Category: Spirituality

Trust in the Unfathomable Mystery of Life

Gary ReinerLeave a comment

Fearless trust in the unfathomable mystery of life is something all human beings share. This universal human primeval faith is expressed in various traditions in quite different ways, and is formulated in very different terms. But common to all us humans is trust in life, and trust in one another. Faith is ultimately what can join us all together in our innermost being.

Faith Beyond Reason
Faith Beyond Reason: Spirituality for Our Times
David Steindl-Rast & Anselm Grün
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How Can We Experience the Mystery of Ultimate Reality?

Gary ReinerLeave a comment

Mystics of all traditions agree that Ultimate Reality, what some call God, is a mystery beyond conceptuality.  They agree because they speak out of experience and intuition, which takes time and meditation.

But even very busy people receive this gift, this experience, again and again. For instance, a mother who cares for her children all day long has no time for meditation. She looks at her child with love, and the child looks at its mother – that is already an encounter and experience out of which bursts this deeper ground beyond all naming. That is a touch of the Unutterable.

Faith Beyond Reason
Faith Beyond Reason: Spirituality for Our Times
David Steindl-Rast & Anselm Grün
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How Can We Heal Our Memories?

Gary ReinerLeave a comment

“I’m sorry, forgive me, thank you, I love you.”

Ho’oponopono is an ancient Hawaiian healing practice that traditionally was invoked “to make right, establish harmony, correct what is wrong, and restore things to order.”

When individuals had disagreements, or relational problems appeared in a community, everyone gathered in the presence of all parties and there, under the guidance of a kahuna (priest), all were granted forgiveness.

“I’m sorry, forgive me, thank you, I love you.”
…– Healing mantra at the heart of Ho’oponopono practice

The healing practice of Ho’opononpono teaches us to cleanse our consciousness of negative memories, unconscious fears, and dysfunctional programming, and thus grant forgiveness, peace, and love. It is a process of atonement and reconciliation that can be practiced by oneself, among individuals of the same family or community, or even strangers.

The Book Ho 'oponopono
The Book Ho’oponopono: The Hawaiian Practice of Forgiveness and Healing
Luc Bodin, MD, Nathalie Bodin Lamboy, Jean Graciet 

What in the World was Going on During the Time of Buddha?

Gary ReinerLeave a comment

When the Buddha was young, Zarathustra was exhorting the Persians, and the Second Isaiah and Ezekiel the Jews; when he became a Buddha, Cyrus was establishing his vast empire, and Confucius was twenty-three; and when he was in his seventies, the Greeks defeated the Persians at Marathon and Greek tragedy was taking shape.

Aeschylus and Sophocles were Buddha’s younger contemporaries; Euripides was probably born a year before Buddha died; Herodotus, Thucydides, and Socrates a few years later. No other age in the history of our world has seen a comparable explosion of such originality in so many widely different regions.

Buddha (563 BC-483 BC) lived to age 80. He was born at the foot of the Himalayas, in what is now Nepal, and spent much of his life traveling in northern India. His birth name was Siddhartha Gautama.

Religions by Walter Kaufmann
Religions in Four Dimensions: Existential, Aesthetic, Historical, Comparative
Walter Kaufmann

Background on Walter Kaufmann

 

 

How Are Courage And Patience Related?

Gary ReinerLeave a comment

Courage supports the mature realization that there are values that outweigh our own comfort and security. Thomas Aquinas judged that the arousal of courage empowers us “to face the dreadful,” strengthening individuals “so that they will not turn back.” We feel this arousal when, in the face of a frightening situation, a threat to our safety or our dignity, we determine to act nevertheless. It is not easy to isolate and name this stirring.

A full and satisfying life must be open to taking risky actions. Courage here often takes the shape of patience. In patience we hold ourselves to valued ideals – of justice, of mercy, of compassion – even when we cannot guarantee they will win the day.

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Nourishing the Spirit
Nourishing the Spirit: The Healing Emotions of Wonder, Joy, Compassion and Hope
James & Evelyn Whitehead

Background on James & Evelyn Whitehead