Creative process is a really interesting subject to me. All creatives seem to have one, but the only commonality is that there is one. The details vary considerably. “Find your own way,” seems to be the imperative. Find out by doing and then reflecting on the doing. Maybe then you can extract some rules or guidelines, some…
I’m musing on the idea that in principle, religion offers the appropriate instruction, practice, and experience for every level of spiritual development. The thought is that even at the most basic level of understanding and spiritual development, it offers an appropriate message to meet the person where they are. And at the highest levels of…
If you are insistent or even desirous of keeping your life exactly as it is then it’s probably best not to embark on the spiritual path. Better to just sit tight and tolerate your afflictive mind than to “give it all to God” or “surrender everything to the Self”. Because that’s what’s required, a single-minded…
Question: how does one resolve the seemingly contradictory notions that on one hand, God/consciousness is everywhere in everything equally, and on the other, some places and some people are more sacred and holy than others? It’s a function of apparentness. To those who are misled and confused by false notions, the divine is variously less…
The fourth state, turiya, pure consciousness, is present with all other states. But at first it’s perceived, as its name suggests, as one alternating with other states of consciousness. Until through repeated and consistent exposure it’s revealed to be the foundational and ubiquitous, singular reality.
Loving the gap. When thoughts drop away, leave them there. Enjoy the gap, the silent space of being. Non-grasping, aconceptual aware presence. Just go with your flow, remain unattached. If there’s frustration there’s expectation and desire. Wanting something that isn’t usually leads to suffering if grasping and thirsting are also present. If something “must (or…
I show up to write each day but it’s sometimes hard to turn up at the page with nothing around me. The room I’m in has no interesting elements or items within eyeshot. The computer desktop on which the writing page itself sits is completely bare. All intentionally reduced. That I have a twinge of…
How does one square the circle of devotion to deities in nonduality? It’s a mystery. And I mean that in a technical sense. It’s an apparent truth that the mind can’t fathom or explain. But what’s a spiritual rationalist to do with this kind of essentially faith-based view? Loosely speaking there are at least two…
Is it more likely nowadays that a spiritual seeker will be more eclectic and varied in their sources than before the internet? Is this then a new kind of approach than the typically singular, structured traditions of instruction and knowledge? Is there some power and value in that? Good, bad, other? I know many earnest…
