Articles on 'Consciousness & Mind-Body' ↓

Life is… let me think a minute… alright then, here’s a picture for you: life is a ball of tangled elastic bands with something really special buried deep inside. The lure is to find the hidden treasure.

Life is like that; full of intriguing discoveries. Like those cereal boxes when I was a kid with the baking-soda-powered toy SUBMARINE–FREE INSIDE. It was a hook, and who could resist?

Back to the ball of elastic bands though: when I was a small boy I wondered why golf balls bounced so high. My Dad was a golfer, so I took one of his golf balls and dissected it to find out why. I was exhilarated as I cut through the casing; like I was splitting the atom or something. What would happen? Would it explode in my face? The energy of that ball had to be locked in there somewhere, and I was about to release it.

Fear lives within you. It breeds in the warm liquid of your flesh feeding on your spirit. Fear is the real original sin. It perverts your true perception.

And the truth is: your world is a marvelous miracle of interconnection and unification. Observe nature and you will know that this is so. Every seemingly separate aspect of nature forms powerful interdependent relationships. That unity is the essence of nature’s success and it can be the essence of your success. If you desire to master your life then, you must accept that you are part of nature, and subject to its mechanics and laws.

But fear wants none of this. Fear’s strength lies in its ability to separate. It positions itself–and you–outside of this unified field of relationship-based all-encompassing thinking. Fear wants you to think about life in linear fashion: this then that; he then she; us then them; I then you. Even reading the words fear generates is stressful, because it just isn’t true; it isn’t natural.

Tai Chi is an extraordinary mind-body practice. It builds a solid bridge between your body, mind, and spirit.

Tai Chi, or Taijiquan as it is often called, is a respected member of the oriental internal arts, within a long tradition of martial arts, health, and spiritual disciplines. It is popular, even here in the west, because it is so flexible in its applications and levels of training. Anyone can learn Tai Chi regardless of their current fitness level.

I would like to tell you how magical Tai Chi practice is, but that is something you have to discover for yourself. What I can say is…

A higher sense of life purpose is unique to higher intelligence.

Other species indigenous to our planet have no need, or ability perhaps, to consider their individual role in the big picture. Their life purpose is determined by their specializations.

It is odd that we humans do not envy other animals for their clarity of life direction, more than we do. Instead, we think of their specialized abilities as an expression of intellectual limitation.

Our attitude is especially odd because we humans are inept at identifying our own life purpose, let alone living it.

We are the most intelligent indigenous species on Earth, but we are the least effective at living to our potential, living in cooperation with the nature that supports us, and thereby ensuring our survival.

Let’s not even go into our unfulfilled potential to create a compassionate and wise society — an accomplishment that is well within our reach.

An enjoyable meditation technique based on how infants see the world. Anyone can master this.