What is consciousness? If you can answer this question, you won’t need to ask any more questions. But heck, I’ll answer it for you. Consciousness is just a word—one we invented and then loaded with all kinds of meanings. Right here, there’s a dog barking. Does the dog have consciousness? That depends entirely on how …
Author Archives: Zareen
How to End Your Consumerism
How to End Your Consumerism You, me—everyone, practically—in today’s world has been trained from birth to be a consumer. Much of it is obvious. We’re taught to go into stores and pick the shiniest thing we see. Now we click around on our computers, buy and buy and buy, and have everything delivered to our …
You Change Everything You Touch
You Change Everything You Touch Take that in—it’s important. The reason is simple: you exist. If you exist in a state of confusion, you spread confusion everywhere. This is going to be a hard-hitting message, so if you’re feeling very sensitive, you might want to scroll past—unless you’ve begun to suspect that this extreme sensitivity, …
It’s Okay to be Unhappy
It’s OK to be unhappy. That’s a pretty radical statement for here in our modern world, right? We’re taught that everything should make us happy and that happiness is actually the goal. We are actually taught, when we study Eastern religions and enlightenment and nonduality, that that’s the point: Happiness, bliss, sublime peace, whatever. What …
The Art of Relating as if All Things Belong
All things belong. That’s a very interesting stance to take, because if all things belong, then you belong. The way you are. Suddenly we’re not in conflict with things around us, and we’re in relation with it. “God don’t create no junk.” Apply that to our lives and everything changes. Make a big mistake? Oops. …
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The Veil of Separation
The Veil of Separation This is a Buddhist, Zen, and Sufi description of what keeps us feeling separate from the world. Somehow, this veil has come over our consciousness and is causing us to feel separate. We feel that we’re the thing that’s behind the veil—and life, people, objects are outside of this veil. From …
Enlightenment is Possible
Enlightenment is possible with a simple shift of perspective. I guess that’s really the only thing I want to say to people. The logic loop involved in the whole this is so crazy. First of all. If we stick to the popular definition of “enlightenment,” it is not possible… because it’s defined as something that …
Never Take More Than You Need
Never take more than you need. This is a good principle for living materially as well as spiritually. As far as the way that humans live in the world, all of our ecological problems are caused by taking more than we really need. Like, how much do we really need? It’s interesting to look around. …