Metaphysical Mayhem: The 4 Kinds of Dualism
In spiritual circles, it is common to use the words “dualist” and “non-dual.” Often the actual meaning implied is quite vague because these terms have multiple reference points. Unfortunately, under the popularity of extreme relativism, when someone says you are being a “dualist” it is often an indication of nothing more than perhaps having suggested that some things/beliefs/experiences are better or worse than others, which they clearly... Read More
Devil In The Details: 3 Keys To Thinking More Clearly About Spirituality
I confess, I can’t help it. The central questions of human existence fascinate me. They have led me down the roads of yoga, meditation, literature, poetry, psychology, philosophy and science. One of the key areas of focus for me is how to reconcile the meaningful experiences of spirituality with a worldview informed by science and psychology. More often than not what we think of as “spiritual” includes claims and beliefs that directly contradict or dismiss scientific... Read More
Creating The Culture We Crave
Last night was a bittersweet evening for us liberal-minded Californians. While I was exuberant in helping to keep Barack Obama in office, I was saddened to learn my fellow citizens would rather not know if genetically modified foods are being stocked in our food aisles, and that it’s still OK to kill people. There were plenty of progressive victories around America—namely, Elizabeth Warren and Tammy Baldwin, as well as marijuana legalization for personal use in Colorado and... Read More
What I Hate About Zen
Over the course of my life, since my introduction to Zen Buddhism in 1974, I’ve read many books about the various traditions of Buddhism and about Zen in particular. While that statement may open me to criticism from the anti-intellectuals (and they are rampant) amongst the Zen acolytes, I hasten to add that I’ve never fallen into the trap of thinking that reading about Zen is what Zen is about. Reading has always been secondary to my practice. Yet, over the years, there... Read More
Rise & Shine: Where Reality Meets the Dream
When the producers of the Rise & Shine Gathering—the same crew behind the exceptional Lightning in a Bottle—announced that they were canceling this year’s inaugural yoga and music festival due to low ticket sales, a number of questions ran through my mind. The first: Why didn’t this work? Scheduled for Oct 19-21 at the Hummingbird Ranch outside of Los Angeles, it featured an incredible line-up: Bonobo and Karsh Kale headlining along with the expected luminaries... Read More
The Inadequacy of Faith: Real World Politics and Transcendental Philosophy
This article is in response to the recent criticisms of yoga and activism organization Off the Mat, Into the World for its attempts at a non-partisan political campaign embodied by YogaVotes, an offshoot aimed at getting more yogis registered to vote—but especially by the members’ presence offering yoga and massage at both the RNC and DNC last month. Full disclosure: I am friends and colleagues with most of the major players and have no bone to pick. But I do think... Read More
Infinite Revisions and the Pursuit of a Life More Ordinary
Two months after my father died of an aortic dissection, my guru asked me to write a book about death and dying. I soon compiled hundreds of pages of notes—Moleskins filled with my bulky childlike scribble, hard drives crammed with 17th century Bengali verbiage, underlined passages cluttering my desk (from Kubler-Ross to Tibetan death meditations). I spent hours sitting at the feet of my guru going over my copious compilation of neti-neti infused deconstructionism, syncretist... Read More
Who Are We Teaching For Again?
Faster than a Radiohead show sells out—faster than Osiris devours his Tiki Cat—the humblebrag has infected my Facebook and Twitter feeds. Oh, you know the humblebrag. It’s a two-part statement that attempts to express humility while really kicking into swagger mode. For example: I can’t believe how much attention I get from the police when driving in my new Beamer. Broken down: I can’t believe how much attention I get (humble) from the police when driving in my new Beamer... Read More
Contemplating the Value of Yoga
While there remains a large majority of people who practice yoga, in part, to ‘get away from all that stuff,’ the idea that politics has a place in yoga (or vice-versa) is slowly gaining traction as we approach the 2012 elections. What is often not realized is that modern yoga has politics to thank in the first place. Sarala Debi Ghosal, niece of famed philosopher and poet Rabindranath Tagore, was instrumental in bringing yoga to Indian consciousness at the turn of the twentieth... Read More
Reality, Trauma & Grounded Spirituality
INSTINCTIVE ALCHEMY We are sophisticated animals. Our nervous systems have evolved in response to a brutal world, one in which we fought one another for dominance, hunted and killed prey and fled from predators who wanted to eat our flesh. Today, in the presence of stressful enough stimuli, we all react from these instincts. Adrenalin and cortisol stream through our veins, heart rate accelerates, blood rushes form the core of the body to the muscles that will enable fight or flight,... Read More
