Philosophy, Spirituality, and Mysticism
This essay will not be focused on rigorous argumentation and logic-chopping. I will rather focus on stating conclusions about fundamental reality that I have learned from studying Advaita Vedanta from Swami Sarvapriyananda’s lectures (freely available on YouTube). I am not expecting you, the reader, to accept these statements intellectually. Rather this is a poetic exercise … Read more
“You are not the body, nor is the body yours; you are not the doer nor the enjoyer. You are Consciousness itself, the eternal Witness, and free. Go about happily.” ~ Ashtavakra Gita, Chap. 15, verse 4 In this statement is contained the essence of Advaita Vedanta. In this essay, I will defend the following … Read more
This post is a short meditation on the relationship between Vedanta and Christianity as it relates to the Christian ethics of love. I am grateful to Swami Sarvapriyananda for his teachings on Advaita Vedanta. All my knowledge of Vedanta is thanks to him, but any error is mine. “Be Grateful to the Man you help, … Read more
The fundamental and most basic thing we have knowledge of is that of our subjective experience, our point of view, and our perspective on the world. Every sight, every sound, every feeling, every thought, every emotion—all of these experiences are experienced from a particular subjective perspective. This subjective perspective is what philosophers mean by “inner … Read more
This essay is about Advaita Vedanta and Buddhism. Let me state at the outset that I am not an expert on either one, so any mistakes in understanding are entirely my own. According to my understanding, Advaita Vedanta states that (1) There is a True Self or Soul (The Atman) (2) This True Self is … Read more
I am abandoning Christianity (again). For the past few years I have been exploring a rich world of spiritual and religious belief, diving deep into these waters after over a decade in the ontological desert of physicalistic atheism. I have dabbled in every kind of neopaganism and eclectic occultism but eventually settled on a kind … Read more
Many Christians are wondering: can you be a Christian and believe in astrology? In short, yes. You can be a Christian and believe in quite a number of things like astrology, Tarot, crystals, etc. But isn’t that pagan and against God? Doesn’t the Bible say things like divination and “sorcery” are forbidden? There are definitely … Read more
Life with Grace is a life of surrender. Grace cannot be merely received it must be surrendered into. It is freely given but cannot be claimed actively or passively. True surrender is not active or passive: it is active passivity and passive activity. It is like surrendering to gravity by diving off a cliff face … Read more
Philosophers and theologians often describe God as a kind of ultimate necessary being that undergirds the contingency of the world. And not a “being” as a kind of “entity.” God is not an entity. God is not an agent in the ordinary sense. If God is anything, they are beyond the limitations of that distinction. … Read more
How clever we humans are. But it is our great pride and vanity that stands in the way of recognizing our limitations as a species. And it is only when we fully confront the limitations of our knowledge that we in fact gain knowledge of deeper mysteries. But this knowledge gained is not propositional knowledge. … Read more