Someone has been praying for me. I can feel it. It's not something I can totally explain.....but recently (as in the past couple of days) I've had this amazing feeling of peace, of tranquility... despite everything that's going on right now. I at first thought that it was the Dao, that I had found my Dao again...but that's not it, there's something more. I really can't explain it...all I can say is that I KNOW someone has been praying for me. I don't know HOW I know this; I just ...

There's been a lot of talk recently about sin. It seems to be the general consensus in certain circles that homosexuality is a ticket straight to hell....on a par with homicide, almost. This got me thinking about the varying sins and their 'weightiness', so to speak. Is there such a thing as a 'scale - o - sin', where someone can measure what sin is worse than another? Isn't all sin bad, period? I mean, where in the Bible does it say that homosexuality is worse than coveting your nei...

The Buddha compared faith to and blind giant who meets up with a very sharp-eyed cripple, called wisdom. The blind giant, called faith, says to the sharp-eyed cripple, "I am very strong, but I can't see; you are very weak, but you have sharp eyes. Come and ride on my shoulders. Together we will go far." The Buddha never supported blind faith, but a balance between heart and mind, between wisdom and faith. The two together will go far. The saying that blind faith can move mountains omit...

Something happened yesterday that showed me how far I've come on this spiritual path I've been walking. We live on base, and in military housing there are some strict rules about leaving children unattended. I had left Davey (who's almost 10) alone whilst I took his sister to the BX (the department store on base). Base regs say that I can do that, as long as I'm not gone for more than an hour and the child left alone has immediate access to adult assistance (he did, I had my cell phone o...

I've been asked on more than one occasion recently how Buddhism 'works'....what it's basic 'rules' (for want of a better word) are and how it's similar to Christianity. I thought that the best place to start would be to explain the 5 basic precepts. These are the things I agreed to do when I made the decision to practice Buddhism. To refrain from killing and harming living beings. To refrain from stealing and taking that which is not yours. To refrain from causing harm through ...

Check these out: "I went to a daily mass shortly after the 9-11 attacks. We needed comfort and to comfort each other. What we got was a homily saying we got what we deserved because we tolerate abortion. What is 3000 compared to millions of aborted?" "At the end of a series of curing people of 'demon cancers' and purging 'satanic viruses,' [a faith healer] tells everyone that Jesus has told him that people should contribute $1000. ...I could see thousands of people reaching for their wal...

Before I get into this, let me lay down some ground rules...I know that child abuse is not limited to religious circles.  This article is in no way meant as an attack on organized religion...this is just an account of a nasty case we had in my community a couple of years ago.  I was reminded of this case as a result of a conversation I had over on Cornbread's 'Gay what???' thread. As always, I welcome responses and comments, but be warned that I will not tolerate attitudes such as...

I'm reading Donald Neale Walsh's 'Friendship with God'.  I'm embarking on my own friendship with Him.  It's hard.  I have in my head the dogma of my youth....the rules and rituals of the Anglican church, the stuff I was taught in confirmation class about angry and vengeful gods...the things I saw and heard in Baptist churches about fire and brimstone, about homosexuality and adultery, about the sins of the fathers being visited on the sons.... I'm having difficulty...

'......the nature of the essential urge toward enlightenment is enlightenment itself.  The very fact that we are intrigued with the spiritual quest stems from the source of the light, so to speak.  Consequently, enlightenment is not an end; it is truer to say that it is the beginning' David A Cooper, Silence, Simplicity and Solitude.

I believe that we all have souls. I believe that there is one great power, a divine source.  Some people call him Yaweh, some God, some Allah, some Brahma, some cosmos, some the oversoul.  I believe that there are many paths to this deity, and that each of us takes the path that feels 'right' to us.  I believe in reincarnation, that we have been here before.  Some of us have old souls and are on our last tour of this reality.  Some are new souls and have ...

Here's a question for all the Christians in the house: How comfortable are you with the thought of sharing heaven with a mass murderer?  A pedophile?  A person who delighted in torturing little children before they beat them to death?  How comfortable are you with spending eternity with people who rob and rape and kill and pervert and abuse?  With people who were so vile in life that they had to be segregated from the general population and imprisoned for the rest of t...

Did you know that according to Gnostic and Jewish tradition, Eve was NOT Adam's first mate? According to Haggadah, a book of oral legend usually associated with the Talmud, Lilith was the first woman. She was created from dust, the same as Adam, but she only remained with him a short time.  Why? Because she insisted upon enjoying full equality with him, saying that she had a right to do so because she was created the same way as he was. Adam, apparently, didn't like it.  Ne...

What if the Bible isn't the end of the story? What if there's more to the nature of the divine and man's relationship with such?  What if the Council of Nicea only got it partially right - what if there are other teachings that are just as valid that expand upon the teachings of the Bible?  What if?  How would that affect your faith?  Your beliefs?  Your perceptions of what is real and what isn't? What if?  Would it change things for you?  ...