Browse published articles attributed to David Robert Ord, with full-archive search.
Daily Insight from the Story of The Little Prince When someone comes into our awareness in a dream, they usually aren’t quite the same as the person we actually know in everyday life (presuming they are someone we know at all). In our dream we are creating the characters as a reflection of an aspect of ourselves. All the characters represent aspects of our own being.
When someone says, “I love you,” it really means, “Do you love me?” What I’ve just shared with you is a quite profound statement from a movie set in Dublin, Ireland, in which the complexity of romantic love is portrayed. Long ago the German playwright Goethe, author of the play Faust, raised the issue of what love really is. One of Goethe’s characters asks, "Do you love me?" A straightforward question, right? Well, maybe not quite so straightforward. The other responds, “What could that possibly have to do with you?”
Daily Insight from the Story of The Little Prince It’s easy when situations become painful to imagine that our life is going all wrong. But there has long been a mystical sense among humans all over the world that the divine Presence that pervades everything is the only reality there is. Hence it only appears that events are getting off track. In the case of the airman in the story, his crash in the Sahara Desert looks like a disaster, threatening his very life. Yet it will prove to be just the opposite.
No matter what our spiritual bent—and even if we have no form of "spirituality" as such, but are atheistic and subscribe to a humanistic view of human beings—few of us would disagree with the idea that we ought to love others. The idea of loving each other is pretty universal. Yet when you look around the world, on the whole it's not a very loving place. So there's a discrepancy somewhere between what we say we believe and what we actually do. Here's a question that might begin to get at this discrepancy:
Daily Insight from the Story of The Little Prince When we feel a strong affection for someone, there is invariably an element of fantasy in this affection. If we are on a path to becoming a spiritually conscious individual, it's possible we will become aware of this element of fantasy. If our awareness deepens we may even discover we are engaging in a measure of projection onto the individual, ascribing to them characteristics and qualities that are not there but that are aspects of our own longing.
Daily Insight from the Story of the Little Prince When it comes to becoming present in our life, I find so many people want some kind of "magical" event to happen that will catapult them into a new state of being. The reality is that for few does the ability to be present throughout their day happen as an instantaneous change. Most of us have been so not present for many, many years that a change in our brain patterns has to occur before we are able to relax into the presence that's actually our most natural state.
How can you be who you really are in a corporate, government, or nonprofit workplace when you are around giant egos that challenge you and seek to control you and get the better of you day in and day out? An interesting article was sent to me recently entitled "A bigger ego is the only way to truly create A New Earth.'" The author of the article applauds Eckhart Tolle for his impact on the world, then goes on to claim that the real problem in our world isn't that we have an ego, but that our egos aren't large enough.
Millions think that Jesus literally flew up into the sky to God, who was working things like a puppet master from a place somewhere up there called heaven. They get the idea from the Gospel of Luke and its second volume, the Book of Acts. Both are actually one single work in two volumes, which isn't often recognized. The same people who imagine Jesus flying up into the sky also imagine that, one day, God will draw back the curtain, snatch up those who are Christians in what they call "the rapture", then unleash all hell on everyone left behind.
In the movie Eat, Pray, Love Elizabeth Gilbert is portrayed as someone who has a tendency to distance herself from real intimacy in a romantic relationship because she’s afraid she will dive in so deeply that she all but disappears. It’s a tendency many of us have in common with her. Why do we want intimacy so badly, yet back away from it when it becomes available—especially if it gets intense?
Daily Insight from the Story of The Little Prince Whenever we experience a chronic difficulty relating to another person, it's a mirror of unresolved issues within ourselves. If we fight with another person, it reflects the fact we are fighting with ourselves internally. The issue here is all the unresolved content of our unconscious. Until we make this content conscious, so that it no longer restricts our flow of energy, we are bound to act this out with others.
Daily Insight from the Story of The Little Prince Have you ever considered just how much energy, whether mental, emotional, or physical, you put into trying to impress other people? I grew up with my entire self-concept oriented to what others wanted me to be. I so wanted the approval of my parents, my teachers, and my friends that I really had little idea of what I wanted for myself.
Daily Spiritual Insight from the Story of The Little Prince “He’s got more presents than me!” Jimmy yells when, on Christmas morning, he discovers that his brother Tim has two extra packages beneath the Christmas tree. “That’s because I’m Santa’s favorite,” Tim taunts. “He always gives me more things than he gives you because he likes me more.” Sticking his tongue out, he rubs the “injustice” in by chanting, “Na, na, na, na na!” Jimmy, to whom the idea that it’s more blessed to give than to receive would seem stupid, is inflamed with envy.
You know what claustrophobia is, don't you? It's the fear that Santa Claus will get stuck in your chimney. There's another kind of claus-trophobia, and that's the fear of "being" Santa. Santa may well be the most universal symbol in western culture. Why does Santa have such appeal? Symbols are magnetic only to the degree that they touch upon something we instinctively sense about ourselves. We love Santa because there's a Santa in all of us. He represents a part of ourselves that we long to express.
The bread and wine served at the Mass, the Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist, or Communion—whichever your tradition calls this occasion—started out not as isolated elements of bread and wine, as they are in churches today, but as essential parts of a normal dinner.
Laura was drowning in self-pity. After Dan called off their relationship, she began driving by his home in the hope of catching a glimpse of him. She also phoned when she knew he was out, just to hear his voice on the answering machine. She told herself she wanted to feel close to him, but all she was really doing was torturing herself.
How deeply connected are your relationships—all kinds of relationships, but especially romantic ones? How exciting is your connection with those you are close to, particularly your romantic partner if you have one? We think of the French as great lovers, the British as not so great. But the stereotype doesn’t mean that French couples are having the time of their life any more than people in other countries.
When we most need the ability to stay present is when we are are going through a difficult time. Yet this is precisely when many of us find it the hardest to stay present! Lots of people who have been on a spiritual path for years are even struggling right now.
“It’s really quite shocking now that I see it. Here I am, a grown woman, behaving like a lost little child.” “The way you phrased what you just said is important,” I responded. “You’ve been acting as though you were a child. But you’re not a child.” “No, I’m a mother with three children of my own. But I do have a wounded inner child. At least, that’s what I’ve read.” “That’s certainly what some would tell you. They’d encourage you to take care of this little child that’s been so wounded.” “You’re suggesting I don’t have a ‘wounded inner child?’”
It’s so easy for us humans to get bogged down in the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves, which are mostly not good stories. Our mental chatter goes round and round about how inadequate we are, how much we mess up, how we aren’t as good as someone else is, how we ought to be better, ought to do better. All of this dismal self-chatter stops us living fully. Positive thinking is supposed to combat this negativity. But it works only to a limited degree. It never really cures us of our self-deprecating self-talk.
There are people who think we ought to get rid of all talk about the crucifixion of Jesus in the 21st century—that it is a negative, unhelpful, even harmful image. Those who have moved away from Christianity point to how Christendom has even taught people to crucify themselves, put themselves down, subjecting their will to that of others, and actually to feel bad about themselves.
If there’s a God, why doesn’t this God just appear on television and spell out how we came into being and why we’re here? It would seem a simple enough miracle for the kind of being most imagine God to be. Are we the product of seven days of creation, as millions believe? Or, as Richard Dawkins, holder of the chair of public understanding of Science at Oxford University, insists, are we the result of a long mechanical process of self-assembly that is purposeless?
If you are a truly spiritual person, should you ever feel really sad? Well, the Little Prince, who represents our inner being, felt very sad. In fact we will find as we proceed through the Little Prince’s story that he experienced the full range of emotion—including emotions that it’s often assumed “spiritual” people shouldn’t feel. What does it mean to be spiritual? For many it’s a state that’s different from what we experience in normal everyday life. Million are actually seeking such a state so they can escape normal life, which they don’t find too pleasant.
Spiritual Insight from the Story of The Little Prince For many of the earlier years of my life, whenever I had a decision to make about what I ought to do with my life, I sought the input of others. Often I’d discuss and discuss the pros and cons of the various paths that lay before me, going back and forth on them, trying to feel I was doing the “right thing.” This “right thing” almost always meant pleasing others with that I decided so I would feel liked and accepted. Then, at one of the most crucial junctures in my life, I stopped listening to what others thought I should do.r
Daily Spiritual Insight from the Story of The Little Prince Everybody is seeking fulfillment. But how do you achieve fulfillment? A great many people live at a surface level, seeking to be entertained in life, to have fun, to "have a nice day,” hoping to experience fulfillment. But they never go deep in either their understanding or their relationships. Fulfillment isn’t found in the shallows. It’s only when we stop merely dipping our toes in the water's edge and plunge fully into life’s flow that we begin to experience what it is to be fulfilled.
To live a self-determined life is the essence of consciousness. A self-determined life is fundamentally different from a life that’s determined by our ego. When the ego is in charge of running our life, we only have an illusion of determining our life, not the actual experience of doing so. To be able to determine our own life requires us to be free, a state that few on our planet yet enjoy. Even those of us who think we are free are so heavily programmed by family and society that we don’t even know we aren’t free.
It’s so easy for us humans to get bogged down in the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves, which are mostly not good stories. Our mental chatter goes round and round about how inadequate we are, how much we mess up, how we aren’t as good as someone else is, how we ought to be better, ought to do better. All of this dismal self-chatter stops us living fully. Positive thinking is supposed to combat this negativity. But it works only to a limited degree. It never really cures us of our self-deprecating self-talk.
Daily Insight from the Story of The Little Prince The announcement from Clarence House in London, city home of Prince Charles, of the engagement of Prince William, eldest son of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, to Ms. Kate Middleton has already captured the attention of much of the world. It’s another of those fairytale romances, in which the handsome prince marries his glamorous princess, that touches all our hearts.
Daily Spiritual Insight from the Story of The Little Prince “I just don’t know what to get him,” Cathy, forty-two, confided in her twin sister as she tried to decide on a Christmas gift for their father. “He always says he has everything he wants.” Amy chuckled. “Just the other day I was visiting and he said the same as he always does: ‘Don’t spend your money on expensive gifts for me this Christmas. I don’t need anything.’ That’s why I always get him clothes.”
In the northern hemisphere, the harvest is in, winter is upon us, Canada has already celebrated, Britain too, and this week it is the turn of people in the United States to gather to give thanks. A question: What does it mean to give thanks when everything "goes wrong"? Are we supposed to push all the horrible things in life out of our thoughts and try to find some good things to be thankful for? Maybe you are thankful because you made some nice friends this year. But what if you lost friends this year, and you found yourself quite alone?
Learning to be present in my life—to simply enjoy this moment, right now, with no thought of the next moment—didn’t happen quickly for me. So if you are discouraged by your own progress, take heart. I can tell you that today I dwell each and every moment in the now, experiencing an enduring inner peace that makes it pure enjoyment to be me. There is nothing about my being that I doubt anymore, nothing I wish would do a disappearing act. I don't mea I'm flawless, just that I totally accept myself as a person in progress of emerging into my fullness.
You have no doubt heard of the “law of attraction.” Literally millions of people are trying to attract to themselves things they want, especially greater financial prosperity. The books that teach these concepts have been a phenomenal publishing success, but that some are concluding isn’t perhaps of much value when it comes to living in the power of now, you may be wondering why you haven’t yet manifested in your own life the things you would like to manifest.
Daily Spiritual Insight from the Story of The Little Prince The Little Prince is going to trigger a massive change in the life of the pilot who has crashed in the desert. He will accompany the pilot on an inner journey that will totally transform how he understands himself, how he feels about himself. But first the Little Prince is getting a clear picture of what inauthentic humans look like—what the false self that’s the ego produces as a sham version of humanity.
Writing to the Corinthians, St. Paul corrected the way they were participating in what we today know, depending on our particular tradition, as the Mass, Eucharist, Communion, or the Lord’s Supper. “When the time comes to eat, each of you goes ahead with your own supper, and one goes hungry and another becomes drunk,” he complained. In those days the bread and wine were standard parts of a meal. The people came together on Sunday evenings to enjoy a potluck in which everyone was supposed to eat well and have plenty to drink.
Daily Insight from the Story of The Little Prince Whenever we are caught out, such as being found making an egoic statement we can’t back up, we have a tendency to deflect the fact we've been caught out onto the person who caught us. Until we are firmly grounded in consciousness, the state of presence that's our true being, it’s just not that easy for us to come clean and simply state, “I shifted into my ego. My true being doesn’t believe what I just said at all.”
What do you do when you love more than one person in your life, but they are at odds with each other, and you find yourself torn between them? It's a pretty common scenario. For one reason or another, a daughter or son doesn't approve of who you, as a divorced person, are dating. A mother or father doesn't approve of the person you intend to marry. You colleagues at work, or your friends, don't like the person you are living with.
Spiritual Insight from Eckhart Tolle's Stillness Speaks In the British television soap EastEnders, an elderly character called Dot says that at lonely times in life, she always had herself, so that she was never totally lonely. Her conce about the fact she’s aging is: what if she loses herself as she grows older? All of us are going to lose what we think of as “ourselves.” It’s an inevitable part of aging. Eventually we shall irrevocably surrender up this mortal form we have experienced.
Spiritual Insight from the Story of The Little Prince Where does your motivation come from? You hear people urging, “Get motivated!” And there are all kinds of tricks you can use to develop a degree of motivation. The Little Prince’s visit to the fifth planet and his talk with the lamplighter reflects the condition of many on our own planet, Earth. The lamplighter is driven by his orders—instructions he was given long ago, but that today no longer match his reality.
Daily Spiritual Insight from Eckhart Tolle's Stillness Speaks How calm, present, and non-anxious can you stay in a life-threatening crisis? A BBC News report from John Sudworth in Seoul, South Korea, says that the recent skirmish betwee North and South Korea “is of a different order” from the usual exchanges between the two nations. It seem that civilians were killed in the shelling of the South Korean island by the North.
Daily Spiritual Insight from the Story of The Little Prince The way millions upon millions, in fact more likely billions, picture God isn’t really very different from the king the Little Prince encounters on the first planet he visits. If I had to sit on a throne all day—and for all ete ity, at that!—I’d be bored out of my mind. Always superior to everyone, forever trying to control how things go but never succeeding because there’s a big mess here on Earth, it would have to be an awfully lonely and discouraging job to be God.
Spiritual Insight from the Story of The Little Prince Have you ever considered how much of what we do in life is the result of the way we have been programmed while growing up? We in so many ways act out brain patterns that weren’t of our making. We just picked them up from family, school, religious institutions, and society in general. Much of how people live is close to robotic.
From the minute to the mammoth, order emerges spontaneously in the Universe. The natural state of things is to pull everything toward patterns. It works a lot like a magnetic field. If you put a magnet under a glass table and move it around, iron filings scattered on top of the glass line up in patterns. Without any direct interference or manipulation, order emerges quite naturally as a result of the influence of the magnetic field.
After an hour delay waiting for the plane to arrive in San Francisco, the anxious passengers rushing off to celebrate Christmas with their families finally boarded the crowded 747 for Chicago. Shortly after the push back the captain announced on the PA, "I'm sorry ladies and gentleman, we are having trouble with our positive bag match. We will need to search the baggage compartment to find the bag of the missing passenger." This caused another half hour delay.
Daily Spiritual Insight from the Story of The Little Prince It isn’t only children who expect gifts for the holiday season. Adults want to be catered to also and can be just as demanding as children. The issue when we have expectations of gifts of a particular nature, significance, or value is that we imagine the world revolves around us. We’re like the king on the first planet, really a tiny asteroid, the Little Prince visits after he leaves his own asteroid. The king is a symbol of the way we grandiosely want others to kowtow to us.
What I want to introduce today is a practice that any two or more people can use. But for the sake of clarity, I will set it in the context of a couple. I learned this from Michael Brown, the author of the Namaste books The Presence Process and Alchemy of the Heart. It is a simple but powerful procedure for resolving difficult issues or going through tense times.
Daily Insight from the Story of The Little Prince How greatly do you suppose the world, the country you live in, or even your local community values you? We like to live in the illusion that we are important to others, perhaps even almost indispensable. The other evening I watched a movie about Sir Winston Churchill, whose destiny it was to take the Western world through World War II and keep us from the Nazi jackboot.
When it comes to personal growth, at the very time life feels most threatening—as if it’s perhaps even about to sink our ship—instead of seeing it as our enemy, we need to trust it. It may seem crazy, but I have seen over the years how there is an incredible wisdom in the way life has brought to the fore each of the aspects of my life that have asked me to grow. It isn’t just that we rise to the challenge, no matter what life throws at us. Disaster always challenges us to re-personalize—to become more than we have known ourselves to be.
How happy are you in your everyday life? In the television miniseries The Impressionists, which is fascinating viewing, someone comments about one of the artists that he sounds happy. The other responds that he doesn’t think happy is on his palette. How about you—is happy on your palette? We’re not talking about the pursuit of happiness, which hordes of us are engaged in. When we pursue happiness what we achieve never lasts long. A new job, a new love in our life, a new home—all of these bring only a temporary experience of happiness.
Daily Spiritual Insight from Eckhart Tolle's Stillness Speaks When people say, “You have to go inside yourself to find out who you are,” which is something you hear often, the mind has a way of playing tricks on us. It leads us to believe there’s some objective “me” that we’ll find if we search and search for it. And so we become involved in a mental search, trying to find who we are. Search all you want, however deeply you want to go inside yourself, but you will never find the objective “me” you are seeking.
Daily Spiritual Insight from the Story of The Little Prince How we see reality has to do with our beliefs. If you hold one set of beliefs, you will interpret what happens to you in a very different way than someone who holds an opposing set of beliefs. However, at a deeper level our beliefs are governed by our emotional state—the degree of our emotional maturity. When people want to dispense with good and bad, right and wrong, as if these didn’t exist—for instance, to say that the Holocaust wasn’t bad—it’s because they are too emotionally immature to deal with the riskiness of life.r
Spiritual Insight from the Story of The Little Prince What is the purpose of the “crash in the desert” that seems to have to happen in our life if we are ever to enter into the bliss that Eckhart Tolle describes in his books? I’m talking about the abiding peace and exhilarating joy that Jesus knew and invited us to experience. The purpose of life descending into a mess, sending us into an emotional tailspin, is to expose what Eckhart calls our pain-body.