Western Baul Podcast Series

Longevity has become an obsession and looking young mythologized. Tasks of the first and second halves of life are considered. The first is about establishing identity, security, and sex and gender orientation. Five tasks of the second half of life are discussed: emptying, taking care of unfinished business, making a sacrament of the present moment, cultivating elder wisdom, and building spiritual friendship. There is obviously overlap of tasks in the two halves. It isn’t possible to make a completely clean exit from life, but part of this work involves giving away and gifting, which can be a joy, and forgiveness and reconciliation, which may need to happen internally. In the first half of life we attach to work, children, homes, dreams of success; the second half involves detaching and remaining in love with what we’re detaching from. We tend to take death personally, but it’s possible to “go through the goalposts” with dignity and bravery. There is a distinction between aging and growing in wisdom. The counterbalance to the culture’s messages can be to reclaim and model dignity, grace, and authentic power. Many of us haven’t had wise elder parents or grandparents, but we can recognize and honor the wise elders we have—some of whom may kick ass and offer more than just being sweet. We can harvest our own wisdom and read to remember what we already know. Our culture is ritually bereft, but we can ritualize elder wisdomhood. What has our heart opened to that we want to leave to the next generation? Our reputation is going to go. Can we encounter and work with that now? Being ordinary is not a choice but a freedom if we no longer have pretensions. Regina Sara Ryan was the editor of Hohm Press for 35 years. She is a workshop leader, retreat guide, and author of The Woman Awake, Igniting the Inner Life, Praying Dangerously, Only God, and other books.

We may take life personally, but larger forces that affect us are at play. Astrological imagery describes what is happening in the world. In Jyotish astrology, Rahu is a being associated with deception, confusion, and inflation of power and ego. The influence of Rahu is active now and is always difficult but can be useful for spiritual practice due to the necessity it creates to work with energies in the world. We want to be careful since prana or life force goes where our attention goes. We can consider reality as a field of light and each of us as bodies of light that come into and out of existence. We need sanctuary to feed the body of light. The process of creating sanctuary is ongoing since we are constantly being deconstructed. Feeding the body of light can take place in the way we relate to a teacher, lineage, community, family, service work, art, social action, prayer, or other situations. We can instinctually sense when this happens. It is common to have an intuitive sense of something bigger than ourselves and to long for relationship with that. Shamanic paths focus on relationship with the gods, who give us life so we will remember them. This is a different way of looking at creation than asking God for favors. Humans have forgotten their function. Feeding the gods through remembrance, in ways such as ritual, keeps existence alive. The sacred includes light and darkness. Turning toward the sacred feeds the body of light. The true enemy is not certain people but a force that takes them over. We can’t see the big picture, but our hearts can tell us what to feed that is in front of us. Creation is the play of God which comes into existence as separate beings in order to experience the play. Clelia Lewis is a freelance editor specializing in spiritual teachings, self-development, and memoir. She is a practitioner in the lineage of Lee Lozowick, Yogi Ramsuratkumar, and Swami Papa Ramdas.

We all have reference points for being obsessed with something or someone so that everything else is obscured. Obsession for God is an affair of the heart; it’s not about the intensity of practice. Obsession may be necessary at some point since only it will get us where the path leads. Coming to the point of not having anything else to live for is at the heart of being obsessed with God. The waking state may not be something permanent but something we move in and out of. Experiences we remember from childhood may have occurred when we were in the waking state. Obsession for God is an internal process. It can occur while being functional in the world and not stuck in a mad state of God consciousness. Everything starts with self-interest, including getting on the spiritual path. We can’t have obsession for God without obsession for life; maybe they are interchangeable. Obsession is more than dedication or commitment. A fire in us has to be carried in a vessel. Practice seals up the cracks and makes a useful vessel. Obsession can be cultivated by seeing what’s in the way of it becoming a blazing fire. Real teachers can provide a spark for practitioners to get a taste of how life is when we go beyond ourselves, but it’s not exclusively available through them. It can come from nature, a love affair, or in other ways unique to us. Some artists are obsessed. We can be attracted to being on fire and resistant at the same time since obsession for God means the obliteration of who I think I am. Engaging practices over and over may not produce what we are looking for. We can make everything practice. A shake-up provided by the universe can totally reorient us. With obsession for God, we may find that God actually is everywhere. Matthew Files facilitates groups that support people to look deeper into their process, formulate their own questions, and become responsible for their choices.

How do people relate to a tradition once the teacher is gone and there is no authorized leader to carry it forward? An important distinction is that a tradition is intended to serve the Work and that practitioners are not obligated to serve the formality of the tradition without deviating from a formula. An element of continuity of wisdom is willingness to embrace a degree of risk. In some communities, there’s fear of wiseacring, a Gurdjieffian term for screwing up. If we’re open to learning, mistakes are part of the path. Can balance be struck between being true to an original tradition and responding to the conditions of the world in a way that keeps the teaching alive? The idea that size matters is a Western construct. It’s not up to us if fewer people are interested in the Work; yet we can serve those with spiritual need if we are sincere and open-hearted. Some believe that the age of the teacher is over and that the teacher-student relationship is problematic if bounds of conventional propriety are crossed. But by design the teacher pushes boundaries beyond programming and comfort zone, which is not a license for self-gratification. We don’t know how the future is supposed to unfold and can cultivate a “Don’t Know” state. It’s a natural tendency to cling to the familiar, but this must be released for the path to reflect our being. We don’t know how transmission happens, but we can feel its magic. We learn by demonstration. The secret to development is to align with a higher will. We can cultivate trust and receptivity, but don’t have to be perfect to transmit what we’ve learned. Conversation among practitioners is a useful human tool on the path. Rob Schmidt and Stuart Goodnick run Tayu Meditation Center and founded Many Rivers Books and Tea in Sebastopol, CA. They invite spiritual teachers, practitioners, and authors to articulate their stories on The Mystical Positivist podcast.

"Don’t Know, Go Straight" is a teaching that came from the Korean Zen master, Soen Sa Nim. We have two minds: thinking mind, and “before thinking” mind which is without thought (Don’t Know Mind). This is the mind of the moment, our true nature. Thinking mind, from which problems arise, obscures Don’t Know Mind. Yet, we need thinking mind to do all kinds of things. Our limitations are often mental constructs. Going straight refers to our need to act. When we come from Don’t Know Mind, we are shown the next right action to be taken. So, we don’t need to worry about what to do. Don’t Know Mind actually knows. It is a full body awareness, not just mental. We develop clarity by practicing coming from emptiness, without preconception. From the perspective of self-observation as described in the Gurdjieff work, conscience grows and informs our actions. Across different spiritual paths, there is the necessity to know who we are. Emotions stir up confusion. Practice is not about repression but holding or being with them without attachment to them. True fear is useful, and we can discriminate about right action when facing it. Being scattered or expressing stream of consciousness is different than Don’t Know Mind. Each moment can bring us back to this mind. Compassion isn’t something we do—it’s something that arises when we see clearly in a Don’t Know moment. There are different kinds of thinking mind, such as analyzing or checking minds. We see Don’t Know Mind in children. When we come from Don’t Know Mind we are more responsible since we take the whole into account. Humor arises out of Don’t Know Mind when we see the ridiculousness of our opinions. 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.

We can look on irritation as a reality check since reality inevitably falls short of our expectations. Irritation can be destructive to spaces and relationships when it becomes anger. It is a gift in that it can show us something about ourselves and remind us of our intention to work. There is a lot of energy associated with irritation which can go elsewhere when recognized. Irritation can be triggered by external or internal circumstances such as being hungry or tired. People may provoke discomfort or irritation, but this reaction is often about issues from our past that we project onto others. Conscious sacrifice in not reacting to the unpleasant manifestations of others can be a challenging way to work on ourselves. We can learn to use skillful means when we need to address situations that are irritating. The greatest work we can do on the path is show kindness and compassion to others. We are easily irritated when our comfort is threatened, and habits make us comfortable. Reactivity for human beings seems to happen at light speed. We can’t catch it, but we can catch our outward expression. When things are going well, we tend to revert to old habits and go back to sleep. A deeper level of irritation occurs when we come in contact with the Work. It doesn’t go away since the dilemma of incarnation is not something we can resolve, but it can be used as food for evolution and transformation on the spiritual path. The longer we do spiritual work, the more vulnerable we become and the more susceptible to irritation. Irritation says something about our deep structure. A Master may provide irritation for others to see things in their unconscious. There would never be a pearl if the oyster was never irritated. 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.

The heart of transition is navigating liminal space. This in-between place offers an entry point into reality, a portal into deeper relationship with oneself and the Divine. We are continually in the process of transition. Each transition is an invitation to awaken to possibility, to consciously go with life rather than resist it. In the Vedic tradition, tirtha is a Sanskrit term for a crossing-over point from ordinary to sacred space. Hospitals, churches, and airports are transitional places. Everything in the universe is food; we just have to figure out how to use it. Savasana, the corpse pose in yoga, can be used to practice dying. We will encounter trials and crises on the path, an inner overturning such that things will never again be what they were. To transform, we must understand that our present form and the way we conceive of ourselves and the world has to disappear for another reality to appear. Winning without losing anything is a vain and illusory hope of ego. There’s suffering and struggle but also joy and love in letting go. What if we turned toward transition rather than away from it? We have a capacity to totally agree with the moment. We have to remember to breathe during transitions. If we can relax, we’ll have no problem. We can learn to befriend the cage we are in. A gap is a place where the shoreline we have left behind is no longer visible and the shore we are heading for is shrouded in uncertainty. The Way is for heroes. Part of us is afraid, but another part is courageous. There is joy in comradeship and companionship on the path. When we are in transition, it is useful to consider the inevitability of it. Michael Menager is a musician, singer, author, and modern-day troubadour whose third album is titled Line in the Water. Mic Clarke is a writer, practitioner of Vedic astrology, and mental health social worker. Both live in New South Wales, Australia and are students of Lee Lozowick.

"Live and learn" is part of the design of a human being which comes naturally to us as children. Messages we receive in our family and society lead us to abandon our instinctual freedom and to develop habits about how to be. But the ability to live and learn remains dormant, and we may learn how necessary a spiritual path is and how we need to make it our own in order to realize its possibility. The Work refers to a system taught by G.I. Gurdjieff but also—in a broader way—to transformation which is available through different traditions or streams of the Great Work. Both effort and surrender are needed on real paths. We are all blind in some areas and, if we are honest in our self-observation, there are parts of ourselves that we don’t like. Being asleep can be considered as seeing only a sliver of reality since we are focused on ourselves. Also, we relate to the world through filters which overlay reality. The Work isn’t about being saved. Despite our insignificance in the universe, it (or God) needs our help. If we simply admire those who have served the Work in the traditions, we will not take responsibility for it. Making the Work our own is discussed in terms of practice with the details of life, strengthening the container until at some point we have majority vote to serve that which needs us, working with childish parts of ourselves and our weakest link, putting ourselves on the line, loving what we do not love, being in relationship to everyone, supporting others in their work, holding our seat without being territorial, dealing with pride and vanity, following the spirit of the law over the letter of the law, not separating life in the world from the Work, keeping agreements, and cultivating emptiness. The Work is about relationship between God and us. VJ Fedorschak is the organizer of the Western Baul Podcast Series and author of The Shadow on the Path and Father and Son.

Living a fluid life is about engaging what life gives us. As we walk through life, we’re walking through the movie we’re creating through our projections, which make life appear solid. But life or reality is fluid and dynamic, changing every moment even if we don’t usually notice. The source of the effort to confirm our solidity is an uncertainty about whether we exist. We use references points outside of ourselves to feel separate. We are always going to have stories; it’s our attachment to them that we have to give up to allow the fluidity of life and to see life as it is. The paradigm or consensus reality we live in is very materialistic. Coincidence and synchronicity signify the fluidness of life leaking out. If we’re aware of nonduality we don’t have to identify with what’s happening in duality. Paradox is when two contradictory ideas are both true. We are exposed to reality when faced with paradox. Our story is created by the mind pretty fast, before we realize it. If we think we’re self-observing and feel bad, it’s not self-observation. What we are mostly afraid of is our own projection, which has nothing to do with reality. Our projections are useful in that they point us in the direction we need to work. To mechanically complain or explain ourselves makes life solid and leaves no room for fluidity. When we go with what shows up in life, we are happier and carry a lot less weight. We sell life short when we make things solid. If we can go with life when it shows up differently than expected, then what happens in place of our preferences can be just as good or better than what we wanted. This can have a ripple effect in our lives. When we let go of little things, we experience freedom and lightness that encourages us to let go of bigger things. Juanita Violini is an artist and writer/producer of interactive mystery entertainment who has been a student of the spiritual path for over 35 years.

Lectio Divina (“divine reading” in Latin) is a centuries-old tradition of being inspired by reflecting on the text of a scripture. It may also be considered in terms of “reading” creation and what Thomas Merton called the “calligraphy of nature.” Merton (1915-1968) was a Catholic monastic and mystic whose writing impacted vast numbers of Christians by introducing them to a perspective on Eastern traditions they had never been exposed to before. He used his journaling as a portal into prayer, an entryway to clarity of thinking and love for God. He acknowledged times of doubt, fear, and anger and wrote with self-honesty and courage through it all. Merton walked a razor’s edge in monastic life as his writings were subject to censorship in the Church. He met Tibetan Buddhist masters, considered Zen, Hindu, and Sufi teachings, and reported his own nondual experience. He wrote about the Vietnam war and had communications with Martin Luther King, Joan Baez, and many other public figures and writers. Merton stayed the course within the Catholic Church, sensing that God had placed him where he was. He was much loved by those resonant with the roots of mystical Christianity and maligned by those who were rigid and felt he had gone outside of the bounds of his faith. His overriding context was that all of life is a play of God. He felt that our desire to go where God wants us to go is praise of God and that “The gate of heaven is everywhere.” Journaling can be a way of communicating with the deep self, our highest self. Prompts were given to those who attended the talk, and some shared their journaling about “what I know and don’t know about prayer.” Regina Sara Ryan was the editor of Hohm Press for 35 years. She is a workshop leader, retreat guide, and author of The Woman Awake, Igniting the Inner Life, Praying Dangerously, Only God, and other books.