Just over a year ago an intense wildfire named Thomas swept through and past Meditation Mount’s property. And while the fire itself is long gone, its effects are still present — much like a boat whose wake continues to impact the surface of the water long after it has passed. In nature there is a term that describes the effect on plant life in the wake of a wildfire and that term is Pyrophytic . While many plants are destroyed or consumed, there are others which have impleme

It would be difficult to refute the assertion that this has been a particularly challenging year aboard spaceship Earth. In terms of social upheaval, political tension, factional strife and natural disasters, 2018 ranks high on an all-time Top Ten list. Here in southern California we have faced prolonged drought, devastating wildfires and now, drenching rains threaten to destabilize scorched and fragile hillsides. It is no wonder that so many are engulfed in the anguish gener

The Mount has a team of two to maintain her 31.2 acres of land, 5 buildings and the International Garden of Peace. Although Tim Hall and Miguel Contreras are sometimes viewed as superhuman in all that they accomplish, the devastating scene after December 2017 was absolutely daunting, even for them. Walking the grounds was not only dangerous, but emotionally crushing. Years of work bringing the International Garden of Peace to full bloom were swept away in a night. The resid

On January 8th our beloved friend and co-worker Joe Mixer passed away. He graced our fair planet for 94 years through a life committed to serving others. Joe was the nephew of Meditation Mount founder Florence Garrigue and became intimately involved in the early days of establishing the Mount as a Center of Light. We remember Joe for his qualities of selflessness, generosity and constant optimism and many is the time when he would encourage us with a rousing cry of, “Oh be

In the early 1960s Dr. Roberto Assagioli ( the Founder of Psychosynthesis and Creative Meditation ) asked Florence Garrigue to help inaugurate a project in the USA. On April 11th, 1971 Florence opened the doors of Meditation Mount in Ojai to the public and we have been here ever since as a place of inspiration and service. Beginning this month we are publishing a series of excerpts from the writings of Florence on her vision for the Mount that were penned in July, 1974. “The

To live in this world, you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go. ~ Mary Oliver Those who lived through the recent Thomas Fire at Meditation Mount and the ensuing deluge and mudslides visited upon Montecito in Santa Barbara County here in southern California describe the experience as apocalyptic in nature. It felt like the end times . In

“Love is a spirit all compact of fire” ~ William Shakespeare The inspiration and spiritual fire behind the founding of Meditation Mount was Dr Roberto Assagioli who brought Psychosynthesis and Creative Meditation to the world. During the Second World War Roberto was imprisoned by the fascist government in Italy for organizing groups whose focus was to pray for peace. His enforced incarceration became a powerful time of deep inner exploration and it is when the seeds of the

“I am in some sense boundless, my being encompassing the farthest limits of the universe, touching and moving every atom of existence. The same is true of everything else…. It is not just that ‘we are all in it’ together. We all are it, rising and falling as one living body.” — Buddhist scholar, Francis Cook, Hua-yen Buddhism After sharing a utopian vision of a harmonious and brighter future where everything and everyone is in ‘right relationship’ and the soul shines joyfully

You must give birth to your images. They are the future waiting to be born… Fear not the strangeness you feel. The future must enter you long before it happens. Just wait for the birth, for the hour of new clarity. –Rainier Maria Rilke The Ageless Wisdom explains that the soul is in constant meditation – patiently watching and waiting for signs of response from its earthly counterpart. The power and beauty of the Soul is live-streaming its radiant message of new possibilitie

May the Power of the One Life Pour through the group of all true servers May the Love of the One Soul Characterize the lives of all who seek to aid the Great Ones May I play my part in the One Work through Self-forgetfulness, harmlessness and right speech. At 5:00 PM each day thousands of people in their respective time zones around the world sound this affirmation – strengthening their inner link with the Source of Life and weaving closer connections among the global network

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. – Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Letter from a Birmingham Jail There is an irrefutable link between the present world crisis and the daily choices we make. Global issues are now the politics of place. Technology provides instant access to information and it is impossible to plead i

“A house divided against itself cannot stand.” – Abraham Lincoln The Principle of Unanimity affirms that all aspects of Creation constitute the interdependent and integral elements of a cohesive and variegated expression of One Life. And yet, it would appear from looking at the state of the world today, that we are a ‘house divided’ . There are cultural, political, economical and religious divisions cutting off parts of humanity from each other. Each nation and community h

Have you recently felt very close to ‘running on empty’ and consequently found yourself thinking, “I really need to stop and recharge my batteries” ? Just as smartphones need recharging each day because they do not have an unlimited power supply, so our personal lives can easily enter the red zone and reach a point of depletion where the ‘low battery’ sign flashes its warning. It would be wonderful to shift from a dependency on batteries to a source of energy that is contin

“And I have felt a presence that disturbs me with the joy of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime of something far more deeply interfused, whose dwelling is the light of setting suns, and the round ocean and the living air, and the blue sky, and in the mind of man; emotion and a spirit, that impels all thinking things, all objects of all thought, and rolls through all things.” – William Wordsworth Many of us live in earthquake country and know at any moment the earth can move

Surveying the social skies, it is sometimes hard to find a silver lining in the dark clouds amassing and encircling our world. Wherever we turn, global media outlets are transmitting a constant and disheartening litany of woes that obscure the bright spots arising in the collective psyche. However, contrary to this bleak picture, there is much to celebrate my friend for the good news is that you and I are pregnant. We are carrying the promised child of a brighter future in ou

Here in the northern hemisphere, April heralds the advent of spring when the Fire of Aries impregnates and awakens the dormant seeds with promise and possibility. These ‘messengers of hope’ enter the soil of a new season and, through an earthy embrace from the constellation of Taurus, the light of the future is firmly anchored in matter. This natural pageant of unfolding Life continues through the Zodiacal procession with the mercurial touch of Gemini quickening the germina

Teilhard de Chardin concluded that, “Truth is the complete coherence of the universe in relation to every point contained within it.” On the long road towards this ultimate manifestation of Truth we move from one partial truth to another. These ‘truths’ are like stepping-stones to our final destination. As a human family we live in different cultural and psychological realities with each person owning a belief system that declares what they hold to be true about themselves,

Physical science has clearly demonstrated that inside the heart of every atom there is a vast potential of universal energy awaiting release. Spiritual science, in the form of the Ageless Wisdom teaching, postulates that inside every human heart there are boundless possibilities and light-filled cosmic dreams awaiting liberation and revelation. Manley Palmer Hall has offered the supposition that: “Darkness is the true womb of pure light.” We might therefore consider our p

“Throughout the Universe, it is the Soul which is the conscious, sensitive theme of the divine Plan.” ‘Esoteric Advent’ is the advent of the Soul – the Christ in us – pouring through all the Kingdoms of nature. The Christmas season is a time when Cosmic Love is birthing new Consciousness in concert with our planetary cycles.‘Esoteric Advent’ is a ‘living design’ intended to bring higher spiritual realities into daily living for “participating Souls”. As one long breath of G

Meditation Mount’s Board of Directors joyfully shares in the celebration of World Psychosynthesis Day. Psychosynthesis was developed by Dr. Roberto Assagioli – a leading pioneer of the 20th century in the field of psychology and spiritual development – who was also the primary source of inspiration and guidance for the spreading of Creative Meditation and the founding of Meditation Mount. In June 2012 at the International Psychosynthesis Conference in Rome, a booklet entitled