Buddha entered a village. A man asked him as he was entering the village, "Does God exist? "He said, "No, absolutely no." In the afternoon another man came and he asked, "Does God exist?" And he said, "Yes, absolutely yes." In the evening a third man came and he asked, "Does God exist?" … [click on title for the rest of the post]
What Jung calls “participation mystique,” is the deep enmeshment that can happen in intimate relationships when an individual doesn’t do the inner-work to heal their unconscious pain. The wounds get passed through the generations, metastasizing through our relationships and literally shaping our children’s lives. The sickness will stay in the family tree until someone in the outer branches has enough support and awareness to face and move through that ancient grief. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
We should understand that all things are the works of the Great Spirit. We should know that He is within all things: the trees, the grasses, the rivers, the mountains, and all the four-legged animals and the winged peoples; and even more important, we should understand that He is also above all these things and peoples. When we do... Continue Reading →
There's a term in Buddhism, manasikara, which means attention. It's a fundamental component of awareness because it directs the mind to it object -- it's the charioteer of the mind that directs it where to go. It comes in two forms: appropriate and inappropriate attention. Anxiety is a form of inappropriate attention. A scripture describes a monk whose meditation practice revolved around obsessively ruminating on things that were making him unhappy. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
As my body heals from the iatrogenic injury caused by psychiatric drugs, the process of healing the autonomic nervous system demands the continual working with fear in the body. This morning I did the below yoga session. Yoga is wonderful for training us to be with the sometimes uncomfortable sensations in our body, which is a skill that can be transferred to our lives in a multiple number of ways. Practicing and learning to be with discomfort is an important skill to have. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
"What he discovered were manifestations of both his personal and collective unconscious. In this sense, he demonstrated by personal example that the enigmatic phenomenon we call “psychosis” is often about being completely inundated or possessed by the personal and archetypal unconscious rather than caused by a genetically predisposed biochemical imbalance or “broken brain,” that it has psychological and spiritual significance, meaning and purpose, and that it can potentially be psychotherapeutically treated with the proper skills, commitment and knowledge." … [click on title for the rest of the post]
The lesson that life constantly enforces is “Look underfoot.” You are always nearer to the true sources of your power than you think. The lure of the distant and the difficult is deceptive. The great opportunity is where you are. Don’t despise your own place and hour. Every place is the center of the world. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Birth control pills are notorious for exacerbating mental health issues. This comes up again and again in my work with people who are learning to go natural and avoid drugs. Hormone balance is very important for overall well-being. The pill wreaks havoc on hormone balance. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
We pass on our dysfunction to our children. We got our dysfunction from our parents. We're all in this together. We, now, can choose to break the chain as we become conscious and change our own behavior. We need not blame ourselves for how we find ourselves. We really need not blame anyone. We can, however, by recognizing it, start to change the pattern and free future generations. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
"It is joyful just as it is. I don’t believe there was anybody who intended it, but this is the way it is. James Joyce has a memorable line: 'History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake.' And the way to wake from it is not to be afraid, and to recognize that all of this, as it is, is a manifestation of the horrendous power that is of all creation. The ends of things are always painful. But pain is part of there being a world at all … … [click on title for the rest of the post]
“This hour in history needs a dedicated circle of transformed nonconformists. Our planet teeters on the brink of annihilation; dangerous passions of pride, hatred, and selfishness are enthroned in our lives; and men do reverence before false gods of nationalism and materialism. The saving of our world from pending doom will come, not through the complacent adjustment of the conforming majority, but through the creative maladjustment of a nonconforming minority.” … [click on title for the rest of the post]
