The opposite of trying to control the world is praying for it. When we try to manage the world and other people so that none of our sore spots are triggered we create suffering. Most of us have proved this to ourselves over decades of trying. The opposite of controlling is not doing nothing, however, […]
I am a “spiritual” teacher and I have a secret…. I don’t like spirituality. And I don’t think I’m alone. I have lost count of the number of times I have been part of a retreat or workshop or class or spiritual gathering filled with apparently earnest and bustling devotees and I look around and […]
Where does violence come from? Violence is what happens when we take life too seriously; when we allow the external circumstances to determine how we feel about ourselves. Who would drop bombs or hurtful comments if they did not feel threatened and diminished by something out there? Who would expend the energy to be violent […]
What if real spiritual growth is organic? What if it is not in a hurry but has its own seasonal rhythm? What if it is less like Tony Robbins and more like a tomato plant? So much of what we call “spirituality” is actually about trying to get you somewhere you’re not. It’s what I […]
“You want the truth? You can’t handle the truth!” Memorable lines from Jack Nicholson…and I think about them often. Can I handle the truth? What if the truth makes our lives far less important than we think? Not that we are unimportant but that what we think is important isn’t really. Can we handle that? […]
Gambling with Truth Sometimes we believe the lie that if we only were enlightened then we would always know what to do next. That is not true. Ask the most enlightened person you know. Often the [...]
A Tear On My Cheek Do you have a memory that you turn over and over and over in your mind wondering what might have happened if you could go back and do it differently? Do you ponder what might [...]
Here’s a question: What if the way to have great sex and the way to have a good life followed the same principle? While I am no Tantric Sex guru I have read and studied and trained enough to know [...]
One dervish to another, What was your vision of God’s presence? I haven’t seen anything, but for the sake of conversation, I will tell you a story. The presence is there in front of [...]
Spiritual Practice I have spent years of my life and many thousands of dollars on retreats and workshops in the hopes of finding the rare and elusive key to well-being. I didn’t find it [...]
Sometimes life seems impossibly tender. It seems easy to forget how vulnerable I am and then suddenly there it is. A flood of sadness or fear or shame and, for a moment I forget if I know how to [...]
I am Donald Trump. As a self-identified “progressive” and “conscious” human being I fervently imagine and proclaim my desire for the economy and political system to become more enlightened. My [...]
I am convinced that at the level of essence we are all lovable and worthy. Absolutely. 100%. We do not need to earn anything from Life. We are loved whether we figure it out or not. But you know [...]
When did we stop dancing? If I could myself and others just one instruction for living ourselves awake it would be this: breathe and move. It all comes back to these two simple sacraments. The [...]
What is forgiveness? For me, the really powerful truth of forgiveness is that it is a *different way of seeing* which holds the tension between our essence and our ego. We are so conditioned to [...]