Archive
Coming to Terms with the Past in Order to Enjoy the Now.
When thinking about the past, most people tend to dwell on the negative, instead of focusing on the positive things in their past. For example, when I used to look back on my undergraduate days, instead of thinking about how I met my wife, achieved in school, had many pleasurable experiences, etc. In the past I tended to think about the rigors of balancing my education with having to work night shifts at a 7-Eleven to pay for my school and expenses. Until recently, when I thought about law school, instead of focusing on the achievement of a goal, having a child, and the good friends that I made, I tended to think about the long hours of studying and how much I hated the Socratic method when I was the one being called out for questioning in front of 100 people in a class room. I recently had a close friendship dissolve, and instead of focusing on the positive aspects, and what I learned from him, I catch myself focusing on the bad circumstances surrounding the dissolution of the friendship.
Focusing on the negative aspects of our past is detrimental to our spiritual progression, as well as our enjoyment of the now. By focusing on negative experiences in the past we are wasting our time and energy on things that cannot be changed, they are merely ghosts in the ether of time. While exploring our past, and coming to terms with it is an essential part of spiritual development, you should take care to only use your past in a constructive way. If you are constantly filled with regret or anger because of past decisions or experiences, you should forgive yourself or whomever caused the pain, which will release the power the memory has over you. Use the past as a learning lesson on how you can be a better person today, and not repeat the mistakes which led to the painful memory to begin with. Read more…
Subduing the Ego… the Pesky, Pesky Ego
Today our society seems content with feeding the lowest part of our psyche, what is generally termed as “the ego”. The ego is the part of your psyche that constantly seeks out gratification as well as praise and acceptance from others. The ego is the voice in your head which constantly fills your waking moments, and even dreams, with a constant dialog that you are not good enough, a victim, or that you are somehow superior to someone else. Succumbing to the ego, and fulfilling its voracious needs, can become a type of vice that will stunt your spiritual growth and development. Many people need to “feed” their ego just like a drug addict, shopping addict, sex addict, or any other addict needs to feed their addiction first and foremost (these addictions are all caused by the ego to begin with).
The ego, if left unchecked, is the antithesis of spiritual development, and must therefore be properly channeled in order to develop yourself spiritually. A properly channeled ego is present in a spiritually developed (awakened) person, because a spiritually developed person is not concerned with public praise, gratification, and power. A spiritually developed person is not concerned with the desires of the ego, because the things that the ego feeds off of are only temporary. When you die your earthly possessions will eventually turn to dust, your legacy will most likely be forgotten by future generations, and the addictions which consumed your life will be meaningless. Read more…
The Frailty of Life
I am sitting next to my father who is lying in a hospital bed, and I can’t help but be reminded about how frail life truly is. As I walk down the hallways people are in a daze from worry and grief, shuffling from one point to the other. I overheard one person state that they wish they had been able to spend one more day with their loved one. The driving force behind the creation of this blog is to have people realize just how precious and amazing life truly is. Most people live life like a ship without sail, simply drifting around the ocean of life. Others, are so focused and driven that they are solely focused on a perceived end goal, and never stop or slow down in order to enjoy the scenery of life.
Each one of us holds the keys to living a joyful and fulfilling life; however, we must choose to use these keys in order to open the doors in front of us. It is imperative to slow down and enjoy the moments of life. Living in the now means to truly enjoy spending time with your loved ones, enjoying the moments of life that make you smile, and not focusing on the negative which only causes stress and grief. Read more…
Book Review: Lucid Living, By Tim Freke
The tag-line for this book is, “A Book You Can Read in One Hour That Will Turn Your World Inside Out”. This is a true tag-line! The book is designed to literally be read in approximately one hour, and it spells out simple ways to live life fully in the moment. I read this book a little over a year ago, and have since loaned it out to several friends who have also enjoyed the book.
This book is a simple, engaging read, that can easily be read in less than an hour. Therefore, for those of us who can barely find time to read anything for pleasure, this is a book that you can start and finish on your lunch break. Mr. Freke spells out the teachings contained in the gnostic spiritual tradition in a comprehensive and easy to understand manner, which will serve as a good primer for those who are new to spiritual seeking, or as a good refresher course for those who have been seeking for some time.
If you are interested in purchasing this book, the link below will direct you to Amazon where the book can be purchased
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Doing Away With Bigotry in Order to Be Open Minded and Loving
“It is good for children to learn to love their country, their religion, their culture, and so on. But the danger comes when this develops into narrow-minded nationalism, ethnocentricity, and religious bigotry”.
-H.H. The 14th Dalai Lama
As a parent it sometimes overwhelming to realize just how much you help shape your child. The things that you teach your child, whether positive or negative, will stay with them for the rest of their lives. As reflected in the above quote from the Dalai Lama, it is important to teach children how to be a loving and open minded person, whether it is your own child, grandchild, family member, or even children who you have the opportunity to interact with. It is also important for you to sift through the mental garbage that you may have accumulated during your journey through life, so that you can be a more loving and open minded person.
Everyday, the world becomes more and more unified, yet bigotry in its myriad of forms remains. Thankfully, for the most part, bigotry has become a social faux pas, so bigotry goes largely unvocalized; however, bigotry can still remain in our thoughts. When you look at another person and you have a negative thought about them, whether it is because of their race, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, or even social class, that is bigotry. Bigotry acts as a blockage that prevents you from truly getting to know another person, because you have already formed an opinion of that person without ever attempting to truly understand them. Read more…
Being Happy… Right Now
Living in the now can be a daunting task, because it requires you to stop looking at your past mistakes, and stop solely focusing on the future, which may never come. By constantly looking at your past, or solely focusing on the future, you are forgetting to live in the moment. While this may seem trivial, how often do you simply enjoy the moment in front of you, this very second? This moment, right now, is only here for an instant, and will never be here again. Once this moment has passed it is only a ghost of a memory, if you can remember it at all. You cannot go back to the past to correct your mistakes, you can only learn from them and move on. While having a plan for the future is a good idea, because it will keep your finances and career goals on track, you should keep these in perspective. None of us are guaranteed to be here tomorrow, in an hour, or even five minutes from now, because life is frail. Read more…
Is There a God?
Jason II in the Light
Many people who lack faith in God say that God has never spoken to them; the response to that is “have you been listening?” At first this might seem too simple, and a bit smug; however, it is an essential threshold question. To hear God speak you must first be receptive and willing to listen. God’s greatest gift to humans is our soul that allows us to have a personal relationship with God. Our soul is the direct line of communication with God, it is how we experience God. Everyone knows that feeling in the pit of our stomachs, or the “little voice in our head”, before we do something good or bad, or when we are about to make a major decision; that feeling is our soul, the soul is telling our “active self” what we should do. Now then, whether or not you listen to your soul and follow God’s plan is entirely up to you; however, if you do not listen to your soul, then you cannot say that God did not try, or even worse that God has somehow abandoned you.
It is unfortunate that in today’s society, many people become jaded, or disheartened with the world around them, and somehow blame God. These people often point to God as the cause of all their problems, and therefore think of God as some sort of enemy, or even stop believing in his existence all together. Before beginning the path of spiritual development you must first understand and accept that there is a spiritual realm, as well as some sort of higher power in the universe. After all, it does not make much sense to be actively seeking spiritual development if you do not believe that there is some sort of higher power or a spiritual realm. It is not important what “model” or “form” of God you believe in, nor is it important what name you call “God” by. Read more…
Introduction To Spiritual Development
A lifetime covers a relatively brief period of time, yet few people choose to live life to the fullest and earnestly seek spiritual development during their lives. In today’s busy and self-centered society, we are too often more concerned with the newest fashion trend, electronic gadget, celebrity faux pa, or work debacle than our personal spiritual well being and development. The most important goal that people should focus on during their walk down the path of life is their own personal spiritual development, which is gaining an understanding of your true self, the world around you, and most importantly developing a personal and meaningful relationship with the mystery that many people simply call God. Read more…
