Continuing Student Contribution

The phases of growing spiritual maturity are interesting. I love it that the unfolding and learning is as if there are veils removed, as one sees more and more. The early phase of Awakening is the excitement that it has been found: Really! In this life; that it is possible and true; that it is […]

We spiritual seekers/finders are quite familiar with the concept that there is no time but the present. There is only now. A quick investigation brings us back to this truth when we stray. Can we find a past? Any purported history reveals itself to be nothing more than evidence of such in our present perception. […]

This is from an email Mike Zerbel sent out to some of us. I liked both the graphic and his comments. Thanks, Mike! Image-in-ing an apple, we know it isn’t “really” there. The brain image-in-ing itself, where does the imaginging start? Imagine that! I imagined being that which I imagined!

Are you resisting awakening? This may seem a strange question for an earnest seeker, one who ardently longs to know his or her true nature. But perhaps pursuing our true self only makes it that much more elusive. After all, if you are in search of your true self, what does that make you? Something […]

I lay down in the grass today. I didn’t do it because I had just mowed it, or because I’ve been good about watering it. I didn’t plan at all to do it. I was walking across it, the sun and air were the perfect warmth, and the lawn lush. And thinkings of doings didn’t […]

True awakening is the freedom from the need to have any particular experience or to feel any particular way. It is the freedom to be with whatever arises here and now. It is not dependent upon a sense of expansion or unity consciousness, nor upon any level of serenity. It is a stateless state! But […]

There is so much conditioning, so many patterns and habits, so many preferences, opinions and beliefs that keep us bound to the illusion that we are this body/mind/soul unit. But there is a simple line of inquiry that can help cut through them all: Consider what is “mine.” Anything that is “mine” isn’t “me.” I […]

I noticed today that the world is awake—trees, rocks, clouds, and yes, even people. We’re all awake! This moment is awake. It’s as bright as it can possibly be, framed by an infinite past and future. It is being witnessed by 7.5 billion people, and countless other sentient beings, here on earth and elsewhere. It’s […]

To a seeker’s assertion that he is not experiencing liberation in the here and now, Sri Ramana Marharshi explains that indeed he is, as one cannot deny one’s own Self, which is always here, always perceived. The seeker responds, “That means existence, not happiness.” Sri Ramana responds: Existence is the same as happiness, and happiness […]

The other night I dreamed I was riding a small whale.  We were close to the surface of the ocean, so that I was only waist deep in water.  We were speeding along at a good clip, about 30 mph. The next day in session with Fred, as we explored our true nature, he asked […]

In the Gospel of John, 3:3-5, Jesus explains the concept of spiritual rebirth to Nicodemus, a Jewish pharisee: “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into […]

The mind eschews simplicity. Complexity feeds its needs. It peers into the past and reviews the wrongs, unaware that it is recreating them, drawing them into this moment. Memories of trauma or happy events with their associated feelings are merely thoughts carried through time. All experience is thought/feeling evoked by imagination—playfulness on the screen of […]

Discovering the absolute is wonderful and wondrous. There is no person, no individual life, no separation. There is only the experience of such. We are unborn; we are the eternal. We are free and always have been. This is very clear, when it is clear. And we work to keep it that way. But we […]

I watched a satsang with Mooji the other day. He began by introducing everyone to Awareness. He had them check their shoes and minds at an imaginary door and enter the room. He told them to leave all ideas and thoughts outside. They could collect them any time thereafter. No doubt, they would be waiting, […]

What is freedom? How does it look? One of the biggest misconceptions is that it should look like bliss all the time. The inner drive of seeking is an attempt to fill the feeling of emptiness created by living in an abstract world of thought. And we may believe that if and when we find […]

Pay attention, lest you miss your own awakening. This is easy enough to do. It’s a long-standing habit—we’ve been missing it all along! Our awakening experience has long been unfolding in myriad ways, both subtle and bright. It happened as we watched ourselves grow up and traverse the various stages of life. Although our bodies, […]

In non-duality circles, one may hear that awakening is a purely random, accidental event: Because it is not the character who awakens, there is nothing the individual can do to cultivate or attain the awakened state. The truth is ever present, and it will simply manifest or not, independent of causes or conditions. But the […]

I have an analytical mind. It wants to know how things work, why they work, the logic behind the process. Understanding the how and why of things provides a sense of security and guidance in decisions and actions. But when searching for truth, it can take us only so far. Thought is a simulator of […]

At one time or another, we all have known or perhaps been that person who has fallen into the trap of living vicariously. In the relative world, this is not a healthy dynamic. Most commonly it happens with a parent through a child, to the detriment of both: The child feels an undue burden of […]