No matter what the tradition, the goal of spiritual practice remains the same. It follows that every spiritual tradition draws from the same essential tools for practice. Teachers within a given lineage expand and refine its toolkit as time goes on. Below is a list of some tools from the kit I was given by Baba. If practiced appropriately, with …
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 …
We Are Always Choosing….
We are always choosing. And by thinking we are not choosing, we are in fact choosing—choosing God or not, Love or not. By our very distractedness we are choosing. And if we occasionally think we choose God, we are fooling ourselves, just as when we exercise for ten minutes very intensely once a week, we can fool ourselves that we …
Guest Blog by David Soud: Power and Hate….
Rohini’s last three blogs have all addressed the same dialectic: Love v. power. It seems simple enough, especially when Rohini lays out the ways in which we confuse the two. But one thing that has stuck with me about these blogs is that “Love v. power” is actually much more true, much more accurate, than “Love v. hate.” Because one …
The Risk of Love….
“If you don’t love, you’re dead. If you do, they’ll kill you.” -Herbert McCabe Love is everyone’s goal whether they know it or not. Love comes with a risk because until we actively choose this goal we will be only moving toward twisted love which is always tainted with hate. The people who Love are willing to Love no matter …
Clues….
When I was around 24 I had a dream that was so powerful, I knew it was real while I was having it. When I woke I knew I had no soul. My experience was that there was nothing inside me. There was no ground of being. Nothingness, emptiness. I was sure there was nothing there, I was a façade …
The Great Stories….
It isn’t that we don’t know the stories. But the important thing is that the great stories are always teaching us. There are many great stories. Within them, at every moment, the great beings choose to live completely—not to settle for a mediocre, unconscious life that depends on emotion for its heights. The stories teach us the great lessons of …
The Oncology Lesson….
I have always approached my yearly meeting with my oncologist with great trepidation. It means returning to the scene where I played the part of the patient. Dr. Fetting has always engaged willingly and graciously with my dialogue of facing my fear, of wanting to conquer both fear and my desire to remain in this body. Looking back, as the …
Becoming Human….
Are you a sinner? No. Is your proxy a sinner? Yes. Being truly normal is being truly human. We are made in God’s image, and we should act it. Stop thinking of God as a selfish being. We believe that, since we are made in God’s image and we are selfish, then God is, too. But to act as God …
True Normal….
There is a difference between conventional and normal. Most people, when they hear the word “conventional”, tend to think in terms of other people and see particular situations, groups, cultures, or religions. The word “normal” tends to encompass a larger, vaguer area, and people tend to think of it as applying universally. Many times we conflate the two words, and …