The reason I started down this path was that I had to. I knew that what I wanted to know was there, wherever “there” was. What did I want? Happiness and peace. Knowing the Truth, the bottom line of life, I knew would give me lasting peace and joy. Thus began my treasure hunt. From science back to my first …
Give Up Good….
I’m a good person. I mean it. I’m a good person. That’s the problem. The Fall was the creation of the small self. The fruit that brings knowledge of good and evil signifies the ignorance from which we must liberate ourselves. The small self is not a good person. If you are a good person, then you are also a …
It’s Not about the Packaging….
When I was growing up, gift-wrapping paper was not emphasized in my house. The present was what mattered; how it was packaged was of little import. Though presents were wrapped, the paper was quickly torn and thrown away. As I grew older, I learned to appreciate beautifully presented gifts. The packaging provided a certain excitement about what was to be …
What Do You Prize?….
Misery loves company. That saying is thrown around like a trite and empty truism. But if we actually look at this phrase, actually feel this phrase, the truth and the sadness of it becomes evident. Have you wondered why the phrase “Love loves company” does not have the same truth or reality? After so many years of peddling the removal …
Reaching the Third Level….
The third level of practice, which is called śāmbavopāya (path of Śiva) in the tradition of Kashmir Śaivism, uses the will. All traditions teach this practice, in which we rest in the Heart by a well directed will. Obviously, this is not easy; it requires discipline and complete surrender to God, Self, the Absolute. Yoga Sūtras III.17 says that through …
Internal Only….
Exoteric and esoteric are two terms I rarely if ever use. They basically split everything into external and internal. While in the UK recently, I met up with a dear friend from the ashram. He said that Baba taught both exoteric and esoteric practice, and that most people went to the ashram for exoteric practice, thinking and believing it was …
Being a Free Actor….
When people come to my classes or see me privately, we usually use situations or people in their lives to show how to apply the practice in the world. Though this is truly an internal practice, it has to be used and applied to inform all of our life. So after a class people leave the laboratory and hopefully implement …
The Pursuit of Friction….
Friction is the force that resists an object’s movement across a surface. In practical terms, it slows down an object’s movement. Though it sounds like something we don’t want, without friction we don’t have traction; without friction we cannot move forward. And if we avoid friction in one place, we will unwittingly be moving into it somewhere else. If we …
The Love Machine Part Two….
How we resolve the love machine: The love machine only keeps running because we fuel and maintain it. We even make sure to fix it when it breaks down. Any time the machine breaks down, we are given an opening, a wonderful opportunity—but we don’t take advantage of it; we don’t recognize the experience of actual love, and we reject …
The Love Machine Part One….
It’s all about recreating our childhood vibration, which we call love. We call it love (or safety, comfort, normalcy, etc.) because it is how the small self gets attention, and therefore power. For the small self, power is the surrogate for love. Intellectually we hate the vibration and look for “solutions”, but emotionally we crave it and keep looking to …