Much of the perennial wisdom urges us to shift our perspective on events we ordinarily take for granted. Take the wee-hours wake up call that, for so many of us, feels like a curse that must be gotten through or avoided. Rare is the individual who accepts the 3am wakeup and inquires into it. Which [...]

Everywhere you turn, it seems, psychological sufferers - including a growing number of therapists and physicians treating them - are turning to psychedelics or, more specifically, 'psychedelic-assisted therapy,' to cure suffering. At the risk of harshing a lot of people's buzzes, it's unlikely that MDMA, psilocybin, ketamine, LSD, ayahuasca and a host of other mind-bending [...]

The journey inward, if earnestly pursued, begins to reveal a hideous truth: that I, and all others, are one and the same thing. There, just at the edge of my perception, I begin to see that aside from the window dressing each of us calls 'my life,' there is nothing. All of the characters and [...]

If you're suffering. If you're unhappy about the presidential election. If you're unhappy with your mate or your kids or your job - there's really only one thing you need to do: look within. After all, who or what is unhappy? This is the key to the whole thing, the lone pointer that is the [...]

I believe now that consciousness reveals itself in stages not unlike a painter or sculptor who reveals his art over time. The more we attend to the task of revealing our true nature, the more consciousness obliges and the secrets to our being revealed. I know this to be true for the simple reason that, more than [...]

It is said the worst punishment that can be meted out to a prisoner is solitary confinement. Lock someone in 'the hole' long enough and he starts to go mad (note the metaphorical connection between 'hole' and burial/death). Seems rather clear to me now that this is pretty much the way each of us experiences life - [...]

An avid reader as a child, at some point I remember being intrigued by a rather simple discovery: that most of the really interesting people in life came from difficult circumstances. I don't remember any notable personalities, artists, writers, etc., emerging from the antiseptic world of suburban America (or any nicely developed stretch of society). [...]

Sitting on the beach last week, watching the waves rise and fall, rise and fall. The tide rolling in, receding. Clouds building, abating. Birds (and humans) coming, going. Any or all of it a perfect metaphor for life, for existence itself. Little wonder that the mystics so often use the ocean and its waves to explain [...]

One of movie history's great lines comes from Jack Nicholson's Marine Corps character in A Few Good Men, when he barks, "You can't handle the truth!" He's right. We can't. Well, we can, but that requires a turn of the worm, a willingness to challenge the thoughts that pop into our heads, pass from our [...]

What a peculiar prison sentence is this thing we call life. Each of us appears to have been born into captivity, a death sentence hanging over us, only the actual date of our 'execution' unknown. We are shackled to these bodies - bodies that are not of our choosing (otherwise, I'd have chosen the Brad [...]