In this section we will regularly present texts from all horizons which we hope will help those who are on a spiritual path to progress and to broaden their perspective on what constitutes spirituality which many people tend to encompass in rather narrow limits.
We want all readers to feel welcome and included, and while in these texts we will use “God“ whenever an author chooses that term, we should like to point out that there are many, many different names and attributes for deity: divine or cosmic Love, Creator, Source, Infinite Mind, Allah, Buddha, Jehovah, Great Spirit, It, Universe, Principle, Father-Mother, etc. etc. So please choose what best resonates with you!
“May I follow at all times my highest sense of what is right, whatever the cost and however lonely the path, or however loud the mockery of the Pharisees. “May I express the integrity that always speaks truth to power, as the old Quaker saying goes, when silence might better serve our interests, and which…
From Holy Rascals by Rabbi Rami Shapiro, with permission Walk into an ice cream shop and order a scoop of ice cream. The clerk will ask which flavor ice cream you prefer, but you don’t want a flavor, you want ice cream. The clerk is stymied. Of all the flavors on the menu, “ice cream”…
A message written or spoken and sent from the heart but received with the mind, will likely be not understood, or completely misinterpreted. They don’t speak the same language. We don’t need more talking heads on the planet right now. We each have a divinely renewable resource that needs to be accessed. It is called…
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (our translation) “To die is to move into a more beautiful home. It is simply to abandon one’s physical body just as the butterfly slips out of its cocoon.” These are the words that Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross often used at her patients’ bedsides. “Most people think of their living conditions as difficult, their…
By Pierre Pradervand One of the more amazing and beautiful aspects of internet is that it is becoming the most powerful tool ever to spread ideas instantaneously worldwide, including a growing sense of one world consciousness and our oneness with all life. Little by little, it is assisting us go beyond the old, tired dualistic…
“As I stand in front of a mirror, may I stand in awe of the amazing beauty that looks at me, the immense kindness, the caring, the goodness and so many other qualities that are simply awaiting my acknowledgment.” PP from https://pierrepradervand.com/365-blessings-to-heal-myself-and-the-world “The healthy love of oneself is a great religious value. The person who…
By Pierre Pradervand ~ “I bless myself sincerely and joyfully for being the utterly beautiful divine creature I am, at one with the Source of infinite Love. … I bless myself as Spirit’s manifestation of glorious liberty, total freedom and unlimited innocence – and this is true of all humanity.” From my new book, 365…
Jack Kornfield ~ Wise intention and skillful service need to be nourished by periods of quiet and prayer. Every great tradition includes some from of the Sabbath. In the West we inherited the blessing of the Christian and Jewish Sabbath. Muslims have Friday as their holy day, and likewise Hindus and Buddhists renew their vows…
A simple meditation to start your day There is a brief text which is one of the most universal, ecumenical texts in the world spiritual literature. Be you a Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Jew, follower of shamanist practices, this text speaks to any open heart. The reason is that it is pure poetry, being composed…
This is the text of an astonishing oath given to an audience of 9000 dignitaries of all races in 324 B.C. It is just as relevant to our times! “It is my wish, now that wars are coming to an end, that you should all be happy in peace. From now on, let all mortals…
from Our Spiritual Resources by Joel S. Goldsmith, slightly modified and abridged “With a new view of the world supporting a new consciousness, we could transcend the quagmire of the current crisis and set out on the path we were meant to follow a path of cooperation and harmony, leading to the flourishing of one…
“We’re reaching a fork in the road; two paths are diverging on planet Earth, and the one we choose will make all the difference for the life of the planet. Shall we continue our medieval religious practices in a medieval paradigm and mechanistic culture and undergo extinction? Or shall we wake up to this dynamic,…
You have lighted me, and you are looking at me, dreaming. Perhaps you are happy to have me. In any case, I am happy to be lit. If I don’t burn, I shall be like the others, left in a box where I have no purpose. My reason for being is fulfilled only when I…
by Doris Peel, an American poetess (Appeared in the Christian Science Monitor of Dec. 31, 1960) Daily I am His delight Daily He rejoices in His handiwork – All fresh, all bright All wrought from elemental light To be what He beholds as me. His song sung out in world this day ! His theme…
A story about compassion to share with children! She was the poorest little girl in the entire world. She owned nothing, not even a rag doll, not even pictures. She only had one single dress and when her mother washed it, she had to remain in bed while in dried. One evening, the mother was…
Excerpts from Julian of Norwich One morning early, while making my fruit salad, the sentence “All is well, all is well, all is very, very well” continued playing through my mind. I was suddenly reminded of a very beautiful booklet I read years ago, ENFOLDED IN LOVE – daily readings with Julian of Norwich. Despite…
We know how to reach the stars, but we don’t know how to respect the heavens and even less so the immensity of the cosmos. We know how to talk about love, but we have such difficulty loving while respecting the other and one’s self. We know how to bake bread, but we have trouble…
Translation of a text which has been and continues to be one of my greatest sources of inspiration. PP To perform all acts without the personal egoism of the doer is the first sign of the divine worker. The second sign is the absence of desire since, where there is no personal egoism of the…
A professor told a group of students, “Make me a list of what you consider are the seven wonders of our current world.” Some thought of Everest, Venice, Mecca, the Versailles castle, the Kremlin, Easter Island, skyscrapers, the Eiffel Tower, Niagara Falls, Arctic ice, the Amazon forest, space exploration. Despite a few disagreements, most students…
a story shared in the June 2016 newsletter of the Lotti Latrous Foundation, by Mrs. Latrous I was sitting with our head doctor N’Da next to my office following a long and hard day. Suddenly I saw a creature coming towards us across the courtyard. I realized after a few seconds that it was a…
When the lighthouse beams its light, it does not measure the intensity if the storm, nor judge it. Before shining its light, it does not say to itself: “I need to understand where my light goes and why.” All the lighthouse knows is that it was built to pierce the darkness and resist…
by Pierre Pradervand Many years ago, I was attending in Ouhigouya (Burkina-Faso in the Sahel) the board meeting of the largest grass roots peasant-farmer movement in Africa, of which I was a founding member. The last day of the meeting I contracted dysentery and as at the time I was following a path of pure…
Paramahansa Yogananda or Paramhansa Yogananda (1893 –1952) was an Indian yogi and teacher who introduced millions of westerners to the teachings of meditation and Kriya Yoga . Excerpted from his writings on The Purpose of Life. Giving love to all, feeling the love of God, seeing His presence in everyone, and having but one desire…
Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi (Amma) The world before us today is trembling with violence, anger and discord. Everywhere we look, we see fear, tension, and anxiety. This group is suspicious of that group; that group is suspicious of this group. There is a constant feeling of apprehension and rivalry. At the heart of this problem…
As long as you believe that the God you seek is hidden up there in the sky, As long as you believe that your salvation is to be found in religions, sects, gurus or others, As long as you believe that you are too small to forgive yourself and that and only God can do…
Author Unknown His name is Bill. He has wild hair, wears a T-shirt with holes in it, jeans and no shoes. This was literally is wardrobe for his entire four years of college. He is brilliant. Kind of esoteric and very, very bright. Across the street from the campus is a well-dressed, very conservative church.…
By Debra Corry Brandt JUNE 9, 2016 TCM Dear Graduate, “Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared” (Exodus 23:20). Those are the words of promise that the Bible says were spoken by God when He gave the Ten Commandments and…
Excerpt from the Infinite Way Letter of August 1955 By Joel Goldsmith Freedom is not a condition of government—freedom is a condition of the Soul. Men in chains have been free; men have been free under slavery and oppression. Men have prospered in periods of depression and panic; men have survived war and flood and…
“In essence, grace is anything that helps us truly open – our minds, our bodies, our emotions, our hearts. Sometimes grace is soft and beautiful. It appears as insight. It comes as a sudden understanding, or maybe just the blossoming of our hearts, the breaking open of our emotional bodies in a deeper way, so…
Everything you see, feel, touch, hear or think comes from and manifests in pure Consciousness. Time and space emerge from pure consciousness. Your body and that of millions of other human beings, as well as trees, animals, rivers originate from and appear in this pure consciousness. When you understand that all that exists is the…
By Madisyn Taylor We can bless each space we enter leaving a sweet energetic footprint behind. Physical space acts like a sponge, absorbing the radiant of all who pass through it. And, more likely than not, the spaces we move through each day have seen many people come and go. We have no way of…
One day a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country wanting to show him how poor people live. They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family. On their return from their trip, the father asked his…
In the scientific community, the lack of scientific understanding about the nature of consciousness and from where it emerges is commonly referred to as the ‘hard’ problem. The standard view of science is that consciousness is an epiphenomenon of the body—meaning it arises as a result of the anatomy, complexity, and wiring of the brain.…
by Alireza Nurbakhsh The Sufis refer to God as the Friend (dūst). This is based on the Koranic verse yuhibbuhum wa yuhibbuhunah (God loves them and they love Him, 5:45), which is interpreted by the Sufis as meaning that it is God’s love for us that gives rise to our love for Him. Fakhruddin Iraqi,…
by Herman Hesse Nothing is holier, nothing is more exemplary than a beautiful, strong tree. When a tree is cut down and reveals its naked death-wound to the sun, one can read its whole history in the luminous, inscribed disk of its trunk: in the rings of its years, its scars, all the struggle, all…
Program your spiritual life for a new year! Customer: I really need some help. After much consideration, I’ve decided to install LOVE. Can you guide me through the process? Tech Support: Yes, I can help you. Are you ready to proceed? Customer: Well, I’m not very technical, but I think I’m ready to install it…
If you believe that a smile is stronger than a weapon If you believe in the power of a helping hand If you believe that what unites people is more important than what divides If you believe that being different is an asset and not a danger If you look at the other with a…
“On awakening, bless this day, for it is already full of unseen good which your blessings will call forth; for to bless is to acknowledge the unlimited good that is embedded in the very texture of the universe and awaiting each and all.” Pierre Pradervand, The Gentle Art of Blessing Look to this day for…
Adyashanti From The way of Liberation Open Gate SanghaSan Jose, California Practice Absolute Sincerity To have genuine sincerity is absolutely necessary in the spiritual life. Sincerity encompasses the qualities of honesty, genuineness, and integrity. To be sincere does not mean to be perfect. In fact, the very effort to be perfect is itself insincere, because…
Oh, Great Spirit, whose voice I hear in the winds and whose breath gives life to all the world, hear me. I am small and weak. I need your strength and wisdom. Let me walk in beauty and make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset. Make my hands respect the things you…
