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Ritual as part of a spiritual practice: Tibetan Buddhism

Over the past year I’ve gained some experience at (Gelugpa Tibetan) Buddhist ritual. As a born agnostic from a protestant background rituals don’t sit very well with me. In fact, before hand I was planning to select the Buddhist lineage in part on the amount of ritual it involved. Funnily enough I ended up with [...]

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On how to stay celibate

As a life long celibate (by most definitions) I thought it might interest some of you to get a few tips Yes, this is largely a tongue in cheek post, as I’m sure most of you are NOT celibate. Celibacy has a respected history in both Buddhism and Roman Catholicism. Like most people today I [...]

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What we say, do, think and feel – why action matters

“Good intentions aren’t enough. It’s not what we want, say, or think that makes things happen; it’s what we do.” Michael Josephson I remember a friend who promised to visit me time and again – yet never made it to my door. There was always some reason not to make it. This was before mobile [...]

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Paradoxes of Giving

I’ve pondered for a while the psychological paradox that democrats give less to charity than republicans, that those who eat environmentally friendly food are similarly ungenerous, on average. I’ve not written about this issue before, because it’s so easy to be judgmental about it … Those goody two shoes people aren’t so good after all… [...]

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Detox week experiment, the evaluation

I’ve been absent here, due to a variety of reasons. One was simply an unusual busy week. My youngest brother had a performance, I had a theosophical study group to lead, there was a meeting with my grandmother’s care givers to go to and an outing with her and the whole section of Alzheimer patients… [...]

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Day two of my detox / cleanse week

Well, things started out well. I woke up on Thursday morning with a very happy, relaxed feeling. Nice preview, but of course the detox hadn’t really started. Friday morning too: I woke up relaxed and happy. I’d gone to bed early – a by effect of the lack of tea perhaps? And the result was [...]

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Detox cleanse: about addiction and superstition

A reader asked: I’m a freelance web developer, meaning I get minimal sleep and live a very stressful lifestyle. I work on average 14hours per day, drink tons of coffee and red wine to keep me sane. I just finished a project and thought I might go a 1 week detox to get myself back [...]

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Conflict resolution and controversy

I remember my grandfather (J.M.S. Baljon) as the keeper of his study, as a gardener who taught me the basics of that craft – and as an ambitious chess and bridge player. When I went to study religion studies at Leiden University, I knew I’d be meeting some of his old students and colleagues. He [...]

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Do gemstones correlating to the zodiac offer protection?

I just started a website devoted to astrological jewelry. Though obviously related to my spiritual interests, this is a commercial project: everything that someone buys on that site earns me a percentage. (my disclaimer) One of the things I present there are amulets made of semi-precious gemstones. This reminded me of something I used to [...]

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Is spirituality a lifestyle or a quest?

I have been pondering recently the difference between spirituality as a life style and spirituality as a quest. Consider the following Blavatsky quote (the modernized English is mine) from The Voice of the Silence, The Seven Portals: Before you stand on the threshold of the path; before you cross the foremost Gate, you have to [...]

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