May 2013 Blog Posts (18)

Robert Frager

Sufi Talks:Teachings of an American Sufi Sheikh

(Wheaton, IL:  Quest Books, 2012 )

         “Sufism focuses on the inner effects of our practice.  The Sufi path, or tariqa, means in Arabic, an unmarked path, through the desert, where the sands shift, and there are no clear markers.  Following the tariqa requires judgement and sophistication.  It also requires a guide who knows the way…Sufism is practice.  It is not theory or…

We all use mantras or words all day long -- repetitive, out loud, or silently -- phrases such as "It's hard," or "I'm tired." "I don't know what I'm doing," "It will never happen ... .. I'm stressed," "There's not enough time," or "There's not enough money." We don't even notice them becoming part of our reality by…

My father, Chögyam Trungpa, who brought the Shambhala principle to the modern world, was a great believer in humanity. In both the East and the West, he was always synthesizing the knowledge that he had gained, seeking to understand and compare not only what the Buddha had taught, but also the teachings of Plato, Aristotle, Jesus and those of Judaism and Islam, as well as the great minds of China -- Lao Tzu and Confucius. He particularly respected India's great ruler, King Ashoka,…

"Master, what is the eternal Truth? " 

"Go on!" - 

         Richard Smoley

         Inner Christianity: A Guide to the Esoteric Tradition

         (Boston: Shambhala, 2002, 292pp.)  

         At this time of transition from the Piscean Period to the Age of Aquarius, there is an evaluation going on within all systems of belief to sort out those aspects of value for the New Age and to let dry up those thought forms and processes which were appropriate only for the passing period. …

The title of this short write up, Yato’bhyudaya-nihshreyasa siddhih sa Dharmah, is, in fact, a couplet defining Dharmaaccording to Maharishi Kanada, the founder of the Vaisheshika philosophy –one of the six foremost schools of thoughts* within the ambit of the Vedic-Hindu philosophy or the view of life, and which is known as empiricist school of atomism minutely explaining, discussing and analyzing issues related to matter, apparent universe, atom and…

Make love to the angel—first to the angel of your heart and soul, who is your living light and living fire.  Then to the higher beyond, who out of the mystic gives you guidance and will shelter you in the saving grace of tomorrow. 

The one is as the miniature of the…

Thunder, thunder, no lighting.

Wait! Do you hear that?

Voyagers travel wide sea unto depths unknown. Plundering labored fruits, mmmm...taste ooohhh. Consumption ahhh, of accomplishment near and far good- plentiful. Famished for elements, landscapes undiscovered. It be thy wealth in rain or shine thou forage greater planes with or without pallet, yet serenity land and oneness.

-Brooke

Grit of an BeatNik era. 
Legendary Spoken Word. 
Asphalt journey 'On the Road'. 
I said, I said a lot...yet. 
Things worth manipulating. 
Why, why do you beg for lies? 
Like mystical organic... 
Truth scorn via every touch. 
Road, yes now 'On the Road'. 

-Brooke Lovestone

            David W. Augsburger

            Conflict Mediation Across Cultures : Pathways and Patterns

            (Louisville KY: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1992, 310pp)

                                                           Rene Wadlow

            John Paul Lederach tells the story of one of his intercultural mediation workshops in Panama where “someone said that mediators were like guides leading…

Peace dwells within pockets of our community.

as we fumble toward unity.

My sisters, lets unite for peace.

My brothers, lets unite for peace.

Darkest storms rings brightest blessing.

Tide rolls a shore sending brightest blessings.

Moonlight beam brightest blessings.

Twilight courtyard scroll with brightest blessings.

-Brooke Lovestone

Gary Lachman

Politics and the occult : the left, the right and the radically unseen

(Wheaton, IL: Quest Books, 2008, 261pp.)

            Gary Lachman has written a very useful and sober book on esoteric current in modern political thought — modern meaning here from the Protestant Reformation to the present.  A sober book is necessary as the internet is filled with wild speculation about the role of the Illuminati on the political and financial system. The…

Positive movements..- and a great film: 

http://occupylove.org/

            Creativity and World Citizenship: Insights from J. Krishnamurti

The function of education is to give the student abundant knowledge in the various fields of human endeavour and at the same time to free his mind from all tradition so that he is able to investigate, to find out, to discover.  Otherwise the mind becomes mechanical, burdened with the machinery of knowledge.  Unless it is constantly freeing itself from the accumulations of tradition, the mind…

a quote:

What Is a Warrior?

ANYONE WHO IS INTERESTED in hearing the dharma, anyone who is interested in finding out about oneself, and anyone who is interested in practicing meditation is basically a warrior. The approach of cowardice is looking for some tremendous external help, whether it comes from the sky or from the earth. You are afraid of actually seeing yourself; therefore you use spirituality or religion as a seeming way of seeing yourself without looking…

Alice O. Howell

The Heavens Declare: Astrological Ages and the Evolution of Consciousness

(Wheaton, IL: Quest Books,2006, 281pp.)

            There are a number of currents of thought which hold that humanity is coming to the end of an historical cycle and is entering into a new age with the start of the new millennium.  The most widely spread of these currents of thought is a complex of ideas and practices known as the New Age or the Age of Aquarius.  The…