Western Baul Podcast Series westernbaul.org

Zazen is a practice that involves the body in ways such as working with the breath. Joshu Sasaki Roshi came up with the phrase, “Buddha is the center of gravity.” Rooting ourselves to the earth through the hara, the abdominal area, is an aspect of Chan or Chinese Buddhism that came to be known as Zen in Japan. We unconsciously absorb negativity that denigrates the body in our culture. There is a symbiotic relationship between spirit and the body in ancient systems like yoga, tai chi, and qigong. There is a traditional analogy of a chariot (the body), horses (our will and energy), driver (the ego that is in connection with the world), and passenger (the Self or witness). The ego needs direction from the Self. When we get beyond busy-ness we can hear the messages of the Self and the body. In Buddhism, it is not desire but unexamined desire that is suffering. The vessel has been referred to as the receptacle of the soul. Do we relate to the vessel with tenderness or judgment? Judgment pops up over and over; it is ingrained and patterned in our bodies. With deep meditation experience we understand that we’re not just the human body. In spiritual practice, relationship to the body is often ignored. The Middle Way does not deny or punish the body with ascetic practice and does not indulge the body. This way has got to look different today than when Buddha lived in 500 B.C. The focus on the evolution of consciousness can last right up to the end of our lives. A koan is a practice of a dying activity meant to dissolve the sense of a separate self. When we have compassion for ourselves, it spills out to other people. Myosho Ginny Matthews was a student of Joshu Sasaki Roshi for 40 years. She took lay ordination in 2000, leads retreats on practice, is a dance teacher and choreographer, and is featured in the book, The Unknown She: Eight Faces of an Emerging Consciousness.

Identification is the great law that governs all human life. We are enslaved and quickly swept away by it as it captures and consumes our attention, which is what we are in essence. Yet, we are blind to it and believe we are free. All human problems are caused by identification. Imagination and identification are identical twins that work together. We are powerless to hold attention for long before being captured by imagination. We are identified with the body and ego structure and by attachment to objects, people, ideas, belief systems. A root of identification is self-importance when we see ourselves as the center of the universe. Identification is fear, which blocks love. It has one aim only—the survival of the false self/ego structure. One of the primary tools of identification is judgment, which can become a reminding factor. The mark of a person who is willing to work is self-honesty. Freedom is freedom from identification. There is only ever one problem: an unwillingness to confront the need to cease all identification. We can loosen the hold of identification with the practice of presence by self-observation and self-remembering. The body is an objective feedback mechanism to help orient the attention in the present. If we’re not conscious of the body, we’re not conscious. Conscience can be seen as the Will of God, or Love. In saying and doing things that violate conscience, we suffer remorse and our hearts can change. Beauty is everywhere but we don’t see it due to fear or identification. We can come to be grateful to those who offend us. Intuition can be distinguished from imagination. Love is the standard by which we can compare and come to disbelieve reactions and feelings. Red Hawk is an acclaimed poet and the author of 13 books, including Self Observation, Self Remembering, The Way of the Wise Woman, Return to the Mother, and Book of Lamentations.

Rick Lewis talks about the mystery of the Guru through telling stories of his experience with his Guru, Lee Lozowick. He discusses circumstances that brought him to his first Guru, Bhagwan Rajneesh (Osho), to meet Lee after Osho’s death, and to search to escape from the anxiety of human separation through spiritual attainment. Altered states that feel incredibly profound can be used to maintain a separate sense of self, as if we are getting closer to enlightenment. Stories are told about how Lee fanned the flames of this spiritual pursuit, which began to unravel after Lee’s death. The inexplicable energetic field around a Guru, who functions outside the usual reference point of a separate individual, is considered. Relationship with a Guru is both unnerving and inviting given the uncanny awareness and connection a Guru has with the moving parts of reality. The content of one’s interactions become irrelevant when introduced to the ground of pure being through receptivity to a master. Rick remembers an experience of driving for hours in silence with Lee, with self-conscious feelings disappearing into the heart. He describes the Guru’s fierceness when asking a question he had previously asked, hoping for a different answer, without feeling any aggression. There is also the fallible human aspect of the Guru which adds to the confusion of the linear mind. To be a human being without putting on an act or mask is a natural thing. The Guru works with each person in a unique way and is completely available after death. If we have not had the experience of a Guru, all of us have the access point of feeling connected beyond our usual frame of reference with who the Guru actually is. Spiritual literature can be an access point. Rick Lewis is a national speaker and author of 7 Rules You Were Born to Break, The Perfection of Nothing, You Have the Right to Remain Silent, and other books.

It's interesting to consider that there are larger forces at play in creation than we know. Angels are part of the Abrahamic cultures (Moslem, Christian, Hebrew). There are similar entities—dakinis, demigods, spirits—in Buddhist, Hindu, and Native traditions. Einstein’s great question was, “Is this a friendly universe or not?” We can look at the qualities of angels in history, art, and theology and find them in living persons. Calling in our angels has many dimensions to it: a cosmic dimension of finding our rightful place in the universe and welcoming good company that provides help in our lives. Angels in religious traditions are not cute cupids but are often connected with the need to bring justice and peace to the earth. There are demon angels, but angels are most always connected with love. A scientific worldview has triumphed and we look to it to explain how things work. But we can shift the kaleidoscope a bit and see that the marvels of the cosmos are interpenetrated with divinity. If we believe the traditions, we are surrounded by forces set upon helping humanity, which is what angelic forces do. We can call upon these forces. Angel wings may represent an ability to move instantaneously when called upon. Angels are described as powerful, and they often appear as messengers. Praising God, which is what angels do, is a very high spiritual practice. Chanting God’s name is an energetic connection to a higher force. We are fascinated with science fiction in which other entities and dimensions exist. We can look at the night sky and open ourselves to the possibility of living in a divine universe. Who do we want to call upon to help us through transitions, including death? Regina Sara Ryan has just retired as the editor of Hohm Press and is a workshop leader, retreat guide, and author of The Woman Awake, Igniting the Inner Life, Praying Dangerously, Only God, and other books.

The aphorisms of G. I. Gurdjieff are an accessible concentration of many of his ideas and basic teaching. Nine of the 38 aphorisms are considered in this presentation on the life of Gurdjieff, who appeared in Moscow in 1912 after a 20 year search for knowledge. His quest produced a system that became known as The Work. Gurdjieff used the tumult of life that presented itself to teach, including world wars. All outer work can be used for inner work. Some students who helped Gurdjieff establish, manifest, and disseminate his teaching are discussed: the Ouspenskys, de Hartmans, de Salzmanns, and Orage. Work ideas, music, and movements were engaged by those who had a need to go beyond the ordinary state of “man.” This required self-observation of the human machine with thinking, feeling and moving centers and intentional suffering, choosing how one wished to be, and trying with directed super-efforts. Gurdjieff established a center for his studies at the Prieure near Paris in the 1920s and the aphorisms were posted in the study hall there which included: “The worse the conditions of life, the more productive the work, always provided you remember the Work.” “Like what it does not like.” “Remember you have come here having already understood the necessity of struggling with yourself—only with yourself. Therefore thank everyone who gives you the opportunity.” There is discussion of Gurdjieff’s trips to America, his writing of Beelzebub’s Tales, and his student Louise March who established a center at a New York farm with children’s groups and where the Work has continued. Carl Grimsman was born into the Gurdjieff Work environment during the first years of the New York Foundation, attending the children’s group there and later working with Mrs. March at East Hill Farm. The first two books in his “The Soul’s Traverse” series are Sun Bridge and The Kindling.

An ethical will is about what we wish to pass on to future generations. Native American tribes think seven generations ahead in terms of what to leave behind. An ethical will has been part of the Jewish tradition. Ethics is about acting according to conscience, while morality is more about following widely shared norms, sometimes unthinkingly. When we consider who our ancestors were, we learn about ourselves. How have things that happened in the past brought us to the spiritual work we’re doing now? Some of us on a spiritual path have been exposed to higher laws such as hospitality, good company, reciprocity, and invocation and have benefited from teachings passed down through traditions. Could we convey values we have learned in a way that benefits others and does not create a burden by saying what others who come after us should do? Maybe spiritual work, which arises out of the wellspring of a desire to self-realize, is inherent in life and does not need anything from us to express itself. But if we have benefited from it, do we feel a responsibility to pass it on? Most of the time what we want to leave behind is something to be remembered by. An ethical will is different; it is about passing on something bigger than ourselves. What is of ultimate value is beyond the personal. If we practice because we want to awaken individually, it will not yield much in a lifetime. Tribal people pass on values through story. Humor is often an aspect of expressing the sacredness of life so we don’t take ourselves so seriously. If we feel the urge to write, we could make an ethical testament of things we have learned from. We can live inside a question of what we might wish to pass on and how we could do that. Elise Erro (e.e.) has been committed to a life of engaging spiritual principles and service through theater, support for the dying, and bringing enjoyment to others as a chocolatier.