I can absolutely guarantee that after a short orientation, you will be able to find yourself on the map illustrated above. Now, whether you build on that discovery and successfully find your way to the fulfilment of your human journey, also known as self-actualization, salvation, and the liberated life, is entirely your choice. You mightContinue reading “Our Human Adventure”
Tag Archives: the liberated life
All and Nothing
It took a couple of centuries into the first Axial Age of the higher cultures (800-200 BCE) for the shocking realization to set in. In sixth-century Persia it came together in Zarathushtra’s idea of apocalypse, which regarded the world as a richly embroidered veil of illusion that must be pulled aside in our quest toContinue reading “All and Nothing”
Spiritual Fitness and Our Human Future
Just as we might go to a gym to work out, or into the hills for a hike, we have a basic understanding that improving our fitness requires immersing ourselves in environments where the activity is sufficiently strenuous but not too much to manage. Of course, if we never exercise, our muscles will lose toneContinue reading “Spiritual Fitness and Our Human Future”
Endangered Species
It’s weird to think that humans are still on the journey to actualizing our full potential as a species. All other species, as far as we can tell, reach fulfillment in each generation, where the young develop to maturity as the adults nurture them along. For the most part, genetic codes and the drives ofContinue reading “Endangered Species”
Stuck in the Moral Frame
Do you remember when as a child you believed that god watched over you from the ceiling and monsters waited under your bed? When garden fairies enchanted the backyard and goblins lurked in the basement? These invisible beings “imaginated” your generalized intuition of Reality as imbued with conscious personality, agency, and intention. It didn’t matterContinue reading “Stuck in the Moral Frame”
“Me, Myself, and I”
We live in an “age of identity.” We’ve been in it for a while now, beginning way back before historical records even. In other words, it’s not just a “modern” thing. The Age of Identity began with the breakthrough to a self-conscious experience, when the last hominids poked their heads above the threshold of aContinue reading ““Me, Myself, and I””
Samsara and the Liberated Life
The “human condition” is diagnosed differently depending on where in time and place you happen to be. Some traditions regard humans as having fallen from some state of paradisal perfection, separated from what we once were or one day might be. Others invoke metaphors of brokenness, corruption, dislocation, or captivity – hostage to diabolical forcesContinue reading “Samsara and the Liberated Life”
Your Inner Family
In True Self in the Real World I analyzed the social construction of identity in order to show that the person we play on stage and the stage itself are neither true (self) nor real (world). True Self and the Real World are, in fact, screened from our awareness by a conditioned preference for becomingContinue reading “Your Inner Family”
Breaking Through
The diagram to the right is an abstract illustration of Reality. That horizontal line of different-colored spheres at the center represents the plane of individual existence. Each sphere is a distinct being. Pick a color: that’s a rock being. Across the way is a tree being. Next to them are a dog being, a birdContinue reading “Breaking Through”
Next Steps
Wouldn’t you love to have a map for this journey of your life? Some chart, some tool – something that could help you get oriented in Reality and moving in the right direction? We’re not talking about a step-by-step itinerary prescribing every move, turn, and stop along the way. That would take the adventure outContinue reading “Next Steps”