Western Baul Podcast Series

Relationship is meeting what arises with full feeling and consciousness. Dependent co-origination means that our consciousness arises at the same time as all consciousness. Lost in inner dialogue, we do not experience true relationship. Zazen (sitting) is an opportunity to meet what arises in the moment in a silent, unmoving state. Myosho Ginny Matthews describes practices of zazen, chanting, and samu (work) which were engaged in her sangha and with her teacher, Sasaki Roshi, who came to the U.S. from Japan and lived into his 108th year. We can learn to dissolve through work practice, but it is harder to dissolve into the complexity of work in the world. A teisho is a spontaneous commentary on a koan, which is an enigmatic question used in Rinzai Zen Buddhism to open to a state beyond the fixated self. There is the opportunity to manifest true beingness in koan practice. We can't stay dissolved in the Absolute as a human being—we go in and out. Mystical traditions say our relations come out of the womb that birthed us all. Sweat lodge is an experience of going into the womb of the Earth. Practice is to make relationship with whatever is in our world. We're not in relationship if we're not present and attentive. Death is not an isolated event; it is a complement to the ongoing reborn quality of each moment. We can learn to hold opinions lightly. If we make relationship with the reality of the moment, it's usually not as difficult as we think it will be. In grief, pain lives with us. Suffering is holding onto pain beyond its reality as it changes into something else. We can disappear in a moment of bowing. Myosho Ginny Matthews was a student of Joshu Sasaki Roshi for 40 years. She took lay ordination in 2000, leads retreats on practice, is a dance teacher and choreographer, and is featured in the book, The Unknown She: Eight Faces of an Emerging Consciousness.

Culturally, boredom has a negative connotation as something that we should not experience. Being bored is an uncomfortable place to be in, which we usually try to remedy. But this misses the point since boredom can be useful and even necessary on the path. Chogyam Trungpa notes that Westerners tend to be fascinated by the aesthetic appreciation of the simplicity or rigidity of rituals such as the Japanese tea ceremony or zazen. He says the point of vipassana meditation is to get bored. Trungpa makes a distinction between hot boredom, which is agitating and the first kind of boredom we encounter, and cool boredom, which is refreshing in that we do not have to do or expect anything. It is difficult to get to cool boredom without going through hot boredom which we look to alleviate through excitement and entertainment. Boredom shows up when there are gaps in our consciousness without stimulation or a way to satisfy ourselves. This happens in daily life as well as in meditation. Interesting times distract us from spiritual practice and paying attention to ourselves. We can encourage the space for boredom to arise rather than being caught in the current distractions of the world including constant use of cell phones. Boredom arises if thoughts and activities are not motivated by attainment or credentials. We entertain ourselves all day with subconscious chatter and are uncomfortable with silent gaps in our conversations with ourselves. We can consider that life may have no inherent meaning and that we give meaning to things in order to entertain ourselves. Remedying moods and emotions doesn't ultimately work, which can leave us no choice but to be with things as they are. When we give up hopelessness, hope goes with it. Matthew Files facilitates groups that support people to look deeper into their process, formulate their own questions, and become responsible for their choices.

Transformation is essential for the evolution and thriving of creation, which includes human beings. The process brings greater clarity, healing, and resilience into our lives and creative growth into the world. We see cycles of birth, death, and rebirth occurring in nature and on a global and personal level. Transformation is alchemical; it involves a shake-up of our usual routine and a plunge into groundlessness. Strong medicine is provided by life itself. There is poignant bittersweet beauty in impermanence and change, in loss and death, as well as in new growth. A distinction can be made between horizontal translation, a lateral shift in which our fundamental perception of the world remains the same, and vertical transformation where there is a radical shift in it. Rebirth follows death, always. Parts of ourselves that we've exiled can be transformed from shadow to light and become gifts we offer to the world. The caterpillar has to die to become a butterfly, but it resists the change. Personal examples of dying to identification are described. We are all hard-wired for survival at the level of ego, but at the level of soul we long to surrender to the holy process and love more profoundly, turn toward what is, and become more fully ourselves. Liminality means dissolution and refers to the betwixt and between place between death and rebirth when the way things have been is dying but what's waiting to be born has not yet emerged. It's a place of receptivity which is necessary for us to pay attention to ourselves in a deeper way. When external doors close, inner doors can open. Transformative moments are spontaneous when we're transported into a place of awe and we experience our unitive nature. Nachama Greenwald is a physical therapist, editor, and musician who for seventeen years was a member of the Shri blues band which performed Western Baul music.

Stoicism is a philosophy founded by Zeno around the fourth century BC. It was important in Greece and Rome and culminated at the time Marcus Aurelius was emperor. The primary purpose of philosophy is to reveal our shortcomings so we can overcome them. Stoicism is about living in harmony with the universe. There are four cardinal virtues that Stoics cultivate: wisdom, courage, temperance, and justice. Pithy quotes that are useful to consider are discussed. Knowing the difference between what we can and can't control is key to figuring out what to put our attention on and how to adapt. We find strength in realizing we have power over our minds, not outside events. Viktor Frankl, a concentration camp survivor who was aligned with Stoic philosophy, said that decisions not conditions determine what a man is. We may not be able to choose the conditions that come to us in life, but we can choose how to relate to those conditions. Wealth is to desire what we have; poverty is to wish for what we don't have. Stoics maintain that our being is contained in an inner citadel that we create with Stoic virtue. We are invincible and cannot be defeated if we maintain our character and principles. Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius, was written for himself as a diary. There is a thread of accepting reality as it is when we are self-contained. Stoicism involves not being swept away by emotions and not being in denial of them. Happiness depends on the quality of our thoughts. We can see obstacles as directing us to shift our perspective and move forward. The trials we face introduce us to our strengths. Rivers are easiest to cross at their source. Once neuropathways are established, it's much harder to break a habit. Stoic virtues are universal and offer a way into any spiritual practice. Bandhu Dunham is the author of Creative Life and an internationally recognized glass artist and teacher.

Rick Lewis talks about the process that led him from being a performer and corporate events speaker to hosting an online writing program. Most everyone fashions a life that is obedient to our deepest fears. We carry stories about who we are and what is possible throughout life, having made unconscious decisions in childhood that we will not engage in activities that could put us in touch with feelings such as shame or rejection. The highest expression of spirituality on some paths is to serve what is wanted and needed in the moment, but we cannot do this if constrained by stories we hold as part of our identity. Our stories remain hidden before we challenge them with action. Until then, we can only serve in the small ways that show up within our comfort zones. At a hinayana (solo path) level, telling stories about times when we have been reactive or unconscious is a way to study patterns so we can map out the territory and have an edge to act differently in the future. At a mahayana (path of service) level, sharing stories is a way to learn and develop connection and compassion. Human beings are wired to think in stories. We are designed to learn from problems and the biggest and most worthwhile problem we can take on is the spiritual path, which is about how to counter the story of separation. Telling our stories can nurture relationship and connection with ourselves and others. We can self-observe when various I's take over during storytelling. In a spiritual community, the degree of vulnerability and authenticity is set by the teacher. Most of humanity has a capacity and hunger for authenticity. The lack of acceptance of parts of ourselves that we project onto others can hold us back from being authentic. Rick Lewis is a national speaker and author of 7 Rules You Were Born to Break, The Perfection of Nothing, You Have the Right to Remain Silent, and other books.

Is the source of yearning for connection on a human level the same as longing for God on a spiritual level? The urge for connection is pre-thought, pre-psychological. It begins at birth when we first experience separateness. Practice is about patterning the nervous system to let go. When we can sit in the center of the storm of our feelings, we can be with suffering and with "what is" in a way that does not seek fulfillment. To come to acceptance doesn't always happen gracefully. To go fully into yearning—a process that happens over and over—leads to shattering, which is a doorway to reassembling without the same identification. We may yearn for love and project that we'll be satisfied on a human level and find that we long for love on a much deeper level. Acceptance of every part of us, and of the masculine and feminine, brings us to the next level. Suffering doesn't end when we accept suffering, but something shifts. Longing and suffering co-exist. It feels different when we are able to ride the waves of heartbreak. The ability to hold personal and universal suffering is needed in the world. Hate is projection of suffering onto others; realizing this helps us to be compassionate. Clinging is part of life and never disappears, but our work with it can be incorporated into practice. We need a strong matrix to hold longing. In each incarnation we may have one destiny to fulfill, which involves use of the body. We don't read a book to experience the wine; we empty our cup and drink the wine. Longing is satisfied in the longing itself. Letting go of expectations opens us to a commitment to love. We can work with desire and identity, letting go again and again. To honor longing is not a casual choice. Debbie Hogeland-Celebucki is an advocate for the wisdom of community and conscious parenting and the author of Widening the Circle: Inspiration and Guidance for Community Living.

The need for humor and for incorporating something of the clown's state of mind into spiritual practice is discussed. Bernie Glassman was a Zen master who invited Moshe Cohen, a clown performer, to help him learn tools to work with students who were taking themselves too seriously. The clown doesn't know what will happen when he or she enters the stage. His improvisation is about encounters with everything he comes in contact with--inside and outside. The clown lives in the present and has no history, no aim to say anything universal. He shows us his weaknesses and passions and mirrors our foibles, but not so that we see who we are. He is just being himself and so expresses our humanness in a non-judgmental way, which is why we like him. The clown's empathetic nature innocently addresses others' ailments. He is without self-importance, a nothing who is interested in everything, who inspires optimism and faces problems without being discouraged. He moves diagonally and plays with problems until they solve themselves. By not being ashamed to be foolish, to look at different sides of himself as he is, the clown explores contradictions that we don't see in ourselves, which is funny. Self-obsession makes us heavy when we take our minds so seriously. Humor can feed practice and lighten our spirit and the path. The true art of humor is always humor at oneself. We all have a funny part of ourselves which has often been repressed in childhood. Humor comes from creativity, not the logical mind. All we have to practice with is ourselves; our sensations are the path to intuition. We can invite lightness into our awareness by taking a breath. Michelle Meaux is one of the managers of La Ferme de Jutreau, an ashram in France. She provides translation for spiritual books, teachers, and workshops focused on personal and spiritual growth.

Beginner's mind is a Zen Buddhist principle of seeing everything as new, as it is, without preconception or expectation. It can be considered the simplest state but also the most advanced. Mind identifies, creates the illusion of separation, and focuses on survival of the individual body and psychological structure. But we can open to “big mind,” our true nature which has limited itself, as occurs in deep sleep and sometimes in meditation. We all experience freedom from the prison of ordinary mind at times in life—as the sun peeks through the clouds—because it is our nature. Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind is a book by Suzuki Roshi, who referred to beginner's mind as the “goal” of practice. Quotes from the book and from the American teacher Lee Lozowick are discussed. A matrix of practice is needed to hold beginner's mind, which is not something we can bring about. We can see that everything is transient, but we often don't see that we're always changing as well and that there is no solid self. Calmness arises as we give images in our mind a large spacious meadow, allowing them to come and go, which requires special effort. If we do not indulge our tendencies, ego will show us itself at deeper levels. Practice without gaining idea does not mean to have no purpose. Just to do something can be our purpose. If we have spiritual pride in our understanding, we will lose the characteristic of beginner's mind, which cuts though pride in the knowledge that everything comes from big mind. Vajra pride is unshakable self-esteem rooted in recognition of our true nature, which everyone has. True creativity comes from nothing. The greatest moments of creativity come when we forget what we know. Life continues to put us in new situations where we are beginners again. VJ Fedorschak is the organizer of the Western Baul Podcast Series and the author of The Shadow on the Path and Father and Son.

The Latin phrase “magnum opus” means great work. Our early ancestors had an intuitive relationship with nature and received knowledge directly from it. In alchemy, great work refers to awakening consciousness, the primary metaphor being the transformation of lead into gold. It is about transformation, working with the primordial material we are given in incarnation, which is consciousness. But that is not separate from the body, which goes through transformation also. Tarot can lead us on a journey deeper into ourselves. Alchemical language is symbolic and is called twilight language in the eastern tradition. This talk focuses on alchemy in the western tradition, and twelve stages of alchemy are discussed as well as CG Jung's four stages. Alchemical process is not linear or a one-time deal; it cycles as other parts of ourselves come forward. There is no top end, no settled final state. Everything dissolves, then comes back together. At the next level we're a total beginner again. Grief is profoundly alchemical. What we are working for is already here, but we have to work to discover it. Alchemy cannot happen without the feeling heart. Any time we're working with emptiness, the unknown, it's scary for ego, for more superficial aspects of our being. Emptiness is a great mystery. Disappointment is the beginning of the spiritual path. There's gold in the shadow. We can bring awareness to our process that begins to free up knots that don't allow the free flow of graceful energy. The sage is always turning us to the sage within. So much of alchemy is about letting go. Mary Angelon Young is a workshop leader with a background in Jungian psychology, an editor and author of As It Is, Under the Punnai Tree, The Baul Tradition, Caught in the Beloved's Petticoats, Enlightened Duality (with Lee Lozowick), The Art of Contemplation, and other books.

The aim of self-transformation from a divided mechanical self to a unified self that is free and has will is the subject of this second talk on Gurdjieff's aphorisms. Several quotes including some which were posted in the study house where the mystic worked with students at the Prieure near Paris in the 1920s are discussed. Crystallization occurs when substances coalesce and incrementally form a durable structure or soul, as in the crystallization of rock. If anything in a man is able to resist external influences and identification with worldly matters, then this soul may be able to resist the death of the body. Nature only gives the possibility of a soul, which can only be acquired through work. One of the best means to arouse the wish to work on self is to realize that we may die at any moment, but first we must learn to keep this in mind. Super efforts should be directed by our aim. Conscience and purity of aim can guide us in the right direction. A fire in us will expire if not fed. Surrender is one path; developing will is another. All energy spent on conscious work builds spiritual capital. It is an investment that is lost forever if spent mechanically. Being, the result of unification, allows Doing, which is conscious purposeful action that differs from automatic behavior. All true Doing is alignment with the Will of God and is service to humanity and creation. If we wish, we can. Wish is the most powerful thing in the world. It is something to contemplate, sit with, internalize, and make our own. To remember is to put oneself back together. I do not remember myself; I AM, my true self, remembers. Carl Grimsman was born into the Gurdjieff Work environment. He attended a children's group and later worked with Mrs. March, a direct student of Gurdjieff at East Hill Farm in New York. The first two books in his “Soul's Traverse Series” are Sun Bridge and The Kindling.

This talk focuses on parts of the story and the learning written about in Red Hot Steel: Love Behind Bars, which involves love and loss with a man incarcerated in a maximum security prison. Sadhana is a Sanskrit word about our individual spiritual path that has the quality of going through fire. Grief is love that has slipped out of view. We live in self-imposed prisons and the path is about the way out by seeing the false nature of the prison. Prison is a place of loss, a hell realm of unrelenting suffering from which there is no escape other than what is done with one's own mind. The environment creates necessity for some to find inner peace, refuge, sanity, and conscience. Prison is a place where the culture dumps its collective shadow. Three types of karma are discussed including inexorable karma that we have no choice but to go through. Loss shouldn't surprise us since it is built into reality, but we don't tend to live as if this is so. Loss and change need not detract us from living full out. When things do not turn out as we wish, we can stay in the flow of grace without regret, refusing to be bitter or a victim. Writing is a way to deal with disappointment. Everything is learning. Prison can teach humility and gratitude for simple things. When we experience pain, we can feel others' pain. We start fresh every day; there's always a bounty of abundance coming in some way. Beauty and suffering go together in the fullness of life. Caregivers can be more involved in others' experience than their own. It's a gift to have empathy, but there is also a need for boundaries, for empathy regulation with wisdom added to compassion. We only learn by going through fire, which is why there are no mistakes. We come to earth to learn our lessons, to evolve and grow in consciousness. Jessica Jenns is a writer, meditation teacher and coach. Red Hot Steel is her first book.

We intuitively know that there is a strong connection between silence, prayer, and inner wisdom. There are Hindu teachers who have maintained silence for many years, and Zen masters and Native American elders who communicated wisdom but spoke very little. Hermits and monks in religious traditions have used silence as a discipline to deepen the inner life, and Realizers have said that expansion into the great field of silence is not separate from God. There are many textures of silence such as at sunrise, sundown, and in the night sky. When the mind is busy with inner dialogue, we can take a moment to expand into the silence of the space we're in, take a “silence bath” and let it interpenetrate our cells. Attention economy refers to forces that work on us and invite and take our attention. Social media is constructed to capture and consume attention so that we buy products, listen to programs, and have opinions influenced. We can look at what this costs us in terms of our ability to appreciate life around us. Gravity is a silent force; trees, mountains, and boulders do not make a sound. Cultivating silence can be a radical stand for uselessness in an age of productivity. The really important things in life are essentially useless. One way to build our attention economy, our personal attention account, is by consciously developing silence. Silence is a doorway to train and use attention. It allows us to sensitize to what is going on in the mind and body, but there is also a way the Divinity works on the soul that cannot be described. A lot of spiritual work is hidden and takes place in silence. Mystics have talked about entering the cave of the heart, the holy of holies, the inner temple. Regina Sara Ryan was the editor of Hohm Press for 35 years. She is a workshop leader, retreat guide, and author of The Woman Awake, Igniting the Inner Life, Praying Dangerously, Only God, and other books.

The way we identify ourselves and are identified in the world puts us into boxes of what we do rather than conveying who we are. Moving our bodies in any way we want to is dance. Part of “all things lovely” is having wide eyes on what is beautiful, intriguing, and awe-inspiring, and moving toward that. Pillars of pleasure activism are considered: we become what we practice, what we pay attention to grows, our no makes way for our yes and yes is the way, make justice and liberation feel good, when we are happy it is good for the world, and moderation is key. Practice is alive in every moment, and compassion for self and others are elements of it. “All things lovely” doesn't mean that everything is easy. Meditation gives us space to notice where our attention goes and to realize that we have the power to shape thoughts and focus attention. We can label thoughts, let them go, and focus back on the present moment. The more we honor our yes and no and communicate that with kindness, the more we can move with strength toward beauty. Being able to listen to others and understand their perspectives affects our ability to be in relationship. Our wellness and joy impacts relationships and spaces we're in. Resilience is rooted in being part of communities that offer the space to grieve and experience the whole spectrum of emotion. There is beauty and love at the depth of sorrow. Examples of people who have practiced in the most difficult circumstances and chosen to focus their attention on connection and beauty are discussed. Expressing a true yes or no is scary if we don't have a strong anchoring core of self-compassion. Naomi Worob has practiced living with kindness, generosity, and compassion on Triveni Ashram in the high desert of Arizona. She has engaged in dance and theater performances with Nervous Theatre, Collective Movement, and Jacob's Pillow.

Ego is the foil to our spiritual development, to fulfilling our capacity for awareness, compassion, creativity, and self-transcendence. The urge to win, dominate, and control is a pithy definition of ego. It can also be defined as the self-sense or survival instinct involving cognitive and emotional as well as physical survival, or as the freedom of mind choosing an alternative to God or a higher power. It's pretty obvious when someone is trying to win, dominate, or control but challenging to see in ourselves. It is helpful in our spiritual evolution to pay more attention, have restraint, and take time to pause and reflect on our actions. Having a sense of purpose and sense of space can be useful reminders. It's usually possible to have humor about situations. Responsibility is not control. Examples from the Japanese television series, La Grande Maison Tokyo, are discussed. Moments of peace and quiet are rewards of knowing we can't control everything. We can only control ourselves and our conduct. Success on the path is not about winning, dominating and controlling, but about surrender and coming to center. We can't tell if we're off center if we're not familiar with our center. Accepting what is as it is, and acting, can take us to the end of the path, to being one with the universe. Obstacles we encounter reveal the way to move forward. Four virtues of stoicism to be developed over a lifetime are wisdom, courage, temperance, and justice. If things don't go the way we want (e.g., with the outcome of an election), we can still live according to our principles and practices. Grief is loving something or someone we have lost; love is grieving for someone we haven't lost yet. Negative personality features are the flip side of authentic manifestations. Our success depends on what we set up for ourselves. Bandhu Dunham is the author of Creative Life and an internationally recognized glass artist and teacher.

The being that occupies the body has two qualities—presence and attention—which is all that is needed to awaken. Attention has will and can place itself anywhere inside or outside the body. The present is the domain of the Divine and of love, which is not the emotional, sexual, or romantic love that we are taught and programmed to believe in. To be in service to the Divine, attention has to be present. If we're not aware of the body, we're identified and not present. Masculine energy holds attention in place, allowing the feminine to emerge by being receptive. When we're present we can see what's going on in the inner world. A distinction can be made between mechanical attention and conscious (or second) attention. Presence and attention in the inner world, which wears ego down, are like wind and water acting on stone in the outer world. We can watch the action of the ego structure, which slowly gives up its energy to the being, to attention and presence, but this is difficult because attention is weak. The great majority of humans live a life of constant distraction, identification and imagination. “There is only God” is a profound teaching. If God is love, then why is there violence and evil? In its mechanical state, the egoic structure alters love to assert its own desires. Conscience is easily overrun by the will of ego. Present attention corrects whatever is out of alignment with the love of God. Love—not my will, but Thy will—is the supreme intelligence which works through us. Ego does not want present attention; it wants identified attention. Effortless effort can only be unraveled by direct experience. Super effort does not come just from me but the being in harmony with the Divine. Red Hawk is an acclaimed poet and the author of 13 books, including Self Observation, Self Remembering, The Way of the Wise Woman, Return to the Mother, and Book of Lamentations.

Spiritual teachings can be easily understood in a conceptual and not a bodily way. Just This, or the practice of Assertion, is the recognition of what is real in every moment. It was a practice given by the American teacher Lee Lozowick which can be equated to “what is as it is, here and now.” But what is real to ego is everything that maintains the illusion of separation from what is. We may engage in spiritual practice because we sense there is more to life than what we see, which is full of illusion—projection, judgment and meaning-making. Just This is strong medicine to pierce such illusions that get in the way of accessing what is real about life. There is a lot that is real that we're not aware of. It's easy to fixate on the 3-dimensional realm as the scope of everything that is real. Yet, we are multidimensional beings. One aspect of Just This is that there is nothing missing right now. Just This is not a remedy, an affirmation to improve one's life, or a mantra to repeat. Doing a practice in a relaxed way rather than trying to get somewhere without grasping makes the essence of a practice more available. When we accept what is as it is in the moment, the next moment may be a whole different experience of change. Just This is the reflection of reality in words, a doorway into the context of what is real in all of life which can be used at any time. This is Real is another expression of Assertion which can be done at specific times such as during completely natural bodily functions like eating, sleeping and eliminating that do not essentially involve ego. Just This needs a framework, a matrix to arise in that is built by traditional practice. Being human, which is more than having a body, is what we're building through traditional practice. Matthew Files facilitates groups that support people to look deeper into their process, formulate their own questions, and become responsible for their choices.

As long as we avoid truth, we are stuck in illusion. We may avoid telling the truth in small, seemingly inconsequential ways as a habit that originated in childhood as a survival mechanism. This can occur due to shame, denial, self-hatred, or by justifying or blaming. If we deny what is true for us, we don't have to change. Deeply knowing the consequence of an action can sharpen our self-observation. Speaking about what is true for us and taking responsibility for it is not common. It is wise not to always share our truth and to discern who to share it with. Clarity is when we recognize what is true for us. Our inner experience is a bridge to how we relate to the environment. Lack of clarity is frequently self-serving. We don't like to examine painful feelings and thoughts to find out what we are hiding from ourselves. When we sit with discomfort and focus on our breathing, clarity can arise. We may fear the truth and assume that it is worse than a lie. We can fear greatness and being powerful, which is about the influence we have in circles we are in when we speak our truth. Fear of making mistakes is often about losing face. The only standard to hold ourselves to is what is true for us. Grounded in our truth, we do not fear reactions or outcomes. When we do the right thing, we learn to trust ourselves. Once we know what is true for us, there is the challenge of learning how to speak about it which can lead to trusting that what shows up is in our best interest. When we tell the truth about ourselves, it is easier to let go of emotional charge, to accept what life sends our way, and to know if others are trustworthy. We can experiment with letting go of control which allows room for magic and something much better in our lives. Juanita Violini is an artist and writer/producer of interactive mystery entertainment who has been a student of the spiritual path for over 35 years.

Grounded practice gives us direct experience of the pervasiveness of the mechanical, identified mind. Before we have direct experience of something, linguistic representations are ineffective at transmitting what it is. There is a distinction between results and practice. A teaching can be the result of practice, such as loving our neighbor, but we may consider it as a practice that we are unable to embody without having cultivated the necessary quality of being. Seeing the world as nondual is a result, not a practice. When nonduality is taken as an intellectual proposition, mind pastes over experience and co-opts the spiritual process, which is not realization. There are poets like Ursula Le Guin who use language to “point at the moon” or the sacred. There has to be some work with mind for the intuition and depth of nonduality to take root and inform all aspects of our lives. We may not be in a new paradigm of spiritual practice, but we are in a new paradigm of access to information and teachings. Nonduality is one way among others to talk about reality. Different spiritual approaches work for different people. For many, something has to be dislodged from its static position around the heart. There's truth to being nondual and to being dual, which is paradoxical and indicative of a greater mystery. We can be grateful for language that brings our attention to something bigger than the small self. It's not words but the carrier wave, where someone is coming from, that transmits what words point to. It's helpful to hang out with people who share spiritual intention. Everyone doesn't need to be involved in formal spiritual practice; lives are equally valid. Rob Schmidt and Stuart Goodnick run Tayu Meditation Center and founded Many Rivers Books and Tea in Sebastopol, CA. They invite spiritual teachers, practitioners, and authors to articulate their stories on The Mystical Positivist podcast.

Our private life involves a flow between ourselves and others, and we may choose to share details of it with those we trust will receive it with empathy, responsiveness and understanding. Our secret life, on the other hand, is known only to ourselves. It would be hard to share with others except in a rather touching and intimate way. It's deeply personal and mysterious, unique to our individual being. A secret life can be compared to dark matter, which is not understood but which may be considered as the nothingness from which everything known emerges. We have created the world we perceive by limiting how much we perceive and defining how we perceive it. But the secret life is always behind this. It can open us up to a place where we want to be, where we find refuge and guidance. Poets have a natural intuition of the secret life. They need it to be in touch with what they feel called upon to do. This way of looking at a secret life is distinct from other perspectives we may have about what a secret life is. Different interpretations of a secret life are explored, including one in which addictive habits and shame are hidden. On the spiritual path, we may self-observe a shadow of compulsions and obsessions that can affect our work when they control us, which wait to be addressed. There is also the way some keep their practice secret by not talking about it as a way of protecting their work. In the spiritual process, some may address their need for help by appealing for it in an inner way and may not want to speak about it. But we may also feel a need for intimacy, to share more of our private and secret lives with others with discrimination. Vulnerability to the Divine is a state worth working for. David Herz is a spiritual practitioner who lives in Paris where he has been a journalist, technical writer, communications officer, and an English instructor at universities.

The mythic image of Sisyphus, of a muscular man pushing a rock up a hill for eternity, represents something that needs to be known in us. We can consider it in various ways. For some, it's about punishment by the gods for immoral behavior. For others, it's a metaphor for an unfulfilling, demanding life. Or it can be a jumping off point from which to ask the larger questions of life. We can be taken by these characterizations, yet the Sisyphus image can open us to some other possibility. This talk is about inner world conversations, or interviews, that the speaker had with Sisyphus based on questions evoked over years by the image. How does Sisyphus endure his fate? What motivates him? What rock am I pushing up a hill? Do I have to struggle like I do? Who am I? What am I doing here? The Sisyphus story and Camus' writing about it can only offer so much insight into the human condition as we are willing to explore for ourselves. We generally seek to be relieved of a burden we don't want to feel. To go beyond that and resolve our own personal story requires an inner necessity that won't leave us alone, a courageous intention to look into our own lives as opposed to looking to others for answers. It is lawful that help is available when we have a real need. Perhaps eternity does not exist and there is only doing what needs to be done in the present, here and now. We are binary beings who see life in terms of good and bad due to our thinking. We can't open to an unknown quality of life beyond myth, to the path beyond self, by thinking. Feeling something “off the page” that is beyond thinking allows words to be used in a more refined context. Spiritual icons can be portals into another reality that can teach us. Tom Lennon, Ph.D., is a retired cultural resource consultant. He leads groups with the intention of supporting the spiritual process in others.

The reason we have questions is that we don't see the bigger picture. As children, we don't recognize the trauma we experience, but as we get older the sense that something is not right in life may lead us to the spiritual path. What happened to us informs how we respond to life in the present, but we live out of the programming of the past. As long as we're reacting from childish programming that was designed to protect us then we're unable to accept what is in the present. Self-observation and writing are ways to practically work with our thoughts, emotions, and patterns. When we have reactivity, we can come back to the body, be as present as possible, and be kind to ourselves. We can learn to be with what is going on for us instead of thinking that we should not feel the way we do. Homeostasis is when the body brings itself back into a stable and balanced state. Our habitual reactions keep the world intact and keep us identified with the person we believe ourselves to be. Loosening the intensity of our reactions makes it possible for us to see who we are underneath that. There is always more, always a bigger picture. We don't fear the unknown; we fear the known ending. The prison we find ourselves in is the known. We may say we want to get beyond our known reactions, but it can be scary and our inner work will bring up resistance. Who are we if we don't have our stories about ourselves? We can see how affirming, denying, and reconciling forces operate in our lives. There is benefit to working with people in a group who can remind us of our practice. We can hold to and nurture the experience that we sometimes have of who we are beyond our reactivity and definition of ourselves based in the past. Elise Erro (e.e.) has been committed to a life of engaging spiritual principles and service through theater, support for the dying, and bringing enjoyment to others as a chocolatier.

The aim of all religions is to point out the path that leads to freedom, peace, and joy, which can only be realized through the surrender of ego. The principle of ego or separation permeates our lives. To realize oneness with God or the universe is to be conscious of the divine presence everywhere. Intellectual understanding is different than actual spiritual experience. Ego avoids surrender at all costs; yet the universe brings about transformation. In an absolute sense, surrender is already the case since the universe is what it is and couldn't be otherwise here and now. When we are not flexible enough to move as the universe is moving, we cannot live in freedom, peace, and joy. But we can practice with conscious surrender and come to accept what is even when it is not our preference. Surrender is the intelligent way to relate to life since the universe rolls along without our agreement. Despite our apparent insignificance, we may lighten the burden of the Divine when we consciously accept what is. Everyday circumstances that we can surrender to and more challenging situations are considered. Surrendering to circumstance is different than surrendering to all of life. There is no proof of surrender other than the abiding experience, which requires self-honesty and has been the experience of different masters in all the traditions. Usually, we do not surrender to joy but tend to hold it in and try to contain it. Surrendering to others loosens the assemblage point, the way ego functions. Surrendering to our life purpose could be very ordinary or not. Surrender is surrender to self, but it is not so easy to distinguish between self and ego. Learning to surrender isn't part of our education, but we can learn to follow what feels right and accept what is and act. VJ Fedorschak is the organizer of the Western Baul Podcast Series and author of The Shadow on the Path and Father and Son.

Our willingness to feel the pain of the world is inextricably entwined with our capacity to love. What is the value of keeping our hearts open in hell, when life is most painful and difficult? We all have a deep desire to have our hearts awakened to love. Love can transform us in a powerful way when we are in hell. There is a lot of sorrow in life, but we can choose joy and beauty in the cracks between our sorrows. We can't keep our hearts open when we are identified, but we are much more than our identifications. In the unitive state with the entirety of creation, we can keep our hearts open in hell. We don't want to lose our sense of humor, especially in these times when there is so much suffering. Inspiring examples of people who have been able to keep their hearts open in hell are discussed. When we are suffering with the hell of ourselves, aspects of ourselves we are not proud of, how do we stay open with compassion and honesty, without judgment? The capacity to face the truth about ourselves and the world, the way things really are, is essential to the awakening of freedom in life. To love the truth is to love reality, both the heaven and hell realms. To love the truth more than our delusions is the state of a mature adult. How do we go from accepting to loving what is? We learn to love everything by becoming intimately familiar with it. We can walk through hell with our heart open when we are able to love what we do not love. It is possible to be settled in a state of love. Keeping our hearts open in hell is a very high practice that requires a lot of us and is very nuanced, but it is worth discussing if our hearts want to go there. We can work with this by paying attention to the simplest interactions when our hearts are not open. Nachama Greenwald is a physical therapist, editor, and musician who for seventeen years was a member of the Shri blues band which performed Western Baul music.

As long as we have a body, ordinary life will present things that ego considers problems. Waking to ordinary life implies that we're not awake. When we are stagnant and fearful, interested in a safe comfort zone, we do not notice the beauty of ordinary life. But we can broaden our view. Waking to ordinary life is about cultivating a vulnerability to beauty. This occurs when we have the necessity to face the difficulties of ordinary life without compromise. If we take a closer look at ordinary life and lean into it, beauty explodes on us. “Every breath for beauty” is a secret for enduring joy. Being overwhelmed by being busy can conceal our fear. We can consider that any space, including the bathroom, can be an empowered chamber that nurtures transformation. The state of a bathroom indicates something about our mental state, the clutter in our thinking. We may not know how clutter pollutes our practice and work. Cleansing our mind can begin with cleaning spaces. We have to notice the piles of clutter before we can declutter. We can't blame it on others; we have to look in the dark places ourselves. Comedy is a great tool to nourish our brain. It's normal to think there is no stability in chaos, but there is a view in which chaos is very stable. It's worth shaking up our dearly held beliefs. Action needs to be taken in ordinary life, and it can be messy. Energy follows the quality, direction, and motives of our attention. We can produce food for influences that live off contention and the disturbance of mind. If we know we are not able to “hold our seat,” it can be healthier to withdraw our attention from influences such as politics so that we are not participating in perpetual disturbance. Lalitha is a spiritual teacher with an ashram in British Columbia, Canada, who was empowered by her master Lee Lozowick in 1998. Her books include Waking to Ordinary Life and Cultivating Spiritual Maturity.

Mantra is likely older than language, sounds that were received by the rishis, poet mystics of the Vedas. It can be silent and internal, a form of thought that reveals more as one goes deeper into it. One meaning of mantra is “crossing over the mind.” How can a sacred sound take us beyond the incessant machinery of mind? Japa is defined as speaking mantra, a simple practice of devotional repetition of a name of God. We sacrifice self-reference and reorient attention to the Divine name. The world becomes magical as we enter into relationship with the sacred. Remembering God's name is a practice suited to the age of Kali, when the world is in darkness. Ramnam (saying the name of Ram as a Divine expression) is really repeating the name of our own immortal self. Any name of God is equally good. Mantra removes distinction, judgment and separation. Ancient mantras that have come through revelation are empowered. A mantra can be a blessing force that invokes the living presence of a teacher who activated it. We can bring our mind back to a mantra, observing what is going on for us and remembering that help is available. Being present with others in distress and doing japa can create a chamber, a field or space where solutions emerge without trying to change or fix a situation. If we are like a hollow bamboo, the wind can come through us and play its tune. The name and reality of the name are inseparable. Japa is an experiential practice that can be done anywhere, at any time. Kirtan is devotional chanting that can create a field of sound, music, and heartfulness. Michael Menager is a musician, singer, author, and modern-day troubadour whose third album is titled Line in the Water. Mic Clarke is a writer, practitioner of Vedic astrology, and mental health social worker. Both live in New South Wales, Australia and are students of Lee Lozowick.

We can't separate our nervous system from the nervous systems of others we are in relationship to since we affect one another. In a practical sense, we are not separate. Nervous systems do not develop in isolation. If we are not regulated and have children, there is an immediate effect on them. Co-regulation is the regulation of emotions and behaviors in relationships or groups. We don't have the family and tribal traditions that produce co-regulation today. Group protocols can help groups self-regulate as an organism. We may think spiritual practices or understanding will do the psychological or physiological work that is necessary and then find we need to address it. Spiritual practices are potentially nervous system regulating, which is not the aim of practices but one aspect of them that can support our spiritual journey. Psychological work is not the same as spiritual work. The point of spiritual work is to allow for consciousness in the body to disidentify and come into relationship with a much larger Reality. For that to take place without the organism going into panic, we need a grounded sense of self. A healthy ego is necessary in order to transcend it. We don't need to beat ourselves up for not having regulated nervous systems. The idea is not to stop reacting but to maintain continuity of presence and awareness. It's beneficial to relax. Without encountering and engaging a level of energetic intensity, we may not get to the wakefulness that allows for transformation. A well-regulated nervous system can move flexibly between different states and experiences and be in relationship with the unknown. Breath can be an indicator of whether we're regulated or not and is also a pathway toward regulation. Clelia Vahni Lewis is the author of Stainless Heart: The Wisdom of Remorse and a freelance editor specializing in works of dharma, spiritual practice, self-help, and memoir.

The book, The Only Grace Is Loving God, written in twilight language or ecstatic speech by Lee Lozowick in 1982, was inspired by Answer to Job, CG Jung's discussion of the human struggle with an image we have of God and the suffering we experience. The Divine image has to include the feminine aspect of existence in order for Christ consciousness, a God of love and mercy, to be born in us. Conscious participation in our individuation is needed for the image that we have of God to grow. Lee refers to God and the Great Process of Divine Evolution as one and the same in his writings. The truth of existence is nondual reality; there is only God. Realizing the masculine polarity of being, fulfillment of the Law or surrender to the Will of God, is divine destiny and the same for everyone in all forms. The only gateway to God is the feminine, which is not about gender but qualities of being that exist in each of us. Realizing the perfection of the feminine is different for every form of existence. Loving God is not a destiny but the ultimate human possibility, a gift of Grace which cannot be earned. To love God is whimsical, illogical, wild, spontaneous, unpredictable, paradoxical, useless and foolish. The only hope for the world is for individuals to stay in the heartbreak and take responsibility for inner work that has to be done. We have to find our own way and revelation. Trusting in the benevolence of the universe and imagination are key. Wisdom communicates through presence. The Great Process just keeps going; there is no top end. We can live into the consideration of loving God. Mary Angelon Young is a workshop leader with a background in Jungian psychology, an editor and author of As It Is, Under the Punnai Tree, The Baul Tradition, Caught in the Beloved's Petticoats, Enlightened Duality (with Lee Lozowick), The Art of Contemplation, and other books.

French audio version

There is a rightness to how we feel because of how we act when we provide what is wanted and needed in any given moment. This may be considered as the trademark of a revolutionist. Fresh insights and revelations come from use of a different language. Jan Cox was a teacher, in the mystical and philosophical sense, whose language was unique. Maxims from his “Revolutionist Code of Conduct” are discussed in this talk. Be judicious with euphemisms, without speaking in metaphors when we intend the literal. There is hesitation to be literal about death. Stealing, being deceitful, is one of the worst things we can do. It is not about morality but about not poisoning our involvement in “this,” which could be a way to describe work on self without the conceptual limitations of what “this” is. A reality beyond words can be transmitted via language. Being a revolutionist is to struggle against “sleep,” but the best approach is to relax rather than to make knotted-up efforts. This is not special, but it is uncommon. We see we are asleep, unconscious and mechanical, in hindsight. The tendency is to chase after what voices in our heads say rather than to investigate the voices themselves. We can say the opposite of what we chemically feel and work with not taking feelings seriously. Our feelings make us feel right. We can take our experiences when we get angry as a test to see if we can still be “thrown to the ground” by the same influences, while having human feelings. Man takes his “weaknesses” and creates heroes out of those parts. Embracing or at least being OK with our weaknesses alleviates the need to create heroes. The real revolutionist has no allegiance. We may engage in “this” if we don't want to be a slave to our genes. Matthew Files facilitates groups that support people to look deeper into their process, formulate their own questions, and become responsible for their choices.

There are two sides to the metaphor of a razor's edge. On one side is duality and on the other side is non-duality. When we're born, we're in a state of relaxed well-being and can see clearly for a period of time. Then we discover that we can fall off the razor's edge. This occurs when our attention is taken from us through identification, attachment, comparison, and our stories. Prior to losing our attention, we are thrust into survival and lose trust. We are conditioned not to look at ourselves but are trained to focus on our faults. Self-hatred starts as children when we think we're the center of the universe and that we're at fault when things go wrong. When our attention is stolen, we cannot access our intuition. But if we begin to look inside ourselves, we see power and clarity. The clearer we see ourselves, the more we can trust ourselves. We can be trustworthy if we know ways that we are untrustworthy. If we know our boundaries and who we are, we know who others are as well and can accept them as they are. There are a lot of reasons why we might feel badly. If we can keep our attention on the sensations of the body, we will get the information we need. To get back on the razor's edge, we have to relax, let go of what weighs us down, and trust that we will be looked after even if what life provides may not always be what we want. The journey of self-discovery is akin to a razor's edge. The fact that the razor's edge is narrow means that we have to pay attention when walking on it. It is dangerous when our attention is taken since then we are not in touch with reality. We need to reclaim our attention which is all we have or the most important thing we have. The distinction between self-observation and self-remembering is explored. Juanita Violini is an artist and writer/producer of interactive mystery entertainment who has been a student of the spiritual path for over 35 years.

This talk emphasizes what we can use from Dune for our own personal evolution or transformation. Science fiction explores archetypes and mythic structures and can help us consider what it means to be human. Twilight language, which permeates Dune, is the way that mystics and shamans speak, which requires a different state of consciousness to understand. Frank Herbert creates a world that leaves out a lot of details so that our imagination is engaged to fill in the gaps in spinning the Dune universe for ourselves. There are major themes threaded through the series of books that can be of spiritual value to reflect upon: the complex relationship we have with human heroes and saviors, how power corrupts and attracts the corruptible, taking what is good in religion but avoiding what is deleterious, being careful when the need for religion becomes fanatical, trusting the guidance of someone who is more advanced without giving over all our critical faculties, differences in human and animal nature, learning how to learn, sacrificing the comfort of the worldview we've been given and raised with to enter a path of conscious evolution, the value in training awareness and attention, how the stasis of dogmatic fixed ideas can lead to manipulation and death, respect for resources, gathering energies that can be used for higher purposes and transformation, how self-indulgence is at the core of much evil in the world, restraint as a virtue that is based on self-observation, warriorship as the readiness to respond when necessity arises regardless of mood, the tension between the moral law we live under and the necessity of circumstance, how each experience carries its lesson, the convergence of choice and destiny, and the ultimate responsibility we have for ourselves. Bandhu Dunham is the author of Creative Life and an internationally recognized glass artist and teacher.

Zazen is a practice that involves the body in ways such as working with the breath. Joshu Sasaki Roshi came up with the phrase, “Buddha is the center of gravity.” Rooting ourselves to the earth through the hara, the abdominal area, is an aspect of Chan or Chinese Buddhism that came to be known as Zen in Japan. We unconsciously absorb negativity that denigrates the body in our culture. There is a symbiotic relationship between spirit and the body in ancient systems like yoga, tai chi, and qigong. There is a traditional analogy of a chariot (the body), horses (our will and energy), driver (the ego that is in connection with the world), and passenger (the Self or witness). The ego needs direction from the Self. When we get beyond busy-ness we can hear the messages of the Self and the body. In Buddhism, it is not desire but unexamined desire that is suffering. The vessel has been referred to as the receptacle of the soul. Do we relate to the vessel with tenderness or judgment? Judgment pops up over and over; it is ingrained and patterned in our bodies. With deep meditation experience we understand that we're not just the human body. In spiritual practice, relationship to the body is often ignored. The Middle Way does not deny or punish the body with ascetic practice and does not indulge the body. This way has got to look different today than when Buddha lived in 500 B.C. The focus on the evolution of consciousness can last right up to the end of our lives. A koan is a practice of a dying activity meant to dissolve the sense of a separate self. When we have compassion for ourselves, it spills out to other people. Myosho Ginny Matthews was a student of Joshu Sasaki Roshi for 40 years. She took lay ordination in 2000, leads retreats on practice, is a dance teacher and choreographer, and is featured in the book, The Unknown She: Eight Faces of an Emerging Consciousness.

Identification is the great law that governs all human life. We are enslaved and quickly swept away by it as it captures and consumes our attention, which is what we are in essence. Yet, we are blind to it and believe we are free. All human problems are caused by identification. Imagination and identification are identical twins that work together. We are powerless to hold attention for long before being captured by imagination. We are identified with the body and ego structure and by attachment to objects, people, ideas, belief systems. A root of identification is self-importance when we see ourselves as the center of the universe. Identification is fear, which blocks love. It has one aim only—the survival of the false self/ego structure. One of the primary tools of identification is judgment, which can become a reminding factor. The mark of a person who is willing to work is self-honesty. Freedom is freedom from identification. There is only ever one problem: an unwillingness to confront the need to cease all identification. We can loosen the hold of identification with the practice of presence by self-observation and self-remembering. The body is an objective feedback mechanism to help orient the attention in the present. If we're not conscious of the body, we're not conscious. Conscience can be seen as the Will of God, or Love. In saying and doing things that violate conscience, we suffer remorse and our hearts can change. Beauty is everywhere but we don't see it due to fear or identification. We can come to be grateful to those who offend us. Intuition can be distinguished from imagination. Love is the standard by which we can compare and come to disbelieve reactions and feelings. Red Hawk is an acclaimed poet and the author of 13 books, including Self Observation, Self Remembering, The Way of the Wise Woman, Return to the Mother, and Book of Lamentations.

Rick Lewis talks about the mystery of the Guru through telling stories of his experience with his Guru, Lee Lozowick. He discusses circumstances that brought him to his first Guru, Bhagwan Rajneesh (Osho), to meet Lee after Osho's death, and to search to escape from the anxiety of human separation through spiritual attainment. Altered states that feel incredibly profound can be used to maintain a separate sense of self, as if we are getting closer to enlightenment. Stories are told about how Lee fanned the flames of this spiritual pursuit, which began to unravel after Lee's death. The inexplicable energetic field around a Guru, who functions outside the usual reference point of a separate individual, is considered. Relationship with a Guru is both unnerving and inviting given the uncanny awareness and connection a Guru has with the moving parts of reality. The content of one's interactions become irrelevant when introduced to the ground of pure being through receptivity to a master. Rick remembers an experience of driving for hours in silence with Lee, with self-conscious feelings disappearing into the heart. He describes the Guru's fierceness when asking a question he had previously asked, hoping for a different answer, without feeling any aggression. There is also the fallible human aspect of the Guru which adds to the confusion of the linear mind. To be a human being without putting on an act or mask is a natural thing. The Guru works with each person in a unique way and is completely available after death. If we have not had the experience of a Guru, all of us have the access point of feeling connected beyond our usual frame of reference with who the Guru actually is. Spiritual literature can be an access point. Rick Lewis is a national speaker and author of 7 Rules You Were Born to Break, The Perfection of Nothing, You Have the Right to Remain Silent, and other books.

It's interesting to consider that there are larger forces at play in creation than we know. Angels are part of the Abrahamic cultures (Moslem, Christian, Hebrew). There are similar entities—dakinis, demigods, spirits—in Buddhist, Hindu, and Native traditions. Einstein's great question was, “Is this a friendly universe or not?” We can look at the qualities of angels in history, art, and theology and find them in living persons. Calling in our angels has many dimensions to it: a cosmic dimension of finding our rightful place in the universe and welcoming good company that provides help in our lives. Angels in religious traditions are not cute cupids but are often connected with the need to bring justice and peace to the earth. There are demon angels, but angels are most always connected with love. A scientific worldview has triumphed and we look to it to explain how things work. But we can shift the kaleidoscope a bit and see that the marvels of the cosmos are interpenetrated with divinity. If we believe the traditions, we are surrounded by forces set upon helping humanity, which is what angelic forces do. We can call upon these forces. Angel wings may represent an ability to move instantaneously when called upon. Angels are described as powerful, and they often appear as messengers. Praising God, which is what angels do, is a very high spiritual practice. Chanting God's name is an energetic connection to a higher force. We are fascinated with science fiction in which other entities and dimensions exist. We can look at the night sky and open ourselves to the possibility of living in a divine universe. Who do we want to call upon to help us through transitions, including death? Regina Sara Ryan has just retired as the editor of Hohm Press and is a workshop leader, retreat guide, and author of The Woman Awake, Igniting the Inner Life, Praying Dangerously, Only God, and other books.

The aphorisms of G. I. Gurdjieff are an accessible concentration of many of his ideas and basic teaching. Nine of the 38 aphorisms are considered in this presentation on the life of Gurdjieff, who appeared in Moscow in 1912 after a 20 year search for knowledge. His quest produced a system that became known as The Work. Gurdjieff used the tumult of life that presented itself to teach, including world wars. All outer work can be used for inner work. Some students who helped Gurdjieff establish, manifest, and disseminate his teaching are discussed: the Ouspenskys, de Hartmans, de Salzmanns, and Orage. Work ideas, music, and movements were engaged by those who had a need to go beyond the ordinary state of “man.” This required self-observation of the human machine with thinking, feeling and moving centers and intentional suffering, choosing how one wished to be, and trying with directed super-efforts. Gurdjieff established a center for his studies at the Prieure near Paris in the 1920s and the aphorisms were posted in the study hall there which included: “The worse the conditions of life, the more productive the work, always provided you remember the Work.” “Like what it does not like.” “Remember you have come here having already understood the necessity of struggling with yourself—only with yourself. Therefore thank everyone who gives you the opportunity.” There is discussion of Gurdjieff's trips to America, his writing of Beelzebub's Tales, and his student Louise March who established a center at a New York farm with children's groups and where the Work has continued. Carl Grimsman was born into the Gurdjieff Work environment during the first years of the New York Foundation, attending the children's group there and later working with Mrs. March at East Hill Farm. The first two books in his “The Soul's Traverse” series are Sun Bridge and The Kindling.

An ethical will is about what we wish to pass on to future generations. Native American tribes think seven generations ahead in terms of what to leave behind. An ethical will has been part of the Jewish tradition. Ethics is about acting according to conscience, while morality is more about following widely shared norms, sometimes unthinkingly. When we consider who our ancestors were, we learn about ourselves. How have things that happened in the past brought us to the spiritual work we're doing now? Some of us on a spiritual path have been exposed to higher laws such as hospitality, good company, reciprocity, and invocation and have benefited from teachings passed down through traditions. Could we convey values we have learned in a way that benefits others and does not create a burden by saying what others who come after us should do? Maybe spiritual work, which arises out of the wellspring of a desire to self-realize, is inherent in life and does not need anything from us to express itself. But if we have benefited from it, do we feel a responsibility to pass it on? Most of the time what we want to leave behind is something to be remembered by. An ethical will is different; it is about passing on something bigger than ourselves. What is of ultimate value is beyond the personal. If we practice because we want to awaken individually, it will not yield much in a lifetime. Tribal people pass on values through story. Humor is often an aspect of expressing the sacredness of life so we don't take ourselves so seriously. If we feel the urge to write, we could make an ethical testament of things we have learned from. We can live inside a question of what we might wish to pass on and how we could do that. Elise Erro (e.e.) has been committed to a life of engaging spiritual principles and service through theater, support for the dying, and bringing enjoyment to others as a chocolatier.

The Gospel of Thomas was found in 1945 in a jar buried in the ground in a small Egyptian town, Nag Hammadi, in a region where monks had meditated in solitude. Its origin dates back to the first few centuries and possibly to the time of Christ. In the accepted Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Jesus is presented as an utterly unique being or as the only begotten son of God. Thomas means twin in Latin. One interpretation of the Gospel of Thomas is that we are identical twins of Jesus at a deep level, children of God as he is without knowing it. Some find it not to be a gnostic text since it affirms the basic reality and sanctity of incarnate life which gnostics consider illusory. There were different communities of Essenes, Sadducees, and Pharisees at the time that Jesus lived. Jesus transmitted a lot of his teaching of spiritual truth through parable. The Gospels were originally spoken in Aramaic and translated into Greek. The Nag Hammadi texts are written in Coptic, a language descended from ancient Egyptian. So, the Gospel of Thomas, which contains 114 logia or sayings attributed to Jesus, has undergone translation. Several of them are discussed. In the first, he states that whoever discovers the meaning of the sayings will not taste death. It is assumed that Jesus did not mean we are not going to leave the body—he meant something else. If Jesus had wanted to be clear and literal, he would not have spoken this way. The second logion says that those who seek should seek until they find and when they find they will be troubled and will reign over all. The Gospel of Thomas contains nondual teaching—the kingdom is within and without. We can reflect on the sayings, make them our own and open to their meaning. David Herz is a spiritual practitioner who lives in Paris where he has been a journalist, technical writer, communications officer, and an English instructor at universities.

Love is a stable state of being that can be seen as the culmination of the path. What is required of us for this state to come about? Love is about more than one relationship. We can consider love in coupled relationship, with others that we associate with, and in relationship to life. What is usually meant when we say we love someone is that we want to be loved by them. We can have expectations of a partner and others and become resentful if they do not meet our expectations. What do we really want? If we had it, would it be enough? Relative existence is fundamentally disappointing since everything ends. Would residing in a stable state of love be enough? We have to consider loving our enemies if we are to work toward the possibility of the path. Society does not teach us to love our enemies. We see situations in life as friendly or unfriendly, favorable or unfavorable, and look for favorable situations all the time. We can consider the enemy to be anyone with whom we have a relationship of unlove and everything that represents the unfriendly side of existence. The traditions assert that there is something in us that has to change. We can intend to “Love our enemies” and do a turn-around when we are in a state of unlove toward others or when the unfavorable side of life presents itself. This is different than denying or suppressing our feelings. We can practice with this in small ways. Great masters have said that the Divine has us pass through painful ordeals to awaken us to the ultimate reality. We can have compassion for ourselves, not demand more of ourselves than is presently possible, and also work with such teachings and dare to remember the aim of staying in love. This talk is based on the teachings of the French master Arnaud Desjardins. VJ Fedorschak is the organizer of the Western Baul Podcast Series and author of The Shadow on the Path and Father and Son.

We are living in wild times, in a shifting world in which we don't know what's going to happen. How can we find and live with reality in a world that is so predominantly unreal? Our karmas have to ripen all the way for us to become more fluid, open up, and let go. An essential tenet of tantra is non-rejection, taking whatever is arising as our path. Pratyahara, a teaching in the Yoga Sutras, is about freeing ourselves from identifications and attachments, including spiritual ones. The path is a living stream that keeps giving us new challenges. All spiritual practice leads us to an in-between liminal state where we have to respond to what is present now and not what was in the past. We're also in-between duality and nonduality, with awareness in both. The doorway to the Divine is the Feminine, a quality of being that is present in everyone regardless of gender. The Feminine has an instinctual trust of the life process, which includes death. The deeper we go on the path the more our hearts are broken and the more we recognize our love for everything, for the world. We can bear witness to what is unfolding in our lives and the world. If we are “in the world but not of the world,” we can step back to have a greater view of what is happening without getting caught up in it. When we're clear, that is a moment to reaffirm our intention to the universe. In order for a new consciousness to be born, things have to die. The quality of our inner life makes a difference in this world. We keep getting broken open and getting bigger. Can we welcome the unknown and step into it with open arms? Mary Angelon Young is a workshop leader with a background in Jungian psychology, an editor and author of As It Is, Under the Punnai Tree, The Baul Tradition, Caught in the Beloved's Petticoats, Enlightened Duality (with Lee Lozowick), Krishna's Heretic Lovers, The Art of Contemplation, and other books.

Enlightenment may or may not be a goal for people, but why would we get on the path unless we wanted something? With age, there seems to be less talk about pursuing enlightenment, which takes attention and energy to sustain. Is it natural for the pursuit to continue with less intensity? Or have we been distracted by all the problems of life so that the focus of attention that some of us had in our younger years has gone elsewhere? Maybe spiritual heroics are not needed on the path, which may be a very gradual, persistent process that goes on. All great traditions refer to enlightenment, but Suzuki Roshi said, “Why do you want enlightenment? You might not like it.” The truth for us is different today than it was when we first got on the path. Our understanding was different and we did not know ourselves as well. Many people in their younger years have an ideal about what they want to do with their lives. That may get lost if we don't pay attention to it and we may lament as we get older that we can't find our way back into it or just don't have the energy for it. Are we still passionate and motivated about the path? Why or why not? David Foster Wallace's commencement speech at Kenyon College in 2008 is discussed. Where do our templates or beliefs and the meaning that we give to experience come from? This is different for everyone. If we pay attention, we'll know there are other options to our templates and that we have choice about the meaning we give to experience. Our experience seems to support the belief that we are the center of the universe, but we could shift our attention and consider that maybe we don't know the reality of situations we encounter. Everyone worships; the only choice we get is what to worship. Matthew Files facilitates groups that support people to look deeper into their process, formulate their own questions, and become responsible for their choices.

The metaphorical aspect of darkness can refer to the dark night of the soul, to a deep descent within ourselves, our individual or collective shadow, a time of transition, grief, or depression—whenever we're suffering. We have a bias towards light. The sacred nutrients of wisdom, creation, and transformation dwell in darkness. Darkness has a fertile, receptive, feminine quality because something wants to be birthed from it, as from the womb. The talk is not about glorifying darkness or trying to be free of it but healing through darkness. The greatest courage is to see and be with all that life brings. When darkness is welcomed, nothing is rejected. If we run from darkness, we run from ourselves. Awakening cannot be separated from this joyful, painful life. The path embraces the full spectrum of darkness and light. St. John of the Cross said, “If a man wishes to be sure of the road he treads on, he must close his eyes and walk in the dark.” A bodhisattva is someone who has found the path and is committed to it. What we are looking for must be found in the dark. We sacrifice certainty, surrender to losing our way, and sometimes have to fall apart for a vision to arise. If we do the work the great possibility is that we become more fully ourselves, who we are intended to be. Many seekers tend to bypass the dark and focus exclusively on the light. Knowing our own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darkness of other people. We fear knowing ourselves because of what we might discover—not just about the darkness but also the light. We can walk through heaven and hell with an open heart, developing compassion for ourselves and the world. Some of the Dark Mothers of various traditions are discussed. Nachama Greenwald is a physical therapist, editor, and musician who for seventeen years was a member of the Shri blues band which performed Western Baul music.

The direct path is a refined articulation of the principles of nondualism, and the backward step is the actual practice of it. The mind feasts on complication. One of the features of the direct path is its simplicity. It does not involve lineage, guru, or ritual. We are always looking at things, but what are we looking out of? When we look at what we are looking out of, we are taking a step back into ourselves. Awareness is empty of anything solid so when we take a backward step we are no longer relating as one thing to another thing, from the duality of subject and object. When we step back into ourselves as far as we can go, all that's left is being. What is looking out of our eyes now is essentially no different than what was looking out of our eyes when we were kids. It's the same being that looks out of everyone's eyes, including every saint and sage. That's what is meant when we consider that everything is one. If we investigate where “me” is, we will not find it. We will just find layer after layer of qualities if we peel everything away like an onion. Our thoughts, feelings, and sensations would not be experienceable without awareness. The only thing that is aware of being aware is awareness itself. “I” is the name that what knows itself gives to itself. The “I” doesn't know what it is, but it knows that it is. If we can be silent enough to be aware of awareness itself, that is a backward step. Welcoming the problematic parts of ourselves into the light of awareness, awareness will do the work. Nondual teaching is the crown jewel of Buddhism and all esoteric traditions. Awareness is the background of thoughts and personality. Everyone will find the help they need if they have earnestness. Peter Cohen was the drummer for the Western Baul rock band, Liars, Gods, and Beggars from 1988 to 1994. He has followed the nondual path and rhythm of life in Alaska and Idaho as a nurse and a musician.

We need help to continue to grow. The name of a God-realized being invokes the Divine. We can make efforts to return to the present, to ground the attention. Attention is crucial in learning to use suffering so that suffering does not use us up and can become food for growth. Two kinds of attention are possible for a human being: mechanical attention which is an unconscious survival mechanism, and a second or conscious attention which makes self-observation possible and is different than the mind observing the mind. Yogi Ramsuratkumar said that if we are born, we suffer. The Four Noble Truths of Buddha are considered: there is suffering, a cause of suffering, an end to suffering, and a path to that end. Why must there be suffering? What is the difference between suffering and pain? The mind makes no distinction between types of pain. There is only one place the mind can go to escape pain—into the imagination. All humanity is trying to escape mechanical suffering; conscious suffering involves not trying to get rid of it. The desire to change or avoid “what is” leads to constant, repetitive suffering. When we have the courage to stay with it, with discrimination, friction between “yes and no” produces heat which allows the heart to catch fire as mercy, as compassion. “May the heat of suffering become the fire of love.” All human suffering can be seen as the result of identification, clinging to a false sense of self. Mechanical suffering becomes universal suffering with the sacrifice of identification. There is a path to the end of mechanical suffering as a deeper sense of conscience develops, which takes in everything—suffering and joy—and when we do not seek one and avoid the other. Red Hawk is an acclaimed poet and the author of 12 books, including Self Observation, Self Remembering, The Way of the Wise Woman, and Return to the Mother.

The expressions of certain faces in spiritual paintings or sculpture and of genuine spiritual teachers in photographs or in-person can communicate our own basic goodness or organic innocence when we are in an open state. Something in us responds to a face that dances to the rhythm of creation, that exudes the peace of surrender. We are hard-wired for connection, which gets made through the face—for example, by babies. As we get older, layers of defense show up in a mask, as tenson in the face. We use our faces to create an identity. There's a lot of information in how we decorate the face to make it something it isn't. Are we aware when we are looking for recognition through our faces? Grief or shock or intense need can create cracks in the mask that let the light of reality in. When we start to let in and accept what we have previously denied, we may find that we do not know who we are anymore. It's not popular to look how we feel, to be honest about it. Breathing starts and finishes in the face, which is where we can start to connect to the body. We can learn to face the howling wind and the sun, which are both gifts. When our desires manifest, we can accept, and when they do not manifest, we can accept. Our face was not our face when we were born; it was the face of heredity. Our face can start to manifest the original terrain that exists before the mask. We are not the face, but something comes through the face. When the clouds part the sun is always there. What faces do we have to lose for our original face to appear? The experience of magic, mystery, and miracle, which can occur through surrender to the Carver's hand, only comes through losing face. Jocelyn is a spiritual student, artist, therapist, mother, gardener, and builder whose main interest in life is growth, development, evolution, observing in awe and participating in the cyclic nature of life.

All failure to live life richly and fully is based on the feeling that love is scarce. We may sense at times that love is the ground of all being. What if we lived on the basis of this truth? There is so much music and poetry that reflects on our inner longing. Those in attendance at the live talk were asked to write down sayings, mantras, or mahavakyas (short sentences of wisdom teachings) that came to mind. They were then asked what they thought would happen if they realized the truth of what they had written. “What if?” can be a “pea under the mattress” that can orient us in our spiritual lives. Great statements are often the result of practice and not something we just hear and fully understand. We can practice with sayings such as “Love your neighbor as yourself” and allow them to be absorbed into our skin. It can be a source of discouragement to take on unrealistic expectations. We can be inspired by great beings, but to take the way their lives showed up and try to translate them into our own can be less worthwhile than lowering our expectations and approaching our lives honestly. What if the very state we are in is exactly where we need to be? Not expressing the “just this” of our current state could be detrimental to our spiritual life. The moment we recognize we've lost our attention, we wake up for a moment. What if, instead of digging many shallow channels of practice, we dig one deeply? We don't generally consider that everyone we meet is going to die. The tenderness of being opened by love can sensitize us to the suffering of others, to heartbreak that we do not want to stop. There are many ways we can keep ourselves attuned to the reality of love as the ground of all being and not scarce. Regina is the editor of Hohm Press, a workshop leader, retreat guide, and author of The Woman Awake, Igniting the Inner Life, Praying Dangerously, Only God, and other books.

We could say that all we know about ourselves cognitively are stories we tell ourselves. These are not necessarily obvious to us because they play so constantly. We respond to the universe through the stories that filter our experience. How do we work with this since we can't think ourselves out of this box? Transparency hints at a different way of relating to stories. Many stories we identify with are cultural views. Stories in and of themselves are not a problem; they are a feature of what it is to be human. It's when we hold onto stories that they capture our energy and attention so we don't come back to the present and to the next event gifted to us by the universe. Transparency involves listening, seeing, generosity of spirit to others and ourselves, without reactivity to a story. This is not trivial work and a tool we have is self-observation, which is an energetic and not an analytical act. One feature of mature practice is relaxation of the tense form of attention we compulsively hold. This can allow for humor and for different kinds of spaces or chambers to be created. Belief is an emotional relationship with a lie. When a story turns into a belief, we can't put it down. Resistance manifests differently in the three centers that are discussed in the Gurdjieff work. It is a rich vein to mine to reclaim energy of attention we've invested in story. Conscious suffering is the willingness to be present with resistance. Practice can be seen as an offering rather than as a story with an agenda to wake up. Creativity is an end in itself, the universe doing what it most wants to do. When not bound by our stories, we can accept the universe's invitations to engage in higher work. Rob and Stuart run Tayu Meditation Center and founded Many Rivers Books and Tea in Sebastopol, CA. They invite spiritual teachers, practitioners, and authors to articulate their stories on The Mystical Positivist podcast.

We are always already living in groundlessness. This can be scary since we tend to approach life in a fear-based way, but we can be groundless and focused on our delight. Groundlessness is not linear; it has no direction as we are always moving and changing. Children trust that their needs will be met until we give them a different message. We get into the habit of identifying, and holding onto any identity keeps us stuck. A distinction can be made between figuring ourselves out, which involves digging into the past to understand and fix ourselves, and knowing ourselves, which only takes place in the present. We can't know ourselves if we are tense. We can get to know ourselves when we sit with and accept parts of us that are out of integrity, which allows something to shift. Being grounded takes place in a different place than groundlessness. All of our reactions come from fear of losing something. Every time we make an assumption or comparison, hold a grudge, identify with feelings, try to prove or control something, we “hit the ground.” It's easy to forget that life is magical because we keep hitting the ground. If we get to the point of knowing we have nothing to lose, we can stay in groundlessness. When we rest in the moment, then things show up that we could never imagine. What is life but an unending stream of surprises? Everything changes, which can be good news if we stop grasping. It's common sense to have a plan. We can experiment in life, take a step forward and see if we should take another step or change direction. To be awake is to live in groundlessness. Trusting ourselves is pivotal because without this it's difficult to trust life. It's up to each of us to come to our own conclusions, to come to the truth for ourselves. Juanita is an artist and writer/producer of interactive mystery entertainment who has been a student of the spiritual path for over 35 years.

In the Yoga tradition, Shiva represents unitary consciousness and Shakti represents the many forms that God takes in the world. One such form is pleasure. Kamala is a goddess and manifestation of Shakti, whose power is known as Shri, the fullness of pleasure. The word pleasure is boxed in by meanings we've given it in English, but Shri is a Sanskrit word for something deeper, a primordial vibration that gives rise to the creation of the world and is always present. We're always tuned in to some frequency, which is a matter of habit and where our attention goes. There are loud radio stations that we tend to tune into, such as the news, and that we call reality. We can learn to choose other frequencies and inevitably can be brought to see God in all things. A practice of consistently tuning in to Shri involves undoing attachment to some strong frequencies. There is a core belief of lack in the U.S.—that we are not enough and there is not enough—that keeps us from Shri. Serving the frequency of Shri can be a life purpose or a golden path as it is called in Chinese medicine. Tuning in to Shri will be expressed in a multitude of ways in the world. Desire for pleasure can lead us to frequencies that feed on us. Nothing is opposed to spiritual freedom; everything is a portal or a trap. We can become more skillful at tuning in to the frequency of a desire rather than being fixated on the object of desire so that we want more and more of it. We miss Shri by not savoring experience or by thinking it's wrong to have pleasure. There is discussion of the way women have learned not to fully allow pleasure. Shri is present in heartbreak and sorrow. We can work hard in the flow of Shri. The most repressed emotion is joy. Karen is a teacher of all aspects of Yoga—the physical and philosophical, the scientific and the mystical. She is a long-time student of Lee Lozowick.

The plot of the movie “Women Talking,” which was nominated for Best Picture in 2023 and won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, is summarized and its relevance considered in our world and on the path. In the movie, after women begin to speak about their experience with abuse in an isolated religious colony, others tell their own stories at meetings that are scribed by a male who is trusted in the community. Part of spiritual work today involves relating with issues of power and dominance—even when there is an intention to serve a higher purpose. There is discussion of many facets of gender dynamics, rooted in the ways we are raised and socialized that have influenced our view of ourselves and our behaviors. These include the way boys and girls are taught to deal with feelings, the need to bring wounded parts of ourselves to light without shame, the tendency to give over our power to an authority, the importance of thinking for ourselves, male aggression, complicity in unhealthy relationships, the untalked about subject of women abusing men, etc. Women talking to women and men talking to men who are open to doing this can provide support for work with such issues. We may not understand each other, but we can learn to listen with an open heart. The value for women of taking a stand for being treated with respect is noted. Gender equity and reconciliation work is considered. The principle of opening to the feminine is an essential aspect of the spiritual path. If men do not do this, they are cut off from part of themselves. The topic of gender change and young people is discussed. We can't make global changes, but we can change the way we relate with those of a different gender. Elise Erro (e.e.) has been committed to a life of engaging spiritual principles and service through theater, support for the dying, and bringing enjoyment to others as a chocolatier.

What is our heart's desire and what are we willing to pay for it? What coin do we have available as payment? Is our heart's desire our top priority? We can identify our worldly heart's desire, but we can go deeper into what is possible for us. Obstacles have a lot to do with identity. Are we willing to have our identities shaken up? It can be scary to give ourselves to our heart's desire since it will change us. We are not comfortable with the unknown. It is possible to re-language our heart's desire as longing for that which we do not yet know. If we are OK with the unknown, we will be changed forever. There are many words used to point to the longing of the heart. The currency of the heart is adoration. We spend our currency with distraction. A distracted lifestyle is not compatible with the heart's desire. We can intuit and pay for our heart's desire with our greed, lust, anger, etc. We can hide behind a spiritual identity. Everything should be examined if we are serious about removing obstacles. We cannot pay with the will of ordinary mind, which is different than the will of the heart, when it comes to the heart's desire. To produce the heart's desire, paradox is one of our biggest friends. We can't let things fall away if we're repackaging as fast as we can with buffers that we use to hold identity together. A spiritual school can give us tools to create the stamina needed when things fall away. The trick is to keep going, to take another step on the path. Fearlessness, which is to be awestruck, fuels adoration. We don't want our last breath to be, “I wonder if it's time to think about my heart's desire.” Lalitha is a spiritual teacher residing in British Columbia, Canada, who has been a disciple in the Western Baul tradition since 1982. Her teaching style is rooted in the activities and responsibilities of ordinary life. Her books include Waking to Ordinary Life and Cultivating Spiritual Maturity.