Readings In Alternative Everything

THE LAW OF ATTRACTION
By William Walker Anderson
KEY TAKEAWAYS: Introduction to New Thought
Readings Facilitator: R. Kajuth, MLS, EdS, DD

KEY TAKEAWAYS: 1) The Law of Attraction is based on the idea that “our thoughts create [or help to create] our reality, and that by changing our thoughts, we change our life experience” (p. vii). More, it conceives thoughts as capable of acquiring real energy and power drawn from a transcendental force that pervades the universe. Atkinson calls this force the Absolute. “This is the idea that there are not two powers in the universe - God and Satan . . . but rather there is one creative power that has created all life” and all things (p. ix). All ideas of duality are just the state of mind we experience here on earth. And because we are an expression of this power, we can, when rightly aligned with it, improve our life experience, either spiritually or materially. That is why Atkinson aptly named the first book ever on this topic, THOUGHT VIBRATION OR THE LAW OF ATTRACTION published in 1906.

2) Atkinson was an obviously brilliant man, publishing 100 books in his lifetime over an extremely wide range of metaphysical topics, releasing many of them under pseudonyms. He was well known during the first few decades of the 1900’s as a lawyer, editor, author, publisher, and speaker on New Thought philosophy, mental science, psychic studies, Eastern philosophy, the occult, health and wellness, and numerology, just to name a handful of topics (p. xv). While many of this books are hard to find today, there are a few still selling well, the Law of Attraction being one, the Kybalion [a Hermetic treatise], and Reincarnation and the Law of Karma, as well as the Science of Breath.

3) Atkinson disavowed the idea of master and disciple, especially of those teachers and preachers who claimed to be chosen mouthpieces of the Infinite. He saw how it garnered dependence, bigotry, and fanatical devotion to those who proclaimed to know the whole truth of things. “We are all fellow students - that’s all (p. xxiv) . . . “tugging away at the breast of the Absolute” (p. xxix).

THE ART OF LIVING by Thich Nhat Hanh
Addendum Summary
Key Takeaways: 5 Buddhist Nonsectarian Spiritual Trainings
Readings Facilitator, R. Kajuth, MLS, EdS, DD

KEY TAKEAWAYS: There are five Buddhist mindfulness trainings that represent Thich Nhat Hanh’s nonsectarian vision for global spirituality. They are a way of living that embodies the insight of interbeing . . . that everything is connected to everything else in the world. They also express a way of living that can help us transform and heal ourselves and others. #1: Protect the lives of people, animals, plants, and minerals (p. 202); that is, strive to become humanitarians, vegetarians, and environmentalists as much as possible. #2: Commit to practicing generosity in your thoughts, speech, and actions and not to take or claim possession to anything that does not belong to you. Remember that you have more than enough conditions to be happy in the present moment (p. 203). #3: Avoid sexual activity outside of a serious commitment to the relationship (p. 204). #4: Cultivate loving speech and compassionate listening to promote reconciliation and peace (p. 205). #5: Look deeply into how you consume the Four Kinds of Nutriments: edible foods; sense impressions; use of your willpower; and your overall conscious awareness of ideas and things. For example, avoid toxic products like alcohol, drugs, certain TV programs and movies, etc.. Consciously contemplate your interbeing with other things and only consume in such a way that preserves peace, joy, and well-being (p. 206).

THE ART OF LIVING
by Thich Nhat Hanh
Key Takeaway: Chpt. 6, Letting Go
Readings Facilitator, R. Kajuth, MLS, EdS, DD

KEY TAKEAWAY: If we can’t be happy right here and now, then there must be something weighing us down or pulling us away from the present moment (p. 163). We need to use deep reflective insight and courage to identify the root cause of our thoughts keeping us away from being happy in the moment and work on letting go of them (p. 166). Just remind yourself that every time you are doing something and have your mind set on the next thing you will do, you take the joy out of what you are doing; you make it joy-free. Every time you are doing something and your mind is somewhere else, you are doing it worse than you could do. Every time you are doing something and your mind is on autopilot, you cease to exist and become an automaton, an empty shell. This is what happens when you spend your life in “fragmented time” mode, skipping the moments you don’t want to live until you get to the ones you want.

Don’t let living on autopilot becomes a habit because you stop being present in each moment you should be living to the fullest. Don’t allow life to pass you by.

THE ART OF LIVING
by Thich Nhat Hanh
Summary & Insights: Chpt. 3, Living in the moment & in God
Readings Facilitator, R. Kajuth, MLS, EdS, DD

Aimlessness. It doesn’t sound very spiritual. It evokes a kind of drifting from place to place without aspirations or dreams. But this is not the Buddhist conception held by Thich Nhat Hanh. Aimlessness “means arriving in the present moment to discover that the present moment is the only moment in which you can find everything you’ve been looking for” (p86). It does not mean doing nothing! It “means not putting something in front of you to chase after” and losing all the moments in between (ibid.). If we lose the present, we lost the freedom, joy, and peace of the wholeness of every passing moment (p. 89). Everything needs to happen in the moment, not in some illusory future. By identifying and removing objects of seeking pulling you away from the present, you can discover what you spiritually want, e.g., loving kindness, understanding, and compassion, are readily available to you in the now (p. 93).

To practice aimlessness also doesn’t mean we can’t have dreams or aspirations in our life. “It means to stay in touch with the ultimate dimension in the present moment, so we can realize our dreams with joy, ease, and freedom” (p. 104). What is your ‘deepest’ spiritual desire?. Once you have found it in the stillness of your mind, you “have a chance to be true to yourself, to live the kind of life you’d like to live, and to be the kind of person you’d like to be” (p. 105).

And what is the Ultimate Dimension Nhat Hanh speaks about above? It is realizing the idea of resting in God . . . not God as a being, but as BEING itself. This is the true nature of what we call God or the Ultimate Reality. Just as a wave (a human being) doesn’t need to go looking for the water of the ocean beneath it, we don’t need to go looking for the Ultimate Reality. It is already here! (p. 85). We are an expression of it as are all other things in the universe. Thich Nhat Hanh states in one of his other writings: “I think God is on Earth, inside every living being. What we call divine is none other than the energy of awakening, of peace, or understanding, and of love.”

In Thich Nhat Hanh’s pantheistic view, God is the consciousness that is in each and every one of us, every blade of grass, every animal, every tree, every molecule, every atom, and even the empty space. This is how God can be everywhere at the same time. God is everything and all the laws of nature and the universe. He states further, that “If there is a crisis in the twenty-first century, it is that we have not put [the idea of] God in the right place, namely within ourselves and in the world around us” (p. 91).

He continues, “We are a wonder and we are surrounded by wonders. We have God [everywhere], we have the cosmic body [the infinite energies of the universe], we have everything right in this moment. With this insight, with this kind of enlightenment, we already feel happy, content, and fulfilled” (ibid.).