We Are A Community
In the west, our culture has been very focused on individuality. This is a step up from tribal mode but, like being a teenager, should be seen as a transitional step. We live in a …
Wanting Something Else
When we don’t know who we are, it’s natural to chase things outside of ourselves. The senses tell us satisfaction comes from the world around us so we follow the senses and chase experiences. But …
Simplicity
The most potent things in life are very simple. Love, happiness, peace, sleep. But the mind likes to grasp and control things. Simplicity confounds it. Yet simplicity is a marker of universal principles. Karma or …
The Power of Speech
The spoken word is sounds that represent conceptual symbols that have a somewhat shared meaning. For example, if I speak the word “apple”, you’ll have a good idea of what I’m referring to but not …
Enlightenment is Not Knowledge
Enlightenment is not knowledge for the mind nor will it make you knowledgeable. Enlightenment is a progressive series of shifts in being, in who we are and our relationship with the world. In my case, …
The Stages in Context
Watching a friend approach a stage shift, it reminded me of something that may not be obvious to observers. Each of the primary stages is an exponential shift from what was before. With the first …
The Appearance of the Doers
The deeper you go, the less localized and more universal you get. For example, most experience their body, emotions, and thoughts as local and personal. But as you touch deeper into fine feelings, intuition, and …
The Ignorance of Enlightenment
It may seem odd to combine “ignorance” with “enlightenment.” But knowledge is structured in consciousness. Until we have the conscious range to take it all in, there are still gaps in our knowledge. Missing knowledge …
What are the Perfections?
If you read the Yoga Sutra or about the siddhis, you often see them translated as powers or abilities. I’ve used variations on that myself. But siddhi actually means perfection. Often this is taken to …
The Origin of Fundamental Qualities (Gunas)
One of the fundamental principles of the Vedic perspective is the three gunas or qualities. I described them in some detail in About the Gunas but here is a basic outline: Sattva: purity or clarity …
SAND 2018
I’ll be speaking at the Science and Nonduality (SAND) conference again this fall. There was strong support to return. I’m moving more in the direction of the second book I’m working on about the nature …
A Calling
As I wrote about recently, many things in life require action. Life is movement and flow. It requires activity to be sustained. We need to breathe, to eat, to consume, to move to live. If …