Category: Spiritual Practice
These are very personal questions: What is spiritual to you? When and where do you feel spiritual? How do these spiritual feelings get blocked or expanded?
Spiritual practice aims to refine and deepen our understanding of these questions because our intent shapes how we perceive spiritual change. We can carry these questions throughout our lives.
I will focus on three specific spiritual practices: psychological relationships, meditation, and psychedelic plant medicines, including cannabis.
Spiritual practice is about psychological relationships because if our spiritual practice doesn’t improve our relationships with others, what’s the point?
The practice of psychological relationships with others and with one’s inner life is a personal experience with spiritual meaning. This involves experiences of vulnerability, hurt, and confusion that teach us the depth of human love and kindness.
Spiritual practice is not only personal but also objective. We need to look at our minds as they are, our human instincts as they are, and our relationship with the natural world. We are born, go through all the developmental stages, and then die. Life is precious and painful. We cannot change most of life, but we can learn to connect with it gracefully.
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The Art and Science of Being Happy; A Soft Technology
“How to be happy?” is a most important question. It is a question hidden in every decision we make, from what we consume, to how we do relationships, to spiritual practices of any kind. We usually do not choose to be unhappy, even though that is often our state of being. The technology of being…
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Alternatives, Psychotropic Medication: Psychedelics and Cannabis
In the previous post: Psychotropic drugs: Chemical and Herbal Medicine for the Mind and Emotions, I began to describe how one goes about choosing the different chemical and herbal pathways available to treat anxiety, depression, PTSD, and other forms of mental and emotional suffering. In this post we will look into other alternatives, psychotropic medications…
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Materialistic Values Hidden in Spirituality
Everyone needs material things, a healthy sense of pride, and a means to personal and spiritual satisfaction. We have all experienced our materialistic attitudes out of balance. It is how we know our spirit, when we are losing it or when it is gone. That is how we come to value it and even want…
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Hypnosis Therapy and the Trance State
Hypnosis therapy is a method of communication with deeper parts of ourselves. Commonly, hypnosis is used to change behaviors that our conscious mind cannot change, such as, smoking cessation, weight loss, and fear of flying. How does hypnosis work? Hypnotherapy is a way to bypass our everyday consciousness that is busy with surface details. The…
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The Art of Communication with the Inner Self
What the Art of Communication with the Inner Self Requires The Art of Communication with the inner self involves the imagination. For this reason, we refer to communication as an art form and not a science. We are talking to ourselves or someone in our head all the time anyway. Why not listen to…
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The Art of Communication, The Inner and Outer Voices
As we refine our communication with others, we are refining our communication with our own inner life. The quality of communication with another is based on the quality of communication within ourselves. If I am judgmental with myself, I will be judgmental with another. If I can hear my inner voices empathically, I can do…
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The Heart Sutra, Holding the Paradox
The Heart Sutra is written in the form of a dialogue between teacher and student. Here the teacher is pointing out a way of perceiving the mind and body. The teacher is clearing up a confusion about our common perception of ourselves. This sutra is an explanation of how the student can embody this…
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God, a Useful Definition, page 2
In a previous post: God, a Useful Definition, I closed with another quote from C.G. Jung: “Religion is a defense against the experience of God.” God, a Useful Definition, page 2 is about our experience, pure and simple. It is obvious in the world today how “Religion is a defense against the experience of God”. …
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God, A Useful Definition
Jung’s definition of God: “all things which cross my willful path violently and recklessly, all things which upset my subjective views, plans, and intentions and change the course of my life for better or worse.” There are so many assumptions when the word God is tossed around. It is difficult to even say or read…
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The Simplicity of Emotional Intelligence
“Those who have little interest in spirituality shouldn’t think that human inner values don’t apply to you. The inner peace of an alert and calm mind is the source of real happiness and good health. Our human intelligence tells us which of our emotions are positive and helpful and which are damaging and to be…
