We all witness certain events in the course of our lives that stand out from others — events we won’t ever forget. Such an event I witnessed this past Friday night — the type of event that legends are made from.
It wasn’t a tragedy like the assination of JFK, or the terrorism of 911, or [...]
I got a call last night from my daughter, who is a student at the University of Maryland. She told me about a book that I might want to read, entitled, “The Last Lecture.” It’s a book by Dr. Randy Pausch, a 46-year-old Carnegie Mellon Professor of Computer Science, who is dying of pancreatic [...]
I think it is wrong when a doctor gives to a patient a medical death sentence. You can call me an optimist, but I believe as Kirkegaard did that every man is an exception. And some of the exceptions pertain to outliving medical predictions.
Inayat Khan told this story:
I knew a person whom a [...]
Last night I attended a reading group. The group reading focused on suffering and spirituality, or more specifically, the role of suffering in the process of spiritual awakening. It seems that suffering is often the precursor to entering the spiritual path.
One person said that when she worked as a director of a cancer clinic, she [...]
It’s been about seven months since the passing of my mother. I’m still making the adjustment. When a happy event happens in my life I still have the thought, “Call Mother.” So I just talk out loud as if she is in the room, hoping that somehow she can hear me. You never [...]
The spiritual life is the purpose in being born. For some, that purpose remains conscious throughout life; for others it becomes more and more unconscious. Why? Because some people become overburdened with the denseness of the world. When life is a burden it’s hard to be inspired. And what does it mean to be inspired? [...]
It’s a very Zen-like thing to do — letting go. Life after death happens to everyone, sooner or later. But what do we do? Where do we go? What do we need to do to prepare?
You may have seen the Visa commercial about all the great places that don’t take American Express. Well the [...]
Life and death are so connected that the understanding of one is not complete without the understanding of the other. The synergy of the two leads to heightened awareness.
I remember hearing the following words of advice on a cold January night in India: “Live your spiritual life as if you aren’t going to live to [...]
Throughout my life, my thoughts have often turned to death and the spirit world that awaits us all. I have lost to death my parents, a sister, an ex-wife, and almost all of my closest friends. I think about death not because I am morbid but because death is useful to me in putting [...]
Have you ever imagined the last day of your life? I find it to be a helpful exercise. It seems the wisest people alive are the ones that are so close to death. They experience a peace that seems so elusive to everybody else.
I once lived through a night when I was convinced I [...]
Do you have a fear of death?
I remember a chapter in my life about 30 years ago when I was in so much physical pain that I couldn’t sleep for a week. And I wouldn’t have slept then if it weren’t for the anesthesia the hospital gave me for the surgery I needed.
It’s amazing [...]
Rising from ashes–what could be more uplifting in a film than that? Yesterday when I wrote about identity shifts and attractor energy fields, I mentioned the fact that the night before I watched a violent movie and the fact that it had a deadening effect on my consciousness.
Well, tonight (Sunday night as I [...]
Have you ever had reincarnation complications? If you have clear insight into your past lives and relationships from those lives, you probably have. I even heard a song once called The Reincarnation Blues.
Reincarnation has always fascinated me. This fascination became most intense 22 years ago when I had an overwhelming sense that I [...]
Chances are, if you are on this site, you enjoy reading literature and books on the inner life. As a writer who focuses frequently on that subject, I get asked what books I read or recommend. Below is a list of 10 books that have impacted me more than most; that have made their way [...]
Learning of my ex-wife’s death in a novel earlier this year was perhaps the strangest thing that ever happened to me. Here is how it happened.
My current wife and I were sitting at our dining room table eating lunch. I got the thought in my head that I haven’t called my friend Marc in [...]
Eventually, most people have to deal with the death of a parent. My mother died last month. She was 89-years-old. She lived a long and active life, and even enjoyed going out dancing until very recently. Her physical decline came on over the past year.
I remember getting a call 10 days prior to her death [...]