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In this evening’s talk, Michael discusses the maturation process of spiritual work. How is it, for example, that we can evolve into deeper expressions of embodied helpfulness; especially in the context of activism in general and the Iranian situation specifically.

ISmile225 - Spiritual Adulthood [ 41:05 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (260)

Jeff Sharlet writes on Killing the Buddha about how Christian fundamentalism helped turn Somalia into the next staging ground for Islamic radicalism.

Shambhala SunSpace offers up The Smoking Monk:

The fifth precept of Buddhism tells us to “refrain from taking intoxicants.” This seems pretty clear. However, a decade ago, if we asked the monks in Cambodia whether Buddhist should smoke, many of them would have excused it. Now those numbers are starting to decline.

The vow I took at my Jukai read,”refrain from abusing intoxicants.” Is there a difference? Is the vow broken if I, or anyone else, smokes an occasional cigar? Drinks the occasional beer, wine, or cocktail?

Interesting questions although there seems so much release comes from letting our lives embody unattached moderation and celebration as we move in the world.

Stuart Davis nails this one beautifully:

I know Bill Maher thinks Pat Robertson is an idiot. So do I. But not because he’s Christian. I think Pat Robertson is an idiot because he’s a developmentally arrested person. And he expresses his retardation through the vehicle of religion. But he would not be at any higher level of development if he was an atheist. He would just acquire different furniture for his arrested mind. If we investigate Christianity more closely, we discover its developmental depths. The deeper we go into any spiritual tradition, the more we will find it anchored in direct experience and immediate data, and the less we find it identified with dogma and belief.

Click on the player below, in order to listen to Michael’s talk.
Get the new iTunes software and subscribe to this podcast from the Buddhist and/or Philosophy sections of the Religion & Spirituality list.
____

In this evening’s talk, Michael discusses helpful ways of looking at what in Zen we call, “beginner’s mind.”

ISmile224 - Being the Wow [ 0:01 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (34)

Dog gets too close to child during baking…

Originally uploaded by Michael G. McAlister

Click on the player below, in order to listen to Michael’s talk.
Get the new iTunes software and subscribe to this podcast from the Buddhist and/or Philosophy sections of the Religion & Spirituality list.
____

In this evening’s talk, Michael talks about how meditation is designed to help us fail. He also speaks to the fact that we are essentially walking around in life as ghosts. Knowing what’s underneath the ghostly sheet is the Path to Awakening.

ISmile223 - Underneath the Sheet [ 24:30 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (25)