Into the Mystery

Spiritual maturity means possessing the ability to discern between what is Real, and what is a fantasy of our own minds that we’ve projected onto “reality.” Sometimes the ego, unable to acknowledge its own unwanted traits or darkness, will project them onto other people as a means of dealing with them ... a potent recipe for suffering. In this episode we explore various forms of projection and some ways to encounter them honestly in the course of our spiritual work.

The instinct toward power reflects an important aspect of our Divine True Nature ... but what we commonly consider to be “power” is all too often a distorted imitation of the real thing. In this episode we explore the differences between the false power often sought by the ego and Real power — and what it means to stand in the power that is inherent to your very Being.

Why is there suffering? Why would a benevolent deity permit such a thing? In this episode we explore the root causes of suffering (hint: it might be our old friend the ego again), why so much of our suffering is self-inflicted, and how we can actually use suffering to, paradoxically, end it. When Rumi said, “The cure for the pain is in the pain,” he was alluding to tapas, the Yogic practice of “sitting the fire” of our discomfort in order to alchemize and liberate ourselves from suffering. Join us for this “fiery” conversation!

If Heaven is, in fact, a dimension of experience that we can access here on Earth, what does that mean? Much depends upon our speech, actions, and habits of perception. Rather than waiting endlessly to “arrive” at Heaven or expect it to be “delivered” to us, we must each, as individuals, participate in its creation. We start by establishing an awareness of Heaven within ourselves, at the Heart, where the material and the spiritual intersect.

What is “Heaven”? Is it a place? Another dimension? The reward for a lifelong avoidance of sin? Or rather, is it a state of Presence that we can embody and enjoy right here in physical reality? In this episode, we contemplate the experience of Heaven, as well as the barriers seekers face to being Heaven’s embodiment. “Finding” Heaven is both simpler, and trickier, than you might imagine.

The Bible opens with, “In the beginning was the Word.” The Word, the Logos, the Tao ... all are terms that describe the natural order of Reality, a vibrational pattern that underlies and informs the world we perceive and the way we experience ourselves in it. All Truth, beauty and even perfection can be found in its proper expression. In this episode we explore the nature of the Word, and our choice either to harmonize with it as the flow of pure Being, or to oppose it by operating from the ego.

The ego avoids the experience of emptiness, preferring instead to cling to its attachments, narratives and sense of forward momentum in time. But emptiness, or what the Buddha called sunyata, is the primordial condition that is required for anything to exist at all. By fearlessly embracing our essence as emptiness, we discover not oblivion, but infinite creativity and freedom.

We can betray the true Self in many ways, both consciously and unconsciously. As the spiritual Awakening process unfolds, we will be called upon to identify and heal parts of ourselves that we have abandoned in our quest for love, safety, and belonging in the physical world. Doing so is not for the faint of heart, for it requires deep inner work and a fearless ability to shine light into our own darkness. But once that darkness is illuminated, what we may discover instead is an absolutely unshakable Truth.

There is a longing that lives in every human heart, a gravitational pull toward something mysterious that feels just out of reach. Many of us embark on the spiritual path after finding that all of our worldly pursuits and accomplishments fail to satisfy it. In this episode we ask: What do we really long for? Why is our longing so relentless? To what does it point and how should we follow?

Sooner or later on the spiritual path, we must encounter the inevitability of death. In this episode, we look at some of the ways fear and denial of death can keep us from truly living; how death appears from the standpoint of nonduality; and how we may encounter life more fully with death by our side, as an ally.