Friday, April 30, 2010
The Three Flavors of Personal Finance Advice
Thursday, April 29, 2010
From Russia Without Love 2: A Textbook Example of Addictive Behavior
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Brown's Tirade Days Before Vote a Lot Like Susan Boyle
Anyone remember Susan Boyle? Of course you do. She's an international recording star now. England's Prime Minister Gordon Brown is showing shades of Boyle in the run-up to general parliamentary elections one week from today--and I'm not talking about his baritone pipes.
From Russia Without Love: A Textbook Example of a Pain-body Attack
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Designer Jeans are Extensions of Ego
Is this a joke? $345 for a pair of jeans! Some of us are hopelessly out of touch.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Bizarre Hamas Psychological Warfare Cartoon Spurs Discussion of Non-Violent Protest
Saturday, April 24, 2010
After 2 Years Sandwich Board Guy Gets Job-No Problem
This is how life is.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Lessons Learned from Franklin Graham and the Pentagon's National Day of Prayer
Well it looks like the Franklin Graham-Pentagon National Day of Prayer imbroglio is over. After complaints from Muslim participants and a formal objection by a religious rights group, the Pentagon Chaplain's Office disinvited Graham from the May 6th service.
Perhaps the National Day of Prayer Task Force, which organizes the yearly Pentagon event, acted unwisely in selecting as its Honorary Chairman Graham, who has called Islam an "evil and wicked religion"; has said Muslims are "enslaved by their religion"; and has confirmed his opinion yet again that he believe that Islam is "just horrid."
The decision was especially ill-taken, given that the National Day of Prayer is meant to be an ecumenical endeavor.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Is Eckhart Tolle a Seinfeld Fan?
There are some programs that have been extremely helpful to many people; have changed their lives for the better, opened their heart, made them more conscious. Even some comedy shows, although they may be about nothing in particular, can be unintentionally spiritual by showing a caricature version of human folly and the ego. They teach us not to take anything too seriously, to approach life in a lighthearted way, and above all, they teach by making us laugh. Laughter is extraordinarily liberating as well as healing.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
A Non-imist's Rebuttal to "5 Ways to Become an Optimist"
You have your optimists; these are the-glass-is-half-full people. You have your pessimists; these are the-glass-is-half-empty people.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
An Exercise for Experiencing the Joy of Being
Go to the hands directly. By this I mean become aware of the subtle feeling of aliveness inside them. It is there. You just have to go there with your attention to notice it. You may get a slight tingling sensation at first, then a feeling of energy or aliveness. If you hold your attention in your hands for a while, the sense of aliveness will intensify. . . . Then go to your feet, keep your attention there for a minute or so, and begin to feel your hands and feet at the same time. Then incorporate other parts of the body--legs, arms, abdomen, chest, and so on--into that feeling until you are aware of the inner body as a global sense of aliveness. (Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose, pp. 52-53; to see the entire excerpt, click here)THIS IS JOY EXPERIENCED IN YOUR PHYSICAL BODY! This IS the joy of being!
Excerpt on Inner Body Awareness from A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle
Friday, April 16, 2010
Spiritual Clean-up on Aisle Five
The Good News Gazette is reporting on a Washington Post story about Rev. Anita Naves, who has taken up shop . . . well . . . inside a shop.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Father of Slain Marine a Modern-Day Job
Albert Snyder, father of Lance Cpl. Matthew A. Snyder (pictured), a slain Marine whose 2006 funeral was picketed by members of the infamous Westboro Baptist Church, is a modern-day Job.
Excerpt on Theology from Eckhart Tolle's Book, The Power of Now
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Theology No Substitute for God's Presence
An Excerpt from Karen Armstrong's Book, Buddha
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Vatican Makes Peace with The Beatles-Folly or Genius?
"I read the news today, oh boy!"
Monday, April 12, 2010
Monetize Your Life: 6 Steps Toward Doing What you Love
The New Earth Economy - A Radical Approach to Money
"'And I saw a new heaven and a new earth,' writes the biblical prophet. The foundation for a new earth is a new heaven--the awakened consciousness."
The N.E.E. is based on the principle expressed by Jesus: "Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be given to you. For with the same measure you measure it will be measured back to you." (WEB)
Now Jesus certainly never said, "Give, but don't sell." But the NEE is predicated on the idea that if you're going to be given so much as a result of giving, why bother to sell?
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Fake Fake Things? Coffee Cup a Concession to Ugly Post-Modern World
Are you kidding me? Has the world fallen in on itself? Something's gone haywire here.
Mindy McCready Sex Tape and the PR Stunt
Here we go again. Another CD release, another sex tape faux-scandal publicity campaign. And Fox News has taken the bait with an exclusive story.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Moving Refrigerators with Marcus Aurelius and Eckhart Tolle
What is evil to thee does not subsist in the ruling principle of another; nor yet in any turning and mutation of thy corporeal covering. Where is it then? It is in that part of thee in which subsists the power of forming opinions about evils. Let this power then not form opinions, and all is well. And if that which is nearest to it, the poor body, is cut, burnt, filled with matter and rottenness, nevertheless let the part which forms opinions about these things be quiet, that is, let it judge that nothing is either bad or good which can happen equally to the bad man and the good. For that which happens equally to him who lives contrary to nature and to him who lives according to nature, is neither according to nature nor contrary to nature.
There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.
In Zen they say: "Don't seek the truth. Just cease to cherish opinions."
Judge not, lest you be judged.
Whenever one is called upon to move refrigerators for a friend (that isn't us in the picture), it is likely in that mode of awakened doing our good friend Eckhart Tolle calls "Acceptance." The other two are "Enjoyment" and "Enthusiasm" (see Monetize Your Life for a complete discussion.)
Thursday, April 8, 2010
4 Truisms of Success as Taught by Butler Coach Brad Stevens
Nothing was more compelling about this week's David v. Goliath NCAA Men's Basketball Championship than the story of the meteoric rise of Butler coach Brad Stevens. At just thirty-three years of age, he joins an elite cadre of young coaches in a number of different categories.
When Fathers Die -Tiger and Earl Woods
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
The Pain-Body: What Is It?
The Pain-Body in the Workplace
Vatican Publicists Could Learn from Their Hollywood Peers
The AP is reporting that the Vatican has launched a counter-offensive against what it sees as wrongful accusations alleging that Pope Benedict XVI was in some way complicit in cases of sex abuse by priests in Ireland, the United States and elsewhere.
Millionaire Gives Away Fortune, Keeps Next to Nothing
Monday, April 5, 2010
Tebow Cries, Manning Flies Demonstrating Lack of Emotional Strength
First, Tim Tebow crys after Florida's loss to Alabama in the SEC Championship back in December. Now Indianapolis Colts QB Peyton Manning is too ticked about loosing the Super Bowl to shake hands with his MVP counterpart, QB Drew Brees of the victorious New Orleans Saints.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Top Ten Signs You May Be Over-Identified With Your Team
The AP has reported for years on a Minnesota farmer who has vowed he won't shave until the Vikings win the Super Bowl. 97-year-old Emmet Pearson's beard remains in place and 36-years long. He made the vow in 1974, the last time the Vikings made it to the big game.
While Mr. Pearson's stick-to-it-iveness is laudable--people these days don't keep vows like they used to--and funny, it points up the sort of identification with groups like sports teams that Eckhart Tolle in his seminal book on spirituality A New Earth says is one from the ego's playbook.
"One of the ways in which the ego attempts to escape the unsatisfactoriness of personal selfhood," Tolle writes, "is to enlarge and strengthen its sense of self by identifying with a group--a nation, political party, corporation, institution, sect, club, gang, football team."
Bingo! Isn't that Farmer Pearson in a nutshell? This list takes in a lot of us.
What sports teams accomplish or fail to accomplish really has nothing whatsoever to do with us. And yet we behave as if it does.
Here are ten signs you may be over-identifying with your team this Super Bowl:
In War of Words, Obama Essentially No Different
He who sows the wind, reaps the whirlwind, to paraphrase the Jewish prophet Hosea. What goes around comes around. Karma.
President's Exhortation to Common Religious Bond is Important
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Dreamcatcher
Friday, April 2, 2010
Anna Paquin's Bisexuality Is Revealing
When the Tao is on the Move
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Awakened Consciousness Not a Backseat Driver
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