I recently heard that someone said spiritual practice was self-torture, and that I am a composite of negativity. It is and I am. For a lot of people that is the truth. So much of sadhana is uncovering the truth; the truth that lies under a giant fortress of lies. The delusion that who we are is the one that …
Maya and the Five Kanchukas….
Nondualism can be a dangerous practice because it can encourage people not to take responsibility for their actions. But then when we turn to a dualistic sense purusha (individual self) and prakriti (matter), we separate ourselves from prakriti and see matter either as an enemy or as some horrible lesson to be learned. Prakriti then has nothing to do with …
Tending Our Garden….
When I was a child, my parents worked in our yard. We lived in Waban, Massachusetts. Lots of rock. We had rock walls and rock gardens, with a very hilly, up-and-down-and-up terrain. Behind us was an aqueduct, and on the other side of that a swamp. Woods were everywhere. So there was cultivated and wild land. I wasn’t involved …
Misreading Power As Love….
Baba used to say that Christ was the incarnation of Love. Christ showed us what Love is. He Loved without qualification; there was no arbitrariness in His Love for all. Even on Calvary, He Loved. For me, Baba modeled that same Love, always. In every moment, he taught me what Love is. We all tend to think we know what …
The Guru Is Not Your Enemy….
The Guru is not out to get you. The shakti is not out to crush you. There may be times when you are convinced that they are out to ruin you, but it is never true. The Guru, shakti and God want what is best for us, in every sense of the word. And when we obey the Guru and …
Playing the Field….
When we start on the path of sadhana, though we may understand that there is something greater than who we think we are, we tend to operate as if sadhana is just stretching and making bigger who we think we are. In that light, we believe that there is only one playing field, and that to be spiritually enlightened is …
Feeling This Loss….
Community is so important for all of us. We are a family made up of people who are wanting Love. This path we have all chosen is not always easy. But the truth is, the alternative is worse. We have to remember that we are in Purgatory, living out our past actions, and as we move forward consciously, we find …
Family Recipes….
“Life will be easier if I don’t practice.” Why will it be easier? If we practice we will have to face what we have. But we don’t want to face reality. We are driving a 1950 Buick, thinking we are at the wheel of a Porsche. Accepting reality begins with accepting our environment and our vehicles for what they actually …
How To Use a Fourchotomy….
To work with a fourchotomy, you have to begin by being honest with yourself. This means being willing to hear your honest, unfiltered answer in the moment; if you pause to think it over, you will be answering from the wrong place entirely. It takes practice to hear your honest answer and not fall prey to your mental chatter. Assertive …
What Is a Fourchotomy….
The world appears to us as we choose to see it. Most of us see the world in binary terms, framing our experience in pairs of opposites. These pairs of opposites define and limit our perception by shrinking the world into a kind of template; that template in turn limits our choices and actions. Recognizing and dismantling this template is …