What is consciousness, our inner experience of private awareness? Can consciousness be explained by only physical activities of the physical world? Because if not, if there is anything else required to explain consciousness in addition to the physical brain, then consciousness would defeat a materialistic or physicalistic worldview.
Read MoreThe Order has been formed to find ways to put into words a practical and universally effective how-to guide for deeper conscious awareness and experiences. Something so universal, and so plainly laid out, that anyone could read it, comprehend it and do it. Something more scalable and readily repeatable than our current methodologies.
Read MoreWhen it comes to life itself, it’s clear we’ve disconnected or jumped out the wiring. If humans were buildings, they wouldn’t be allowed to be occupied.
Read MoreThe intangible has, I discovered — as have many before me — a way of distilling how the mind thinks. It forces us to consider that things which seem absolute and certain are often relative and varied. If forces us to confront uncertainty, and to try to find stability in an utterly relativistic universe. Where anything can shape-shift, at any time.
Read MoreThe way Castaneda wrote was immediate and compelling, beautifully crisp and concise, yet sometimes also astonishingly poetic and resonant (we owe to him exquisite phrases like ‘unbending intent’, ‘controlled folly’, ‘dark sea of awareness’ and ‘active side of infinity’). And his mysticism was actual, not theoretical. It involved realising unimaginable possibilities, marshalling extraordinary discipline and finding considerable courage. Above all, it communicated a sense of adventure.
Read MoreIt lies beyond a veil, but the veil can be penetrated. The veil does not require perfection to pass. At least, not in the way we typically define perfection.
It requires an open mind and an open heart, a tender heart, the place within our heart that still knows and believes in and acknowledges our own innocence.
It is a perfection that puts a greater value on our beauty and our innocence than on our mistakes and sins. It is a perfection that puts a greater value on the wonder, and the increasing wonder, of the journey — versus stopping along the way and putting value on the drama.
Because anytime that we stop and look, or stop and soak, or reflect and ooze within the experience, our journey stops. At that spot. Or immediately goes back through the veil.
Read MoreEverything we’ve created exists because of our minds.
As we study Jiu Jitsu, we begin to realize that the fight or encounter is often won or lost depending on the state of our intention. The focus of our mind, combined with our ability to be supple and relaxed, is what determines the outcomes.
Read MoreWhat in the world, exactly, does it mean to have a body? Seems an odd question doesn’t it — because the answer seems obvious, inescapable even. I mean, my body is right here, right? Yours is right there.
Read More“While the discoveries of modern physics, the most successful of our physical sciences, may be described using complex geometries and mathematics, the source of many important and fundamental theories in physics is mysticism.”
Read MoreWe are living in an atmosphere of climate-denial, of divisiveness and hate. Working men and women are subjected to an unrelenting pressure — to produce more for less. In such an environment, how is it realistic to consider that we have a chance to robustly improve consciousness?
Read MoreWhat if, in the pursuit of science and in the pursuit of unraveling the nature of the universe — including matter — quantum physics begins to realize the connectivity of everything? And begins to observe unseen forces that inexplicably transcend time and distance? Because this is what is occurring right now.
Read MoreWith consciousness we can envision a place of neutral buoyancy between that which can be seen and that which is unseen. Position ourselves just a bit too far on this side and we only experience is the visible. Descend a bit too far in the other direction and all that can be seen is the unseen, that which can be experienced but not necessarily described.
Read MoreMy own work here seems foolish. I have no idea whether anyone reads it or not. I’m rarely contacted. When I die, my website subscription will expire with me. That's partly because no one seems interested enough to carry it on, and partly because I haven't written any books to leave behind, books that may themselves never be discovered much less actually read.
I think part of the reason for this is that I don’t sell t-shirts, coffee mugs and clever stickers. Or maybe I am talking over people’s heads, or I’m seen as just talking out my ass on topics that are perceived as irrelevant. And there’s also the scratchy issue of not being rich or famous, not being an influencer. Actually, I’ve probably lost work/business since I decided years ago not to hide the monastery behind my personal anonymity. I don’t wave flags about it, but it’s not all that hard to search out. Anyway, however you cut it, a life’s work will disappear without notice.
Read MoreSilicon Valley finds itself in the crosshairs of consciousness. Mostly because they are hacking their way ‘inward’ through apps, mind hacks, biofeedback, micro-dosing LSD and yes, massive corporations hiding their ulterior motives.
Silicon Valley’s “We can solve anything” mindset champions the notion that we can find ways to hack the soul, using high tech to bring about technologically-induced soulful bliss. According to Mikey Siegel, it is essentially an overturning of the so-called guru model, including the one-teaching-works-for-many approach.
Read MoreIs consciousness in our head? Does it permeate our bodies? Does it possibly permeate everything? What comes first — the brain or thought?
Such questions have rocked the minds of philosophers and scientists for centuries. While mystics through the ages have reported highly consistent findings within deeper states of awareness, it’s only recently that physicists have started tackling the question of what it actually is.
Read MoreHow did the ancient sages sage? What had they gone through to get there? What were they observing centuries ago that quantum physicists are relatively recently starting to explore as well?
The traditional methods of deepening our awareness and connectivity involve years of training, study and practices. Years that easily turn into decades. My own training took many years, and it continues. In my case, a repeatable methodology was used. I know it was repeatable because it was both repeatedly used on me, and repeated on others. Successfully.
Read MoreIn the book The Ending of Time: Where Philosophy and Physics Meet, we meet two esteemed seekers. One is a giant figure from the world of quantum physics and the other a deeply respected philosopher who emerged from the world of Indian mysticism. By the time they met in Ojai, California, both men were already seasoned travelers in their respective fields.
There is a great deal of information available on the lives and work of David Bohm and Jiddhu Krishnamurti. I’ll simply provide the briefest of summaries here. One of the things that is interesting is that they both got off to rocky starts, with controversy plaguing them through much of their lives. We’ll start with Krishnamurti, because at first glance his background seems to be a universe away from attracting someone like a David Bohm, one of the 20th century’s most esteemed quantum physicists. <MORE>
Read MoreWhere is consciousness?
As early as the 1980s, the ability of consciousness to affect matter was being discovered and revealed. At the same time, the old, well established paradigm that the mind was restricted to the brain was beginning to be demolished. Consciousness was not only being viewed as residing throughout the entire body, it was being viewed as extending beyond the body. These were highly disruptive propositions.
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