This is one of the best TEDx talks I've encountered. In it Jeff Lieberman talks about science and spirituality the same as I have experienced them, including regarding the unitive mystical experience as perhaps the ultimate value in human life.
Category: psychology
The Limits of Intellectual Thought & Knowledge
I recently read three different articles that all had a very similar message. It was essentially this: there is a limit to knowledge and intellectual thought, and some answers may not be found that way. I've written about this before, but there is always more to say. We'll see why, below.
“Embracing Otherness, Embracing Myself” by Thandie Newton
This is one of the most beautiful TED talks I have ever seen. It is simple and pure goodness, light, and beauty. Thandie Newton is a wise and humble soul, as well as a fantastic actor. Let her words sink in deeply.
The film Split (2016), Joseph Smith & the Book of Mormon
I wonder if we might find some insightful parallels and further understanding in the 23 distinct personalities who inhabit the mind of the one main character of the recent 2016 American psychological thriller film Split, starring James McAvoy, and the many personalities manifested through the writings of the Prophet Joseph Smith in the Book of Mormon narrative.
Luke 4:18-19, 21 BHT, That Day Has Come
An addition to the BHT, where it is announced that the Anointing is here, that the Good News is here, that all those who suffer may be Healed now, that Liberation has come to one and all. It is today, it is now!
1 Corinthians 3 BHT, Who Teaches the Truth?
An addition to the BHT, where Paul addresses the people in Corinth about who teaches the truth about God. (The painting above is "Conversion on the Way to Damascus," by Caravaggio, c. 1600-1601.)
Our Two Selves in Life
Each of us goes through life with two main selves. Most people remain aware of only one of them directly, which is the first one.
A Word about Guided Meditations
It seems to me that many people consider meditation to involve elaborate fantasies, imaginings, and visioning in the mind. This seems to be facilitated and encouraged by many guided meditations. I perceive that these kinds of meditation can have many positive benefits in creative pursuits, visualization, and problem solving, to go on adventures and vision quests in the mind. However, I think meditation can offer much more than this.
What Is Meditation? per Eckhart Tolle
Eckhart Tolle is a very wise man, among many. Let his words sink in deep.
Our Minds Paint Our Pictures of God
"The [mystical] visions are not ends in themselves but means to an ineffable religious experience that exceeds normal concepts. They will be conditioned by the particular religious tradition of the mystic. A Jewish visionary will see visions of the seven heavens because his religious imagination is stocked with these particular symbols. Buddhists see various images of Buddhas and bodhisattvas; Christians visualize the Virgin Mary [or Jesus]. It is a mistake for the visionary to see these mental apparitions as objective or as anything more than a symbol of transcendence."