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by Clay Boykin | Jun 11, 2021 | Inspiration, Meditation, Mythology, Wisdom
Mandalas take on countless sizes, shapes and forms and are a tool for gaining perspective, expanding thought and relaxing the mind. This excerpt from The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell provides an excellent description of how a mandala works.
Excerpt from the Power of Myth:
CAMPBELL: “Mandala” is the Sanskrit word for “circle,” but a circle that is coordinated or symbolically designed so that it has the meaning of a cosmic order. When composing mandalas, you are trying to coordinate your personal circle with the universal circle. In a very elaborate Buddhist mandala, for example, you have the deity in the center as the power source, the illumination source. The peripheral images would be manifestations or aspects of the deity’s radiance.
In working out a mandala for yourself, you draw a circle and then think of the different impulse systems and value systems in your life. Then you compose them and try to find out where your center is. Making a mandala is a discipline for pulling all those scattered aspects of your life together, for finding a center and ordering yourself to it. You try to coordinate your circle with the universal circle.
MOYERS: To be at the center?
CAMPBELL: At the center, yes….
https://youtu.be/19C0noWn3T8
My personal mandala has been evolving over the past few years. It is the place I can go at any time to pause and reflect, to pray, to meditate, or just sit in quiet contemplation in an empty space between the lines for a while. – Clay Boykin
Mandala – Clay Boykin 2015
Available on Etsy: 11×17 cardstock, suitable for framing
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by Clay Boykin | Jun 10, 2021 | Men's Issues, Wisdom
Manly Palmer Hall (March 18, 1901 – August 29, 1990) was a Canadian-born author and mystic. He is perhaps most famous for his work The Secret Teachings of All Ages: An Encyclopedic Outline of Masonic, Hermetic, Qabbalistic and Rosicrucian Symbolical Philosophy, which is widely regarded as his magnum opus, and which he published at the age of 25 (or 27, 1928)a
He has been widely recognized as a leading scholar in the fields of religion, mythology, mysticism, and the occult.
Carl Jung, when writing Psychology and Alchemy, borrowed material from Hall’s private collection.
In 1934, Hall founded the Philosophical Research Society (PRS) in Los Angeles, California, dedicating it to an idealistic approach to the solution of human problems. The PRS claims to be non-sectarian and entirely free from educational, political, or ecclesiastical control, and the Society’s programs stress the need for the integration of philosophy, religion, and science into one system of instruction. The PRS Library, a public facility devoted to source materials in obscure fields, has many rare and scarce items now impossible to obtain elsewhere.
In 1973 (47 years after writing The Secret Teachings of All Ages), Hall was recognized as a 33º Mason (the highest honor conferred by the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite), at a ceremony held at PRS on December 8th, despite never being initiated into the physical craft.
In his over 70-year career, Hall delivered approximately 8,000 lectures in the United States and abroad, authored over 150 books and essays, and wrote countless magazine articles.
Finding My Purpose:
The Search for the Essential Meaning of Life
Viktor Frankl – The Will-to-Meaning – “Don’t aim at success. The more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one’s personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself.”
Authentic Happiness
This website has more than 2 million users from around the world, and you are welcome to use all of the resources available here for free. (all kinds of extensive tests)
Authentic Happiness is the homepage of Dr. Martin Seligman, Director of the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania and founder of positive psychology, a branch of psychology which focuses on the empirical study of such things as positive emotions, strengths-based character, and healthy institutions.
http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/Default.aspx
How to discover your purpose in <5 seconds.
How to figure out your mission in life.
Intrinsic vs Extrinsic Motivations.
What are your signature strengths?
http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/aiesec/Tests/SameAnswers_t.aspx?id=310
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by Clay Boykin | Oct 1, 2020 | Consciousness, Wisdom
The last fifteen years of Carl Jung’s life were lived against the backdrop of the Cold War—that time in our global history when most of the nations of the world were aligned either with the “West” or with the “Communist bloc.” Intermittently throughout this time the people of the world held their breath as they watched confrontations between the United States and the Soviet Union heat up. During one such tense time members of the Psychological Club in Zurich asked Jung if he thought there would be an atomic war. Barbara Hannah recalled his reply:
“I think it depends on how many people can stand the tension of the opposites in themselves. If enough can do so, I think the situation will just hold, and we shall be able to creep around innumerable threats and thus avoid the worst catastrophe of all: the final clash of opposites in an atomic war. But if there are not enough and such a war should break out, I am afraid it would inevitably mean the end of our civilization as so many civilizations have ended in the past but on a smaller scale.”
“…I had learned that all the greatest and most important problems of life are fundamentally insoluble…. They can never be solved, but only outgrown.”
Excerpt from 2013 Article in Jungian Center for the Spiritual Sciences: Jung’s Challenge to Us: “Holding the Tension of the Opposites”
***
Marion Woodman is Jungian analyst from Ontario, Canada, born in 1928. This is a talk from 1991.
Ashley Turner – The Hero’s journey
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by Clay Boykin | Aug 9, 2020 | Forgiveness, Gratitude, Inspiration, Quotes & Poems, Vulnerability, Wisdom
“Somewhere between the dark night and joy lies a place of simple peaceful loving kindness. A place where I rest and lean safely against myself for awhile; a place where I can be in the silence and hold a sacred space for myself; a place where I know and embrace the full spectrum of vulnerability without judging myself; a place where courage and compassion are not actions, but simply states of being; where self-forgiveness gives way to hope and self love.. an awakening. Here, I lift myself up and know again for the first time what is in my heart… my intentions… and my passions… And from this place I embrace my powers and manifest all that is mine to hold and all that is mine to share…” – c.Boykin
Clay Boykin – Mandala
Related links:
Mandala
Holding Sacred Space
A Leap of Faith
Friendship
Faith, Hope and Love
Twelve Powers
by Clay Boykin | Mar 15, 2020 | Science, Wisdom
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by Clay Boykin | Nov 28, 2019 | Leadership, Wisdom
Leadership is not about personality; it’s about behavior—an observable set of skills and abilities. The “Leadership Challenge” by Jim Kouze and Bary Posner has been a favorite of mine throughout my 39 year career spanning the USMC, Corporate hi-tech, start-ups and small established businesses.
The Leadership Challenge addresses 5 leadership practices:
1) Modeling the way,
2) Inspire a shared vision,
3) Challenge the process,
4) Enable others to act,
5) Encourage the heart.
Whether in uniform, suit or jeans these practices stand the test of time, and yes, a spiritual male can be on top at work.
Article: The Leadership Challenge – Jim Kouzes
Related Links:
Emotional Intelligence
The Golden Rule
The Four Agreements
Gratitude
I Invite you to “Like” us and “follow us” on Facebook, and join the conversation in our Facebook Group.
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by Clay Boykin | Nov 27, 2019 | Wisdom
The Jack Kornfield Heart Wisdom hour celebrates Jack’s ability to mash up his long established Buddhist practices with many other mystical traditions, revealing the poignancy of life’s predicaments and the path to finding freedom from self-interest, self-judgment and unhappiness. – Podcast Series
Jack Kornfield is one of the leading Buddhist teachers in America. A practitioner for over 40 years, he is one of the key teachers to introduce mindfulness and vipassana meditation to the West. His approach emphasizes compassion, lovingkindness and the profound path of mindful presence.
by Clay Boykin | Nov 10, 2019 | Inspiration, Wisdom
This page will provide a basic explanation of what a Mastermind group is and how to get started. It will also provide video examples and testimonies.
A few general articles:
How to set up a Mastermind group
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by Clay Boykin | Oct 26, 2019 | Compassion, Wisdom
Deep listening occurs when your mind is quiet. Your thoughts are flowing rather than crowding your mind with distractions, interpretations, judgments, conclusions or assumptions about the other person. Your mind is open, curious, interested — as though you were hearing this person for the first time. Deep listening applies not only to communication with another, but also to listening to ourselves and to life in general. The goal of deep listening is to hear beyond the words of the other person and yourself, to the essence of what the words and feelings are pointing to. Your mind and heart are joined in union — you are listening wholeheartedly.
Deep listening is synonymous with Compassionate listening as explained by Thich Nhat Hanh in this short SuperSoul Sunday video clip:
To go a step further, deep listening is normally thought of in the context of listening to another person. Another aspect of deep listening to ones-self. Thich Nhat Hanh speaks to this in terms of mindful listening. It can only happen in the present moment which is the only moment where one can truly live. He says that we have an appointment with life and that appointment with life takes place in the present moment.
By request, these are my notes and the diagram I created.
© 2017 Clay Boykin
Different Levels of Listening
Deep listening is often thought of as holding sacred space.
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by Clay Boykin | Sep 30, 2019 | Wisdom
What makes you, you? Is it how you think of yourself, how others think of you, or something else entirely? In this talk, Julian Baggini draws from philosophy and neuroscience to give a surprising answer.
