Heinz von Foerster once said – here paraphrased – that complexity is a consequence of language; it does not inhere in the world. I want to extend his insight and say that complexity is not a property of experience but rather is a property of descriptions of experience. Basically, I am suggesting that experience happensContinue reading “On Descriptions of Spiritual Awakening”
Author Archives: Sean
Dialogue as Love
Recently I wrote this sentence: There is no other way because we are already what we seek: are already the very home in which we long to rest. It was in the same paragraph as this little gem: We are love. Sigh. I try to be careful when writing that way. It’s not that theContinue reading “Dialogue as Love”
Accepting Life As Is
In a sense, the work is simply to not wish that life be other than it is, at this moment. That sounds easy but it is actually very hard. If we look closely, we will see that we are in a state of apparently perpetual resistance to life. We compare it to past iterations andContinue reading “Accepting Life As Is”
On Avoiding Conceptual Dead Ends
Say that we are climbing a mountain and the trail becomes hard to follow. We come to a post with twenty signs nailed to it. Nineteen are marked with lines and squiggles that mean nothing to us. One reads “trail to summit marked with orange circles.” We follow its directive and, lo and behold, arriveContinue reading “On Avoiding Conceptual Dead Ends”
The Going-On Going On
A lot of the writing I do these days – some of which shows up here, some of which does not, but all of which has as its essence a desire to see more clearly what I think and feel in order to see more clearly thought and feeling arising – has to do withContinue reading “The Going-On Going On”
Oneness as Human Observer Balancing
Yet ask: if the stories we tell ourselves matter – and they do – then don’t the distinctions we draw (constructivist/realist, believer/atheist, Christian/Buddhist) somehow also matter? After all, they are part of – influential parts of – our stories. Distinctions are inevitable. A human observer cannot help but make distinctions. When we become aware ofContinue reading “Oneness as Human Observer Balancing”