It is often said in the Vedas that the world is an illusion. This does not mean the world is not real; it means that the world is not what it appears to be. When we understand this, we can stop grasping at the world and find the perfection in the now.

In between thoughts, emotions, sensations, perceptions there is a space. It's not actually something that appears in the moments between; it is ever-present. This is what we are. The implications for this understanding are immense.

Psychedelics help to break down the brain's habitual patterns and it's desire to validate its preexisting models of the world. This also helps to reorient how we think about ourselves and what the nature of reality is.

We fear irreversibility more than anything else, and death is the ultimate irreversible experience if we orient as a body-mind. Religion promises salvation from this through faith in God; philosophy promises the same through wisdom/knowledge and rational thinking. 

To be human is to suffer, but to be awareness is to be happy, free, whole and complete. How can we "live in the and" of these two seemingly conflicting views? 

"What you are looking for is what is looking" is one of my favorite quotes. In today's episode, I talk about how the mind is constantly chattering at me to do more, be more, get more, etc. When we re-orient as awareness, we see the mind as an object and we are no longer slave to it. 

In this episode, I talk about integrating the beliefs that we are: 1) happy, free, whole and complete, and 2) everyone and everything is connected; I also talk about how stoicism and Vedanta are similar in how they suggest living virtuously and being dispassionate about results; I then talk about the human fear of irreversibility and how it drives our behaviors.

When a loved one dies, and someone says "I'm glad they are at peace now", what does that mean? If we are awareness, it is inherently peaceful. No matter what is happening with the mind and the body, we are always at peace.

If everyone and everything is connected, but the system is set up for us to see ourselves as separate, how do we approach saving money versus giving it away? I recently had a stark realization of the gap between my beliefs and my actions on this front.

The mind is constantly 1) measuring, 2) describing, 3) comparing. The misconception is that meditation/reflection is about stopping the mind. My belief is that we cannot stop the mind, nor should we take the time to try...instead, we become aware of the mind and inquire into that which is aware of it.