When I read an important book, I underline the important messages. Then, I go back and type out each of those underlined messages. It increases my learning and content memory by moving from visual to tactile. Often, I will then review all of my key notes when I want to freshen up.

I maintained a disciplined meditation practice for 10 years from roughly 1979-1990. Over those 10 years, I learned how to "trip the light fandango," have out-of-body experiences, saw all kinds of dazzling lights, and at the end of it all, I realized that meditation was not necessary. But it took those 10 years of practice to learn that.

What mission and purpose in life comes down to is essentially determining what the nature of your existence is all about. It is the basic problem that lies at the heart of most of our angst.

In P.D. Ouspensky's 1931 "A New Model of the Universe," the introduction takes the reader back to the author's school days where he borrows a physics book from an older boy. He describes his experience as, "...am reading it greedily and enthusiastically, overcome now by rapture, now by terror, at the mysteries which are opening before me.

I am completely ignoring my horoscope which said that I would be better off just to stay in bed from December 17 through January 2. I have to admit I was a little more careful than usual driving in the Holiday traffic this afternoon.

Following Christmas morning two years ago, I went to the garage to open a new bag of bird seed, having noticed that the feeders were empty. Holding the bag in my left hand and pulling the blade of the box-cutter toward me instead of away from me, I sliced my wrist wide-open.

In the previous post, I stated that it is separation from one's inner being that is the ultimate source of depression. In fact, one's inner being is the protection from the constant bombardments of life that provides the individual with clarity, the ability to know and to see.

I would like to return to the issue of depression just once more. I promise I'll stop after this.My own personal experiences with depression are vast. I often share that it was a dominant condition in my life until I was around 33 years old (I am 62 now). But once I began to understand the true cause of it (it is different for each individual), I never looked back.

In Itzhak Bentov's 1977 "Stalking the Wild Pendulum," Bentov writes, "We all know the human reality, but what probably most of us don't know about it is that human consciousness can be taught to expand and learn how to interact with the whole spectrum of realities we have described in our diagram. This is the real meaning of the phrase 'expansion of consciousness.'

Depending on what source of research you choose, it is accurate to say that there are more than 11-12 million people on medication for depression. In its 2011 report, "America's State of Mind," the Medco pharmacy found that use of drugs for psychiatric and behavioral disorders rose 22 percent...

The issue of wholeness and completion is inextricably woven into the nature of being a human being. Determining the nature of your existence and defining the path of your evolution lies at the heart of this issue...

I have had three particular circumstances in my life where an individual gave me a book under very special occasions that would change my life. When I moved to Asheville in 1993, I began teaching “A Course in Miracles” at a local bookstore. It had taken me 7 years to read the book the first time and 4 years to read it the second time...

The reason that consciousness is so important is that it allows you to make sense out of all phenomena…seen and unseen. Everything has meaning. Nothing is void of meaning and everything has a relationship to the whole of things...

Developing self-awareness or consciousness is primarily a disciplined practice of some sort…and there are many disciplines. My own development included the notion, “Reject all teachers.” So, the object is development of your own practice and discipline...not someone else's...