The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari

“He told Yogi Krishnan of his hunger for wealth and obsession with work. He revealed, with great emotion, his inner turmoil and the crisis of spirit he had experienced when the once bright light of his life began to flicker in the winds of an out-of-balance lifestyle.”

“I too have walked this path,my friend. I too have felt the pain you have felt. Yet I have learned that everything happens for a reason, ” offered Yogi Krishnan sympathetically. “Every event has a purpose and every setback its lesson. I have realized that failure, whether of the personal , professional or even spiritual kind, is essential to personal expansion. It brings inner growth and a whole host of psychic rewards. Never regret your past. Rather, embrace it as the teacher that it is.”   -excerpt from “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari” by Robin Sharma

The Purpose of Spiritual Experience

Ideally, our orientation to life should change as a result of deep spiritual experience. Whenever we transcend the fears and desires of the individual and collective ego, we discover a completely different perspective on what it means to be a human being—a perspective that transcends the ego’s narrow, limited, personal world. And that is really what is so important about the discovery of higher and deeper states of consciousness. Once we have tasted higher states, and are convinced that they’re real, sooner or later a point has to come when we realize that now our spiritual practice is no longer merely about trying to have more spiritual experiences; it is about acting upon what has been revealed to us in the experiences we have already had. That is when our own awakening becomes the limitless foundation that empowers us to take responsibility for creating the future—which is the whole point of evolutionary enlightenment.
Andrew Cohen

So, What is Metaphysics?

In a nutshell:
Metaphysical Science is a study of the science of being and nature of reality. The Institute of Metaphysical Science (IMS) is a non-profit organization that disseminates and makes its research findings available for the public through seminars, lectures and publications. The IMS is dedicated to helping people learn to release their view of life as a drama–which merely evokes problems reflecting pain and upset in their daily lives. Understanding and applying metaphysics to everyday life helps them feel better, take control of their lives, resolve problems without stress, and reach a higher potential. Through their exploration, they can learn to live each day with a profound awareness, tackling experiences and life challenges with healthful and positive expression.

John Naisbit, author of Megatrends, wrote about the increasing interest in spirituality and religion in society. There has been a significant rise in career coaching, motivational speaking, and self-help television like Oprah and Dr. Phil. The Institute of Metaphysical Science newsletter subscriber base has tripled over the last ten years, offering further evidence of a growing number of people who are open to a new approach to handling problems and a new perception of life.

IMS bases its research on the pioneers of metaphysical teachings, including Margaret Laird, Mary Baker Eddy, Bicknell Young, Edward Kimball, as well as the recent discoveries and findings among the physics intelligencia, including Fritjof Capra, David Bohm, Schroedinger, Peter Russell, Amit Goswami, et al.

The Institute of Metphysical Science offers regular seminars, workshops, discussions and open houses that explore the many areas of metaphysical science and ways to apply this thinking in our daily lives

A New Spiritual Orientation

The end of an era, and the beginning of a new one, is literally forcing us to find a new context, a new way to orient ourselves to the experience of being alive. And unless we are each willing to make the effort to become clear about what our fundamental spiritual and philosophical position is, in relationship to what it means to be a conscious human being in an evolving universe, we’re going to have a difficult time keeping our boat moving in a straight line. We will find ourselves tossed all over the place, swept here and there by the fast-moving tides of exponential change. It’s very hard to develop, to evolve, to grow—to become mature, wise, powerful, and truly independent—when we are unable to even! hold our course. In the time we are living in, we need to find a moral, ethical, philosophical, and spiritual context that not only empowers us to embrace the fact of perpetual change, but compels us to consciously evolve, so that our development becomes the very momentum that guides our collective consciousness and culture into the future.   -Andrew Cohen

About the Institute of Metaphysical Science

Metaphysical Science is a study of the science of being and nature of reality. The Institute of Metaphysical Science (IMS) is a non-profit organization that disseminates and makes its research findings available for the public through seminars, lectures and publications. The IMS is dedicated to helping people learn to release their view of life as a drama–which merely evokes problems reflecting pain and upset in their daily lives. Understanding and applying metaphysics to everyday life helps them feel better, take control of their lives, resolve problems without stress, and reach a higher potential. Through their exploration, they can learn to live each day with a profound awareness, tackling experiences and life challenges with healthful and positive expression.

John Naisbit, author of Megatrends, wrote about the increasing interest in spirituality and religion in society. There has been a significant rise in career coaching, motivational speaking, and self-help television like Oprah and Dr. Phil. The Institute of Metaphysical Science newsletter subscriber base has tripled over the last ten years, offering further evidence of a growing number of people who are open to a new approach to handling problems and a new perception of life.

IMS bases its research on the pioneers of metaphysical teachings, including Margaret Laird, Mary Baker Eddy, Bicknell Young, Edward Kimball, as well as the recent discoveries and findings among the physics intelligencia, including Fritjof Capra, David Bohm, Schroedinger, Peter Russell, Amit Goswami, et al.

The Institute of Metphysical Science offers regular seminars, workshops, discussions and open houses that explore the many areas of metaphysical science and ways to apply this thinking in our daily lives. NEXT SEMINAR IS THE 1ST WEEKEND IN NOVEMBER IN LA JOLLA CALIFORNIA. Click on this link for info and registration form: lajollaflyer_nov07.pdf

Institute office hours are Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Our office is located at 7817 Herschel Avenue, Suite 208, La Jolla, CA 92038.
By phone at 858-454-1717, or email us at metaphys@pacbell.net

Sometimes no choice is the choice

Sometimes when you just can’t decide between two or more options, … it’s because the answer that would most give you peace, is actually, “None of the above.” Try it. Today. Or tomorrow. You choose. Or don’t.  ; )

Something About Rituals

When we perform or participate in rituals and ceremonies, we enter into a state of mind that is different from mundane consciousness. Ranging in significance from bedtime stories to weddings, ceremonies and rituals are acknowledgments that an event or period of time has special meaning. As a result, they can have the effect of drawing us into the moment, inviting us to pay closer attention and tune into the subtle energies that are always present but that often go unrecognized. In addition, as we perform the same actions we have performed before and will perform again, we immerse ourselves in a river of continuity that extends back into the past and forward into the future.

Many of us have distanced ourselves from rituals that may have seemed too constricting or too attached to an organized religion we have chosen not to follow. However, we can reclaim the practices of ceremony and ritual to good effect, imbuing them with our new consciousness, and we do not have to wait for a big event to do it. We can engage in daily practices that include ritual and ceremony, reminding ourselves throughout the day of the sacredness of this life.
In fact, if we look closely, we will see that our days are already made up of rituals, from the time we wake up to the time we retire. So we do not need to change anything except our perspective to imbue our day with an air of ceremony.

Most of our daily rituals revolve around nourishing and cleansing, both of which have always been sacred acts. With this in mind, we may pause before each meal, close our eyes, and say a silent thank you to the universe that provides. We can be as simple or as complex as we like, so long as our attitude is one of reverence for this sacred moment in this sacred life. -daily om

I like this. Got me thinking about all the rituals we practice that aren’t thought of as rituals. Exercise, coffee in the morning, letting the dog out….and conversely, complaining around the water cooler, cutting off people in traffic, getting away with something etc. We think of ritual as religious. Here’s the dictionary.com definition of ritual:

rit·u·al /ˈrɪtʃuəl/ Pronunciation Key – Show Spelled Pronunciation[rich-oo-uhl] Pronunciation Key – Show IPA Pronunciation

–noun

1.	an established or prescribed procedure for a religious or other rite.

2.	a system or collection of religious or other rites.

3.	observance of set forms in public worship.

4.	a book of rites or ceremonies.

5.	a book containing the offices to be used by priests in administering the sacraments and for visitation of the sick, burial of the dead, etc.

6.	a prescribed or established rite, ceremony, proceeding, or service: the ritual of the dead.

7.	prescribed, established, or ceremonial acts or features collectively, as in religious services.

8.	any practice or pattern of behavior regularly performed in a set manner.

9.	a prescribed code of behavior regulating social conduct, as that exemplified by the raising of one’s hat or the shaking of hands in greeting.

10.	Psychiatry. a specific act, as hand-washing, performed repetitively to a pathological degree, occurring as a common symptom of obsessive-compulsive neurosis.

–adjective

11.	of the nature of or practiced as a rite or ritual: a ritual dance.

12.	of or pertaining to rites or ritual: ritual laws.

I know I worship coffee in the morning.

#8 is: any practice or pattern of behavior regularly performed in a set manner. Where do out rituals need to be shaken up, rewired or completely disconnected? Try driving home a different way tonight. Or sleeping the opposite direction in your bed. Use your non-dominated hand for a day opening doors and drinking you bevies. Have cake for breakfast and eggs for dinner. Walk to the store rather than driving. Take a bus merely for the ride. Laugh outloud and wear your boots to bed. It’s amazing what’ll open up in your world. You’ll jar your brain away and your attention will shift. Embrace the world you are walking through and shake it up daily. Watch what happens.

Those Qualities of the Human Spirit

“Spirituality I take to be concerned with those qualities of the human spirit—such as love and compassion, patience, a sense of responsibility, a sense of harmony, which bring happiness to both self and others.”

-His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Who’s Your God?

 

KP says: (10:05:14)who’s you god i say
KP says: (10:06:41 AM)
is your god money?
KP says: (10:06:43 AM)
status?
KP says: (10:06:45 AM)
power?
KP says: (10:06:47 AM)
control?
CM says: (10:06:49 AM)
right
CM says: (10:06:53 AM)
you find what you’re looking for
CM says: (10:06:58 AM)
already always listening
KP says: (10:07:01 AM)
you find WHO YOU ARE
CM says: (10:07:10 AM)
ahhh
CM says: (10:07:23 AM)
say, i heard some new terms the other week and thought i’d share wit hyou
CM says: (10:07:33 AM)
“energy sucker” vs “energy giver”

KP says: (10:07:37AM)
yes, one takes enegy one gives energy
CM says: (10:07:54 AM)
yep
CM says: (10:08:25 AM)
right
KP says: (10:11:19 AM)
i feel so free
CM says: (10:11:29 AM)
i know you do
KP says: (10:11:33 AM)
and complete
CM says: (10:11:34 AM)
giddy almost
KP says: (10:16:04 AM)
i have found myself in the darkest places
KP says: (10:16:14 AM)
and in those darkest places there was light
KP says: (10:16:33 AM)
no victims
KP says: (10:16:43 AM)
only awareness
KP says: (10:18:25 AM)
another thing
CM says: (10:18:46 AM)
yes?
KP says: (10:19:12 AM)
you can tell who someone really is when things are bad–it is the true self
CM says: (10:19:37 AM)
yes, you’ve said that before
KP says: (10:19:38 AM)
the true measure of oneself. we are the world we walk through

Trees, Roots, and Suffering. I ask you.

 

“As a tree with strong uninjured roots, though cut down, grows up again, so, when deep craving is not rooted out, suffering arises again and again.” -Dhammapada

It is so with moving through stuff in your life—really through it. We are faced with opportunities to move through stuff in our lives, confronted with difficult situations, people or challenges that test ourSELF. We either crumble under the strain, limp along, pulling ourselves through until it happens all over again, or we examine our circumstances as opportunities to know ourselves and our connection to all of it. There are no mistakes. Every situation, every person we meet and greet, every step we take…all perfection functioning.

The problem with us human beings, we love to avoid situations that make us uncomfortable or confronted. These are the very opportunities that provide us the most growth…opportunities for us to cut the roots off that supply our always way of being. We wonder why we keep attracting the same relationships in our lives, the same bad jobs or people at work that rub us the wrong way.  We cut them down from above, glad to clean them out by changing relationships, or changing jobs, moving, etc. Soon they grow back, sometimes thicker and denser than before and we wonder why this keeps happening to us. We are the world we walk through!

I invite you to look at your roots. What feeds them? Fear? Greed? Ego? Guilt? Lack of confidence? Self-image? Anger? Resentment? Jealously? Being right? Power? Apathy? Or are your roots Love? Generosity? Empathy? Integrity? Authenticity? Respect?

What do you want from others? A way to get ahead? Have one-up-on? Dominance? Control? or Love? Respect? Awe? Connection? I think we all want the same things in life…all of us across the globe. We want to be visible…we want to be heard like the songbird…..we want to be loved and respected. That’s it—-seen, loved and respected. Think about it.

art:©Kate Pabst 2006. All rights reserved.