What does awakening mean? Well, if you read very much about it, it apparently means very many different things to people. For some, it is the beginning of the journey to embody a recognition of the truth that allows suffering to subside and dissolve. For others, it is the end of that journey. This is […]
There is not much that is more fun than riffing off of Jeff Foster’s brilliant observations. so let me start with a quote from a recent video of Jeff answering a woman lamenting the fact that after all the work she has done, she still doesn’t feel healed, she still feels profound sadness. Jeff said […]
Because it helps your friends find you on Facebook and wish you Happy Birthday. One of the tenets of nonduality, is the idea that there is no “me.” Some schools of thought equate awakening with the dissolution of identity (though, in fairness, that can also be a definition of madness). Sometimes a radical awakening calls […]
Most of us are very familiar with some form of either the media phenomenon “The Secret” or the so-called Law of Attraction. It is almost an unchallengeable belief in new age spiritual communities that if you visualize what you want strong enough and you follow various strategies for refining that strong visualization, you will get […]
In part 4 we talked about approaches that dealt with suffering at the mental and emotional level, though, in honesty, the mental body is the only place that experiences suffering. The physical body only really experiences physical sensations like pain and pleasure. Sometimes this is exacerbated or complicated or drawn out over time by suffering, […]
So energetic approaches to healing, while undeniably beneficial, often bring only temporary relief and usually don’t move far enough down the chain of physicality to affect the body in a lasting way. Western approaches are great for trauma and the alleviation of certain painful conditions and Eastern approaches are more holistic and satisfying for creating […]
In part 2 we looked at energetic strategies. Now I’d like to jump to physical strategies. Honestly, most people seek out physical strategies for what they perceive as pain anyway. Both Western and Eastern approaches to physical medicine can be profoundly restorative. Western medicine has brought a laser-like focus to the conditions of disease. It takes an […]
Most of us, quite naturally seek relief from the physical sensation of pain. That’s what we’re supposed to do. Physical pain is a warning signal that something is wrong with our bodies that might have serious consequences. We will never eliminate pain in general, but we can and should seek to alleviate physical pain. The problem […]
Because we tend to conflate the terms pain and suffering as if they mean the same thing, it’s always important for me to define the distinction I make, and in fact that the Buddha made, when talking about suffering. Pain is part of life. Pain can be physical or emotional. Suffering, on the other hand, […]
Nowhere does the conflict between desire and desire-less-ness or form and formlessness seem more palpable than in the realm of intimate relationships between couples. In fact most of the images we have of enlightened or awakened beings are of individuals who have renounced community and relationship to live isolated lives as hermits or in a […]