In a few weeks the vast floods that are sweeping through Pakistan will draw back. Then, when the rain has stopped and people begin to return to their land and the places they live, imagine what they will find. No crops, no livestock, no electricity, no clean water, no food, broken roads and bridges, the […]
Writings related to ‘Identity’
Looking for Iran
April 2nd, 2009
ESFAHAN, IRAN The Rally for Ahmadinejad This morning Rabia and I walked out of our small hotel in Esfahan, Iran, and were immediately swept along by a boisterous crowd filling the street—chanting, waving banners—all heading to Imam Square to hear President Ahmadinejad who was due to give a public address there within the hour. Loudspeakers […]
The Simple Fact of Being Aware Right Now
June 3rd, 2008
The Simple Fact of Being Aware Right Now by Elias Amidon There is no goal other than the realization of natural freedom, effortless, faultless, and without defects, the unique fact of awareness, self-radiant and free from discursiveness. – Longchenpa Imagine the sky on a clear spring morning—utterly transparent, empty, and vividly fresh. It is alive, […]
The Open Path
October 3rd, 2007
The Open Path by Elias Amidon What is Openness? One of the most joyful moments in the life of the spiritual seeker is when we recognize that the long sought-for goal is already here. We are the pure Presence the sages and poets speak about. Not our personality, but the heart of our own natural […]
Leaving Our Father’s House
November 2nd, 2006
THE MIDDLE EAST Separation Four years ago at this time my wife and I were in Iraq, on the eve of the invasion. With the members of the Iraq Peace Team we were trying to bring to the attention of world media the enormous mistake the coming invasion was about to enact, and the agony […]
An Invocation for the Beginning of a Gathering
April 4th, 2006
Invocation for the Beginning of a Gathering By the grace of countless beings we are here, thank you by the grace of this heavy planet, we are here, by the grace of sunlight warming everything, by the grace of mystery beyond all we can know, we are here, thank you. By the grace of a […]
The Challenge of Fundamentalism
May 2nd, 2005
The Challenge of Fundamentalism by Rabia Elizabeth Roberts & Elias Amidon Wherever we travel we find concern about fundamentalism. Europeans are worried about violent outbreaks among immigrants in their home countries and the apparent failure of their attempts at multi-culturalism. Arabs try to assure us that fundamentalism is not the heart of Islam. Our liberal […]
Crossing Borders
January 2nd, 2004
CROSSING BORDERS . When the pilgrim’s road comes to an end and her goal is reached, she finds she has traveled only from herself to herself, and that the God whom she reached was all the while in her, around her, with her, and beside her. –Annonymous After these years of pilgrimage we are truly […]
Being Alone
September 2nd, 2003
HELL ROARING CANYON, UTAH At the moment Rabia and I are waiting in the silence near a remote canyon in the Great Basin Desert of southeastern Utah. We are waiting for a small group of people we have guided out here to return from their three days of solitude and fasting. This is day two. […]
