Archive for July, 2008
Thursday, July 31st, 2008
Sam Harris and Andrew Sullivan Discuss Faith
While I happened upon this discussion late, I liked it very much. Both men are intelligent, passionate and polite. In their exchange Harris, author of The End of Faith, establishes a definition: I think that faith is, in principle, in conflict with reason (and, therefore, that religion is necessarily in conflict with science), while you [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Chapter 1 - Unconsciousness,Chapter 2 - Grasping,Fundamentalism,Writing by Michael McAlister
Thursday, July 31st, 2008
Deepak Chopra – Imagining God in Color
On beliefnet.com today Deepak Chopra blogs: In any system of organized religion, belief trumps first-hand experience. Such an experience, when it is truly spiritual, brings a sense of universality, far beyond our concepts of race and creed. Interesting echo of the section from p. 72 in AiTL, titled Anger and Dogma.
No Comments » - Posted in Chapter 2 - Grasping,Fundamentalism,Interfaith,Writing by Michael McAlister
Wednesday, July 30th, 2008
Patriotism and Enlightenment
Over at the Huffington Post, Steve Posner wrote a great piece last week on the convergence, and divergence, of politics and faith: Churches are among my favorite places to meditate. Even in the middle of a bustling city, whether it be morning or evening, in the American midwest or northern Italy or southern Spain, I [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Politics,Writing by Michael McAlister
Wednesday, July 30th, 2008
Tricycle » Meditating Monks Ignore Earthquake
This proves it… meditation would be good for Judge Judy. An earthquake rocked L.A. yesterday, fortunately causing little damage. It managed to scare the usually unflappable Judge Judy, but a group of monks meditating at a Thai temple were unfazed.
No Comments » - Posted in Theory & Practice by Michael McAlister
Sunday, July 27th, 2008
Gone Beyond, Gone Way Beyond…
Aloha from Kauai. I’m sitting here doing a little reading on the net while my wife and daughter sleep away an eventful day of helicopter riding and playing at the beach. We also walked into a shop that specialized in Buddhist paraphernalia. Everything you might need to get your practice off on a traditional footing. [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Theory & Practice,Writing by Michael McAlister
Thursday, July 24th, 2008
Infinite Smile Podcast – Perpetual Rest in the Fire of Life
7/24/2008 Click HERE in order to listen to Michael’s talk. Get the new iTunes software and subscribe to this podcast from the Buddhist and/or Philosophy sections of the Religion & Spirituality list. ____ In tonight’s talk, Michael discusses the incomplete nature of what he calls small self being. When our orientation is kept down by the fire of our addictions to egoic [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Podcast by Michael McAlister
Monday, July 21st, 2008
A Zen Retreat, A Buddhist Farm Offers A Place Away From Money, Stress And BlackBerrys – CBS News
This was a nice surprise. On CBS Sunday Morning, Green Gulch Farm was featured as a way to escape. Of course, if you’re really doing the practice, it’s not about escape, but about facing everything and avoiding nothing. (p.201) Read the article here.
No Comments » - Posted in Video,Writing by Michael McAlister
Saturday, July 19th, 2008
Interpretations of Awakening
In his blog post, Tom Stine notes: The only “criteria” I have for awakening is seeing, truly seeing, beyond the self, the “I”, the “me” that everyone thinks they are. When that is seen through, completely through, it is as if one has awakened from a dream, a dream of self. One then knows oneself [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Uncategorized by Michael McAlister
Friday, July 18th, 2008
Non-defense
So often it’s suggested that fundamentalists are at the root of the majority of the problems facing both this country and the world. I couldn’t agree more. Except that those making this suggestion can obviously be guilty of the same unconsciousness they see in others. An author I know makes this case in his new [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Fundamentalism,Uncategorized by Michael McAlister
Friday, July 18th, 2008
Reaching Across the Church Aisle
Here’s an excerpt from an interesting article that Digital Dharma got from Utne Online: To some people, the word “Christians” brings to mind conservative, anti-everything culture warriors. Others think of peace-and-justice activism or the Civil Rights movement. In fact, the U.S. church has long been divided along theological, cultural, and political lines—and the different groups [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Fundamentalism,Interfaith by Michael McAlister
Thursday, July 17th, 2008
Infinite Smile – Recognizing the One in the Many
In this this podcast, Michael McAlister discusses what he calls the “Four A’s” of awareness, acceptance, availability, and authenticity. Living from the Four A’s we free ourselves from the contracted activity and limited thinking of the small self.
No Comments » - Posted in Uncategorized by Michael McAlister
Thursday, July 17th, 2008
Brother David Steindl-Rast – Integral Christianity: Theory and Practice
In this Holons article, Brother David and Ken Wilber discuss how Integral panentheism brings new life to traditional Christian practices and doctrine, such as gratefulness, prayer, and the Holy Trinity, while also offering a stable foundation for truly inter-religious conversations in the modern and post-modern worlds. I am a little concerned that so many people [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Theory & Practice by Michael McAlister
Thursday, July 17th, 2008
Deepak Chopra: Why the Paranormal is Normal – On Faith at washingtonpost.com
I think Deepak Chopra offers some interesting observations in this article: Until the official picture changes, astrology is bogus, astronomy is legitimate. Ghosts are bogus, apparitions of the Virgin Mary are — well, that’s the rub. Religious people are allowed to cling to a different model of reality, tolerated by the official gatekeepers but not [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Writing by Michael McAlister
Wednesday, July 16th, 2008
Infinite Smile » Obama’s Church Search – Lama Surya Das
Infinite Smile » Obama’s Church Search – Lama Surya Das In this clip, Stephen Colbert asks Lama Surya Das if it would be hard for Barack Obama to convert from a secret Muslim to a Buddhist.
No Comments » - Posted in Video by Michael McAlister
Sunday, July 13th, 2008
Dalai Lama defends Islam as peaceful religion – washingtonpost.com
The Tibetan spiritual leader, appearing at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, offered a defense of Islam in response to a question about the rise of violent religious fundamentalism. He added that he has made a point of reaching out to Muslims since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
No Comments » - Posted in Fundamentalism by Michael McAlister
Saturday, July 12th, 2008
What about tradition?
This link regarding the Karmapa is worth watching. Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly . PROFILE . Karmapa Lama . July 11, 2008 | PBS
No Comments » - Posted in Writing by Michael McAlister
Thursday, July 3rd, 2008
The Smile
If humor is totally absent from this practice, then what’s any of this worth? —Question from a renegade Zen student Okay… who took my robe? —Question from the same Zen student some days later After engaging in a spiritual practice with some degree of diligence, it is easy to lose sight of the humor that [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Chapter 9 - Confluence by Michael McAlister
Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008
No Teachers
As we’ve discussed, no person can enlighten another. Some realized people have a gift for pointing out Truth, but you must realize it for yourself. Whenever we meet another with the fullness of our attention, this allows for one mind to see itself in two beings and for two minds to see themselves as one [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Chapter 9 - Confluence by Michael McAlister
Tuesday, July 1st, 2008
Embodiment
For us to realize that Enlightenment itself is immediately prior to the temporal experience of all things that arise within our awareness is to awaken with all things. In other words, we can look at the spaciousness of the present moment that always exists, before mind gets into its processes of interpretation and evaluation, as [...]
