You will find here all the longer texts, essays, and stories that have been posted on this blog, all gathered together for a better access, and a comfortable reading…
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The Golden Speaker
“In spiritual matters, it is always a pleasure and a thrill to find a new gem, to mingle with a different formulation, to venture for a while with an old, unexpected description of the perennial understanding; in more simple terms, to stumble on a new exponent of the eternal truth. John of Damascus is one such talented teller …”
Discover the life and insightful writings of John of Damascus… (READ MORE…)
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The Impossibility of Knowing
“Habit is a driving force in our lives, yet it doesn’t have good reviews: it is an object of critics. It is making us dull and repetitive. It is non-creative, indolent, designed for our self-protective needs. It is born out of fear, uncertainty. It is a shield for what we feel bullies and thwarts us, and is thereby blocking our sensitivity and vulnerability. Habit debases love. But habit is not the real culprit in this affair: it is a victim of …”
An essay on the articulation between knowing and not knowing… (READ MORE…)
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The Heart Sutra
“There is a text that came from the dawn of ages, whose author is unknown, but has been widely accepted, practised, and chanted in Mahāyāna Buddhism as a condensed exposé of the teaching of Buddha. Although known and praised as the ‘Heart Sutra’, its original Sanskrit name translates as ‘The Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom’. …”
Discover this milestone of Buddhist literature: the ‘Heart Sutra’… (READ MORE…)
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The Gospel According to St. Matthew
“The famous Italian film director Pier Paolo Pasolini made this beautiful statement about his art: “When I make a film, I shift into a state of fascination with an object, a thing, a fact, a look, a landscape, as though it were an engine where the holy is about to explode.” This can be immediately felt as we stroll amongst the first scenes of his …”
Discover the magnificent film by Pasolini on the Gospel of Matthew… (READ MORE…)
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On Parmenides
“The Oxford Dictionary wrote this very concise description of Parmenides: “Greek philosopher. Born in Elea in south-western Italy, he founded the Eleatic school of philosophers. In his work ‘On Nature’, written in hexameter verse, he maintained that the apparent motion and changing forms of the universe are in fact manifestations of an unchanging and indivisible reality.” This statement is a quintessential definition of …”
A study of Parmenides’ statement of truth in his poem ‘On Nature’… (READ MORE…)
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Imagine a Life
“Krishnamurti said it in very clear, unmistakable terms nearly a century ago. So did the ancient sages of India, the early Sufis, the original Zen masters of China, and the great Meister Eckhart, all in their own way. So there is no room for confusion anymore. Cease being entangled in your own, unfounded beliefs. Stop breeding and comforting them by thinking them out, perceiving them away, and feeling them in, …”
A meditation invoking a famous statement by J. Krishnamurti… (READ MORE…)
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The Mystic Heart of Sport
“Brendan McNamee is my newly invited guest on ‘The Dawn Within’. Brendan is an independent scholar and lecturer with a PhD at the University of Ulster in Ireland. He is the author of numerous books and essays on a wide range of writers, including John Banville, W B Yeats, and others. I’d like to present here one of his essays …”
Discover Brendan McNamee’s essay on the mystic of sport… (READ MORE…)
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Awareness is All
“If you observe yourself carefully, awareness can be felt as a truly overwhelming presence. It is actually all there is, and that can be easily proved. Let’s take an experience like our current experience, since no other than this one present, living experience, has ever existed and will ever do. We cannot divide experience, make it into bits and pieces to be compared or analysed. Experience is not limited to its …”
An essay exploring the hidden nature of experience… (READ MORE…)
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The State of Things
“It is crucial in life to have a clear view of the state of things. Not to be left behind with an erroneous understanding or interpretation. For there are wolves out there, that want you to go astray. They will lure you to adopt their own inherited beliefs. They will push you in the direction of your fall. So be watchful of everything you don’t fully understand. They will want you to believe that you are surrounded by…”
A meditative reflexion on the true nature of our experience… (READ MORE…)
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The Mystical Doctor
“During the night of 2 December 1577, in the city of Toledo in central Spain, a priest was imprisoned by a group of Carmelites who were refusing Teresa of Ávila’s reformation projects for their Order. He was jailed for 9 months in a monastery under brutal conditions. He was publicly beaten at least weekly, confined in a cell of barely 10 by 6 feet, with only a little light passing through a hole during the day, with …”
Discover the rich poetry and commentaries of John of the Cross… (READ MORE…)
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The Hypochondria of Being
“There may have been a time in your life when you had a glimpse or experience that you had considered to be a major event or happening, some breaking news coming from god’s mouth. And yet you were left after it with only scattered shreds of truth. You had failed to inhabit your experience and make it yours. You had stayed on its threshold and didn’t dare to visit its interior and be blessed by it. You remained …”
A playful interpretation of the nature of spiritual experience… (READ MORE…)
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The Highest Language
“In our language, the word ‘silence’ is defined as the complete absence of sound, or the abstinence of speech. Yet silence has fascinated us beyond these elementary descriptions to evoke the unknown and the mysterious. Something in silence speaks to us, and is a presence beyond its apparent nature as absence. Spiritual teachers from all traditions have abundantly used the word for its richness of meaning …”
Read these many quotes about ‘silence’ by various teachers… (READ MORE…)
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The Angel of Death
“There is an astounding profundity in popular culture. It is just for us to see when it pops up, when it arises above the sea of confusion that our life is for the most part. What is designed to be just light entertainment, what appears to have no depth or consistence other than being an easy escape out of ourself, can hide the brightest of gems if we can elevate ourself to its hidden meaning. I stumbled across one …”
See how popular culture is infused with non-dual reminiscences… (READ MORE…)
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An Invitation from Silence
“Silence is always called upon us. Once we have stopped engaging with our endless thoughts, once we have released the rage of our permanent search towards happiness, once the dance of our daily relentless activities has died down, then silence is here always present. Silence is here to re-collect us into itself. It is …”
A text that shows how silence is revealed as our very own being… (READ MORE…)
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Evangelium
“So many of my thoughts, feelings, and even sensations are here solely because they are sustained by, or dependent on, or conditioned by the representation I have of myself. In more bluntly put words, my belief in being a discrete, separate entity creates the bigger part of them. This is because I think that I am solely this me-person that I indulge in these endless thoughts about myself. This is because …”
A meditation on the ‘Good News’ advocated by Christianity… (READ MORE…)
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Humanity’s Healers
“Why has humanity left this whole field of knowing oneself — all the spiritual endeavour, the extraordinary adventure that it is — outside the conventional and widely accepted way of living? It is a difficult thing to understand, since the door to it is so wide open and evident. Of course, religions are there, and have taken …”
An essay exploring the place of humanity in our being… (READ MORE…)
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Go Within
“All the religious and spiritual traditions of the world, with their complexity and variety, and all the names attached to them, are in fact only pointers to one simple, living reality that can be experienced here and now in every human being. Every Purana, Surah, Gospel, Sutra, Psalm, Hadith, Sermon, Teaching, are one global attempt at pointing or describing the most common experience of our humanity: the nature…”
On how all religious and spiritual traditions only point to ‘being’… (READ MORE…)
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Hide-and-Seek
“The spiritual search is really only a process of hide-and-seek. When we are lost and unhappy, we seek some relief. Our sense of a peaceful self, which is our true nature, eludes us, is not felt — so we embark into the search for a happy life. The process is clear and evident: when our true nature is hidden, we are naturally engaged in seeking. We try to uncover it, to dispel the confusion. When it is revealed, we bask …”
An exploration of the ‘hide-and-seek’ nature of self-inquiry… (READ MORE…)
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Defining Enlightenment
“The words for the discovery of our true nature — like enlightenment, realisation, awakening, liberation, etc — are all very significant. They all point to truth and have numerous things to say. Take ‘enlightenment’ for instance. Its original signification is ‘to shine’ or ‘to make luminous’. So to enlighten means to put the light on. It means to cease being distracted by all that is objective in our experience and doesn’t define …”
An essay exploring the signification of enlightenment… (READ MORE…)
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Wei Wu Wei
“You may have sometime come across the name ‘Wei Wu Wei’ while reading or researching, and you have thought that it referred to an exotic and remote Zen master of ancient China. Well, you couldn’t have been more wrong. For this is the pen name of a British aristocrat and writer of the last century. His name: Terence James Stannus Gray, who was born in 1895 and died in 1986, the very same years as …”
Discover the rich and insightful nondual writing of Wei Wu Wei… (READ MORE…)
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The Dark Night
“There is a poem that fed the imagination of many prestigious writers and philosophers like T. S. Eliot, Simone Weil, or Thomas Merton. Many a spiritual seeker has found in it a guiding lamp for the harsh ascent towards divine union. Its name: the ‘Dark Night of the Soul’, a short poem written by the 16th-century Spanish mystic and poet John of the Cross. It refers to the unknowable nature of both the goal …”
The famous poem by John of the Cross and a few more words… (READ MORE…)
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The Riddle of Ignorance
“There is a truer, hidden reality lying just under the veneer of life. Don’t think that what you have is the real thing. It is not. This hidden reality is being covered by the thick blanket of our deceptive representation of reality, made of a whole array of thoughts, feelings, memories, worries, beliefs, conditionings, that have numbed …”
Some reflections about how reality is being ignored by man… (READ MORE…)
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A Song of Two Humans
“Life is relationship. No matter what. We are always engaged in a relationship with an apparent ‘other’. Should we be left alone in the world, with no other humans, life would remain an encounter with the other — any other being — be it the sun, the wind, the rugged stones on our path, or our very own self. Our life is always a song of apparent duality. And the success of any relationship, which is the coming of …”
Discover the lessons contained in the silent movie ’Sunrise’… (READ MORE…)
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A Story of Lack
“Don’t run in the other direction. Don’t take a sense of lack for a need. For this is what we do, when we sense in ourself an insufficiency, we want to fill it up, by all means necessary. We think it important to grant its wanting, its craving. But a lack is never a need. A lack is a fact that needs no repairing and no repairman. By bowing or giving allegiance to it, we submit ourself. We give up all power of understanding. …”
A story that tells how a sense of lack can be our teacher… (READ MORE…)
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Diary of a Country Priest
“Robert Bresson is a unique film maker in the history of cinema. He has developed a very personal way of filming that wholly tends towards one thing only: conveying the truth. This is achieved by means of the right use of cinema language. As the French master said in the newspaper ‘Libération’: “The true language of cinema is that which translates the invisible. I am trying to convey feelings rather than facts or actions. …”
Learn more about this movie by French director Robert Bresson… (READ MORE…)
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The Substance of God
“How can we account for the beauty of the world? Because in spite of everything that is happening within and without, and afflicts us, leaves us distressed, the world bears at its core an intrinsic perfection. It’s not difficult to see. You only have to stand back, to release the grip, be less involved. To look afresh at the blue sky above your head. To see that a blue sky is an extraordinary thing. As is a tree, and the song of …”
A meditation on the beauty and substance of the world… (READ MORE…)
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The Names of God
“There is something that is very hard to understand about God. A survey of the names that have been given to god makes it unequivocally clear, but we keep missing the target: ‘Being’, ‘Mighty Being’, ‘I Am’, and so many others, refer to the fundamental equation of god with ‘being’, with our very everyday experience of plain, simple, …”
See how the many names of god relate to the sense of ‘being’… (READ MORE…)
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Sayings of the Church Fathers
“The birth of a religion is always a time of effervescence. This was the case with Christianity, when appeared many monks, hermits, writers and theologians who contributed to build what would become the foundations of this religion. They were later called the Church Fathers, for they were the first Christians, who cleared …”
An excursion amongst the lives and writings of the early Christians… (READ MORE…)
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A Ballet of Life
“Tonight I’m out to see a ballet for the first time. Not any ballet, but one of the prestigious classical ones, namely ‘Romeo and Juliet’, which the Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev created in 1935, based on the play by William Shakespeare. As I entered the shell like old royal theatre of Copenhagen, my eyes scanned the prestigious room, with the four golden balconies circling over our heads, …”
A reflection on seeing the ballet ’Romeo and Juliet’… (READ MORE…)
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The Wisdom of Humility
“To look into and understand the meaning and implications of being truly humble, of that state of humility which we often hear about — but rarely fully understand — is a precious thing. The word ‘humble’ finds its roots in the Latin ‘humilis’ which means ‘lowly’, literally ‘on the ground’ (from ‘humus’ meaning ‘earth’). Its etymology covers both the more active aspect contained in being ‘humiliated’, or being ‘humbled’, …”
Discover many quotes on the question of humility… (READ MORE…)
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The Fountain of Dark Silence
“Dorothy Walters is my newly invited guest on ‘The Dawn Within’. The ‘fountain’ refers here to this deep source at the core of our being, this “fountain of dark silence”, as Dorothy wrote in one of her poems. Dorothy experienced a profound Kundalini awakening in 1981, at the age of 53, which she described as “God moving through your body”, “the Beloved within“, “the goddess above all other goddesses”, …”
Discover some beautiful poems by Dorothy Walter… (READ MORE…)
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Into the Night
“They left into the night, like thieves, far from the crowd and the taxis. The old Delhi airport was still human-sized for them to be able to get away from it so easily. Peter had no idea what was going on. Where was he going, riding on the determined, almost fiery steps of his two guides? What madness had he gotten himself into? …”
A short story narrating Peter’s entry to sacred India… (READ MORE…)
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The Guard and the Prison Breaker
“Few sensations are as boisterously exhilarating as freedom is. Freedom is something that we all love to feel. To be freed! Freed from all weights and limitations. Freed from everything that bullies us and pins us down. But most of the time, this feeling is experienced from the vantage point of the little thought in our head that thinks it runs the show. This entity thinks that its freedom comes from being separate, …”
An inquiry into the question of freedom… (READ MORE…)
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A Thing of Beauty
“Isn’t the world the most extraordinary place? I’ll explain. Take a tree. A single tree, with its roots spreading and fiddling deep into the soil. And its erected trunk that divides itself into branches, and a thousand twigs, and a whole foliage of leaves. The shadow it gives. The home that it is for birds and little animals. And the shelter. …”
A reflection and meditation on the beautiful world that we are… (READ MORE…)
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The Song of God
“There is an old and long Sanskrit story that arose in India around the fourth century BC. So long that it has been described as “the longest poem ever written“. So encompassing that the poem mentions about itself: “That which occurs here occurs elsewhere. That which does not occur here occurs nowhere else.”(XVIII.5.38). A story that is as big and epic as life and which took centuries to write, up until the …”
A summary of the Bhagavad Gita, a monument of spiritual literature… (READ MORE…)
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A Room with a View
“A crystalline voice broke amidst the many murmurs of tourists, between the walls of Roskilde cathedral. A young woman had come to practice her singing here, accompanied by a pianist. I recognised the song immediately. It was Puccini‘s aria ‘O mio babbino caro’, and it sent a wave of delight through me. I recognised it because …”
A playful journey into James Ivory’s movie ‘A Room with a View’… (READ MORE…)
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An Unnoticed Pathology
“In our relationship to truth, we often find ourselves in the position of somebody who, on waking up, tries to remember his dream. Any searching, any effort to remember, the slightest doing towards that goal, is pushing the dream away, dislocating it irremediably. The problem is that we want something. This is our state. Our unnoticed pathology. One that we have inherited from society, and that we have …”
Some thoughts on our unfortunate propensity for seeking… (READ MORE…)
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The Practice of the Presence of God
“From the remote time of the seventeenth century in Paris has come a voice whose freshness and intimacy struck a chord in many a spiritual seeker throughout the generations. The man behind it was a lay brother working in the kitchen of a Carmelite monastery in the French capital. He was born Nicolas Herman in 1614 in the region of Lorraine, but took the religious name of Lawrence …”
Rejoice in the illuminating life and practice of Brother Lawrence… (READ MORE…)
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The Wrath of the Lamb
“The film ‘Stalker’, made in 1979 by Andrei Tarkovsky, is an absolute wonder. As usual with Tarkovsky, every shot in it is unique and intrinsically harmonious. As usual with Tarkovsky, you will have your breath taken away. And you will be bored too. And puzzled. Searching for a meaning that will elude you. For his cinema is not about entertainment, plot, revelation, or resolution. His cinema is about poetry, beauty, …”
A reflection on the qualities of Andrei Tarkovsky’s movie ‘Stalker’… (READ MORE…)
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Ten Bulls
“Back in the 12th century, in China’s Zen tradition, appeared a series of ten drawings and their accompanying poems. They were meant to describe the ten stages on the path to enlightenment, or to the recognition of our true nature. This series is traditionally named the ‘Ten Ox Herding Pictures’ or more simply ‘Ten Bulls’, …”
A series of poems and paintings coming from the Zen tradition… (READ MORE…)
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Churning the Ocean
“We cannot be fully established in our true nature as peace and happiness without integrating all our latent tendencies, all these reflexive and self-protective habits born out of our belief in separation. These would prevent the advent of bliss. This is the meaning behind this ancient myth of India called the ‘churning of the ocean …”
A playful text exposing the meaning behind a famous Indian myth… (READ MORE…)
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The Flowers of St. Francis
“The deepest realisations and expressions of truth in Christianity have sometimes come from words and understanding, as was the case with Meister Eckhart, but it is, by far, not the most common path. Many a man or a woman have come to embrace God’s being through the expression of profound love and surrender. Such a path was trodden by Francis of Assisi, and has been splendidly shown in Roberto Rossellini’s …”
A homage to Francis of Assisi through Roberto Rossellini’s movie… (READ MORE…)
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The Great Mystery
“Bernardo Kastrup is a Dutch philosopher and computer scientist who is reflecting on the questions related to mind and matter. His field of study is the nature of empirical reality — of the world we see — which our culture has defined to be fundamentally outside consciousness and made out of matter, with consciousness or mind being a product of that matter. Bernardo Kastrup is tirelessly challenging that idea …”
Explore Bernardo Kastrup’s work on the nature of reality… (READ MORE…)
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Being Alone
“The meaning of the word ‘alone’ in the Oxford Dictionary is stated as such: “having no one else present”. This sounds like a perfect definition of the Advaitic understanding, and an essential feature of the nature of consciousness, of our deepest sense of being. God is alone because he is all encompassing, and doesn’t have another reality by its side. He is alone in the sense that he is all one. …”
A meditation on the sense of being alone… (READ MORE…)
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The Surreptitious Thief
“What better way is there to realise the illusory nature of something than to study its existence? So a study of the ego is really the most interesting and valuable thing to engage in. For two reasons. One, because you are attempting to describe, evaluate, and understand something that simply doesn’t exist in the form you had imagined. …”
An exploration into the nature of the ego or separate self… (READ MORE…)
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I have Called You by My Name
“In some of the religious texts of the world, the subtlest expressions of truth are so deeply buried in the text that they have become unintelligible. The limitations of translation, the analogies and metaphors borrowed, the time in which these texts appeared, the audience for which they were written, the veneer of poetry or story-telling, all these concur to add multiple layers of confusing elements to the original idea. And these texts have also served …”
Some beautiful expressions of truth from the Bible… (READ MORE…)
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The Word
“There is a beautiful line in the film ‘Ordet’. This is when Inger answers her husband who is complaining about his lack of faith. “It will come. Just you see how warm you will feel then. And how happy. It’s nice to be happy, isn’t it?” How revealing that she equates here faith with happiness. For faith in God is usually meant to be a deeply ingrained certainty or belief, something artificial, made up, sustained. …”
A reflection on faith with Carl Dreyer’s masterpiece ‘Ordet’… (READ MORE…)
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A Vehicle for God
“Regarding all things spiritual, I have always trusted the vision of India’s perennial understanding. And there is one thought that bothered me recently, which is simply: why do Hindu gods need a vehicle, a mount? Why do they all have an animal by their side, or to ride on? For god is God. All powerful and reaching far and wide. Self-sufficient and contained in Itself. So why would Shiva need a bull as his vehicle, …”
A playful text asking why god needs a vehicle… (READ MORE…)
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A Furnace of Love
“Birgitta was sitting by the window, considering once again the recent chain of events that led to her present day situation. Twenty years ago, she came on this small Danish island for the first time, to never leave again. Lolland! What a beautifully telling name! She loved the place immediately. It is called by some the ‘pancake island’ …”
A short story that narrates Birgitta’s journey of love… (READ MORE…)
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The Song of the Little Road
“You never know how and when a piece of art, a film here, is going to touch the soft grounds of delight and beauty. And how it will come to be loved by people for opening that hidden, special place in their heart. ‘Pather Panchali’, or ‘The Song of the Little Road’ is one such heart opener. It was the first film made by the Indian director Satyajit Ray. It describes the life of a poor family in a village of rural Bengal, …”
Discover the qualities of Satyajit Ray’s film ‘Pather Panchali’… (READ MORE…)
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The Householder Sage
“It really is a remarkable thing that some of the clearest expressions of modern day non-duality have come from simple Indian men who lived simple lives in society. Atmananda Krishna Menon, married and a father of three children, a police inspector, was one such man. He became, along with Ramana Maharshi and …”
Discover the teaching of Atmananda Krishna Menon… (READ MORE…)
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The Sacrifice
“The screen and cinema room turned to a pitch black. Only the faint crackling murmur of an old empty sound track could be heard. And then… Then slowly rose the most exquisite music. ‘Erbarme Dich’ of the St Matthew Passion by J. S. Bach. Only hear this piece once in a movie by Andrei Tarkovsky, and its hearing will be forever associated with the great Russian film maker. Tarkovsky once wrote: …”
Discover the beauty of Andrei Tarkovsky’s last movie… (READ MORE…)
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Love Remains
“O my self, why do you stand in the way? For the living of these many experiences, you are not necessary. The pure consciousness that is present in all of us here and now is perfectly equipped. So don’t worry and please move away. This pure being has held effortlessly the millions of billions of beings and experiences generated so far, and has allowed for ever more choices and decisions to be made …”
A humorous divagation where the self is being confronted… (READ MORE…)
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A Frame for Life
“There seems to be an inescapable canvas that allows our life to take place and unfold in the world. This is the concept of time and space. It is the frame in which our seeming existence can spread its tentacles in every directions of our four dimensional reality. At least this is what thought tells us. This is our representation of reality. But is that truly so? Time seems to work vertically, allowing experiences and events to unfold one after the other, in sequences …”
An inquiry into the concepts of time and space… (READ MORE…)
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Tao Te Ching
“The Tao Te Ching is an ancient treatise and one of the most widely translated work in world literature. Its philosophical influence was major in the civilisation of China, colouring other religious currents like Buddhism, and becoming a guiding light for millions of people, including countless thinkers, artists, and poets — even political movements. It was allegedly composed between the 6th and 4th centuries BC …”
Discover Lao Tzu’s ancient Book on Tao and Virtue… (READ MORE…)
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Chalices of Wonder
“Alfred K. LaMotte wrote: “Poems are maps for getting lost in your heart where everyone can find you. Poems are momentary Sabbaths when eternity breaks in. These moments can heal the world.” Fred lives with his wife Anna near Seattle WA, where he “loves to walk barefoot in wet grass at midnight, un-naming the stars.” You will find, in between his poems, some of Fred’s writings on Beauty and Creation. …”
Discover these five poems by Alfred K. LaMotte… (READ MORE…)
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Shankara the Great
“The early spiritual works produced in India were anonymous, probably stated by some ancient sages whose identities got lost. There is one name though that rose and was brought to fame and excellence, a teacher whose life has been narrated in many hagiographies and legends. His name: Adi Shankara, or Shankaracharya. His work as a philosopher and religious reformer is considered …”
A discovery of the ancient teachings of Adi Shankara… (READ MORE…)
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The Price of Immortality
“There is one thing in life that is haunting us. This is the fact of our certain death. And yet, considering that we all know that we are going to die, most people don’t actually worry that much about it. How come that people who believe that they are solely their body can stay so cool when waiting for a certain death? They should be terrified. This should come as …”
An exploration of the nature and meaning of death… (READ MORE…)
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The Song of Ashtavakra
“I’m sharing here the Ashtavakra Gita, in the translation of John Richards. This is a famous song and landmark of non-duality in India. It has been composed in Sanskrit as a dialogue between the eminent sage Ashtavakra and his brilliant disciple Janaka, also king of Mithila. It was allegedly written around the third Century BC although some scholars dated it …”
Discover the beautiful teaching of Ashtavakra… (READ MORE…)
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The Navel of the World
“How come if we feel to be a little body amongst billions of other bodies, how come if we are a little thing lost, moving in a vast world, that we feel to be so important, like the centre of the world. My thoughts may tell me that I am a small, separate being. But in reality I feel that I am bigger than that. I feel that my little person happens to be most of the time…”
A short reverie on being the centre of the world… (READ MORE…)
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A History of Veiling
“Why was I never told? To all appearances, there is no world out there. The world is empty. With no real substance. Well a substance is hat work. One with the most beautiful, exquisite shine. That explains the beauty. But look for solidity around you and you won’t find it. Look for something that exists on its own accord and you will grasp nothing but thin ether. …”
A short divagation on the question of veiling… (READ MORE…)
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There are Always Songs to Sing
“With time, everything is forgotten. Memories and dreams grow alike and interchangeable, and leak beyond the horizon of the heart with the certainty of sunset. They leave a residue of love and longing, that remain in our bodies and become our stories. My brother was 17 months older than me. When he was 7 years old he won silver in the 50m run …”
Discover this magnificent text by Anand R. Raghavan… (READ MORE…)
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The Hermitage
“Step out of your house. Turn left. Or right. Then left again. Or maybe right. What does it matter really. You’re one with it all. Then enter the nearest wood. See how it is enchanted. And don’t forget. This is all you. You’re not walking anywhere. Not reaching any new place. Feel it inside yourself. It will pave your life with beauty. See how the sun is throwing. Its light on the forest bed. …”
A poetical stroll in search of your inner hermitage… (READ MORE…)
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The Everlasting Arms
“Really, to surrender seems the most difficult thing to do. Even in our most relaxed moments, we are unconsciously holding the show through a subtle kind of effort. And this effort is being maintained throughout our life, even more so in moments of threats and desperation. The consequences of this constant tension …”
An exploration into the subject of surrender… (READ MORE…)
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Songs of Awakening
“I would say that the stillness that seekers long for is the end of belief in the dream. Yet this is also feared, because when the dream of this and that is seen to be made up, then it means also that they are made up! It would mean that everyone they have ever loved or known in their entire lives are also made up! It would mean that there has never been a past and there will never be a future. …”
Listen to Nancy Neithercut’s wonderful poetry… (READ MORE…)
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The Waiting Room
“There is a subtle waiting lingering inside us. Do you feel it? I do. Let’s have a look at it. It’s an expectation, a yearning, a feeling that says that the now, what is happening for me right now, is not quite enough. In whatever way I may look at it, that’s very clear. This is definitely not enough. Period. And off I go, keeping on living as if one day, maybe, if I’m lucky enough, if all the good stars align at last, …”
A playful exploration into the feeling of waiting… (READ MORE…)
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This is is Meister Eckhart
“In the Middle Ages, in the heart of Europe and of the Christian faith, rose a voice of such richness and profusion, of such dumbfounding wisdom and precision of thought, that it is a duty for all serious seekers to be reminded of it. The name shines with a polish of spiritual mastery and authority: Meister Eckhart. Eckhart von Hochheim OP was born in 1260 …”
An exploration into the teachings of Meister Eckhart… (READ MORE…)
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The Poor Man
“Reading again this sermon 87 by Meister Eckhart, entitled ‘The Poor Man’, I felt that I had to give it a place in this blog. I was stunned by its qualities, the modernity, profundity, clarity, precision, subtlety that breathes in and out of this piece, and its impeccable construction. We owe this translation to the teacher of nonduality Francis Lucille and I borrow it from the website ‘Stillness Speaks’…”
Read this most celebrated sermon by Meister Eckhart… (READ MORE…)
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Verses on the Perfect Mind
“It is only recently that I have heard the first two lines of this Zen poem called ‘Hsin-hsin Ming’, which can be translated as ‘Verses on the Perfect Mind’. It is an ancient poem, one of the earliest and most influential Zen writings. It was allegedly composed by Chien-chih Seng-ts’an, who is referred as the Third Zen Patriarch. …”
Discover this old poem by the third Zen patriarch… (READ MORE…)
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The Chariot and the Charioteer
“Free will is a tentacular issue. It permeates our life in a very intimate way, like very few things do. Any action that we might engage in, any decision we take, any thought we think, bear at their core the question of their ownership. If we believe in free will and don’t exercise it for all sorts of psychological reason, then the road is open to guilt, shame, regret, self-loathing. Could things have been any different?…”
An exploration into the nature and reality of free will… (READ MORE…)
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The Inconceivable Actuality Here-Now
“I had a high school film teacher back in the 1960s who, in the first class, had us look at our thumbs. After about 10 minutes, he asked how many of us were bored. He told us that if we were really seeing, we wouldn’t get bored. He gave us homework assignments that involved sitting in front of trees and looking at small sections of bark for an hour, …”
Continue reading Joan Tollifson’s exploration into the Here-Now… (READ MORE…)
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O Mystic Nuns!
“At all times, India has embraced the love and longing for God as a privileged access to our ultimate reality. This path of love or devotion, called bhakti, was trodden by countless seekers and poets who have offered their verses to posterity. Amongst them many women. Women who, alone, have walked the steep path to God, going against the society of men, marriage and conventions, with only one goal …”
Listen to the voices of Andal, Akka Mahadevi, and Mirabai… (READ MORE…)
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The Search
“I have collected here some excerpts of a poetical work by J. Krishnamurti, published first in 1927 under the title ‘The Search’, and later in the book ‘From Darkness to Light’ (1980), along with other poems from this period. Krishnamurti considered these writings as not being part of his official teachings, for they were written when he was still involved with the Theosophical Society, …”
Read some excerpts of this old poem by J. Krishnamurti… (READ MORE…)
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I, Lallā
“In the wake of the 14th century, Kashmir was an extraordinary place, at the crossroads of major religious influences: Kashmir Shaivism, Buddhism, Islam through the rise of Sufism, not forgetting the Vedantic tradition in place for centuries. Great political changes were taking place as the first Muslim rulers came into power. It was there, in a beautiful valley south-east of Srinagar, …”
To know more about Kashmiri woman saint Lal Ded… (READ MORE…)
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Ishani’s Quest
“There was once a young girl of about ten years old, called Ishani. She lived on a mountain farm with her father. Her mother died a few years ago, and since then her father has grown bitter, hard, a gruff man. He started drinking, stopped seeing anybody, and forced his daughter to the same isolation. He wasn’t a bad man, but was saddened by the loss of his wife …”
A fairy story about the inner quest of a little girl… (READ MORE…)
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Karma or the Monastic Life
“Politeness, wanting to be good, to do the right thing has tremendous power. It binds the world together. In spite of all the suffering, the hardship that exist in society, it is remarkable to notice to what degree people, all over the world, manage to lead a quite responsible life, searching to act in ways that are right, respectful. I used to work in a spiritual community where we would employ, …”
To delve into the concept of Karma and right action… (READ MORE…)
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Khetwadi Lane
“The small village of Kandalgaon had just woken to a new day. The heat was slowly gathering in strength, and a few columns of smoke were the signs that another working day was on its way. “Maruti! Maruti!” Parvati Bai was once again calling her son. She was always worried about her six children, …”
Read about the path and teaching of Nisargadatta Maharaj… (READ MORE…)
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A Secret Love Affair with Life
“I’m at home. The washing up is being done. All that exists in the universe is the chinking of plates, the glistening of bubbles, and the whoooossshhh of water as it shoots out of the tap. The washing of dishes fills all available space. This bowl is particularly dirty. It’s covered in dried breakfast cereal and will take ages to clean. The phone rings. The bowl is put down, rubber gloves are removed, …”
Continue reading Jeff Foster’s text on the intimacy of life… (READ MORE…)
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Be Still and Know
“This was our last retreat there. In the old mansion that we so dearly loved. Amongst the rolling hills of Wales. Here we have listened and felt. Here we have known what needs to be known. We have felt our heart sing and thrive beyond measure. Here we sang together for the last time. A small improvised choir. …”
A text unraveling the words of a divine song… (READ MORE…)
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Insights into Wholeness
“It really was a thrill. The day when David Bohm was announced to come and participate at our staff meeting. This was back in the years when I was working in Brockwood Park, the school founded in England by J. Krishnamurti. Just realise: one of the greatest theoretical physicist of the 20th century, who worked closely with Albert Einstein and had numerous insightful dialogues with Krishnamurti …”
Continue reading about David Bohm’s life and insights… (READ MORE)
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The Unattainable One
“In the deepest villages of Bengal, there remains today a community of vagrant singers, both mystical bards and wandering minstrels, the Bauls. For centuries they have been treading the dust of the roads, with a firm and aerial step, at the rhythm of their daily needs and highest aspirations. The term ‘baul’, derived from the Sanskrit ‘vatulā’, means …”
Listen to the path and voices of the Bauls of Bengal… (READ MORE…)
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Benares my Love
“One day long ago, I was stopped on my way, redirected as it were. It was one morning, the time of a glorious encounter with the subtle ethers of a city. Nothing would ever be the same. But what did I know at the time? In Benares I met the Ganges. But it wasn’t a river. It was something calm, placid, yet charged …”
A secret and poetical meeting with Varanasi or Benares… (READ MORE…)
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At the Feet of the Rishis
“In January 1950, in the wake of her freshly acquired independence, India adopted the motto that was to adorn the base of the Lion Capital of Ashoka, one simple phrase: “The true prevails, not the untrue.” How revealing that this country has put on her national emblem a mantra excerpted from the Mundaka Upanishad (Hymn III.1.6). This mantra is a profoundly significant spiritual message …”
Discover some of the gems contained in the Upanishads… (READ MORE…)
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A World of Delight
“I have borrowed the words of the title to another of William Blake’s poems. It points to the realisation that our true nature is intimately married to the world, and that the expression of this understanding is pure, unconditional delight or happiness. This is the Tantric view: in Rupert Spira’s words, “the intimate knowing that Consciousness, what we truly are, is the substance of Reality, …”
A collection of quotes on the Tantric path… (READ MORE…)
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Tantra, the Song of Life
“For anyone interested in uncovering the true nature of his or her being, some pathways exist to travel – motionlessly – from being identified to an imaginary sense of self to being established in the real, forgotten, and only self there is: consciousness. These pathways correspond to the different components of our living experience, …”
An exploration into the nature of the Tantric path… (READ MORE…)
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The Mystique of Freedom
“In the vast library cataloguing exceptional human experiences, daunting adventures, and intriguing explorations, the tales of humanity’s search for spiritual liberation are some of the more compelling, and have even formed the basis for most of the world’s religions and philosophies. We all love a good story! However, as fascinating as the reports may be …”
Discover this beautifully crafted essay by Bob O’Hearn… (READ MORE…)
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Precious Little Remains
“I have chosen to share with you here a few of the haiku-poems written by Ray Andrews, a friend from Wales. They are lovely little poems, making our heart soft, provoking here a smile, there some tenderness, taking you gently to a place in yourself where silence abides. They are, as one of Ray’s poem read, like “Precious little remains On the pathway To the sun. …”
Enjoy Ray Andrew’s poems and Nicki Gwynn-Jones’ photos… (READ MORE…)
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Rumi
“Rumi is a giant. Somebody whose words resonate with the perfume of truth, but about whom we paradoxically know very little. At least I didn’t. Quoted far beyond the small circle of spiritual seekers, he is taken for granted, like a distant angular stone of spirituality. His verses are shared, loved as so many gems of human history, but without showing off. And yet, what depth of understanding they convey! …”
Immerse yourself in Rumi’s path of divine love and poetry… (READ MORE…)
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Variations on the Separate Self
“Why is it so difficult to recognise something that’s staring us in the face? The distance is always so short between our worse moments of separation and the full recognition of the truth of our being. The tiniest, softest change of focus can either show you a world made of infinite space or throw you into an abyss of tortured thinking. When we stand in the apparent coziness of our false beliefs, …”
Various thoughts on the ways of the separate self… (READ MORE…)
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The Departure
“His two bags were lying at his feet in the bedroom, wonderfully clean, square, tied up. Slowly, he had dressed with the clothes he had carefully chosen for the trip, had slipped his black leather belt on, in which slept a few bundles of neat traveler’s cheques, had put on his brand new, too new sneakers. Already, he imagined them, old and wrinkled, worn out, …”
A short story that speaks of a dream coming true… (READ MORE…)
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The Deepest Acceptance
“The question of ‘surrender’ is one that is often misunderstood. Surrender implies, in everyday language, something that the mind does, even remotely, in order to give itself to a reality that seems inescapable. It often comes down to a form of resignation, a giving up, something passive at its core, which brings more delusion and suffering. So what is true ‘surrender’, in a non-dual context? …”
A collection of quotes on the question of ‘surrender’ (READ MORE…)
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Kabir Says:
“Little is known about Kabir. Legends abound and certainties are scarce. He was a weaver, probably spending most of his time working at his handloom. He was born in a Muslim family in fifteenth Century Benares, and became a mystic and a poet whose songs and ‘bānīs’ – meaning ’utterances’ – spread in the whole of India and beyond, mostly handed down orally between seekers and sadhus …”
Listen to the wonderful voice and poetry of Kabir (READ MORE…)
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Bhakti, the Song of Love
“I intend here to continue exploring the three different pathways towards realising our true nature. I have some time ago given my attention to Jñāna, which in the Indian tradition is the name given to the means of attaining truth through the investigative qualities of the mind, which are mostly thinking …”
An exploration into Bhakti, the path of love and devotion (READ MORE…)
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Where God Speaks
“Angelus Silesius was a German mystic born Johannes Scheffler in 1624. Although a Lutheran, he converted to Catholicism and became a priest. After being a physician for a while, he became known for his mystical poetry. He published two poetical works, “The Soul’s Spiritual Delight“, a collection of more than two hundred religious songs, and “The Cherubinic Wanderer“, …”
Read the poems by Angelus Silesius on the nature of reality (READ MORE…)
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A Silent Wind
“Amma. A name, a face, a smile that I have seen represented so many times. Her reputation and aura precede her wherever she goes, and she happened to come close to where I lived. So I went, not knowing what to expect, apart from the Indian ceremonial, a good dose of devotion, and her embrace, this simple gesture …”
A day spent in Amma’s presence and embrace (READ MORE…)
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Duet of One
“The Ojai Valley runs along an east-west mountain range, twenty miles inland from the Pacific coastline. The area where Krishnamurti was staying was located at the east-end of the valley surrounded by lush green mountains, oak …”
Continue with Ray Brooks’ one to one meeting with Krishnamurti (READ MORE…)
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Jñāna, the Song of the Self
“It happened long ago, during a morning stroll behind my house. I was contemplating my deep sadness and my desire to change, when a simple intuition came uninvited. I felt that it was possible to change and I had the power to initiate it. I felt that this change, this cure for my unhappiness was to be found in myself. …”
An exploration into Jñāna, the path of knowledge (READ MORE…)
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Song of the Avadhut
“I share here excerpts from an ancient text of India called ‘Song of the Avadhut’, which has been translated by Swami Abhayananda. Although it has been attributed to Dattatreya – most probably a legendary figure – the author is unknown, but it is agreed that it was written around the 9th or 10th centuries. ‘Avadhut’ means ‘liberated being’. The song describes what it means to be spiritually liberated. …”
Discover the ancient song of the liberated soul (READ MORE…)
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The Heart of Tagore
“Rabindranath Tagore is certainly one of the fathers of modern Indian literature. His work is immense and fascinating. He is the author of more than a thousand poems, two thousand songs of which he also wrote the music, novels, short stories, plays. He has also written essays on all subjects that were dear to him, from philosophy to politics, from education to the arts …”
Let’s delve into the spiritual heart of Tagore’s poetry and essays (READ MORE…)
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The Distant Lord
“In 1990, I visited Corbett National Park, one of the largest and most famous wildlife sanctuaries in India. My dream: to see a wild tiger. When the bus that took me there had crossed the entrance of the park, and while I was already scanning the jungle in an irrational hope, a burst of flamboyant colors vanished into the canopy. It was a peacock! I had already seen hundreds of peacocks in India …”
An insightful meeting in the depth of the Indian jungle (READ MORE…)
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A Day at Brockwood Park
“Seated on the back seat of the car, I was scrutinising the landscape. Although we were driving through one of these English narrow roads, squeezed between two tall hedges, the place was nevertheless growing in familiarity. Twenty-two years! Twenty-two years that I hadn’t been here! Now the landscape and the roads were known by me, my heart was throbbing and I was seized by an unavoidable emotion. …”
Join me for a day spent in the aura of Krishnamurti’s Teaching (READ MORE…)
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The Churches of Rome
“Ah the churches of Rome! Here I am, trodding for the second time the worn, disjointed, unsettled paved streets of the eternal city, with one thing in mind: visiting and admiring some of its most beautiful basilicas, churches, chapels, oratories… It is said that there are about 900 churches in Rome, so the choice is wide and elegant. One thing to remember here …”
An essay on the churches of Rome and their deeper meaning (READ MORE…)
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The Divine Play
“Jnaneshwar was a Marathi saint, poet and mystic born in 1275. He is the author of two major works of Marathi spiritual literature. The first was written when he was only sixteen, and is a commentary on the Bhagavad Gita called ‘Jnaneshwari’. The second is called ‘Amritanubhava’, ‘The Nectar of Wisdom’, and is indeed the fruit of his own understanding and realisation. …”
Jnaneshwar’s writings on the Divine Play of Shiva-Shakti (READ MORE…)
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Our Mother’s Lap
“I’m sure we can all remember this. We were small children, we were playing in the courtyard near our house with our little friends. Maybe running after a ball. Then, pushed by a rough little boy, we fell and hurt our knee on the ground. It was painful. We got confused and a rush of pain and sadness overwhelmed us. We froze for a second, confused, and then what? …”
A divagation into the ways of the little child (READ MORE…)
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Unsubstantiality
“I remember one day being at the breakfast table, my eyes peeking randomly through the window. They landed on the courtyard down below where a thin layer of snow were covering the lawns. I was attracted by the curious behaviour of a couple of magpies. One was so to speak climbing up a tree, branch after branch, until it reached a spot where the building of a nest was being started. …”
A reverie that speaks of our unsubstantial nature (READ MORE…)
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The Lord of the Dance
“The most famous form of Shiva is the Lord of the Dance, ‘Nataraja’, the form in which all other forms of Shiva are included. In one sublime pose, in one movement, one dance, is described the whole process of life and death, of ignorance and understanding. Ananda Coomaraswamy remarks: “Whatever the origins of Shiva’s dance, it became in time the clearest image of the activity of God… ”
Quotes and pointers on Shiva’s dance of life and death (READ MORE…)
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Rendezvous with Ramana, Part III
“The life of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi was immaculate humility and benevolence. He showed compassion to all beings — animals, thieves, people from all castes, religions and creeds. He refrained from getting involved in worldly activities; he never handled any of the ashram money nor did he answer letters addressed to him, though he would always welcome anyone into his presence. …”
Embark on Paula Marvelly’s third Part journey to Arunachala (READ MORE…)
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Speaking of Shiva
“If you have been to India, you are likely to have met a beggar who came to you imploring, asking you to relieve him from his suffering, but also being a little rough, with something in his voice sounding like a reproach. You probably froze for a second, feeling guilty, not knowing what to do. You felt caught between giving or not giving, between an easy way out or a shameful flight. …”
An essay to explore the meaning behind Shiva’s many forms (READ MORE)
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Rendezvous with Ramana, Part II
“I wake up and leap out of bed, panting and thrashing about like a mad woman. It takes a few moments to realize where I am. It was all just a dream, I tell myself. But it was so very real whilst it was all happening. And now, another dream surrounds me. When will I wake up from this one, I wonder? …”
Embark on Paula Marvelly’s second Part journey to Arunachala (READ MORE…)
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Rendezvous with Ramana, Part I
“I haven’t slept a wink. My body is weeping sweat and the pain in my gut has had me writhing on the bed all night, culminating in an acute upset stomach. I feel terrible. Once more, day breaks. The sounds of India seep into my consciousness as I lie in my alien room …”
Follow Paula Marvelly’s journey to Arunachala (READ MORE…)
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The Fruitless Search
“It is not because I have read a few books, bathed in the presence of some beautiful beings, and participated to many retreats that I know where I am, what I am at, and can now follow the upward course of a promised, enlightened destination. I’m not like an arrow steadily cutting through the air. It’s not like that I’m afraid. …”
A tale that speaks of a lost being and its fruitless search (READ MORE…)
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A Path, What Path?
“The question of the ‘spiritual path’ is a difficult one, that seems to draw different points of view and approaches, both from students and teachers. I have gathered here many quotes and pointers on and around this subject, from various spiritual teachers and poets of the eternal and the infinite. …”
A collection of quotes on the question of the spiritual path (READ MORE…)
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The Path
”I’d like to tell you a story, a parabolic tale I wrote long ago. It’s a story that has already been posted here on its own. It is called ‘The Truth Seeker’, but could have been called ‘The Path’, as it exposes, describes some of the stages we find …”
A playful exploration into the nature of the spiritual path (READ MORE…)
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Promenade Parisienne
“I love, during my walks in Paris, to stop in one of the many small parks that you find in the capital. I sit on a bench and rest while observing, listening: Some children are having some fun a little further, pushing each other on the slides, playing on the swings. …”
Share with me a poetical promenade in Paris (READ MORE…)
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Destroyer of Darkness
“It knew better. This thing, so dense, so light, that took me into its lap, that invited me for a dance with eternity, with infinity, would not leave me alone, unattended. Not even two days after encountering this mystery, after dipping into this bath of love and beauty, I was being shown a way. I believe it is inevitable when there is an opening. …”
An exploration into the function of the spiritual teacher (READ MORE…)
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The Meeting
”Benares – a strange and beautiful city, the most religious city of all, so entrancing, so mysterious. Pierre had often heard of this town, and now he was already treading its soil. Many people had advised him that it’s not a place to linger in. ‘You will be assailed by the rickshaws, the hoteliers, the merchants…’, …”
A short story, that tells of an unexpected meeting (READ MORE…)
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The Truth Seeker
“A long time ago, in India, lived a man named Admita. All his life had been aspent in a harsh and hostile desert, surrounded by sand and dry, swirling winds. He led a life of wandering without help or hope on this desolate land. He had well heard of stories that described places of lush greenery and great beauty, …”
A short fairy story, a spiritual parable (READ MORE…)
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Blown Out
“Nothing much, really. Something just like peeking out of the window. But let’s not be overly disdainful, for this can bend the course of a life and change it in a profound way. To have a spiritual experience is a blessing, a call, maybe a rehearsal for the final dissolution. It leaves you puzzled, wanting to understand, …”
An essay to delve into the nature of Awakening (READ MORE…)
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Bhāratā Mā
“India. I visited her and fell under her spell and her charm. If I look back, my spiritual journey started as a big cliche: I went to India to find truth, and I found it. Well, I didn’t find a neatly arranged package of truth, ready made and understood to be lived for ever thereafter. …”
An essay on the discovery of India’s spiritual heart (READ MORE…)
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On Labyrinths, Grace and the Via Creativa
“The Labyrinth is a familiar symbol. Its enigmatic presence has left footprints that fade back into the beginning of the human story. Its origins and its purpose have been rich fodder for research and speculation.
I don’t pretend to know the truth of its tale, but see the archetypal labyrinth as apt visual shorthand for the map of a life, and that’s how its symbolism is used in this little essay. …”
A text by Miriam Louisa Simons (READ MORE…)
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Suffering Leads to Joy
“How did it all begin for me? This. This deep interest in finding out what life is about. This love of Truth. This spiritual search. In what cradle did it come to existence, in what fertile soil did it come to grow? I remember how acute the desire for change was as a young man. …“
A text on the subject of suffering (READ MORE…)
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The Dawn Within 