Becoming is addictive. It’s a strange little poison that takes root in the sense of self or ego-identification and if left unchecked will grow and spread with each step on a ‘spiritual path’. My early forays into what would eventually become a spiritual inquiry took in a wide range of topics from crop circles to […]
Tag Archives: self awareness
Many people seek spiritual awakening as a way to end suffering. You suffer in this world but you cannot control the world. So how can you end suffering other than to look within and know what causes your suffering? Did it ever occur to you that you cannot know something you’re constantly trying to run […]
The question of control is very closely tied to the sense of self. It’s a challenging area to explore; it can be hard to imagine not having control. We make choices and there appears to be an ‘I’ that makes them, so it’s a natural assumption that we’re in control. We know we may not […]
There are a million and one ways in which we can offer resistance to what we find happening in the moment. And this can be seen as the cause of our suffering can’t it? That’s not to confuse suffering with pain. Pain happens. It’s a label for part of this human experience; an inevitable part. […]
We talk about the ‘illusion of self’ or ‘sense of self’ but where does it come from and how does it begin? In most cases the sense of self is created in reverse or perhaps it’s more accurate to say it arises by implication. In childhood we are shown things and learn their names: this […]
Those engaged with trying to realise or see the illusion of self are often no strangers to frustration. So many apparent contradictions arise. This ‘path’ is full of them. We can easily and quickly lose sight that the truth is simple – so simple; just what is here, in this moment right now. But how […]
You might recognise the title as the question posed to Alice by the enigmatic caterpillar upon their first meeting. It raises the question of identity and identification, and here the shallow waters we step into can soon lead us into the depths. Like all questions the question of identification may lead us in many directions. […]
One thing each of us can relate to in life is its constantly changing nature. Whether this is a comfort or a source of fear we all have to live with this reality; the wheel turns, life moves on and all changes. Occasionally we’re reminded that within this ever changing landscape, this path we tread […]
Greed, hatred and delusion are referred to in the Buddhist tradition as the three poisons. Translations are never an exact science so to tone down the language a bit we may think of them as desire, aversion and ignorance. In many ways, these lie at the heart of so many of the problems we can […]
Patterns. Making links, joining up the dots, creating connections – it’s an important aspect of our intelligence isn’t it? The ability to look at a small amount of detail and infer what is not seen from what can be seen. Perhaps this evolved with us as a survival mechanism, but there’s no doubt it’s a […]
