“Growing Old is Not for Sissies!” I remember this great bumper sticker making the rounds a few years ago. Unless life ends tragically, suddenly, we will all experience old age and the result of old age, which is death.
If we live long enough, on the way to death via old age, we begin losing ... Views: 1394
Years ago I lived a complicated life. I had a Porsche, a beautiful wife, three kids, a Tudor home in a posh Cleveland suburb and all the bills and headaches to go with it. And even though I had it made, something always seemed to be missing no matter how good it got.
Within two years after ... Views: 1596
Huge shifts are occurring all over the world. It’s as if a new awareness is in its beginning birth pangs. People who have been repressed and treated unfairly for years, generations, are suddenly and spontaneously rising up, rejecting the old, fighting for justice and truth regardless of personal ... Views: 1288
Think about it; what did we do in the pioneer days out on the prairie when we came down with an appendicitis attack? We would go, “Ouch. ooh, ahh” for a few days and then die. Easy! No paperwork, no deductibles, no out of pocket expense, no arguing back and forth with insurance companies, ... Views: 1238
There’s an old saying how a young man has no past so he drives fast cars to catch his future - and an old man has no future so he sits in his rocking chair trying to hold onto his past.
This has some truth to it. There comes a time when we get beyond the stage of reliving our past in ... Views: 1441
There have been occasions when I have been told that “Jesus is the Son of God and the Buddha was just a man, therefore, the Buddha is a false prophet.”
Okay, I respect everybody’s freedom to voice their opinion. I also know how views and opinions are formed, and why they become so entrenched. ... Views: 1716
Who has time to consider such lofty questions, even though the answer to this question is the answer to all of your stress. Yet we refuse to look at what we are. We think that continuing to do what we are doing will somehow magically relieve our stress someday. How is that working?
The ... Views: 1274
Mindfulness meditation is free. There are no health insurance premiums, drug costs, or expensive therapies. And it works! But first you have to understand the authentic instructions, and secondly you must practice diligently. If you do this, mental and physical problems will melt away. Try it! ... Views: 1495
If a ladder represents our life, the rungs of our ladder represent our breakthroughs. Have you had one lately?
Sometimes we think that we have arrived at the top rung of our ladder. Nothing else needs to be done. All we have to do is hold on and hope no sudden wind blows us off.
And ... Views: 2059
Dependent Origination, the direct transcendent knowledge and understanding of which the Buddha proclaimed to be the lynchpin of enlightenment, is an area far removed from physical reality in many ways
In many other ways, Dependent Origination is the best intellectual explanation of the ... Views: 1348
Can life be pigeonholed into a viable model for success? Can a methodology or system be relied upon to give us the results or achievements that we desire? Can a formula for winning ever work with such an unpredictable thing such as life?
If we read all self help, psychological, philosophical ... Views: 1409
Remember that all-in-one 48 piece exercise gym that you bought a few years ago? You even figured out how put it together, and actually worked out for a month or two! Then the sessions got further and further apart, and finally you had to disassemble the infernal contraption and move it into ... Views: 3087
Who has time to count calories? Or shop for exotic, low calorie, super foods, (acai berries?) or sign up for all the latest fad diets? I certainly know that I don't.
I remember times in my life when dieting was not a problem. Playing football and burning up three or four thousand calories a ... Views: 7483
People who are truly spiritual tend toward quietness. Not too many saints and prophets of old were the life of the party with a lampshade on their inebriated heads! You might instead find them out in nature somewhere, on a mountain trail, at the ocean, or in a forest, quietly reflecting on the ... Views: 1594
Who has time to count calories, shop for exotic, low calorie, super foods, or sign up for all the latest fad diets? I know that I certainly don’t.
I remember times in my life when dieting was not a problem. Playing football and burning up five or six thousand calories a day made weight ... Views: 5582
How about a fresh approach to religion? What if we observed life as it truly is? What if we tried to see the truth of life without preconceived ideas about life, without the filter of our past conditioning and entrenched beliefs?
Is there an approach to life that plainly, logically, and ... Views: 1931
Dateline May 21, 2010.
Scientists Create First 'Synthetic' Cells - Researchers Imbue Cell With Engineered DNA.
- by MICHAEL SMITH MedPage Today Staff Writer.
"In a development that seems likely to stir a firestorm of controversy, researchers said Thursday that ... Views: 2008
"All is impermanent." What a depressing thought, but only to an untrained, worldly mind. Impermanence is never lost, just a flow of change; a flow of change that is an ultimate truth and therefore an ultimate security.
What is it that we instead depend upon for our security? When I was a ... Views: 1533
When you say to someone, not of your religion, that "because your good book says it is true, therefore it must be true," don't you ever notice that the person, instead of falling down in worship, rolls their eyes?
Do you smugly continue to be a "work in progress," and proud of it, justifying ... Views: 1463
One of the most powerful weapons in the world is compassion. The least powerful is control. The two are surely at odds with each other, and it certainly seems that power and control would trump wimpy compassion any old day. But in actuality, compassion, a weapon of least distraction, is not only ... Views: 1468
Although the usual suspects of stress may be our jobs, financial difficulties, illness, political and religious arguments, family, personal problems, etc., if you look into each one of these in depth, you will find within them all a common thread. If only we could identify that common thread, ... Views: 1375
Human beings go through an interesting process when reincarnating, a process that unless explained would probably go unnoticed. This article will explain the steps.
All major religions recognize reincarnation. This especially true with Eastern religions. However Christianity, Islam, and ... Views: 1670
USA TODAY reports that "Despite population growth and immigration adding nearly 50 million more adults, almost all denominations have lost ground since the first ARIS data was released in 1990. The 2008 results, released today, April 25th, are based on 54,000 interviews with a margin of error of ... Views: 1264
An onion is peculiar in that it has many layers. It also causes you to cry when you peel off the layers. So we could say that the state of the onion is complex, as well as tearful!
Our country is kind of like an onion. Fifty states all wrapped around a flag that gets more tattered every day. ... Views: 1046
Let's imagine for a moment that a cure for cancer was discovered. It wasn't just a cure for certain types of cancers but a cure for all types of cancers. And it didn't require radiation, chemotherapy, or surgery (burn, poison and cut). All you would have to do is take a pill, and immediately all ... Views: 1332
We in America are just beginning to understand what the phrase "Letting the cat out of the bag" is all about. This idiom means that a secret has been somehow accidentally disclosed, and in America's case, the secret has dire ramifications.
The phrase has been traced back to around the middle ... Views: 1292
Are liberals and conservatives opposite? If you are a conservative, does that mean that liberal ideas are opposite of yours? And if you are liberal, are conservative ideas opposite of your way of thinking?
The opposite of liberalism is not conservatism - but tyranny (a form of government in ... Views: 1098
The first thing you want to do is scream at your kids. That makes them afraid and teaches them to become pushy themselves, connecting verbal abuse with authority and influence. (Never use compassion or loving kindness - that will make girlie men out of them).
If you are dead, so to speak, ... Views: 1878
This world is an amazing place. Never-ending things to experience. Long ago this was not the case . Other than a change of seasons, nothing much happened. But today with the internet, we can be worldwide travelers while sitting in our media rooms. We can be authors and write articles, or ... Views: 1707
Have you ever thought about eternity? That‘s longer than a month, a lot longer. If an angel flew up to the top of a solid granite mountain once every hundred years and softly brushed a silk veil across it’s top, the number of years required to wear that mountain down to the ground would be a ... Views: 1579
There comes a time in most people’s lives when they look back. Perhaps after the kids are gone, or when their faculties are almost gone! Or when they are more inclined to surrender rather than put up the good fight anymore. We all have to surrender, eventually.
We might long for a sense of ... Views: 1477
Maybe it has already happened to you. It doesn't happen to everyone. But those lives to which it happens are drastically changed. Changed for the better. When this happens, all the things that make life such a burden are magically lifted from one's shoulders resulting in a sudden, unexpected ... Views: 1390
To clear the mind of past programming requires practice. It can't be done by wishing it to happen. The fastest and most trusted way is meditation, and the type of meditation that gets results quickly and surely is breath meditation.
As one concentrates on his or her breath for some time, the ... Views: 1811
Of course, most of us have seemingly innocent alliances that are common to ordinary folks, like our friends and relatives. But is this where the really dangerous alliances lie?
How can a relationship with Auntie Bess and Uncle Bill be harmful for us? They are loving, warm, giving, and have ... Views: 1549
H.B.I.T.S. is more widespread than originally thought, mainly because it goes unreported. The reason for this is that on the surface, it doesn't seem to be all that serious. But as a matter of record, H.B.I.T.S. could be called the silent killer.
One of the major symptoms of H.B.I.T.S. is a ... Views: 1680
What is it that we run from? What is it that takes up almost all of our waking moments? It must be very important, otherwise we wouldn't devote an entire lifetime trying to escape it.
The interesting, and at the same time depressing, thing is that all the running in the world won't distance ... Views: 2586
Once the Buddha was asked if anyone can become enlightened, even if they were not a follower of the Buddha. His answer - a resounding; "Of course!"
He even went further than that. He warned about becoming attached to the religion itself, and suggested that one only use Buddhism as a raft to ... Views: 1653
Take a look at your life and see if it's not true that the pursuit of pleasure and happiness involves just about everything you do. From watching TV or playing on the internet, to working at a career in order to make money - so that you can spend it and be happy with the resulting pleasure or ... Views: 1577
Similar to Christianity, Buddhism has many branches. The original doctrine that the Buddha taught his monks is called the Theravada or the Teaching of the Elders, but this very deep teaching may be too strange and frightening for everyday Americans.
This unpopularity is not unusual when we ... Views: 2088
We look in the mirror and notice a new wrinkle. Oh my God! I'm getting old! But I'm only forty-four! Let's see, Americans live to an average age of seventy seven. That gives me thirty-four more years! Wait a minute, Japanese live to be eighty one! I do eat a lot of fish. Maybe I have thirty ... Views: 1593
It's obvious that only after young adults leave home do they find their own potential and blossom in their own way. The bittersweet acknowledgement of this reflects a mature relationship with parent and child. This is a cutting of the umbilical chord with our children, offering them a chance of ... Views: 2066
It's obvious that other people, when they disagree with us, are just plain wrong. And when we confront these kinds of people, our only alternative is to let them know in no uncertain terms that they are not only wrong, but apparently stupid for disagreeing with us about something so obviously ... Views: 1312
By a narrow margin, both houses of congress agreed to cancel the Government of the United States. After years of struggle, President Polin has finally fulfilled her mother's dream; the total end of government control.
On the streets of L.A. can be heard the celebratory exclamations this ... Views: 1401
Humanity has always looked to the transcendent, a human trait pursued in many ways. And who can really say which way is right or wrong regarding an inherent desire to transcend this earthly life when our time is up. The religious insist that they are right, and spiritual seekers say likewise. ... Views: 1139
Truth is not what we believe truth to be. Whatever we see, whatever we hear, whatever we think, whatever we believe is not truth. Truth manifests beyond that. We might say that our religion is truth, but our religions are no more than a set of beliefs, and beliefs can never be truth, only ... Views: 2492
If we at least had enough to live on and make expenses, that would be enough. And enough to pay off the house, which isn't worth much anymore. Oh, and maybe provide for our healthcare, which is going to get very expensive in the very near future, and we better pay it or they will take our house! ... Views: 1417
There are two faces of religion; that which we profess, and that which we project. Our professed religion follows our scriptures and our beliefs and are what we declare to be our truths, our ideals. It's the talk we talk. Our projection of our religion is how we act, what we say, how we say it, ... Views: 1037
There are many problems in life, kind of like endless itches and glitches that need scratched and resolved. If we're poor, we have to struggle to support ourselves because there is . . . never enough money. If we're rich, then we have the typical problems of rich people - trying not only to ... Views: 947
A good friend of mind recently commented that his own kids and their friends are a lot less materialistic than our generations were, and that numerous surveys show that Millennials don't want their jobs to interfere with their family or social life. He went on to say that, "Some say this is ... Views: 1325
There's gotta be a millions of articles about relationships. Books, too. If you are thinking about writing a book, put "relationship" in the title and you will have agents beating down your door! Instead of "How to Fix a Toilet," title you book, "How to Have a Good Relationship With Your Toilet ... Views: 1407