May 15, 2024
The Edge of Empty and Full: Fear, Desire, and the Heart
El Borde de lo Vacío y lo Pleno: Miedo, Deseo y el Corazón
This session explores the relationship between emptiness and fullness in direct experience, examining how thought seduces us away from presence. Through dialogues, the teacher investigates fear as a doorway to aliveness, the difference between the vulnerable psyche and the unharmed heart, and the deep trust required to follow authentic desire. Practical guidance on breath-counting and returning attention to the body supports the inquiry into what we truly are.
meditation
The Edge of Empty and Full
A meditation on resting at the edge where emptiness meets fullness, noticing thought's pull, and trusting the aliveness already here.
dialogue
The Door Inside Fear
A student shares a lifelong terror of speaking in groups, and the teacher explores the difference between being in fear and having fear of fear.
dialogue
Fear of Fear
A question about how the anticipation of fear serves as a guardian, and what happens when we step through it.
teaching
The Door You Cannot Enter Whole
A reflection on the fear that arises when life pulls us toward what we truly want, and how the part of us that contracts must be left behind in order to pass through.
dialogue
Making Fear Your Friend
A student reports on the experience of sitting with uncomfortable fear, and the teacher explores how deep listening aligns us with a life force greater than our thoughts.
dialogue
The Pull of Thought and the Practice of Returning
A student describes noticing how attention is repeatedly drawn into thought, and asks whether using physical sensation to return to presence is a form of spiritual bypassing. The teacher explains why this is not only valid but essential, and offers a practical breath-counting method for building the capacity to stay present.
teaching
What Cannot Be Harmed
A reflection on the distinction between the psyche, which needs care and protection, and the heart, which remains open and unharmed regardless of circumstances.
meditation
The Heart That Cannot Be Harmed
This meditation explores how following what you truly desire — even after being hurt — reveals a deeper part of you that remains whole and unharmed.
dialogue
Peace That Doesn't Need Anything to Change
A student struggling with a painful breakup asks how to hold both anger and the desire for peace and forgiveness at the same time.
dialogue
Trust as a Quiet Knowing
A question about what it means to trust, not as a belief or thought, but as something deeper and quieter.