by Leatrice Evanne Asher Many religions and spiritual paths strongly advocate forgiveness. And it is often recommended by self-help practitioners. The merits of being able to forgive are considerable, especially when we see how self-destructive the inability to forgive can be. But, as with promoting positive thinking, the attempt to forgive may arise from the … Continue reading Forgiveness
By Leatrice Evanne Asher Reality is that which actually is, as opposed to what the mind can conceive. Because reality is knowable but not conceivable any constructs of mind will be irrelevant to the experience of this authentic state, referred to in Buddhism as “original mind”. Beliefs are opinions or convictions about something that are … Continue reading Conscious Awareness of Consciousness
by Leatrice Evanne Asher “This above all: to thine own self be true.” —William Shakespeare Balance is a fundamental principle in the universe. Applied to our lives, balance can be equated with equilibrium—evenness—a quality that allows us to move through the world with ease. Yet, how often do we wake up, go to work, relate to … Continue reading From Disequilibrium to Equilibrium
by Leatrice Evanne Asher —William Shakespeare; from Hamlet Freedom is waking up to the true condition and conditioning of the human. Once awake, we can begin to detach from that which we are not. We create and recreate ourselves continually by acting out roles of our choosing, a kind of desire-driven day-dreaming creation. This may … Continue reading What We Are Not
(this is an abridged version of the original article that was published in the Word Magazine, Published by The Word Foundation, Inc. – Autumn issue 2015) by Leatrice Evanne Asher If we have not experienced our true nature then most likely we consider our personal identity—that which we refer to as “I”— to be the … Continue reading Seeing Rightly
by Leatrice Evanne Asher [This article expands on “Seeing Rightly” that appeared in The Word, Autumn, 2015—Ed.] If we want to know the truth of ourselves, continually looking for answers outside of our own field of functioning will not bring us any closer to that intention. We cannot know reality with ideas from a … Continue reading Returning to Reality
by Leatrice Evanne Asher We think of a humble person as someone who is modest and lacks self-importance. A person of false humility may seem just as unpretentious because they are exhibiting similar characteristics. The difference is that these characteristics are contrived to satisfy an imagined ideal of how one is supposed to be. This … Continue reading True and False Humility
by Leatrice Evanne Asher (This is a condensed version of the original article published in The Word Magazine) Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth ―Albert Einstein Spiritual vanity is one of the more elusive forms of self-deception—elusive, because when we adjudge something to be “good” or praiseworthy it is more difficult … Continue reading Students and Teachers: The Roles We Play
by Leatrice Evanne Asher However reasonable and rational we may be in most areas of our lives, we often have unreasonable expectations of our parents. We can accept imperfections in ourselves and in our friends that we cannot seem to accept in our own parents. How many of us find ourselves doing things we wouldn’t … Continue reading Parents and Pain
By Leatrice Evanne Asher Language is a medium of communication, but the words we choose to convey our thoughts and feelings often reveal much more than the information we are explicitly conveying. They also reveal our beliefs, our prejudices, our partialities—our inner world. They reflect who we are, what we have become. We all know … Continue reading Changing Our Language to Change Our Pain
