Nirvana and Samsara / Heaven and Hell

Good morning beautiful world. <3 span=""> People talk about Heaven and Hell, Nirvana and Samsara and I'm sure the equivalent exists in all religions. I have always maintained that I don't believe in either as "physical realities" - For me, personally, Heaven (Nirvana) and Hell (Samsara) are what we create in our lives here on earth. 

Samsara/Hell, is the place of darkness (negative energy) where we get stuck when we find it difficult, or impossible, to live with ourselves and others, because our speech and actions go against the very nature of who we truly are. We can't live with the decisions we make because they don't align with the Highest good within every one of us. In this space, we get caught up in all the negative aspects of human life; fear, anxiety etc etc. The more negative we are, the more negativity we create and, eventually, we end up in a very difficult cycle and attract more negativity - because energy will always magnetise to, and attract, its own polarity. That's why like attracts like. 

We forget, though, that the dark doesn't have to be a negative place. What makes the darkness dark is the charge of negative emotion behind it - our intention - our motivation for acting in a dark way. When we carry out dark actions with a pure intention, it is not dark. It is for a greater good. When something is for the greater good, it's a completely selfless act of unconditional love.

Think about it - the night is dark but it serves its purpose to let us rest and precede the day. It's intention isn't bad.

Heaven/Nirvana is the place of light (positive energy.) - a place of inner and outer peace. We reach this place when we just allow everything, and everyone, to "be." When we don't grasp, don't judge, don't fear, don't hate and certainly don't try to harm others or put them down (regardless of what they may appear to be doing to us) and don't take anything on board, in a personal way, this is when we can live in peace with ourselves and others ... because nothing will matter.

Saying that nothing matters doesn't, literally, mean nothing matters. It just means that we learn to let go of anything, and anyone, that doesn't serve our Higher purpose. When we do that, we attract people, places and events in our lives that can make everything change and once change happens, you'll find there's no going back.

However, since we live in a realistic world and not an idealistic Utopia, perhaps the solution is to find a happy balance between the light and the dark. After all, they need each other like the day needs the night.

It's my personal opinion that, a lot of the time, we do things so automatically, we don't stop for long enough to know why we did it or what our true intention was/is.

Have a beautiful Sunday one and all,

Spritual Teachers

I would like to Honour my Spiritual Teachers Venerable Namgyel and Sri Devamitta Holland with this "reflective" article in appreciation of everything they do for Humanity and for me personally.

After a spiritual retreat, I become a little withdrawn and go very deep introspectively to search for, and process, all the possible things I’ve learned that can help me to become a better human being.
The end of this retreat has been no different and one of the many focal points of my learning has been to come to a deep appreciation for my spiritual teachers who have guided me along my journey’s path.

The question floating around in my mind, over the last day or so, has been: “Do we really, and truly, appreciate our spiritual teachers and everything they have been through in order to be in the position they are in to teach us?”

We are all teachers to one another and, every day, we are in this perpetual cycle of learning and teaching - but are we fully aware of it? Or does each lesson pass us by without us giving it the appropriate amount of attention?

Everything we say and do is the product of a lesson we have learned from someone at some particular moment in time - and, although we may not realise it, at the time, everything we say and do also serves as a lesson for someone else.

However, it is my humble opinion that Spiritual Teachers (especially travelling ones) are so very precious, and genuine ones may be a little rarer to find in this day and age when everyone can become a self proclaimed "spiritual guru".

Some Spiritual Teachers travel long distances; enduring the hardships of airports and sleeping in a different bed every week in a different country. And, whoever has travelled a lot knows how difficult airports can be with their policy of being there 2 hours before, the stress of security checks, queues, extortionate prices for food and let’s not mention the need to get up at absurd times of the morning, perhaps with little to no sleep, in order not to miss their flight.

They spend so much of their precious time, and their life, on a plane and suffering chaotic travel conditions for our sake.

I wonder if we fully appreciate how much constant flying, and crossing multiple time zones, in a pressurised cabin, affects the body and, ultimately, health itself.

I, also, wonder if we fully appreciate how tired a teacher must feel when he/she spends his/her day giving so much of himself/herself - sharing precious wisdom, answering all our questions and giving each and every one of us enough attention.

During each retreat/teachings, a teacher may have 30, different, people to respond to. It must be very taxing mentally and physically. That’s not to mention how many emails a teacher has to answer nowadays of other students far far away from the retreat in course.

I think we, sometimes, fail to remember that a Spiritual teacher is still a human being, like us - made of flesh and blood. The only difference between us is that they have optimised their full spiritual potential whereas we haven’t even started to scratch the surface. 



We take so much from them, and, perhaps a little selfishly, expect them to just keep giving and giving and giving but I ask myself how much we, actually, give them back and when I say give back, I mean by looking after them, and their well-being, so that they may always have their batteries fully charged, be in good health, and be able to benefit even more people on their journey’s path that takes them around the world. 



As a event organiser, and a devoted student, I reach out to all retreat organisers around the world to truly value the precious teacher you are hosting. It’s imperative to let our teachers rest appropriately. We all benefit from a refreshed mind in a relaxed body.

It costs nothing to let our teacher rest a day, before any retreat, after a long trip, and it costs nothing to let them rest a day or two after the teachings so they may fully recover.



My wish is that, as retreat organisers, we may show the same compassion, love, patience and kindness to our Spiritual Teachers as they show us. After all, are love, patience, kindness and compassion not the very things our Teachers are trying to teach us?

What use is learning if we can’t put what we learn into practice with the very people that show us the way?

Wherever you are, whoever you are, as a fellow student, I ask you ... please ... love, take care of, and appreciate all teachers in this world because, if they are no longer able to teach, through ill health, who will we all turn to?

All of our "Life" Teachers give us wings (some more than others and some literally) and they also give us the ability to consistently transform/improve ourselves. It's up to us to choose whether to fly or not and what greater Honour is there, for our Teacher, than to see us fly the way they taught us to!
Have a beautiful day one and all.