Near Enemies of the Truth: Avoid the Pitfalls of the Spiritual Life and Become Radically Free

That tradition teaches that our essence-nature, the core of our being, which is also the ground of being itself, cannot be grasped by the mind and so it goes by many names (while being ultimately nameless)—in Sanskrit it is called sāra (“essence, core”), madhya (“center”), svabhāva (“true nature”), ātman (“real self, soul”), and śivatva (“divinity”

If you want to communicate and connect effectively, whenever you say, “I feel _______,” make sure you fill in the blank with an actual emotion, not a disguised evaluation of the other person’s

The third version of the practice of presence is the natural culmination of the first and second versions (when practiced over years). I refer to that extraordinary mode of being in which the three primary centers of embodied consciousness—head, heart, and low belly—are open and clear, free of resistance to whatever energy wants to flow through, an

Pratibhā simultaneously means intuitive insight, embodied instinct, and spontaneous inspiration.

Considering this, it is incumbent upon you to do some self-inquiry: Is your attempt to change any given behavior based in love or self-hatred? Here’s a clue: if your striving to change is hard and effortful, if you beat yourself up for perceived failures in that process and need acknowledgement for perceived successes, it’s almost definitely based

labeling a person (or even a place) as having “negative energy” is a way of avoiding responsibility for your own inner state. I would argue that shifting this paradigm is crucial for one’s spiritual life.

Embracing the whole of reality is an act of love that utterly transcends the mind-created dichotomy of right and wrong. We don’t need those labels to take beneficial action.

yes, everything happens for a reason—and that reason is “everything

Without the alignment of view, practice, and fruit, the spiritual path doesn’t accomplish anything of substance. For many people, that doesn’t really matter, since spirituality is basically a hobby for them, even if they wouldn’t say so.