Know What's Happening in Spirituality
Know What's Happening in Spirituality
Buddhist monastic shares path to present‑moment joy
In a newly translated dialogue, journalist Irmgard Kirchner talks with Santacitta Bhikkhuni, a former avant‑garde dancer now a Theravada monastic. Santacitta describes Buddhism as a healing path that dissolves delusion and attachment, using the four vipallasa to show how misperceptions create stress. She says true joy arises from present‑moment awareness.
In a newly translated dialogue, journalist Irmgard Kirchner interviews longtime friend Santacitta Bhikkhuni, a former avant‑garde dancer turned Theravada monastic. The conversation frames Buddhism as a healing path that dissolves delusion and attachment, using the four vipallasa to illustrate how misperceptions create stress. Santacitta explains that true joy arises from present‑moment awareness rather than material possession, and that equanimity enables compassionate action despite life’s impermanence. The interview connects Buddhist practice to everyday resilience, social responsibility, and the pursuit of lasting contentment.
The author, a longtime advocate of cyclical and seasonal living, describes how she applied a nature‑inspired philosophy to navigate a challenging postpartum period. By recognizing an "internal winter," she deliberately paused non‑essential obligations, set firm boundaries, and leaned on therapy...
I get blown away every time I read this paragraph by Carl Jung: To love someone else is easy, but to love what you are, the thing that is yourself, is just as if you were embracing a glowing red-hot iron:...
When you meet someone, only the sweetest part of you should touch them. #SadhguruQuotes https://t.co/CqkKmrVF9X
In a recent Psychiatric Times column, psychiatrist H. Steven Moffic, MD, argues that the shared motifs of birth, suffering and rebirth in Christianity, Judaism and Buddhism can inform psychiatric practice. He suggests that integrating religious narratives and spiritual practices may...
Triple Shot Mindset, founded by Ardavan Javid, Amanda Dollinger and Kevin Javid, launched a comprehensive coaching platform in Irvine, California. The service blends relationship coaching, meditation‑based sessions and holistic life support to help users translate motivation into lasting change.
Maria Popova’s The Marginalian, formerly Brain Pickings, continues as a free, ad‑free cultural newsletter funded entirely by reader donations. The one‑woman operation invests thousands of dollars each month to curate essays, poetry, and a weekly newsletter that reaches a global audience....
The Esalen Institute announced a new Gene Keys Activation program called “Awakening Your Genius,” designed to help participants access their inner genius through a blend of astrology, the I Ching, Kabbalah and modern science. The workshop, led by coach Anne Van de Water, offers...
It’s time you flip the script, challenge that inner voice that is limiting you, and choose growth. 🙏
If you want to protect your inner peace, let people be wrong. Especially if it’s about something minor.
In a recent podcast, Jain monk Dr Muni Adarsh described the Kesh Lochan ritual—hand‑plucking hair in small bunches that causes bleeding—as a deliberate practice to detach from vanity and cultivate higher self‑realisation. The interview highlights the tension between modern convenience...
The first Good Friday appeared to be a total fail... Nailed to a cross, stabbed, spit on, a crown of thorns, jeered and laughed at by the people, ridiculed and mocked by gov & religious leaders. But it was the ultimate sacrifice...
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Step 11 of Alcoholics Anonymous’s 12‑step program urges members to develop conscious contact with a higher power through prayer and meditation, providing a spiritual anchor for lasting sobriety. Research shows that a strong spiritual component predicts better outcomes and lower relapse...
Emily Austin’s *Living for Pleasure* reinterprets Epicurus, arguing that true pleasure is the absence of anxiety rather than sensory excess. The book outlines four core principles: ataraxia as the ultimate pleasure, sorting desires into natural, extravagant, and corrosive categories, the...
In 1962, Harvard researchers gave psilocybin to theology students during a Good Friday service at Marsh Chapel. Many participants described it as one of the most meaningful spiritual experiences of their lives. Science didn’t diminish spirituality. It amplified it. Wishing you all a...
On happiness and meaningfulness: Overall, across the world, there’s reason to believe that happiness has increased, for obvious reasons: people are living longer, they’re less poor, they’re better educated, and so on. So that would suggest, but not prove, that...
Recent surveys indicate a notable resurgence of religiosity among Millennials and Gen Z, reversing decades of decline. Young adults are moving away from atheism toward spiritual practice, driven by a search for meaning, community, and philosophical frameworks. The trend reflects broader...
If you met yourself 5 years from now, would they thank you or be disappointed?
The article contrasts the "life you maintain"—the daily routines, responsibilities, and external expectations—with the "life you need," which aligns with personal values and inner well‑being. It argues that most people prioritize motion and obligation over authentic fulfillment, creating a hidden...
Good morning and Good Friday ✝️ “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are all healed." -Isaiah 53:5 His suffering was for...
Chloe W. Chang, a former business and fashion manager, has transitioned to a philosophy PhD candidate at San Jose State University. Her research explores existential questions in the digital age, especially how AI and social media reshape human temporality and...
My friend asked what is Good Friday? A friend explained: “We cannot ownself save ownself. God paid the price already → barrier drop la. The Cross is not a defeat. It’s the link direct to God.” He said, “The barrier of sin...
Pope Leo XIV delivered his inaugural Holy Thursday homily at St. Peter's Basilica on April 2, declaring the present moment a "dark hour of history" and urging the faithful to pursue a self‑emptying, mission‑oriented love. The pope linked the call...
Can we cultivate openness big enough to hold our pain and not collapse into it?
Lyra Pramuk, a Berlin‑based producer, likens astrology to music, citing Hazrat Inayat Khan’s 1923 treatise on sound as a philosophical bridge. She describes both disciplines as governed by mathematical relationships, tension and release, and a universal choreography of vibrations. Pramuk’s...
In the final installment of her digital‑reading series, Mary Harrington argues that scrolling on screens functions as a form of everyday liturgy, shaping our attention like prayer. She cites Rev. Dr. Matthew Burford’s claim that what we attend to becomes...
So your thought is just recycled data from the past. Thought is about survival, not for exploration or enlightenment because your thought is only a permutation and combination of what you already know – nothing new can happen. Only if...
We came with nothing, and we leave with nothing you can’t take anything with you, only people. 🙏 ✝️🤍 https://t.co/3npEXk1irH
Natasha Smith’s Substack post “Jesus, Grief, and a Garden” reflects on Holy Week, linking the Passover dinner with personal experiences of loss and hope. She uses garden imagery to show how grief can transform into renewal, drawing parallels between biblical...
The measure of a rich life – Wendell Berry on delight as a force of resistance and the key to felicitous sanity during hardship https://t.co/F1GzTNXgcR
"All the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that ever were built, and all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth...
Mahant Swami Maharaj consecrated a 108‑foot bronze statue of Shri Swaminarayan at Delhi’s Akshardham complex, commemorating the saint’s 245th birth anniversary. The towering murti, visible from the Delhi Metro, is being hailed as a fresh focal point for worship and...
This is called the Overview Effect - the profound feeling when we view Earth from space, often described as a sudden sense of the planet’s fragility, interconnectedness, and the absurdity of political borders. We need more of that…. Maybe this...
Eudora Welty on writing, time, and embracing the nonlinearity of how we become who we are https://t.co/bvP6qKs3mh
The article argues that societal pressure to "dream big" stems from early‑life conditioning and the promise of financial freedom, steering many toward high‑earning, status‑driven careers. It critiques the homogenized, material‑focused vision‑board culture that equates success with luxury assets, expensive travel,...
Happy GOOD Friday Christ takes the penalty we deserved, so we receive the righteousness we didn’t earn. John 19:30 …”it is finished”…
Two thoughts from Elias Canetti “No faith that is not surrounded by doubt can survive.” "The first effect of adjusting to other people is that one becomes boring."
President Droupadi Murmu delivered a national tribute to revered monk Shivakumara Swami, lauding his lifelong dedication to spiritual teaching and large‑scale charitable work. The ceremony, held on April 2, 2026, underscores the growing public profile of India’s monastic institutions and...
If you are an intelligent human being, you will wonder at every step. Only a fool is dead sure about everything. #SadhguruQuotes https://t.co/jpTJqYDEB4
One of my hopes is to age into a better mindset. The general trend seems to become less open minded, less resilient, less capable of handling change with ease and flexibility as the years roll by. I hope to grow in the...
Faisal Hoque argues that the ease provided by modern technology erodes the meaningful effort that turns information into skill and attachment. He cites a 2025 Harvard‑MIT study showing AI‑generated essays lead to poorer knowledge retention and originality. Hoque distinguishes between...
There’s a conversation happening between your body and your psyche that you’ve been waiting to hear. It holds your personal myth and the wisdom within your wounds. It's time you learn to translate... Once you do, you’ll identify every symptom,...
Cardinal Arthur Roche, prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship, warned on March 17, 2026 that technology and shifting cultural norms are eroding children’s capacity for contemplation. The Vatican’s Lenten meditation on the “freedom of God’s children” invoked Saint Francis’s example...
Had a really interesting discussion in my class yesterday and my co-teacher pointed me to this article from the NYTimes. This thought: To valorize agency without also emphasizing its purpose allows us to ignore harder questions like: How do...
Eric Zimmer, author of *How a Little Becomes a Lot*, argues that lasting personal change stems from tiny, consistent actions rather than dramatic epiphanies. Drawing on his own heroin‑addiction recovery and decades of coaching, he separates long‑term values from momentary...
The price for authenticity is confrontation, if you keep avoiding your own depths, you won’t know yourself, and no one will ever know you. so now you’ve trapped yourself in a loop of self rejection 😵💫 which is wild because...
“It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.” -Genesis 41:52 You can be in a hard season and still be fruitful. God doesn’t waste suffering He redeems it. Amen 🙏
Arthur C. Brooks, Harvard professor and New York Times bestselling author, discusses the growing crisis of meaning in his latest book, *The Meaning of Your Life*. He argues that the relentless chase for pleasure, status, and efficiency—amplified by social media,...
Harvard investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital have started a randomized clinical trial to evaluate whether adding psychedelic coaching to FDA‑approved ketamine infusions improves outcomes for patients with treatment‑resistant depression. The study aims to settle a growing debate over the role...
Thomas Merton argues that genuine solitude is an inner abyss, not merely the absence of external noise. He suggests that true silence allows us to confront reality without the distortions of language. In this view, silence becomes a conduit for...
