DEERFIELD BEACH, FL–A couple weeks ago I went through this entire list of enlightenment teachers (Nonduality/Advaita Vedanta) and not one of the (currently) 77 teachers keeps a personal blog. Not one. Isn’t that strange?

Sure some of them post “article” blogs–a series of articles supporting their teachings–but no teacher blogs about their daily lives. Not a single one.

Enlightenment is not just about waking up–it’s about living life. It’s about a rare, amazing, open, and natural way of seeing and functioning in this world–the perfect fodder for a good blog.

Each of these teachers must have considered how useful a day-to-day, personal blog would be for their students, and yet none of them chose to share their non-egoic lives.

Really–isn’t that strange?

DEERFIELD BEACH, FL–The other night I had a powerful dream:

I was deep inside some large dark cavern, a cavern that the entire population lived in (or so I thought). I was being chased by some large, unseen dinosaur. As I fled, I ran past a wolf that was caught in a hunter’s trap. As I ran by, I felt terrible because I knew the monster was going to eat the wolf. Feeling guilty, I turned around and, even though I thought the wolf would bite me (and the monster might get us), I freed him from the trap (a wire was wrapped around his neck and I cut it away with a pair of wire cutters that were conveniently in my pocket).

More below the break…

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DEERFIELD BEACH, FL–My poor brother seems to be suffering the wrath of Gods Past. As I mentioned a few months ago in Jeff’s Lost Journey (plus photos here and here), it seems that he is destined to learn to live in the moment the hard way.

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DEERFIELD BEACH, FL--Since arriving in S. FL, many people have graciously assisted me. My parents and brother and his family have allowed me to stay with them. My friend Mary has allowed me to stay in her vacant condo in exchange for some handy-man work. Other friends, Monica, Denise, and Sula have all offered to help me get started holding talks.

I truly appreciate all the help, kind words and support from everyone. Thank-you.

CORAL SPRINGS, FL–I recently changed the tag line of this blog from Passionate Enlightenment to Attainable Enlightenment.

Passionate seemed too ambiguous–too vague. Does it mean sensual? Out-flowing? Active? Obsessive?

Attainable is much more direct and meaningful.

Where I differ from most spiritual teachers, and thus this blog differs, is that I believe most teachers are not focused enough on what keeps their students from waking up (the Problem) and how to help them overcome the this. (more…)

I started writing a post about why we believe and cling to a theory (or religion), when, by its very definition, a theory is unproven.

I wanted to show that if you can change your belief to, “I believe I do not die when my body dies,” then you will naturally overcome the fear of death. Overcoming the fear of death will dramatically weaken the ego (as it did for me). A weaker ego is much easier to drop than a strong one.

But how do you get someone to believe that they don’t die upon bodily death (if they believe otherwise)? For that matter, why do people believe A over B? Can they make themselves believe B if they can see the benefits?

Anyway, I ended up scrapping the whole post because I kept going around in circles which tells me it’s not fleshed out enough.

But, since I wanted to get something posted today, well, this is one of those examples where blogging can be just as messy as real life. So just forget I said anything about beliefs and go out and enjoy the day.

I noticed this morning that I had been at the Slabs for a week now. I had only intended to stay a few days, but somehow the time got away from me. I talked to a guy yesterday who has lived here for three years. He makes his living digging “septic tanks” and bumming beers. Once you’re in the Slabs and you’ve got nowhere else to go, then you’ve got very little reason to leave. The Slabs are sticky that way.

Many who arrive here fall into a Dark Pit, either alcohol or drugs or even retirement. Once in their Pit, they rarely can see a way out–indeed, sometimes they don’t even know there is a way out.

But Dark Pits aren’t limited to the Slabs. Most people fall into pits at some point in their lives. I was in the Corporate American Pit for over twenty years because I was too afraid to leave. Currently I’m dealing with (more accurately, not dealing with) two people who, right in front of my eyes, fell into their own Dark Pits: one into a Pit of Anger and the other into a Pit of Depression.

The sad part is, Dark Pits are all in our heads. The Pits of Anger, of Jealousy, of Fear, of Envy, of Depression, of Regret, of Revenge–none of these Pits are real. They don’t exist in the real world. These Pits, when people find themselves “trapped” in them, are only in their heads. How do I know this? Because you’ll never find a frog in one of those Pits. You’ll never find a sparrow, or deer, or tree, or cloud, or grain of sand, or beach, or ocean, or sun, or anything else that is real. You will never find anything real in any of those Pits.

So I stand up here in the sunlight, waving my hands, shouting, “Up here! Come up here where the real world is! Come up here where there’s light and wind and fresh air. Where there are birds on telephone lines. Where there are forests and mountains and lakes. Come up here where there are oceans and beaches and thunderstorms and Life! Come up here.”

How do you get out of a Pit when you find yourself in one? You just go for a walk in the real world. Just walk, and look, and listen, and live.

And when those thoughts pop up and try to drag you back down into a Pit (and they will) remember: Anything contained in a thought is just a Horton–and all Hortons are just figments of your imagination. The real, wonderful, living World is up here. Suffering, Sorrow, Misery, and Anger live down in the Pit. They live based on a past that no longer exists. They live only in a Pit deep down in your mind.

Appreciation. By far the most common experience that I feel.

Sometimes my eyes fill with tears just looking at the discarded. How is it that we miss the beauty…?

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The Slabs.

No, this isn’t part of my Map of Life series. Slab City is a place that–once upon a time–fell through the cracks and has since found an identity all its own. A kind of Mecca for American nomads, it’s home to survivalists, dropouts, ex-hippies, and many others who live on the Fringe.

It’s also home to Leonard Knight, a man with a life-long passion. Leonard Knight is the man who dreamed and built and resides at Salvation Mountain–a kind of Billy-Graham-on-acid-while-listening-to-Lucy-In-The-Sky-With-Diamonds sort of place.

My photo from the October 28 post (the horses and the tree) is up for Travel Photo of the Week on MSNBC–so head on over there and vote for it if you liked it. It’s only the second time I’ve ever submitted a photo to a contest–I just liked the shot.

Spent yesterday exploring the coast north of LA. Very beautiful. The traffic isn’t as bad as you hear–S. FL (where I’m from) is much worse.

Today I had lunch with Chandi, the woman who interviewed me a few weeks ago. We’ve known each other virtually for a few years (six?) but we’d never met until today. Seeing her and talking about enlightenment and spirituality really helped clarify some points to my “message.” A sign of a great interaction is when everyone leaves feeling as if they’ve helped the other and been helped themselves. Felt good.

Feeling the pull for a change of atmosphere, I traveled south over the last few days, eventually finding a quiet camp at the foot of the Sierra mountains outside of Bishop, California. There is a tiny brook babbling near my rig and a few campers have set up tents a half mile or so upstream.

Though it is high desert country, the water from the brook feeds the trees and shrubs producing a line of foliage through the rocks and sand and hills. Birds nest here and, doing what birds do best, chirp and flitter about. The air is clear and clean and blue and the snow on the mountains contrasts nicely with the browns and grays and golds of the lower hills.

The isolation, the nature, and the beauty help clarify the message that seems to be circulating within me–a message that seems to want to be told. It’s futile to fight this “movement,” futile to try to make things happen–to bend it or use it. Lately it feels more natural to allow Life to live through me rather than for me.

I sit outside and look up into the mountains. It’s quite peaceful here.

The sky, returning to its Pacific Northwest ways, has become grey, cloudy and pleasantly overcast – making photography both easy and pleasurable. Light and shadows, softer now, gently bring out colors and textures – smoothing boundaries and enhancing the beauty of everyday things. Wandering aimlessly among the streets and cafes and parks of downtown Eugene (Oregon), a hidden piece of wisdom surfaces that unconsciously was known for years: that a photographer’s eye forces the mind back into the Present moment. Self consciousness can’t exist simultaneously with awareness focused on Reality – with appreciation of simple beauty found in plants and walls and trees and windows and stairs.

Still, self-consciousness, though much weaker than just a month ago, remains. Walking among people again, most seem to sense something a little out-of-place. There are curious, slightly confused stares and involuntary double takes – each often followed by a warm smile or nod. Each gesture, when I catch a glimpse of them, awakens an old, irrational conditioned “tug” of self-consciousness – a tiny, infant-sized fist clenching gently in my stomach.

It’s not important though, not something to be avoided or fought with. It’s just a subtle reminder that the change I’m experiencing is gradual, that – unlike “sudden enlightenment” (where I suspect the ego is repressed) – the old mental conditioning of self-consciousness, is fading. Each small, gentle tug reminds me of who I really am – who all these curious people are: Light within Light; Awareness looking at Awareness; Wandering waves, thinking that they are separate, gliding across the deep still waters of a Divine Sea.