The more we move toward nonduality, the more Love we will have; the more diverse we are, the less Love, compassion, and empathy. When we live in our notion of diversity, we may believe in our uniqueness and not feel our unity with others. We have spoken before of unidualism vs nonduality. “All is good” or “all is bad” is …
Really Being Positive….
Calling something what it is is being honest, which is truly being positive. Calling something what it is is not negative. What is really negative is not calling something what it is; it is calling something what it is not. So if I am practicing, then I am truly honest with myself. I can choose. I can see what is …
Notion-Building….
If you are identified with your idea of the “way to be”, then you are not practicing. You are not being with your experience, letting whatever comes up from that experience come up, and functioning appropriately on the physical plane. Instead, you are keeping a lid on vibrations, or calling them something other than what they are, to keep your …
Not the Way To Be, Part Two….
Last week, I wrote about how we all must uncover what we believe is the “way to be” in order to free ourselves from that idea of “goodness”. We may know intellectually that our “way to be” is wrong—even that it is destructive—yet on an emotional level we are still sure it is good. But the truth is, the “way …
The Way Not To Be….
In the ashram, people tended not to like me. My presence has always had a strange ability to bring out whatever is inside of people. Depending on where they are internally, being around me will bring out the worst or the best. Many times Baba would direct me to walk into some office of the ashram, and shortly thereafter something …
Love Is Not Goodness….
I am disheartened these days watching the world steam ahead toward hate. And though we may acknowledge the character traits of reflection, honesty, care, and discernment, which come from purity and clarity, there seems to be ever-increasing inertia—heedless indifference—along with the painful traits of agitation, violence, fear, and turning further away from the Heart. In the face of this upheaval, …
Gratitude and Care….
Keith, Ian, David and I had just walked out of the house and were examining Keith’s amazing sculpture of a head. “This should be in parks and gardens all over the country”, I said. “People of all ages will love this.” Suddenly there was a loud crash. We turned our heads to see a tree falling in the road and …
Love and Democracy….
The only thing I really teach and talk about is Love. I may go to Love from this angle or that angle, but the truth is I only am talking about Love. One could say my profession is that of an internal sanitation engineer: I remove garbage, facilitate the removal of garbage, and encourage everyone to take out their garbage …
Guru Purnima 2016….
Baba gave me everything—by taking everything away. For that I am so grateful. He shone the truth so brightly that it forced ignorance to run away and die. Wrong knowledge was the food he devoured daily. Our job was not to resist his taking away every delusion we held so dear. And sometimes he grabbed something away from us that …
Stand Firm by Surrendering….
Practice requires us to actually practice. And because this practice is internal, there is no place where practice is not appropriate. And yet, we decide when and where and how to practice. More insidious than this willfulness is our tendency to misunderstand what practice is. From the standpoint of the three gunas, our understanding of sādhana is determined by which …