Category: philosophical counseling
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Pandemic Boredom
Recently, I’ve heard from a number of people with whom I philosophize that they feel a real hunger for newness. Maybe it is that quaint village they remember and wish to return to or that mountain they want to hike up or the aqua sea they long to dip their toes into. That hunger for…
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The News IS Drama: A Danger
It’s not that news stirs up drama, though of course it does that. It’s that the news is drama. But drama is not meditation. And meditation is the nature of universal consciousness. For those working in the media, something happens and immediately it’s “taken up.” As my Zen teacher says concerning practice, “Don’t turn it…
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The Seeking Self Isn’t No Satisfaction!
In a collection of Dharma talks entitled Zen Classics for the Modern World (2011), Rinzai Zen teacher Jeff Shore states, For the ceaselessly seeking self, nothing it comes across will give lasting satisfaction. Once the seeking self has come to rest, the most ordinary and commonplace is quite enough. “When hungry, eat; Tired, sleep.” The…
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Be Your Own Zen Socrates
Imagine a cake consisting of three layers: the bottom layer, the middle layer, and the top layer. Now label the bottom layer “hurt,” the middle layer “ignorance,” and the top layer “presumption.” In simplified form, this schema depicts our ordinary minds. Presuming that we know is laid overtop actual ignorance. Actual ignorance, situated above the…
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Escape Total Work! A 4-Week Course Starting In February
“Escape Total Work” is a 4-week course running from February 7th to February 28th. The course will likely be capped at 12 people. Here’s what one past participant had to say about her experience: This course gave me a signal to wake up and be curious about my life in a deeper sense, to look…
Andrew Taggart, Ph.D. 