Brian D. Stephens
My favorite spiritual practices are to focus on the Paramatman light or an enlightened teacher. Of late, another spiritual practice has arisen spontaneously. I step back and observe myself interacting with the world. The way I perceive the world changes. I am freed from the ego’s influence and the mind stills. The external world loses its sense of reality. It is more like a play… Read more
It has become clear that most of my thoughts put some sort of limitation on what I am capable of doing. And they are lies. Any thought which appears in the mind should be viewed skeptically. They either arise from the ego, which is a part of maya. It is a foreign life form that has taken control of your awareness. It causes suffering by keeping you focused on external objects and trapped in the illusion of separateness. It uses fear to keep you from realizing your potential in life and from connecting with your deeper nature… Read more
Tonight I walked along the beach for thirty minutes and watched the sunset. As it does every night, the sun changes its mood during the ten minutes before sunset. Instead of projecting its energy outward, it begins to turn inward, and as it changes so do I… Read more
Life tries to impose limitations upon us. Having the courage and the willpower to make a better life for ourselves is essential. If you don’t try, you feel powerless and become a passive victim of fate. Yet even if everything in your life were to work out just right—with your job, finances, relationships, and health—you would still not be free. True freedom is not something you find in your external circumstances. Instead, it is found within… Read more