Why does the New Age thrive in the United States? The willingness to put in hard work seems to be leaving American culture. In recent years we have come to value pleasure and positivity, accomplished with little to no effort. We “deserve”. Equality now means that everyone has the same level of input no matter what. Expertise has been relegated …
Talking, Doing, Being….
Idealists are idealized, and there is little people will say against them. We tend not to argue with them; most of the time they are right. Other names for idealists are visionaries, idea people, intellectuals, and talkers. Many of these people believe talking and sharing ideas are at a higher level than doing, and think their job is done when …
The Ease of Spiritual Practice….
Working to redirect to the true center is not easy; sometimes it can be extremely difficult. Somewhere in popular discourse, “ease” became a word that sat next to “spirituality”. Nothing could be further from the truth. First of all, the question needs to be “easy” for whom? If “spirituality” is a lifestyle driven by concepts and ideals, then “our small …
Redirecting Our Resolutions.…
As we approach the New Year our tendency is to look forward with hopeful, positive thoughts. We smooth out the past and move into the future with a smile and a raised glass. The world will be better, we will do better, we will care and love more. And every year we approach this time with this same ritual. There …
Believing in Baba….
Let’s get this out on the table. There are people who received tremendous gifts from Baba, but once the “sex scandal” came out they left. These people say they cannot come to grips with what he did. What did he do? That is the question. Did he have sex? Apparently not: no one I know of has said he did …
Practicing for the Right Reasons….
Are you practicing? No one has to know except you. Practice is done inside of you. What does it mean to practice? Being in the Heart. Staying in the Heart. Not straying. What do you do when going into the Heart is painful? You face the pain and burn it up. How do you burn up the pain? You burn …
The False Idol of Self-esteem….
Being strong-willed is not being willful, and freedom is not getting to do whatever you want. Our first lessons in these realities come from our first caregivers. These people demonstrate and reflect for us how to live. They both model and teach. Good leadership is like good parenting. Both embody and encourage behavior that is healthy for everyone involved. This …
The Buck Stops Here….
There is a hidden joke in the title of this blog. I approach the protection of my garden in very much the way Baba taught me to handle security in the Ganeshpuri Ashram. In Ganeshpuri there were walls with broken glass on the top. Intruders came in through the drainpipes or the front gates. After we put screens over the …
Accepting Our Own Evil….
From the standpoint of worldly existence, my vocation looks rather difficult to understand and even boring. My job is to guide people Home. My vocation is to be Home. Home is the Heart, where we meet God. In order to go there, we have to leave all our attachments behind. Among other things, we have to go through all our …