InnerSelf.com

by Alan Cohen.

If you read the small print on contracts, no one is liable for "Acts of God" -- disasters beyond human control, like storms, floods, lightning, and (some would argue) protracted visits from uninvited relatives. I find it fascinating that in such contracts God takes the rap for everything that goes wrong, and rarely receives credit for the...

by Cassendre Xavier.

In the times we are now living, there are many cataclysmic changes in the earth and our atmosphere. There is a general consensus that the world is deeply troubled, and among some select “believers” that the end is near. Being calm, loving, peaceful, and positive can help us and even reverse some of the...

Without a doubt, we do live in a world of opposites. In theology, these opposites take on names and appearances that translate into the forces of light and dark, good and evil. While I'm not denying their existence, I am describing how it's possible to change what they mean in our lives and redefine...

The time has come for you to realize that you are always in safety. There is safety in physical form, and safety in non-physical form. The reason why you fear such things is that you do not yet believe that you are the creator of your own experience. As we have said many, many times before, that which you turn your attention to is that which you draw unto yourself...

Generally speaking, humility is a virtue. Foolish pride and ego glorification are pretty much universally recognized as the opposite of spirituality. An effective way to cultivate your spirituality and lessen your ego is to put yourself into the service of another...

by Karen Anne Bentley.

We may think that doing God's Will is contrary to our individual will. We might think He wants us to do something that we don't really want to do or wouldn't like doing. Maybe He wills us to change everything in our life as we know it and become selfless like a Mother Teresa. Or even worse, we could be afraid of God's Will.

by Carolyn E. Cobelo, MSW.

Change is ongoing. So, you are finding yourselves energized, mobilized to move beyond the present motion in your lives, beyond the present attachments, beyond the present alienations. The alienation, aloneness, frustrations, resentments, angers, doubts, and fears -- all of this you can leave behind in one swoop...

"The world is moving too fast," lamented the successful middle-aged stock broker. He was having trouble sleeping and getting a migraine headache almost daily. From a Western perspective, this man was having caffeine-withdrawal headaches, exacerbated by his irregular sleep-wake pattern. From the Ayurvedic point-of-view this poor man's life was being ruled by movement without rhythm. He needed to remember what he was really made of and return to his true nature.

In the Kabbalah of the Jewish tradition, the soul is not something that needs curing from some affliction so much as needing to be repaired, tikkun. It is said that if one person truly knew how to fix the soul by celebrating the Divine Presence in life, then that person would repair the whole world. This version is an adaptation of a story told by Rabbi Shlomo Carlbach and included in the book Shlomo's Stories.

by Dan Joseph.

Many times we'll feel that we have 'received' something -- a prompting, a nudge, an idea. However, we're not sure if it's inspired by God's wisdom, or if it's coming from our own personal thoughts. How do we tell the difference? From the discussions I've had with people, there seem to be a vast number of discernment techniques. Some people, for example, feel a "happy glow" around one choice, and...

One of my most cherished Christmas memories involves a Christmas when the only gifts I received came without gift-wrap. The socks hung exactly as we had left them, lifeless and flat. "There's nothing there," I sobbed...

A story about the "Shining One" who explains the reason behind human cruelties and struggle: I leaned from the low-hung crescent moon and grasping the west pointing horn of it, looked down. Against the other horn reclined, motionless, a Shining One and looked at me, but I was unafraid. Below me the hills and valleys were thick with humans, and the moon swung low that I might see what they did.