Here are a couple of talks from my April 2011 workshop at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, Exploring the Mystery of Consciousness. I’ve turned them into videos with gentle images of water.
Buddha, Dukkha, and The Journey to Now
This looks at the parallels between Buddha’s spiritual journey and our own. I describe how the Buddhist term dukkha, often translated as “suffering”, is better described as discontent, and stems from resistance to our experience of the present moment.
Ayahuasca: Is It Really an Entheogen
Entheogen means “generating god within”. Ayahuasca may well produce profound spiritual openings and personal transformation, but does it really generate a connection with the Divine?
Dukkha derives from self-pity of not attaining one’s desires. There are two ways to attack this problem. One is to squash the desire and the other is to not react to the failure to reach one’s desire, also known as detachment.
The middle ground is to aim low. That way, when one does accomplish something mildly significant it seems like it exceeded our expectation. Aim low and be happy.