When we start a conversation we tend to look for common ground. This might be language, activities or anything that we feel will bridge us to the other person. In our desire to connect, we may miss what is actually going on. If what we share is a common language, then we need to check our definitions. Assuming shared definitions …
Warriors for peace and warriors for war….
It hit me that Tolstoy had it right: War and Peace. We are organized into two teams: warriors for war and warriors for peace. We are playing a big game. There are times when more players are on the warriors for war side and times when the warriors for peace are winning. As long as we remain separate from God …
Systems…
Everyone uses a system, whether consciously or not. Our family culture is a system of sorts, with jargon, rules, behaviors, judgements, and mannerisms both overt and covert. This being the case, when we meet someone new we unwittingly compare our system to theirs. We may not even be aware of it, but we are in fact assessing others based on …
Transformation…
So much language these days is about change, transformation, on all levels and in all sectors of our lives. The law of change is always working, but in what direction are we going? That depends on what we are doing now. So nothing is static, though we may think it is because it moves so slowly. The transformation I desire …
Who am I?….
Who am I? At any given moment, I appear to be the furthest thing out that consciousness has enlivened. So “who I am” changes from moment to moment. My job is to return to Me and stay there, and not identify with what I enliven. This seems so easy, “just be myself”; however, it requires intense work and Grace. We …
Grandiose self assessment is….
Grandiose self assessment is as detrimental to living fully as low self assessment. They are both faulty and cause decision making that brings the person to misery. There is no harmony when we operate from our self-esteem. Self-esteem is just a set of ideas that we have identified with; we have allowed our actions and decisions to be informed by …
Importance of Community
Another class in Rohini Ralby’s Lessons & Questions. For more videos and lessons, sign up for a free or paid subscription.
St. Symeon’s discussion….
St. Symeon’s discussion of contemplative prayer in the Philokalia might serve as a good reference point for the practice I teach. He establishes three levels of attention and prayer. The first level relates to the five senses, with God as Other; the practice makes use of outward props such as icons, statues and formal ritual. The second level relates to the mind, …
Beginners….
I like seeing myself as a beginner. I have always been a beginner. This way I can always learn. If I ‘know’, then there is nothing more to learn. For all of us in relative reality, thinking we ‘know’ is dangerous. If we lived in Absolute Reality, then I could say ‘fine I know’. But then, if I were in …
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