Gurudev Shree Chitrabhanuji is a 92-year-old Jain Master, who is the spiritual advisor at the Lighthouse Center. He has been guiding me on my way since our first meeting in 1992.
Posts filed under Spirituality
Forgiveness
Rev. David T. Bell
Forgiveness is one of the most important tools in raising one's consciousness. It is a critical necessity in moving out of the past and dwelling in the present moment. Many live outside the present moment, either reliving past woundings, resentments and traumas, or fretting about future problems that have not yet arisen.
“Going with the Flow” — in the Basement
By Nirmala Hanke
Retirement is an adventure every day, yes. Some days, however, are more surprising than others. Take the Sunday afternoon a couple months ago, March 16th: I was with a friend watching Nebraska at the State Theater. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to me . . .
Toward a Universal Spirituality
In his 1999 book “The Mystic Heart,” Brother Wayne Teasdale proposed that we could discover a universal spirituality in the depths of the wisdom contained in the world's religions. He said, “Humanity stands at a crossroads between horror and hope. In choosing hope, we must seed a new consciousness, a radically fresh approach to life . . ."
The Magician and the Aces
For those of you who read my last blog post, how was the foolishness of the Fool’s energy these last couple of weeks? What did you notice as you explored the idea and feeling of being the fool, or acting foolish, or maybe just letting the innocence of creative exploration have you for a little while? I fell back in love with the little dog, and that feeling of loyalty and love that leads and follows me as I leap into life and it’s possibilities. Dog — God spelled backwards.
How to Evaluate Channeled Material
Questions often arise about the validity and wisdom of reading channeled materials. Is there an unimpeachable source? Sorry to say that there is no definitive answer. The materials that I have encountered run the gamut from extraordinarily helpful to not worth bothering with. How is one to decide?
Meeting Fear
By Brian O'Donnell
I want to say more about what it takes to access this “inner doctor,” which can wisely guide us in whatever health crisis may come our way. In my last blog entry, I spoke about re-framing the issue from one of seeing the health crisis as an enemy to one of seeing it as an ally. In this perspective, I was pointing out a conceptual shift.
Today, I want to address the energetic or emotional dynamics and shifts that foster the emergence of the “inner doctor.” Basically, it’s how we meet fear. Learning how to meet fear in a constructive way is the medical school curriculum for accessing this “inner doctor.” This, obviously, isn’t only applicable to health crises but to everyday threats to our apparent security. So what we can learn about ourselves in meeting health fears can serve all aspects of our life.
““What we can learn about ourselves in meeting health fears can serve all aspects of our life.””
Most of us have an unholy relationship to fear. We deny it, exaggerate it, project it, submit to it, revel in it, squash it…. Fear often elicits a contraction and a desire for control. We want to get on top of it, to rise above it, and to manipulate it. Cramping seems a better course than imagined annihilation, if we were to dare feel it. There are two basic energetic forms of manipulation or control that all of us use to defend from any undesirable feeling. One is to restrict the feeling. We attempt to control by squeezing the life out of it. The other maneuver is to amplify the pain, to make it larger than it is. We dramatize the pain or feeling as an attempt to force life, God, or the other to submit to our will. Our real task is to observe the emotional manipulations and to begin to allow the spontaneous flow of fear (or any feeling).
Fear calls for a sense of safety, yet true security is nakedness to the moment, not some constructed edifice of protection. We don't need protection from real feelings. Fear, sadness, anger — any expression of real feeling — cannot harm us. What truly harms us is our defending against pain, vulnerability, and helplessness.
““Do we see life in its ultimate nature as chaotic, destructive, or evil? Or do we possess a sense of life as wholesome, trustworthy, and loving?””
To meet fear without defense or obstruction gets to the heart of our fundamental view of life. Do we see life in its ultimate nature as chaotic, destructive, or evil? Or do we possess a sense of life as wholesome, trustworthy, and loving? This is where our spiritual orientation shapes our basic response to life. My experience is that evil or destructiveness does exist on the relative plane of reality and that it is a function of resistance to pain and suffering. So to the extent we can allow all feeling — undesirable and desirable — without repression or exaggeration — we can enter the consulting room of the wise “inner doctor.” We also get a taste of heaven on earth.
I end with a quote from one of my teachers - the Pathwork.
“Through the gateway of feeling your weakness lies your strength;
through the gateway of feeling your pain lies your pleasure and joy;
through the gateway of feeling your fear lies your security and safety;
through the gateway of feeling your loneliness lies your capacity to have fulfillment, love, and companionship;
through the gateway of feeling your hate lies your capacity to love;
through the gateway of feeling your hopelessness lies your true and justified hope; through the gateway of accepting the lacks of your childhood lies your fulfillment now.”
— Pathwork lecture #190 ; © Pathwork Foundation
Brian O’Donnell, Ph.D., is a psychotherapist in private practice in Ann Arbor. He also teaches the Pathwork, a contemporary spiritual course of self development. (He was interviewed about his work in the January thru April 1997 issue of the Crazy Wisdom Community Journal, available at the bookstore.)
Related Content:
Featured
Let’s Talk About . . . Death
By David Lawson
Now that I have your attention, let me tell you what a wonderful practice it can be to acknowledge to yourself that you and everybody else in this world are going to die! You may say, “Well, of course, I already know that. Why is it necessary to dwell on such a morose topic?” But as it turns out, we don’t really act as if we know it, do we?
A Religion of No Religion
By Richard Gull
I said at the end of the article "Esalen at 50: A Memoir About America’s Spiritual Reformation" that Esalen’s gnosis is nature mysticism. But this must be understood in the context of “a religion of no religion.”
The Man Who Talks with Trees Expounds. . .
By Lenny Bass
For those of you have read my previous essays about the on-going conversation I’ve been having with a Spruce Tree stationed in upstate New York near the heart of the Allegheny Mountains, I am inclined to further elaborate on some of the matters that were touched upon during these — how shall we call them — “episodes” of intra-species lucidity (others might be more inclined to call them “anthropomorphized psychosis”...to which I have little defense...)
Richard Gull Reflects on Karl Pohrt’s Life, His Religions, and Their Last Lunch
By Richard Gull
“The belief that spiritual purity can somehow be translated into the physical body is widely held in many religious traditions. Carry this a bit further and you find people who hold that the body of a spiritually pure person can even transcend death.”
There is Only One Religion, and That is Love.
By Rev. David Bell
The problems of the world can be narrowed to one mistaken belief. That belief is in separation. The solution to this problem is to understand that we are all one.
We have all experienced how the work environment has changed over the last fourteen plus months. Things that would have taken us 5 to 10 years to set in motion have accelerated, virtually overnight. Our ability to connect with others all over the globe has been transformed with the click of a single button. The ability to make a living through technology has made more progress in these last few years than the last 100. Our world has changed in the blink of an eye.