Category: philosophical counseling
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The Most Common Samskaras
What are the most common samskaras? A samskara is a basic false identification. The general formula: “I am this.” These, in my experience, are the most common ones: 1.) I am worthless or unworthy. / I must show that I’m worthy, or a valuable asset. 2.) I am alone. / I must do it myself or I…
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Pulsations
When one is deep in meditation, there can stir certain pulsations. These pulsations are subtle movements, the first stirring of manifestation. They are, in fact, very subtle ripples of the still ocean of Consciousness. While not yet mental, they can, for heuristic reasons, be verbalized: But is there a meditator? A knower? A feeler? A…
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Gather All Into One
“Gather all into one,” my old Zen teacher used to say. Then I thought he was referring only to how to sit zazen: how to bring your concentration to one-pointedness during seated meditation. Now I know that he intended much, much more: he was urging us to take all our energies, all our aspirations and…
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To What Does The Name “I” Refer?
“When you pronounce the word ‘I,’” begins Jean Klein during a retreat in Greece in his book Beyond Knowledge, “there is no reference. The pronoun ‘I’ can never become a thought. When you pronounce it, it refers to your real nature. It is a vertical feeling, a timeless feeling. It points directly to your heart”…
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The Personality Grows Out Of My Silence
The personality–not what I am–grows out of the silence of my elemental presence. It rises out in front and sets out in front. This can be directly seen, and therefore the beginning–or more than the beginning–of a Gestalt shift may already be well under way. It’s not only the case that this is clear because…
Andrew Taggart, Ph.D. 