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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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Free will and karma

Free will is an important issue in Western Philosophy – usually contrasted with predestination. This gets us, unfortunately, in a very all or nothing kind of discussion if we don’t watch out.Predestination, karma and fate are all sometimes used as ways of saying that what is, was meant to be. However, unfortunately, this is often [...]

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The unsaid basics of meditation and life

What we all do when we start something, when we do something, when we try something, when we read something, when we respond to something… is bring ourselves into it. I was a bit baffled by some of the responses to my post about the unsaid things about meditation. And what it was is this: [...]

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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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Can you feel the quality of a spiritual teacher?

I got a book for review recently that I put down within a few minutes because it made me all jittery. A few days ago we had a spiritual teacher do a lecture at our local theosophical lodge, and he turned the room quiet. We didn’t even have questions to last the full time set [...]

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Spiritual teachings best fresh?

I dreamt of fruit going bad last night, so I wonder… are spiritual teachings best ‘consumed’ fresh? What do you all think… are classic spiritual books for instance of the same value as say the fresh teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh, Eckhart Tolle and the Dalai Lama? Comment Zen: I’m not asking for dream analysis [...]

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The certainty of truth

Many people believe in old myths that contradict other beliefs and scientific evidence, and this causes division. Religious dogmas and myths were created before people had the benefit of modern science. Science attempts to objectively discover how life works, and religion attempts to subjectively find a way to live in harmony with life, so they both have [...]

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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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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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The freedom of the experience of our lives

The ultimate freedom philosophers talk about, especially existential philosophers, is not so much the world, but our experience of the world. In the words of psychotherapist Irvin D. Yalom: Nothing in the world has significance except by virtue of one’s own creation. There are no rules, no ethical systems, no values; there is no external [...]

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