‘Pain as the Key to Nirvana?’

Many years ago now a certain Buddhist meditation Master in the Theravada tradition, pointed out to my wife, at ‘interview’ during the retreat, the gem contained in his ‘little book’ on the importance of the place of pain during sitting and walking meditation. ‘Pain’ it said, ‘was the key to Nibbana’ (Nirvana). Like some of … Continue reading ‘Pain as the Key to Nirvana?’ →

‘The Straight Path’

(Shari ‘ah, Tariqah, Haqiqah) For many non-Muslims in the West, the very word ‘Shari ‘ah’ rings bells of alarm because of a perceived association with what they view as ‘Fundamentalist Islam.’ Very few indeed are they that will explore what the word actually means in Arabic. However, for those that have come this far with … Continue reading ‘The Straight Path’ →

‘Enough Words?’

Many years ago now I struggled to find words – my own words – to express a ‘reality’ that I was seeing. I found instead that I had acquired the language of others. First it was TM and the Maharishi, later it was Muktananda. Afterwards – very briefly – Rajneesh. Finally, I found Jiddu Krishnamurti, … Continue reading ‘Enough Words?’ →

‘Proximity, the Body of Light and the Word’

(22) …Jesus said to them, “when you make the two one, and when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside, and the above like the below, and when you make the male and the female one and the same, so that the male may not be male nor the … Continue reading ‘Proximity, the Body of Light and the Word’ →

‘Beyond the Beyond: Mistaking the Pot for Its Contents’

Lord Carnarvon, impatient of Howard Carter’s silence as the latter looked, awe struck, though the crack into the newly excavated tomb of the boy King Tutankhamun, called out to him, “Can you see anything?” Carter responded, “Yes! Wonderful things!” It was 1922, almost 100 yrs ago. What Howard Carter saw, on that first glimpse back … Continue reading ‘Beyond the Beyond: Mistaking the Pot for Its Contents’ →

‘A Scattering of Bones: A Response to Covid 19’

‘A Scattering of Bones’ Why do we hang on to life? Why, in these currently troubling times where even normal intercourse between self and other is curtailed, do we cling to this idea of form that keeps us in servitude to forces beyond our control? Recently I wrote a piece entitled ‘The Ram, the Lamb, … Continue reading ‘A Scattering of Bones: A Response to Covid 19’ →

'Opening the Word from the Inside – II'

Laleh Bakhtiar, in her book ‘Sufi: Expressions of the mystical quest,’ (Thames and Hudson, Great Britain, 1997) says that: ‘The journey to God begins with an awakening to the concept that the phenomenal world is a veil which conceals the Divine. We begin the Quest [she says] by removing the veil, only to become aware … Continue reading 'Opening the Word from the Inside – II' →

‘A Brief Reflection on the Fragility of Life’

‘When?’ Second Coming When the earth lies crushed and broken, And the creeks are all dry When the air no longer rings with song Of birds which no longer fly When clouds no longer break apart As they flee before the wind And the sun like a red hot iron Sears souls with the brands … Continue reading ‘A Brief Reflection on the Fragility of Life’ →

‘Never in Becoming, Only in Being’

‘Never in Becoming, Only in Being’ Sirr Sirr al ‘Haqq Since these words were first uttered much more than half a millennia has passed, yet what have we learned…nothing. What could possibly be gained by ‘keeping secret’ the ‘secret of the secret of God’ for so long a period of time, if not time itself? … Continue reading ‘Never in Becoming, Only in Being’ →

‘Guile,Motivation, Action without Guile’

Is it possible, desirable even, to be without intrinsic motivation, and therefore to live without guile? Is not the whole of life, from cradle to grave, driven to be, to become, something, even if that something is simply physical; materially present to and in this world, driven by the demands of self, of family, of … Continue reading ‘Guile,Motivation, Action without Guile’ →