As we in the United States celebrate Independence Day again, I am moved to take the concept it is built upon and put it under greater scrutiny.

What is it to be free? Here in America, we think we are free because we have civil rights set in place by our forebears, the right to vote for our elected officials and the ability to move within the country as we please.

I love Swami Vivekananda and often sit down when I have a few minutes just to read a bit from any book in his complete works set. The beauty of Vivekananda is that he has a way of cutting through the mystical and getting right to the heart of Knowledge from a place that the western mind can cognize. He is profoundly rational in his approach to Jnana Yoga, or yoga of the mind, which, in essence, is the same work we teach at The Kumara Center for Spiritual Awareness.

Welcome to 2016! Multitudes of us exited 2015 feeling battered and beat up, both physically and emotionally. Last year was indeed a bumpy ride, and the journey is far from over. It is my personal feeling that we are several years away from any real palpable energetic lifting of the collective on the planet.

Greetings!

Children constantly observe their surroundings and develop their sense of self from input taken in through the senses. When a child witnesses a battle of egos, his psyche will pattern itself after both sides. Consciously, it will choose the side it agrees with, or the one that feels ‘right’, while unconsciously it patterns itself after the winning position, or the tactic the ‘winner’ of the battle used.

I always tell new students that you must come to this work “on your knees,” which connotes the level of surrender and humility required for a seeker to begin to consciously, and successfully, walk their spiritual path. And, at some point along the way, I must also give my students the understanding that not only do you have to come to it on your knees, but that this work will bring you to your knees, as well.

Have you ever been in a situation where you decided to take a stand against an opposing force? Of course you have! Here are a few good examples:

Man to woman:  “You can’t tell me what to do! I’m going to do what I want, when I want and there’s nothing you can do about it!”

A man is easily triggered by his teenage son’s bad attitude and gets offended when he feels his son is disrespecting him. He jumps all over his son about his behavior and both end up in a bad place.

Greetings!

An unfortunate byproduct of following the spiritual path, for many seekers, is the desire to leave the world altogether. In fact, it is precisely this desire that has brought many of them to their inner work in the first place.  This is a trap.

Greetings!