» Home » Archives for Spiritual Growth

Spiritual Growth

Michael Mirdad interview

As promised, here’s some questions I had for Michael Mirdad, author of ‘You’re Not Going Crazy…You’re Just Waking Up! The Five Stages of Soul Transformation Process’, and his answers. 1. You say that nearly every process of learning is ultimately about understanding and experiencing greater levels of unconditional love (p. 14). What do you mean [...]

Read the full article →

The five stages of the soul transformation process: Michael Mirdad

Two weeks ago I wrote about spiritual evolution from the perspective of long term cycles. This week I will go into the more practical day to day questions relating to our own soul transformation process. Personally I can’t take 2012 seriously enough worry about it. I do however have to deal with personal challenges just [...]

Read the full article →

10 simple mindfulness exercises

I was eating at an Ethiopian restaurant yesterday. For those not familiar with that cuisine, the food is served on thin pancakes and one is supposed to eat one’s dinner with the right hand. For me it was a painful exercise in overcoming my conditionings. The table went quiet: a measure of the concentration we [...]

Read the full article →

What annoys me in others is what I need to look at in myself?

It’s very common basic spiritual and psychological advice that ‘That which annoys me in others is a mirror of what I need to look at in myself’. (@verna_maruata) Well, I thought I’d look at that a bit more today. I think it’s probably true: what annoys us in other people is likely to be something [...]

Read the full article →

The karma of disease and health

The relationship between karma and disease is a controversial one. There is the common sense view that since disease is unwelcome, it ‘must be’ bad karma. On the other hand there is a long tradition of theosophical thought saying that bad karma doesn’t exist. I was reading up on a related topic this summer and [...]

Read the full article →

If you see the Buddha, Kill Him – an old Zen koan

Perhaps that’s how I can best explain my ultimate rejection of Jiddu Krishnamurti’s teachings. I’ve studied his work, learned a lot from it, and have since moved on. I’m saying this because yesterday someone approached me on facebook because I had written negatively about Jiddu Krishnamurti. She sent me some video’s that I thought, honestly, [...]

Read the full article →

Desire & spiritual development, some thoughts

Desire has a bad name in certain spiritual circles – but in others it’s hailed as the fundamental source of all spiritual growth. In that debate I’ve always stood in the first group, but from reading I.K. Taimni’s ‘The Science of Yoga’ (a commentary on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali), I see that it’s really [...]

Read the full article →

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 [...]

Read the full article →

Spirituality fun? Think again! Spirituality as a hard road

Two of my spiritual friends commented recently that there is a general misconception that spirituality is fun. I’ve previously posted that spirituality CAN be fun. I stand by that, but they have a point. Spiritual transformation is, on the whole, neither easy nor fun. As one friend said (I’m keeping her anonymous for obvious reasons): [...]

Read the full article →

Follow your own path – spiritual virtue no.4

Following ‘the path’ was once such an important spiritual ideal in the Theosophical Society that Jiddu Krishnamurti took it upon himself to break it down. (After first having written a whole prose poem about it ‘The Path‘) I’m not sure though whether the path itself was the issue, but the here and now. I’m sure [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →