“We slowly learn to distinguish the true from the false, the good from the less good, our spiritual criticism can be developed so that we can distinguish true spiritual values from their imitations; and then we can choose the guides of our spiritual life.”

"The extent to which my inner unknown self guides my conscious mind came as a great surprise. An even greater surprise was the realization of how lost I would be without it."

Meditation to a modern mind, accustomed to an unprecedented level of pleasure and desire, is not a literal death but a mental death of life's modern existential reason; to feel good and be entertained.

Mass adoption depends on two factors, the value of the discovery and the ease with which it can be learned or manufactured. When a discovery has little value or is valuable but too difficult to create or understand, it's less likely to be adopted. Ultimately it's too costly.

The question that defines the yogic journey is, "What am I?" The detail is the answer that resolves it must be directly experienced. So, the journey begins.

Bodhidharma, in many ways, is seen as the father of Zen. His teachings are cryptic because they are so simple. This challenges our desire to achieve something through practice which is the main obstacle of meditation. Even here, in this hobby of satisfaction and peace, we promote our subtle dissatisfaction and perpetuate our yearning for more. Tip; read these quotes with no mind. Seek nothing from them. Read them as gibberish and maybe a strange wisdom will come.

This series of transcribed talks, given by Shunryu Suzuki, is a modern Zen classic for a reason! Arranged in a way that makes the great theme of Zen approachable to our busy, Western minds; to read the book is Zen itself.

"There is a cost to medicating away every type of human suffering, and, as we shall see, there is an alternative path that might work; “embracing pain."

“To arrive in the Rocky Mountains by plane would be to see them in one kind of context, as pretty scenery. But to arrive after days of hard travel across the prairies would be to see them in another way, as a goal, a promised land.”

The tourists, Indian and foreigner alike, gawk from all over the city. Some half-marvel from the rooftop restaurants of the surrounding hotels, in between sips of local wine or chai masala tea. Others take the time to ride up the hill in the go-kart-like green and yellow tuk-tuks. Standing within that once living royal artifact, they marvel and I just see the inevitable fate of us all. Degradation.

Because it's an experience, no Zen book can provide its reader with its theme. Yet, I felt quite tranquil and aimless as I read through the 200 pages of Zen's enlightened none-sense, so well organized and explained by Alan Watts.

Essentially, his theory is reduced to an extremely intuitive and reasonable solution to personal dissatisfaction. If you do your best and apply yourself wholly to everything you do from work, to leisure, to the utterly ordinary behaviors of life (brushing teeth, cleaning, sitting, thinking, etc) you will be fulfilled because the challenge of applying ourselves to the betterment of anything is our deepest joy. Powerful thesis!

Just outside Cusco proper, above the shallow valley of the city center sits The Temple of the Moon. Raj, Jamol, Mo, Isa, and I made a plan to drink Yachuma, a grandfather medicine, in a place that radiated ceremony. The low plateau was covered with yellow winter grass, small trees, and massive rocky outcrops.

One day, like a great stag with its crown of nature and stars held high and easily, God comes to behold you - a being that has learned to love itself. Because there is no shame in this achieved person, despite their small stature, and perhaps dirty home, they open their doors in great reverence and humble confidence.

All of a sudden, you’re walking alongside them on the 6-inch ledge of the world’s tallest mountains. You’re haggling with sherpas, speaking to Himalayan Lamas, eating yak meat, drinking Arak, and riding the ups and downs of a true adventure.

Meditation leads to a slew of insights that help us navigate life. At this point, most of us understand life is, at times, stressful, but the reasons for this seemingly inevitable stress are still up for debate. Yesterday, everything was good. Today, while nothing has changed, that goodness has diminished. Why?

Darkness isn't anything at all. Literally. It's nothing and that fact alone tethers it to the essence of our practice; meditation - the art of no mind, no self, no thing. "Let darkness be your candle," Rumi said.

So, how do we develop Santosha-yogic contentment? There are many ways but let's focus on one. Remember, contentment comes from giving ourselves away to one thing and only one thing. It is a needy flower. It demands daily attention, perhaps even daily fixation. If too many options are the problem, this is now a conversation of focus and distraction.

To break our reason and dance with the irrational is the pivotal unpatterning that leads that brave individual to the dance floor of nature and gods where there are no rules and the only hospitable environment where creativity and genius exist.

The complicated answer. No matter how many times we squash our discontent, eventually, it comes back! Meditative philosophy, especially the ascetic lineages of Hatha Yoga, Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism, believe the problem of discontent isn't so obvious as taking a bubble bath. It's not dissatisfaction that pains us, it's unquestioned systemic desire.