leave alone your desires and fears, give your entire attention to the subject, to him who is behind the experience of desire and fear. Ask: who desires? Let each desire bring you back to yourself.   It is all aContinue reading

It is wonderful how much time good people spend fighting the devil. If they would only expend the same amount of energy loving their fellow men, the devil would die in his own tracks of ennui. Helen Keller   Things do not change; we change. Henry David Thoreau   It is our job to live,Continue reading

Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love. Rainer Maria Rilke   Nobody has ever measured, not even poets, how much the heart canContinue reading

It is the concept of many people that samadhi [non-dualistic state of consciousness] is something to be attained, something to be gained; that something new will happen to us. What is samadhi actually? There are three words: sam, a, dhi. Sam means ‘completely’, dhi means ‘consciousness’–you are completely in your own pure conscious state, that is all. Nothing happens.Continue reading

It is plain that a life which includes deep resentment leads only to futility and unhappiness. To the precise extent that we permit these, do we squander the hours that might have been worth while. But with the alco­holic, whose hope is the maintenance and growth of a spiritual experience, this business of resentment isContinue reading

The Presence is silent and conveys a state of peace. It’s infinitely gentle and yet like a rock. With it, all fear disappears, and spiritual joy occurs on a quiet level of inexplicable ecstasy. Because the experience of time stops, there’s no apprehension, regret, pain, or anticipation; the source of joy is unending and ever-present.Continue reading