05 Apr 2020

Direct Path Project
There are many more who seek than there are those who find. For some, perhaps most, seeking is itself the end. Finding is avoided perhaps because it would put an end to the familiar – to the seeking. Or it is avoided out of a fear that is not or cannot be acknowledged. Why is it that so few choose to take the direct path to knowledge of their true nature? Why is the progressive path s...
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02 Apr 2020

Direct Path Project, Judaic Topics
In a few days, on Passover, we will read in the Haggadah the words that are recited when offering the first fruits of the land on the festival of Shavuot. The verbal formula is introduced by and concludes with directions for the choreography of the offering. It is found in this passage from Deuteronomy: (Deut 26:4-10; NRSV) Introduction: When the priest takes the basket from your hand...
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30 Oct 2017

Direct Path Project, Judaic Topics
The Direct Path to knowledge of our true nature, which is often called enlightenment, is not actually a path. As the modern non-dual teacher and philosopher Rupert Spira points out, if we think we are on a path we have already missed the mark. The idea of a path suggests that there is a distance to be traveled. Stand up, he suggests, and take a step toward yourself. You can no more do...
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16 Aug 2017

Direct Path Project, Judaic Topics
Eight times in Parashat Re’eh we read of “the place where God will choose to establish His name”. This is a formulation so unusual that it would attract notice if encountered once. Finding it eight times in one parashah demands attention. The making of an image of God, as we know, is prohibited. And in this parashah the Israelites are even commanded to destroy all of the physical r...
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20 Jun 2017

Direct Path Project, Ethics Project
As I prepared to do further reading on the Utilitarian successors to Bentham and Mill I ran across a comment about the importance of the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein to the 20th century philosophy. The writer made a brief comment about the unusual mystical “hints” in Wittgenstein’s work, which I found intriguing. So, I have spent some time in a Wittgenstein diversion from the Utilitari...
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24 May 2017

Direct Path Project, Others
Several influential contemporary spiritual teachers including Ken Wilber, Eckhart Tolle, Deepak Chopra and others have commented on the increasing numbers of individuals around the world who are experiencing rapid evolution in consciousness. Their language might be somewhat different in describi9ng the phenomenon but their fundamental point is the same. We are at or near a “tipping po...
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26 Apr 2017

Direct Path Project, Ethics Project
In an earlier post (See below, "The Ethic of Three Metals; February 22 2017), I cited the Platinum Rule as formulated by the philosopher Karl K. Popper in his book “The Open Society and Its Enemies”. Popper’s reference was somewhat offhand, embedded in the making of a larger point on standards of behavior: “But although we have no criterion of absolute rightness, we certainly can m...
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21 Apr 2017

Direct Path Project, Ethics Project
In my post of March 1 on the issue of commanded love I noted that some have identified the Ethic of Reciprocity as actually being: “And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” I emphasize being as opposed to, say, proceeding from. And the question of the identification of that (seeming) command as being the Ethic is as opposed to the Ethic being: “Do unto others as you wou...
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