Entries by Surendra James Conti

Can We See God?

In a word, no. Our human sight has a very limited range of visibility. But as devotees, we can begin to see God in other ways, merely by looking for Him in all that surrounds and permeates life as we know it: in things of beauty, in the people we love, even in the challenges […]

The Trouble with How We Love

It seems we were born to invent. For better or worse, it is what we do. And not just things, but stories, excuses, and schemes too. Thus, much of what we invent we would be better off without. Take the idea that love is selective, for instance. Who concocted that one? Our inventiveness apparently dates […]

Self-Talk for Two

Do you ever feel like a slave? You mean to my career, to my responsibilities? Yeah, sometimes. I mean, more like feeling bound to how you think, to what you want and are still trying to get. More like that. I’m okay with who I am, if that’s what you’re asking. Most of the time, […]

Do You Need a Guru?

In any field of practice, when we reach the limit of our expertise, warning signs appear. Do not overreach, they say, or things are going to get dicey. This applies to the spiritual path, just as it does to any endeavor that requires a progressive measure of proficiency. The climb to communion with God is […]

Random Thoughts to Reflect On

Goodbye is never the end. In the end, we begin again. Hello, goodbye, hello. * * * * * We may accidently make a foolish mistake, but we do not accidentally make it again. It becomes a choice. * * * * * Today’s version of you will awake tomorrow with a chance to do […]

The Trouble with How We Love

It seems we were born to invent. For better or worse, we incline to stretch, twist, and reshape much of what is before us, until what is there is the next advance on what had been before. Inventing is what we do. But often what we invent we would have been better without. New versions […]

It’s Not About Innovation

Every age is an age of wonder, but some are more wondrous than others, and the one that spans my current incarnation is beyond what I could have imagined in my youth. For over seventy years, I have witnessed astonishing scientific, technological and social innovations, which accelerate now at an exponential rate. And yet, we […]

How Do You Know?

Can the trillions of cells in your body know what it’s like to be the whole that is you? Each of them is endowed with a certain capacity and function that does not include the capacity of knowing more than what it’s to do. Nor can a drop of the sea know what it’s like […]

What’s Holding You Back?

Maybe it’s how you were taught to get ahead. I was raised to compete. “It’s every man for himself out there,” my dad used to say, “To get ahead, you have to outdo the next guy.” That’s how I was groomed to get what I wanted. Top of the list: to live the American Dream. […]

Still Trying to get It Right

I keep hearing these days that happiness is a choice. Apparently, it’s up to me to make it happen. “Okay,” says I, “I’ll give it a try.” I decide to decide to be happy. Then along comes a crappy encounter, and I react in my usual crappy-encounter sort of way. I get upset, and I’m […]