I begin with a confession. I am someone who wishes their life could be easier. I long for a computer with less emails, a calendar with less commitments, a life where things were less complex, where work was less demanding, where time off and play were valued, and sitting on my porch reflecting and visiting […]
Care of One for the Benefit of Many (part 1) Read More »
Another great soul has departed this earth. I, along with many others, called her Mataji (beloved mother), and she was my teacher. How do I talk about the depth of love she evoked in me? How do I express her life-changing wisdom that guided my life in the direction of contentment? Where do I find
I have been reading Philip Shepherd’s book New Self New World. Along with many other observations, Shepherd notes that when humans learned how to build houses, the result was they successfully “created a space…that securely shut out the world of nature”. Emphasizing this point, Shepherd adds that the Warumungu of Australia called white men “enclosure
As the New Year approaches it is easy to find ourselves thinking about the things we “should” do next year. Our shortcomings become the guiding frame of our New Year’s focus, and our energy goes into efforts at improvement. What if we did something entirely different this year? What if, instead of imposing improvement on
Astonish Yourself! Read More »
We can’t possess anything anyway, so it is funny to me how hard we try. We use things and people to prop our insecurities on. It is like putting chains on these things and demanding them to never move, never change, and be available when we need them to make us exceptionally happy. We attempt
Aparagraha – non possessiveness Read More »
Like truthfulness, Brahmacharya is another “go all the way” yama. In other words, restrain from settling for anything less than wonder, awe, and the sacred. And restrain from anything that keeps you from this place. It is easy to grab our work, sweets, a good movie or romance novel, or get lost in the web.
Brahmacharya – non excess Read More »
Non-stealing is restraining from taking what doesn’t belong to us, what we don’t need, what is more than our share, and what depletes the future. It is restraining from doing others work for them, rescuing them, fixing them, and worrying about them. It is restraining from making ourselves smaller or bigger than we are, or
Asteya – non stealing Read More »
I am intrigued that the restraint here is a restraint to stop at anything short of the full truth. This is a significant leap from the tendency to land in a partial truth and be satisfied. If we begin in the internal landscape, it becomes clear that there are three of us that live here.
