September, 2001
I was on the first flight that was allowed into New York after the September 11th, attack. For security reasons the flights before and after mine on that day were cancelled that day. Luckily mine got through.
When we flew over Manhattan on the way to Kennedy airport I could see the fire and the huge cloud of smoke. Still, I was separated by a window and so while shocking, it was still separate.
When the plane landed we were the only passengers in the United Terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport. This was a deeper shock to the system. It felt as if the dismal future depicted in science fiction movies was here now. Only armed men in uniform and a few passengers in a deserted terminal. Our walk to baggage claim was in eerie silence and I could hear my feet hit the ground.
KGS Magazine
2002
This question is probably one that you ask the most often. Why is it so important to decide what we really want? What does answering this question lead to?
First of all, it is crucial to realize that when I ask what you really want, it has nothing whatsoever to do with what you may decide that you really want. What you really want is deeper than any decision or opinion you may have about it. It is the deepest calling of your heart, and cannot be decided by the head.
All the decisions of the head are decisions based on a ground of suffering and slavery. All decisions. It is only the deep call of the heart, the deepest longing of the soul for freedom, that is the call of what is beyond suffering.
Advaita Journal
Humberg, Germany, December 2003
I have been asked to write about evil. Evil is a wonderful word in English because if you look at it in a mirror it reads Live. Evil is anti-life. As long as there is the appearance of life there will be the appearance of anti-life.
The great danger is looking for evil outside of ourselves. We project evil and then fight against it. Since this act of fighting is itself anti-life, the possibility is to stop the war where we are. This means stopping the projection of evil and instead meeting it in our own mind.
Of course we can see the madness of one group calling another evil. George Bush and Osama Bin Laden are in many ways just mirror-images of each other. Each is certain that he is right, that God is on his side, and that he is a freedom-fighter, fighting evil. This shows us the great trap of being a recruit in any war against evil or the dark side.
Pathways Magazine
By Gangaji and Eli, April 2004
“Simply because you are alive and intelligent enough to read this, you are ready for the next evolutionary leap, from the isolated selfishness that is destroying the world, to the bliss of union, which holds the healing of the earth.”
It is possible to awaken to the depths of one’s true nature through honest and sincere self-investigation. There are two essential questions critical to this investigation: What do I really want? and Who am I?
Surprisingly, most people have never asked themselves this first question with any depth. Indeed, most people live their entire lives without ever questioning what it is they really and finally want. Most make do with whatever shows up. They are content to settle for some version of what their parents had or wanted. Others may rebel and want something totally different from what their parents had.
Article and Interview in Australia’s NOVA Magazine
Vol 12 No 6, August, 2005
At first glance, the Enneagram appears to be simply a rather pretty geometric shape, a nine-pointed star with enough symmetry to please the eye, and just enough irregularity in its form to make you curious. But this ancient Sufi design is far more than just an eye catching geometric oddity. According to the renowned teacher of the sacred Enneagram, Eli Jaxon-Bear, it is a profoundly revealing-and potentially liberating-wisdom mirror, reflecting back to us the truth of who were are not, and implying beyond that who we really are.
Eli Jaxon-Bear says the Enneagram is a powerful psycho-spiritual tool that describes the drives and patterns of the human ego, pointing out that which the mind tries very hard to avoid seeing. As he explains it succinctly: “The real purpose of the Enneagram is to wake you up — to wake up from the false identity of fixation and bring you home to freedom.”
Article for Connections Magazine, April 2011
We all love to laugh. When we are laughing we are not thinking and this brief relief from thought adds to the feeling of happiness that we get from laughing.
A confirming sign of awakening is to laugh so hard you can barely breath as you look back on what you thought was your life. This sort of laughter is very contagious and spreads the deep bliss of the moment to all who join in.