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Spiritual Growth

Ritual, Andrew Cohen on spiritual evolution, rejoicing and more

This is an overview of spiritual material I put online in the past month or so. All Considering: Ritual as part of a spiritual practice: Tibetan Buddhism (13) Giving yourself permission to rejoice in what’s good… (8) Merry Christmas & overview of 2011 (1) Baby steps or big changes – about self control and habit (11) Great Spiritual Books, [...]

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Regret, Guilt and changing your life

In Eat Pray Love (book and movie) by Elizabeth Gilbert we meet Richard, a western devotee of an Indian guru who chastises Elizabeth for every attitude she has, or so it seems – helping her deal with the issues of living in an ashram and learning to meditate. The main lesson Richard teaches Elizabeth is [...]

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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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Between drowsiness and distraction: meditation and certainty

I was on an intense FPMT Lam Rim retreat for the past two weeks. One of the things they teach is meditation: meditation techniques as well as pitfalls. On all levels of meditation one of the pitfalls is not finding a middle ground between drowsiness and distraction. Both are recognizable at our level: nearly falling [...]

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India, Health, philosophy and more

I find myself once more in a place of nothing, of transition. My health issues with my ears and breathing have returned with the second ear infection this year. I had told myself that if I had one more this year I would not go to India – so I’m not. I mean really, with [...]

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Teaching people a lesson, in real life…

That’s me. Or used to be. I hope. I’m not talking about what the saying ‘teaching them a lesson’ has come to mean in every day speak. I don’t mean deliberately sabotaging things, or setting people up to fail or anything like that. Over the past 6 months or so I’ve been facing up to [...]

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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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Searching for peace and serenity

Someone asked: I have been on a path in life that has brought me to you. My thoughts at the moment are how does one decide which new path to take. My search for peace and serenity has not been fulfilled and I could use some direction. Any help you may give would be appreciated. [...]

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What’s the goal of the spiritual path?

I got three books in the mail this week… Two from Quest publishing, the Theosophical Publishing House of the TS Adyar in the US, another from an author herself. All three are about what one might call ‘the spiritual path‘. Two are highly personal accounts of people on the Fourth Way of Gurdjieff, one was [...]

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