I recently sat down for a cup of virtual coffee with the delightful Maggie Gilewicz, PhD for her ORDINARY PEOPLE, ORDINARY AWAKENINGS podcast. We talked for a couple of hours about my (long) spiritual journey, both before and after awakening, and discussed some of the misconceptions and challenges facing the spiritual seeker and awakened being…
The beginning and end of this whole existence and the arena of ‘The Work’ and the unfolding of the so-called ‘process of awakening’ is this present moment. The past shows up here as memory, the future as imagination. Cognition, mentation, sensory arisings, all happen here. It’s this now-ness, this such-ness that constitutes Reality. And liberation…
Our minds are so conditioned for complexity, engagement, entertainment. It’s often a challenge just to be willing and able to let go of all these outward drags, and instead allow the mind and being to settle down within itself. To just stop grasping and chasing and see what comes to take its place. To take…
Sitting in my chair and looking out the window, the light over the valley is so beautiful that I want to grasp it, hold it, make it last. But staying open and ungrasping to fleeting beauty is an invitation to the Way. Even so, perhaps it’s inevitable to feel the yearning wistfulness for it all….
Much of our tension and contraction and clinging is a response to our inherent sense of groundlessness. Ironically, in attempting to find some firm footing we distress ourselves even more. The answer to the issue of groundlessness isn’t to grasp but to let go. Clutching after unattainable certainty, security, stability, permanence, has us perpetually fearful…
There’s not much to be said ultimately about what we should be or shouldn’t be doing. Or notions like being in or out of alignment with the ‘higher truth’. Ideas like sin, right action, or ‘being in accord with natural law’ are useful to a point. But as you approach the real state of affairs…
Enjoy the bliss of this Without question or need Just falling ever into it Into this No questions asked No seeking found Heavenly peace Who knows where this freefall will lead? Or what we’ll encounter On this endless drop But who cares? Enjoy the ride The forever slide Helter-skelter Roller-coaster When we freefall We needn’t…
Sit quietly And with your inner awareness Try to find somewhere where you have control I’m not suggesting you try to take control Just see if you can find any possibility to do so Be curious and notice Subtly What are the foundations of movement and change in your experience? How do they come about…
Living from the heart is effortless. There’s no holding on to ideas and strategies. It’s ever-restful, natural, spontaneous. There’s no need for second-guessing. It’s a living trust and surrender. You go where you go, do what you do. It happens, life happens. We’re moved by an unseen intelligence. A deep stirring of the ocean of…
Let it in, let it all in. Let in your regret. All the feelings around that, let them in. All the shoulds and shouldn’ts about it, let them in. All the shame and the doubt, let it all in. The discomfort, let it in. Your reactions, the plans and strategies, let it in. Let it…