Medley

Stoicism is considered to be a philosophy of grim endurance, of tolerating rather than transcending life’s agonies and adversities, and that is perhaps the reason why the Stoic sage, in Western culture, has never obtained the popularity of the Zen master, writes Larry Wallace. He says that stoicism is a philosophy of gratitude, which is rugged enough to endure anything. Stoicism is not grim resolve but a way to wrest, or snatch, happiness from adversity. The truth is, indifference is a power that facilitates a more expansive and adventurous mode of living, in which joy and grief are there along with other emotions, but they are tempered so that they are less tyrannical.

Esther Pockrandt – Australia 

… Reflections on Australian Indigenous Spirituality

This article was inspired by the moving Welcome of theosophists to the traditional lands of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations, the wisdom holders of the Indigenous Nations of the Vancouver area, during the recent 150^th International Congress in Canada, and their subsequent inclusion in the programme.  I live on the lands of the Kabi-Kabi and Jinibara people of the Sunshine Coast in South East Queensland, Australia, and I was deeply touched by this honouring of the earth and all the gifts she shares with us freely, and still, even when we forget to look after her.  We, as humanity and the earth with all her beings are one family, something which indigenous cultures still honour.  The Welcome to Country as it is known here, is almost identical, the same call for respect, a ‘re-memoring’ that we are one family, yet, but visitors passing through.  

NASA’s Perseverance rover discovered leopard spots on a reddish rock nicknamed “Cheyava Falls” in Mars’ Jezero Crater in July 2024. Scientists think the spots may indicate that, billions of years ago, the chemical reactions in this rock could have supported microbial life; other explanations are being considered. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Tim Wyatt – England

The author, ever active. Here photographed in a film studio, working on  yet another project

In esoteric circles the phrase ‘divine discontent’ is sometimes deployed to describe an inner appetite which can never be satisfied by material goods or worldly rewards. It’s a potent urge to discover a world and consciousness deep within and yet far beyond the self. In other words, it signifies a spiritual hunger, whatever ‘spiritual’ means to you. (And this means many different things to many different people.) Essentially, it’s a gnawing knowing within that something vital is missing.

Catalina Isaza Cantor - Colombia, India

There is something sacred

about a space where no one is asked

Your brain dances to music more than you think — it reconfigures itself in response to sound. A new technique reveals how rhythmic tones spark shifting brainwaves across neural networks.  

What happens inside your brain when you hear a steady rhythm or musical tone? According to a new study from Aarhus University and the University of Oxford, your brain doesn't just hear it -- it reorganizes itself in real time.

Tim Wyatt-- England

From remotest antiquity sinister dark forces have had a disruptive and negative impact on human activity. These malign energies and the evil entities who employ them continually shape-shift to suit the needs of the time they wish to influence. They operate covertly behind the scenes but also in plain sight. And their mission is always the same – to impede humanity’s spiritual unfoldment and hamper its evolutionary potential.

This is a crucially important issue – especially for anyone on a spiritual path.