Today, the message being conveyed in all kinds of relationships is this: “You are perfect just the way you are. You do not have to do anything differently. If you follow my ideas, all will be okay. If you bring your view of the world in line with mine, all will be okay.” The paradox is that there actually is …
Love or Its Counterfeit….
Love is so much better than power. When we Love, we are at the Source, expressing the Source. Nothing is watered down, nothing is minimized, everything is. Real Love is the essential nature of everything; it is the untainted manifestation of God. Power is shrunken and twisted Love. When we pursue power, we believe we have strength with authority. We …
Monkey See, Monkey Don’t….
I feel like such an idiot. I thought that if I did my best to live an exemplary life, others would see it and want to follow that life. For many years I have openly modeled a life that is informed by the yamas and the niyamas, the restraints and observances in all religious traditions that lead a person down …
Discerning Evil….
We all must mourn the loss of innocence—of the delusion that everyone cares about others’ best interests—and accept the existence of evil in the world. In an Absolute sense, everything arises from Love. Dante understood this; in his Commedia, evil is simply twisted Love. But though evil, like everything else, arises from Love, it rejects its origin and deludes itself …
Shrinking the Monster….
When we encounter someone who is evil, we usually react with fear. We do not understand them and want to run away. They are monsters to us, and we feel powerless. If we want to shrink these monsters, we must begin the process of uncovering how they came to be as they are. These monsters are human beings who committed …
The Wounded Foursquare ….
Wounded Cared for Educated Indulged Stella, a young woman who identifies herself as good, was stopped on the street by another young woman. Stella was asked for $380 to pay rent, as the young woman would be deported if she did not come up with that sum. Rather than delving deeper to verify her story, rather than going with the …
JOYOUS….
Joyous Despairing Intoxicated Grounded When reflecting on a foursquare to paint, I begin with the top left quality, knowing that each component of the foursquare must not be conflated with the other three. Every quality has its own vibration that arises from within, becoming less subtle and more material. As the vibration manifests, letters express it, and a word is …
Lessons from My Mother….
I could have learned to be just like my mother. Though as a child I did not want to be like her, we unconsciously pick up the qualities of our first caregivers and live them out even in our repulsions—and our repulsions can bind us even more than our attractions. If not for Baba I may have ended up as …
The Life of Anastasia….
It’s customary to deliver a eulogy when someone dies. Though the word generally means “praise”, in the most literal sense it translates from the Greek as “good word”. Sharing my understanding of my mother’s life and the part she played in her little corner of the world stage is itself a “good word”, so I will offer this blog and …
Thankfulness….
In America we celebrate Thanksgiving. In this day and age we may be finding it difficult to say and be Thankful. The world is having a rather rough go of it. We are being challenged everywhere we turn. Thank you God. Thank you Baba for showing me that God is everywhere and God’s action is always Love. Therefore each test …