“Behind the multiplicity of forms there is a single reality.”
– Aldous Huxley –
“Behind the multiplicity of forms there is a single reality.”
– Aldous Huxley –
Why Beware of the Doug?
I’m what is known as a spiritual seeker and this site is a kind of running commentary on my journey. One important nugget I’ve learned along the way: the belief in a Doug that exists separate and apart from the world around it is the core fallacy on which all other errors are erected. Doug can engage in a spiritual journey, he just can’t finish it.
Why Beware of the Doug?
I’m what is known as a spiritual seeker and this site is a kind of running commentary on my journey. One important nugget I’ve learned along the way: the belief in a Doug that exists separate and apart from the world around it is the core fallacy on which all other errors are erected. Doug can engage in a spiritual journey, he just can’t finish it.
LATEST POSTS
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[...]
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[...]
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[...]
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[...]
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[...]
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,[...]
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[...]
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,[...]
“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 –
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[...]
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[...]
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[...]
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[...]
Recent Posts
Spirituality is often dismissed as the domain of fantasists, the reasoning being that if one can't touch, smell, hear, taste, see or think it, it's of no tangible benefit to those occupied by the 'real[...]
Like most, I've experienced my share of suffering. Also like most, I turned to the usual suspects for help: psychoanalysis, drugs (legal and not-so-legal), sex, money, adventure, career, family, and so on. Some of[...]
Because we spend our lives driven by thought, it can be terribly difficult for even the tiniest snippet of Truth to edge its way into our consciousness. Without such Truths, the inner journey lacks legs.[...]
A meta-analysis of studies on psilocybin show that high doses of the substance can alleviate symptoms of depression in people at levels comparable to the SSRI drug escitalopram, which is used to treat major depressive[...]
