Spirituality

I consider spirituality to be a function of personal values, morals, behavior and growth direction and not a matter of what church or religion you belong to. I have found many people who have no religious affiliation to be highly spiritual, kind and inspiring. In contrast, I have known many people who are strongly religious but not essentially spiritual because they do not practice what they preach or look at the consequences of their words or behaviors.

The deepest wisdom of many spiritual traditions breaks down to 2 things: open awareness (mindfulness, the search for truth) and compassion (loving kindness). Both of these keys to spirituality are meaningless unless you practice them.

Listen, be kind, read to expand your thinking and develop your self-awareness - those will move you in a spiritual direction.

Some recommendations for further study:

The Bodhisatva Peace Training by Lama Shenpen Drolma about compassion and awareness as the paths to inner and outer peace. Based on the teachings of Chagdad Tulku.

Ani Pema Chodron, an American Buddhist nun who writes with beautiful clarity on inner peace.

Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk who writes on peace and love from Plum Village.

Hazrat Inayat Khan's writings on Sufism, a path of love and awareness.

Ram Dass, teaching on love and service with humor.

Kirtan, a beautiful chanting tradition for clearing the mind and heart.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s spiritually based speeches on nonviolence and love.

Gayanashagowa or the Great Law of Peace of the Iroquois.

The Work of Gurdjieff - writings and exercises for awareness development.

The Goddess - for balance and wholeness, it is important to study female spirituality in addition to all these deeply male traditions. Some sources I have found are the Goddess Alive webzine, the Goddess a Day website, and the Goddess Festival.

2 years ago, my friend Diana Rivers and I went to Greece to look for Goddess sights, particularly oracles to Gaia, and I prepared this powerpoint presentation about it - Searching for the Goddess in Greece.