PHILOSOPHY MUST BE PRACTICAL

Philosophy is worthless to man if it does not help him live a happier life. Philosophy is not just a lot of intelligent words. It must put that wisdom in the context of our daily life and its problems. The philosophical Truths, if they are Truths, must be applicable to our material, emotional, economic, social, professional and family lives as they are to the spiritual dimensions. As the saying goes «As Above, So Below». The same laws are functioning at the various levels of reality. Continue reading “A07 Causes of Human Suffering: A philosophical investigation into why we suffer and what we can do about it”

ABSOLUTE
I
LOGOS
WORD
I
SOUND LIGHT
I I
OM WHITE
I I
SYLLABLES COLORS
I I
WORDS FORMS
I I
PHRASES IMAGES
I I
CONCEPTS OBJECTS
SOUND LIGHT
DEVOTIONAL & NONDEVOTIONAL
RELIGIOUS & NONRELIGIOUS

The above diagram will help us to understand more clearly the following discussion concerning choosing and working with an object of concentration for our meditation. Continue reading “A08 Choosing Object of Meditation: All schools of meditation teach basically the same technique. What differs is the “object” them meditate on. You can choose your own”

Since probably over 90 percent of those who will read this book are souls who have incarnated into a Christian tradition, it will be useful to see how Jesus Christ, his life and his teachings fit into the universal philosophy which we have been discussing throughout this book. We celebrate and mourn His birth, death and resurrection every year. Have, however, we understood His message? Why did He come? Why did He choose to be crucified? What was He trying to teach us? No one could ever understand the mysteries of Christ and His Divine Mission. Nor can we comprehend the totality of His message, for it can only be experienced upon the transcendence of the ego and the mind, and not with the rational mind itself. But I would like to share with you here some of my humble thoughts concerning these important parts of His life, His birth, His death and resurrection, which we celebrate yearly. Continue reading “A09 Christ’s Birth, Crucifixion & Resurrection: We have much that we can learn about our selves and our relationship to Christ by contemplating His Birth, Crucifixion. & Resurrection”

Recently two new words have become very popular in Psychology of Relationships. They are co-dependence and co-commitment. They describe two totally different types of relationships. Continue reading “A10 Co-commitment / Co-dependency : We need to understand the difference between these types of relationships. One creates suffering and stifles our growth. The other nurtures and enhances our evolution”

Today there is an ever growing communication gap between parents, teachers and the children whom they are responsible for. This chapter will be useful to those who want to communicate more effectively and harmoniously with their children. Some of the basic concepts of communication expressed in earlier chapters are repeated here with emphasis on communication with children. Continue reading “A11 Communication with Children: We need to be especially careful about the way we communicate with our children. We can learn to be more effective and yet more loving”

Just as in every other aspect of life, there are dangers and mistakes which one may fall into while following the spiritual path. On any journey there is the danger of diverting onto a wrong road, or having our vehicle breakdown, or stopping somewhere along the way and forgetting about our original destination. Here we will look at some of those possible traps which spiritual aspirants may fall into. Continue reading “A12 Dangers on the Spiritual Path: There are many traps on the spiritual path which we need to avoid”

Most of us have suffered, or felt negative emotions as a result of our contact with some negative person. How can we help ourselves and them simultaneously? How can we be less vulnerable to their negativity? How can we help them to feel better? Continue reading “A13 Dealing With Negative People: This is a “best seller” lecture about how to deal more effectively with other peopleβs negativity”

We depend on our relationships with those around us. We need others in order to feel security and meaningfulness in our lives. Yet we ignore the one relationship which has the most to offer us, our relationship with Ultimate Reality; with the Universal Consciousness which is the Source of our lives; with God. Devotion to our relationship with God is not a particularly popular subject today. You don’t see much about it on TV or at the movies or in newspapers or magazines. You don’t hear people referring often to their relationship with God. The sad fact is that very few people today are devoted to any relationship. There is an epidemic of ego-centeredness in which people are living more and more for self gratification; wanting to take from others but giving little importance to what they might give. This sad situation has created an unhappy and lonely society. Continue reading “A14 Devotion to God: A contemplation on how we can be consciously devoted to the Divine”

A person without discipline is like a ship without a rudder in the storm of life. He has no control, no way of creating harmony or improving the quality of his life. Discipline is the key to evolution. It is the key to personal and social harmony and progress. It is the key to real culture and civilization. In Sanskrit a very special work is used to refer to all kinds of spiritual disciplines. The word is «Tapas». It has many meanings in English. Some of them are: Continue reading “A15 Discipline & Evolution: The role of discipline in our spiritual evolution”

A. INEFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

Most of us are rather ineffective in expressing our needs and solving our interpersonal problems. We either tend to withhold and suppress our feelings or we go to the other extreme of exploding onto the other person blaming him for our unhappiness. When we do not express our needs and feelings, we tend to become tense, bitter, negative, and feel alienated and resentful towards the person or situation which we feel is responsible for not fulfilling our needs and expectations. This creates internal tension which can result in illness of all types. Continue reading “A16 Effective Communication: How to communicate more effectively through I-messages and Active Listening”