Is Spiritual Group Practice Important?

Is a Spiritual Group Practice Important?

We have an undeniable need to gather together for spiritual purposes. The purpose is to let the spirit expand. On the level of conscious states this is a subtle experience where Souls can align.

Group Dynamics *

·        Spiritual power increases as people gather together.

·        When they gather for spiritual growth, they become co-creators.

·        Bonding occurs at the emotional level.

·        At the subtle level of consciousness, souls align.

  

The ideal group, call it Sangha or Satsang, simply requires a leader or moderator.  No teacher or Sage is required. There can be time for group meditation, group discussions, talking, sharing and comments on topics of interest. No need for dogma, prayer, ritual, priests, or official scripture. No sermons, no proselytizing.

Sanghas can be an important place for you to share your spiritual experiences. The only core belief needed is “space consciousness, cosmic consciousness, or God consciousness” is attainable. Find others who share your aim to reach the One Reality. Find souls you can align with and start sharing your spiritual growth today in Sangha.

Why is a spiritual group important in your spiritual development?

·        It is important to have an internal and external spiritual practice

·        To experience the subtle energy of the group

·        Groups make it easy to keep your spiritual momentum going.

·        To find truth through inquiry

·        Channels (flow) open up in groups that allow exploration and collective acknowledgement.

One of the three treasures of Buddhism is Sangha. Do you believe the next Buddha is forming now as a world meta-sangha? If so, join a group now and be a part of co-creation.

Keep your spiritual momentum going by participating more often the Green Way, without leaving your home! Join Less Than Nothing-a Sangha on Skype! Less Than Nothing, an international Skype Sangha, meets weekly on Tuesday, at 3pm PST, or 7pm PST.

Meetup Less Than Nothing-a Sangha 

* Deepak Chopra, “The third Jesus”

Sat Chit Ananda

Being, Consciousness and Bliss

A circle stands alternately for 

God, nature, the universe, infinity.  

Pascal’s image for the universe: 

“an infinite sphere, the center 
of which is everywhere,

 the circumference nowhere.”

The nature of God is a circle 
of which the center is everywhere and the 
circumference is nowhere. 

Empedocles (490–430 BC)

Each of us is the Center of Creation

Historical doctrine of One Reality

• Monotheism- the one reality is God
• Hindu, Brahman
• China the Tao

 The mystical view of One Reality

• Everyone is at the center of existence
• A circle, the center of which is everywhere, the circumference nowhere

Let the Center be your home-- the Center is

•  The space
•   The center of experience
•   The focus of attention, consciousness
•   The experience of the Witness

Aldous Huxley, The Present Moment

Wilber-Combs States and Stages of Consciousness Chart

The Illusion of Time (DVD) NEW RELEASE - Eckhart Teachings

The Illusion of Time (DVD) NEW RELEASE - Eckhart Teachings

New Release Available Now! 

Eckhart Tolle invites us to explore the typical day-to-day state of consciousness for most people, a state of being where we hope that the future will be better, or fear that it will be worse, than what is happening at this moment.


Eckhart leads us to the astonishing realization that the future ultimately only exists as a thought in your head. He also elaborates on the sense of incompleteness we instill in ourselves by identifying with our thoughts, which always concern the past & future, creating unease with the present moment.


In this talk, Eckhart describes how "the more time dominates your life, the more identified you are with thought", including:


- The way in which the concept of “time” is used by the mind to explain change
- The conceptual identity we rely on to construct our sense of self
- How this identity creates distance between ‘self’ and ‘other’
- How the human urge to create conflict provides a substitute for a true feeling of aliveness.

GRATEFULNESS.ORG - A Network for Grateful Living

A Network for Grateful Living provides education and support for the practice of grateful living as a global ethic, based on the teachings of Brother David Steindl-Rast and colleagues.

Gratefulness – the full response to a given moment and all it contains – is a spiritual practice that inspires personal transformation, cross-cultural understanding, interfaith dialogue, intergenerational respect, nonviolent conflict resolution, and ecological sustainability.

GRATEFULNESS.ORG - A Network for Grateful Living

Brother David Steindl-Rast

Brother David Steindl-Rast - Homepage

Watch Brother David Steindl-Rast on Gratitude on PBS. See more from RELIGION & ETHICS NEWSWEEKLY.

In many different traditions lighting candles is a sacred action. It expresses more than words can express. It has to do with gratefulness. From time immemorial, people have lit candles in sacred places. Why should cyberspace not be sacred?

You may want to begin or end your day by the sacred ritual of lighting a candle on this website. Or you may want to light a birthday candle for a friend. One single guideline is all you need: Slow down and do it with full attention. From here on, you will be guided step by step.

To light a candle………………….Begin »

Gratefulness Labyrinth Pilgrimage

Start Labyrinth here

Integral Relationships: A Manual for Men by Martin Ucik

Integral Relationships: A Manual for Men
by Martin Ucik

Integral Relationships: A Manual for Men integrates the socioeconomic, biological, psychological, developmental and spiritual dimensions of love relationships into a comprehensive map that allows men to meet women with integrity, strength, understanding, and kindness at their level of consciousness. In Part I of the manual, the reader learns how to differentiate between the biological sex, learned social gender roles, and feminine/masculine polarities of males and females. This allows him to understand her primary sexual fantasy to attract a successful male protector and provider with status and wealth, her primary emotional reaction of fear, her social expectations, and how to balance and harmonize the opposing poles of agency, communion, ascending (Eros), and descending (Agape) that generate sexual attraction and synergy. Next, the manual provides information about multiple intelligences, competencies, values, interests, passions, and emotional needs that must be compatible between couples for their relationships to thrive. The following chapter covers developmental levels of consciousness (from archaic to transpersonal), spirituality (from gross to non-dual), sexuality (from repressed to transcendent), and his anima and her animus complex. The understanding of her levels of development in these four crucial domains is paramount for his ability to meet her as an opposite and equal partner.

"Integral Relationships" is an astonishingly complete manual for men based on virtually all the elements of the Integral model, in itself a remarkable feat. And the advice is truly sound. A great book!

--Ken Wilber, The Integral Vision

Finally, an integral look at relationships written for men and backed up with a wealth of scientific information! It is both fascinating and refreshing. If you are a man interested in relationships with women get this book and pay attention to what it has to say.

--Professor Allan Combs, author of The Radiance of Being, Consciousness Explained Better.

Martin Ucik (1957 - ) was born in West-Germany, grew up in a happy family, studied Electrical Engineering, and founded a successful international music-soft and hardware publishing company in 1982. He came to the US in 1995 with his wife and children to serve as President of HOHNER MIDIA. Eckhart Tolle trained him as a spiritual group facilitator in 2003. Heartfelt conversations in his Power of Now group and the end of his 14 year marriage led him to a deeper interest in male-female relationship dynamics. To better understand why there are so many unhappy singles and couples in the US and why finding a new partner was so difficult, he founded singles2couples.org, an Association for Healthy Relationships. In 2006 he became an avid student of Ken Wilber's integral philosophy which became the foundation to answering his burning questions about the myriad of conflicts which arise in love relationships, and why so many women have given up on men altogether. Not finding any books that took an integral approach to dating and the co-creation of healthy love relationships, he began to write "Integral Relationships: A Manual for Men", which was published in July 2010. Besides writing and studying relationships from an integral perspective, his interests include spending time with his children, reading, playing piano/keyboards, hiking, jogging, cooking vegetarian food, philosophical groups, and meditating. He lives in Santa Rosa, CA and works as General Manager for the Hollywood, CA based Pro Audio distribution firm plus24.