Culture
My Personal Misery Trainer
Guy in running pants, with a clipboard, gets up in front the of a group in a hall. He’s taking the opportunity to make a little announcement. “OK. Hi. Because you know how they always say take a passion you have, turn a personal thing you love into uh, you know, a new business, to…
Read MoreThe Enlightenment Contest
The scene: a non-duality spiritual retreat, led my a teacher named “Francis” and his wife “Laura”. Someone gets up, in the evening, after the meditation and dialogue, when announcements are made: “I have a little announcement. Since everyone here is interested in not only becoming enlightened—or perhaps thinks they already are—and furthermore would love very…
Read MoreOn Beyond Cause and Effect
In practical mechanical affairs, cause and effect thinking can have utility. For example, your car suddenly loses power on the freeway. Using reason and your senses in a troubleshooting capacity, you can trace down the cause. Does the starter turn? Yes. That means there’s juice in the battery. The cause is not a dead battery.…
Read MoreOn Beyond Spiritual Bypassing
This article is not about showing you how not to do spiritual bypassing (or telling someone else how not to do it) but will make a case that the concept has very limited usefulness and should probably be abandoned. I hope to communicate the fact that it’s a term we would do better to replace…
Read MoreKissing a Sweet Goodbye to The Three Principles
From a recording: “If you’re listening to this in your car and you find yourself in a beautiful feeling, roll down your window, pop the tape out of the tape player, and throw it out the window. Stay with the feeling, and it will teach you everything you need to know.” ~ Sydney Banks…
Read MoreNotes on Prophets, Mystics, Sages, Philosophers and All That Good Stuff
Last night I watched an entertaining musical from the 70’s, Jesus Christ Superstar. I saw it when I was a kid. Very enjoyable music and great lyrics. Then for something less dramatic and more meditative before bed, I read some of The Gospel of Thomas until I got sleepy. (http://www.gnosis.org/naghamm/gthlamb.html) My reflections this morning: In…
Read MoreIntuitive Intelligence
“Ordinary intelligence is a cerebral function. It appears as the faculty of adaptation and organization. It allows complex problems to be handled by bringing into play a large quantity of givens. Linked to heredity and to acquired conditioning of the brain, it operates sequentially, in time. This kind of intelligence is responsible for performing math…
Read MoreThe Meaning of Ott’s Jack’s Cheese and Bread Snack Lyrics
Heard this (trippy) song about ten years ago and loved it, and was intrigued by the lyrics: Ott – Jack’s Cheese and Bread Snack One: All composite phenomena are impermanent. Two: All contaminated things and events are unsatisfactory or in the nature of suffering. Three: All phenomena are empty and selfless (devoid of self-existence).…
Read MoreConsider The Lilies Of The Goddamn Field: Notes on Paying for Spiritual Teachings
“I am secure, for I know who I am: a richly endowed child of God. I am secure in all I do, for I know my oneness with the divine process. I am secure in all I have, for I know my treasure is in my mind, not in my things. I live my life…
Read MoreComedy Sketch – Advaitans Anonymous (AA)
[Note: this sketch was performed by the actor Vishal Patel who read the script and volunteered – at a recent Francis Lucille retreat, in Temecula, California. I did the fake “announcement” afterwards] “So I heard there was a woman who spent a million dollars on retreats and seeking enlightenment over the years, traveling around the world…
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