Spirituality Quote of the Week

You cannot lay remorse upon the innocent nor lift it from the heart of the guilty. Unbidden shall it call in the night, that men may wake and gaze upon themselves.

-- Kahlil Gibran

Drawn Back

Loving communities
draw us back from fear.

Spirituality Quote of the Week

We meditate to discover our own identity, our right place in the scheme of the universe. Through mediation, we acquire and eventually acknowledge our connection to an inner power source that has the ability to transform our outer world.

-- Julia Cameron

No Name

As I understand it, "Tao" means "way" or "path," as in "the way things are" or "the way of life" or "the way to live life."

But it also points a finger at the source of all, the well from which time and space pour out into time and space. The garden of yin and yang.

Tao is not God. Tao is how we discover God. Tao is how we learn God. Tao is how we live God.

God is not God, either, by the way.

No name is.

Spirituality Quote of the Week

Nothing, ever, is worth closing your heart over.

-- Michael A. Singer

Sad

The more we do to isolate
ourselves from others,
the more fear we experience.

The more fear in our lives,
the more chaos and hatred,
the more greed and anger,
the more violence and ruin,
the more gnashing of teeth.

The more fearful we are,
the harder it is to live lives
of trust and compassion,
of mercy and gratitude,
of serenity and joy.

Sad.

Spirituality Quote of the Week

I have often suspected that the most profound product of this world is tears. I don't mean that to be morbid. Rather, I mean that tears express that vulnerability in which we can endure having our heart broken and go right on loving.

-- Cynthia Bourgeault

The God of Our Minds

What is God if there is no God?

Is God just a "spiritual" experience? What is that, and why do so many people across time and space have them? Why are these experiences so compelling, so convincing? Why are they so nakedly personal and unshareable?

How do we know they're even real, that they're not just a cloud of brain chemistry? How do we know they aren't some random constellation of neurons firing inside our skull?

Why is it that some people have them and some people don't? Why do some who want them never seem to get them while others who have no interest in anything "spiritual" do?

Do we create God just by choosing to believe in a god? In other words, if we choose to believe in God, that decision changes the way we look at our surroundings, and that changes what we see when we look. Suddenly, we see the Divine all around us -- and even within us -- all because we choose to believe.

On the other hand, if we choose to believe that to have faith in any kind of Supreme Being is stupid, superstitious, and potentially lethal, then we don't look for evidence of some supernatural Grandfather, and in turn, we don't see evidence of the Divine, and there is no God. There is no God because we don't believe in God.

Do we create the God we need -- including nonexistent ones?

Yes. But only in our minds.

For me, it's about being awake. When I look, I see. When I listen, I hear. But only when I'm awake. Only when I'm aware. Only when I'm paying attention.

Spirituality Quote of the Week

The more our sense of identity and well-being depends upon what we possess or what people think of us, the less we are aware of our own intrinsic worth and, consequently, the more we are enslaved to the fear of loss.

-- Kabir Helminski