In the yoga teacher training I've been in for the past six weeks, we've been learning a lot about Hindu philosophy and other spiritual ideas in yoga. My teacher was suggesting that we try to see ourselves in other people, to not create "separation."

Eastern spiritual philosophy says that we're all part of God, with the implication that when we die we return to a cosmic soup of consciousness. I have to say, I don't find that completely comforting.

I also don't like the idea that the creepy guy over there, such as the one in Austria who locked his daughter up in a basement for over 20 years, is a reflection of "me." Ummm, I personally have never locked anyone up in a basement and I have no intentions of doing so.

I can have compassion (and go, gee, that guy is @#$!!ed up!), but I can honestly say I don't see myself or anyone I know in him for that matter. He's seriously sick...and not shining out as a child of God right now due to that sickness and evil.

OK, I know this is easy to make fun of, but I for one am glad to hear Paris Hilton is doing an about-face and trying to find some meaning in her life. It's about time.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070611/ts_alt_afp/entertainmentcrime

Byron Katie is a beautiful gray-haired woman with a twinkle in her eye and a tremendous amount of love in her heart. If you ever get a chance to see her in person, you can feel the love radiating out from her as strongly as the bright light from the sun.

She delivers her message through a simple process called "The Work," which consists primarily of writing down your negative thoughts and questioning them. It's simple, elegant, and requires no particular spiritual belief or religious dogma.

The beauty of The Work is that when you do it consciously, you'll find that it sets you free. Free from expectation, worry, judgment, and desire.

The Work not a cult, or a hyped up self-help seminar that makes you feel really good while you're there but doesn't really deliver once the high has worn off.

by Stephanie Brail

I am a mystic, but I am also a science geek. I used to teach science to elementary school students. I believe in miracles, but I believe these miracles occur within the framework of a very real world that is subject to certain laws of physics. Science is very complicated, and you cannot reduce the way the universe operates down to one simple formula.

Yet, many are accepting the idea that the so-called Law of Attraction is the way the universe works, or, in the least, the way people’s lives work. This idea, now put forth into the mainstream by The Secret, has been called “scientific” by many of its adherents. Yet, this label is not only misleading but downright false.