Archive for November, 2008
Sunday, November 30th, 2008
Adi Da (1939-2008)
I just learned from Tom, of KosmicTom.com fame, and from PR Web that Adi Da has died. An email from one of his followers has been circulated telling us:
Just a minute before, He had been Giving Instructions relative to His Divine Image Art. A few minutes before that, He had been speaking humorously and laughing. [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Theory & Practice, Writing by Michael McAlister
Sunday, November 30th, 2008
Addicted to lists…
Over at Blinkwax.com, Ian posts some suggestions for fulfilling more than just our action items:
Every blog you read these days seems to consist of self proclaimed experts writing pithy bullet point lists on ways to improve slash organize slash monetize slash popularize your life. With so many people seemingly having distilled so many effective quick-fix [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Writing by Michael McAlister
Sunday, November 30th, 2008
Pics Along the Path
When shampoo attacks…
No Comments » - Posted in Uncategorized by Michael McAlister
Sunday, November 30th, 2008
The Trap of This or That
David Marshall writes an intelligent response to one of my recent posts that I thought I’d share.
To my assertion that the Source of all agency might be a more accurate, albeit partial, representation of what we often call God, he says:
I think this is debatable if I am understanding you correctly.
Of course he’s right on this [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Chapter 9 - Confluence, Theory & Practice, Writing by Michael McAlister
Sunday, November 30th, 2008
Fanning Fundamentalist Flames
The International Herald Tribune offers an interesting piece on the implications of this past week’s attacks. The major theme shouldn’t surprise any one.
The terrorists’ barely concealed ties to Pakistan suggest that a key objective of the Mumbai assault was to fan the dying flames of Indian-Pakistani conflict.
Because of this, neither the Pakistanis nor the Indians [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Chapter 3 - Fear, Fundamentalism, Interfaith, Politics, Writing by Michael McAlister
Saturday, November 29th, 2008
Pics Along the Path
Love & Wonder
No Comments » - Posted in Writing by Michael McAlister
Thursday, November 27th, 2008
Alternative Nirvana
Happy Thanksgiving!
No Comments » - Posted in Writing by Michael McAlister
Thursday, November 27th, 2008
Agency Is Not God… at least not entirely
Over at Salon, Steve Paulson writes about biologist Stuart Kauffman’s new approach to God in his recent book, “Reinventing the Sacred”.
[Kauffman] seeks to formulate a new scientific worldview and, in the process, reclaim God for nonbelievers. Kauffman argues that our modern scientific paradigm — reductionism — breaks down once we try to explain biology and [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Chapter 3 - Fear, Chapter 5 - Presence, Chapter 7 - Clarity, Development, Theory & Practice, Writing by Michael McAlister
Thursday, November 27th, 2008
Who says singing crocs can’t help us uncover stillness?
Bows to the WorstHorse for this one.
No Comments » - Posted in Chapter 6 - Practice, Theory & Practice, Video by Michael McAlister
Thursday, November 27th, 2008
Karmic Activity
Here’s a podcast from InfiniteSmile.
No Comments » - Posted in Chapter 3 - Fear, Podcast by Michael McAlister
Thursday, November 27th, 2008
Buddhism Lite?
Over at the Huffington Post, Perry Garfinkel writes:
A Buddhist teacher friend of mine calls his brand Buddhism Lite, and I agreed when I first saw Thich Nhat Hanh address a packed auditorium at Berkeley High School in California in 1988. His simple message and his demure persona convinced me that this guy was never going [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Politics, Writing by Michael McAlister
Wednesday, November 26th, 2008
Tweet Grid in action…
Saddened by today’s events in Mumbai. Tweet Grid is offering a fascinating glimpse at Twitter users, some at the scenes, in realtime.
May all beings find the peace.
No Comments » - Posted in Chapter 3 - Fear, Fundamentalism, Interfaith by Michael McAlister
Wednesday, November 26th, 2008
Evolution & Involution
Bows to Jonathan Doherty for this one.
No Comments » - Posted in Development, Video by Michael McAlister
Wednesday, November 26th, 2008
Charlie Rose and the Dalai Lama
No Comments » - Posted in Theory & Practice, Video by Michael McAlister
Wednesday, November 26th, 2008
Obama’s Church of Hope?
Over at the Huffington Post, Deepak Chopra brings up interesting points when it comes to public presidential piety (just try to say that bit of alliteration quickly).
Money quote:
…if Obama went to a different church every week, with the intention of healing the wounds of divisiveness, he’d be extending the message he was elected on.
No Comments » - Posted in Chapter 6 - Practice, Theory & Practice, Writing by Michael McAlister
Tuesday, November 25th, 2008
Buddhist News
Anyone interested in a comprehensive collection of Buddhist blogs and news should check out Alltop. Nice work from Guy Kawasaki, et al.
No Comments » - Posted in Uncategorized by Michael McAlister
Tuesday, November 25th, 2008
Those who forget the Now…
Michael Paulson writes of last night’s screening of “Milk” for this morning’s Boston Globe:
California is facing a measure that would restrict gay rights amidst a national debate over how the nation’s legal framework should view homosexuality. The conservative religious community throws its muscle behind the proposition. And the gay community protests. Sound familiar?
To bust up [...]
2 Comments » - Posted in Chapter 3 - Fear, Fundamentalism, Politics by Michael McAlister
Tuesday, November 25th, 2008
Disgraced pastor is now a Christian businessman
The AP’s Eric Gorski writes an interesting piece in Sunday’s Washington Post:
Earlier this month, a guest took the pulpit at Open Bible Fellowship in Morrison, Ill., a 350-member church surrounded by cornfields. The speaker was an insurance salesman from Colorado named Ted Haggard.
The former superstar pastor, disgraced two years ago in a sex-and-drugs scandal, had [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Fundamentalism, Writing by Michael McAlister
Tuesday, November 25th, 2008
The grief that is close…
Ian, an ER nurse who runs Blinkwax.com posted this thought provoking commentary on grief:
That for us it is important to take every opportunity to swing our happiness around our heads, to let it unravel in wild arcs until it wipes against the walls.
To sling our humour at low angles, so it skips off the floor [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Theory & Practice, Writing by Michael McAlister
Sunday, November 23rd, 2008
Malaysians Ban Yoga for Muslims
Interesting read over at the On Faith section of the Washington Post:
Malaysia’s top Islamic body fresh from banning tomboys issued an edict Saturday that prohibits Muslims from practicing yoga, saying that elements of Hinduism in the ancient Indian exercise could corrupt them.
The National Fatwa Council’s chairman, Abdul Shukor Husin, said many Muslims fail to understand [...]
