Noting Buddhist Meditation Master S N Goenka

            Satya Narayana Goenka died on this day, the 29th of September, 2013, at his Mumabi home. He was survived by his wife Elaichi Devi Goenka, six sons, and a generation of Vipassana meditation

Uncategorized meditation Buddhism Buddhist modernism Insight meditation S N Goenka Vipassana

That holy spirit, always resting wherever it wishes

    Jan and I were at a gigantic annual booksale in Santa Barbara. We go there every year. This time was difficult as we are in the midst of dramatically shrinking our personal library. But. Well. The

Uncategorized spirituality wisdom awakening mysticism Perennialism History and Religion syncretism in religion taoism and christianity

The Dance of Welcoming in Spiritual Communities

          (A sermon by James Ishmael Ford, delivered at the Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church in Pasadena, on the 24th of September, 2023) *** One day while walking quietly together, out of t

Uncategorized Unitarian Universalism spirituality justice friendship hospitality radical hospitality

A Word of Advice for a Unitarian Universalist Congregation

            I saw a huge form, rounded and shadowy, and shaped like an egg… Its outer layer consisted of an atmosphere of bright fire with a kind of dark membrane beneath it… From the outer atmosphere

Uncategorized Unitarian Universalism spirituality Universalism mysticism nonduality

Reflecting on my Gurus: Heard, Huxley, and Isherwood. A Small Appreciation.

        The other day I came across a wonderful little essay “The Minimum Working Hypothesis,” It was Aldous Huxley’s attempt at providing a core to his belief in a perennial wisdom. It triggered a wa

Uncategorized spirituality spiritual but not religious Aldous Huxley Christopher Isherwood Gerald Heard