#LITGEEKS Reads The Saddlebag: A Poetic, Mystically Infused Text

#LITGEEKS is an unusually hardcore book club. Next we’re reading British-Iranian author Bahiyyih Nakhjavani’s The Saddlebag, a poetic and mystically infused work of fiction.

Note to Self: There is No Self

We are both individuals and expressions of the universe. These are not mutually exclusive. The idea of no-self means that we do not interrupt this oneness with our individuality.

Enlightenment Through Fear of Dying: A Talk with Jodorowsky

In this excerpt from Gilles Farcet’s 1989 interview with Alejandro Jodorowsky, Jodorowsky discusses being spiritually “good” as a child, growing up with a militant atheist father, and how fear of dying drives his search for divinity.

The Twilight Language of Yoga

The Ancient Tamil Siddhars of India are uncannily similar to the Jedi of Star Wars. A Siddhar is one who is accomplished through awareness, a designation to those who have reached higher states of psychic and yogic capabilities, as well as worldly wisdom.

Daniel Webster ‘Doc’ Paul – Traditional Healing in Oglethorpe County Georgia

Although he died in 1932, people in Oglethorpe County Georgia still remember the miracles that occurred when ‘Doc’ Paul laid hands and prayed.

Mind Power: A Manifesto

I am interested in formulating a tough-minded, intellectually defensible, and useful distillation of New Thought ideas. But make no mistake: I am not interested in intellectualizing New Thought. I am interested in using it. And, if I’m able, in helping my neighbor to do the same.

Encountering the Buddha in Disguise

Last weekend, a gentleman on Valencia blockaded my path, demanding, “Have you heard the philosophy?” Though I resumed upon my way, I couldn’t help wondering what timeless wisdom I’d hurriedly declined. When I ran into him again three days later, this is what he told me.

In Defense of the “Woo-Peddlers”

There is no simple way of dismissing or proscribing positive thinking. Personal testimony, the experience of the individual, is a vital element in understanding spiritual self-help.

Consciousness Wars

The following is an excerpt from my new book, The Secret Teachers of the Western World. In it I look at the history of the western esoteric or ‘inner’ tradition through the lens of the work of two important thinkers, the German-Swiss philosopher Jean Gebser, and the contemporary neuroscientist and English scholar Iain McGilchrist. My […]

Corporate mindfulness is bunk. Here’s why.

Corporations are using mindfulness to null out pervasive problem of stress in the business world.