Life's Big Questions: 200 Ways to Explore Your Spiritual Life (Philosophy, Metaphysics)

By Jonathan Robinson

This book:

• Presents spirituality in a reasonable, practical, and grounded way


• Offers insight into how people relate to each other and do so successfully


• Offers new ways to encounter the sacred in daily life


• Includes guided meditations and inspirational anecdotes


• Explores concepts of God, death, miracles and more

• Language: English
• Publisher: Conari Press
• Release date: Sep 13, 2022
• ISBN: 9781684810000

Jonathan Robinson

Fr. Jonathan Robinson is the founder of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in Canada. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh, and a License in Theology from the Gregorian University in Rome.

Book preview

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Life’s Big Questions

200 Ways to Explore Your Spiritual Life

Jonathan Robinson

Coral Gables, FL

Copyright © 2001, 2022 by Jonathan Robinson.

Published by Conari Press, a division of Mango Publishing

Group, Inc.

Cover Design: Katia Mena

Layout & Design: Carmen Fortunato

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Life’s Big Questions: 200 Ways to Explore Your Spiritual Life

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication number: 2022939127

ISBN: (print) 978-1-64250-999-1, (ebook) 978-1-68481-000-0

BISAC category code PHI013000, PHILOSOPHY / Metaphysics

Printed in the United States of America

To the infinite, spiritual essence in each of us,

and to my sweetheart, Helena.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Preface: The Continuing Power of Questions

CHAPTER 1    Why Ask Why, and How to Do It

CHAPTER 2.    Who Are You?

CHAPTER 3.    Personal Spiritual History

CHAPTER 4.    Why Do You Think…

CHAPTER 5.    Spiritual Teachers and Teachings

CHAPTER 6.    Peak Experiences

CHAPTER 7.    Methods of Awakening

CHAPTER 8.    Miracles and Their Meanings

CHAPTER 9.    Death and Beyond

CHAPTER 10.    The Future of Spirit

CHAPTER 11.    Moving Beyond the Mind

CHAPTER 12.    Inspiration and Support

CHAPTER 13.    Living from the Heart

CHAPTER 14.    The Spiritual Intimacy Experience

Questions to Live With

Resources for Further Exploration

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Foreword

by Dr. Bernie Siegel,

author of Love, Medicine & Miracles

Asking good questions is an important ingredient to new learning and greater awareness. In this book, Jonathan Robinson asks 200 questions that can truly impact your life in positive ways. As you ask big questions, your mind expands beyond the daily concerns we can all get caught up in.

When I was a surgeon, a woman visiting my office said something that changed my life. She said, "I need to learn how to live between office visits. That got me thinking. We compartmentalize our lives in such a way that spiritual matters and the search for meaning often get pushed out by our to-do list. Even when talking to friends and family, we’re more likely to talk about things that depress us than topics that truly inspire us. What’s needed is a simple way to focus our minds and hearts in an uplifting direction. With the many inspiring questions and anecdotes in this book, Robinson has found a way to help us bring meaning and exploration back into our daily lives, and when we do this, we do not die when our doctors expect us to. It’s what I call self-induced healing" and not a spontaneous remission.

As a doctor, I’ve seen that people who lacked meaning and curiosity in their lives often seemed to experience worse medical outcomes. On the other hand, people who were focused on love, exploration, and the gifts of life seemed to do much better. Why might this be the case? Well, the body responds to what the mind ingests. Our feelings create internal chemistry and make Monday the unhealthiest day of the week, with more heart attacks and illnesses. When we overly focus on what’s wrong with ourselves and the world, it’s as if we are absorbing a toxic brew. Yet, when we explore matters of the soul and spirit, it’s as if we ingest higher, healthier food. The result: we feel better.

While daily problems urge us to hurry and worry, big questions beckon us to seek a more expansive view of life. And what an amazing life and time we live in! As we travel through space at 67,000 miles an hour on this massive rock, we get to experience love, beauty, joy, discovery, loss, and so many miracles. Yet, miracles are only visible to those with eyes open to new learning—like the eyes of a child. By asking yourself, friends, and family questions from this book, I’m confident your eyes will open even wider to the wonders of this life.

Preface:

The Continuing Power of Questions

Although the world has changed a lot since this book first came out, the big questions of life are still the same. We are still enriched when we explore topics related to love, spirit, and meaning. In addition, there’s a lot to be learned when we ask our friends and family members questions that connect to important subjects. Unfortunately, exploring such questions can be harder than ever because we are all subject to WMDs (Widgets of Mass Distraction). We all have too much to do, and too many ways to distract ourselves from meaningful connections and conversations. Luckily, this book can help. Each of the 200 questions and numerous anecdotes are meant to make it easy to explore important subjects with friends, family, and even new connections.

This book came about when, in a moment of deep meditation, I heard an inner voice clearly say to me, Take notes. Well, I found a pen and paper, and out came 200 questions. Previously, I had never done what could be called channeling before, and I never had a strange voice in my head give me such a command. Fortunately, I wrote down what this strange inner voice told me to write down. However, once all the questions were written, I was unsure what to do with them. The thought occurred that it could be a book, so I wrote to the editors at Conari Press, and they quickly wrote back that they loved the idea of a book of big questions.

When I met with my soon to be publisher, Mary Jane Ryan, she suggested that I also include personal anecdotes that pertain to many of the book’s questions. I took a week or so to write a bunch of anecdotes, and the book was born. Amazingly, within a year, the book was