Author: Andrew Taggart
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Weed And The Nondual Teaching
Question: I don’t like the fact that I smoke weed, but I absolutely can’t help it in some cases. We won’t worry about weed per se. We’ll simply and kindly see it as a “coping mechanism”: it actually provided a temporary solution to some problems of suffering when you were younger. What’s now clear–and this…
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Does Awareness Suffer? A 2-Day Online Meditation Retreat, May 25 and 26
Does The Awareness That You Are Ever Suffer? “Does The Awareness That You Are Ever Suffer?” is a 2-day home meditation retreat held on May 25 and May 26. Drawing largely from the Direct Path teaching of Advaita Vedanta, it’s centered on a playful yet earnest exploration of one’s direct experience. Here, we are concerned…
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What Is The Cause Of All Suffering?
Question: Is dukkha, or suffering, occurring because of the arising of I-thoughts? No, not because of the arising of I-thoughts but rather because of the identification with the content of I-thoughts. Let’s go back a step and ask, “What makes suffering possible?” The short answer is: “I-thoughts, provided that I identify with the content of…
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Does Awareness Experience Pain?
Does awareness experience pain? No. Open to any bodily sensation. Notice that it’s just a pulsation of energy. A thought, a superimposition, might arise and label the sensation “pain.” Stay only with the sensation. Does it have any label “pain” immediately or directly attached to it? No. So, pain is nothing but a thought and,…
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Why Haven’t I Experienced Any Altered States?
I haven’t had any wonderful, non-ordinary spiritual experiences. Because of this, I doubt whether I’m on the right spiritual path or whether the teaching is correct. The Direct Path teaching is elegantly simple: you’re invited to investigate the nature of your direct experience. And you don’t need to go anywhere–to India or Japan–to do so.…
Andrew Taggart, Ph.D. 