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SHADOW WORK AND THE SELF, AND THE SAGE

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  I receive a number of tortured messages from those who say they are trying to heal their shadow or some past experience. There is a poignant beauty in their suffering, and their suffering arises as innocently as the waves breaking on the shore, as innocently as joy. In the story of Miranda, there was great suffering and a desire to heal her traumas. She was diagnosed with PTSD and depression, but trying to heal seemed like trying to dig a hole in the ground to get to the end of the hole. What can sometimes be heard is that these stories belong to no one, that they freely arise like a pain in the knee, that they are not your burden, and you are not broken. That you are not lost in the darkness; you never were. There was only ever this light, this love, and there is no one who has some unconscious darkness they need to heal. Some write that they feel those who seem enlightened may still have shadows they have ignored. They may be accused of manipulating their audience. But there is...
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MIRANDA REFLECTS, explorations of Nonduality Today’s quote: THE STORY OF THE ABSOLUTE reflections from Sander Schevers: Once the idea of an underlying essence appears, it often becomes refined into something more subtle. Instead of saying that everything is made of matter or energy, some teachings say that everything is the absolute. Other words may be used. Consciousness. Being. The Self. The One. The divine. Each of these words attempts to describe the ultimate nature of reality. The claim may sound profound. Everything is the absolute appearing as the world. Everything is consciousness appearing as form. Everything is the Self manifesting as experience. Such statements often bring a sense of unity or comfort. They suggest that behind the complexity of life there is a single, sacred source. But again it is worth noticing what is actually appearing. A sound occurs. A sensation arises. Movement unfolds. None of these events present themselves as the absolute. A bird chirping...
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THE MORNING AFTER (random reflections on nonduality on a sleepy morning following a summer solstice camping trip at the silent retreat)

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  Back from a ceremony to celebrate the Summer Solstice. Even when connected to something we seem to observe, the sun’s movements in this case, making some part of ‘what is’ special seems surreal these apparent days. It’s hard to feel connected to ideas about time, or maybe it's just my excuse for no longer acknowledging birthdays and holidays. I honestly can't even remember the imaginary days and numbers attached to "my birthday." As the legendary guru Janis Joplin once said, "if you got it today you don't want it tomorrow, man, cause you don't need it, cause as a matter of fact, as we discovered in the train, tomorrow never happens; it's all the same fucking day, man." But it seems as if humans, at least contemporary humans, often need a story of specialness to simply feel free to express the joy of life. Though that joy gets mixed in with all manner of meaning and interpretation. At the Solstice ceremony, there was dance and music, but s...
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MIRANDA IN WONDERLAND

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A surprising number of people write me wanting to know how life is seen, how the world of apparent people and events looks to me. They’ve heard various speakers say that there is simply "no one" there, that everything that appears has no meaning, and even the judgments of good and bad no longer apply. It often sounds very detached, and speakers seem like they have a rule prohibiting them from discussing their direct perceptions and speaking to their audience as intimates. So there’s a lot of “no one” and “nothing” language, as in "life is happening for no one" or "life happens, but is impersonal." From messages I receive, it seems that when sages speak this way, seekers imagine some detached observer sitting aloof from the swirling kaleidoscope of life, watching it all from a kind of void-like state. I doubt very much that is how life seems to nonduality speakers, and certainly it’s not like that at all for this Miranda thingie. So I will try to address th...
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