Early in my time in India, one of the first gurus I met asked me why I wanted to become enlightened. I said, “Because it’s probably like being on an acid trip all the time.” He laughed and said, “Then you won’t become enlightened.” What I realized later was that he was pointing out the selfishness of that motivation. Enlightenment cannot be pursued for personal pleasure. That moment shifted my…
Reader Question "Dear Todd, if we have family, friends, and relationships can we also reach Enlightenment/Self-Realization? Can we have both?" There is no doubt that it is easier to meditate all day when we live in a monastery. But, while meditation is essential for understanding the mind and the nature of consciousness, that’s not all there is to reaching our ultimate potential.We humans forget that we are spiritual beings, but…
How Can You Not Be Attached to Family and Loved Ones?I know it seems strange at first, but the more we examine it, the more we will find that love without possessiveness or clinginess is a far greater and more powerful love. This is what true unconditional love looks like.When we love with attachment, we love with stress and anxiety too, constantly worrying, even if it’s imperceptible. This subconscious stress…
Even though, in the short term, telling someone off or badmouthing them may feel good, in the long run, it leads to nothing but misery. Blaming our problems on other people may feel satisfying for a moment, but it does not fix the problem. It does not lead to a solution. It does not help us in the long term. There will always be dirtbags, jerks, and cruel people in…
Do You Know Yourself? All loving relationships start with knowing. All problems stem from a lack of understanding. If we are to love ourselves, love others as ourselves, and eliminate internal and external conflict, we must know ourselves. The wisdom that arises from understanding who we truly are cannot be told to us. Just as we cannot develop a good relationship with another person by simply reading about relationships, we…
If the unexamined life is not worth living, the unexamined mind is not worth having. Who are we? At the deepest sense of ourselves? What is this consciousness peering out at the world? And is it possible to turn our awareness back on itself? If we fail to look at ourselves, to understand who we truly are, to understand our unconscious thought patterns and habits, we are doomed to repeat…
There’s no aging. There’s just this moment. There’s no future. There’s no past. There’s no “I was young, and now I’m old.” This is all comparison. This is all an illusion. This is all the symptom of a mind that can’t focus on reality and is always comparing this to the past, my life to someone else’s who’s better. Be grateful for this moment as it is. Don’t worry about…
The Foundations of Conditioning Human Adaptability and Culture Human beings are the most remarkably adaptable species on Earth. We are blessed with the ability to adapt to any environment, location, and situation. A baby growing up in Spain will adapt to her culture and learn Spanish. A baby growing up in the Arctic will learn to icefish and speak Inuit. This adaptability gives us the variety of rich cultures and…
"Buddhism is not a religion, it is a way of life."Visit to a Himalayan Monastery: Sanctuary in Dharamsala, IndiaI'm going to tell you about the time I visited a Buddhist monastery in Dharamsala, India, which is the home of the Tibetan people in exile from Tibet. India has been very kind in letting the Tibetans have sanctuary in Dharamsala and McLeodGanj in northern India. Very few, if any, countries were…
I fully understand the trouble mosquitoes can cause from some of my travels through the jungles across Asia and South America. What I will say is this, there is certainly no need to feel terrible if you have killed them. Mainly because it doesn’t do any good. Does the mosquito feel guilty for drinking your blood, disturbing your sleep, and risking your health? Of course not. This is the law…
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