Awakening Inner Knowing

Welcome! In this section, you’ll find blog posts related to Inner Knowing and finding your Inner Teacher. Topics include learning how to pay attention in order to make perception shifts to become more awake, deepening our spirituality and connection to nature, as well as developing a strong connection and conversation with our Inner Teacher or Inner Knowing. These terms may be used interchangeably.

Use the right sidebar Articles Menu to find full-length articles and transcribed excerpts from Karen’s classes.

What is the Best Way to Live with Uncertainty

Q: How do we make ourselves better able to embrace change and uncertainty? You have a major opportunity right now. This national uncertainty we’re facing will continue intensely for quite a while before it levels out. Knowing that this is not going to go away quickly will prevent you from rushing back to the status quo. Most of this has to do with varying levels of acceptance: acceptance of certain emotional states, external world conditions, and so on. Once we…

Burps and Farts

Understanding Energetic Shifts to Achieve Mental Clarity and Emotional Release We live in a time marked by significant change, and many of us are feeling the weight of this transition. This energetic shift is reshaping our lives and values in profound ways. This is not a fleeting sensation or a reaction to a singular event; rather, it is a deep and lasting transformation affecting us on multiple levels.  It can often feel like free-fall, where the world around us shifts…

Beyond Attachments: Navigating Spiritual Growth in a Material World

Q: I’m reading the Krishnamurti book, and I had an understanding when they said to let go of all attachments. At first, I felt exhilarated. And then I went to, it’s not available to me. Why did you go there? What was the thought on that? Q: Because there are many significant things about myself I’ve tried to let go of for decades and haven’t. But what was the understanding that you had, that brief moment of understanding that you…

Enlightenment Seems Unattainable. Should the Goal Be Simply to Live a Good Life?

Q: Can we talk about the path to enlightenment? How does one get on that, and stay in it, and get to enlightenment? First, you must learn about and understand what enlightenment is. This information has been shared in depth for thousands of years,  and still, few people are able to do it. It cannot be accomplished by intellectual pursuit, but that is often the doorway that is easiest to enter through. In some ways, the task is impossible, as…

Spiritual Seekers, External Teachers and GIMMES

Q: Sometimes we search for so long we reach a point where we don’t even know what it was we were searching. But there is this longing that remains. What now? 

What’s needed is a moment of recognition. Something clicks that makes us feel alive and excited. That’s one of the things that happen when we find an external teacher. We have that sensation of hope that here’s somebody who could take me further down the path. You may not

Releasing the Day’s Energy

Q: It seems that around the age of 4 and 5, children experience many more powerful emotions. This can make getting kids to bed even more difficult. Around that age, so many kids seem to save all their talking for bedtime. At that age, they’re processing many emotions of change, loss, learning independence, learning acceptance and how to fit in. Some are in an environment for the first time where they are seeking approval from someone other than their parents….

Reality of Other Realms

Q: Why do people of various spiritual schools of thought describe different realms in which they travel? Why aren’t they all going to the same place? I’m thinking of the differences between Theosophists, Spiritualists, Shamans, Sorcerers, and so on. All of those worlds various people describe exist for those people. Many dimensional states exist in which one can travel and experience a spiritual reality. Just as there are many countries to which you could travel to in your world and…

If You Are Serious About Spirituality, Is It Necessary to Become a Vegetarian?

Q: Should serious spiritual seekers limit themselves to a vegetarian diet? It seems to me that if killing is wrong, then killing animals is wrong, too. If you’ve been contemplating spiritual matters long enough, this question inevitably comes up. There are a few different ways to look at it. Your view could be said to align with the ethical values of nonviolence and prevention of cruelty. Certainly, many spiritual people strive to live by those values. Q: But is choosing…

Navigating Life’s Maze: A Spiritual Journey to Inner Stillness

Q: Life today can often seem so overwhelming. Is there a way to look at our lives that will have it all make more sense? It can help to think of life as a kind of maze. It has a beginning and lots of twists and turns, and even though we all try to see around corners to find shortcuts, the maze will still do what it will with us, until eventually we find the way out. That’s why, in…

Non-Attachment and Flow

Q: What is this idea of non-attachment? Is it about not caring about anything? That doesn’t seem right. This makes it problematic for a lot of people to figure out why they get out of bed in the morning. Can you explain further how you reach that point of being able to just walk away and not care?  First, let’s consider attachment. There’s a belief that what you have belongs to you and a tendency to think it cannot be…

What Are the Spiritual Stages?

Q: What does it truly mean to live a spiritual life? When someone first asks for a spiritual life, they are not aware, truly, of what they are asking for. They have read. They have heard. They have decided. But they do not know. And they cannot know at the beginning. Because if they did know at the beginning, without the proper preparation, it would only scare them. That’s because they aren’t ready for what they need to do. For…

The Meaning of Life

Q: What is the meaning of life? On what level would you like the answer? On an individual level, there are infinite answers because for every life form, each experiences a different meaning. Q: Is it natural for people to want there to be meaning? Or is that something that religion has given us a need for? Religion isn’t the entire culprit. When someone starts to wonder how to make their way in the world, or what they could do…

Why Has It Become So Difficult for People to Get Along?

Q: Why has it become so difficult for people in this country to get along? The primary reason for this difficulty lies in a fundamental misunderstanding about human nature. There’s a widespread misconception that all humans are essentially the same and should, therefore, naturally get along. However, this is far from the truth.Human beings are incredibly diverse, not just in appearance but in their core attributes. For example, some individuals possess extraordinary willpower, while others have very little. This isn’t…

Does the Path of Awakening Require Us to Become Silent?

Q: I was reading today that one of the stages along the way to awakening is becoming silent. As someone who has a pretty powerful need to share what I’m thinking, am I in particular need of working on becoming a quieter person, listening more, and keeping to myself? It’s true that once a regular sustained practice of meditation is established, silence is a natural outgrowth. That’s because once we are able to quiet our minds, the constant chatter and…

Unhooking the Hurt: How to Release Painful Emotional Hooks

Q: Certain subjects, words, and criticisms have the power to shake us to our core. What’s going on here? Let’s talk about the power that words have over us. They sometimes carry heavy emotional and psychological weight. They can lift us up. They can also crush us. For the most part, we have a basic understanding of how and when this happens. And when it’s happening in the moment. But what many people don’t realize is that whenever there is…

How and When We Lost Our Telepathic Abilities

Q: Can you explain what influence language has on our perceptions?

When we are born, we’re born with full awareness. We’re still connected to the All–That–Is.  Looking into a newborn’s eyes, you can see the ancientness of their souls. You can see the wisdom of the ages looking back at you. Because this newborn is still fully connected, this is their experience.

But before long, to make us more suitable to living within the families and cultures into which we’re…

The Cultural Tractor Beam

Q: You often talk about how we are brainwashed by culture. Why is that a bad thing? What can we do to prevent this?

Cultural brainwashing teaches us not to question and not to think or act for ourselves. There are many ways to prevent this and still live a so-called normal life. It’s not realistic to set impossible expectations. Most of us will feel we can’t fully disengage from culture. But we can become more aware of how language…

Why Eastern Spirituality is Often a Struggle for Westerners

Q: In reading Master of Self-Realization by Shri Sadguru Siddharameshwar Maharaj, I find that his answer to everything is that we are experiencing an illusion. We need to let go and just stop caring about whatever it is. That’s all there is to it. But for me, it’s not helpful to be told to just let go. What am I missing?

This is one of the reasons why Eastern spirituality can be tricky for Westerners. The Advaita Vedanta teachings do…

How to Develop Intuition

Q: Does everyone have an intuitive ability? Yes. Everyone is born with an active intuitive awareness, otherwise known as the instinct for survival. Because this is essentially an unused sense, which is typically not valued or is feared, most parents teach it out of their children at a very early age. Q: Are you saying that intuition is nothing more than a glorified survival instinct? Intuition is a refined version, yes. Before the modern age when humans were on an…

Emptiness

The human mind equates emptiness with negative things—lack of meaning, hunger, deprivation—rather than what it truly is—freedom from pain, the beginning of a healing process, cleanliness, a space opened to be full of creativity or love or other positive experiences and emotions. Because people are so afraid of emptiness, even when they release a negative emotion, once they feel the emptiness, the tendency is to fill it right back up with another negative emotion. I feel empty therefore I feel…

Reframing What the Teenage Rebellion Period Is About From a Spiritual Perspective

In the beginning, starting around middle school and often continuing through our early twenties, a mysterious sadness begins rising in our consciousness, usually arriving in tandem with a low-level anxiety. Until we figure out the cause, we do our best to live with this feeling of, “Oh no, I’m getting pulled under.”

Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be anyone to help us identify what this melancholy feeling is really about. Even at this early age, life can start to feel…

Why Are People So Attracted to the Harry Potter Story?

Q: Is the Harry Potter story popular because people are interested in the good and evil story? No. People are interested in the magical world and supernatural powers. Children like to fantasize about being powerful and having magical, wishful thinking become reality, as Harry does. The resonance is not to good and evil, but to the magicalness of life that people wish was there and sense somehow could be, should be there, but don’t know how to experience it on…

What Is an Old Soul?

Q: What is an “old soul,” and is there even such a thing? It depends on how someone uses the term. The most common use is more of a poetical reference to another person who appears to possess wisdom, maturity, understanding, and insight beyond their years. It’s an acknowledgment of an individual’s unique, mature qualities, attitudes, and behaviors typically associated with someone much older. Some additional common characteristics attributed to an old soul are a natural curiosity about the world and…

Suicide-From a Nondual Perspective

Q: Please share your views on suicide. First, my answer will be speaking largely from a nondual perspective. Second, let’s get it out on the table that suicide is a highly charged topic that people have very strong emotions around. It’s an action that’s been condemned and there is a major effort to govern by fear of punishment, even eternal punishment, in the effort to prevent it. And yet, even these guardrails are not wholly effective. So many judgments are…

Growing Up in the Digital Age: How Cell Phones Influence Mental Health and Trust

Q: There’s been so much in the news about anxiety and depression among the young. Some studies say there’s a direct correlation with cell phone use. Other studies say not so much. What are your thoughts? The anxiety and depression of youth, and of the population in general, have a direct correlation to cell phone use and to game playing use. But the factor that is not being connected, one that’s almost equally as important, is that young people today…

Awareness Tune Up Challenge: How Many Faces Can You Find?

When we’re working with sharpening our senses, part of the skill development is to play with how things appear. Challenging Our Assumptions By actively engaging with how things appear, we begin to challenge our default assumptions about the world. We start to recognize that our initial perceptions might not always mesh with reality. This playful approach to sensory exploration encourages us to question what we see, hear, feel, taste, and smell, rather than accepting our first impressions as absolute truth….

The Solar Eclipse’s Effect & Spiritual Wagon Trains

Q: What impact did the solar eclipse have on us all? Think of it as a reset button. It certainly was a moment of pause that caused all who saw it to remember the wonder of the universe. But it could also be thought of as an opportunity to reset the way we are operating in the world. A chance to come to terms with the dreams that cannot become reality. And the beginning of accepting what can become reality….

Should I Choose the Path of Intuition or the Path of Spirituality?

Q: If someone came to you and asked which path they should follow, the path of intuition or the path of spirituality, what would you tell them? Well, it’s a “depends” answer. There’s no one-size-fits-all. It’s really looking at who that person is, what they need, and what’s going to take them the furthest to get them the closest to where they want to go. It’s easy to dismiss intuition as a path that gets you lost and takes you…

The Power of Quiet: Finding Peace in a Noisy World

Before the hustle and bustle of the Industrial Revolution, the sounds of nature, the ringing of church bells to mark the hours, the everyday noises of town life, horse hooves on cobblestone streets, marketplace haggling, that’s what we knew. And even these sounds, while sometimes loud, were intermittent and confined to particular places. Back then, experiencing quiet moments was more common, with noise levels similar to what you might find in today’s quiet library or peaceful countryside, at around 40-60…

The Purpose of Suffering and the Secret to Meditating

Q: I was reading something by Ouspensky, in which he was remembering Gurdjieff and how Gurdjieff spoke of us living in something of a sleep state. There was this quote: “One thing and one thing only is therefore necessary. It is necessary for individual men and women to awaken, to remember who they are, and then to become who they really are, to live it in the service of truth. Without this awakening and this remembering, nothing else can help…

Is It Good or Bad to Fall Asleep While Meditating?

Is it Okay to Fall Asleep During Meditation? Recently, I had a friend who is new to meditation express her frustration at continually falling asleep whenever she tries to meditate. Then she proceeded to share with me some of the torturous ways she’s tried to keep herself awake. I felt sorry for her tired body… She wasn’t asking for my thoughts, so I didn’t offer any. But you, dear reader, are about to get an earful. Whether you’ve just started…

From Anger to Awareness: A Path to Healing America’s Cultural Divide

Q: It appears that many people today just want to blow up the system to see what happens next. I hear and read that young white males especially feel that they have no status, no standing, or hope of any standing. This has pushed them to the point of despair. There’s no purpose for them. And nothing has been set up to help them. So, they think, let’s just torch it all and start over. Can’t get any worse for…

The True Purpose of and Strategies for Meditation

To reach enlightenment, only two skills are required: No thought. No time. First, let’s tackle no thought. To accomplish this, meditation must be regularly practiced. It’s fine for beginning meditators to have thoughts, but they must practice not being attached to those thoughts. They need to learn to watch the river of thoughts flow without judgment and without adding more thoughts. That’s the beginning of acquiring a peaceful mind, a non-reactive mind. Over time, the raging river slows until it…

How to Find Your Life’s Through-Line

Q: I was listening to a podcast about a Navy SEAL who’s become a motivational speaker. He was saying that for people like him who find that life is just plain hard, you have to always go at it really hard to get anywhere that you really want to do. You have to always be pushing. In his experience, those who are not willing to put in the time, to do some suffering, are not going to reach their goals….

Why Do So Few People Reach Enlightenment?
Part 2

[If you haven’t already read Part 1, I recommend that you start there. This is a continuation of that conversation.] Q: You’ve outlined that to achieve permanent enlightenment requires a pretty extreme commitment. Realistically, how many people can just be focused on enlightenment?  That’s why I don’t usually focus on enlightenment in my teaching. I focus on how to live the best spiritual life you can. I don’t judge those who “want to get spiritually high.” At least that’s a…

Why Do So Few People Reach Enlightenment?
Part 1

Q: I was wondering why so few people reach enlightenment. It seems that most people who have individual enlightenment moments can’t hold onto them. They can’t make them a regular part of their lives. It’s like they get a high, they come back down, then they want to get high again. But they just can’t make it a lasting experience. Why is this? Because the necessary preliminary groundwork hasn’t been laid. Someone like that might be top-heavy spiritually, but they…

What Purpose Does Complaining Serve?

Q: What purpose does complaining serve? Is it ever useful or helpful? For some people, it can be a form of attention-seeking. Of desiring empathy or understanding from others, “See how hard I have it? See all that I’m trying to do? See how much others aren’t doing?” For others, it can be a form of boundary-setting. “Don’t ask me to do one more thing because look at all I’m already doing.” In your life, it’s the release of pent-up…

Out-of-Body Experiences, Intuition, and the All-That-Is

Q: I was reading a book about Out-of-Body (OOB) experiences. It took the author years of effort to become accomplished at taking these journeys. I’ve been interested in learning how to do this, but I haven’t been consistent. Part of the reason why is that I’m not sure that I care quite enough to do it. I also think there’s a little bit of fear of what might happen. So much of why the whole subject of intuition scares a…

What Are the Secrets to Getting to a Place of Stillness and Peace?

Q: In addition to meditation, what are the other secrets to getting to a place of stillness and peace? It is all the same. The process toward that end is all the same. It is learning how to stop time. When one can stop time, this is the meaning of being in the Now. It is not a matter of saying OK, now I am in this moment of Now. That is not the Now. The Now is a timeless place…

What Happens When You Sustain a Spiritual Practice for a Long Time?

Q: What happens when you sustain a spiritual practice for a long time? When you’ve sustained a spiritual practice for a long time, you begin experiencing this bedrock place of peace that you live from. Life events ebb and flow. And they can be scary and fun or easy or hard in all the ways that we define joy and suffering. But the bedrock doesn’t go away no matter what the experience is. The joy can be intensified by the…

Why, When I’ve Had Enlightenment Experiences, Do They Always Start With a Rush of Great Velocity?

Q: Why, when I’ve had enlightenment experiences, do they always start with a rush of great velocity, throwing me out into the universe? Before there’s a breakthrough to the All-That-Is, in order to go beyond the mind to the All-That-Is, you must go beyond all that the mind knows.   The mind experiences the universe as the edge of all that can be known. So we must go past the edge of the universe to experience the All-That-Is. Once that…

The Future Takes Care of Itself

Q: I find myself obsessed with thinking about the future. Getting lost in dreams and trying to plan for any eventuality. How can I free myself from that?

Let’s use the example that off in the distance, you see a bright light which is quickly covered by darkness, much to your disappointment.

You have two options. You can choose to be disappointed that the light you were shown became covered, or you can be happy that you saw it and…

What is Today’s Spiritual Searcher Looking For?

Q: People have been on spiritual quests from the beginning of recorded history and likely before that. But what is it today that describes what people are looking for when it comes to spirituality?

While there are many in pursuit of the enlightenment experience, it seems that more are looking for something on a smaller scale, something that feels more controllable and doable. So the goal becomes how to help them to achieve concrete results. To help them learn to…

Then I’ll Be Happy

Many of us fall into the trap of believing happiness lies somewhere off in the future… When I get that promotion. When I find my true love.

We live in a culture that promotes this mindset, and it’s deeply ingrained in many of us. It’s part of the mistaken belief that gets promoted about how happiness lies in external achievements – wealth, relationships, fame, and recognition. It’s a belief that makes us think that changing our external circumstances will bring …

Spiritual Guides vs Spiritual Scouts

As spiritual seekers, most of us feel that we can benefit from finding a good teacher. I’d agree. But which type of teacher is best for you? Do you look for a spiritual guide or a spiritual scout? Because they’re not the same.

Spiritual scouts don’t make good guides because they don’t really want to be with people. They don’t want to be held back by slow people and they’re not interested in staying with the group. They want to …

Time Smells Different

Could you tell the time if you had no watch or cell phone?

Most of us would think, well sure, I could roughly guestimate the time from where the sun is in the sky.

But what about when it’s a cloudy day?

Our ancestors had the ability to take that one step further, not only by observing the sun’s path but also by using their sense of smell.

Yes, their sense of smell. And so can you with a little …

The Journey Beyond Ego: A Path to Authentic Being

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet.”

Let me answer Mr. Shakespeare: “Quite a lot, actually.”

I remember back in college, this philosophy professor who could never get my name right. Drove me nuts. No matter how many times I corrected him, he continued to call me by this other name. Which, by the way, was a name I would never have wanted. I didn’t think it fit me …

Signs, Signals, Omens: Interpreting the Language of the Universe

Signs, signals, and omens are the universe’s way of communicating with us. By paying attention and interpreting these messages, we can navigate life with greater awareness and insight. Whether it’s through a personal sign, a general trend, or a spiritual encounter with nature, these experiences remind us that we are not separate from the universe but a part of its intricate web.

Each carries its own weight and message, often guiding us through the unseen energy fields that connect all…

How to Change From the Inside Out, Rather than the Outside In

Q: Why is it that we’ve advanced so far in scientific and technological knowledge and not so much in personal relationships and communities?

How far science has advanced is a subject for another day. As far as knowing ourselves goes, we’re trying to use knowledge to change our behavior from the outside in: use this app to track how many steps you take, use that app to meditate for five minutes, use another app to measure heart rate and breathing…

Steps to Finding Your Inner Knowing

Q: What are the main points that need to be made in finding your inner knowing?

  1. Being connected to the source is a birthright that has been taken from us by cultural conditioning.
  2. Remembering is easy. Decide to remember.
  3. Pay attention as though your life depends on it. By paying attention, you will begin noticing much more and you will remember, “Oh, this is this connection. I feel as though I am communicating with what I am paying attention to. There is a flow back and forth of beingness between what I am paying attention to…

Gumballs and Other Energies

The current energy around the world can be likened to a gumball machine where all the gumballs are falling out of it. Hitting one after the other. They are not big enough to do great destruction, but they are sizable enough to hurt. Think of them as just pellets hitting the top of the head one after the other. And there seems to be an unlimited supply for the near future.

So, of course, the action is to move away from…

Inner Knowing is the Bridge

The primary doorway to the spiritual life for most people comes through the heart. “I know, but I don’t know why I know. I love because I don’t know what else to do. I want, I desire, I need.” The seeking begins, and it’s from the heart.

Being aware of this, all religions, from the beginning of time, have been structured to appeal to the heart. Because it’s within the heart that inner knowing and intuition live.

But religion, in

You Don’t Need Any Special Abilities

You don’t need any special abilities or magical skills to connect with your Inner Knowing. It’s a birthright.

And it doesn’t matter what gets you to the spiritual door—loneliness, hardship, feeling disconnected, wanting to know your purpose, or wishing to plug into a greater consciousness, a deeper awareness.

What matters is that once you are pushed through the door, the door disappears behind you and there is no way back.

And there …

How to Handle Silence

Q: At this stage of my spiritual practice, one of the things that I’d like to figure out is how to handle lulls of silence in conversation. I was with somebody recently and there were moments of silence while we were together that I felt the need to fill. I couldn’t figure out whether that was my need or whether I was being kind because that would be the other person’s need. I would like to have a better understanding.

The urge to fill conversational silence is culturally trained. People associate silence with…

What Would Be a Good Comprehensive Spiritual Practice?

Q: Can you provide a description of what a good, maybe comprehensive spiritual practice is? What is spiritual practice?

There are many actions one can take in the name of a spiritual practice. You’re familiar with many of them. And pursuing any one of them will help you to feel that you are “doing” a spiritual practice in your “effort” to become more spiritual. But there comes a time in your development when you’ll realize they are all nothing more…

What Does the Instinct for Survival Have To Do With the Inner Teacher?

Having established that we once had this knowing and intuition that was tied to the source, so what? Even if ancient peoples used to have it, is it really possible that we still retain this same ability? Is it possible that we can reclaim it again as a natural state?

Yes, absolutely. Everyone is born with an active intuitive awareness. This is really nothing more than a refined survival instinct which I will outline in detail later. But before I…

Meditation vs. Mindfulness: What’s the Difference—An Introduction

Who isn’t struggling to keep up with the demands of daily life? With all the busyness, it can be difficult to focus on the present moment and to find inner peace. That’s where meditation and mindfulness come in. While these terms are often used interchangeably, they are not exactly the same thing. While both practices involve quieting the mind and focusing on the present, they differ in their approaches. Meditation is a more structured practice that involves focusing on a…

How Can You Have Confidence in Knowing That What You’re Getting is From the Inner Knowing?

Q: For someone to be able to make use of Inner Knowing do they have to have a certain degree of confidence in knowing that what they’re getting is from the Inner Knowing?

Practice is what helps build that confidence and provides validation over time. So it’s duration plus positive experience.

In the beginning, working with the Inner Knowing is like building a muscle. But this is a very different kind of muscle because it’s invisible and the results are,…

Reading Spiritual Books is Not the Spiritual Practice

Q: There are countless numbers of people who will agree with the basic spiritual ideas you talk about. They’ve read hundreds of books, they share those values, but they’ve never been able to make the changes required to really have their lives transformed. And you’re suggesting that part of what is happening in reading those books can actually be demotivating because they find it soothing and that helps them momentarily feel better, so the pressure to change is actually reduced. …

Mountain Dwellers vs Plains Dwellers

Where Do You Dwell?

I remember one chilly evening spent on a mountain top in India with a 119-year-old master. We’d become very fond of each other over our many visits. This particular night, we were gazing out from the top of Mt Abu looking over the vast plains of Rajasthan below and I was lamenting that he had it easier on his mountaintop. He only had one job as a guru and that was to live a spiritual life…

I Keep Falling Asleep When I Meditate. Is That Bad?

Q: Every time I try to meditate, I wind up falling asleep. Should I be trying to do something to force myself to stay awake?

Meditation is a practice that can involve both relaxation and focused attention. It’s not uncommon to feel drowsy or even fall asleep during the relaxation phase of meditation, especially if you’re tired and/or haven’t been sleeping well. In fact, some meditation techniques, such as Yoga Nidra and Guided Imagery, are specifically designed to promote relaxation…

Do You Need a Spiritual Teacher to Reach Enlightenment?

Q: There is an ongoing debate as to whether spiritual seekers need teachers to reach enlightenment, or whether they can find the way on their own. What do you think?

I’ll give the short answer first and then go into a more full explanation. The answer is no, you can’t reach enlightenment without a teacher. Absolutely all people who have reached full permanent enlightenment had a teacher of some kind. Whether that teacher was a stranger they met on the…

How We Lost Our Natural Connection to Intuition

From the Hands of Many to the Hands of a Few  At the beginning of human existence, back when we were on a level playing field with all other animals, our instinct for survival was extremely heightened and developed. This instinct was as necessary as any other sense. And because it was employed on a nearly constant basis, it was a dependably reliable means of acquiring information. The survival instinct was used in much the same way any pack or…

The Influence of Language

Q: Can you explain the influence language has on our perception of reality as spiritual beings?  When we’re born it’s with total awareness. The full connection to the All–That-Is is still intact. When you look into a newborn’s eyes, you can see the ancientness of the soul. Because that infant is still completely connected. Then, in order for us to live within the families and cultures into which we’re born, we need a unifying, shared reality. A new program gets…

Is There Progress in Karma?

Most people think of karma as a spiritual principle of cause and effect/punishment and reward. This view holds that the sum of a person’s previous and current actions determines their fate in the future. For example, if someone committed bad deeds in a previous life, they would be punished for those past misdeeds in this life. If you are a good person in this life, you would be rewarded in your next life. From a non-punitive view, karma is what…

How to Practice Walking with Awareness in Nature to Heighten Senses

Walking with Awareness in Nature vs a Walking Meditation There are several types of walking meditations and all of them offer valuable benefits. The more common ones instruct you to focus on the breath, and/or repeat a mantra and/or be aware of each step as you pick up your foot and put it down, or to pay attention to the present moment, etc. What they all share is some kind of focused attention to help you practice staying fully present…

What’s One Change I Can Make Right Now that Will Change My Life the Fastest?

Q: If somebody asked you, what’s one change I can make right now that will change my life the fastest, what can I do? What would you say?

At the top of the list of changes that can impact your life immediately is to have no contact with media of any kind. Outside of work, use no technology. That means no TV. No Internet. No computers, tablets, or cell phones. No emails. No texts. Put a stop to all of….

Why is There Suffering?

Q: Why is there suffering? And why do nondualists say it’s all in our heads?

Let’s consider the second part of your question first. Putting it as simply as I can, the nondualist perspective is that what we call reality is nothing more than a reflection. No different than the watching of a film. You can watch the film on the screen, and get so absorbed, that you’ll have emotional and physiological responses, but the movie isn’t real. So, therefore, …

Confusing Magical Thinking with Spiritual Practice

Q: When I was in the dentist chair, to get away from the discomfort, I tried to put myself up to the ceiling and detach. I imagined myself looking down at my body so I would feel less distressed. This didn’t work all that well.

Had you practiced and been successful at doing that before?

Q: No, not really.

If you’ve never left your body before, it’s not likely you would be able to leave your body in a moment…

Everything is Not Suffering

Q: In my reading lately, it seems that most Eastern philosophies and religions keep pushing the point that everything is suffering. Do you agree?

I need to get you guys to start reading other books besides Buddhism, and Hinduism! Trying to translate the Eastern nondual view for the Western mind creates so many challenges, including the need for an entirely different vocabulary, and framework for seeing the world.

Even though I’m going to be accused of speaking out of both …

Why Didn’t You Tell Me?

Q: Why didn’t you tell me up front that this spiritual path is hard? 

Would it have changed your mind?

Q:  No. 

True. So, why waste energy when your mind was already made up?

Q:  I would have known more about what to expect—I would have been better prepared. 

Life and actions prepare—not anticipation, worry, or fear. Life is both easy and hard no matter what path…

A World Full of Tree People

“When you go out into the woods, and you look at trees, you see all these different trees. And some of them are bent, and some of them are straight, and some of them are evergreens, and some of them are whatever. And you look at the tree and you allow it. You see why it is the way it is. You sort of understand that it didn’t get enough light, and so it turned that way. And you don’t…

Spiritual Unified Theory of Everything 

Q: Is there a spiritual unified theory of everything?

The challenge with the question you are trying to resolve is that there is no language to adequately explain this. There is no representation that can work because all representations are bounded. You are looking for a theory of everything that explains your enlightenment experience in a way that lines it up with your waking experience.

You wish to understand what weaves it all together. “What allows it all to exist…

What Are Key Elements of a Spiritual Practice?

Q: What are the key elements of a spiritual practice?

This is a very large subject, but as meditation is often pointed out as a key element of any spiritual practice, let’s start there. Various meditations are used for various practices and outcomes. And, there can be levels to these meditations. But, as with all spiritual practices that move us toward oneness/awareness, the truth is that any meditation practiced diligently can get the job done.

But even within some spiritual…

I’m Worth Millions but Compared to My Friends I Feel Like a Loser. What Should I Do?

Q: I sold my company five years ago and have built a net worth of ~$10 million, but compared to my friends I feel like a loser and still keep trying hard at startups that stress me out and make me miserable. What should I do?

The monetary number is not the issue–10 million, 10 billion. That’s just a way of counting coups. It’s how you’re comparing yourself to your peers in a way that makes you feel lacking and/or …

Thinking in Words vs Images

Q: Do most people think in words rather than in images?

True. Most people are trained to have nonstop thoughts, which are words strung together. The beginning of releasing thoughts is to begin to start learning to see in images.

Images don’t trigger thoughts in the same way. This may seem counterintuitive because images are more likely to create and evoke emotions. A picture is worth 1000 words.

In fact, the longer you work to see in images rather than…

What are the Most Beneficial Things to do with Our Time?

Q: In addition to meditation and spending time in nature, what are the most beneficial things to do with our time?

Take care of what is around you. Mend what needs mending. Tend what needs tending. Love what needs loving. Appreciate and enjoy your talents. Express your creativity. Be gentle and take comfort from simple living.

There is nothing mysterious about any of this. It is all very straightforward. When you meditate and spend time in nature, it quickly becomes

Trying to Measure Spiritual Progress

The mistake that people make with all spiritual practices is they walk into this room full of tools, and all these tools can help you to break through the illusion of duality, into that spiritual awareness connection, into the All-That-Is.

But what most people do is they try a tool for a brief period. They don’t get the quick results they’re looking for. They drop the tool. They go back and pick up another tool. “Let me try this one…

How is Recent Solar Activity Affecting Us?

The energy released by this explosion could be equivalent to millions of 100-megaton hydrogen bombs exploding at the same time. (Photo: Nasa)

Q: How is, or is recent sunspot and solar flare activity affecting humans?

Recent solar activity (the earth is experiencing an intense solar storm this week) has been blasting the atmosphere with ionized particles. The equivalent of throwing pebbles into the pond causing concentric waves to radiate out. And because so many pebbles are thrown in at once, the concentric circles cause interference with each other, resulting in disruptive patterns. The point is, it’s hard now for us to hold thoughts. Or to…

Should We Try to Resolve Thoughts in Meditation?

A few thousand years ago, back when the Buddha was alive—that was a very different world. There weren’t the distractions that there are today. Living back in that time, you were already much closer to being able to be in the now, because there was very little to distract from the now.  There are different challenges now. The principles are what they are, and they still work. But the effort that’s required now is much greater. So it requires a…

Reality is a Point of View

The current world energy could be summed up as a “Do Not Enter” sign with its red outer circle and horizontal bar. But if you look with a shifted perspective, you can also see that the bar can also be viewed as a handle that can be used to push the door open.

Presently, many people are experiencing a kind of holding, where they don’t know how to proceed or believe they cannot proceed because they take at face value …

Can Positive Thoughts Overcome Negative Thoughts?

Can it work that there are certain numbers of people in a community or around the world, who if they think good thoughts, they can overcome the destructive thoughts?  On one plane, yes. But on the physical plane, destructive energy is a very dense energy that overtakes most things in its path.  An angry person has a much greater chance of making other people around them angry than a happy person has of making people around them happy. Negative energy…

Setting Triggers vs Setting Conditions for Awakening

In pursuing a spiritual path, what do I need to do to have an awakening experience? I tried going to church but didn’t have the experience I was hoping for. The way many people go about “pursuing” an awakening experience can actually backfire because they set up the experience as a goal. “My goal is to have an awakening experience.” It becomes the craving for the sensation, rather than understanding what an awakening experience is.  That’s the difference between setting…

What Are the Main Points To Finding Your Inner Teacher?

What are the main points that need to be made in finding your inner teacher?  Being connected to the source is a birthright that has been taken from us by cultural conditioning.  Remembering is easy. Decide to remember.   Pay attention as though your life depends on it. By paying attention, you will begin noticing much more and you will remember, “Oh, this is this connection. I feel as though I am communicating with what I am paying attention to.” There is a flow back and forth of beingness…

The “Getting Ready to Get Ready” Stage

I keep having this feeling that I’m ready to make a big change. But at the same time feeling that I’m not really ready. That’s the “Getting ready to get ready” stage. Yeah, and what’s that about? Because everybody is going to want to know how do I get ready as quickly as possible? It’s a pacing step that’s necessary because when you have those kinds of massive jumps that are life-changing (I call them jumps to hyperspace), you can’t…

What Role Do Dreams Play?

Q: What role do dreams play in our lives? They act as a safety valve for the subconscious. They help release pent-up emotions, memories, hurts, and worries. Additionally, dreams can provide creative solutions and reveal multiple dimensions of our experiences. Primarily, they serve as a way for the body to decompress from the day’s activities, offering a chance for healing and acting as a kind of reset. Dreams do not erase our experiences; rather, they help us organize them, much…

Is Confidence Needed to Connect with the Inner Teacher?

For someone to be able to make use of the inner teacher, do they have to have a certain degree of confidence in knowing that what they’re getting is from the inner teacher? What builds that confidence is validation over time—it requires duration plus positive experience with the inner teacher. It’s like anything else, you’re building a muscle. But this is a very different kind of muscle because it’s invisible and the results are, to a degree, intangible. It’s not like lifting weights where…

There is no better time, there is no better place. There is only here and now–so get hopping.

Q: So, you’re saying to stop trying to game the system. Play it straight up. Here and now. That will make for a pretty big change after a lifetime of trying to see up ahead, around corners. And where has that gotten you? Q: That’s what fear and worry do though. When you feel that you have to watch out for everyone else and yourself–that’s a lot of responsibility. That’s a lot of moving parts. That’s a lot of things that…

Do We Have Free Will?

Do we, as humans, have free will?  As humans, no.  Then why is it that we feel like we need to make decisions?  Because humans are the smallest part of consciousness. The unmanifest creates the human, which becomes the manifest. Once it has been manifested, the journey has been set for the duration.  Did the universe create everything at once?  No, the unmanifest created the universe. In the creation of the universe, everything was set for the duration.  You are putting the starting point later. When something is manifest, the starting point is over and the duration…

Remembering What We Have Forgotten

Do all people have the experience of trying to remember the connection of awareness that they’ve forgotten something, but they don’t remember what it is they’ve forgotten? All people on a spiritual path do. The way they experience it is as a kind of deep-set loneliness that can live well below consciousness. Somebody may not be thinking every day, “Gosh, I’m so lonely” but there’s a feeling of being disconnected from everything that’s common to a lot of people.  So…


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