| Articles
& Education
Love,
Compassion, and Tolerance NEW!
by His Holiness the Dalai
Lama
“Love, compassion, and tolerance are necessities, not luxuries.
Without them, humanity cannot survive.”
The essence of all religions is love, compassion, and tolerance. Kindness
is my true religion. No matter whether you are learned or not, whether you
believe in the next life or not, whether you believe in God or Buddha or
some other religion or not, in day-to-day life you must be a kind person.
When you are motivated by kindness, it doesn’t matter whether you are a
practitioner, a lawyer, a politician, an administrator, a worker, or an
engineer: whatever your profession or field, deep down you are a kind
person. Love, compassion, and tolerance are necessities, not luxuries.
Without them, humanity cannot survive. If you have a particular faith or
religion, that is good. But you can survive without it if you have love,
compassion, and tolerance. The clear proof of a person’s love of God is
if that person genuinely shows love to fellow human beings.
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The
Seven Spiritual Laws of Success NEW!
by Deepak Chopra
When ancient peoples considered the vastness of the universe, they felt
something very surprising, they felt connected, a spiritual connection
cannot be seen or touched, yet we have a way to verify invisible things by
using a faculty more powerful and reliable than the five
senses—consciousness.
Only if you are aware that something is real can it become real. Awareness
tells you that you are alive, that you think and breathe. It tells you if
you are happy or sad, and also if you are succeeding in fulfilling your
life. Everything that is alive is an example of the elegant expression of
nature’s intelligence and this intelligence operates through what I call
the Seven Spiritual Laws of Success. How they operate is a mystery as deep
as spirit itself. Achieving success in nature is governed by the same laws
that govern all of nature. When we put ourselves in harmony with nature we
create a bond between our own desires and the power to make those desires
materialize. Anything we want can be created. True success is measured by
how efficiently, how effortlessly, you have learned to co-create with the
universe. Here is how the seven laws operate...
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Falling Out Of Religion and Into The Arms Of
God Part ll
by Dr. Trish Whynot
My most
important pursuit in this life has been to authentically love. Not a small
task and it has required the extensive exploration of my relationship with
Divine Love. In my reflections on this pursuit, I have witnessed how
amazingly God has orchestrated the fulfillment of my desire. I have been
divinely guided and led back to my religious upbringing and my
relationship with God as part of the process.
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Falling Out Of Religion and Into The Arms Of God
Part l
by Dr. Trish Whynot
I have always desired to know God—to have a personal, living, breathing relationship with my Creator. At the same time, I didn’t even know what God was. My religion taught me that God was this omnipotent being outside of myself; someone up there who was looking down at me, watching my every move. I was taught that God is some supreme being who judges me for the way I live my life, and in the end decides if I am worthy to enter into the gates of Heaven or banished to the fires of Hell.
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The Promise
by Ava-Marie Germaine (age 16)
You have opened my eyes to the world;
To that which, at one time, they were closed tight
In fear and disgust, and still
You are all I see for a thousand miles--
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Ask
Psychic Medium Laura Scott (Issue #18)
by Laura Scott
Hi
Laura,
I was born to a teenage mother and heroine addicted father who later
abandoned us. My mother was so shamed that she was pregnant with me that
she refused to name me. I was told that a nun/nurse working in the Labor
and delivery room named me.
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Here To Read Article
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Do You Believe What I Believe?
by Laura Scott
I believe in real butter
and a big country kitchen where your friends can watch as you cook or help
you,
laugh and cry with you as we figure out the world, our children, each
other,
all the while cooking up life, nourishment and love.
I believe in old fashioned things, like manners, and love notes
and swinging on big long rope swings.
I believe in the power of being present.
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Dismissing Da Vinci
by Jean-Claude Gerard Koven
Dan Brown’s runaway best-seller, The Da Vinci Code is shaking the foundations of Christendom. The battle lines are clearly drawn and the stakes are uncommonly high. The outcome has yet to be determined.
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Whatever
the Question, Love is the Answer by Jean-Claude Gerard Koven
With each passing day the gathering storm clouds that threaten the lives
of humankind darken. Every effort to stave off the inevitable and achieve
lasting peace has failed. Perhaps it is time for us to adopt a new game
plan?
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Spiritual Addiction
by Adyashanti
A spiritual person can become addicted to spiritual highs and miss the experience of Truth. Spiritual addiction occurs when something great happens and it feels as if you have received a hit of a great drug. As soon as you have it, you want more. There is no drug more potent than spiritual experience. The intellectual component of this addiction is the belief that if you just had enough of these experiences, you would feel great all the time. It’s like morphine. You get a hit of it in the hospital because you break your arm, and you think, “If I had a little drip going all the time, life would be relatively pleasant no matter what happens.” Spiritual experiences often become like this, and the mind puts them into its familiar pattern, thinking, “If I had this experience all the time, that would be freedom.”
Click
Here To Read Article _____________________
Soul Healing for Changing Times
by Katharina Wehrli
Western philosophy and modern religions embrace an image of the Source as perfect, while human beings are seen as separate from this
Source. On the leading edge of soul healing, human nature and this cultural conditioning require closer examination. Many people are
now moving rapidly toward spiritual perception and consciousness expansion. Light and love are manifesting more easily, while an
array of preconceived notions and false beliefs are in need of purging.
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Article
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Former Catholic
Nun Communicates With Deceased Loved Ones: Discovering The Extraordinary
Mediumship Of Janet Nohavec
by Bob Olson, OfSpirit.com Editor
If you are new to
OfSpirit.com Magazine, BestPsychicMediums.com or GriefAndBelief.com, you
might already know that I am the founder and editor of OfSpirit.com
Magazine and the two above-mentioned websites, but you probably do not
know that I have also researched spirit communication, near-death
experience, after-death communication and spiritual regression for
approximately seven years. And I have been writing about my best
experiences with practitioners in these fields to help guide people like
you toward “genuine and legitimate” practitioners, and away from
phonies, frauds and scam artists.
This article is one of a
series I have written to introduce to you, and the millions of other
visitors to my websites, to the genuine and legitimate psychic mediums I
have discovered during my, now, seven-year research into psychic mediums
and the afterlife. I began researching mediumship in January 1999, and
I’ve now had readings from hundreds of mediums around the world, giving
me the unique opportunity to compare the “exceptional” from the
“good” from the “fair” from the “poor.” Today, after
experiencing readings from the best of the best, my standards for getting
onto my list are so high that very few people are eligible. This article
is about one of the exceptional readings I’ve had, which is why this
psychic medium is now on my list.
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Here To Read Article
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Where In God's Name Did We Go Wrong?
by Jean-Claude Koven
When people ask me if I am religious, I tell them I love God far too much to be religious. "Oh, then you must believe in God?" they
inevitably ask. "Of course not," I reply with a smile, "does a fish believe in water?" For me, God is all there is. What's to
believe?
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Can People Really
Change?
by Shifra Hendrie
MOST PEOPLE NEVER REALLY CHANGE
Sad, but true.
Some people never even try.
But those of us who do – and I assume that you are in that group –
often experience great frustration and disappointment as we encounter the
same limitations over and over again.
Life can start to seem downright repetitive.
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Learning from Silence
by Robert Rabbin
"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder the hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." -- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
How many times must we prove these words? Violence does not lead to peace. Violence does not create peace. Violence cannot co-exist with peace. These are self-evident truths. We cannot indulge war and expect peace.
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Do
You Really Want to Know the Truth?
by Jean-Claude Koven
Back in 1992, Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise co-starred in a movie entitled
A Few Good Men. The high point of the film, in my view, was a classic,
heated exchange between their characters, during which Kaffee (the
military attorney played by Cruise) says: “I want the truth,” and Col.
Jessup (Nicholson) responds: “You can’t handle the truth.”
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The Kabbalah of Love
by Shifra Hendrie
Intimate Love.
What feelings do these words stir up in you? Longing? Excitement? Pleasure? Fear?
Whatever the feeling, if thinking about intimate love makes your heart beat faster, I’m not surprised. This feeling is more powerful than almost any we can experience. That’s because it’s nothing less than the touching of two souls. Click
Here To Read Article ____________________
Is
it Possible? Seeking The Truth
by Swami Sunirmalananda
Can you ride a bicycle and lift it
simultaneously? Can you see or know the source of a river while rushing
along its current? You may call this silly, and say nobody does that. But
we are doing this all the time.
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God Disguised As You
by Michael Berg
The guard at the prison gate is utterly ruthless. Brutal treatment of prisoners has proceeded for millennia, so now the prisoners are beaten, hopeless, huddling on their cots, staring out through the bars of their cells. A good day is simply one endured without pain.
Click
Here To Read Article ____________________
The Power of Faith
by Karen Barnes
Etymology: Middle English feith, from Old French feid, foi, from Latin
fides; akin to Latin fidere to trust -Date: 13th century.
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Real
Spirituality
by Eric Shapiro
My fiancée and I frequent a restaurant in L.A. called Real Food Daily.
The concept behind the name is that their food— which is unprocessed,
abundantly nutritious, and lovingly prepared— is more authentic, more
"real," than most other food. This claim is at once silly and
wise. Silly because philosophers have argued about the true nature of
"reality" for centuries. Wise because it's an admissible
philosophy that the closer something is to its source, the more
"real" it is.
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|
The
Olson Interviews
Recommended Documentary
The documentary: "Shortcut To Nirvana: Kumbh Mela" takes
you on a journey that explores the largest and oldest spiritual gathering
in history, the Kumbh Mela. In January 2001, 70 million pilgrims including
many of India's great spiritual leaders, as well as the Dalai Lama,
gathered at the heart of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers to celebrate the
Kumbh Mela, the oldest and the biggest spiritual festival in the
history of this planet!
This historic pilgrimage, a spiritual
assembly of
titanic proportions, has taken place every 12 years since time immemorial,
yet few people in the west have ever heard of it.
Two filmmakers, Maurizio Benazzo and Nick
Day attended the event and combined their passion for filmmaking with
their love of culture, to bring us this amazing documentary, "SHORT
CUT TO NIRVANA: a pilgrimage to the Kumbh Mela", which will be
opening in our region this month.
The Film is an exhilarating,
insightful, uplifting and often hilarious journey thru this incredible
event, exploring an individual and collective consciousness where the
viewer encounters a colorful array of personalities, rituals and spiritual
beliefs. From this powerful experience comes a beautifully inspiring
message of harmony, unity and peace.
"We are not preaching Hinduism" says co-director Nick Day "this movie is designed to give you an experience, the feeling of being present at the event, feel the energy of the place, receive the
blessings. Every time we interviewed a Guru we asked them to bless the project, the camera and the audience that will see the
movie, and many people tell us they feel it by watching it"
The movie is opening in art houses all around the USA. "Short Cut to Nirvana" is opening in cities nationwide. Check
for theatres details on www.ShortCutToNirvana.com
to know more about the film and to see the movie trailer.
More Articles
& Education
Transforming Genocide
by Ken Pratt
The challenge of racism; a
spiritual exercise. Since none of us is perfect we could admit that there
just might be small inequities in our thoughts and behaviors which need to
be rooted out. Our purpose here is to unearth those smaller prejudices
which lie hidden in the dark places of our unconscious and overcome these
obstacles to our spiritual development. We may not have overtly expressed
prejudices which fill us with hatred for any particular group of humans,
yet when we are deeply honest with ourselves we must admit to harboring
certain subtleties of racism, sexism, ageism, within our belief systems.
Click
To Read Article
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Women in World Leadership: An interview
with Sister Jayanti
by Carol Bedrosian
Jayanti Kirplani is the Director of the
Brahma Kuamris World Spiritual Organization, London and is based at their
Global Cooperation House in London, UK. The BKWSO, headquartered in India,
is an international family of individuals from all corners of the world
that seeks to bring out the best in people through offering courses in
meditation, spiritual and moral values...
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Here To Read Article
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Prayer Empties Me Into Fullness
by M. Dennis Paul, Ph.D.
A monk sat down to pray one evening only to be disturbed by the croaking
of many frogs. Every attempt he made to disregard the noise met with
failure and a growing anger. Finally, he shouted, "Stop all this
noise! I am trying to pray!"
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A Pilgrimage Deepens Faith and Prayer
by Judy Christine Copp
Walking slowly down the
dark, stony path amid the silence of several hundred pilgrims, flashlights
serving as guiding lights along the way, I suddenly became overwhelmed by
what had just happened. Tears started to wet my eyes, and I wanted to be
alone with this profound gratitude and humility welling up inside me. What
started as a whimper soon grew to sobs, and I went to the side of the
narrow path to let the other pilgrims pass me. I crouched low in surrender
to this gift and attempted to muffle my crying.
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The Secret of Shambhala: In Search of the Eleventh
Insight
Fields Of Intention
by James Redfield
The phone rang and I just stared at it. The
last thing I needed now was another distraction. I tried to push it from
my mind, gazing out the window at the trees and wildflowers, hoping to
lose myself in the array of fall colors in the woods around my house. It
rang again, and I got a vague but stirring image in my mind's eye of a
person needing to talk with me. Quickly I reached over and answered it.
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The Black Madonna: Primordial
Ancestress
by Deborah Rose
My conscious intention for the trip was to see the
very earliest female imagery dating back to the 'Ice Age. And I did. I
explored some wonderful museums and archaeological sites. . . but some
other force was at work.
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In The Spirit of Happiness
The Seeker
by The Monks of New Skete
It is many years now since he first visited
the monastery, though the details of that day linger quietly in his
memory. On that clear October afternoon he thought upstate New York was
among the most beautiful places in the world. He had come from the Far
West, sweeping airborne over ten states with barely a cloud in the sky.
From the plane, the beauty of the Catskills, the Hudson River Valley, then
finally the vague outline of the Adirondacks to the north took his breath
away.
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Here To Read Article
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How
Do We Know When It's God?: A Spiritual Memoir
THE
QUEST
by Dan Wakefield
We and God have business with each other;
and in opening ourselves to His influence our deepest destiny is
fulfilled. The universe, as those parts of it which our personal being
constitutes, takes a turn genuinely for the worse or for the better in
proportion as each of us fulfills or evades God's demands.
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The Genesis of
Justice: Ten Stories of Biblical Injustice that Led to the Ten
Commandments and Modern Law
by Alan M. Dershowitz
Would you give a young person a book whose
heroes cheat, lie, steal, murder—and get away with it? Chances are you
have. The book, of course, is Genesis. And you are right to encourage your
child to read it—with some guidance. It is the best interactive moral
teaching tool ever devised: Genesis forces readers of all ages to struggle
with eternal issues of right and wrong.
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Here To Read Article
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The View from Nebo: How
Archeology is Rewriting the Bible & Reshaping the Middle East
Genesis
by Amy Dockser Marcus
The history of the Israelites
begins with the story of a family, the personal odyssey of Abraham, his
wife Sarah, their son Isaac and his wife Rebecca, their grandson Jacob,
and Jacob's twelve sons. Throughout the Bible, but especially in its first
five books —Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy — we
follow every detail of their increasingly complex lives, sharing their
betrayals, deceptions, and multitude of sins.
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Maitreya
- An Extraordinary Being: An Interview with Wayne Peterson
by Carol Bedrosian
For about seven or eight years, Spirit of
Change has received news articles about positive social and political
changes happening around the globe from an organization called Share
International. I always appreciated receiving this information which
checked out to be well-grounded and researched, and I published several
articles over the years.
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Peace Pagoda Tales
by Ken Pratt
Many years ago in the mid-80's, it was my
good fortune to help create the first peace pagoda in the Western
Hemisphere, located in North Leverett, Massachusetts. Following are just a
few of the stories from those days. But first, I should explain a little
bit about peace pagodas and the monks and nuns who build and maintain
them.
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Mending Your Heart in a Broken World:
Finding Comfort in the Scriptures
Tattered Hearts, Topsy-Turvy World
by Patsy Clairmont
Twenty-five years ago, as a young adult,
circumstances felt as if they had spun out of control, and I was so
emotionally frayed that everyday activities (such as washing dishes)
overwhelmed me. Depression, insecurity, fear, guilt, and anger dominated
my terrain. And the hemispheres of my brain didn't seem to match up, which
left my thoughts scattered and my heart scarred.
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An Argument For
Religious Pluralism
by Audrey Pearson
When I was a child growing up within the Roman Catholic Church I believed,
like those indoctrinating me, that we were utterly, unequivocally,
superior human beings. The idea that this land of separatist thinking went
against the very platform of Christianity didn't seem to occur to us. I
was taught -that in order to be "saved," the non-Catholics would
first have to convert to Catholicism! Yet I was taught in Sunday school
that I was to "do unto others as I would have them do unto me."
The contradictions, although not consciously noted by me, were taking an
unconscious toll on my faith in God/myself.
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Here To Read Article
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Crossing The Great
Divide: Spirit Communication And Healing Through Spiritualism
by Carole Lynne, CM, LM Is it possible to communicate with those
who have passed over? Is spiritual healing a reality? Is there a place
called heaven and a place called hell? These and other questions are on
the minds of many people these days. This is partly due to the movie
"The Sixth Sense," which is about spirit communication. The
interest is also being stimulated by such television shows with James von
Prague, Sylvia Browne and John Edwards during which they have brought
messages from those who have passed into the world of spirit to their
loved ones sitting in the television audience.
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The Benefits And Dangers Of Spiritual Communities
by Asoka Selvarajah, Ph.D
Being involved with a spiritual group has
many tremendous benefits over going it alone, but it can also have many
pitfalls. On the one hand, you have the benefit of interacting with people
of like mind to your own. However, on the other hand, you have the many
frustrations and challenges that come with participating in a group of
diverse individuals, each with a separate opinion of what constitutes a
correct approach to the spiritual path.
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December
Solstice: Kindling The Light Within
by Julianna Souza
December has always been
a time of deep introspection and contemplation for me. Perhaps my
connectedness to the cycles of nature came from my mixed heritage,
although I did not have the benefit of wise elders sharing old stories
with me as a child. The magic of the holiday season always brings great
joy—family gatherings, lights, music, and revelry—plus the realization
that another year has come to an end.
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