Contemplative traditions and their practical meaning — Zen, Sufi, Gnostic, and Fourth Way materials examined directly.
A Personal Invitation from David Samuel. There comes a time in many people's lives when they begin asking questions such as: What's the point of life? Why do I feel as though I don't truly belong here? Am I more than what I appear to be? We rea...
It may not be possible to directly “find” God—or whatever you consider the original source of all things—because something truly infinite is beyond the capacity of the human mind to fully comprehend or experience. Short of a miracle, our intellect...
From that came Yin and Yang or male and female or whatever you want to call the two opposing forces of positive and negative energy, not as in good and bad, but just opposing forces like on a magnet. Why and how these came to be, we will never kno...
In over 3 decades that I have worked with thousands of people in every continent - even on a ship in Antarctica - and culture, I can say that no matter what the issues a person has, be that financial, relationship, personal, spiritual, there is on...
We can learn about ourselves by studying nature and science Water on the pavement does not get absorbed but when the sun shines on it, that water evaporates and then joins back to the air. The air has no country, land or ocean as its home, it is...
We are God imprisoned in a human body/mind/ego/personality We are made to forget and ignore the reality of what we are, which is God, totally impersonal without ego or concern, it simply is energy that makes things happen, as electricity itself d...
Where Humanity Is Headed, A Great Movie Plot, But It Is Coming With the new robot called 'Iron' from Xpeng, google 'Video of Xpeng Iron' it's so feminine, beautiful, sexy, if it were fitted with a fully functioning vagina that would satisfy a man...
What If After releasing all desires and attachments and progressing to a state of emotional freedom, then the last thread holding us back is going to be the 'what if'. 'What if' I spoke to that person, 'what if' I did that investment, 'what if' ...
There are just too many things in the world these days that are under the guise of being good for you, protecting you, helping you, etc. and they are mostly counter productive, so I just have to say what I think from an objective point of view. I...
The Original God Does Not Care, But We Should The consistency in virtually all religions and mystical teachings puts us in a position of facing a reality that we cannot deny. What we are and why we are here. I have written about this several time...
Self Or No Self Buddha said we do not have a self that is continuous or lasting, but we do have a self. That is confusing. He said that the Sankharas continue, and that is what our self is. Sankharas, karma, thoughts, feelings, fears, desires, ...
The reason for creation and the creation of the human being, truth or lie According to Judaeo-Christian/Muslim traditions, the Abrahamic traditions, God was a hidden treasure, and because all there was was God, God wanted to be known, so he cre...
Nietzsche, it's good to lose Nietzsche wrote much against the quest for happiness as the ultimate goal. Today we are obsessed with happiness, with being on valium for as long as possible. Some of what he writes is: The superior man "exploi...
A Meditation On What You Really Are; A Means Of Developing True Connection Everything is in your mind, meaning, it's either an imagination or by using your mind, you can focus your thoughts to understand something. Everything begins in our mind w...
The Buddha advised his son Rahula: "Make (Nibbida) disgust strong in you" (Sutta Nipata, v.340). My brother Michael, a great scholar, did philological research into the Pali word for disgust: ["]{dir="rtl"}Nibbida&quo...
God Is Evil because God is One Everything comes from God Therefore everything is One, and there is no difference or separation between all things. Good and Evil are One "God has made this one opposite that one" Wisdom is a defence, ...
It is not possible to find God, or whatever you consider as the original source of all things, because something of that infinite nature is inconceivable for a human mind to directly experience or understand, other than by a miracle, and I persona...
Being A Cloud instead of a Mountain is only the first step in the process to enlightenment. Once being fully and truly a cloud, then the Cloud must evaporate so the cloud is no more. The spark returns to the source, because even a cloud has a per...
Attaining Enlightenment Attaining enlightenment, or any level of spiritual awakening can be a very confusing and contradictory path, which is actually very simple, if you can understand the path is not a path, the way is not a way, but you see it...
God, gods, Humans Un-created God, (the original Beginningless beginning) Created gods Created humans (part mortal, part immortal) Humans do not normally have self-will. This must be developed. Humans are separated from God because of their la...
Destiny is like going on a hike that is a loop trail. At the start of the trail, you have to choose if you will walk the loop clockwise or counter clockwise, do you turn left or right? Your soulmate, for example of destiny, is somewhere ahead on ...
Good manners are not the most common quality, yet have always been stressed as important. I would like to explore a far more valuable reason to have impeccable manners other than just to look good to others. Good manners are a show of respect to ...
Create Lions Rather Than Sheep
There is really only one book one must read, and that book is placed in your heart. The right way to live is always clear if you subjugate your self-centred ego. Fixating on anything can be very narrow minded and lead to following rules without co...
One attains any quality by eliminating its opposite quality. All things have a balancing opposite in order for them to exist. Hot and cold, soft and hard, anger and love, guilt and innocence, fear and confidence all only exist because of their opp...
In the Jewish religion, there are many rules and religious restrictions. One is that on the Sabbath, you are not allowed to carry anything outside of your house, even a thread in your pocket is not allowed. This sounds very strange, as this restr...
For people who think that being spiritual means you should not care about money or material things, there is something to bear in mind if you are using the justification that Buddha and spiritual people had nothing. In fact, they were effectively ...
I think this world may be something like a maze and we are the rats in the maze. What we need to do is find our way out of the maze and sometimes we get a little tired of hitting dead ends and that's what puts us in a state of depression or frustr...
Humility practices are found in many religions and mystical traditions. This one is from the Cabalistic tradition: Empty your heart and mind of all your mundane preoccupations and then work to nullify all your negative traits, one after the oth...
At some times, perhaps many times in our life, we all feel that God or some demon is out to get us. I certainly have been thoroughly convinced of this myself very often for many decades. I have also figured out that anyone who thinks or says; ‘wh...
In the parable of Adam and Eve eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and thus being evicted from the garden, we find an interesting concept to explain why our world is so materialistic as well as how to master our mind and increase the...
Devotion and commitment are the keys to happiness because that equates to submission. You submit to what you are committed and devoted to. Submission is the opposite of resistance. Submission is the opposite of dissatisfaction. As Buddha said; ...
Faith is the secret ingredient, that magic key that gives us the power to accomplish all things. Faith gives us the power to do the things we think are impossible or would kill us yet faith gives us the strength to do those things and survive and...
There are many spiritual schools and many people who follow their paths and try to improve themselves, but so few make any significant progress. This is the topic I would like to discuss. Having spent most my life in the pursuit of perfecting my ...
When I was younger I wanted, as many people do, to be more spiritual, I wanted to devote my life to a spiritual path. Even while I was in business I spent about six hours a day on various practices. Meditation, Tai Chi, Qi Gong, studies of ancien...
The first step is to know what you are talking about. Not only in this question, but I mean that in every moment of life, on any subject. If you are discussing God, heaven and hell literally, but there is no way we can understand these things as ...
Be it personal development, spiritual or even improving the material and financial aspect of your life, this article speaks to every way a person would want to be better at anything they seek. In the search for a deeper understanding of life and ...
The reason why I want to fail is the same reason I want to succeed. Satori, Enlightenment, Nirvana, different names but all the same thing, the experience of enlightenment, if even for a moment. The state of total bliss and freedom, unity with a...
The meaning of Eastern in this article derives from a combination of the original teachings of the Buddha, Confucius, Lao Tzu, Sufism, and others as understood by me but does not mean to imply that all people in the east are this way, just the tea...
When anyone asks; "How are you?" I am always well. The secret to always being happy is to have nothing you want to do. This is the essence of the Buddhist teaching that all suffering is caused by desires. The more we desire, the more we ...
This is a Sufi saying, that the heart is the veil to the soul. In this mystical path, our heart is where we store our feelings and opinions that have been formed in this life. It separates our lesser ego, the Nafs, from our Soul, the essence of Go...
The most attractive is of course enlightenment, spiritual realization, self-knowledge or anything in that direction. Promise of this draws many people, and although it would be wonderful to have a large following, I will not claim to have achieved...
The beautiful eyes, the divine gift to the person who opens their heart. The clear eyes, translucent, lit from inside. Looking into those eyes is looking into infinite space without end. The beautiful light, a light that is divine, that shines b...
Many people are looking for a spiritual teacher, an enlightened being who can help them progress in their spiritual growth or path to enlightenment. Some jump from one teacher to another being perpetually dissatisfied, or maybe they find one teach...
The Hymn of the Pearl is a passage from the Gnostic path that I felt is worth publishing as it fills the mind with good thoughts to contemplate. The hymn is commonly interpreted as a Gnostic view of the human condition , that we are spirits lost ...
Which path should I choose? This is a common question and one which I would like to share my 30 years of experience of study in Sufi, Buddhism, Zen, Taoism, Gnostic, Hermetica, and many others. I was born knowing there was more to life and that t...
The Sufi say; 'The heart is the veil to the soul'. In observing this thought for many years, it is clearly true. Our heart, that which is the centre of our feelings, has within it the scars and memories of all events, good and bad. It is the seat...
Life is suffering, it is filled with pain and problems. More for some than others, but the problems of life are unavoidable to everyone. Even the super rich commit suicide or get sick and die young, so we can say that there must be problems that e...
Adab is the foundation stone of developing the essence of ones being such that one can grow in an opening manner to receive ever increasing wisdom using the inverted pyramid as the analogy. As the pyramid continues to grow, it gets wider and wider...
Deadlines are a natural part of the universe. There is no need to get stressed and resist them. In the Kybalion, one of the Hermetic laws is; As above, so below. This is to say that within the larger, there is a smaller version of the larger. The...
Having boundaries is tantamount to not truly being open. Basically, anyone who ever says they want to set boundaries is a selfish person because those boundaries are the rules you set up on how other people have to treat and interact with you. Tha...
There is no need to join a monastery or school when you have understood that being in a school is to allow you to live in a certain state of mind. The point of a school is to keep your mind focused on your awakening and so being in a school merel...
*“If you can imagine it, you can achieve it.* *If you can dream it, you can become it.”* William Arthur Ward IMAGINE combining a perfect holiday in the Caribbean with personal enrichment for Body, Mind and Spirit . IMAGINE a central point ...
This article questions of validity of reincarnation and explores a deeper meaning to the concept. Here, I shall show how the concept is true and false at the same time by exploring another level of its implications in ones pursuit of personal grow...
Here is a principle from the Kybalion that will help you change the direction of your life and find happiness. When the momentum of the swing of the pendulum in one direction runs out, it eventually swings the other way. The concept is like toss...
One thing that you may have found through my articles is that you cannot ‘do’ anything. Everything just happens and you react by instinct or by one of the minds of the ego part of your being. Rarely if ever do you act out of the wisdom mind of you...
The fragmentation of the many I’s that are part of us are to our mind the same as parasites are to our body. If you looked at one eyelash with a very high powered microscope, you would find that there are literally millions of little creatures tha...
From a spiritual point of view, in order to achieve personal growth, you must have a passionate desire for enlightenment that is completely selfless. If your passion has anything to do with you, then certainly you can succeed in your goals, but th...
There are several steps in the process of self-improvement and finding Inner peace and happiness described in this article. These steps may take some time to complete, and I intended to give you an idea of the path of personal growth that will wor...
Your whole life is most likely spent trying to make something of yourself, that is what we are taught from youth. Make something of yourself! It is all about Self-improvement. So we spend our life doing everything we can looking at whatever we ca...
One must not perform the mystery of the ineffable and invisible power through visible and corruptible things of creation, nor that of the unthinkable and immaterial beings through sensible and corporeal things. Perfect salvation is the cognition ...
True, pure and real emotion is so overwhelming that one feels an expansion in the centre of the chest that grows and continues to grow, issuing forth a physical sensation of pressure, an almost solid but fluid substance. As it flows forth, the bo...
Many people complain that their parents did things to them as a child which have negatively effected them emotionally as an adult. These emotional issues are based on the memories. The memories are real, but the reality today is that the problem i...
We can speak of God and Spirit and all the religions and teachings attributed to God on how we should live. The problem is that all the religious teachings have to be interpreted and there are so many interpretations that the interpreters themselv...
Searching for the meaning of life, ultimate reality? Thinking of going into a monastery because life is too tough? What do you think the right path to truth may be? There must be some special, mystical, hidden secret teaching or school out there t...
Much has been said about the importance of having an aim to give direction to your life for you to progress with your work. If you do not have an aim, nothing in your life can progress. Your aim is the engine which drives the entire vehicle. It i...
This subject is very tricky to understand, it is simple, yet difficult to grasp because it is so simple. For this reason, there will be many discussions about it in different ways for you to have the variety of concepts that one may reach your und...
The greatest successes are people who can see some lesson or benefit in absolutely everything. As an example there is the joke of the man who goes to the doctor, lifts his arm, and says; “My arm hurts when I do this.” The doctor replies; “So don’t...
Most proponents of the Law of Attraction argue that you attract everything into your life. This view makes it hard to explain events such as the death of a loved one. People say that my view of ‘logic to life’ makes more sense but it hardly makes ...
This is the question that so many people ask. Some have found comfort in religion and the different versions of God, but I, like many people, find that a bit hard to accept, so I have spent my life, and continue to look further each day, to find a...
The buddha said that what keeps us reincarnating is our need to be recognized, we want to exist and live eternally. The greatest pain for a human is to be totally alone, or even to feel totally alone, that there is no one with any wisdom you coul...
In many mystical teachings there is a common thought which, if you think about it, may help you get a better grip on your life. Here are a few different lines, read each one on its own, and then see how they all come together like pieces of a ji...
The difference of reality and illusion of life is what keeps us present or not present. If you live with reality you will be present, if you deny reality you live in illusion and cannot be present. The reality is; from the instant you are conceiv...
Many people think that humanity is reaching a higher spiritual level than ever before. I think those people have not been to the historical sites and probably lived through TV and the internet. Certainly there are many things on the internet which...
In this world everything must have its opposite to exist. Therefore, human (temporal) love prevents mystical realization because to have human love means its opposite must exist which is negative emotions. Negative emotions are what prevent pure ...
Zen is an interesting path. It tells us that nothing exists including our self, that we have no essential reality or even a soul. This can be very confusing if left without deeper study to find its meaning. We are basically an accumulation of tho...
This is a follow up to the article entitled ‘The Eleventh Hour’, in which we discussed the value and need of a deadline. Now we shall discuss where the power of having a deadline comes from. The reason desires do not make things happen is because...
Everyone is seeking the way to balance their material life with their spiritual aspirations and practices. I believe there is no way to balance the two because they are not in fact separate. For two things to balance against each other, they must...
The following are some examples which a reader presented from his life about coincidences and synchronisity. Reader: 1.) During school days, many times I was home in the evening and thinking of some girl or boy from my class and than I went out ...
I have found that there is a repeating theme, things that are reliant on something out of my control and must be done by a certain deadline, get done just in time. It generally applies to things in which I had no control, such as something I want...
Let’s use for the purpose of this article, this definition of God. God is not a particular being, there is nothing religious about God. God simply is a name given to a thing so that we can refer to that thing in conversation for the purposes of ...
This article is about seeing and being able to use the positive in everything. We will start with exploring the foundation of being able to live a fully positive and successful life, what prevents it, and then proceed to more detail about the meth...
There is a world of difference between running towards God and running away from the world. If you find the world empty of value, void of meaning beyond the very short and temporary life span of a human being, and this causes you to turn towards ...
There are many people who are drawing large numbers of followers through their social network, propagating that the world is changing and that the ‘energies’ are now different as humanity enters a realm of heightened awareness. They claim that th...
A rock thrown into the river will disturb the water for a moment, even splashing drops on the bank. The water can only yield, that is its nature, it has no choice. As time passes, the river flows and the stone is worn down. That is the nature o...
Many people are focused on finding their true purpose or life purpose. They spend a lot of time thinking about and trying to find their true purpose, but never get it no matter what methods they try. My best advice is to forget it and give up be...
In the search for knowledge especially spiritual knowledge, everyone wants the good stuff, high quality, the real meat of knowledge, but so few are willing to pay for it, and they do not understand how to pay. And so they float and wander from sch...
Everything that comes and goes in your life is due to one thing that people give different names, chance, luck, destiny, God, or nature. The nature of the world is what it is. For example, using average people, the nature of a thief is to steal, ...
Many spiritual schools or paths have their own particular mantras, a word or short phrase that one repeats constantly to keep ones mind focused on God. The Law of Attraction for money shown in The Secret and other goals have their own mantras. I ...
‘Beautiful Eyes’ is the gift promised by God for the martyr, one who dies in the service of God. There are different interpretations of the original arabic word Hur’In from the Koran but they are most commonly related to this translation of Beauti...
The level of awe and devotion required for spiritual growth is frowned upon by western culture as being unhealthy because you are losing yourself to someone else. Westerners think that you should never give or lose yourself and so the result is th...
You will notice that my articles vary in style and content. I assure you that I have written every word of what I publish, and if I take from another, I give them credit. What I write and post here is as much for you, the reader, as it is for me...
I have studied many different paths and often refer to their teachings to help my students understand the same principle from many angles . One such teaching is from the Ancient Sufis – “It takes 100 years to travel a journey alone that would tak...
An inspiring story and excellent example of the principles, "When the need arises, the solution appears." as well as another saying, "If the solution is not clear, increase the need and that will draw a better solution quicker."...
If you run from it, how will you ever attain it. If the world is a form manifested by God and, if we run from the world, then how can we find God? You must get to know the world, and you know the world by knowing your self. You know yourself by ...
Law of Attraction - Mind Series Your mind is a conglomeration of thoughts and memories, in itself, it does not exist. Mind is like a dustball, the ball itself is only a collection of dust held together by static electricity. Remove each spec of ...
Law of Attraction - Spiritual Growth Series There are many concepts about spiritual growth. The problem is that you do not even know what ‘spiritual’ really means, otherwise you would have it. The entire concept of ‘spiritual’ is so distorted by...
Law of Attraction - Mind Series I was in my kitchen which has very large windows and is on the second floor over looking the driveway when all of a sudden the beige walls and ceiling all turned red. Everything in the room was red even the light ...
Law of Attraction - Spiritual Growth and Business Can business and spiritual growth go hand in hand and both develop simultaneously? Emphatically yes. Sufism and the Tantric paths are two examples of having a family and work or business in harmon...
Law of Attraction - Enlightenment Series Your true nature, a state of full consciousness, it is within your grasp, you just do not know it. You see, your true nature is not an organ or a particular thing that you can call your soul. True conscio...
Law of Attraction - Enlightenment Series I shall here describe what I have attained and how I attained it. I hope to continue my progress as I know there is still so much further to go. It is my sincere wish that you will attain what I have, and ...
Law of Attraction - Spiritual Growth Series The Law of Rhythm is basically indicating an expression of habits. A habit is something you do consistently, therefore it has a rhythmic movement to it. The Law of Rhythm shows you your habits and tho...
Today I would like to discuss a significant obstacle in our search for truth and personal development that is so effectively ignored and simultaneously encouraged that we have virtually lost any significant chance of success. As we already know, ...
The quality of your actions and the results are relative to the level of awareness that we possess. A strong character is the foundation and roots that hold up the massive structure of a complete human being. "Character is Destiny" Her...
In the pursuit of truth and the hopeful clarification of the escalating lunacy that is pervading our world at present, cultivating a religious war of truly disastrous proportions, I offer you a touch of reality. It is unlikely that many people ot...
Spiritual growth relies, in my opinion after decades of self work and study along with meeting many remarkable and unremarkable people, on the cultivation of your morals, personality and character. A strong character with correct standards and mo...
The Universal Laws are laws which govern the way things work. They are equally tools which we can use to make certain laws deliver certain results by consciously using other laws to effect them. The laws are not controlling masters if we choose to...
Prejudice is considered incorrect behaviour, yet we create it and place it upon ourselves. To say that we do things because we are a Kiwi, Canadian, Indian, Jew, Christian, Chinese and so on, is to place that stereotype upon ourselves. An animal...
The purpose of these principles are to guide any individual towards achieving their goals in work, relationships, spiritual pursuits, personal calm and balance, and life in general. These principles are drawn from several ancient traditions as we...
"God created all creatures equal, except man. To man, He gave freedom of choice." This thought is what my grandfather always told me, and now 30 years later, it struck me that our being and personality, our potential and our actualizat...
Deep emotion, in order to be experienced, requires a deep relaxation of the body. Either fear of emotions or a desire not to feel them because of what comes with the experience of that deep love and emotion, causes a physical tension which traps ...
