Spiritual Mind

My favorite pantheistic philosopher, Baruch (or Benedictus) Spinoza is a giant who Bertrand Russell described as “the noblest and most lovable of the great philosophers.” His concepts are easy to understand, his writing is not. Definitely a fun (if challenging) read.

He was among the first to do scholarly literary criticism of the Bible, and did a lot to popularize the pantheistic view that everything is God. His principle argument for a pantheistic view was that if God is a perfect, infinite being, then for anything to NOT be part of God would mean that God had limitations and was not infinite. Nothing CAN be separate from God as that would imply a limitation of God. Interesting POV.

From the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:

His thought combines a commitment to Cartesian metaphysical and epistemological principles with elements from ancient Stoicism and medieval Jewish rationalism into a nonetheless highly original system. His extremely naturalistic views on God, the world, the human being and knowledge serve to ground a moral philosophy centered on the control of the passions leading to virtue and happiness. They also lay the foundations for a strongly democratic political thought and a deep critique of the pretensions of Scripture and sectarian religion. Of all the philosophers of the seventeenth century, perhaps none have more relevance today than Spinoza.

Nice post from Awakeblogger on Eckhart vs. Tony.

A little bit of a debate about who’s better, but also a discussion about how the styles might complement each other.

Image: MonkMojo

When you hear about Spiritual Growth, you might think it’s all about the white-bearded guru sitting in a cave, or some hippie earth mother with braided hair. For others, “growth” will have a rigid interpretation assigned to it by a particular holy book or tradition.

Obviously the term is much too complicated for one superficial, all-encompassing definition. What I’m going to talk about is a fluid interpretation of spiritual growth and its practical application in our daily lives.

How does this growth benefit us? Well, here’s my list of the top reasons (if you have others, I want to hear them.):

BENEFIT 1. YOU GET TO SEE LIFE FROM A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW.

“People find life entirely too time consuming.”
- Stanislaw Jerzy Lec, Polish writer

When you’re in the thick of daily life, it can be hard to see clearly. You take the world personally and you feel responsible for things you can’t control. With spiritual growth, you begin to free yourself of the burden of thinking that you’re the driver and the world is your car.
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Most times we never recognize that some things that drive us up a wall, are the same things we subconsciously see in ourselves.

Interesting article by Susan Whitney of the Deseret News on what to do before you clear out your “garage”…so to speak.

Apparently, one important step is that you first need to get your spiritual life in order, then tackle your messy desk (or house). My favorite part is: “As you declutter, you will find your true self.”

This is a preview for Spirit Space, a documentary ala “What the bleep..” Not sure if its any good, but the preview looks intriguing enough. It’s hilarious watching physicist Fred Allan Wolf get excited as he’s talking.

From the site:
Allow yourself to travel even further down the quantum Rabbit Hole in a quest for answers to age old questions. Discover remarkable possibilities as to what and how our consciousness works with the world around us. Listen to possibilities of what happens to our consciousness before and after death.

I like the idea of thoughtful discussion about the soul (or the energy that gives us life). Where does it come from? What’s it “made” of? How does it relate to everything else in the Universe. It’s a fun topic. From the preview it looks like they focus mostly on those aspects, which is nice, but it also looks like they decided to touch on past-life stuff - which is not quite my cup of tea.

I’m going to watch it soon. If you’ve already seen it, let me know your thoughts.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QADLxT0mO0U&hl=en&fs=1]

Hopefully it won’t come to this. I guess in the future, they’re expecting sticks and stones, but no underwear.

Do you have a favorite thinking spot? A place where, once you’re there, you take a deep breath and relax. A place where all the static that hums through your head begins to quiet down. Where time seems to slow a little, and you can sit quietly and just… think.

Some of you know what I’m talking about and have such a place, others might still be looking for it.

For me personally, even though I’ve had the great fortune of visiting beautiful places around the world, I still find it challenging to do my best thinking anywhere other than my favorite spot.

Either a place is ‘too” beautiful that it distracts me, or it’s too dull to really inspire.
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“Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth.”
-Alan Watts

Alan Watts is cool, and among the most influential thinkers of the 20th century. And even though he died 35 years ago, when you listen to his lectures it’s as if he’s speaking about the present. There’s a great series of his recordings called “Out of Your Mind”, plus he has other great lectures on religion and philosophy. Very entertaining and one of my favs.

Here’s a snippet of his bio from Wikipedia:

Alan Wilson Watts (January 6, 1915 – November 16, 1973) was a philosopher, writer, speaker, and student of comparative religion. He was best known as an interpreter and popularizer of Asian philosophies for a Western audience.

He wrote more than twenty-five books and numerous articles on subjects such as personal identity, the true nature of reality, higher consciousness, meaning of life, concepts and images of God and the pursuit of happiness, relating his experience to scientific knowledge and to the teachings of Eastern and Western religions or philosophies (Zen Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity, Hinduism, etc.).

TOP 10 REASONS YOU SHOULD LIKE ALAN WATTS:

1. ERIC CARTMAN LOVES HIM - The South Park guys are into him. There’s something unique about you if you’re cool enough to have parts of your lectures set to Terence & Philip style animation (South Park fans know what I’m talking about).
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