Many groups are available to provide support for your spiritual journey—from religions to spiritual movements to self-help groups. For simplicity, I’m going to call all of them spiritual groups. What all spiritual groups have in common is that they all support spiritual awakening, which I define as evolution toward greater empowerment and greater compassion. Let's explore some of the unique ways that spiritual groups can support awakening. (read more)
Spiritual teachers are our guides to awakening—and they’re all around us. In this episode, I’ll describe the many types of spiritual teachers (including some types you might not have considered), I’ll show you how to get to know a teacher before you enter a student-teacher relationship, and I’ll show you how to avoid problems with spiritual teachers—problems like idealization and exploitation. Finally, I’ll explore various routes to becoming a teacher yourself. (read more)
Contemplative technology invites a do-it-yourself approach to awakening. When practical knowledge about awakening is packaged in relatively inexpensive, accessible technology, this makes it possible for independent-minded people to use powerful tools for awakening---while being less dependent on spiritual teachers and communities. In this episode, I describe some of my experiences with a do-it-yourself approach to awakening, and I explore the pros and cons of such an approach. (read more)
Meditation instructions can be viewed as a form of technology; if that’s surprising to you, I’ll explain. In this episode, I clarify what technology for awakening is, and I describe the roles that religion, science, and engineering have played in developing this technology. I talk about how technology has supported my own spiritual journey, and I explore how devices and entheogens can be helpful for awakening. (read more)
In this episode, I’ll tell you the story of how I adopted my first spiritual practice, and I’ll describe how that practice had some negative effects on me that I hadn’t foreseen. I’ll talk about how I eventually freed myself from those negative effects, and I’ll tell you what I learned from the whole experience. (read more)
