When you see that the you you take yourself to be is a fiction–when you actually recognize this, not just agree with it–what happens is…nothing. Nothing actually changes. The old patterns of fear and emotions and delusions remain firmly in place. Well, not firmly. You still get caught up in fearful and self-ish patterns but [...]

What works What I talk about here I talk about from direct experience. There is nothing here which is based on beliefs or concepts. In the last four or five years of exploring, these are things I’ve found: -Most human beings operate from fear and desire. This is what the Buddha called dukkha, or discontent, [...]

Last week I felt fear, in reaction to a life event. Anxiety, or any other negative emotion, does not have the same gripping power as it used to, but nevertheless I found it curious that fear should come up at all. I notice it first as body sensations, usually a butterfly feeling in the belly. [...]

You have to actually do it. At some point in your awakening you will have to actually do it. You have to set aside the learning and reading and thinking about it, and actually do it. We all need help on this and we are never alone. But at some point you will actually have [...]

As awakening deepens, I notice I have a number of favorite tools. They really are all the same—they all come down to noticing. But it can help to come at this from various angles. The tool I rely on the most is releasing. Because more often than not what is between me and Truth is [...]

The word enlightenment conjures up the idea of some superhuman accomplishment, and the ego likes to keep it that way, but it is simply your natural state of felt oneness with Being. It is a state of connectedness with something immeasurable and indestructible, something that, almost paradoxically, is essentially you and yet is much greater [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]