Posts Tagged ‘meditation’

16
May
2016

Meditation: An Un-common Perspective

categories: Authentic Living, Spirituality & Religion

Meditation is commonly thought to be a practice or method, rooted in some mystical-spiritual-religious tradition or philosophy with the purpose of disabusing us of delusional notions about the nature of self and reality.

Meditation is likewise defined as a path to enlightenment or self-realization—a set of steadying training wheels that helps us to ride the bike of our innate essence — to pedal our way towards the inherent clarity, wisdom, and compassion of our true nature.

Meditation thus implies a means of becoming, an action or process that leads from here to there, a catalyst that produces an effect not already in evidence. Even if one believes that meditation is the expression of our inner being, the intimation of becoming is still there, the implication that we must do something special to become or demonstrate what we are. (more…)

16
May
2016

Leadership Dojos and Zendos

categories: Art, Music & Literature, Business, Social Transformation, Spirituality & Religion

This article is an excerpt from A Mystic in Corporate America. Though originally written about 15 years ago, the premise seems to be as true and relevant today as then, especially in light of the current roster of presidential candidates. This article suggest that leaders voluntarily engage in the humanizing and enlightening activities of various dojos and zendos. First, I describe my own experiences practicing zazen and aikido, and then extrapolate what I experienced and learned to a curriculum for leaders.

AMICA-cover-web-med

 DOJOS & ZENDOS

In the winter of 1969 I cinched up my Aikido gi for the first time, bowed, and stepped onto the mat in a small dojo, practice hall, in Arcata, California, a little town on the northern coast. The sensei, teacher, was a big burly man who looked like a meat packer or longshoreman. Instead, he was a psychologist by profession, and a man of very gentle disposition, although he could throw my ass across the room while barely touching me. (more…)

12
Dec
2015

Conversations: Robert Rabbin & Gabor Harsanyi

categories: Interviews, Silence, Spirituality & Religion

I am happy to share an ongoing series of informal conversations between myself and Gabor Harsanyi, moderated and produced by Nurit Oren. Some of the themes and topics in these conversations include: Silence, meditation, spirituality, nonduality, mind, gurus, embodiment, god, awakening, self-realization, self-inquiry, bliss, ecstasy, pleasure, sex, functionality, spiritual practice, and many more. If you would like to hear us speak on a particular topic or have a question, please send an email to: info@nuritoren.com (more…)

14
Jul
2015

Piercing the Fear of Self-Revelation

categories: Authentic Living, Speaking Truthfully, Spirituality & Religion
Speaking Truthfully has many facets. The one I want to talk about now is the aspect of Speaking Truthfully I have termed “self-revelation. It is what I point to when I use words like transparency, intimacy, vulnerability, honesty.

Rather than try to define “self-revelation,” I’ll tell you a story, which I’ve never before written about. You will take from this story what you want, and I’ll be happy with that. It’s where I first came face-to-face with the fear of self-revelation, and what I did to pierce it. (Warning: graphic sexual content follows!)

Quite some time ago (how’s that for specificity?), I lived in Marin County, California. I had just finished leading a weeklong meditative inquiry retreat in the Sierra Nevada mountains. I met a lady there, who shortly afterward became my girlfriend. She lived in nearby San Francisco. When we recognized we wanted to get together, we went for a long walk in Muir Woods, sharing with each other what we wanted, what we were able to give; you know, let’s start with some conscious communication and go from there. (more…)

26
May
2015

Asking Permission to Leave

categories: Authentic Living, Silence, Spirituality & Religion
This is the story of how a single, simple sentence changed my life.

In 1969, I lived in a wood shack near the village of Trinidad, about thirty miles north of Arcata, California. I was supposed to be studying Eastern philosophy at Humboldt State College but spent hardly any time in class. Instead, I sampled a variety of hallucinogens, sat zazen and practiced Aikido, followed the saga of Carlos Castaneda, and read haiku poetry — tiny bridges of words that are connected to the immense emptiness behind conventional thinking and meaning. During this time, I encountered the world of silence and in that silence I first experienced that the physical world perceived by the senses was a mere tissue hiding something vast.

Rugged living

Rugged living

It was in search of that vastness that I traveled to India. In 1973, I set off with a friend whom I had met the year before in Israel. Eric and I had decided to go overland from Europe. We set off from Paris, hitchhiking to Brindisi, Italy, intending to take the ferry to Greece, and then trains and buses through Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and into India. (more…)

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