Nasruddin is considered the wise fool in Sufi traditions; stories about him offer us lessons on multiple levels. One of my favorite stories is about Nasruddin’s soup. Once Nasruddin’s friend brought him a duck. They decided to make soup with it. They cooked the soup and sat and enjoyed it. After his friend left, Nasruddin put the soup in the …
Perfect Mistakes….
Mistakes get a bum rap. People are terrified of them. They will do anything to avoid them. They will feel that they cannot make, and are not allowed to make, any kind of mistake. And they juxtapose mistakes with perfection. Being perfect is not making a mistake, they feel. That is where they aim to be. That is how they …
In the Ash Tree….
Our backyard is filled with birds. During the winter months we feed the birds, and they are always here. Today the sun was out and we had eight inches of snow just beginning to melt. Though it is spring, we just finished a rather wintry storm. The snow had just melted off the branches of the ash trees close by …
Maya and the Five Kanchukas….
In the cosmology of Kashmir Shaivism, God (Shiva) manifests the world out of Himself in a series of 36 principles, or tattvas. The first five tattvas are called pure; it is not until the sixth tattva that forgetfulness of our true nature becomes apparent. The sixth tattva is Maya tattva. Maya conceals God’s true identity. The word “maya” comes from …
are you talkin to me….
o man wake up the sages say i am awake i say go in go in the sages say i am in i think i am i say the sages turn their heads away unkind they are i say wake up wake up they say again can’t they see i am awake i say the truth is concealed the sages …
Purification….
When is a cold just a cold? And when is a cold something greater, purification? It is true that sometimes a cold is just a cold. Right now I am in the middle of something more than just a cold. How do I know? On the physical plane we pretty much know where the virus came from. No mystery, no …
Able to Learn….
When my sons were young, I would ask, “Did you work to the best of your ability? Did you give it your all? Left nothing on the field?” Everyone’s 100% is different, and it also varies from time to time. When we work to our highest level at a given moment, we can feel a satisfaction that we accomplished our …
Spiritual Illiteracy….
If we can read something like this blog, we are what most people would call literate. When we look at literacy, we usually think of reading, language, letters, and being able to make sense of the words those letters form. Most of us went to school, and one of the reasons for that was to learn how to read. Illiterate …
What Makes Us Human?….
What makes us human is a level of consciousness that goes beyond the five senses and a basic striving, a basic will to live. What makes us human is a degree of consciousness that allows us to perceive, to desire, to will, and to be transformed into Love on a universal level. What makes us human is Love. Love in …
Taking Full Responsibility….
Yes, I did that. Yes, I did it. No, I did not do that. I know what I did. I call it what it was, and I take responsibility for my choice and the action and the consequences. Do you call what you do what it actually is? Or do you excuse, mitigate, deny? Do you call your thoughts and …