Entries by Surendra James Conti

We Who Measure

Do you judge? Of course, you do. Judging is how we compare and contrast, how we choose between this and that. It’s a habit as automatic as breathing. Every action, thing, person and experience is measured against what was, wasn’t or might have been. Consciously or not, we spend our waking hours measuring what enters […]

Real or Not?

We see and we believe, isn’t that right? Look, there’s a chair. No doubt about it. It’s solid, stable, and we can sit in it for hours, fully supported. But is that enough to say that it’s real? What’s going on beneath the surface of what we see. How is it held together? Is there […]

See It As Already Broken

We fight with ourselves, have you noticed? Sometimes all day long. It’s usually over wanting to do what we know that we shouldn’t, or should do and really don’t want to. If we step back and watch from a neutral corner, the battle can get pretty amusing. “I really want to do this.” “But you […]

Enthusiasm Be Thy Engine

To live an uplifting life, enthusiasm is a quintessential quality to have, and when we’re on a roll, it is easy to come by. We can hardly wait to be with that special person or to hear that whatever we want to happen is happening. But what about those other times when the future doesn’t […]

The Way of the Way

Life is a pilgrimage. It is not a tour. Be its pilgrim, its seeker of truth, its lover of precious learning. See below the surface of what is seen. Get into being. To live this sacred pilgrimage as a tourist is to miss what you are seeking. It is not a place. It is not another […]

Truth Does Not Require That We Accept It

But… “Be not deceived, God is not mocked.” It is said the truth invites, it never commands. If that is correct, and I trust that it is, then God has apparently created truth as a “take it or leave it” option. An invitation, after all, is something we can either accept or decline. But what […]

Democracy vs. Truth

Why is there a disconnect between them? Shouldn’t the truth be sacred? Especially in a democracy? What could be more democratic than truth for everyone equally? Well, it is for everyone equally. Except in practice. Jesus had that one figured out more than two thousand years ago. “Give not that which is holy unto dogs, […]

First, You Fall

When you and I were just learning to walk, we wobbled and fell repeatedly before we got the hang of it. Yet, we stayed with it, because something in our makeup said that walking was going to be useful and that crawling for the rest of our lives wouldn’t get us nearly as far. That […]