There’s this thing called the serenity prayer, which you may already be familiar with. It was penned, originally, by theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, and goes like this: God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference. Eckhart & The Dalai Lama, too There’s something about this that I’ve always liked. …
Advaita Vedanta
All Names Are the Names of Consciousness
Neither Inside nor Outside An exploration of the relationship between existence, Consciousness and Reality—compliments of Atmananda Krishna Menon ... 52. What Are Name and Form? And How to Transcend Them? Being attracted by the existence aspect of the Absolute everywhere, we start to examine what it is and immediately utilize our senses to do the job. The senses at once project their own …
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The Nature & Object Of Perception
This Q & A compliments of Atmananda Krishna Menon: What is the nature and object of perception? A Jnyanin [Sage] perceives the Absolute, diversified as objects. Ignorant men, identifying themselves with the gross body, perceive gross objects. Others, standing as mind, perceive only subtle objects. Jnyanins, standing as Consciousness, perceive only Consciousness. * …
Snowflake
Imagine a single snowflake, with its delicate crystalline structure—utterly unique from any other snowflake. As it drifts through the air, this single snowflake displays its uniqueness—drifting this way and that: serenely, beautifully, playfully. Now imagine this snowflake landing on the surface of a river, lake or ocean. The moment it touches the water, it melts. Its crystalline structure …
Perception, Reality, Fitness: Practice Notes
Skate On a sunny winter morning several years ago, I was riding with a friend through some winding mountain roads. Coming around a hairpin turn, we hit a patch of black ice, went into a tailspin, slid across the opposite lane, and took out a half-dozen or so fence posts before the trunk of a towering pine tree brought our wild skate to a thudding halt. The good news is that—though the car was …
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Practice Notes: Perceiver & Perceived
A True Story Recently underwent a minor outpatient surgical procedure (nothing serious, thankfully!) that was going to involve some amount of physical discomfort. I was informed that the standard protocol was to administer a sedative cocktail—featuring the uber-potent opioid painkiller fentanyl—which induces drowsy relaxation as it masks the pain-sensations. While the sedative/painkiller …