Spiritual Critiques

about

Website author: Joseph Waligore

I’m Joseph Waligore. I have spent over fifty years trying to live spiritually in my daily life. I was smart enough to get into Dartmouth College without graduating from high school and spiritually committed enough to drop out of Dartmouth in my senior year when I got a divine message telling me to quit. I have extensive personal experience being part of many spiritual traditions including those of India, shamanic, Theosophy, Findhorn, and New Age. I have extensive experience with such things as Psychosynthesis, auras, chakras, reincarnation, channeling, karma, meditation, acupuncture, astrology, Tarot cards, and Stoicism. 

After I quit college, I spent ten years as a stay at home dad raising my three children. I then got a Ph D. in philosophy from Syracuse University, writing my dissertation on comparing the spiritual philosophies of Stoicism to Buddhism, Jainism, and Yoga. I have extensively read literature on contemporary spirituality as well as published academic articles and a book on the spiritual aspects of deism. I taught philosophy and religious studies for twenty years at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point before retiring.

My Spiritual philosophy

As I have written extensively about other peoples’ spiritual teachings, it is only fair that I put my spiritual philosophy out there so that people can get an idea of where I am coming from.

In order to do well in the world, we need to make our connections. These are people, activities, groups, or places that we have a special relationship with and thus are more important to us than others. They might be on the same wavelength with us, or give us what we need, or take us to the next step in our lives. They help us get a job, learn a skill, or introduce us to new ways of doing things. They can help us in very mundane ways or be so wonderful they are like God intervening to help us in the world.

We cannot succeed just through hard work and belief in our dreams. If we want a good life, we need to do well with these special relationships. Making your connections and doing well with them is also a spiritual practice. You do better with them if you get out of your ego and understand your temporary intertwinedness or interconnectedness with them. When you have trouble with them, you also do better if you learn from the lessons they are revealing to you.

On another website of mine, http://makingyourconnections.com/about/ I have posted significant portions of a book that I am currently writing with many practical hints and examples of how to recognize your connections and fix messed- up relationships.