Background: Notes on an event in a 50+ year attempt to learn and benefit from spiritual practices…. For some years now, I have been trying various meditation techniques from many world traditions, particularly techniques which meditation teacher Shinzen Young has modified in various ways to make more sense to and be more doable by modern [...]
Continue reading about Experiences of Peace – or Was It Resting in the Nature of Mind?
Dr. Charles Tart Mindfulness Dr. Charles T. Tart, Mindfulness, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Lecture 5, Part 8 of 18 parts. To start class from beginning, click here. CTT: And that’s the problem with concentrative meditation. With concentrative meditation, some people can develop an enormous amount of concentration power, and they can get rid of pain [...]
Once in a while I stop to think about what my spiritual practices are and where they might be going. Not that my conceptions about it are anything final, but just as a guideline to myself, at the moment, and possibly of use to others. So on the Rigpa Fellowship retreat last week, I was [...]
At my San Diego Rigpa Fellowship retreat last week, lama Sogyal Rinpoche, in teaching about the nature of the unenlightened, ordinary mind (sem in Tibetan), mentioned how perception can be distorted, especially by strong emotions like anger. Naturally if you can’t perceive the world accurately, you’re going to do things that will have unintended and [...]
Listening to some Buddhist teachings for dealing with emotions last night, and to fellow students’ understandings these teachings, I put together a number of things that struck me is saying something about levels of dealing with emotions. The first level, what we might call the level of not particularly dealing with an emotion, is the [...]
Continue reading about Dealing With Emotions: Levels of Practice in Buddhism and Gurdjieff Work
A colleague of mine was inspired hearing about the Brian Green show (Nova: The Fabric of the Cosmos) this week on the universe, especially the parts about “dark matter” and “dark energy.” He tended to see it as validating religion. I’m all for validating or reinforcing the best aspects of religion and spirituality – after [...]
Continue reading about Do Mysteries in Science Point Us to God?
Dr. Charles Tart Mindfulness Dr. Charles T. Tart, Mindfulness, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Lecture 5, Part 4 of 18 parts. To start class from beginning, click here. CTT: Now one of the reasons that I’m reviewing this, is that it takes us to the fourth diagram in the lower right-hand corner of the handout, and [...]
Continue reading about Consciousness Dynamics, Going On to Higher Centers
Dr. Charles Tart Mindfulness Dr. Charles T. Tart, Mindfulness, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Lecture 5, Part 2 of 18 parts. To start class from beginning, click here. CTT: The processing and abstraction and elaboration in the box right below that [see previous blog entry] is very much affected by your needs – your hopes, your [...]
Continue reading about Consciousness dynamics, Our Story Goes Round and Round
Dr. Charles Tart Mindfulness Dr. Charles T. Tart, Mindfulness, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Lecture 5, Part 1 of 18 parts. To start class from beginning, click here. CTT: Any kind of habit you can set up at the early learning stages of becoming more mindful is a good habit. Do watch for the point where [...]
Continue reading about Consciousness Dynamics, Living in Illusion
There is a beautiful film in the works, scheduled to come out next February, about activities centered around Esalen Institute for building bridges between science and spirituality. I just got the info on it this morning from the producer, and it’s reproduced below. Feel free to pass it on. I found watching this trailer very [...]