Readings In Alternative Everything

06/10/2025

THE LAW OF ATTRACTION
By William Walker Anderson
KEY TAKEAWAYS: Chpts 9 - 13, Summary Statements
Readings Facilitator: R. Kajuth, MLS, EdS, DD

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

Strive to always be “Present.” “This is a place for wide-awake, active, alive people. Be interested in everything you think, say, or do (pp. 53-53).

Cultivate the skill in learning how to embrace a feeling or emotion directly opposed to any negative ones you wish to eradicate. We acquire habits of thought, feeling, and action by repeated use (pp. 61-63).

Develop a love for the characteristic you wish to attain. Feed your fancy with it and see it as accomplished already. Don’t divide your energy (pp. 69-71).

You have just the same base of will as those who have “arrived.” Don’t undervalue yourself or overvalue others. Always put the best of yourself into the undertaking at the time. Do not cheat a present task in favor of some future one (pp. 75-76).

Nothing is too good for you. You are a Divine Heir. Strong desire, confident expectation, and courage in action brings you to your own (pp. 79-81).

Life is not the result of chance. As the Buddha states in the Dhammapada, “We are what we think. All that we are arrises with our thoughts.” You are today setting into motion thought currents which will in time attract toward you thoughts, people, and conditions in harmony with the predominant note of your thought.

04/23/2025

THE LAW OF ATTRACTION
By William Walker Anderson
KEY TAKEAWAYS: Chpt. 2, Thought Waves
Readings Facilitator: R. Kajuth, MLS, EdS, DD

KEY TAKEAWAYS: “Like a stone thrown in the water, thoughts produce ripples and waves which spread out over the great ocean of thought” (p. 8). Thoughts do this because they are an energy themselves like magnetism or electricity which have force. Too, they have frequency which can awaken and attract similar thoughts and circumstances, ergo the Law of Attraction. “We attract to us the thoughts of others who are on the same level of thought,” (p. 10) similar in character to the energetic contagion of a successful meeting of minds at a team meeting. To be clear, we only attract vibrations attuned to our same level or mind, much like the channel of a radio only picks up a signal when the dial is perfectly aligned (p. 10-11). All the other thoughts in the ether do not affect you and pass right by like the dozens of radio frequencies passing through the atmosphere that are not channel aligned.

We all have good and bad moods of thoughts. But one’s goal is to strive to have more spiritual or uplifting thoughts as a balance of mind (p. 9). One should also be empowered by the ever present availability of the will, “You possess the power to raise the vibration of your mind to a positive level whenever you choose (p. 12). A person who asserts they can develops qualities conducive to the well doing of a thing and places their mind in proper vibration to receive thought waves likely to assist them in the doing (p. 14). Remember, nothing binds you but your thoughts , . .

03/11/2025

THE LAW OF ATTRACTION
By William Walker Anderson
KEY TAKEAWAYS: Chpt.1, The Thought World
Readings Facilitator: R. Kajuth, MLS, EdS, DD

KEY TAKEAWAYS: “Whenever we think a thought, we are sending out vibrations which are as real as the [invisible] vibrations manifesting light, heat, electricity, and magnetism” (p. 2). Even though the average individual cannot see, taste, smell, hear, nor feel them doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Some people are known to have psychic abilities which allow such reception. A clear scientific proof are experiments in mental telepathy which have been successfully conducted for more than a hundred years. Given this fact, it follows that such thought vibrations have some actual force just as any other manifestation of energy. The power of them will depend, of course, on the inherent strength and focus of the thinker’s thoughts.

Going a step further, Atkinson states that our thoughts also have a drawing power attracting to us thoughts of others, things, circumstances, and people in accord with the character, intensity, and focus of the thought(s) most uppermost in our minds. The general rule is like attracts like in the Thought World (p. 3). As you sow, so shall you reap!

When you step back and think about the meaning of the foregoing statements, you will see that we really construct our own life circumstances which make up our mental and physical worlds. Positive thoughts will effect and draw positive thoughts and opportunities and negative ones the same (p. 8).

01/19/2025

THE LAW OF ATTRACTION
By William Walker Anderson
KEY TAKEAWAYS: Introduction to New Thought
Readings Facilitator: R. Kajuth, MLS, EdS, DD

KEY TAKEAWAYS: 1) The Law of Attraction is based on the idea that “our thoughts create [or help to create] our reality, and that by changing our thoughts, we change our life experience” (p. vii). More, it conceives thoughts as capable of acquiring real energy and power drawn from a transcendental force that pervades the universe. Atkinson calls this force the Absolute. “This is the idea that there are not two powers in the universe - God and Satan . . . but rather there is one creative power that has created all life” and all things (p. ix). All ideas of duality are just the state of mind we experience here on earth. And because we are an expression of this power, we can, when rightly aligned with it, improve our life experience, either spiritually or materially. That is why Atkinson aptly named the first book ever on this topic, THOUGHT VIBRATION OR THE LAW OF ATTRACTION published in 1906.

2) Atkinson was an obviously brilliant man, publishing 100 books in his lifetime over an extremely wide range of metaphysical topics, releasing many of them under pseudonyms. He was well known during the first few decades of the 1900’s as a lawyer, editor, author, publisher, and speaker on New Thought philosophy, mental science, psychic studies, Eastern philosophy, the occult, health and wellness, and numerology, just to name a handful of topics (p. xv). While many of this books are hard to find today, there are a few still selling well, the Law of Attraction being one, the Kybalion [a Hermetic treatise], and Reincarnation and the Law of Karma, as well as the Science of Breath.

3) Atkinson disavowed the idea of master and disciple, especially of those teachers and preachers who claimed to be chosen mouthpieces of the Infinite. He saw how it garnered dependence, bigotry, and fanatical devotion to those who proclaimed to know the whole truth of things. “We are all fellow students - that’s all (p. xxiv) . . . “tugging away at the breast of the Absolute” (p. xxix).

12/06/2024

Announcing our new book for the new year in January:

THE LAW OF ATTRACTION by William Walker Atkinson

The original guide to manifesting! The full original text, revised for the 21st century!

In this timeless classic, William Walker Atkinson introduces the paradigm shifting concept of The Law of Attraction. This “one great law” governs the universe and the world we experience. It simply states that whatever the focus of our thoughts and expectations―whatever we desire or fear―is exactly what we receive. In The Law of Attraction Atkinson shows readers how to harness this radical power to create a life of abundance and happiness.

The simple choice to replace a negative thought with a positive one is a small thing, but it can be the beginning of a new life, new freedom, and new abundance.

Long before others were writing on the subject, Atkinson was the first to develop a complete understanding of the Law of Attraction. First published under the title Thought Vibration, this new edition of the book has been fully revised and updated for modern readers. Rediscover Atkinson's pioneering insights in The Law of Attraction and learn to transform your life!

11/06/2024

THE ART OF LIVING by Thich Nhat Hanh
Addendum Summary
Key Takeaways: 5 Buddhist Nonsectarian Spiritual Trainings
Readings Facilitator, R. Kajuth, MLS, EdS, DD

KEY TAKEAWAYS: There are five Buddhist mindfulness trainings that represent Thich Nhat Hanh’s nonsectarian vision for global spirituality. They are a way of living that embodies the insight of interbeing . . . that everything is connected to everything else in the world. They also express a way of living that can help us transform and heal ourselves and others. #1: Protect the lives of people, animals, plants, and minerals (p. 202); that is, strive to become humanitarians, vegetarians, and environmentalists as much as possible. #2: Commit to practicing generosity in your thoughts, speech, and actions and not to take or claim possession to anything that does not belong to you. Remember that you have more than enough conditions to be happy in the present moment (p. 203). #3: Avoid sexual activity outside of a serious commitment to the relationship (p. 204). #4: Cultivate loving speech and compassionate listening to promote reconciliation and peace (p. 205). #5: Look deeply into how you consume the Four Kinds of Nutriments: edible foods; sense impressions; use of your willpower; and your overall conscious awareness of ideas and things. For example, avoid toxic products like alcohol, drugs, certain TV programs and movies, etc.. Consciously contemplate your interbeing with other things and only consume in such a way that preserves peace, joy, and well-being (p. 206).

09/20/2024

THE ART OF LIVING
by Thich Nhat Hanh
Key Takeaway: Chpt. 7, Nirvana is Now
Readings Facilitator, R. Kajuth, MLS, EdS, DD

KEY TAKEAWAY: The term nirvana derives from an ancient rural dialect of India. It was originally used to describe the pleasant coolness of cold ashes when one’s hands were immersed in them after the home fire had been completely extinguished (p. 183). The Buddha deliberately used the word to describe the pleasant feeling of cooling and extinguishing one’s consuming desires and afflictions. Nirvana is not a place, but rather a state of mind! (p.188). Touching nirvana does not have to be something big. Each one of us can touch small moments of it every day as you recognize, embrace, and transform your anger, fear, anxiety, jealousy, etc., by cooling and eventually burning them out like the ashes from the home fire (pp. 184-185). “One of the great misunderstandings of Western Buddhist scholars has been to define nirvana as a kind of “eternal death” that ends the cycle of reincarnation. This is a grave misunderstanding of the deepest meaning of nirvana . . . It is only when we are alive that we can touch nirvana” (p. 188), and when we free ourselves from preconceived ideas and words, reality [nirvana] appears to us in the moment.

08/29/2024

THE ART OF LIVING
by Thich Nhat Hanh
Key Takeaway: Chpt. 6, Letting Go
Readings Facilitator, R. Kajuth, MLS, EdS, DD

KEY TAKEAWAY: If we can’t be happy right here and now, then there must be something weighing us down or pulling us away from the present moment (p. 163). We need to use deep reflective insight and courage to identify the root cause of our thoughts keeping us away from being happy in the moment and work on letting go of them (p. 166). Just remind yourself that every time you are doing something and have your mind set on the next thing you will do, you take the joy out of what you are doing; you make it joy-free. Every time you are doing something and your mind is somewhere else, you are doing it worse than you could do. Every time you are doing something and your mind is on autopilot, you cease to exist and become an automaton, an empty shell. This is what happens when you spend your life in “fragmented time” mode, skipping the moments you don’t want to live until you get to the ones you want.

Don’t let living on autopilot becomes a habit because you stop being present in each moment you should be living to the fullest. Don’t allow life to pass you by.

07/31/2024

THE ART OF LIVING
by Thich Nhat Hanh
Key Takeaway: Chpt. 5, Non-Craving & Being Happy
Readings Facilitator, R. Kajuth, MLS, EdS, DD

KEY TAKEAWAY: “The art of happiness is the art of living deeply in the present moment” (p. 137). Right now, a person has more than enough conditions they may note in order to be happy and to not always be running after happiness. This is called the contemplation on non-craving, that is, having complete control over one’s deepest cravings one has identified through mindfulness when they arise. Most people spend their entire lives looking for something outside themselves to feel satisfied and complete. As long as the energy of craving for something else in the moment, with what one already has and who one is right now, a person can never be truly happy (p. 138). At first, one may think if he or she lets go of a craving, that they will lose something. But after being recognized and released, will finally have a real sense of freedom (p. 139). You have to challenge yourself to be happy by recognizing with gratitude all the conditions of happiness already in your possession (p. 151). No one else can create happiness for us. The art of living is knowing how to create happiness in any moment . . . even in moments of great challenge or difficulty (p. 159).

07/06/2024

THE ART OF LIVING
by Thich Nhat Hanh
Key Takeaway: Chpt. 4, Impermanence [anicca]
Readings Facilitator, R. Kajuth, MLS, EdS, DD

KEY TAKEAWAY: Without impermanence, life would not be possible; there would be no growth or transformation. It is not good enough to just acknowledge the notion of impermanence (especially our own eventual demise). We must use a deep acknowledgement of impermanence for insight into our everyday actions and behave as if it were our constant shadow. “With the insight of impermanence, you won’t wait. You’ll do everything you can to make a difference [now], to make the person you love happy, and to live the kind of life you would like to live” (p. 119).

05/31/2024

THE ART OF LIVING
by Thich Nhat Hanh
Summary & Insights: Chpt. 3, Living in the moment & in God
Readings Facilitator, R. Kajuth, MLS, EdS, DD

Aimlessness. It doesn’t sound very spiritual. It evokes a kind of drifting from place to place without aspirations or dreams. But this is not the Buddhist conception held by Thich Nhat Hanh. Aimlessness “means arriving in the present moment to discover that the present moment is the only moment in which you can find everything you’ve been looking for” (p86). It does not mean doing nothing! It “means not putting something in front of you to chase after” and losing all the moments in between (ibid.). If we lose the present, we lost the freedom, joy, and peace of the wholeness of every passing moment (p. 89). Everything needs to happen in the moment, not in some illusory future. By identifying and removing objects of seeking pulling you away from the present, you can discover what you spiritually want, e.g., loving kindness, understanding, and compassion, are readily available to you in the now (p. 93).

To practice aimlessness also doesn’t mean we can’t have dreams or aspirations in our life. “It means to stay in touch with the ultimate dimension in the present moment, so we can realize our dreams with joy, ease, and freedom” (p. 104). What is your ‘deepest’ spiritual desire?. Once you have found it in the stillness of your mind, you “have a chance to be true to yourself, to live the kind of life you’d like to live, and to be the kind of person you’d like to be” (p. 105).

And what is the Ultimate Dimension Nhat Hanh speaks about above? It is realizing the idea of resting in God . . . not God as a being, but as BEING itself. This is the true nature of what we call God or the Ultimate Reality. Just as a wave (a human being) doesn’t need to go looking for the water of the ocean beneath it, we don’t need to go looking for the Ultimate Reality. It is already here! (p. 85). We are an expression of it as are all other things in the universe. Thich Nhat Hanh states in one of his other writings: “I think God is on Earth, inside every living being. What we call divine is none other than the energy of awakening, of peace, or understanding, and of love.”

In Thich Nhat Hanh’s pantheistic view, God is the consciousness that is in each and every one of us, every blade of grass, every animal, every tree, every molecule, every atom, and even the empty space. This is how God can be everywhere at the same time. God is everything and all the laws of nature and the universe. He states further, that “If there is a crisis in the twenty-first century, it is that we have not put [the idea of] God in the right place, namely within ourselves and in the world around us” (p. 91).

He continues, “We are a wonder and we are surrounded by wonders. We have God [everywhere], we have the cosmic body [the infinite energies of the universe], we have everything right in this moment. With this insight, with this kind of enlightenment, we already feel happy, content, and fulfilled” (ibid.).

04/12/2024

THE ART OF LIVING
by Thich Nath Hanh
Summary & Insights: “Signlessness” / our 8 Bodies
Readings Facilitator, R. Kajuth, MLS, EdS, DD

What is signlessness? First, we must understand that a sign is what characterizes the appearance of something, its form. Signlessness would be the ability to see beyond an apparent form into the other manifestations of the form as it transforms, recognizing all forms as transient and illusory. For example, we may see a cloud in the sky for a few moments and then later see it apparently gone. But it has really gone nowhere. It may now have simply transformed into rain, mist, or snow. The nature of the cloud, H2O, is still there. It cannot pass from something into just nothing. Although we cannot see the cloud, it has not died (pp. 44-45).

Like the cloud, we too are constantly transforming. We move from being in the womb to old age and seemingly passing away. We see we are not fixed or permanent as our form, attitudes, perceptions, consciousness has changed throughout the years. We are never the same person we were before, yet not a totally different person either. This is the practice of contemplating our own signlessness (ibid.) And actually before we were in the womb we were s***m and egg. And prior to that our parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and so on.

One could go on indefinitely like this! So, from this Buddhist point of view, one is never born because there was never a time you were not (p. 47). It is the same with death. The subtle energy that is you, like the H2O, never perishes but arises in a new form, either human or otherwise, depending on one’s karma. But, the Buddhists insist, it is not a permanent soul that moves from one form to another, just a form of energy. Something never becomes nothing. We are eternal beings.

Buddhist traditions have developed various ways to visualize our life without boundaries. Thich Nhat Hanh identifies eight different energy bodies that allow us to see how we are selfless interbeings (p. 53). Let us take a look at each one.

1) First there is the physical body with which we feel, heal, transform and experience life in all its wonders. But are we even the body? Nearly 40 trillion cells composed of viruses, fungi, and bacteria work to keep alive the 30 trillion human cells in our body. We truly are interbeings in this regard. Think how many millions of years of environmental change and other life forms it has taken to emerge as human beings! Countless life forms are supporting our existence. The body is actually a masterpiece of the cosmos! Realizing this we should be more mindful of our bodies, listening to it more mindfully at regular times, walking, eating, speaking, and especially breathing as a centering strategy (pp. 56-57).

2) The Buddha Body is shorthand for one’s capacity to be fully aware and fully present in any activity, especially exhibiting understanding, compassion, and love. Every time someone chooses the higher spiritual path, one builds and strengthens the Buddha Body. Each time one more mindfully does anything . . . drinking tea, eating, walking, conversing, doing dishes, breathing, and particularly reducing the suffering of others . . . we participate in the Buddha Body (pp. 58-59).

3) The Spiritual Practice Body grows energetically from actively exercising the Buddha Body. We build a body of spiritual practices which swing into gear when we meet challenging or difficult circumstances or when we want to generate happiness and love. The more solid our Spiritual Body becomes, the happier we will be, being more able to embrace a strong emotion or restore clarity and calm (p. 60).

4) The Community Body is a group dynamic founded upon a number of people working together to share spiritual aspirations and support and nourish each other. It is imperative to have a body of like-minded friends and colleagues to help us reach our loftiest dreams. Four is enough, five is better, and more than five is excellent! With them, we can listen deeply and share insights and difficulties, simply being fully present for each other (p. 64).

5) The Body Outside the Body allows us to see or extend our influence beyond our physical selves. How? By writing, public teaching, through art, giving charity for a few. Thich Nhat Hanh also intimates that when consciousness of a spiritual practice grows to a certain level, it has a quantum non-local effect, then almost mystically spreading that influence to a larger group with which there was no initial contact. One a physical level too, a parent or grandparent can also see oneself in a child, or vice versa. This is also how we are a Body Outside one’s Body (p. 65-66).

6) The Continuation Body is the energy we extend into the world by our thoughts, words, and deeds. They continue to percolate in the world though continued communications we may never be aware of, but they carry us into the future. “We are like stars whose light energy continues to radiate across the cosmos millions of years after they become extinct.” So, we should take care to train ourselves to think positively inspiring hope, love, forgiveness, and compassion. Be ever aware, however, that doing the opposite has resounding negative effects and we should eschew such thoughts at all times (pp 67-68). We are also Continued in our physical bodily actions. We should ask ourselves, ‘Where am I investing my physical energy for the welfare of others? (p.69)’

7) The Cosmic Body is one’s recognition that our very being is the result of the whole cosmos coming together to support the creation of our existence. “We are made of stardust [carbon]. We are children of the earth, made of all the same elements and minerals” (73). We breathe a perfectly balanced atmosphere, eat the earth’s food, and drink of its waters. We are taking and emitting energy at all times. We indeed are interdependent on the whole phenomenal and cosmic order.

8) The Ultimate Body is the deepest level of the Cosmic Body. It is realizing the true nature of reality beyond all perceptions, forms, and ideas (p. 74). It is quite difficult to put into words because they do not do it justice and only put limitations on it. It is what is termed samadhi or a transcendental experience that takes us to the quantum realm of interbeing or the implicate order as physicist David Bohm calls it. Everything is dependent on something else before it, ad infinitum. Understanding this, you cannot remove the Ultimate Reality or Absolute or God from yourself (p. 77). In this sense, you are the same as the ultimate reality!

A book study group exploring ideas about mind, body, & spirit, the nature of the Self & consciousness