spiritual path | Springwolf Reflections

Wisdom From The Dalai Lama

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso

Last night (4/25/2012) on Piers Morgan Tonight, Piers interviewed the Dalai Lama. Just because I’m pagan doesn’t mean I can’t learn from and appreciate teachings and wisdom from those of other faiths. And everyone can learn much from the Dalai Lama. It was an excellent and fascinating interview, perhaps the best interview of the Dalai Lama I’ve ever seen.

His honesty is so refreshing in this time of “spin” and out right lies from political leaders, celebrities, and yes even from the spiritual community itself. His optimism is inspiring and by itself can give one hope for a better world. What struck me the most was that he isn’t so optimistic as to be delusional about what can be attainable. He’s much more of a realist than I had ever thought someone in his position could be. And that impressed the heck out of me!

At the end of the show, Piers tells his viewers that here in America we spend $11 billion on the self help and self improvement industry. We spend so much time looking outside ourselves to find happiness, that we forget to look within our own selves, in our actions and our practices. But the Dalai Lama has a cheaper way of finding happiness.

Here are the Dalai Lama’s words of wisdom in his 7 Point Guide to Self Fulfillment: Continue reading →

Thoughts On: “All Paths Lead to the Same Destination”

Earlier today that question was posed on an IMM forum that I’m a member of. My initial response was:

I think everyone has their own view about what that destination is, but I think it’s a true statement. I don’t believe in “God” or “heaven”. So when I say it’s the same destination I think of the Divine Universal Consciousness.

From a non-pagan perspective a Catholic friend of mine said to me once “If God is truly the All; than he/she/it has the ability to be all things to all people. God can be anything, anywhere, anytime and in anyplace.”

Perhaps we all believe in the same thing, but we simply have different names for it. But how it’s applied is still about your own personal perspective from belief and experience.

As the discussion emerged it was clear that there are many views on the phrase and each one seemed to have a strong individualistic perspective that, in some cases, didn’t allow for flexibility. In other words, if you didn’t hold the understanding behind the right path, you could not reach the ultimate destination. So does that mean that not all paths lead to same destination? Or does that mean only certain paths have the key through the Divine doorway? Continue reading →