Engaged Spirituality

This is the next post in the series, "Hi Honey, I'm Home", as we work with the contest, "Where's Home?" It's been raining here in Central Oregon for a week. Many of you may say, 'isn't that what it does in Oregon--rain?' and you would be correct... except...( read more ) Read Full Story

From now until the contest is over on June 25th I'll be doing a series of photos and other stuff that illustrate 'home'. This is a cleverly designed marketing ploy to get you to write/photograph/do a YouTube video, etc. of 'where's home' for you. I'm...( read more ) Read Full Story

Here's an opportunity for some deep psycho/spiritual work--available to anyone, but most accessible to the Central Oregon community. Jonathan Goldman began his career as a practitioner of acupuncture in 1976. He went to Brazil in 1987, where he encountered...( read more ) Read Full Story

A stunning stand up by Vanessa Hidary of what self-negation does to the soul... ";" mce_src="http://www.virtualteahouse.com/blogs/beth/WindowsLiveWriter/YouTubeTheHebrewMamitaVanessaHidaryDefPo_15103/video7e1a7546f198.jpg" galleryimg="no"> 'The Hebrew...( read more ) Read Full Story

In the Power of Now, by Eckhart Tolle, there is a passage which is very powerful.  The difference between "clock-time" and psychological time, which appears in chapter 3.  As one is present with the Now, these aspects of time can be appropriate.   "Clock time is not just making an appointment or planning a trip.  It includes learning from the past so that we don't repeat the same mistakes over and over.  Setting goals and working towards them... But even here, within the sphere of practical... Read Full Story

Clock time and psychological time are interwoven concepts of what we could describe as the illusion of "Time".  The differences in them are small but are of one in the same.   "You will not have any doubt that psychological time is a mental disease if you look at it's collective manifestations.  They occur, for example, in the form of ideologies such as communism, national socialism or any nationalism, or rigid religious belief systems, which operate under the implicit assumption that the... Read Full Story

To sum up this 3 part series, I would like to leave you with some lyrical pieces from a song entitled "Time", by Pink Floyd. "Ticking away  the moments that make up a dull day You fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way. ... waiting for someone or something to show you the way.  Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch for rain. You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today. And then one day  you find ten years have got behind you. No one told you when to... Read Full Story

The Virtual Tea House is honored to guest host the current blog carnival on 'A Different Prayer' published today, April 19th. Here's a sample of the last 'A Different Prayer' carnival published in early April .    Iman Maleki "Memories of that house" Welcome to the April 19, 2008 edition of 'A Different Prayer' . spillay presents Looking at Life?. in 6.6 billion ways posted at A Pot of Gold . Gary Evans presents How Much Do You Want It? posted at Good To Feel Good . Khristine White presents... Read Full Story

Technorati Profile Irish poet, priest and philosopher John O' Donohue died suddenly almost a year ago on January 3, 2008 at the age of 52. A mesmerizing public speaker and soulful writer, John developed a global audience for his work. His life has been...( read more ) Read Full Story

From a site called "Serving Bread" comes this great tongue in cheek (you think?) article on 10 reasons why men should NOT be ordained.  And.........here you go!   From the extended syllabus of Systematic Theology 3: 10.     A man’s place is in the army. 9.      The pastoral duties of men who have children might distract them from the responsibility of being a parent. 8.      The physique of men indicates that they are more suited to such tasks as chopping down trees and wrestling mountain... Read Full Story