The Official Website of Michael Corthell

Meditation View Zen meditation, also known as Zazen, is a meditation technique rooted in Buddhist psychology. The goal of Zen meditation is to regulate attention. It’s sometimes referred to as a practice that involves “thinking about not thinking.”  ''Our life is frittered away by detail. An honest man has hardly need to count more than his ten fingers, or in extreme cases he may add his ten toes, and lump the rest. Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!'' — Henry David Thoreau by Michael Corthell My goal in realizing a competent understanding of the world and the Universe around me is to simplify things as I see fit. It is for my benefit but if it helps others get a more precise picture of how this glorious living being we call the Universe or God operates, all the better, but please understand I am not telling anyone they should believe as I do. I simply ask that you consider what I say and my way of understanding reality. First up in the series of 'What I Believe...

What is Optimal Health? Health is by definition the state of being free from physical and mental illness or injury. Hence, optimal health is a peak or supreme level of freedom from illness. by Michael Corthell Exercise your body and give it the fuel that it needs to function properly. Pretty simple, and basic. There are many reasons why we human beings don't do it—some refusing to even consider eating right, never mind getting some exercise.  In this article, I present some scientific evidence that may help you break through those excuses and get motivated to take action and get healthy. Eating right and exercising are at the top of the shortlist of things we all must do to gain and maintain optimal health. Common sense has told us to do this for centuries, but today we know much more about how food and exercise affect our total mind/body makeup through scientific research and evidence. ''Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.''   ...

by Michael Corthell The basic, and simple idea behind the Law of Attraction is that thoughts inherently have power or energy that will attract similar energy.  The Law of Attraction faithfully applied will most certainly help create the conditions, environment, and experiences in life, that correspond with your habitual, characteristic, predominant mental attitude(what you think about most often).  In other words, knowing what you want, asking for what you want, being receptive, and behaving as if it were true, that is in the present moment, then it will become an objective reality.  Karma in Sanskrit literally means action – every kind of action, whether or not it is intended. It is action on a mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual level. The Law of Karma says that those actions have equal value consequences over time, both in the near term and the long term. The Law of Karma only contains the principles of the Law of Attraction. Whatever you put your intentio...

by Michael Corthell When you know you're good at something, you get that sense of pride. It is very hard not to. In his early life, Benjamin Franklin was very disciplined and diligent in improving the defects in his own character.  Looking back, in his autobiography on his efforts to gain humility, he said, ''In reality, there is, perhaps, no one of our natural passions so hard to subdue as pride. Disguise it, struggle with it, beat it down, stifle it, mortify it as much as one pleases, [but]it is still alive, and will every now and then peep out and show itself.'' I agree, it is a constant struggle, especially among those of us who are blessed by God with many talents (and therefore responsibilities) to share with the world. ''Rudeness is the weak person's imitation of strength.''  —Eric Hoffer When we teach our children self-confidence, we teach them pride in accomplishment and how special they are, but often times we fail to tea...

  Quantum mechanics explains how the universe works at a scale smaller than atoms. It is also called quantum physics or quantum theory. Mechanics is the part of physics that explains how things move and quantum is the Latin word for 'how much'. A quantum of energy is the least amount possible (or the least extra amount), and quantum mechanics describes how that energy moves or interacts . Atoms used to be considered the smallest building blocks of matter but modern science has shown that there are even smaller particles, like protons , neutrons and electrons . Quantum mechanics describes how the particles that make up atoms work. Quantum mechanics also tells us how electromagnetic waves (like light ) work. Wave–particle duality means that particles behave like waves and waves behave like particles. (They are not two kinds of thing, they are something like both: this is their duality .) Much of modern physics and chemistry can be described and understood using the mathe...

  Satori or a cosmic awakening is said to be a personal event that is unexplainable, indescribable, and unintelligible by reason and logic. It is comparable to the experience undergone by Gautama Buddha when he sat under the Bodi tree and, as such, is the central Zen goal. Some also speculate that it preceded and prompted Jesus' Earthly ministry. by Michael Corthell I had been struggling to find a way to describe the Zen experience of Satori, one that nearly everyone could relate to and understand. I found it quite by accident while researching another topic in Zen philosophy . I came across this fun(and enlightening) article; The Psychedelic Scrooge Satori   From the article: ''I think it would be nice if there were 'Ascendency Welcome Centers' for 'awakened' misers. I think the Scrooge awakening is going to start happening all over the world because of the cosmic alignment (or pre-apocalypse fever); people will all go off at once, like popcorn after the fi...

In 'It's a Wonderful Life'  An angel is sent from Heaven to help a desperately frustrated businessman by showing him what life would have been like if he had never existed.  We are all on Earth for a reason  Think of your past and give yourself credit for the good you have done, the people you have influenced and the joy you have brought. This Christmas season, whenever you hear a bell ring, think of something good you have done for others.  by Michael Corthell "No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another." — Charles Dickens "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" may be the most famous phrase in the history of the United States. It is a God-given right protected by the Constitution. We are guaranteed the right to chase that happiness. How happy and joyful we become is entirely up to us. So, how do we pursue that happiness, that joyfulness? Let's take a look. Being sad, being disappointed, or facing severe chall...

 By Michael Corthell Ralph Waldo Emerson in his essay Compensation written in the mid-19th century, poetically described Quantum Mechanics . Compensation, which is difficult to read at first because of its Victorian language, inspired me to discover more about existential philosophy. It led me to many foundational, basic discoveries in both science and religion. These studies in turn have led me to a simple discovery(and acceptance) of what the Universe truly is: pure consciousness.  What Emerson is describing in the first four lines of his opening poem is, as I said, quantum mechanics: The wings of Time are black and white (this refers to both the duality of waveform vibrational energy and the dual nature of philosophical/religious concepts such as the yin and yang nature and its symbol. A checkerboard also symbolizes this duality. The 'wings' that carry time are the quanta that makeup consciousness and awareness.)  Pied with morning and with night (first 'pied' means:...

by Michael Corthell Today's article is fairly brief. When you get to the end be sure to watch the video presentation, because you will see the miracle I talk about. 'Let there be light, and there was light, love and life.' When writing about God (the creator/the first cause/the prime mover/the one, the source or The ONE) I often say that God is love or love is the essence of what He is, and that 'love is all there is'. I say this because the true effect and purpose of all creation is love, life, the love for it and just to live it. The foolish believe in luck. The wise believe in cause and effect. Many people refer to God as the 'first cause'  (and only cause) . For every 'cause' there is indeed, not only one effect, but many. What you see and experience all around you—throughout all the Universe are those 'effects'. For most people are only two ways to live life. Living it as though nothing is a miracle, or living and...

by Michael Corthell You have a magic mind. Imagination is a workshop in the corner of your mind, a shop where new ideas and concepts are formed and experimented with. The forming of new ideas and then translating those new ideas into concrete reality is a human trait. We all have this power. How do we use it well, and use it fully? It has been said that whatever a human being can imagine he can turn into a reality and that nothing is 'impossible'. There are two identifiable forms of imagination. The first is SYNTHETIC IMAGINATION. In this workshop we arrange old concepts, ideas, or plans into new ideas or combinations of ideas. This kind of imagination  doesn't create anything . It works with the material of experience, education, and observation that has been accumulated by the imaginer. The second and more mysterious of the two types of imagination is CREATIVE IMAGINATION . This mental process is in the neighborhood of the 'twilight zone...

Before he spoke the words 'let there be light' he thought 'let there be love'. by Michael Corthell The standard definition of love is an unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another. And there is the highest form of love. Interestingly, that kind of love is also defined as Charity which is defined as the type of love God has for mankind. It is also the love we are to show for our neighbor. It embraces a universal, unconditional love that transcends, and serves regardless of circumstances or consequences. When we become enlightened we come to understand that love does indeed heal all wounds, but more importantly, we understand that love is the true reason for our existence. King Solomon further describes love this way: Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous, it does not brag, and it is not proud. Love is not rude, it is not selfish, and it cannot be made angry easily. Love does not remember wrongs done ag...

The Law of Devine Oness is the first of the universal laws, in that it's the one upon which all the others build. This law states that we are all connected through creation. Every single bit of matter that makes you, is connected to the entirety of the Universe, making each individual a form and function of it, or one with the All.   by Michael Corthell Religion is a cultural system of behaviors and practices. Usually with a worldview, a sacred book, or books, it may have holy places, its own ethics, and/or its own societal organizations. Religion will often relate humanity to what one anthropologist has called "an order of existence" or a reason to exist.  ''The purpose of religion is not building grand temples, but cultivating positive human qualities like tolerance, generosity and love .'' —Dalai Lama That is a description for a textbook. What is its purpose? What is the purpose of all belief systems? I am going to describe what I ...

Lizzie is not a complainer. Follow her on You Tube . by Michael Corthell We all choose to complain from time to time. We sometimes don't even know that we're complaining. Sometimes a common complaint can help bond two people, but too much complaining may just break down the relationship. Some people say, "Why do I complain, no one listens anyway.'' (I wonder why??) I like to tell people, ''The complaint department is on the 99th floor and there are no elevators.''   ''Instead of complaining that the rose bush is full of thorns,  be happy the thorn bush has roses.'' —Abraham Lincoln We've all known people who complain long and loud, they are the ones who constantly gripe about their health, their family, their relationships, their job, and the list goes on and on. They are never happy with anything. (because they are not happy with themselves) And every time you hang out with them you are left feeling drained....

The most important difference between a Resource-Based Economy and a Capitalist or Socialist Economy is sustainability and because there is no means of servitude or money used in this system, there is no corruption, no crime, no war, and no poverty . by Michael Corthell The quality of life for all people on Earth will be raised and enhanced immeasurably when all Earth's citizens have access to the  best  products and services, education, healthcare, transportation, housing, and energy systems that our civilization can provide.  This commitment must come sooner, rather than later to save our environment, our race, and other species. We have the technology to begin implementing this new economy immediately. We only need the will to do it...    Resourceism is the belief that all the Earth's resources are the common inheritance of all the Earth's inhabitants. Global problems faced by mankind today are impacting individuals and nations rapidly. Climate change, famin...