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…
Our November guest blog is reprinted from Luc Bodin’s September newsletter, and we encourage you to visit his site at https://luc-bodin.fr/ Pierre’s note: Luc Bodin is one of those too rare thinkers who think outside the square box of the “system” that always tries to better lock us in mental sardine cans. What he says…
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…
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…
For eons we lived in a world where change was so slow that a snails’ pace would by comparison seem like a racing car from the famous Le Mans car race. Stability was the name of the game, be it in government or institutions (e.g., the Christian church). Then, with the advent of the industrial…
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…
It is a great platitude to say that the world is getting more and more complicated and complex. Take just the field of technology and internet. Many of our seniors are hopelessly lost with a system that is changing and evolving almost daily. The aim of this blog is not to denounce or on the…
April 2022 The following quotation comes from a very recent letter of Roger W. McGowen (RogerMcGowen.org), a former death row inmate with extremely modest basic primary education whom Pierre, with the help a few friends, got off death row – but not out of prison. This man was condemned to death for a crime we…
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…
Recently, during my quiet time, I received what was clearly an order from “above”: “Love Putin!”. And since then, I spend a moment almost every day showering this man with love. For how can this important leader at the head of one of the most powerful countries in the world ever change with the wall of…
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,…
“As God* becomes a reality and we become consciously one with It, It guides every step of our experience. It supplies us. It draws to us all that we need in the world–right friendships, right family relationships, right supply, right activity, right books, right associations – everything that is necessary to advance our cultural and…
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…
Elsewhere on this site you will find a narrative of an amazing encounter in an airplane with the allness of infinite Love, and that has been the crowning experience of my existence. Many years ago, I prided myself on being an intellectual who wrote a 900 page dissertation with close to 1000 references for the…
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…
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. . ..…
Until Gutenberg invented the printing press, it was difficult to challenge authority, hence the stability of the systems in place for centuries, even millennia. The printing press allowed an increase in the circulation of ideas in all fields, which accelerated even more with the modern media: radio, telephone, television, etc. But with the invention of…
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…
So many people feel totally overwhelmed by the problem, and this at all levels. The ordinary citizen sees himself as a tiny pawn without any significant influence on a chessboard with 7.9 billion players. The director of a large multinational company immediately sees the constraints of a system that would oblige him/her above all (supposedly)…
At the end of one of the parables that Jesus left us, that of the Prodigal Son (Gospel of Luke), we find the most extraordinary spiritual affirmation that I have ever read in my entire life: “My child, you are always with me and all that I have is yours.” ALL that God is/has is…
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…
by Pierre Pradervand More and more, I have the feeling that an extraordinary cosmic force is pulling the strings of my life. ALL the strings, down to the smallest details. Because either this simply unheard of “show” called the universe is directed by a force, a cosmic intelligence that is simply amazing, or I give…
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…
For thousands of years, ever since mankind started settling in cities, we evolved in rigid, patriarchal and extremely authoritarian structures – at least in the West. This started changing after the industrial revolution and the pace has been picking up since the end of the last war. Many authoritarian structures have become much weaker or…
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…
“May I learn to discern the perfect plan behind all events of my life. May I see that every single thing that happens in my life is a gift from Providence to enable me to grow and flourish and expand. May I bless those who curse or harm me, those who gossip or spread lies…
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…
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…
In a world immersed in urgency, with alarm bells ringing left and right and dire predictions for our future, how dare I come up with a banner marked, “Yes, so many good things are happening”? Simply because how we look upon the world is a purely subjective vision emanating from our view of existence, our…
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…
