The FREEDOM Blog

I have often spoken of the necessity of community to foster a sense of belonging. Too often, those seeking Awakening are mired by their own sense of not-belonging and generally speaking, the traditions of Enlightenment have come through cultures that have had a strong sense of community or tribe or belonging on one level or another. But I've recently realized something else that amazed me. Many people are looking for spirituality WITHOUT God. Not that it isn't possible, but it is, to a large extent, the norm these days. Understandably, God has a bad rap. People see God or at least the word 'God' as representing a more Judeo -Christian old judgmental man in the sky kind of thing. This is a concept, and the concept must be let go of, but that doesn't negate the Reality which it represents. You may let go of your issues with your father; break away from him as a parent figure; etc. but that doesn't mean he stops existing. Or another example, in Vedanta, they often ...

I love Barnashram - our little mini-community of 3 human residents and an expanding number of 'others'. We now have 9 Chicklets (they're not quite chicks any more, but they aren't chickens either. But besides that, I love the sense of community that is developing. The biggest thing lacking in today's world is community! We actually take pride in not needing anyone, in being an individual, ready to fight the world alone; and yet, inside, many are devastated, depressed, and exceptionally lonely. It is a sickness that is pervading everything. Many don't even realize it, and yet keep questioning, "What is wrong?" but are unable or unwilling to open their hearts and realize that what they truly want and need is love and intimacy with others. "Trigger the 60's Virus" - Sure, we were young and naive back then, but there was a beauty and exploration that has since either died or gone into deep hibernation. Back then, I had a family. In fact, a ...

I just finished a wonderful book by John Robbins entitled 'Healthy at 100' . I know, it hardly seems like Aja's kind of book, however, it was incredibly diverse in speaking of what makes up health, and what those cultures look like which have consistently had the most centenarians and supercentanarians (those who live past 110). I have often put forth the premise that if you could define and describe paradise, every facet of it - birth through death, education, family relations, community, education, spirituality, economics, EVERYTHING, and then flip that 180 degrees, you would have current western civilization, or lack of it. (Mahatma Gandhi was once asked "Mr. Gandhi, what do you think of western civilization?" To which he replied, "I think it would be a good idea.") Anyway, I digress. The point of this story is that Robbins, in this book, similarly shows how, in many ways, my contention is correct: this society is exceptionally unhealthy. In onechap...

Today, I received, as a slightly belated birthday gift, a donation from my friend, Susanne, in Switzerland, a donation for $540 (ten times my present age) with the note, "Il faut cultiver notre jardin" Although I recognize a few words from the French, including Garden, I went to an online translator, which produced the result, "We must cultivate our garden." Now I have definitely received less than perfect translations from the translator, but accurate or not, it IS perfect... We must cultivate our garden – our interior gardens and our exterior gardens. A garden is a wonderful metaphor for so much of what we experience, and are, as life! And from personal experience, I can say and see, that both attention and neglect have very powerful consequences. For the past few years, we have totally neglected our 7 acres and consequently it has become overrun with weeds, particularly blackberry vines. Even cutting them down is only a small step because the hidden roots will co...

Another way of looking at the Who and the What you are is recognizing the Relative and Absolute spheres of existence. First, understand, even if it is intellectually based, that they are One thing, but manifesting as the two separate aspects. Next, let's define them a bit more. (I know that all of this appears to be a mental or intellectual exercise, and yet, it increases the understanding by which you can pass it all up.) The Relative .................... The Absolute Who..................................What Shakti.............................Shiva Material.............................Spiritual Left Brain........................Right Brain Objects.........................Subject Plurality.......................Singularity Contraction.......................Expansion Limited.......................Unlimited Phenomenal........................Noumenal Active.............................Passive And so on and so on. Again, these are only labels for the 'many' and the 'one...

"Accept everything about yourself--I mean everything, You are you and that is the beginning and the end--no apologies, no regrets." -- Clark Moustakas Herein lies the power - the ability and willingness to accept absolutely everything about what AND who you are. Not only that, but to accept EVERYTHING unconditionally, that comes down the pike. Our mind (not our true nature) wants to evaluate everything and accept some things and reject others. So while Mr. Moustakas is correct, I would go even further and say, one must accept everything, not only about yourself, but about everyone, everything, unconditionally. How does one do this? By disappearing. At every moment, thousands of things are occurring to which we give no thought and no judgment - cars passing by, little sounds or feelings, an infinitude of sensory inputs large and small that arise at every moment to which we pay little or no heed. But then that one, that particular thing comes along and we find ourselves happy,...

One of the great advantages of becoming older is the clarity one gains regarding death. As the body begins to act and react in ways which it never did before, one is forced to look at various aspects of life that were never quite as "in your face". Death, to most, has an ominous sound to it. It is depicted as the Grim Reaper, the skeletal figure draped in black. People flee from it, consider it an inappropriate conversational topic, skirt around the issue, joke about it, etc. But as one begins to actually lose energy, experience more aches and pains, as well as seeing the loss of a gradually increasing number of friends and relatives, the unquesionable reality of one's own physical demise becomes apparent. There is a wonderful story in the Indian epic Mahabharata where the King Yudisthira is given 100 questions by Dharma, the Lord of Death. One of the questions is, "What is the most wonderful thing in the world?" to which Yudisthira answers, "That every d...