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Karma, Dharma, and Dogma

Karma, dharma, dogma —three pillars that appear across scriptures, commentaries, and modern self-help shelves. Their roots run deep, yet in everyday speech the meanings often tangle. What follows is a gentle untangling: tracing each word to its classical soil and offering ways the trio can still nourish a contemporary life. Karma is the sum of our intentions and the momentum of our habits—helpful or harmful—the subtle force we plant with every choice. Dharma is the guidance we invite onto the journey: teachings, mentors, and principles that steer us toward clarity, compassion, and peace. Dogma is the outward form—prayers, rituals, rules—originally meant as friendly signposts, but prone to becoming mindless habit when we forget what they point to. As an anolgy, imagine personal development as a hike to the top of a tall hill: karma is both the aim that pulls you uphill (fresh air, a summit view) and the distractions or discomforts that tug you off course (a rock in your boot...
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10/10/10 @ 10:10:10pm

Tonight was amazing... Inspired by what I had read regarding the 10/10/10 gateway and what it means for our awakening Earth ( Archangel Metatron, 09/16/2010 ), I made my way out of the house tonight, heading for Balboa Park, where I intended to sit in the rose garden and meditate as 10:10:10pm passed. As I was leaving the house, I realized that I wanted to grab my phone - only to find that while it was showing the "charging" symbol and had been plugged in for hours, it had 0% battery and was about to die... so - I left it plugged in, deciding that I didn't need it. I grabbed my journal, my flashlight, a light jacket and my bag (with a couple of bits of spiritual reading and my iPad in it) - and I set out. As I drove across San Diego, I found myself smiling at the fog which was starting to rise over the city - lowering the visibility and giving everything a sense of mystery and silence. I was having trouble keeping my window defogged, and so I drove for a while with ...
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Integrity

What an amazing awakening today has been for me. On the 10th, I left for a 10-day trip to the Mediterranean. We started in Spain, then sailed to Italy, then on to France, with day trips to the Vatican and Monaco. Five countries in all, not including our stop-overs in Germany and Canada. On the trip - I was inspired... I saw so many beautiful buildings, amazing pieces of sculpture, famous paintings, ancient cities and even the enshrined resting places of some of the world's most famous people. It filled me up with this amazing sense of appreciation for the richness of our world and the beauty that it contains. My desktop background, now, is a picture of the Coliseum in Rome - a picture I took with my own camera while standing within the building itself. In my collection of photographs, I have pictures of Michaelangelo's David - and Michaelangelo's grave, where his bones lie even today. I have pictures from Pompeii - where Mt. Vesuvius destroyed a city of 20,000 people in...
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Cause and Effect...

I have been having a recurring thought for the past several months that just keeps showing up. I think that we, as Americans - and perhaps as humans around the world - have cause and effect backwards. We're very good at identifying relationships between two things, of course - that's what the human brain does best: identifies patterns and trends. We aren't all that great at causality, however... Take for example the concept of "success." How many people go through every day of their lives thinking "If I can just make another $_____.00, I can get the car I want and a great house - and then I can attract the partner I want and be truly happy!" And how many of those people stay mostly miserable and single their entire life, driving a beat-up old car and living in an apartment in a neighborhood they don't like? This is because we have cause and effect backwards. The true cause and effect relationship starts with being happy . When you are truly happ...
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Tribal Leadership

David Logan's description of Tribal stages at the TED conference really struck a chord with me. I won't rehash everything that he says - because the video above is really an amazing summary of his very well-elucidated points. I will, however, add some things about cultural development. Stage Signature Motto Depth Stage 1 Life Sucks 2% Because life in general sucks, people spend most of their time feeling a constant struggle to survive. This is the culture of street gangs and prisons - and is full of despairing hostility. Stage 2 My Life Sucks 25% At least there are some people for whom life isn't completely abysmal. Cultures with this attitude live in a constant state of self-deprecation and self-pity, and most social interaction revolves around co-commiserating. Stage 3 I'm Awesome, but You Suck 48% The stereotypical culture of the highly intelligent professional, full of his or her own worth and doubting that the rest of the wo...
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Three Spirals Theory

Religion asks the question "How do I do spirituality?" (Body) Philosophy asks the question "How do I think spiritually?" (Mind) Personal Development asks the question "How do I be spiritual?" (Soul) True enlightenment comes from an understanding that the answer to any one of the above questions is to ask the other two - and therefore all three must be pursued simultaneously. I believe that there are three distinct yet interrelated aspects to our existence. The Mind, the Body and the Soul. As we grow - we travel a path around each circle, cycling through aspects of our understanding within each of these realms. As we grow - so must our circles. Each circle represents our understanding, our skills and our awareness within the realm of that circle's influence. The interior of the circle, or the "volume" of the circle, represents everything that we know. Outside the circle is everything we don't know. The edge, most import...
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Laws of Manifestation

I was reading my partner Brandon's blog today - and loved his description of the Near Miss Theory which our group has been developing for the last few months. While his description of the Near Miss phenomenon is nice, I want to talk about the Frequency Model of Manifestation as a whole. :) Before I do, however - let me set the stage for what this conversation is truly about: The Law of Attraction. My personal journey of the Law of Attraction began when a friend of mine showed me The Secret a couple years ago in Chicago. It blew my mind... the idea of thought being a tangibly affective force which could be used to shape the universe around me. At the time - my understanding was very limited, and I thought of it as a sort of "magic" - and therefore was very, very skeptical - but tried it nonetheless. What I found, like many people, is that the Secret - while a beautifully  transformative piece of work - is much more descriptive than it is instructional. It tells you ...
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