http://spiritualinquiry.com Open-Minded Inquiry About Spirituality and Self-Improvement Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:01:19 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Spiritual inquiry, by its very nature, implies the absence of authority. We must be willing to doubt every religious figure and text, and we must release preconceived notions and established ideas. To truly inquire, we must be open to anything, recognizing that firm belief only arises when we realize the ... http://spiritualinquiry.com/articles/the-importance-of-questioning/ Loneliness cannot occur in the present moment. When our attention simply rests with the activity at hand, we cannot be lonely. Loneliness only occurs when we allow our mind to wander - into the past, into the future, or into the world of how we wish things to be. Loneliness ... http://spiritualinquiry.com/articles/loneliness-is-in-the-mind/ What is the relationship between love and understanding? Both are streams from the same source, but whereas love flows through the heart, understanding flows through the mind. Understanding helps us see the truth, and love causes us to act on it. Understanding assists love by helping us recognize ourselves in others, ... http://spiritualinquiry.com/articles/love/ We spend so much of our lives either in pain and hardship, or in fear of pain and hardship. We dread the first sign of illness, we lament our lack of time and money, we try hard not to think of that inevitable day when either we or our loved ... http://spiritualinquiry.com/articles/how-to-enjoy-lifes-hardships/ For what fraction of our lives are we enjoying ourselves? Is it 80%? 50%? 20%? Sadly, when we monitor our state of mind over the course of a day, we often find that the fraction is depressingly low. Even if we have very enviable lives, we may spend a rather ... http://spiritualinquiry.com/articles/enjoyment/ Why are so many of us discontented? Our lives are filled with luxuries and opportunities unimaginable by our ancestors. In the developed world, most of us have abundant food and water, live longer and healthier lives than ever before, have shelter to protect us from the elements, and have considerable ... http://spiritualinquiry.com/articles/contentment-and-gratitude/ How do we go about increasing our happiness? We have all striven for something we believed would make us happy - a new house, a relationship, or a flexible job - only to find that, 3 months later, our happiness fell right back to where it started. At this point, ... http://spiritualinquiry.com/articles/increasing-happiness-activities-and-circumstances/ Have you ever been asked why you like someone? Have you ever been at a loss for words? In today's society, we are expected to have reasons for everything we do and think. Moreover, we are expected to elucidate those reasons. Intangible concepts such as intuition or gut-instinct are seldom ... http://spiritualinquiry.com/articles/trust-your-intuition-dont-think-about-love/ How much time do we spend thinking about happiness? Is all of this thought worthwhile? Numerous studies have shown that happy people are those who are less introspective (see Lyubomurski and Lepper 1999, or Veenhoven 1988), suggesting that excessive reflection can lower our mood. We probably all know people who ... http://spiritualinquiry.com/articles/happiness-introspection-and-thinking/ What is selfishness? It is generally defined as putting our own needs before the needs of others. It is the opposite of altruism, and agreed by many to be an undesirable trait. The paradox of selfishness is that, although it supposedly means putting ourselves first, selfish people are generally the ... http://spiritualinquiry.com/articles/selfishness-is-not-the-issue/