When Rohini wrote her “Spiritual Illiteracy” blog, I read it several times over before class. The class made me understand a few things. I realized that by trying to make this journey on my own I was not being self-sufficient but being incompetent. I was meditating, reading the blogs, and listening to the classes, thinking that was good enough and …
Guest Blog by Ian Ralby: No Idle Words….
I am extremely lucky. Each week, I get to read my mother’s blogs before they are published. I get to wrestle with them, comment on them and learn from them before they become public. And each week, I get to see how important every word of them is. Each letter is intentional; there are no idle or empty words. Often …
Guest Blog by Ari Baranson: Learning To Learn….
I lost my brother Paul on October 3rd, 2016 to a drug overdose. The decisions he made throughout his life could have taken him nowhere else. Like me, he had opportunities to change, but he refused. Like me, things would get better for a time, but he would sabotage his own happiness to continue down a path that he would …
Guest Blog by Aaron Ralby: Fluency in Dialogue….
Set dialogues have been vital tools for instruction for millennia. From wisdom dialogues in ancient Egyptian to Alfric’s Colloquies in medieval Latin, scripted dialogues constitute a practical literary form for condensing and presenting essential information in use as well as the ideal relationship between teacher and disciple. Today, we are probably most familiar with the language-learning dialogues that we had …
Guest Blog By Jim Condron: Graced….
In 2004, Rohini told me to accept an invitation to Amsterdam for an artist residency. I didn’t go, and it was the worst decision of my life. I would have had a studio and time and solitude to develop my own identity as an artist and person. But I didn’t want that. Instead I chose to move the personal items …
Guest Blog by Ian Ralby: No Room at the Inn….
Years ago, relatives of mine, upon learning that I was moving to their neck of the woods, made the offer: “If you ever need anything at all, don’t hesitate to call us.” As it turned out, I ran into some trouble during the move. Not only did my tire need to be replaced after hitting something in the road, but …
Guest Blog by Clara Marin: The Choice….
For years, I avoided the one requirement of spiritual practice: being willing to give up myself. Evidence that my way of being wasn’t working was everywhere: two failed marriages, unsatisfying work and a deep discomfort in my own skin. I might have wondered what was wrong, but my investment in how I viewed myself—gracious, good Clara—was too great. Rohini delivered …
Guest Blog by David Soud: The Guru Is Not a Teacher….
All of us have probably seen many times over the bumper sticker that reads “Question authority.” It’s a simple phrase, but I’ve never been entirely comfortable with it. While it may be true up to a point, as a mantra of sorts it encourages us to glorify our own powers of discernment as separate, egocentric selves. After all, where is …
Guest Blog: The Way (Not) To Be Raps Six….
The following are raps people wrote about their “ways (not) to be”—the litanies of their shrunken selves. Part of spiritual practice is learning how we operate when we are not fully conscious; this process is detailed in two earlier blog posts titled “The Way Not To Be” and “Not the Way To Be.” These raps helped their authors gain clarity …