Extract from chapter 4 of the classic mystical text The Cloud of Unknowing. Here our anonymous author explains why we can’t understand ultimate reality or the nature of God using our minds: Chapter 4: We cannot know God with the intellect “I must tell you a little more about this matter, as I see it,… Continue reading Cloud of Unknowing: We cannot know God with the intellect
Mindfulness is everywhere these days. With the number of books and apps and courses available you would think we had become a nation of bodhisattvas overnight. The positive effects of mindfulness are widely known and aggressively advertised, but the practice doesn’t work the same way for everyone, and it can actually make you feel worse.… Continue reading The Hidden Dangers of Mindfulness
This week I’m reading Waking from Sleep which explores various higher states of consciousness and awakening experiences and how to induce them. Our normal state of day-to-day consciousness is a kind of sleep and this book explores the ways we can wake from our slumber into a more intense, present reality. There are sections on the… Continue reading Review: Waking from Sleep by Steve Taylor
“Mindfulness of Breathing, monks, cultivated and regularly practiced, is of great fruit and great benefit. Mindfulness of Breathing, cultivated and regularly practiced, brings to Perfection the four Foundations of Mindfulness. The four Foundations of Mindfulness, cultivated and regularly practiced, bring the seven Factors of Enlightenment to perfection; the seven Factors of Enlightenment, cultivated and regularly… Continue reading What is the real meaning of Mindfulness?
“Mindfulness is the skill of thinking you are doing something when you are doing nothing. One of the good things about mindfulness is that you get to do a lot of sitting down. Sitting down is good for the mind because so much positive energy is stored in the lap.” – The Ladybird Book of… Continue reading The Dark Face of the Mindfulness Craze
This week I’m reading What Makes you Not a Buddhist, a brilliant and lucid book from a Tibetan Buddhist master who doesn’t pull his punches. Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse gives it to us straight: so you think you’re a Buddhist? Think again! This book challenges common misconceptions about Buddhism, particularly those held by practitioners, and demonstrates… Continue reading Review: What makes you Not a Buddhist
Earlier this week we looked at the process of feeding your demons, which is a way to make friends with your shadow. In this post we’ll dig deeper into the various types of demon you might find skulking in the darkness of your worst fears. But first, what is a demon? In this practice, demons… Continue reading Shadow Companions: Types of Demons
Lama Tsultrim Allione gives us a bit of background on the practice of feeding your demons and how it works, a little on the founder, Machig Labdron, and how she made friends with the naga demons. But most useful of all, she then takes us through the five steps of the process of meeting and feeding a demon. Worth taking the time out to do this meditation. Enjoy!
Recently I realised that I’d spent my whole life fighting against the darkness. But my demons won’t die, no matter how many times I bash them over the head. It’s exhausting. So I was open to trying anything that might help when I came across the practice of Feeding Your Demons in the book of… Continue reading Embracing Darkness: how to feed your demons
One night I was having trouble sleeping so I decided to do a guided meditation. It seemed simple enough: you meet a guide who gives you a gift and then shows you something you need to face. I thought it might distract me from the insomnia and shut my whirring mind off for a few… Continue reading An Unexpected Gift: when a guided meditation went “wrong”
This week I’m reading Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind: a Zen classic from a brilliant master. The book is drawn from a series of talks given by Shunryu Suzuki on Zen Mind and how to practise. They’re divided into three sections that cover Right Practice, Right Attitude, and Right Understanding. The beginner’s mind of the title is… Continue reading Review: Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki
“Wherever there is light, look for the shadow. The shadow is me.” – Anais Nin “Every man carries with him through life a mirror, as unique and impossible to get rid of as his shadow.” – W.H. Auden, The Dyer’s Hand “Most of the shadows of this life are caused by our standing in our… Continue reading Me and My Shadow
Jessica Davidson 