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 …
Living Humility….
Everyone agrees that humility is a virtue. But no one really wants it. We all either redefine and belittle it as a kind of lightweight modesty or deride it as belonging to losers. True humility, though, requires great courage, because it consists in surrendering our separateness completely to God. In your life, if God is the doer, then you are …
The Delusion of Ownership as Love….
Ownership is called love. Therefore, objectifying is love. Therefore, love is essentially pornographic. Therefore, power is love. Love is therefore the pleasure of possession and control. To own and feel the pleasure of ownership is to love. To be owned is to be loved. Therefore, the beloved’s obligation is to be always willing to be an object, to have no …
Fulfilling the Mission….
In order to fulfill a mission, we have to know the mission. We mustn’t fool ourselves or others with a misguided sense of mission. And if we are going to take on a mission, we must be willing to see it through. If at some point we decide to abandon the mission, we must also be responsible for that decision. …
On Board with the Mission….
What is the mission? This question is rarely asked, yet it is assumed we are all on board with the mission. We assume we are all on the same mission. In the Absolute sense, we are, but from relative reality, most of the time we are not. Our sense of how to function on a mission arises from our understanding …
Liberation….
Liberation is utterly different from what most people imagine it to be. Baba always made clear that liberation is not for the individual. He always stressed that the individual cannot be liberated, and that the only way to liberation is to give up our attachment to and wrong identification with any separate identity. I specifically went to Baba because that …
Climbing the False Mountain….
Self-esteem is nothing more than the small self’s opinion of itself. It is a tale told by an idiot. Any education that prioritizes self-esteem is a course in unreality; it leads the student on a needless journey across an imaginary landscape of illusory meadows and false mountains. When we fixate on self-esteem, we fall prey to the delusion that accomplishment …