Tweet I write much about the challenges of spiritual work, the skills that facilitate our awakening, and the great reality of enlightenment. Today I want to write about the simple day-to-day outcome, the normal-life benefits of the transformation we are creating inside us and how it changes our world. This morning I got an email […]
Tweet The ego has two very positive aspects, the Ego of Aspiration and the Ego of the Sage. They must be used to overcome the third, the Ego of Suffering. The root cause of the ego of suffering is fundamental ignorance. It is the delusion that, “I am this body, this mortal personality. Happiness comes […]
Tweet I’m in the prime spot for Flamenco here in Miami, in a restaurant on Calle Ocho (that’s ‘8th Street’ for you gringos), right in the heart of Little Havana. The place is bubbling with excitement. Tonight there is a performance by Miami’s First Lady of Flamenco Clarita Filgueiras, and Natalia Merino, a famous dancer […]
Tweet For Jane it’s her weight. George thinks he is not a good enough provider for his family. Since the kids teased her in school, Carol believes she is not pretty. This is how we carry our hidden pain with us like a snail carries its house. And every so often we withdraw right into […]
Tweet There are countless levels of consciousness. No one lives on one level permanently, it shifts and moves, but more or less we have most of our experiences on a stage of awareness to which we are most habituated. Within this stage we strive to be happy and to avoid suffering. And we also strive […]
Tweet From a Buddhist perspective, busying ourselves with worldly activities is a form of laziness, because we’re lax in self-cultivation. Our lives are so busy in modern society: Our appointment books are completely full and we’re always running here and there. We often complain there isn’t enough time for the Dharma. However, whenever we have […]
Tweet You would never do this to yourself consciously. You, like everyone else, do not like to suffer. And yet, you, like everybody else, are sometimes subjected to the hidden force of self-sabotage. Committing yourself to a practice to awaken to your higher potential and to end the pain in your life is a sure […]
Tweet We were going to examine the thought “Something terrible is going to happen.” And please let me make clear that this is for those who want to find the truth. It’s certainly not for everyone. Most people want to believe what they believe, even though it causes them pain. So if you want to […]
Tweet It’s coming around again, this Saturday. Already many people are feeling it – a certain discomfort, anger, perhaps helplessness. And definitely fear. Since 9/11 the thought “Something terrible is going to happen” has become the inaudible but deafening mantra in the collective mind. How is it going to change? How are we/you going to […]
Tweet We think of it as inevitable, but that is not true. Suffering arises in the unquestioned mind and spreads from there. It is an ingrained habit, no more. And we can change habits. Our thoughts run into the past and the future, imagining what was and could go wrong. Observe it. These regrets and […]
Tweet We don’t want to suffer. So what do we need to do when it comes, small or big? Grin and bear it? Hope for a better world after we die? All that has been tried. I prefer to end suffering. Many voices that will tell you it’s impossible, that suffering is part of life. […]
Tweet “Suffering is voluntary and unnecessary. It is created by the mind” In days of old these insights would have been regarded as a secret teaching, accessible only to a select few. To even approach this knowledge you would first have to go through much training and many tests, and only if you were found […]
Tweet Everyone is our teacher, everyone is part of God, the only question is: are we listening? Of course at times I am far too busy with my self-importance to listen to anyone. The chatter of my thoughts is more ‘interesting’ then paying attention to God. (Oh, when am I going to be sufficiently tired […]
