What Allows?
Back on What Awakes, I spoke to the question of what it is that wakes up. People have many illusions about this. Many have some idea that awakening requires perfection, top health, or deep wisdom. …
Category: Practice
Finding Love
In my last post, Understanding the Opposite Sex, the message came down to love. In essence, that we should simply love. Be the love we seek. The message not mentioned is that if we want …
Emptiness – friend or foe
In a recent Nirmala newsletter, he asks the question “What is it about emptiness that makes us want to move away from it?” “Is emptiness really a bad sensation? When you consider the literal meaning …
Deep Prayer
A friend of mine sent me one of those emails that make the rounds – “bless the person reading this message and pass it along” “If you believe”… This reminded me of an important point, …
Cast it out
I’ve spoken a number of times here about Finding a Teacher, the stages of awakening, and the nature of being awake. Over on Takuin’s blog, he raises an important step on the journey – the …
The Nine Drives
On Allowing vs Indulging, I commented on Burt Harding’s newsletter on transforming Anger into Love and seeing the difference between Indulging and Allowing. That newsletter is now posted at the link above. Yesterday, I got …
Allowing vs Indulging
Many teachers speak of the art of Allowing. Being OK with what is. Being present in the moment. Surrender. Let it be. Self acceptance. Forgiveness. Much of our life, we have learned to use effort …
10 steps to Achieving
In Self Effort, I reviewed the value of correct effort in accomplishing our goals. There is an old saying, well begun is half done. This is the key to productive action and rich results. Stepping …
All arises from Self Effort
Presently, I am reading the Yog Vasishta, a long discourse of great renown between Rama and the sage Vasishta. As is common in such books, the story is told by one sage to another about …
Gangaji Retreat
This weekend, I completed 7 days of silence (well, 5.5) on a retreat with Gangaji. Although I did not stay in residence as I lived nearby, it was very restful and I went deep into …
Appearance #2
In Appearance, I link to Tom’s post and the discussion on “What do Enlightened Guys Look Like?” The discussion is quite useful. I got a little verbose over there and thought it useful to summarize …
It can be easier
I’m struck by how many of the awakening experiences I’ve recently read that were filled with deep challenges. The link to an interview with Byron Katie over at Suffering is Optional, for example. It lead …