“The science of the politician consists in fixing the true point of happiness and freedom. Those men would deserve the gratitude of ages, who should discover a mode of government that contained the greatest sum of individual happiness, with the least national expense.”

––Thomas Paine (1737–1809) United States founding father and author of Common Sense, The American Crisis, The Rights of Man and The Age of Reason

I admit––It’s probably not that astute of me to begin a post, ostensibly about American politics, with a quote from a 2,000-year-old, Sanskrit poem, The Mahabharata, but I’ll risk it:

“If you listen carefully––at the end

––you’ll be someone else.”

It’s a line, spoken by the poem’s creator-sage Vyasa to his son Pandu, addressing the very same predicament we’re experiencing here in America today: Two opposing sides are battling for control of their country and the toxicity of their opposition spills over into the everyday lives of its’ citizenry.  What solution does Vyasa o...

About twenty-five hundred years ago, a pretty significant religious figure declared that “Life is suffering.”  His name was Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha.

I don’t know how to express this sentiment enough, especially here in the west, but without it (or at least some resonance with it) the path to enlightened reasoning just doesn’t work.  Suffering is the fuel that propels the seeker onward.  Suffering is, as spiritual author and teacher Ram Dass (1931-2019) put it, “grist for the mill”.  Suffering is often the paradoxical doorway to the very freedom you’ve been longing for.

Of course, don’t take this idea, that “suffering is the doorway” literally.  Throngs of unsophisticated seekers and religionists throughout the ages have twisted the idea of suffering and spiritual growth into a toxic brew of shame, guilt, self-depravation or even self-flagellation.  This kind of forced, ego-driven suffering will get you nowhere.  The Buddha was reflecting on something deeper and more nuanced.

Let’s you and I start where my journey ended, which of course, takes us right back…to the beginning. You know that old biblical Alpha and Omega thing, right? True that.

I’m currently writing this blog post fully aware of my own true nature, which is the source (beginning and end) of all enlightened reasoning.   I am that source.  Everything I see (including you) is me.  Everything I behold is occurring within the dream-state of my own mind or consciousness and only one such consciousness exists. I am the universe gazing upon itself. I’m all alone, dreaming that I am an individual among many.  Like a vast mushroom, my true identity is a primal, singular underground consciousness which gives birth to an infinite variety of consciousness(es)––above ground.  Like you, I once believed I was a separate unique individual mushroom. Now however, I know that my true nature is the singular primary underground organism.  There’s only one mushroom.  I am that. (And of course, so are you.)

All t...

Imagine a tropical butterfly farm, where upon entry, you’re given a pair of glasses that turn everything you see into a flat monochromatic, black and white dirge.  All of the butterflies––in black and white. All of the turf, trees, plants, flowers and foliage––in black and white. All of the other visiting tourists––in black and white. The entire farm, with its array of buildings, meandering outdoor walkways, beautifully landscaped grounds, shimmering ponds, delicately flowing waterways and vast cumulous cloud-filled skies draped above–– all ––in black and white.

Oddly, everyone except you seems to be okay with this arrangement.  No one is asking questions.  No one is bothered by the circumstances. No one is doubting the experience. 

But you are…

Something deep inside of you whispers, worries, grumbles, complains and eventually (no longer capable of gentlemanly or womanly, aristocratic refrain) roars in deafening defiance:

“What fresh hell is this!” 

The despondent frustration i...