Western Baul Podcast Series

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.

The Direct Path: Taking the Backwards Step (Peter Cohen)

The direct path is a refined articulation of the principles of nondualism, and the backward step is the actual practice of it. The mind feasts on complication. One of the features of the direct path is its simplicity. It does not involve lineage, guru, or ritual. We are always looking at things, but what are we looking out of? When we look at what we are looking out of, we are taking a step back into ourselves. Awareness is empty of anything solid so when we take a backward step we are no longer relating as one thing to another thing, from the duality of subject and object. When we step back into ourselves as far as we can go, all that’s left is being. What is looking out of our eyes now is essentially no different than what was looking out of our eyes when we were kids. It’s the same being that looks out of everyone’s eyes, including every saint and sage. That’s what is meant when we consider that everything is one. If we investigate where “me” is, we will not find it. We will just find layer after layer of qualities if we peel everything away like an onion. Our thoughts, feelings, and sensations would not be experienceable without awareness. The only thing that is aware of being aware is awareness itself. “I” is the name that what knows itself gives to itself. The “I” doesn’t know what it is, but it knows that it is. If we can be silent enough to be aware of awareness itself, that is a backward step. Welcoming the problematic parts of ourselves into the light of awareness, awareness will do the work. Nondual teaching is the crown jewel of Buddhism and all esoteric traditions. Awareness is the background of thoughts and personality. Everyone will find the help they need if they have earnestness. Peter Cohen was the drummer for the Western Baul rock band, Liars, Gods, and Beggars from 1988 to 1994. He has followed the nondual path and rhythm of life in Alaska and Idaho as a nurse and a musician.

The Value and Necessity of Suffering (Red Hawk)

We need help to continue to grow. The name of a God-realized being invokes the Divine. We can make efforts to return to the present, to ground the attention. Attention is crucial in learning to use suffering so that suffering does not use us up and can become food for growth. Two kinds of attention are possible for a human being: mechanical attention which is an unconscious survival mechanism, and a second or conscious attention which makes self-observation possible and is different than the mind observing the mind. Yogi Ramsuratkumar said that if we are born, we suffer. The Four Noble Truths of Buddha are considered: there is suffering, a cause of suffering, an end to suffering, and a path to that end. Why must there be suffering? What is the difference between suffering and pain? The mind makes no distinction between types of pain. There is only one place the mind can go to escape pain—into the imagination. All humanity is trying to escape mechanical suffering; conscious suffering involves not trying to get rid of it. The desire to change or avoid “what is” leads to constant, repetitive suffering. When we have the courage to stay with it, with discrimination, friction between “yes and no” produces heat which allows the heart to catch fire as mercy, as compassion. “May the heat of suffering become the fire of love.” All human suffering can be seen as the result of identification, clinging to a false sense of self. Mechanical suffering becomes universal suffering with the sacrifice of identification. There is a path to the end of mechanical suffering as a deeper sense of conscience develops, which takes in everything—suffering and joy—and when we do not seek one and avoid the other. Red Hawk is an acclaimed poet and the author of 12 books, including Self Observation, Self Remembering, The Way of the Wise Woman, and Return to the Mother.

One’s Face on the Path (Jocelyn del Rio)

The expressions of certain faces in spiritual paintings or sculpture and of genuine spiritual teachers in photographs or in-person can communicate our own basic goodness or organic innocence when we are in an open state. Something in us responds to a face that dances to the rhythm of creation, that exudes the peace of surrender. We are hard-wired for connection, which gets made through the face—for example, by babies. As we get older, layers of defense show up in a mask, as tenson in the face. We use our faces to create an identity. There’s a lot of information in how we decorate the face to make it something it isn’t. Are we aware when we are looking for recognition through our faces? Grief or shock or intense need can create cracks in the mask that let the light of reality in. When we start to let in and accept what we have previously denied, we may find that we do not know who we are anymore. It’s not popular to look how we feel, to be honest about it. Breathing starts and finishes in the face, which is where we can start to connect to the body. We can learn to face the howling wind and the sun, which are both gifts. When our desires manifest, we can accept, and when they do not manifest, we can accept. Our face was not our face when we were born; it was the face of heredity. Our face can start to manifest the original terrain that exists before the mask. We are not the face, but something comes through the face. When the clouds part the sun is always there. What faces do we have to lose for our original face to appear? The experience of magic, mystery, and miracle, which can occur through surrender to the Carver’s hand, only comes through losing face. Jocelyn is a spiritual student, artist, therapist, mother, gardener, and builder whose main interest in life is growth, development, evolution, observing in awe and participating in the cyclic nature of life.

What If? An Exploration of Transformational Possibility (Regina Sara Ryan)

All failure to live life richly and fully is based on the feeling that love is scarce. We may sense at times that love is the ground of all being. What if we lived on the basis of this truth? There is so much music and poetry that reflects on our inner longing. Those in attendance at the live talk were asked to write down sayings, mantras, or mahavakyas (short sentences of wisdom teachings) that came to mind. They were then asked what they thought would happen if they realized the truth of what they had written. “What if?” can be a “pea under the mattress” that can orient us in our spiritual lives. Great statements are often the result of practice and not something we just hear and fully understand. We can practice with sayings such as “Love your neighbor as yourself” and allow them to be absorbed into our skin. It can be a source of discouragement to take on unrealistic expectations. We can be inspired by great beings, but to take the way their lives showed up and try to translate them into our own can be less worthwhile than lowering our expectations and approaching our lives honestly. What if the very state we are in is exactly where we need to be? Not expressing the “just this” of our current state could be detrimental to our spiritual life. The moment we recognize we’ve lost our attention, we wake up for a moment. What if, instead of digging many shallow channels of practice, we dig one deeply? We don’t generally consider that everyone we meet is going to die. The tenderness of being opened by love can sensitize us to the suffering of others, to heartbreak that we do not want to stop. There are many ways we can keep ourselves attuned to the reality of love as the ground of all being and not scarce. Regina is the editor of Hohm Press, a workshop leader, retreat guide, and author of The Woman Awake, Igniting the Inner Life, Praying Dangerously, Only God, and other books.