“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 running commentary on that journey. To me it’s the only path worth taking, all else is impermanent, illusory, and ultimately unsatisfying. As for the whole ‘beware’ thing? One important lesson I’ve learned along the way is that 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. Meaning Doug itself is the problem.
Why Beware of the Doug?
I’m what is known as a spiritual seeker and this site is a running commentary on that journey. To me it’s the only path worth taking, all else is impermanent, illusory, and ultimately unsatisfying. As for the whole ‘beware’ thing? One important lesson I’ve learned along the way is that 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. Meaning Doug itself is the problem.
LATEST 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 world.' Yet what most of our species thinks of as the real world - the one they're busy sensing and[...]
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 it worked. Until it didn't. I suppose because a stretch of my childhood was particularly rough, my brand of suffering[...]
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. I've always suspected this is in part what Thoreau meant by 'the mass of men leading lives of quiet desperation.'[...]
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 episodes. Researchers found that patients fared better with psilocybin - the active ingredient in 'magic mushrooms' - than with placebos.[...]
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[...]
“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 –
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 one doing the seeking. Spiritual awakening, writes David Carse, is letting[...]
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 also become a central discovery of modern science. Assuming we're open-minded[...]
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 virtually every philosophical and spiritual heavyweight of the past 2,500 years,[...]
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 or she is. In a sense, it is the ultimate self-inventory.[...]
Recent Posts
Cleaning out my home office, I stumbled across the journal of my ex-wife, who died several years ago due to the ravages of alcoholism. I spent a few minutes scanning the handful of pages she'd[...]
During my teens I'd stumbled across, and become fascinated with, the idea of a Native American-inspired vision quest. Coming from a controlling and demeaning childhood, the idea of venturing into the wilds in search of[...]
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[...]
A great deal of my early life was characterized by the kinds of suffering to which only a powerless child can be condemned. The details of that suffering are irrelevant for three reasons: There are[...]
