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The purpose of the Food For Thought is to give information on some of the
metaphysical terms that are found from different historical eras, and
different languages. Some sources of the words found here may come from
Sanskrit, Tibetan, Greek, Latin, Kabalistic, Gnostic and Occult terms. I
hope to be able to provide a concise description or at least show some
cross-cultural associations.
Food For Thought ~
December, 2008
Views – when looking at a
landscape it is difficult to take in all the details at once. Our
eyes can only focus on one point at a time so we look to the right,
then to the left. We look near, then far. Similar to spirituality,
it’s never whole but a composite of images formed in our mind. It
changes, it flows but there’s no knowing it in a single view.
For
some, the composite view may come from training, research and self-
cultivation. But even after years it is impossible to take in the totality.
It requires an awakening of one’s spiritual force and when it happens it
manifests as a brilliant light. The mind expands and becomes an
illumination, and eye at the same time. What it shows, it also knows, but it
is the light that sees.
Food For Thought ~
November, 2008
Promises –
Spiritual seekers wait for the fulfillment of what have been
promised. But, visitations from gods have not come. Freedom from
weariness hasn’t come. Great wealth hasn't come. Fame hasn’t
come. Supernatural powers haven’t come.
All sorts of things are promised yet when those
things don’t come, do you give up your life or your spiritual path?
Spirituality is not a transaction with the universe. It is an
endeavor that we all take up because it is our ultimate mode of
being.
Food For Thought ~
October, 2008
Charlatans – they come
from many areas of our life, including our spiritual practice.
Many are self- proclaimed masters, or claim to be guided by the Most High
Ascended Master or Spirit Guide. If they present themselves to you as being
able to lead you on a path to instant enlightenment, and it seems too easy,
it may be false. But, why should spirituality be any different than any
other endeavors. Can one become a golf champion without practicing how to
properly hold a golf club? Can one become a good accountant without
learning a basic bookkeeping first?
In spirituality, many of us fall victim to this
process. Whatever they teach, the teachers cannot claim to give
you enlightenment, only the individual can give it to herself/himself.
Food For Thought ~
September, 2008
Intuition –
Comprehension
without effort of reasoning.
Animals live life simply. When they are tired, they sleep. When they are
hungry, they eat. They don’t care about any theory or ethics. They respond
to the cycles of the day according to their intuition. Their mating season
corresponds to the proper season. They nurture their young and encourage
them to be independent, leave home when it’s time, according to their
understanding.
Human beings depart from the natural flow of the cycles and worry about
ethical action. The extremes of behavior can drive one to become moralistic
or sadistic. One must learn ethics thoroughly and must embody them so
completely that they become fixed in our subconscious. Then there can be no
more doubt about oneself as to how to react to a situation. It will be
intuitively known.
Food For Thought ~
August, 2008
Prejudice – a familiar
foe, and it comes in many forms: racism, chauvinism, and many other ‘isms’.
It keeps us from knowing ourselves. But come to think of it, don’t we all
favor ourselves the most? Who feels the pain when we’re hurt? Or, who
rejoices the most when we feel satisfied? As long as we are slaves to our
intellectual ideas over experience, or value comfort over effort then we
shall never realize oneness.
A child shall always look beautiful to the
child’s mother; the child is her creation. The same way, we are inevitably
partial to ourselves. We create ourselves.
Food For Thought ~
July, 2008
Austerities – is a
self-discipline that can potentially lead to a higher
spiritual awareness. There are two kinds of disciplines: one
with a purpose that ends to an accomplishment and the other
is a blind discipline. Many spiritual people believe in
self-flagellation, living in a cave, or fasting for a very
long period of time. These practices can easily lose sight
of our inner objective.
Austerity, is simply to understand clearly how and why do we
do things we do, and does not require esoteric practices. It
is just an extra effort to gain a better life.
Food For Thought ~
June, 2008
Solstice –
it reminds us that all of life is cycles, all of life is
balance. There is a left and a right, an upside and downside, a
zenith and nadir.
The summer solstice is the time of greatest light, a day
of enormous power. The sun may appear to stand still during the great
culmination of power and brilliance but it is not static. The next day,
the sun will start a new phase, a new cycle.
So, celebrate your high achievements but not be boastful.
Likewise in misfortune, do not be sad. Those who understand the peak of any
cycle and are the wisest of all.
Food For Thought ~
May, 2008
Prowess:
a
gift, a borrowed strength, it isn’t yours. If you have it,
rejoice in it, but use it wisely and compassionately. Once it
passes, victories will not be easy to come by. Those who fail to
learn this lesson become bitter old people. They lose faith and
become resentful of life. That is because they place their
self-worth in their abilities and not in who they are.
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