A Voice at the Borders of Silence is the story of a life of passion lived at the forefront of intersecting avant-garde movements and spent in the unyielding pursuit of the ultimate self-understanding and awareness. In a lifetime that nearly coincided with the 20th century, William Segal left a legacy of insight, compassion, and intelligence-as a businessman and publisher, an artist, and as a seeker. William Segal was a disciple and interpreter of some of the most influential spiritual masters

You already know that “I love you” is a huge step to take in any relationship. That much is clear. But how do you know if it’s the right step to take in your relationship? I mean, how do you know if they actually mean it? And more importantly, how do you

We tend to think of the ancient world as having many distinct religions, all somehow pure and authentic in themselves. But the truth is more complicated, of course. Muslims, Christians, and Jews debated each other at times, and their religions influenced each other. Platonism also influenced these three religions, or at least their more mystical and esoteric schools of thought. Moreover, even in antiquity people often practiced different faiths, having, for example, to be a part of the state

It has long been known amongst historians and anthropologists that humans’ evil actions give meanings or reshape the perceptions of even the most peaceful of the notions and symbols.Nowhere this fact is more evident than the stigma attached to the Swastika symbol. The Synonymous with the Third Reich that wreaked havoc on the European continent, this symbol previously enjoyed an entirely different status, one that was on the opposite end of violence and mass killings. For centuries, western

How I found my way out of depression, thanks to the writings of the English priest who brought Buddhism to the West.Ever since I was a child, I have been acutely sensitive to the idea — in the way that other people seem to feel only after bereavement or some shocking unexpected event — that the human intellect is unable, finally, to make sense of the world: everything is contradiction and paradox, and no one really knows much for sure, however loudly they profess to the contrary. It is an

Brightly-colored Buddhas holding strange ritual implements, meditational deities wearing human bone ornaments, voluptuous goddesses and terrifying, wrathful manifestations—the exotic Buddhist art of Tibet is often misunderstood through ignorance of its meaning and purpose. We ask, how can such strange images have a spiritual function? More fundamentally, since the teaching and practice of Buddhism is concerned with realization of the nature of the mind, what place can these gods, goddesses and

For years I struggled to find the peace I really wanted.You know the dream: Happiness Not overthinking No anxiety Physically fit And to live every moment without being distracted by the past or the future. During that time, I lived with anxiety, insomnia and way too much useless thinking going on in my head. It was never easy. One of the reasons I was never truly at peace was because of one recurring problem: I couldn’t learn to

Quantum mechanics suggest that consciousness arises in a measurement-explanatory feedback loop between our experiences and the accommodation-model we hold in our memory. If correct, what we see in front of our nose is not the real external world, nor even a mental representation of it, but rather an accommodation to external stimulation expressed in our private space-object vocabulary. The capabilities of our mental display and its vocabulary are limited by our evolutionary development and so

Mindful living has a simple goal: Do more things mindfully. There’s nothing more to it.But, just because something is simple doesn’t mean that it’s easy. It’s anything but that. People say that even a little bit of mindfulness makes a significant difference in people’s lives. But even that little bit can be difficult to achieve. It takes effort, practice and dedication. However, research is showing that it’s worth it. People who practice mindfulness meditation tend to be less stressed

It doesn't matter if you're an atheist, devout follower of your faith, an agnostic, or anywhere in between—there's wisdom to be learned from the world's religions. Here are some of the most important, universally applicable teachings from sacred texts everyone would benefit from learning. Putting aside differing beliefs—about the afterlife, the nature of the divine, and religious rituals—we can all glean life lessons from ancient traditions. Here are some of the most notable ones from Zen

Deity yoga is one of the hardest forms of Tantrik Yoga to comprehend. Deity yoga is a Tantrik practice of invoking sides of the One divine Consciousness and identifying oneself with them. The One energy comes out as countless different ‘vibrations’, either ephemeral or eternal.The ‘eternal’ vibrations are intrinsic components of the overall Pattern, and so they exist as long as the Pattern is there. Some of these eternal vibrations of conscious energy are called ‘deities’. The word deva in