Spiritual seekers today often disparage the ascetic, renunciate traditions of monastic life or cave dwelling. They contend that such a path may have been tenable in the past, but these days we have so many obligations; we are too busy with worldly affairs. Cave dwelling isn’t an option, they say ruefully, and then dismiss […]
As many of you know, I am a professor of philosophy at Howard Community College in Columbia, Maryland. I teach many different philosophy courses for credit in the Arts & Humanities department. I also work with many college students on their journeys to radiant awakeness as I call it. During this last semester, I had […]
Making choices when I think I’m a separate self, an ego, is often a painful struggle. I feel I must make the right choice, the logical choice, the best choice. But that idea has been chipped away at over the years. The Course in Miracles teaches that “every expression of anger is really a call […]
This month I have been practicing fearlessness. I am not practicing courage, which is the willingness and strength to face fears. Rather, I aim to eradicate fear itself, so that the virtues of strength, fortitude and courage are not needed. I needn’t be armed for battle. I can simply abide in peace. I remind myself […]
Forgiveness is a dualistic concept, requiring a transgressor and an injured party. But its practice brings to light our unity. Why forgive wrongs? Many reasons: we love the person (if not their action). We want to free our own minds from resentment. We recognize that we have done wrong, too, and hope to be shown […]
This past month I did my best to surrender to everything, to let go of any notion that things should be other than as they are right here and now. I found this quite transformative, more than I expected. Daily life was more peaceful, and I learned much about patterns of resistance, how surrender looks […]
After awakening, we can lose that initial sense of wonder and peace. This can feel like a dropping out of grace. But what would you drop into? Grace is all there is. It is that by which we live and dream. When it is felt, it is soothing. But felt or not, it is always […]
Am I clear today, in this moment? When I pose that question I must keep in mind, who is asking? That will determine the answer. If Kathleen is asking whether she is clear, she’ll examine her mood, thoughts and feelings, and her answer will be ambiguous. She can get lost in the wondering, and then […]
Forgiveness is a central tenet of Christianity, and probably of all spiritual traditions, at least by implication. It operates in nonduality as well. If we are One and wish to resonate with that truth, then we must let go of resentments, which can only be perceived from the vantage of the separate self. I have […]
What can be said of a dream, or should be said? Though profound to the dreamer, its recounting often sounds disjointed, senseless. So it is with our attempts to describe this dream of reality. The basic pointers – that reality is illusion, that it’s only this, that it’s a projection of the mind – can […]
I had always considered the adage that we are spirit having a human experience to be a good pointer. I knew that there was no person here (only spirit), but I would acknowledge – it seemed indisputable – that I was still having the experience of being a person. But was this really true, or […]
The character can be neither asleep nor awake, cloudy nor clear. There is no character. We know this, but we still so often fall into regarding and speaking of ourselves as awake or not, or awake, but with varying degrees of cloudiness or clarity. As Fred often reminds us, there is only awake-ness. There is […]
Having watched the free satsang on Sunday, I want to report my own experience with Fred.I’ve asked that my words are put on the site with all their flaws. This is my report, unsolicited by Fred or any person who works with him. The night before the 1st April, 2015 I had an Awakening session with […]
We know that this is it. That can be a frustrating pointer when seeking because we are looking for something bigger. Once we get a glimpse of our true nature, we see that, indeed, it is only this. And so this is seen as This. The ordinary becomes extraordinary. But then it tends to lapse […]
Fred: Julee died this morning. I can report this as I suddenly saw the fiction of anything other than what I am. There seems to be nothing here other than ISness. All movement is slow today. The body is trying to assimilate this. A small but gigantic mindblast. HoHoHo. Perhaps she’ll be back sometime. […]
I am in Leavenworth, WA this weekend. I am surrounded by old-growth forests, streams and mountains. There has been a beautiful wind blowing, clear bright blue skies and dark but bright starlight nights…and lots of butterflies. Butterflies are everywhere–of all colors and sizes. They fly very close or suddenly appear and disappear. It reminds me […]
The 8th-century nondual sage Adi Shankara emphasized the importance of equanimity in attaining liberation: He whose mind lingers not over the past, nor goes out after the future, when perfect equanimity is gained, this is the mark of him who is free even in life. In this world, whose very nature is full of differences, […]
Hello, everybody! Awakening Clarity Now has an informal “satsang sangha.” Its members are in the Continuing Students Program, meet with me privately on a regular basis, or meet with each other, and me, three times a month for Sunday Satsang. They can also contact each other during the week via email, and can make […]
“The truest inward essence of the Way is not an ethical system, or a means to achieve world peace or personal happiness. It is not a method to achieve future enlightenment. It is not a path for the self to follow. It is not even a way. It is simply Complete Realization in this very […]
The other day I heard, “Samsara released is nirvana; nirvana grasped is samsara.” I can’t remember whom to credit–maybe Mooji. It has stayed with me. It reminds me that freedom, i.e., awakening, is available here and now. Just let go of resistance to anything that seems to be causing distress. By the same token, any […]