Category: Spirituality

Van Jones: Breaking Out of Our Resistance Bubble

Van Jones is a New York Times bestselling author, public speaker, and host of The Van Jones Show on CNN. This special edition of Insights at the Edge re-broadcasts Van’s powerful session from Sounds True’s Waking Up in the World online event. In this in-depth interview, Tami Simon speaks with Van about the necessary meeting between spiritual practice and social activism. They discuss the currently fraught political climate and why it’s essential for everyone to break out of their respective bubbles to engage with people with diverse views. At the same time, Van emphasizes the need to combat rising hate and why we all need to stay true to what we value most in life. Finally, Tami and Van talk about the possibility of broad societal change and how spiritual people can catalyze that movement. (66 minutes)

Tami’s Takeaway: Van Jones challenges people who drive hybrid cars, eat lots of kale, listen to NPR, and go to yoga classes (people like me!) to break out of what he calls our “resistance bubble.” This means connecting with people who live dramatically different lives, in different socio-economic circumstances, and with radically different political views and affiliations. When we do, we stop polarizing and congratulating ourselves on our progressive ideals and start building coalitions that lift up everyone, especially the people in greatest need.

You’re Already Doing Magick – You Just Don...

Every person on this earth is born with an entire universe of potential in them. Most people never cultivate the seeds of that potential, so the seeds go to waste and the people go through life wondering what went wrong, or blaming the world for everything that did go wrong.

Magick waters those seeds to make that potential stir, grow, and flower. It accelerates our spiritual and mental development in ways we never could have predicted. Our ability to shape our destiny and the world around us using magick is limited only by our own belief, dedication, and creativity.

The goal of my new book, High Magick, is to provide you with the opportunity to experience the magick that resides within you—within each and every one of us, without exception. These rituals and practices are merely guidelines—a place to begin.

To get you started, here’s a short video where I share a basic magick practice for more healing love.

 

Once you begin experiencing magick, you will never see life the same way again. You’ll grow increasingly aware of the currents of energy active all around you, and the interactions between energy and the material realm. And you’ll discover that, contrary to what you may have been told, there are no limits.
I’m not here to tell you what to believe, and I’m not here to convert anyone. That’s not my job. My job (if you could call it that) is simply to show you what has worked for me through thick and thin. In that way, I guess you could say it’s my job to help. And my hope is that you’ll find these practices as useful in your life as I have found them to be in mine.
With gratitude,

Damien

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Miranda Macpherson: The Transforming Power of Ego Rela...

Miranda Macpherson is an international spiritual teacher who founded the OneSpirit Interfaith Foundation in London and currently leads the Living Grace community of California. With Sounds True, she’s published the book The Way of Grace and the audio series Meditations on Boundless Love. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon speaks with Miranda about taking a more feminine approach to spiritual seeking and why that involves creating an atmosphere of unconditional love. Miranda explains “ego relaxation,” her unique process of letting go of all the qualities that maintain the illusion of being separate from the rest of existence. Considering the roles of trust and vulnerability on the spiritual path, Tami and Miranda discuss what it means to be a channeler of grace. Finally, Miranda leads the audience in a guided practice for discovering the mountainous presence already available in each moment. (60 minutes)

Tami’s Takeaway
Miranda began the podcast in the same way that she begins her in-person teachings, immersing us in a palpable atmosphere of love and unconditional acceptance. As soon as she pointed to this, it was like the sun came out in the small, dark studio room where our conversation was recorded. Miranda likens “ego relaxation”—the releasing of our fixations, fears, and need to be in control—to hardened ice melting in the light of love and acceptance. My takeaway: a commitment to remembering that this warm light is always here and always available.

A Personal Message from Ram Dass and Mirabai Bush

Dying is the most important thing you do in your life. It’s the great frontier for every one of us. And loving is the art of living as a preparation for dying. Allowing ourselves to dissolve into the ocean of love is not just about leaving this body; it is also the route to Oneness and unity with our own inner being, the soul, while we are still here. If you know how to live and to love, you know how to die.

In this book, I talk about what I am learning about death and dying from others and from my getting closer to it. And I talk about what I have learned from being at the bedsides of friends who have died, including how to grieve and how to plan for your own death as a spiritual ceremony. I talk about our fear of death and ways to go beyond that fear so we can be identified with our spiritual selves and live more meaningful lives.

I invited my friend Mirabai Bush into a series of conversations. Mirabai and I share the bond of being together with our guru, Neem Karoli Baba, and over the years, we have taught and traveled and written together. I thought she’d be able to frame the conversations for you, the reader, and also draw in some of what I’ve said in the past about dying, while keeping my current words fresh and immediate. And I wanted to discuss her thoughts on dying as well.

From Mirabai Bush . . .

This is a book about loving and dying and friendship. It is a conversation between old friends, in which we talk about love and death in an intimate setting. I hope we’ve captured Ram Dass’s wisdom, expressed in a new way now that he is 86 and close to death himself.

“It’s about sadhana, spiritual practice, and I want both our voices to be in it,” he said. “I want it to be a conversation.”

“But I need to ask a basic question,” I said.

He nodded.

“Why are we writing this? Who are we writing it for?”

“I want to help readers get rid of their fear of death,” he answered. “So they can be,” a long pause, “identified with their spiritual selves and be ready to die. If you know how to live, you know how to die. This will be a link between my teachings about Maharaj-ji and about death. And people who are living who can see that they are dying each day, that each day is change and dying is the biggest change—it could help them live more meaningful lives.”

After a while, Ram Dass continued, “I’m also thinking about people whose loved one has died, who may live with grief, or guilt and regret, and I’m thinking about those beings who are sitting bedside with the dying . . . this could help them prepare for that role. And people who are dying, who could read this book to help prepare them for dying more consciously, more peacefully, being in the moment.”

Okay, I thought. This will be a good book to write. We’ll be exploring the edge of what we know.

From Ram Dass . . .

I have had aphasia since my stroke 20 years ago. Aphasia impairs a person’s ability to process language but does not affect intelligence. Sometimes I pause for long periods to find a word or figure out how to express a thought in just the right way. I like to say that the stroke gave me the gift of silence.

When I thought about the best way to write a book on dying while having aphasia, I knew it would be important to express these ideas and experiences clearly, subtly, truthfully. I realized that these days I have been expressing what I know best when I am in dialogue with another person—someone who is comfortable with silence and listens for new ideas as they arise. Why not create a book that way?

I like that this format for the book draws you into the room with us, into this conversation that we all need to have. I invite you to watch this video of us talking together, to give you a sense of how our conversations unfolded.

 

https://youtube.com/watch?v=3Tq7kLnYqIs%3Fautoplay%3D1%26utm_source%3Dbronto%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_campaign%3DR180831-Dass-Bush%26utm_content%3DA%2BPersonal%2BMessage%2Bfrom%2BRam%2BDass%2Band%2BMirabai%2BBush

 

With love,

Ram Dass and Mirabai Bush

Finding Joy in Every Moment: A Practice with Miranda M...

Finding Joy in Every Moment: A Practice with Miranda Macpherson

Our world of late seems to be so lacking in Grace, so pervaded with egocentricity. Yet just as a single jasmine blossom can uplift the entire room with its exquisite fragrance, whenever you relax out of fear and control, and learn to be truly present and undefended with what is, your very presence radiates noble qualities deeper into our world.

I wrote The Way of Grace: The Transforming Power of Ego Relaxation to share a clearer, kinder, and more potent way to gain traction on the path of awakening. Closing the gap between what you believe spiritually and how you actually live does not have to be such a struggle. At every stage of your journey, there is Grace to help you surrender, thrive, and become a more graceful human being. I invite you into the living presence that you truly are through teaching stories, reflections, self-inquiry practices, and guided meditations, gleaned from three decades of guiding others into direct experience of the Sacred.

Below, I share a practice that is part of the overarching practice of Ego Relaxation. In this video, I guide you on how you can find joy in every moment by surrendering more deeply into your own heart. May this simple message awaken the natural joy of your essential being and help you be at peace even amidst difficult circumstances.

[WATCH VIDEO]

Given how much our world needs more graceful human beings right now, I will be bold and urge you to buy a copy of the book or audiobook for yourself, but also for someone you love. Why? Because we need friends alongside us to walk the path with substance, someone who understands what it takes to stay with our practice when we may hit resistance. Many of the practices I share in all 16 chapters are ideally done with a spiritual friend, helping one another to deepen and share your insights.

A heartfelt thank you to Sounds True for helping bring this book into manifestation. May this beautiful practice of Ego Relaxation bring Grace alive within you, bringing infinite richness and meaning to your life, and deeper peace to our troubled world.

 

From my heart,

Miranda Macpherson

thewayofgracebook.com

 

P.S. I also want to extend the invitation to the global community at The Way of Grace Book Club on Facebook. Anyone with the book is welcome and encouraged to take part, for authentic awakening is never just for us alone!

 

Miranda Macpherson is a spiritual teacher who shares an integrated, feminine approach to nondual realization. Founder of OneSpirit Interfaith Foundation in London, where she trained and ordained over 600 ministers, today she leads the Living Grace Sangha in Northern California and leads retreats internationally. The author of Boundless Love (Ebury Press, 2002) she lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. For more, visit mirandamacpherson.com.

Buy your copy of The Way of Grace at your favorite bookseller!

Sounds True | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound

 

 

 

 

Finding Joy in Every Moment: A Practice with Miranda Macpherson Pinterest

Mary O’Malley: What’s in the Way Is the Way

Mary O’Malley is an author, counselor, and acknowledged leader in the field of spiritual awakening. With Sounds True, Mary has published What’s in the Way Is the Way: A Practical Guide for Waking Up to Life. In this episode of Insights at the Edge, Tami Simon and Mary discuss the eight “spells” that keep us feeling separate from life—as well as the remedies that bring us more fully into the energetic flow of existence. They speak on the need for curiosity and the role it plays in uniting our attention with our present-moment experience. Finally, Mary explains her understanding of the awakening process and the skills one can cultivate to come into a robust and joyous alignment with life itself. (60 minutes)

Tami’s Takeaway
One of the worst feelings for me is helplessness. Mary teaches that “life is destined to bring up what is bound up.” This podcast brought up for me how I push away feelings of helplessness. According to Mary, “what’s in the way is the way,” and we can become what she calls “tightness detectives” to see how we clamp down in certain situations and resist what we don’t want to feel. When instead we meet our feelings with curiosity and spaciousness, we discover the free flow of aliveness and the absolute trustworthiness in every experience.

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