Are you more honest than a banker? Under what circumstances would you lie, or cheat, and what effect does your deception have on society at large?
The Truth About Dishonesty
James Hollis in the house
James Hollis speaks: " We are not meant to be well-balanced, sober servants of collective values. We are not meant to be sane, safe or similar. We are, each of us, meant to be different. A proper course of therapy does not make us better adjusted; it makes us more eccentric, a unique individual who serves a larger project than that of the ego or the collective norms. ...
One is everlastingly comparing oneself with another…
One is everlastingly comparing oneself with another, with what one is, with what one should be, with someone who is more fortunate. This comparison really kills. Comparison is degrading, it perverts one's outlook. And on comparison one is brought up. All our education is based on it and so is our culture. So there is... Continue Reading →
To be alone is essential
To be alone is essential for man to be uninfluenced, for something uncontaminated to take place...
Tao Te Ching
This is an excerpt of the text of The Tao Te Ching I studied in college. This exact translation, in fact, and though I've been told by many it lacks scholarliness, I've always liked it. Perhaps because it is what I started out with. I also met the translator, Stephen Mitchell once when he spoke... Continue Reading →
Meditation: simple, subtle
Do not make meditation a complicated affair; it is really very simple and because it is simple it is very subtle. Its subtlety will escape the mind if the mind approaches it with all kinds of fanciful and romantic ideas. Meditation, really, is a penetration into the unknown, and so the known, the memory, the... Continue Reading →
Movement against aggressive positivity
More sensitives are talking about embracing the full spectrum of the human condition. The alternative is too often spiritual bypass, avoidance of shadow work and thus denial of reality as it is. Thus among those who study movements in the spiritual communities on this planet at this time there is the "movement against aggressive positivity." My practice is to accept what is. This isn't about becoming nonresponsive to what is around us. It really means being able to respond with presence rather than reactivity.ndition.
A few minutes of science and reality: Robert Anton Wilson explains Quantum Physics
We all have different reality tunnels...and they tell us different things if we're willing to listen.
Listen!
The self-illusion
by PAUL WOODWARD
The best stories make sense. They follow a logical path where one thing leads to another and provide the most relevant details and signposts along the way so that you get a sense of continuity and cohesion. This is what writers refer to as the narrative arc – a beginning, middle and an end. If a sequence of events does not follow a narrative, then it is incoherent and fragmented so does not have meaning. Our brains think in stories. The same is true for the self and I use a distinction that William James drew between the self as “I” and “me.” Our consciousness of the self in the here and now is the “I” and most of the time, we experience this as being an integrated and coherent individual – a bit like the character in the story. The self which we tell others about, is autobiographical or the “me” which again is a coherent account of who we think we are based on past experiences, current events and aspirations for the future.
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Alan Watts on insecure societys and hermits
"A place for the hermit"
Science’s First Mistake
For those interested in science and philosophy (and the nature of reality) this lecture is wonderfully interesting and informative.