Starting Monday, October 22, and on the 2nd and 4th Monday of each month, Brian Vaugh will lead an evening program of Spiritual Inquiry. We will meet from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at St. John's Parish on the Green in Waterbury. Along with a period of sitting meditation, each week we will look deeply into how we can lead a life in spiritual harmony with all of God's creation. The twice monthly group will use Wayne Dyer's latest book, Change Your Thoughts-Change Your Life as a guide. Do you have thoughts about this? Please drop me a line in the comment box to the right!
St. John's Parish on the Green in Waterbury, Connecticut , celebrated its 275th year of mission and ministry to the people of the Greater Waterbury Area on Sunday, October 14. The day began with a procession in Waterbury with stops at the Congregational and Roman Catholic churches, which are near St. John's. 
We'll be starting up a new spiritual awareness group on the second and fourth Mondays of every month from 6:30 to 8 p.m. starting October 22. We'll meet for in the library of St. John's Parish, 16 Church Street, Waterbury, Connecticut. All are welcome, so please feel free to stop by. We'll have tea, and there's plenty of parking in the church lot.
The beauty of the trees, the softness of the air, the fragrance of the grass speak to me. The summit of the mountain the thunder of the sky, the rhythm of the sea speak to me. The faintness of the stars, the freshness of the morning dewdrop on the flower speak to me. The strength of fire...the trail of the sun, and the life that never goes away, they speak to me, and my heart soars....
"Meditation is not about creating any particular feeling. Meditation is about awareness, about waking up to Reality. Some people try to use meditation like a drug, as a way to escape from life or distract themselves from Reality. But anything that draws us away from Reality is deception." (Steve Hagen) 
Generally we waste our lives, distracted from our true selves, in endless activity; meditation, on the other hand, is the way to bring us back to ourselves, where we can really experience and taste our full being, beyond all habitual patterns. Our lives are lived in intense and anxious struggle, in a swirl of speed and aggression, in competing, grasping, possessing, and achieving, forever burdening ourselves with extraneous activities and preoccupations. Meditation is the exact opposite. (Sogyal Rinpoche, Meditation)
Thanks to Nancy for sending along this poem. She says the Angel Ride made her think of this poem by Marge Piercy.
May 26 and 27 are the dates of the annual Angel Ride. This is a ride across Connecticut to raise money for kids with life threatening illnesses.
Generosity, once you start, becomes its own habit. Ethics is the same. In my experience, the more generous and ethical we are, the more of both we become. These two ingredients lead us to the third one: tolerance. (The Chocolate Cake Sutra, Ingredients for a Sweet Life by Geri Larkin)
Let your love flow outward through the universe,
To its height, its depth, its broad extent,
A limitless love, without hatred or enmity.
Then as you stand or walk,
Sit or lie down,
As long as you are awake,
Strive for this with a one-pointed mind;
Your life will bring heaven to earth.
(The Buddha )
A man was out walking when he came face to face with a tiger. In terror, he started to run away only to find that he was racing toward a precipice. Having no alternative, he climbed over the edge and, as luck would have it, caught hold of the root of a vine. Then he heard growling and, looking down, he saw another tiger below waiting for him to fall. His troubles were still not over. Two mice, one white and one black, started to gnaw through the vine from which he hung. Just at that moment, he spotted a wild strawberry growing out of the side of the cliff. With one hand he grabbed it and put it in his mouth. It was delicious! (attributed to Buddha)
Richard Jeni, who recently committed suicide, was a stand-up comic. On a profound level, he "got life" and turned the pain of experience into humor for the rest of us. Laughter can help us keep things in perspective or get things back into perspective. Here are a few laughs for you today:
Recently, a visitor to this blog asked me about Buddhism. So I told her everything I know:
I came across this article in an Episcopalian newspaper and found it to be a helpful look at walking meditations. I hope you enjoy it.
Down there on the right, in my navigation tool bar, is a comment box. It would be great if you would offer your feedback to the podcast so we can have a conversation among ourselves.
In our fast-paced society, where there is so much pressure to perform and succeed, spending time each day meditating or "chilling" can be extremely important. The mind is amazingly powerful, but when it gets overwhelmed, it can do very little. Meditation helps us to relax and focus the mind. These qualities of relaxation and focus can help you in sports, in studying, and in dealing with your parents.
"Entering the River of Life"
We'll meet again at Hale House this Sunday, January 28, and next Sunday, February 4, from 9:30 to 11 a.m. or so. Please feel free to come early. These items are listed on the calendar, which you can reach by clicking on the link in the navigation toolbar on the right. Please also feel free to sign the guestbook and to sign up for regular updates by adding your email address to the Blogarithm box.This Sunday, January 21, we will talk about the series '24' and how Jack Bauer lives the life of a Bodhisattva.
The Buddha is a man who found peace. He found the 'secret' to living in difficult, confusing, contradicting times by maintaining his equilibrium. We live in such times and Buddha’s ’secret’ is still relevant and available to us today: Be good. Don’t do evil, and always be kind. Buddha gave us a formula to do this - The 5 Precepts. The time for spiritual health is now. The Buddha way is making harmony out of chaos now. Now is the only time we have.
Many books are writtten on the subject. Jokes are made about sitting in the Lotus position. Even TV adds poke fun at Buddhist monks who are meditating. But what is meditation?
