“Say to yourself, ‘I have certain attitudes and ambitions. I also have friends and allies in these attitudes. But what would happen to me if they suddenly withdrew their support of me?’ Do this and you will understand one kind of fear – the fear of standing all alone. But you can stand all alone, [...]

You are born. You die. In the middle some stuff happens. We have trouble with the middle stuff but really it’s simple once we see that it’s all awareness. Our basic state is awareness. Everything else pops up as points of view in awareness. The only essential question is:  Is there enough joy and lightness [...]

Notes to self. Get in the flow of Awakening: There is no end-game. It’s an ever-going process. However, there are thresholds, and with some practice, we can be in the flow of awakening, where it will continue to ebb and flow, go forward and recede, on its own, and the movement will be towards a [...]

When I recognized I was in a “spiritual depression”, I decided I would just let it be. Instead of running after the conventional self-help solutions, what if I just allowed, and continued to rest in awareness, and continued to release? What if I just allowed and watched? What might I learn? What I learned from [...]

Spiritual awakening doesn’t happen because you master some spiritual technique. There are lots of skillful meditators who are not awake. Awakening happens when you stop bullshitting yourself into continual nonawakening. It’s very easy to use disciplines to avoid reality rather than to encounter it. A true spirituality will have you continually facing your illusions and [...]

You see, when the mind is totally aware of its conditioning, there is only the mind; there is no ‘you’ separate from the mind. But, when the mind is only partially aware of its conditioning, it divides itself, it dislikes its conditioning or says it is a good thing; and, as long as there is [...]

We sometimes have trouble understanding concepts like awareness, release, acceptance, forgiveness, gratitude, compassion, non-attachment, surrender and so on. I suppose these can be called ‘spiritual’ concepts but ‘spirituality’ is word that gets caught in my throat. It really doesn’t want to come out cleanly. It’s like God—it’s so filled up with assumptions that it’s a [...]

What I want is for you to be aware. To live consciously. I don’t want it for you like the republicans want you to be republican. Or insert your –an,  -ist. I don’t want it like an organization. Not like the law of attraction or some other belief system working on people’s desires and hopes. [...]

Early 2007ish. A relationship is over. Pain. A job is over. Deep in depression. Overweight. Drinking. Giving up. Acceptance. A small shift. Observing the mind, observing thought. Effort. Clever and useless revelations. The year of High energy, high activity. Traveling. Awakening is now far more important than security, approval, or control. A settling. Can’t find [...]

You know the story of the boy who cried wolf—this kid is watching over the village sheep and he’s bored and does what I would have done as a boy, let’s just see what happens if I cry wolf, and the villagers come running out, once, twice, and the third time they don’t come and [...]