Western Baul Podcast Series

The Power of Identification (Red Hawk)

Identification is the great law that governs all human life. We are enslaved and quickly swept away by it as it captures and consumes our attention, which is what we are in essence. Yet, we are blind to it and believe we are free. All human problems are caused by identification. Imagination and identification are identical twins that work together. We are powerless to hold attention for long before being captured by imagination. We are identified with the body and ego structure and by attachment to objects, people, ideas, belief systems. A root of identification is self-importance when we see ourselves as the center of the universe. Identification is fear, which blocks love. It has one aim only—the survival of the false self/ego structure. One of the primary tools of identification is judgment, which can become a reminding factor. The mark of a person who is willing to work is self-honesty. Freedom is freedom from identification. There is only ever one problem: an unwillingness to confront the need to cease all identification. We can loosen the hold of identification with the practice of presence by self-observation and self-remembering. The body is an objective feedback mechanism to help orient the attention in the present. If we’re not conscious of the body, we’re not conscious. Conscience can be seen as the Will of God, or Love. In saying and doing things that violate conscience, we suffer remorse and our hearts can change. Beauty is everywhere but we don’t see it due to fear or identification. We can come to be grateful to those who offend us. Intuition can be distinguished from imagination. Love is the standard by which we can compare and come to disbelieve reactions and feelings. Red Hawk is an acclaimed poet and the author of 13 books, including Self Observation, Self Remembering, The Way of the Wise Woman, Return to the Mother, and Book of Lamentations.

What the Heck Is a Guru? (Rick Lewis)

Rick Lewis talks about the mystery of the Guru through telling stories of his experience with his Guru, Lee Lozowick. He discusses circumstances that brought him to his first Guru, Bhagwan Rajneesh (Osho), to meet Lee after Osho’s death, and to search to escape from the anxiety of human separation through spiritual attainment. Altered states that feel incredibly profound can be used to maintain a separate sense of self, as if we are getting closer to enlightenment. Stories are told about how Lee fanned the flames of this spiritual pursuit, which began to unravel after Lee’s death. The inexplicable energetic field around a Guru, who functions outside the usual reference point of a separate individual, is considered. Relationship with a Guru is both unnerving and inviting given the uncanny awareness and connection a Guru has with the moving parts of reality. The content of one’s interactions become irrelevant when introduced to the ground of pure being through receptivity to a master. Rick remembers an experience of driving for hours in silence with Lee, with self-conscious feelings disappearing into the heart. He describes the Guru’s fierceness when asking a question he had previously asked, hoping for a different answer, without feeling any aggression. There is also the fallible human aspect of the Guru which adds to the confusion of the linear mind. To be a human being without putting on an act or mask is a natural thing. The Guru works with each person in a unique way and is completely available after death. If we have not had the experience of a Guru, all of us have the access point of feeling connected beyond our usual frame of reference with who the Guru actually is. Spiritual literature can be an access point. Rick Lewis is a national speaker and author of 7 Rules You Were Born to Break, The Perfection of Nothing, You Have the Right to Remain Silent, and other books.

Calling in Our Angels: Protectors, Friends, Guides and Midwives for Transitions Through Life and Death (Regina Sara Ryan)

It's interesting to consider that there are larger forces at play in creation than we know. Angels are part of the Abrahamic cultures (Moslem, Christian, Hebrew). There are similar entities—dakinis, demigods, spirits—in Buddhist, Hindu, and Native traditions. Einstein’s great question was, “Is this a friendly universe or not?” We can look at the qualities of angels in history, art, and theology and find them in living persons. Calling in our angels has many dimensions to it: a cosmic dimension of finding our rightful place in the universe and welcoming good company that provides help in our lives. Angels in religious traditions are not cute cupids but are often connected with the need to bring justice and peace to the earth. There are demon angels, but angels are most always connected with love. A scientific worldview has triumphed and we look to it to explain how things work. But we can shift the kaleidoscope a bit and see that the marvels of the cosmos are interpenetrated with divinity. If we believe the traditions, we are surrounded by forces set upon helping humanity, which is what angelic forces do. We can call upon these forces. Angel wings may represent an ability to move instantaneously when called upon. Angels are described as powerful, and they often appear as messengers. Praising God, which is what angels do, is a very high spiritual practice. Chanting God’s name is an energetic connection to a higher force. We are fascinated with science fiction in which other entities and dimensions exist. We can look at the night sky and open ourselves to the possibility of living in a divine universe. Who do we want to call upon to help us through transitions, including death? Regina Sara Ryan has just retired as the editor of Hohm Press and is a workshop leader, retreat guide, and author of The Woman Awake, Igniting the Inner Life, Praying Dangerously, Only God, and other books.

Gurdjieff's Aphorisms: Essence of a Teaching (Carl Grimsman)

The aphorisms of G. I. Gurdjieff are an accessible concentration of many of his ideas and basic teaching. Nine of the 38 aphorisms are considered in this presentation on the life of Gurdjieff, who appeared in Moscow in 1912 after a 20 year search for knowledge. His quest produced a system that became known as The Work. Gurdjieff used the tumult of life that presented itself to teach, including world wars. All outer work can be used for inner work. Some students who helped Gurdjieff establish, manifest, and disseminate his teaching are discussed: the Ouspenskys, de Hartmans, de Salzmanns, and Orage. Work ideas, music, and movements were engaged by those who had a need to go beyond the ordinary state of “man.” This required self-observation of the human machine with thinking, feeling and moving centers and intentional suffering, choosing how one wished to be, and trying with directed super-efforts. Gurdjieff established a center for his studies at the Prieure near Paris in the 1920s and the aphorisms were posted in the study hall there which included: “The worse the conditions of life, the more productive the work, always provided you remember the Work.” “Like what it does not like.” “Remember you have come here having already understood the necessity of struggling with yourself—only with yourself. Therefore thank everyone who gives you the opportunity.” There is discussion of Gurdjieff’s trips to America, his writing of Beelzebub’s Tales, and his student Louise March who established a center at a New York farm with children’s groups and where the Work has continued. Carl Grimsman was born into the Gurdjieff Work environment during the first years of the New York Foundation, attending the children’s group there and later working with Mrs. March at East Hill Farm. The first two books in his “The Soul’s Traverse” series are Sun Bridge and The Kindling.

An Ethical Will: What Values Can We Pass on to Future Generations? (Elise Erro/e.e.)

An ethical will is about what we wish to pass on to future generations. Native American tribes think seven generations ahead in terms of what to leave behind. An ethical will has been part of the Jewish tradition. Ethics is about acting according to conscience, while morality is more about following widely shared norms, sometimes unthinkingly. When we consider who our ancestors were, we learn about ourselves. How have things that happened in the past brought us to the spiritual work we’re doing now? Some of us on a spiritual path have been exposed to higher laws such as hospitality, good company, reciprocity, and invocation and have benefited from teachings passed down through traditions. Could we convey values we have learned in a way that benefits others and does not create a burden by saying what others who come after us should do? Maybe spiritual work, which arises out of the wellspring of a desire to self-realize, is inherent in life and does not need anything from us to express itself. But if we have benefited from it, do we feel a responsibility to pass it on? Most of the time what we want to leave behind is something to be remembered by. An ethical will is different; it is about passing on something bigger than ourselves. What is of ultimate value is beyond the personal. If we practice because we want to awaken individually, it will not yield much in a lifetime. Tribal people pass on values through story. Humor is often an aspect of expressing the sacredness of life so we don’t take ourselves so seriously. If we feel the urge to write, we could make an ethical testament of things we have learned from. We can live inside a question of what we might wish to pass on and how we could do that. Elise Erro (e.e.) has been committed to a life of engaging spiritual principles and service through theater, support for the dying, and bringing enjoyment to others as a chocolatier.

The Gospel of Thomas (David Herz)

The Gospel of Thomas was found in 1945 in a jar buried in the ground in a small Egyptian town, Nag Hammadi, in a region where monks had meditated in solitude. Its origin dates back to the first few centuries and possibly to the time of Christ. In the accepted Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Jesus is presented as an utterly unique being or as the only begotten son of God. Thomas means twin in Latin. One interpretation of the Gospel of Thomas is that we are identical twins of Jesus at a deep level, children of God as he is without knowing it. Some find it not to be a gnostic text since it affirms the basic reality and sanctity of incarnate life which gnostics consider illusory. There were different communities of Essenes, Sadducees, and Pharisees at the time that Jesus lived. Jesus transmitted a lot of his teaching of spiritual truth through parable. The Gospels were originally spoken in Aramaic and translated into Greek. The Nag Hammadi texts are written in Coptic, a language descended from ancient Egyptian. So, the Gospel of Thomas, which contains 114 logia or sayings attributed to Jesus, has undergone translation. Several of them are discussed. In the first, he states that whoever discovers the meaning of the sayings will not taste death. It is assumed that Jesus did not mean we are not going to leave the body—he meant something else. If Jesus had wanted to be clear and literal, he would not have spoken this way. The second logion says that those who seek should seek until they find and when they find they will be troubled and will reign over all. The Gospel of Thomas contains nondual teaching—the kingdom is within and without. We can reflect on the sayings, make them our own and open to their meaning. David Herz is a spiritual practitioner who lives in Paris where he has been a journalist, technical writer, communications officer, and an English instructor at universities.

Staying in Love (Vijaya Fedorschak)

Love is a stable state of being that can be seen as the culmination of the path. What is required of us for this state to come about? Love is about more than one relationship. We can consider love in coupled relationship, with others that we associate with, and in relationship to life. What is usually meant when we say we love someone is that we want to be loved by them. We can have expectations of a partner and others and become resentful if they do not meet our expectations. What do we really want? If we had it, would it be enough? Relative existence is fundamentally disappointing since everything ends. Would residing in a stable state of love be enough? We have to consider loving our enemies if we are to work toward the possibility of the path. Society does not teach us to love our enemies. We see situations in life as friendly or unfriendly, favorable or unfavorable, and look for favorable situations all the time. We can consider the enemy to be anyone with whom we have a relationship of unlove and everything that represents the unfriendly side of existence. The traditions assert that there is something in us that has to change. We can intend to “Love our enemies” and do a turn-around when we are in a state of unlove toward others or when the unfavorable side of life presents itself. This is different than denying or suppressing our feelings. We can practice with this in small ways. Great masters have said that the Divine has us pass through painful ordeals to awaken us to the ultimate reality. We can have compassion for ourselves, not demand more of ourselves than is presently possible, and also work with such teachings and dare to remember the aim of staying in love. This talk is based on the teachings of the French master Arnaud Desjardins. VJ Fedorschak is the organizer of the Western Baul Podcast Series and author of The Shadow on the Path and Father and Son.

Threshold: Spirituality and Ecology, Here at the Changing of the Guard (Mary Angelon Young)

We are living in wild times, in a shifting world in which we don’t know what’s going to happen. How can we find and live with reality in a world that is so predominantly unreal? Our karmas have to ripen all the way for us to become more fluid, open up, and let go. An essential tenet of tantra is non-rejection, taking whatever is arising as our path. Pratyahara, a teaching in the Yoga Sutras, is about freeing ourselves from identifications and attachments, including spiritual ones. The path is a living stream that keeps giving us new challenges. All spiritual practice leads us to an in-between liminal state where we have to respond to what is present now and not what was in the past. We’re also in-between duality and nonduality, with awareness in both. The doorway to the Divine is the Feminine, a quality of being that is present in everyone regardless of gender. The Feminine has an instinctual trust of the life process, which includes death. The deeper we go on the path the more our hearts are broken and the more we recognize our love for everything, for the world. We can bear witness to what is unfolding in our lives and the world. If we are “in the world but not of the world,” we can step back to have a greater view of what is happening without getting caught up in it. When we’re clear, that is a moment to reaffirm our intention to the universe. In order for a new consciousness to be born, things have to die. The quality of our inner life makes a difference in this world. We keep getting broken open and getting bigger. Can we welcome the unknown and step into it with open arms? Mary Angelon Young is a workshop leader with a background in Jungian psychology, an editor and author of As It Is, Under the Punnai Tree, The Baul Tradition, Caught in the Beloved’s Petticoats, Enlightened Duality (with Lee Lozowick), Krishna’s Heretic Lovers, The Art of Contemplation, and other books.

Whatever Happened to Enlightenment? (Matthew Files)

Enlightenment may or may not be a goal for people, but why would we get on the path unless we wanted something? With age, there seems to be less talk about pursuing enlightenment, which takes attention and energy to sustain. Is it natural for the pursuit to continue with less intensity? Or have we been distracted by all the problems of life so that the focus of attention that some of us had in our younger years has gone elsewhere? Maybe spiritual heroics are not needed on the path, which may be a very gradual, persistent process that goes on. All great traditions refer to enlightenment, but Suzuki Roshi said, “Why do you want enlightenment? You might not like it.” The truth for us is different today than it was when we first got on the path. Our understanding was different and we did not know ourselves as well. Many people in their younger years have an ideal about what they want to do with their lives. That may get lost if we don’t pay attention to it and we may lament as we get older that we can’t find our way back into it or just don’t have the energy for it. Are we still passionate and motivated about the path? Why or why not? David Foster Wallace’s commencement speech at Kenyon College in 2008 is discussed. Where do our templates or beliefs and the meaning that we give to experience come from? This is different for everyone. If we pay attention, we’ll know there are other options to our templates and that we have choice about the meaning we give to experience. Our experience seems to support the belief that we are the center of the universe, but we could shift our attention and consider that maybe we don’t know the reality of situations we encounter. Everyone worships; the only choice we get is what to worship. Matthew Files facilitates groups that support people to look deeper into their process, formulate their own questions, and become responsible for their choices.

Shadow and Luminosity, Descent and Transcendence (Nachama Greenwald)

The metaphorical aspect of darkness can refer to the dark night of the soul, to a deep descent within ourselves, our individual or collective shadow, a time of transition, grief, or depression—whenever we’re suffering. We have a bias towards light. The sacred nutrients of wisdom, creation, and transformation dwell in darkness. Darkness has a fertile, receptive, feminine quality because something wants to be birthed from it, as from the womb. The talk is not about glorifying darkness or trying to be free of it but healing through darkness. The greatest courage is to see and be with all that life brings. When darkness is welcomed, nothing is rejected. If we run from darkness, we run from ourselves. Awakening cannot be separated from this joyful, painful life. The path embraces the full spectrum of darkness and light. St. John of the Cross said, “If a man wishes to be sure of the road he treads on, he must close his eyes and walk in the dark.” A bodhisattva is someone who has found the path and is committed to it. What we are looking for must be found in the dark. We sacrifice certainty, surrender to losing our way, and sometimes have to fall apart for a vision to arise. If we do the work the great possibility is that we become more fully ourselves, who we are intended to be. Many seekers tend to bypass the dark and focus exclusively on the light. Knowing our own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darkness of other people. We fear knowing ourselves because of what we might discover—not just about the darkness but also the light. We can walk through heaven and hell with an open heart, developing compassion for ourselves and the world. Some of the Dark Mothers of various traditions are discussed. Nachama Greenwald is a physical therapist, editor, and musician who for seventeen years was a member of the Shri blues band which performed Western Baul music.