Category: Writings

Radical unknowing: the recognition that in each moment all we have to guide us is our own intuitive heart, and yet there is no way to ever know where each step will land, whether it will lead us towards our destination, or whether our destination is even where we want to go. I am reminded…
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Below is what I wrote the night I learned Ram Dass had left his body. I posted it on social media on December 23rd at 12:09 am. Writing is one of my main ways that I work through my grief, and crafting these words was incredibly healing for me. Since then, I did go to…
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He asked if I could feel my heartbeat in my fingernails. “Take three more slow, deep breaths,” he said. Then he asked if I could feel it in the front of my teeth.

I lifted a slight smile as my heart pulsed in my mouth like a subtle toothache. Now I was ready for the question.

“Sitaram… What do you want?”

And this Holy Presence of Love, if we can wade in its Sacred Waters, if it can affect us unfettered from the influence of culture, it has the potential to truly transform. We are molded as servants of that Love. Self and other blur together, and care becomes a natural act. Spiritual practice is not something we do to feel better. It is not something that we buy, and it is not just another activity for a mind desperate to stay busy.

It is Radical Wholeness weaving itself into existence, the Light of Love spilling forth from full cup to full cup, and the Holy Spirit flooding into the world.

Fierce and liberating, it is this Groundlessness of Being that I am referring to, the realization that there is no external authority. I may seek guidance and counseling from wise guides and experts, look to peer-reviewed journals, follow the scientific method, or surrender to a Sacred Text or Guru, but it is still the Still, Small Voice within that leads the way.

“People don’t know- every line of the Hanuman Chalisa is a Maha Mantra” –Neem Karoli Baba  Many of us have come to kirtan and felt inspired, felt our sorrows lifted, or even experienced a deep healing or surrender. These are beautiful experiences that are meant to be cherished, but they are also ultimately just initial…
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There is this place in the woods outside of Eugene that I would often go to clear my head. It was a short drive and hike to reach my favorite spot, a small clearing with an unassuming tree that I claimed as my own. On this particular day, I sat down in my little forest…
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These medicines will allow you to come and visit Christ, but you can only stay two hours. Then you have to leave again. This is not the true Samadhi. It’s better to become Christ than to visit him – but even the visit of a saint for a moment is useful. But love is the…
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*This is based on my notes from a recent training I offered to staff who work with teens in a crisis home. It involved a meditation, experiential body-awareness exercise, and group discussion about the relationship between crisis and deep embodiment. If you are interested in having a similar workshop or training at your agency, write…
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Jesus said to Love your enemies. I don’t think he meant that our inability to do so should prevent us from acting. Dismantling oppression is an act of love, and in my mind it is one of the highest, deepest and most important expressions. We can’t wait until our love has matured to act. Our…
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