The Strange Reality of Being Human
Most people think of themselves as a single being, distinct from others. This is my body, these are my private thoughts, and this is how I feel. However, this is just a set of ideas, …
What is Destruction?
We tend to see change as a loss, partly because the ego likes to feel in control. It’s also disturbing tamas, our inertia. And yet, the cycle of growth requires change: balance, disintegration, growth, integration, …
The Dasha Mahavidya
I touched on the Mahavidya in The Mahavidya Interview but needed more research to do a proper job. As I mentioned there, the Dasha Mahavidya (10 great knowledge) are from Tantra and are embodied by …
The Layers of Samadhi
I’ve written several articles before about the layers of samadhi or transcendence described in the Yoga Sutra. These are the settling into the waves, then surface of the ocean of being. When we wake up …
Forgetting
There is a curious experience we have as we grow into new stages of development. We forget what it was like to be in our prior stage. This is very simply because we remember prior …
Changes With Enlightenment
When we awaken, one of things many are surprised by is how ordinary and normal it is. How did I not get this simplicity sooner? It often changes little about our outer life as the …
The Christian Meaning of Enlightenment
In “The Christian Meaning of Enlightenment”, Franciscan priest Richard Rohr gives a Catholic perspective on western faith and the loss of its non-dual perspective. He refers to his teaching as a “Franciscan alternative orthodoxy.” He …
The Mahavidya Interview
Rick Archer recently interviewed Kavitha Chinnaiyan, M.D. on Buddha at the Gas Pump. The conversation revolved primarily around her first book, Shakti Rising: Embracing Shadow and Light on the Goddess Path to Wholeness The interview …
The Challenges of Teaching
There is a common idea that awakened people automatically become teachers. But teaching is a skill, one that allows us to speak to the student at their level. Many don’t have this skill. They speak …
Self Sabotage
It’s very curious how we develop conflicting inner dynamics that get in the way of our own happiness. For example, we desire career success but sabotage our work by being sloppy or making mistakes because …
The Force
In the Star Wars films there is a fictional force that “binds everything together and maintains balance.” “The act of living generates a force field, an energy. That energy surrounds us; when we die, that …
The Pace of Change
Many people experience the world speeding up. This is partly an effect of our perception of time. As we shift through the decades, our metabolism gradually slows and time seems to go by faster*. This …