Has anyone ever told you to “follow your intuition” or “go with your gut” and left you wondering just what they meant? The psychologist James Hillman defines intuition as a direct sense of knowledge that can happen to a person “without any reflective thinking.” Intuition comes to us as “a sudden idea, a definite judgement, a grasped meaning.” With intuition, we don’t have to think about something. We just know. Yet for some people intuition can be difficult to sense.... Read more
Are you familiar with Christ Consciousness? It’s also known as higher consciousness and plays into the idea that you actually have two types of consciousness. There’s the ordinary consciousness or awareness that’s part of our everyday lives—and a more profound type of awareness, or a higher consciousness, that has the power to put you in touch with God. While the idea of higher consciousness dates back to the Bhagavad Vita, which was written about the time Christ walked on this earth,... Read more
If someone asked you “Who is God?” or “What is God?” how would you answer the question? I gave it my best shot several years ago (here) and can tell you it is no easy task. It is, as the saying goes, like trying to define the undefinable. That’s why, when listening to a recent episode of the radio show Fresh Air, my ears opened wide when I heard the host Terry Gross put the question to Barbara Brown Taylor,... Read more
Chances are, you go for a physical check-up every year. But what about a spiritual check-up? From time to time, it makes sense to take a pause—and evaluate yourself and the world around you to be sure you’re living a life that is both addressing your spiritual needs and caring for your soul. While Thomas Moore may be best known his book Care of the Soul, it was in another of his books, A Life at Work, the Joy of... Read more
Did you ever hear of the 8-Hour Day Movement? It was a global campaign started in the late-1800s to shorten the workweek. At the time, Americans were working an average of 60 hours a week over a six-day workweek. Six 10-hour days. While there were exceptions, it was not until 1938, and the Fair Labor Standards Act, that the 8-hour day, 40-hour week, became the norm. Today, for many in our society, the 40-hour workweek is a thing of the past.... Read more
Have you ever read the book or seen the movie called The Secret? Then you know it’s based on a new age philosophy called the Law of Attraction. Its basic premise is that that when you think positive thoughts, you bring good things into your life. As Wikipedia explains: The belief is based on the idea that people and their thoughts are both made from pure energy, and that through the process of like energy attracting like energy a person... Read more
As an antidote to my recent story on evil spirits, I’ve updated a piece I wrote four years ago on “the third man.” I find the idea of guardian angels compelling (I wrote about them last month). In this story, I call out several historical examples from John Geiger’s book The Third Man where some type of guiding force seemed to lead those in imminent danger to safety. Have you heard the story of “the third man” encountered by Ernest... Read more
What if I told you that one of the most recognized saints in the Catholic church believed not just in God, but in the presence of evil spirits. Saint Ignatius of Loyola founded the religious order called the Society of Jesus, better known as the Jesuits, in 1540. Known for their missionary work, the Jesuits are still active today and include 12,000 priests. The current pope, Pope Francis, is a Jesuit. Late in his life, Ignatius collected his thoughts in... Read more
It is a religion with me. It’s a way of life. A religion is a way of life, isn’t it? ~Jack LaLanne on keeping fit My wife sometimes tells me “you’re too much in your head” and I know what she means. At any one time, I’m usually reading or listening to several spirituality-related books and podcasts and recently my head has been swirling with notions of good and evil spirits, Eckhart Tolle and communicating with the dead (more on... Read more
When you see a dead body, you realize the form is still there, but the essence of that being is not there. There is only a shell. The life within that form is gone. ~Eckhart Tolle If you’re like me, you read the passage above and want to ask Eckhart Tolle: So where does “the form” go when we die? With a little digging, I found that Tolle, one of the brightest spiritual minds of our time, has an answer... Read more
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