Forget Life’s Experiences and Instead Experience Life
At dinner the other night came a conversation about the importance of experiencing all that life has to offer before, you know, it's too late. The basic idea being that we need to be out there scaling Mt. Everest or racing elephants in the desert or earning our first millon by 30 lest we fail [...]
The Timeless Quality of I Am
"There is only one time when it is essential to awaken. That time is now." - The Buddha Have you noticed that 'you' really never age? That there is a timeless quality to you? In periods of silence it can be so obvious. The body ages, but I do not. The 'me' to which I [...]
Forget the Talking Snakes; Get Rid of the Flare
"In a real dark night of the soul it is always three o'clock in the morning." - F. Scott Fitzgerald It's easy to blame the loneliness of the spiritual path on the reluctance (or refusal) of others to join in the journey. But it's more than that. It's lonely in part because it's so damned difficult [...]
Why God Part II: Stop Believing in Believing
“Die Religion … ist das Opium des Volkes.” – Karl Marx Karl Marx’s famous dictum that “religion is the opiate of the masses” is based on the idea that we humans, haunted by fears of our own mortality and apparent insignificance, need some kind of drug to get us through life and so we invented [...]
Why God?
“I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” – Jesus At the age of 13 something unimaginably humiliating happened to me in front of my entire military school cadet class. Racing back that night to my empty barrack’s room, certain my life [...]
The End is Near – Once Again
For those not in the know the world is supposed to end – or at least start the process of ending – on May 21. This is the belief promulgated by a number of Christian groups, who claim the Rapture is to begin with the fiery destruction of the world and the ascendance of a [...]
A Horse With No Name
A mystic has informed you that across a vast ocean of water eternal happiness awaits. You gaze at the water from the beach, painfully aware that every attempt you’ve made to find happiness on this side of the water has failed, so why not? You immediately set out to lay claim to this everlasting reward [...]
I, Salmon
The motorist in front of me driving 10mph under the speed limit. An angst-ridden friend on the phone wondering how to increase his company’s sales. The blog post of a young woman bemoaning the absence of a man in her life on Valentine’s Day. A child’s psychosomatic illness because he has again forgotten his homework. [...]
When Universes Collide – Conclusion
In the late 1800s Swiss geologist Albert Heim was enjoying a climb in the Alps when a powerful gust of wind lifted him from the mountain and sent him plummeting to almost certain death. But a peculiar thing happened during his fall: instead of terror Heim experienced an overriding sense of love, joy, peace. “I [...]
Forget Life’s Experiences and Instead Experience Life
At dinner the other night came a conversation about the importance of experiencing all that life has to offer before, you know, it's too late. The basic idea being that we need to be out there scaling Mt. Everest or racing elephants in the desert or earning our first millon by 30 lest we fail [...]
The Timeless Quality of I Am
"There is only one time when it is essential to awaken. That time is now." - The Buddha Have you noticed that 'you' really never age? That there is a timeless quality to you? In periods of silence it can be so obvious. The body ages, but I do not. The 'me' to which I [...]
Forget the Talking Snakes; Get Rid of the Flare
"In a real dark night of the soul it is always three o'clock in the morning." - F. Scott Fitzgerald It's easy to blame the loneliness of the spiritual path on the reluctance (or refusal) of others to join in the journey. But it's more than that. It's lonely in part because it's so damned difficult [...]
Why God Part II: Stop Believing in Believing
“Die Religion … ist das Opium des Volkes.” – Karl Marx Karl Marx’s famous dictum that “religion is the opiate of the masses” is based on the idea that we humans, haunted by fears of our own mortality and apparent insignificance, need some kind of drug to get us through life and so we invented [...]
Why God?
“I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” – Jesus At the age of 13 something unimaginably humiliating happened to me in front of my entire military school cadet class. Racing back that night to my empty barrack’s room, certain my life [...]
The End is Near – Once Again
For those not in the know the world is supposed to end – or at least start the process of ending – on May 21. This is the belief promulgated by a number of Christian groups, who claim the Rapture is to begin with the fiery destruction of the world and the ascendance of a [...]
A Horse With No Name
A mystic has informed you that across a vast ocean of water eternal happiness awaits. You gaze at the water from the beach, painfully aware that every attempt you’ve made to find happiness on this side of the water has failed, so why not? You immediately set out to lay claim to this everlasting reward [...]
I, Salmon
The motorist in front of me driving 10mph under the speed limit. An angst-ridden friend on the phone wondering how to increase his company’s sales. The blog post of a young woman bemoaning the absence of a man in her life on Valentine’s Day. A child’s psychosomatic illness because he has again forgotten his homework. [...]
When Universes Collide – Conclusion
In the late 1800s Swiss geologist Albert Heim was enjoying a climb in the Alps when a powerful gust of wind lifted him from the mountain and sent him plummeting to almost certain death. But a peculiar thing happened during his fall: instead of terror Heim experienced an overriding sense of love, joy, peace. “I [...]