The acceptance of a creative force or source can only bring us to a conclusion of an inherent acceptance of ourselves as being a part of the Divine itself. If the Divine energy creates the great oneness of all things; physical beings, sentient beings, universes, dimensions, even the space that exists between planets, universes and dominions, then we as human beings are an expression of the Divine and this beautiful love-energy. We are not separate from it. We are here to play our part in the work in the great oneness. This beautiful divine thought of creation. Shaolin Buddhist Temple, Slane, Co. Meath, Ireland
Therefore, the body is deeply sacred indeed. The body is a beautiful expression of the spirit come to life. This view about body and spirit has been described by Jorge N. Ferrer, professor of religious psychology as “embodied spirituality.” He wrote that:“Embodied spirituality regards the body as subject, as the home of the complete human being, as a source of spiritual insight, as a microcosm of the universe and the Mystery, and as pivotal for enduring spiritual transformation. The body is not an “It” to be objectified and used for the goals or even spiritual ecstasies of the conscious mind, but a “Thou,” an intimate partner with whom the other human dimensions can collaborate in the pursuit of ever-increasing forms of liberating wisdom.”
For Ferrer the body is the home of the complete human being. It is the physical reality in which we live. It is through the body that we both literally and metaphorically walk our own unique path. The mistake that so many religious understandings have made is that they have seen the body as the prison of the soul. Something that the spirit or soul needs to be liberated from. He claims that the mystery of incarnation never suggested that spirit entered into the body but that the spirit became flesh. To quote John’s Gospel “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God…And the Word became flesh.” Through our bodies, our lives, the way we live our lives the spirit comes to life. We are here for a reason, life truly means something and it is our task to bring that something to life, through our lives, through our bodily existence.
Embodied spirituality is about fully inhabiting our lives, our thoughts, our feelings our relationships with ourselves, our lives, each other and the mystery that connects all life. It’s about being fully present in our bodies and lives and therefore fully experiencing our potential, being fully alive. The body is not just a suit that clothes our being. It is through the body that we experience what it is to be fully alive. They say “listen to your body”, sage wisdom indeed. For me the body is not a separate entity to spirit, I cannot agree with this dualistic view, it seems to me that it is through the body that spirit comes alive and further through the body that the spirit is fed.
Embodied spirituality views every aspect of our humanity, whether that be body, spirit, heart, mind and consciousness as equal partners in bringing the self, community and world into a fuller alignment with the mystery that brings into being all life, while at the same time connects all life. I suspect it’s a kind of panentheism, that sees all life as being in God and that God is in all life and that little or perhaps infinite more. It sees the full engagement of the body as being vital to spiritual growth and transformation.Rev. Danny Crosby
Today is the launch of my new book- The Garden of Eden in This Life. It is available in paperback, hardcover and kindle on Amazon. The following is the book description. With Metta, Rodger Ricketts.
What if the story of the Garden of Eden wasn’t just ancient myth, but a timeless guide to reclaiming our original wholeness? What if the “fall” from innocence was not the end, but an invitation to return—consciously—to a deeper unity with ourselves, each other, and the world?
In The Garden of Eden in This Life, Dr. Rodger R. Ricketts—a clinical psychologist, mindfulness teacher, and lifelong student of the Buddha’s teachings—unveils a profound perspective linking ancient wisdom, modern psychology, and the apophatic (negative) spiritual tradition. Drawing from over forty years of study and practice, he explores how non-dualistic teachings from Buddhism, science, and multiple faith traditions reveal the limits of language, the illusions of separation, and the path back to an integrated state of being.
You will journey through concepts like Sunyata (emptiness), the via negativa, and the psychology of transcendence—discovering how humanity’s separation from nature and spirit can be healed through direct experience, compassionate living, and expanded awareness.
This is more than a philosophical exploration—it’s a practical roadmap for living with clarity, joy, and interconnectedness. Through cross-cultural insights, reflective practices, and meditative approaches, Dr. Ricketts shows how embracing the ineffable mystery of life can dissolve division, foster ecological and social harmony, and restore our inner paradise.
Whether you are a seeker, a meditator, a student of comparative religion, or someone simply longing for a more meaningful existence, The Garden of Eden in This Life will inspire you to see beyond duality and step into a living experience of unity.
If you are ready to move beyond dogma, transcend the limits of language, and reawaken to the timeless ground of being—this book will guide you there. Open these pages and begin your journey back to the Garden… in this life.
Enough is Enough- The cause of Suffering is not a Social Mystery
Author Rodger R Ricketts, Psy.D.
Copyright Rodger Ricketts Psy.D.,2025. All rights reserved. Protected by international copyright conventions. Reproduction is availble in case of brief quotations with due acknowledgement.
Decapitations, mass killings, enslavement, enforced starvation, abductions, sexual assaults, and the persistent plight of poverty and conflict are tragedies that have plagued humanity throughout history. Now, with the advent of modern mass communication, these heinous acts are revealed in their complete brutality as never before, making it impossible for anyone to ignore how critical the state of human suffering can be. This heightened awareness now provides a powerful motivation to put an end to such suffering.
Although the abuse of war and the inhuman attitude exhibited by people to fellow living beings is not new, the causes of such actions are revealing themselves more clearly. With the use of teachings offered by the Buddha we are now better able to remedy this and eventually stamp out these negative urges. The teachings of the Buddha, which are over 2,500 years, are increasingly applicable in the modern times, especially with the help of contemporary scientific discoveries. Through these teachings, a highly detailed model has been laid down which incorporates the use of moral and psychological understandings giving a clear and rational way to stop the suffering of ourselves, other people and living beings because of our ignorant and harmful intentions/actions.
This is a moment of excitement in humanity as we have a clear platform to develop a civilization with a harmonious relationship with the earth and its inhabitants. As opposed to the promises made in the past by different religious and philosophical movements, that favored one group and disadvantaged another, the vision advanced by the teachings of the Buddha and supported by modern science is not that at all. The new vision eliminates fixed identities and addresses the causes of conflict. What Buddha offers is a nonviolent, radical, yet functional way out of all that: a peaceful way out that can reduce and eventually remove the sufferings that has haunted humanity since its dawn. That misery contains a lot of distress that is caused by the ignorance of existence in human lives which creates a separation with reality. It is an important realization to help us cure the pain we both inflict and endure. This view can be summed up by a quote from the well-known physicist Albert Einstein: The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend a personal God and avoid dogmas and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description.
It’s worth noting that not all people who suffer from violence experience it directly. This also impacts on the perpetrators of such acts. According to the Buddha, a person who chooses to commit violence out of anger, greed, ignorance, and selfishness has a deluded mindset. This is what lies behind the destructive behavior we witness in the world today and in the past. When this kind of mindset ignorance disappears, violence, greed, hostility, and selfishness will also disappear. The greatest benefit of the Buddha’s teachings is that when we learn and apply them in our lives, we will achieve happiness, compassion, dignity, and wisdom.
The time has come when the world needs to understand these doctrines, (not mystical, not esoteric doctrines), but Truths which are guidelines about human suffering and their solution, in a practical and factual manner. The Buddha never engaged in Esotericism, nor did he offer a metaphysical explanation of the suffering. Rather, by observing himself and others, he concluded that ignorance, a misperception of reality, was the true source of suffering. By eliminating this misunderstanding through Awakening, people can relieve themselves and others from suffering. The result of Awakening is peace, happiness and compassion with oneself and all living beings. We must recognize that we are all interconnected and interrelated.
The teachings of Buddha present to us an immense opportunity of overcoming our ignorance and living compatibly with a harmonious life. We are ready now to have a Renaissance- a new Renaissance that would incorporate contemporary insights including of psychology, ecology, neurology, biology, physics, etc. that would hold up the Four Noble Truths of the Buddha. This is the opportunity to make a remarkably positive future for humanity, it is the time to motivate a reformation, resulting in everyone being content and wise and suffering will no longer darken the face of this planet.
The Honorable Harvest is a covenant of reciprocity between humans and the living world.
The protocols offer inspiration for how we might walk gently on the Earth while at the same time satisfying human needs. It is a practice with great relevance for our time; it is both ancient and urgent. The guidelines for the Honorable Harvest were taught to me by generous teachers, while respectfully picking medicines or berries but it applies to every exchange between people and the earth, to everything we consume. · In taking from the Earth we are taught to never take the first… Never taking the first, means you’ll never take the last. · And then, we ask permission. If you’re going to take a life, you have to be personally accountable. I know, in some places if you talked to a plant they’d call you crazy. But in a worldview that regards them as people, we just call it respect. 7 · If you’re going to ask permission, you have to listen for the answer. · If you are granted permission, then take only what you need and no more. · The Honorable Harvest counsels also that we take in such a way that does the least harm as possible. · Use everything that you take…it is disrespectful of the life that is given to waste it. We have forgotten this-the easiest way to have what you need is to not waste what you have. · Be grateful. Gratitude is powerful, much more than a simple thank you. Gratitude reminds us that our very existence relies on the gifts of others. And gratitude is humbling. It reminds us that we are just one member of the democracy of species. It reminds us that the earth does not belong to us. · The next tenet of the Honorable Harvest is to share with others-human and non. The Earth has shared generously with us, so we model that behavior in return. · Reciprocate the gift …. In return for the gifts of the Earth, we are called to give our own in return. · And finally, to take only that which is given to us.
I recently rediscovered the concept of “flow” that Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi introduced as a psychological concept in 1990 with his book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. I was struck by its application within positive psychology. Positive psychology focuses on behaviors that foster a flourishing, meaningful, and worthwhile life, aiming to discover methods for personal enhancement. The flow state, also termed “optimal experience,” is characterized by a harmony between mind and body, resulting in complete engagement and enjoyment in the activity. Csikszentmihalyi described this experience as one where,
…the ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you’re using your skills to the utmost.
He identified key characteristics of flow, such as the merging of action and awareness, a loss of self-consciousness, and a distorted sense of time.
Interestingly, there are notable parallels between Csikszentmihalyi’s concept of flow and the Buddhist principle of mindfulness. I have been studying and teaching mindfulness for twenty years due to my interest in Buddhist teachings and their applications to mental health issues. Mindfulness, as defined by Kabat-Zinn (2012), involves wakefulness – a state of awareness in every waking moment – that enhances well-being, contentment, and absorption in the present moment, leading to a similar “losing track of time” as described in Csikszentmihalyi’s flow. It is intriguing to realize that my explorations and teaching of mindfulness included the concept of flow without my fully recognizing their interconnectedness.
There are important similarities between the practices of flow and mindfulness, and this paper will focus on several of these parallels. With mindfulness, we are consciously at one with the action. In the context of mindfulness, wakefulness can best be described as a state of focused awareness in every waking moment (Kabat-Zinn, 2012). Wakefulness enhances our subjective well-being and heightens our contentment with our inner self and the world. Finally, we “lose track of time” as we remain absorbed in the ever-present moment.
An illustration of the application of flow in mindfulness is when we remain in the nonjudgmental “now” and discover the sense of wholeness. Concepts like “in the moment,” “in the present,” and “centered” are all attempts to describe the mindfulness experience. By applying mindfulness to our everyday work, interpersonal interactions, leisure, hobbies, dance, yoga, walking, eating, and other pursuits, we transform our lives into constantly innovative and creative experiences. When completing a task, the mindfulness/flow experience fosters an impromptu, connected, creative, cheerful, and pleasant sensation. We experience an open state, where the interior and exterior are completely interconnected. We lose “ourselves” to discover who we really are.
We can experience oneness in any circumstance throughout our lives. By cultivating the mental culture of mindfulness, we refine the discipline to transcend the experience of duality. We enter a state of openness – of absolute connectedness between the inside and the outside. We surrender our carping, judging thoughts to flow. Our way of thinking typically categorizes everything into strict, binary categories of good and bad, right and wrong, either/or. In my book The Buddha’s Teachings: Seeing Without Illusion, A Contemporary Cognitive Science Perspective (available on Amazon), I describe, in contemporary language, how the Buddha taught this nondualism. Even though the process of thinking is not only acceptable but vital, we tend to make the mistake of assuming that our ideas, classifications, and beliefs are the only true reality or benchmark. An old saying comes to mind: “The mind is a great servant but a terrible master.”
Through the practice of mindfulness and the experience of living in a state of flow, we come to understand that wisdom, compassion, and happiness are attained when we relinquish our subject/object illusion. Life transforms into a less stressful, more creative, and enjoyable experience, allowing us to live a positive existence characterized by respect and care for both ourselves and others. The interconnectedness of life – the intrinsic connection between all living and non-living entities – becomes increasingly apparent, as does the preciousness of life itself. Integrating the flow and mindfulness experiences into our lives can have many positive effects that are just waiting to make a difference for us.
Would it not be prudent for our educational institutions, businesses, and governments to incorporate teachings on flow and mindfulness into their curricula? Such an initiative could positively alter our worldview, culture, and our relationships with both ourselves and one another. I believe that the incorporation of flow and mindfulness into our daily lives could yield countless positive effects that are poised to create meaningful change.
We are all Interconnected even with the Universe 