dogma
A Time To Grow In God’s Grace
Growing up as a Roman Catholic, I experienced Lent as a strong discipline to better my life. “What are you giving up for Lent?” The answers from my non-believer friends were “homework” or “obey the parents” or “saving money for rainy days.” Lent is one of those practices demanded of Roman Catholics to which non-Catholic believers may say, “Another great reason to be Protestant!” It never really occurred to my friends that Lent was something interesting, or beneficial, to a better understand our connection with God.
One day, I sat thinking of the many reason and faces of this season, and upon doing some research I discovered that Lent is in fact also recognized by millions of Protestant Christians, in addition to Catholic and Orthodox believers. The Eastern Orthodox Lent is longer than the Catholic or Protestant Lent, and it begins before Ash Wednesday. Continue reading
Life After Life (Part 2 of 7) – Near-Death Experience
Some physicians and scientists have attempted to discount the near-death experience (NDE) phenomenon as misfiring synapses of the brain during trauma. However, I believe that as more and more evidence is becoming available, the near-death experience will be opened up as a genuine spiritual phenomenon.
In 1999 I was hit by a car and severely injured. I was 19 years old at the time, and had absolutely no interest in spirituality of any kind. I grew up in a very religious household, and noticed how damaging religious ideology could be on both society and the microcosm of families and tribal units. In many ways I was angry with systems that promoted any kind of dogmatic spirituality, and discounted any kind of spiritual experience. Continue reading
Life After Life (Part 1 of 7) – Death
A question that has been on the minds of humans since they were able to contemplate their own mortality is, “What happens when we die?”
Spiritual and religious traditions give many answers to this particular quandary. There are contemplations about a heaven, or a place of bliss that exists after we die. Or maybe a hell, based on our actions in this lifetime, or our adherence to a particular religious system. Still other philosophies identify a reincarnation cycle that is associated with the human experience of life and death.
In this series I will be discussing my personal viewpoints about the subject, and why I have over the course of my life come to these conclusions. At a young age I had a near-death experience, and it was this particular experience that set me on the course to becoming an intuitive. Continue reading
What If Cows Were Green And Grass Was Orange?
My father was color blind, and consequently all my brothers and their sons too. Color blindness has it downside, but it also broadened my horizons and taught me at a young age to have a questioning mind. School and education was not a priority in my family and we were welcome to quit anytime we chose. The only stipulation was that we must have a job.
My brother, Roger, like a lot of teens at that time, went to work at the tender age of 15. He got a position with a huge conglomerate in our city of Montreal. The dress code was a typical white shirt, tie and, hopefully, a matching suit. Now with Roger being color blind this became a bit of a dilemma for him. He would have no idea if he was wearing green socks with a red tie and blue suit, or even one orange sock coupled with a purple one!
My sister, Marie and I spent a lot of time with our brother Roger, as well as our other siblings. It was a common practice for the younger ones to spend any amount of time with the older siblings. Because Roger was one of the first ones from home to go off to work, we took an inordinate amount of pride in him and his achievements and were very anxious for him to succeed in life. Continue reading
Mediumship Is Not A Psychic Sideshow
Mediumship presented as entertainment is a double-edged sword. The media hype generated by psychic television shows, and live stage performances featuring celebrity mediums, has no doubt contributed much to an increased public awareness of mediumship. It has liberated spiritualism from the stereotype of the 19th century séance by bringing the work of the psychic medium into the public domain, and into mainstream pop culture.
But does mediumship as an entertainment genre do spiritualism and the daily work of psychics any real justice? I am certainly not a purist. Neither am I a traditionalist when it comes to spiritual matters. I tend to shy away from any form of fundamentalism or fanaticism. But having the work of talented mediums dished up as trivial amusement has certainly proven to be a mixed blessing in my own practice as psychic medium. Continue reading
The Rise Of A New Spirituality
In Beyond the Postmodern Mind, Huston Smith writes that “Rationalism and Newtonian science has lured us into dark woods, but a new metaphysics can rescue us”. Mankind will never give up its quest to find spiritual meaning and purpose in this world. This quest is what has been driving both science and religion for centuries.
The Buddha said, “The teacher appears when the student is ready.” The same principle applies to the human species as a collective. We have been exposed to new esoteric and scientific insights as we evolved – always when the time was right and the world was ready. Prominent religions all over the world were all founded on esoteric guidance and metaphysical wisdom delivered at various times throughout history by great teachers and prophetic messengers. But as time passed and these religions expanded, they were often contaminated by human bureaucracy, superstition, doctrine and dogma, which distorted the original teachings. Continue reading
Spiritual Awakening, Now What?
A few years ago, in the time leading up to 2012, I wrote a blog post about the symptoms of spiritual awakening. Well, here we are in 2014 and some of us are wondering what to do now?
Some of us feel as though we didn’t make it. Some of us are wondering if we made it, but don’t know it? Some feel as though they have awakened, but have hit a plateau and are unsure of what to do next.
All of these examples are types of plateaus we must face in our diverse journeys. I can only offer advice on what I have personally dealt with and come to embrace in my own.