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!
Archbishop Desmond Tutu (1931–2021) and his daughter Mpho Tutu van Furth focus on our fragile humanity, the good and bad that we are all capable of, as the entry point for forgiveness: We are able to forgive because we are able to recognize our shared humanity. We are able to recognize that we are all…
by Justin Faerman* I see so many people talking about the world’s problems but so few talking about the solution to them: Love. It really is that simple despite how complicated we often try to make it. Pretty hard to keep a war going when people are focused on love. Pretty hard to have an…
Center for Action and Contemplation teacher Brian McLaren shares the power of ongoing discernment, allowing ourselves to be drawn into service and action on behalf of others: From CAC Meditation of August 24, 2022 “If you listen to the Spirit, here is what will happen to you. You’ll be at a party, and you’ll notice…
James Allen, from The Way to Peace, excerpts Project Guttenberg –https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/10740/pg10740.html It is said that Michael Angelo saw in every rough block of stone a thing of beauty awaiting the master-hand to bring it into reality. Even so, within each there reposes the Divine Image awaiting the master-hand of Faith and the chisel of Patience…
Sandy Wilder Each step you take is Hers:it is that which She is revealing to you.You are never taking a step alone.(Deep breath again.Feel it all the way down.) Therefore,you can stand, and face, and acceptwhatever is happening,because all experiences are offeredfor your growth and benefit. In this you can trust.She would have it no…
Buddhist activist and teacher Joanna Macy invites us to meditate on our intimate coexistence: You know your lives are as intricately interwoven as nerve cells in the mind of a great being. . . . Out of that vast net you cannot fall. . . . No stupidity or failure or cowardice can ever sever…
My dad has bees. Today I went to his house, and he showed me all of the honey he had gotten from the hives. He took the lid off of a 5-gallon bucket full of honey and on top of the honey there were 3 little bees, struggling. They were covered in sticky honey and…
The Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis reflects on the universal wisdom that proclaims the mutuality of love: No matter who we are or where we come from, no matter whom we love and how we earn a living, the admonition to love your neighbor as you love yourself, when lived out, expresses the interdependence humans need…
A simple shift in attitude can help us recognize the hidden potential for fulfillment in every event. There is no secret recipe for happiness and contentment. The individuals who move through life joyously have not necessarily been blessed with lives of abundance, love, success, and prosperity. Such people have, however, been blessed with the ability…
by Kay Lindhal, March 09, 2022 Spiritual listening is at the heart of all relationships. It is what we experience when we become a quiet, safe container into which the speaker is able to express his or her most genuine voice. There is a communion of souls. The way we listen to each other sets a…
If freedom has any meaning at all, its most vital meaning must be the freedom to think, the freedom to seek, to question, and to discover that which is beyond the horizon of accepted knowledge until we arrive at the goal we are seeking, a goal which is life harmonious, life abundant, life eternal. Why…
The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another…
The intensity of the drive within us will determine how many hours a day we will give to meditation and spiritual study. Some persons cannot drive themselves to practice scales for more than an hour a day. And others cannot drive themselves to stop in less than seven or eight hours a day. There are…
Every thought we have and action we take becomes part of the collective energy of the planet. Sometimes we look at the actions of others and find it difficult to understand what motivates them. But we are all doing the best we can with the information we currently have. We have all been taught how…
“The universe buries strange jewels deep within us all, and then stands back to see if we can find them.” Elizabeth Gilbert According to an old Hindu legend, there was once a time when all human beings were gods, but they so abused their divinity that Brahma, the chief god, decided to take it away…
By Ram Dass Unconditional love really exists in each of us. It is part of our deep inner being. It is not so much an active emotion as a state of being. It’s not “I love you” for this or that reason, not “I love you if you love me.” It’s love for no reason,…
Shared by Nick Polizzi All we need is the morning.As long as there is sunrise,then there is the possibilitythat we can face all of our misfortunes,celebrate all our blessings,and live all our endeavors as human beings.Spirituality is something that has becomenecessary in these troubled times.Yet it is inherently superfluous.We need it to remind ourselves,to bolster…
by Luc Bodin Many are wondering about their life path which is a good question. It is not always easy to answer them. However, one thing is common to all missions, it is to experience love, to live love, to radiate love during this existence. If you don’t know which direction to take in life, start by developing love … love in all…
By Henry Drummond, excerpt Everyone has asked himself the great question of antiquity as of the modern world: What is the summum bonum—the supreme good? You have life before you. Once only you can live it. What is the noblest object of desire, the supreme gift to covet? We have been accustomed to being told that…
By His Holiness the Dalai Lama on Wednesday November 14th, 2018 Can Compassion Cure All? In Tibet, we say that many illnesses can be cured by the one medicine of love and compassion. These qualities are the ultimate source of human happiness, and the need for them lies at the very core of our being. Unfortunately, love and…
Excerpted from Simple Keys to a Fuller Life by Fred Burks Many Forms of Guidance Guidance comes in many forms. Family or friends may give wonderful words of wisdom in dealing with a particular problem or situation. An inspiring book, video, or program might provide meaningful advice. All of this guidance can be useful, particularly…
A Blessing For the Challenges of Climate Change All round the world, populations are leaving their ancestral lands due to climate change, for instance various populations in the highlands of Nepal. Innovative new measures and policies are urgently needed to face what could with time become huge challenges for hundreds of millions. I bless the…
Joel S. Goldsmith This very clear text of Joel Goldsmith reminds us of what could very well be the basic law of the universe: “We reap what we sow.” This is true not only in personal relationships, but also in our relationships with the environment, international relations and virtually every area of life. When we…
Meditation teacher Eckhart Tolle offers this insight: Silence is helpful, but you don’t need it in order to find stillness. Even when there is noise, you can be aware of the stillness underneath the noise, of the space in which the noise arises. That is the inner space of pure awareness, consciousness itself. . ..…
Christine Valters Paintner describes the ancient and accessible contemplative practice of walking or moving slowly through the natural world as a way of connecting with God. This is clearly the “road not taken” by too many of us in the modern world, even though it shaped and sustained the faith of our ancestors for millennia.…
by Philip Goldberg Below are a few excerpts from this article, which you can read in its entirety here. https://www.spiritualityhealth.com/articles/2021/04/27/namaste-lets-keep-it-after-the-pandemic …Thanks to the popularity of yoga, the presence of gurus and swamis, increased travel to India, and the assimilation of citizens of Indian descent, Americans have learned that the hands-at-chest greeting is traditionally accompanied by the…
Silence is our real nature. What we are fundamentally is only silence. Silence is free from beginning and end. It was before the beginning of all things. It is causeless. Its greatness lies in the fact that it simply is. In silence all objects have their home ground. It is the light that gives objects…
Be on the lookout for symptoms of inner peace. The hearts of a great many have already been exposed to inner peace and it is possible that people everywhere could come down with it in epidemic proportions. 1. A tendency to think and act spontaneously rather than on fears based on past experiences. 2. An…
by James O’Dea “I consider this an extremely important and and exceptionally lucid analysis of the contemporary spiritual/personal development scene. Many years ago, Byron Katie, one of the genuinely great figures of the world-wide field of personal development, stated that the number one problem of the world was not issues like hunger, war, etc. but…
How nature reveals the hand of our creatorBy Deborah King Breathe in. Breathe out. What do you hear? You hear the sound of your breath. What does your breath sound like? Breath sounds like breath. I was thinking about how “breath sounds like breath” as I was walking along the beach, listening to the waves…
What in your life is calling you, when all the noise is silenced, the meetings adjourned… the lists laid aside, and the wild iris blooms by itself in the dark forest… what still pulls on your soul? Our task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within…
Behold, here is a whole new concept of prayer. We are not trying to GET God* to be with us on this trek through the valley of the shadow of death. We are not reaching OUT for God. We are not even trying to have our fears stilled, since this recognition that God walks…
By Madisyn Taylor When we accept that we always exist in a state of grace, we are able to live our lives more graciously. Grace exists inside of all of us and around us. It is our inner beauty that radiates outward, touching everyone we meet. It is that unseen hand that comes from the…
“Listening is a true art, be it listening to one’s neighbor or anyone who is suffering, to one’s partner or children, not to mention the most important of all, listening to the Godhead. For this, I believe, is the true value of prayer: not telling an omniscient Deity what It already knows, but listening to what It is telling…
If your thought is engaged withjudgment, self-condemnation,blame, or self-justification,it is not the time to draw conclusionsabout yourself, others, or your relationships. It is the time to removethis dirt from your windshieldso you can see yourself and others clearly. This will free your innate discernment,and Grace-driven wisdom and love will flow. Sandy Wilder : http://educareunlearning.com/
Here is another wonderful Vision from Carol Peacock of Sweetbriars Retreat Center in Springfield, Missouri. Carol says: We envision a world where love is the answer to all questions. Now that each and every one of us know in our hearts that love is the feeling that supports the highest good of all mankind, we…
No one is asking you to completely neglect the material life in order to devote yourself solely to meditation and prayer, as some mystics or ascetics who wanted to flee the world, its temptations and difficulties, did. But to allow yourself to be monopolized by material concerns, as more and more humans are doing, is…
This article published by Pierre in the early eighties, read here by Suzanne Bonetti & Stephen Hope-Wynne, illustrates some of the ways a loving Providence takes care of us in ways we don’t even have to plan. Life has such gentle ways of taking care of us. Take my friend Maurice, for instance. When we first…
Living the New Story at the Turning of the Year This essay was written at the request of Findhorn New Story hub. Original article It seems very clear that we are arriving at the end of an era, an era in which humanity was lulled by the illusion that we were living in a world…
By Kristi Nelson, the Executive Director of A Network for Grateful Living You do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith, and hope.~ Thomas Merton…
