Seeing Rightly
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
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 One of the exquisitely wonderful elements of friendship is the compassionate clarity a friend can bring to situations that we may feel overwhelmed by. Most of us have had times when we feel so consumed by the sensations of pain that we can barely function. At those times, when we feel … Continue reading The Blessings of Friends . . . and Enemies
by Leatrice Evanne Asher The way we handle pain is a good indication of how we are likely to handle our own dying—both the anticipation of it and the process itself. Like pain, death becomes troublesome only if we are not present in the reality of it. Death is something we can, even should, be … Continue reading Death and Dying
