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Sticking to one spiritual path, vs New Age shopping…

Spiritual teachers have traditionally advised people to stick to whatever spiritual tradition it is they grew up in. In Zen Buddhism this is true to the point where one teacher who became the head of a tradition not his own was seen as not quite at his ease. (source) It’s true of course: switching traditions [...]

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Change isn’t easy – Discover your dharma?

It’s not often that I write about books I don’t like. In fact I was going to ignore ‘Discover Your Dharma‘, but my mom persuaded me review it. She said, it makes a good story: a book that has won awards that you don’t like. Actually hate is a better word for my sentiments. I [...]

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The place of passion in spiritual growth

Guest post by Michael Brown I have often been asked if any one experience led to my view of existence, and one certainly stands out. Hindsight shows me that it was a vital signpost on my path, which, as you’ll see, is deeply ironic. I was in the Andes mountains of Peru at the time. [...]

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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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Free will: mind or emotion?

We’ve been discussing free will, and whether we have freedom or not, for a while now. The discussion has, as I’ve noted before, not been very clear. Either the topic is just plain difficult, or the right approach has not been found yet. Perhaps the following may help: When philosophers discussed free will in the [...]

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Honesty is the best policy… except…

A debate followed my post on speaking the truth, that I think clarified my position somewhat. Ultimately though I’m amazed that I ended up being interpreted on the side of those who would use white lies in business. However, I’m no longer the outspoken 20 something year old who could shock people with her improper [...]

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States of consciousness: from divine to normal

[Warning: a lot of technical language in this piece.] My usual Friday piece about Blavatsky is based on The Key to Theosophy. ‘The Key’, as theosophists call this book, is the one book by Blavatsky with a traditional linear setup. In other words: the ordering of the subjects is like you would expect in an [...]

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Real life and the search for happiness

I’m wondering whether the search for happiness is at all a reasonable search. Don’t get me wrong, I want happiness as much as anyone. But sorrow is part of life, and facing sorrow and working through it (having a healthy cry for instance) works better than putting on a happy face. I’m writing this blogpost [...]

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Practical versus Theoretical spirituality

I’m reading one of the classics in theosophical literature, from the former leader of the Pasadena TS (which is what I’ll call it for convenience, it’s headquarters have moved about a lot in the past century): ‘Messages to Conventions: and other writings on the politics, work and purposes of the T.S.‘, G. de Purucker (See [...]

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