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HEALING: SEVEN HERMETIC PRINCIPLES OF REALITY

The best and foremost way to help others is to see them as they really are, reflections of their own nature of pure being, just like oneself. Knowing that reflections always manifest the same attributes and qualities as their source, all beings are in fact now and always the omnipresent totality of pure being. Knowing this, if you wish to help someone or wish to develop an attitude of compassion, train in seeing others as already possessing the attributes and qualities of pure being, in other words, see them as already possessing wisdom.

AUTHENTIC GENDER EQUALITY

As more people explore the option to alter their biology, gender issues have surfaced in so many ways it’s hard to recognize certain facets of culture we used to take for granted. There is no longer a ladies room or a men’s room for that matter in New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

ECHO

Feed the dog, or it will bark, says the ego, says about itself. Mind itself creates worlds as its own echo. Mind has no form,… Read More »ECHO

IN PRAISE OF DREAMS

Once lucid dreaming is mastered, simply start meditating in your dreams. The first time I practiced in a dream, I simply sat in the lotus position and floated in the room where the dream was happening. When someone in the dream asked me what I was doing, I told them I was busy, that they shouldn’t bother me; and, so, I kept meditating.

THE TANTRA OF COFFEE

A treatise on coffee making, use and imbibing the action with additional importance. Humorous poetry by Lama Rangbar: The Chariot of Amrit Substances Which Leads to the Arising of Bodhi-Mind by Tasting.

ABOUT FRUSTRATION

In our society, there is a constant and intense quest for pleasurable and satisfying experiences, but no room for dealing with disappointment. Things do not always happen as we plan, inevitably resulting in frustration and a lot of effort to avoid it. Increasingly incapable of handling frustration, because on being unprepared for it, we seek illusory alternatives and flee from a real confrontation with the causes. 

ARE SMART PHONES MAKING FOOLS OF US ALL?

Many people are not aware of the fact that they are almost constantly distracted. We tend to have an almost addictive need for some kind of emotional engagement and smartphones fill this need on a number of different levels, very effectively. In fact they have been designed with just this need in mind.

RELAXING MEDITATION

Facing our own compulsive drives and finding the will force to gently let them go, we come to understand the unconscious compulsions that are at work in creating the anxiety-driven, stress-amplifying, vital-force-depleting social condition we see so prevalent the world over.

WHY DO WE GO TO OUR CUSHION? 

When we release the contracted sense of self, we will automatically have compassion flowing. It will be there without effort, that is the beauty and that is what we can trust. But we must first give it to ourselves. If we are doing this, the contracted sense of self can relax and expand. Giving love and compassion to oneself is a first and foremost requirement on our path.

IMAGINE A MUSICAL COSMOS: IS REALITY A FANTASY?

In Europe, since ancient Greece, scientists and artists of all times have studied and gone to great lengths to liken musical systems and the cosmic order. The idea has come to be called names such as, The Harmony of the Spheres and the science of harmonics. To be fair, this tradition or the philosophy of a musical cosmos is now widely regarded as a form of numerological mysticism rather than science.

CINEMA AS A MEDITATIVE EXPERIENCE

An interview with Neil Dalal, a scholar and director of acclaimed documentary Gurukulam, an immersive portrait about life in a remote forest ashram. “I knew Swami Dayananda for nineteen years prior to his mahasamadhi last year and studied extensively in India with him. Over the years we had numerous discussions and he was always interested in my research. He was keenly aware of the difficulties of self-representation that traditional Advaita faces today, but was disinclined towards publicity and biographical praise.”

A MEATY QUESTION

When we buy a piece of meat, doesn’t the supply-chain economy react to replace it in the grocery aisle, where it otherwise would not? If hundreds of tantric Buddhists shopped in the same Whole Foods outlet, perhaps that would be the case. But if we relatively few tantrikas are thoughtful and selective, we not only are very unlikely to add to the toll of lives lost to consumption of meat by our twice-monthly small purchase, but likely will be substituting our purchase for that of another person who lacks our motivation and purpose in forming a compassionate and aspirational karmic connection with the being whose flesh has been slaughtered.

ABOUT TENDERNESS

Our geometric culture with its plethora of sensations but without deep experiences, with a fantastic accumulation of knowledge but with lack of wisdom, with too much vigor of bodybuilding, sexuality, the artifacts of destruction shown in serial killer but without tenderness, affection and the ability to care for each other, care about the Earth, care about our children and animals, for the common future of us all. Our invincible strength comes from the tenderness with which we surround, treat, love and respect all sentient beings without exception.

YOU CAN’T STEAL MY CHOCOLATE

One of the simplest things we can do to decrease our level of stimulation and increase our sensitivity is to sit comfortably and gently in a quiet place and just relax for a few minutes. We may call it meditation, but really it’s just a simple, natural thing that makes a lot of sense.

THE PRINCIPLE OF VIBRATION & SOUND IN TANTRA

In tantric Buddhism we find the principle of vibration or sound expressed in the inner practices of transformation where we imagine and develop a mandala, or a pure vision of the dimension of a particular deity or enlightened being. It’s a facsimile of the dimension of a deity, a spontaneous effulgent radiance of reality, in order to transform our limited dualistic vision of reality into the total vision of enlightenment and realize the qualities of enlightened wisdom through that particular deity.

VOYAGER

The Moon landing showed that humans can set foot on other worlds, and Hubble validated the Big Bang fourteen billion years ago, but Voyager revealed the depth of humanity’s astounding hubris by simply travelling from planet to planet and taking pictures of our solar system. It was like looking in a mirror while high on LSD and seeing 99.99999% Emptiness — a great void — with a few tiny bits of luminous matter spinning about a blob of boiling solar plasma that will eventually consume itself.