Western Baul Podcast Series

A look into the union of the Two Truths, absolute and relative: the two that are not two. How all appearances and phenomena and all beings are this union, in every instant. How mind of separation, dualistic consciousness, arises with the erroneous conceptualization of “self” or “selfness” in anything, including us…and how this is continuously generating samsara, the realms of wandering in suffering. How any fixation, identity formation and clinging, reactivity, defensiveness, or even slight tension is a sign and signal of this “self”-grasping. And how all of this is suffering—created by mind of separation. How our spiritual work is to love all and to know directly the true nature of being. There is no separation. Lama Barbara Du Bois, PhD, is a longtime teacher in the Tibetan wisdom stream of Buddhdharma, working with students in the United States and Europe. She has for many years been serving as Lopön (Master Dharma Teacher) for the Garchen Buddhist Institute, Western seat of His Eminence Garchen Rinpoche. She is known for her wisdom, clarity, joy, and humor—and for her fierce and tender love. Lama Barbara is the author of Light Years: A Spiritual Memoir; Brave, Generous, & Undefended: Heart Teachings on the 37 Bodhisattva Practices; and Original Innocence (forthcoming).

Most postures are mechanical and are unconsciously accompanied by a mood, which invokes attitude. The Divine feeds on a very fine vibratory energy or food. The Work teaches that there are three being-foods: physical food, air, and impressions. Everything in the world is an energetic configuration vibrating at a certain rate. The lower the vibration the more the appearance of solidity. It is possible to extract finer elements from air, a refined food called prana. Impressions are all energetic phenomena that the senses pick up. When taken in consciously, they serve a crucial function that allows the body to begin the work of creating a higher being-body. The Work teaches that Earth is a school for incomplete beings. We can verify that we are incomplete if we practice self-observation and see that we can’t remember ourselves and drift in and out of consciousness constantly. Gurdjieff wrote about five being-obligations, such as the conscious striving to know more about the laws of creation and world maintenance. The law of reciprocal maintenance is that we are fed and we feed. We are fed by God, and we can feed the Divine with our work on ourselves. Another being-obligation is the striving to pay for our arising and individuality. We pay through intentional suffering. When we see that the ego structure resists manifesting love of God, we begin to consciously suffer and conscience begins to awaken. Change of heart is the only true change. The body is a transformational instrument and everything is food. If we know how to digest, we can find nourishment in everything. We can work up to and through the point of death. Real freedom is freedom from identification. Red Hawk is an acclaimed poet and the author of 13 books, including Self Observation, Self Remembering, The Way of the Wise Woman, Return to the Mother, and Book of Lamentations.

Self-hatred is characterized by a critical voice that goes beyond constructive evaluation. It operates visibly and invisibly and can be transmitted between generations. It doesn’t work to try to paste self-love on top of self-hatred. There’s a spiritual idea that the universe, including negative manifestation, exists for God’s entertainment. Forms of self-hatred may involve high achievement, romantic masochism, shyness, imposter syndrome, persistent anxiety, perfectionism, people pleasing, and grandiosity. Origins of self-hatred include emotional neglect and abuse. Addictive behavior regenerates self-hatred. With self-hatred, the three roles of the drama triangle (victim, abuser, rescuer) can show up in one person. Self-hatred takes so much energy that battling with it can seem to be the point of life. In Buddhist psychology, it’s said that we spin our perception of reality into existence and that our natural state is stillness but we get bored with it. Things happen in life that allow the truth of reality to break through. Recognizing self-hatred is key to learning to move beyond it. Self-doubt can kill our impulses so we don’t risk getting hurt again. Every neurotic manifestation has a flip side. Self-hatred can start us on a path of seeing ourselves more clearly. It unravels with self-acceptance. Self-observation is more than just mental analysis; it involves feeling what is going on in the body. In meditation we learn to be present and see ourselves more clearly. Humility and restraint can be upsides of self-hatred. A component of self-hatred is cultural. There is a certain tension that is necessary—a struggle between yes and no—on the path of transformation. Taking a step back, gaining perspective, and humor are helpful in working with self-hatred. Idiocy is part of the human condition. Bandhu Dunham is the author of Creative Life and an internationally recognized glass artist and teacher.

Longevity has become an obsession and looking young mythologized. Tasks of the first and second halves of life are considered. The first is about establishing identity, security, and sex and gender orientation. Five tasks of the second half of life are discussed: emptying, taking care of unfinished business, making a sacrament of the present moment, cultivating elder wisdom, and building spiritual friendship. There is obviously overlap of tasks in the two halves. It isn’t possible to make a completely clean exit from life, but part of this work involves giving away and gifting, which can be a joy, and forgiveness and reconciliation, which may need to happen internally. In the first half of life we attach to work, children, homes, dreams of success; the second half involves detaching and remaining in love with what we’re detaching from. We tend to take death personally, but it’s possible to “go through the goalposts” with dignity and bravery. There is a distinction between aging and growing in wisdom. The counterbalance to the culture’s messages can be to reclaim and model dignity, grace, and authentic power. Many of us haven’t had wise elder parents or grandparents, but we can recognize and honor the wise elders we have—some of whom may kick ass and offer more than just being sweet. We can harvest our own wisdom and read to remember what we already know. Our culture is ritually bereft, but we can ritualize elder wisdomhood. What has our heart opened to that we want to leave to the next generation? Our reputation is going to go. Can we encounter and work with that now? Being ordinary is not a choice but a freedom if we no longer have pretensions. Regina Sara Ryan was the editor of Hohm Press for 35 years. She is a workshop leader, retreat guide, and author of The Woman Awake, Igniting the Inner Life, Praying Dangerously, Only God, and other books.

We may take life personally, but larger forces that affect us are at play. Astrological imagery describes what is happening in the world. In Jyotish astrology, Rahu is a being associated with deception, confusion, and inflation of power and ego. The influence of Rahu is active now and is always difficult but can be useful for spiritual practice due to the necessity it creates to work with energies in the world. We want to be careful since prana or life force goes where our attention goes. We can consider reality as a field of light and each of us as bodies of light that come into and out of existence. We need sanctuary to feed the body of light. The process of creating sanctuary is ongoing since we are constantly being deconstructed. Feeding the body of light can take place in the way we relate to a teacher, lineage, community, family, service work, art, social action, prayer, or other situations. We can instinctually sense when this happens. It is common to have an intuitive sense of something bigger than ourselves and to long for relationship with that. Shamanic paths focus on relationship with the gods, who give us life so we will remember them. This is a different way of looking at creation than asking God for favors. Humans have forgotten their function. Feeding the gods through remembrance, in ways such as ritual, keeps existence alive. The sacred includes light and darkness. Turning toward the sacred feeds the body of light. The true enemy is not certain people but a force that takes them over. We can’t see the big picture, but our hearts can tell us what to feed that is in front of us. Creation is the play of God which comes into existence as separate beings in order to experience the play. Clelia Lewis is a freelance editor specializing in spiritual teachings, self-development, and memoir. She is a practitioner in the lineage of Lee Lozowick, Yogi Ramsuratkumar, and Swami Papa Ramdas.