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Take and Give. Pesach and Redemption.

Dear all Normally we are told to give and take. It is interesting because our very first breath after we are born is an out breath, not an in breath. Although this is counter-intuitive, Kabbalistically we are told that the reason for this is because we are givers before we are takers. My ex-wfie was a taker. I am a giver. It was a recipe for disaster. When people ask me for marriage advice, I say you must both be takers, like my parents, or both be givers, like my wife, Mirjana, and I. A giver and taker? Difficult. The giver gives until there is nothing left to give, and then the giver gives their soul, and becomes a slave. Perhaps I should have called this article Take and Take. This is how my world seems at the moment. My world is the day to day world of life in South Africa. It seems to me that Colonialism (defined narrowly (locally, micro, in my mind) or broadly (normally, macro, in the world)) involves pushing people down, making them feel insecure, making their sel...

Willing our future

God gives us will. But he also give us temptation. Why is this? Why does God give us Will and Temptation? Because God gives us Choice. Choice for Free Will and Free-dom (Free-domininion) and Choice for Temptation and going down into Darkness. We use our will to overcome our temptation. We are free to choose. If you believe in Karma, then you have an easier choice. Temptation drags us down into the lower world, the world of the unconscious, or into the world of the Collective Unconscious. Will helps us rise (or emerge) above into the world of the lower conscious and middle conscious and superconscious and then into the world of light. Evil is the opposite (spelt backwards) of live. Evil is down-wards. Live is up-wards. When we sleep we are in the world of the lower conscious. In this world we can tap into universal wisdom and universal knowledge and get the answers to our deepest questions. "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil", from Psalm 23,...

"How can I be generous now?"

Dear all I just wrote this email to my Sangha, i.e. the group of people who I practice with at my local Buddhist Centre and I want to share it with everyone. Everything "private" in it is about me and my thinking, so I am happy to share it. The "Bodhisattva Project" is a program that the Kagyu Buddhist Centre in Kenilworth, Cape Town, started in 2010. Some of us have stuck it out and are in our sixth year. Some people have left and come back. Some new people have arrived and some have gone on other journeys. There are two ways to achieve Enlightenment. One way is the path of the Arhat. The Arhat's path is to achieve enlightenment for their own sake, although I must say that them being enlightened has a profound effect on the world. The other way to achieve Enlightenment is the path of the Bodhisattva. The Bodhisattva makes a commitment to achieve Enlightenment in order to help others. The Bodhisattva achieves enlightenment or Nirvana and then returns to ...