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Who am I? Take off the Masks and Find Out
Family Photo from 1986~1987 Left to Right: Me (I think), my cousin Laura, twin brother Justin (I think), and my older brother Bryon
One of the major themes in my spiritual path, and my life in general, has been the search for the real “me”, the search for who I really am. While this may seem simplistic and silly to some people, those people have probably never really asked themselves the question of “who am I”. This seemingly simplistic question is actually a fundamental question that must be asked, and the answer sought, if one is to truly discover peace, harmony, and happiness, which are things that all humans seek on one level or another.
When most people ask themselves the question of “who am I”, usually they will describe various attributes for themselves. For example, I could answer: I am a lawyer, I am married, I am a father, I am a Freemason, I am from a small town in Oklahoma, I like ____, I dislike_____, etc. but is that really who “I” am? Am I simply an amalgam of my career, family life, likes & dislikes, and life experiences? Well… the answer that I have discovered is “Yes and No”. While I am a product of these various attributes, they are not the true me, rather they make up the outer-shell of my true-self in the form of my personality, and the various masks that I use in order to fit in with my various relationships and with society in general. In order to find the true “me”, I must dig deeper… Read more…
Basic Spirituality
When most people think of a “spiritual person” they usually think of some sort of New Age guru, a hippie, a or a die-hard fundamentalist of one creed or another. Unfortunately this imagery has turned many people off of spirituality, because they don’t want to be thought of as “that person”, or have to answer to a particular religious group or creed. In reality, “spirituality” is not the exclusive realm of any one religion, or any of the aforementioned stereotypical practitioners. There are truly spiritual people who go to church, mosque, synagogue, satsang, etc. at every opportunity, and there are those who never attend any formal religious function.
Oftentimes, so-called spiritual people, also make spirituality seem overly difficult and dogmatic. This is ironic because many self-styled spiritualists began their own personal spiritual path by leaving very rigid and dogmatic religious systems.
Without using any New Age or religious buzzwords, spirituality at its most basic level is about discovering who “you” truly are, which means discovering the divine (created by God) soul that resides in each of us, and bringing your thoughts and actions in-line with your true nature, which is love and joy. Read more…
Disregarding End of the World, and Conspiracy Theory Myths
Recently the world was abuzz because of a theory from Harold Camping, the millionaire owner of the Christian Family Radio Network, that the rapture of Christians would occur on May 21, 2011. Although Harold Camping made a similar prediction in 1994, which obviously was incorrect, thousands of people sold, or donated, everything they owned to spread this message, and wait for the end of the world to occur. Obviously the sunrise on May 22, 2011, was a devastating shock to many of those people who had so completely bought into Mr. Camping’s false message.
Beyond Mr. Camping’s debunked theories, there is a constantly changing array of doomsday scenarios, whether it be the past Y2K predictions, or the current Niburu, Planet X, Nemisis, and 2012 predictions. Also, there are a never ending string of conspiracy theories involving the Illuminati, Freemasons, Bilderburg group, Bohemian Grove, etc. and their supposed desire to control the world. When these doomsday scenarios fail to materialize, or the conspiracies are proven false, new dates are set, or entirely new theories are created to take the former theory’s place.
The real questions in all of this is why would someone buy so fully into these fringe predictions, which are solely supported by shaky math, questionable biblical and ancient document interpretations, supposed psychic messages, or even a total lack of evidence (after all if you can’t prove it doesn’t exist, then it must exist)? Read more…
You Really Can’t Take it With You
“Nothing can be taken with us but the seeds of our life’s work and our spiritual knowledge” – H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama
One of the main ways to “rank” a society is to look at how much its citizens spend. Therefore, the more citizens spend on new clothes, homes, cars, electronic gadgets, etc. the stronger the economy and society are viewed to be. Therefore, in order to appear to be successful, or as somehow superior, you must always be a part of the newest trend, which cuases you to constantly accumulate more and more. This has led to a disposable consumer culture where you are encouraged to solely focus on the material world, and always desire the newest and greatest, or something bigger and more expensive. While this sort of mentality may be good for advertising and consumer product companies, it does not lead to a stable and happy society, or to stable and happy individuals.
The main problem with a disposable consumer culture on a societal level is that it can cause whole societies to have narcissistic qualities. Basically, as long as “we” (our country, society, or group) get what we want, then we don’t care who or what gets harmed in the process. For example, society “says” that the environment needs protecting, yet very few individuals are willing to cut back or make the necessary sacrifices to make a meaningful difference. Also, society “says” that human rights are important, yet governments around the world turn a blind eye to countries that exploit human rights, as long as it is economically or politically expedient to do so. Just to give one example of this hypocrisy, the U.S. has maintained a trade embargo against the nation of Cuba since 1960, and will continue to do so until the Cuban government moves towards “democratization and greater respect for human rights”; however, the U.S. has maintained constant relations with China, even though China is also a Communist country, whose government has proven time and time again to have far less respect for human rights than the Cuban government. Read more…
Enjoying the Small God Moments
I do not claim to be any kind of spiritual teacher or guru, I am merely a seeker of truth. However, from time to time I have people who approach me for personal/spiritual advice. One of the questions that I am often asked is “where is God?”. Usually the individual says that they have been going to church, meditating, praying, studying scripture, etc. for x number of months or years, but that they have never really felt God, or at least they haven’t felt God in a long time.
Some of us are probably familiar with the “spiritual high” that is felt after some sort of church camp, spiritual retreat, meditation experience, etc. where you have such a profound experience that you literally feel as if you could reach out and touch God. Usually this feeling lasts for a few days, or maybe even a few weeks, until it slowly starts to fade away, leaving you yearning for another direct experience.
Others who have never had a spiritual high continually seek this magical and profound moment, and become disheartened when they have not experienced such an event. These people tent to jump around from spiritual practice to spiritual practice, and when the current practice does not quickly give them what they are looking for, they quickly move to another practice. Read more…
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…
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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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…
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…
