Month: September 2019
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Notes On Gurdjieff’s Fourth Way
What does it take to transform the whole person? You sit and meditate, sinking deeper and deeper into This. You disappear, falling down through an unseen door. You transpare into the Absolute. You open your eyes and return. Moments later, you are angry or disappointed. What gives? Your body is frail, so you exercise it.…
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The Desert Is And Is Not A Peaceful Place
A woman once said, “The desert is a peaceful place.” I wanted to say but didn’t: “It is and it isn’t.” It isn’t first. It is one great via negativa. Take away water from the ground and the air. Make food scarce. Let the sun range, and rage, overhead. Let few trees grow to provide shade,…
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Without Stirring
I’m fond of the Stephen Addiss and Stanley Lombardo translation of the opening chapter of the Daodejing: TAO called Tao is not TAO. Names can name no lasting name. Nameless: the origin of heaven and earth. Naming: the mother of the ten thousand things. Empty of desire, perceive mystery. Filled with desire, perceive manifestations. These have the same…
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DIY Ecology Of Practices Or Iterative Best Practices?
A recent post summarizes the argument in the title: “Why The Therapeutic Needs The Spiritual And Vice Versa And Why They Both Need Philosophy.” On Twitter, I discussed the matter further with my friends @DGozli and @peternlimberg: https://twitter.com/peternlimberg/status/1172199072578621440 I’d like to reflect further on this spiritual and historical moment with special reference to this chart. Historical Context…
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A Provisional Map Of Spiritual Experience
It’s as though you were inhabited by or nailed to thoughts, feelings, perceptions, and sensations. As though you were in each thought (etc.) or held captive by each thought (etc.). So absorbed in each thought (etc.) were you that you knew of nothing else. Then perhaps you were looking out the window one day and, quite…
Andrew Taggart, Ph.D. 