Finding Meaning in Spirituality

I guess at some time in their lives most people ask themselves questions like: "why am I here?", "what's the meaning of life?", "what happens to me after I die?" etc etc.

One day, when I was about 15, I became acutely aware not just of my own mortality but also the futility of the entire universe slowly but surely winding down towards its own heat death. Maybe I was taking science too seriously, but the whole idea depressed me and shook the very optimism that someone just starting life's journey needs in abundance.

In my case it was the discovery of a spiritual perspective that caused my depression to subside and allowed me to progress with a (hopefully) purposeful life.

It's not the purpose of this article to preach any particular belief. None of us can know for sure whether any "God" exists, never mind what His/its nature might be. (more…)

Facing Difficulty

A Coping Strategy for Dealing with Life's Problems

The question of meaning, purpose, or why we are here is one we've all surely asked at one time or another. Given that physical death (and maybe taxes) is the only certainty of this incarnation it is a question without answer in a purely materialistic framework.

Instead we must seek a solution through Spirituality. If we accept that at essence we are immortal Spirit temporarily journeying the earth plane in a body of atoms and molecules then clearly it is in the Spiritual journey that our true purpose lies. (more…)

Finding Happiness

Happiness and sorrow are two sides of the same coin. Without sorrow there would be no such thing as happiness. And vise versa. Both are emotions of the incarnate form, devoid of intrinsic Spiritual significance.

The Spiritual concept of life is as an opportunity for experiential growth. Pleasure is not its primary purpose. Buddhism teaches that life is suffering, with the cessation of that suffering as its goal. Perhaps it is the ability to recognize the ultimate insignificance of earthly trials and tribulations and to rise above them that is meant by divine happiness. As Kipling said, “If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters just the same…” (more…)

Good Karma, Bad Karma

Karma is one of the West's best known Eastern Mystical concepts, even featuring in popular songs by John Lennon (Instant Karma), David Bowie (Karma Man), and Culture Club (Karma Chameleon) among others.

Some years ago the then England football manager Glenn Hoddle, a genuinely Spiritual man, was fired for an ill-considered remark that disabled people were paying for the sins of past lives.

A Definition of Karma

Karma is simply the process of cause and effect. If you do A, B will happen. If you plant tomato seeds, and water and look after them, tomatoes will grow.

whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap St Paul, Galatians 6-7 (more…)

Do What Thou Wilt

English occultist Aleister Crowley wrote "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law" in his classic The Book of The Law forcibly dictated to him by the discarnate higher intelligence called Aiwaz.

What is meant by this "law"? Does it mean we are free to do whatever we please - in other words that there is no law? Or does it convey a deeper, more subtle, truth?

Compare "do what thou wilt" to Jesus' expression of "thy will be done", referring to God's will. Are the two teachings irreconcilably incompatible? As we shall see, maybe not… (more…)

Fate vs Free Will

Predestination, Free Will, or Both?

Are we victims of inescapable fate, or do we really have the power to create our own destiny? That is the age-old question.

The Scientific View

In the 17th Century Isaac Newton formulated his laws of motion and gravitation which gave rise to the concept of a mechanistic "clockwork" universe in which everything proceeded deterministically. Everything that happened was no more than the inevitable consequence of all it followed, including human behavior. God and the soul were redundant.

The clockwork universe was shattered in the 20th century. First Einstein discovered neither time nor space are as we perceive them, but are intertwined in a 4-dimensional continuum. Next Quantum physics found that, far from following principles of cause and effect, reality at its fundamental level is inherently indeterministic.

Yet the prevailing view of science as expounded by the likes of Richard Dawkins is that life (including humanity) is no more that sophisticated machinery. (more…)

You Are Beautiful

You are beautiful.

You are a unique individual. A star like no other; past, present or future. You are on a special journey with a very important purpose.

You are beautiful.

You are part of that great oneness known as Spirit. You are also part of its particular manifestation that is the physical universe. Just as you are attached to every other atom and molecule of the cosmos so you are connected to every part of the Great Spirit, or God. Clothed in a physical body that in itself is a miracle of design and creation you have at your heart divine light. (more…)

The Meaning of Dreams

Why do we dream?

Nobody really knows why we dream. Explanatory theories include the following:

• Dreaming results from random brain activity.
• Dreaming is simply the brain doing its housekeeping, filing away all the different thoughts, observations and other inputs of the day.
• Dreams are an invaluable insight into the subconscious, the "royal road" in the words of Sigmund Freud, founder of psychoanalysis.
• Dreams give the opportunity to experience situations and emotions that we may never encounter physically, either as a rehearsal for what may be, or simply for experiential growth.
• In dreams we draw closer to the world of Spirit and are able to receive Spiritual/psychical information that is normally unavailable during the waking state.

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