“The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitude.” ~ William James We have all heard about the importance of having a positive attitude when …
Connecting with the Source of Existence
“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” ~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin In mystical traditions around the world you find a common theme. They all …
How to Experience Cosmic Consciousness
“Enlightenment is an accident, but some activities make you accident-prone.” The phrase above is often attributed to the spiritual teacher J. Krishnamurti and what it implies is that spiritual enlightenment is not something you can …
Spiritual Life Matters
An essay about spiritual life probably needs to start with at least a brief description of what the author means about this rather ambiguous phrase. When I speak about spiritual life, I’m speaking about whatever …
Communication and the Reality of Relationship
There is a new world of possibility that we gain access to when we change how we understand relationships and communication. This shift in perspective illuminates the world differently so that we begin to see …
What To Do When Your Mind Wanders in Meditation
QUESTION: What do we do when our minds wander during meditation? Should I keep bringing my attention back to the breath and reconnecting with what is happening now? ~ ANSWER: That can be a very …
Are You Finished or Are You Still Trying?
When we meditate we often find ourselves working hard and doing our very best to follow the simple instruction of sitting and consciously choosing to be content with everything the way it is. It is …
The Varieties of Spiritual Life
If you are reading this essay, I can only imagine that you feel drawn to live a spiritual life, and I would be willing to bet that you would agree with me when I say …
Awakening through the Breath
Breathing has long been seen as a point of connection with divinity. In fact, the word spirit is derived from the Latin word spiritus which refers to the breath of a god. In his gospel, …
The Birth of Love and Innocence
The story of Christmas is the story of a birth that occurred in the middle of a dark and silent night, and promised to bring peace and joy to the world. In that story I …
How Luminous Absorption Can Change the World
As I see it, the experience of luminous absorption reveals our True Self and the True Nature of existence at the same time. We’ve been taught that we live in a reality of three-dimensional space …
Unleashing our Potential for Spiritual Creativity
As a spiritual teacher, what I teach is constantly evolving. As I continue to explore, learn, and grow, what I teach reflects my current interests and discoveries. For the past few years I’ve been fascinated …
Practicing The Art of Creative Illumination
How do you meditate? Close your eyes and surrender. ~ Rumi For a long time I have talked and written about how the practice of meditation occurs in two distinct stages, but until now I …
Spiritual Attunement and Collective Awakening
In the enlightenment tradition of Hinduism, the notion of transmission or shakti pat often plays a prominent role. Within that tradition, a teacher or guru is often seen as possessing access to awakening energy that …
Spiritual Practice, Spiritual Freedom, and Spiritual Illumination
Part 1: The Art of Conscious Contentment I teach a form of meditation that I call The Art of Conscious Contentment and that practice offers a powerful path to spiritual awakening. In this essay, you’ll …
The Art of Meditating without Meditating: Breaking the Habit of Isolation
I feel that the meditation I teach is perfect for beginners even though it’s often seen as an advanced practice. The reason I believe it’s perfect for beginners is because it takes us straight to …
We are Cosmic Beings
Today I want to share something with you. It’s the kind of thing that is true of so many of us, and yet so few of us feel free to say it. I came into …
Living in Flow
Excerpted from: The Miracle of Self Realization: Reflections on the teachings of Ramana Maharshi by Jeff Carreira. ~ Ramana tells a story, in The Spiritual Teachings of Ramana Maharshi, about a boy who is fast …
Experiencing Transcendent Freedom in Meditation
As a meditation practitioner and teacher, I have experienced myself, and witnessed others experience, the miracle of radical liberation countless times. There are many forms of meditation designed for a variety of purposes. The form …
The Hazy Sunshine of an Illuminated Mind
There are very few human beings who receive the truth, complete and staggering, by instant illumination. Most of them acquire it fragment by fragment, on a small scale, by successive developments, cellularly, like a laborious …