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Is the world objectively neutral?

From twitter: Paramhansa Yogananda “Objective conditions are always neutral. It is how you react to them that makes them appear sad or happy.” Right. Not. I doubt someone who is dying of hunger, because of rising food prices in Africa, feels that objective conditions are neutral. It’s of course true that life is what we [...]

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There is no danger that dauntless courage cannot conquer

The title of this post is a Blavatsky quote that was retweeted amongst some of my followers on twitter for a while. Her full name is Helena (or Elena) Petrovna Blavatsky (or Blavatskaya) by the way, not Helena Petronova Blavatsky. Here’s the full quote, quite popular among theosophists. There is a road, steep and thorny, [...]

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Black magic versus white magic – it's all about motive…

Blavatsky was rather fond of the concept of ‘black magic’ and I’ve had this on my list of topics to write about ever since I started this blog. But it’s a difficult topic, a messy one. For one thing – I’m not too happy about labeling people, especially into such (literally) black and white categories. [...]

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Will, diet, renunciation and religion

Traditionally the main religions have advocated renunciation in one form or another. Whether it’s the fasting for Lent or the day time fast in Ramadan – lay people have been stimulated to restrain their appetites at one time in the year. For religious professionals – like monks, nuns and priests – renunciation was a full [...]

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Moral lessons from the economic crisis & some political critique

I don’t usually start my blogposts with video, but William K. Black seems to me right on the money about a number of issues: capitalism, regulation, the economy and how the world should move forward. The reason I’m posting it here is mostly because of the end of it. He talks there about what can [...]

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About being observant of life… poverty and riches

I’d like to start this off with a story one of our Dutch theosophical teacher sometimes tells. Ronald Engelse was frequently at Saanen to hear Jiddu Krishnamurti talk. Krishnamurti would say, in his talks, that one should observe everything, the sky, the mountains, the grass… After a lecture like that, what did Ronald see people [...]

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The difference between spiritual growth and personal development?

Michael asked me on my Dutch blog: What’s the difference between personal and spiritual growth anyhow? I think self knowledge is perhaps the only spiritual or personal growth there is, isn’t it? It’s a very good question. Depending on ones spiritual background, one can go into this very deeply, or just skimp the surface. Ken [...]

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What Our Economic Woes Can Teach Us

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last six months, you know that our current economic crisis has been going from bad to worse, with no respite on the horizon in the near future.

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Online marketing and the ego

This post could also be called ‘Social networking and the bodhisattva vow‘, because what sparked it was a twitter conversation I had with a friend about whether or not I’m a Bodhisattva. She unknowingly put me on the spot. I do aspire to the bodhisattva vow, but I’m well aware that one isn’t just a [...]

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Wu Wei and poverty? or more about greed

Money Grows on Trees Photographic Print Katz, Paul Buy at AllPosters.com My previous post got a lot of positive response, but one reader felt I talked lightly about the problem of poverty that is going to be dominating the lives of many more people in the West in the coming years than in previous ones. [...]

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