Archive for the ‘Spirituality’ Category

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2010 A.D.
01
Aug
The Upanishads – Like This, As That
Written by RJ Vigoda

As bees suck nectar from many a flower
And make their honey one, so that no drop
Can say, “I am from this flower or that,”
All creatures, though one, know not they are that one.

Chandogya Upanishad

Virtually every spiritual system on earth espouses the existence of an original source.  A source from which all existence emerges and all knowledge flows.  This observation in itself is hardly profound or requires great deductive acumen.  After all, if it’s here it must have come from somewhere.  Both physicists and theologists are in rare accord when claiming everything and everyone must trace back to a singular starting point.  Defining the nature and motivations of this original source has led to a variety of different and conflicting opinions which form the basis of the worlds formalized spiritual systems.   However, closer examination of the description of the essence of the original source brings surprising unanimity.  It reveals an ultimate, singular intelligence of which all are a part; a power whose essence forms and informs all within existence.  Many of the descriptions of this source found in the spiritual texts of our world are exceedingly complex, others breathtakingly simple. 

You are invited to Read More
Last Updated on Sunday, 1 August 2010 06:25
2010 A.D.
10
Jul
Return To The Garden?
Written by RJ Vigoda

Modern science, our beloved paradigm of truth has failed to show us the spiritual light.  Compounding its shortcomings, like a petulant loser unable to admit its inadequacies, science often reverts to trivializing and deconstructing the mystical and transcendent to the point of irrelevance.  Though imperious empiricists may be quick to dismiss the realm of the unseen, for the rest of us the questions of our spiritual being still persist.  As such, like a new breed of existential explorer many contemporary people feel we must look to the culturally remote, pre-modern peoples of the planet in search of the ultimate answers.  Like modern Transcendentalists we’re convinced something as basic and pure as the nature of being must lurk in places of similar character.  Places of yore where the innocents remain uncontaminated by the taint of modernity; where idyllic life styles coexist with the forces and principles of creation.  In desperation our imaginations run wild.  We’re convinced the pre-moderns hold the answers to our mystical awakening.  

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Last Updated on Friday, 23 July 2010 12:57
2010 A.D.
15
Jun
Seven Minute Shaman
Written by RJ Vigoda

The Mazatec peoples have always lived just out of reach of the great empires of Mexican history.  Deeply ensconced in the highlands of the Sierra Madre Oriental in the northeast corner of the state of Oaxaca, their lifestyle has long withstood the brunt of such formidable forces as the Toltecs, Aztecs, Spanish Conquistadors  and the Mexican Federal government.  Though a tribe of Popoluca-Zapotecan linguistic stock, Mazatec is a Nahuatl name given them by the Aztec  meaning “Lord of the Deer.”  The Mazatec prefer to refer to themselves as the “Humble People.”   While the relentless pressures of Catholicism and modernity have gradually seeped into their daily lives they remain predominantly a community of weavers and farmers. 

You are invited to Read More
Last Updated on Friday, 30 July 2010 11:51
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