“Peace will come to the hearts of men when they realize their oneness with the universe. It is everywhere.”

– Black Elk –

“Peace will come to the hearts of men when they realize their oneness with the universe. It is everywhere.”

– Black Elk –

Why Beware of the Doug?

I’m what is known as a spiritual seeker, this site a running commentary on the journey. One important nugget I’ve learned along the way: the belief in a Doug separate and apart from the world outside it is itself the problem. So, yeah, this journey reminds me to beware of the Doug, the same one undertaking this trek. Some quantum weirdness there.

My Other Sites

Perennial Way

I’ve collected a lot of useful resources along the way and share them here for those on the same path.

Kidzu

Originally focused on extracurricular activities for kids, it’s expanding into more meaningful focuses.

Why Beware of the Doug?

I’m what is known as a spiritual seeker, this site a running commentary on the journey. One important nugget I’ve learned along the way: the belief in a Doug separate and apart from the world outside it is itself the problem. So, yeah, this journey reminds me to beware of the Doug, the same one undertaking this trek. Some quantum weirdness there.

My Other Sites

Perennial Way

A collection of resources (teachers, books, organizations, etc.) that may be of use to others on a similar journey.

Kidzu

Originally focused on extracurricular activities for kids but expanded to include more meaningful focuses.

LATEST POSTS

Suffering-as-a-gift

Knock Knock

Published On: October 30, 2025Categories: Doug

What if we saw our suffering the way the mystics do - as an inner opening to something transcendent, as a whispered urging from God? The Sufi mystic, Jalāl al-Dīn Rumi, told his followers, "What hurts you, blesses you. Darkness is your candle." The Indian sage, Ramana Maharshi, reminded us that the purpose of suffering[...]

Vision quest and elk

The Elk, the Pilot, the Lakota Guide and the Vision Quest

Published On: June 27, 2025Categories: Doug

In 2007 I was invited by a Lakota to undergo a guided vision quest in New Mexico's mountains. We carefully hunted the saplings that would serve as four-corners staffs, bundled and tied the prayer flags, and chose a spot in a meadow on the edge of a forest at roughly 9,000 feet in altitude. The[...]

Stop the world

Stop the World, I Want to Get Off

Published On: November 6, 2024Categories: Doug

Not long after I turned 13, I found myself living with my father on the 11th floor of a Virginia apartment 20 minutes from downtown Washington, D.C. One morning, shortly before departing for his secretive Pentagon job, my father announced he'd be gone for an extended stretch of time due to growing concerns a nuclear[...]

Advaita: End of the Spiritual Path

Advaita Vedanta: End Point of the Spiritual Journey

Published On: September 18, 2024Categories: Advaita Vedanta, Self-Inquiry

Searching for peace, happiness, truth, God, meaning, I spent years exploring a variety of religious, spiritual, metaphysical, and alternative teachings. One by one, however, each failed me due to their various inventor-inspired rites, rituals, teachers, and related orthodoxies. Note here the inventor wasn't the mystic behind those religions. To the contrary, anyone who studies the[...]

Content By Category

Advaita Alternatives Consciousness Meditation  Mindfulness Science  Self-Inquiry Yoga

  • Spirituality of yoga

    Returning Yoga to Its Spiritual Roots

    In the campy 1980 comedy, Caddyshack, disheveled groundskeeper Carl Spackler (played by a brilliant Bill Murray) relates a story about caddying for the Dalai Lama. As Spackler tells it, the game ends and no traditional[...]

  • Magic mushrooms

    The Wild, Neural Effect of Psilocybin

    It's not often that a scientist becomes a subject for his own research; even less common when said scientist describes his brain as 'breaking' during the experiment. But that's precisely how Dr. Nico Dosenbach, an[...]

  • Dark therapy

    Spelunking Toward Inner Development

    Sensory deprivation via natural or manmade caves has now become, if not routine, certainly more commonplace. In recent months Outside and National Geographic have run stories on the practice, which usually involves a stay lasting[...]

  • Psilocybin causes massive brain changes

    ‘Massive’ Changes Detected in Brains Using Psilocybin

    Using fMRI technology, scientists for the first time have revealed significant - albeit temporary - changes in the brain function of individuals using psilocybin, a hallucinogen known more casually as 'magic mushrooms.' "I've never seen[...]

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  • The paradox of enlightenment

    The Mischievous Paradox Lurking Within Enlightenment

    Read enough stories on the topic of spiritual awakening and you'll discover a common vein running through all of them: the eradication of the[...]

  • About Beware of the Doug

    The Spiritual Lesson Lurking in Materialism

    The material world is not what we perceive it to be. This is the age-old message of the mystics, sages, and seers. But it's[...]

  • Know thyself

    Why Know Thyself Matters More Than Ever

    It's one of the world's oldest pieces of advice, if you can call it that: know thyself. Yet despite its longevity and embrace by[...]

  • Understanding self-inquiry

    Understanding Self-Inquiry

    Self-inquiry is a mainstay of many Eastern philosophical and spiritual traditions that places an emphasis on the student's persistent investigation into who, exactly, he[...]

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