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Despite the fact that the present moment is all that we ever have, we build lives around past wrongs and future wants. In this talk, Michael points toward ways that we can recognize the difference between the contracted, dense, and “heavy self” and the open, vast, and “Infinite Self”. From this recognition, our intention in life begins to shift from one to All and the continual revelation of the present moment starts to allign itself through our activity. This is the point where we can start to allow the Kosmic Giggle into our lives; a Giggle that knows no opposite. Questions relate to what the work of practice really looks like; and rediscovering the smile of practice.

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So what exactly is this term “ego” that is used so much in this teaching? And how can we break this Zen stuff down in to something relevant expression of a spiritual practice? In this talk Michael discusses how we can bring this teaching, regardless of your tradition into the world with an integration of stillness, wisdom, and compassion. From here, we begin to see the world and our relationship to it shift radically. We see ,for instance, the temporary nature of all things, the interdependent nature of all things, and how all things are infinitely empty at their core.

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Ken Wilber has written beautifully on the issue of egoic translation being mistaken for Spiritual transformation. In this talk, Michael suggests a path for each of us that supports transformation. When this authentic transformative practice manifests we find that instead of living our life as a series of translations in the realm of gain and loss, we can live from beyond time and mind as a mysterious, open sharing with all beings. In this open sharing we are no longer blown around, as is said in the Zen tradition, by the Eight Winds of circumstance. Questions relate to the definition of ego and its relationship to translation; working to find stillness; and a testimonial to surrendering to the present circumstance.

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Sometimes it can help to look at egoic moves in one of four directions: toward acquisition, toward aversion, toward the past, or toward the future. In this talk, Michael suggests that instead of living our life in this two-dimensionality, we can open to a three-dimensionality, or even multi-dimensionality, once we study our craving and our resistance. Along these lines, Michael discusses the difference between egoic judgment and egoless discriminating awareness. Questions relate to death becoming a teacher; being honest with what is really coming up in just this experience; and how instead of trying to make people more happy we can practice helping eachother to become more conscious.

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What is the “experiencer”, the “seer”, or the “Witness” of our experience? In this talk, Michael explains how our attention to our experience, if offered fully, allows for a profound expansion in our consciousness. He suggests, as mentioned in the Lankavatara Sutra, that our awareness of Awareness is another name for our consciousness. Viewing our lives from this Awareness allows all of our negativity and resistance patterns to become less and less significant in our conventional, or normal, experiences. Michael also relates this to Nagarjuna’s Two Truths suggesting that our “surfing between” these conventional and Ultimate realms of experience can be difficult. Questions relate to dealing with an inability to comprehend the Dharma; the difference between consciousness and awareness in experience; limited views that see themselves as Ultimate; responding to the teaching that “drinking our green tea we stop the war”.

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Why meditate? Really. Can’t we awaken without stillness? In this talk, Michael suggests that awakening can only happen through stillness because it is only in the still spaces between our thoughts that the present moment can ever be accessed consciously. And it is only in this conscious meeting of our circumstances that we can ever be free of our habitual psychological inertia. He points to the simplicity of seeing and accepting life as it is as well as the various moves that ego makes in order to avoid stillness. Questions relate to practicing in the face of fear; watching the stage play of mind; conscious breathing as a portal to awakening; and labeling our thoughts as a way of lessening their energetic grip on our experience.

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What does it mean to have a life oriented around a radical honesty? This occurs spontaineously as we incorporate stillness into our awareness of what is happening in each moment. Michael uses Rainer Maria Rilke’s words to start us off on the relationship between beauty and honesty. In this talk, Michael suggests that being clear about what’s really going on in body and mind allows us to fearlessly approach all circumstances. And in this fearlessness wisdom evolves through us. Questions relate to our attachment to deeply held moral beliefs; our relationship to the past, the future, and the Now; and consciously meeting whatever arises.

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There have been several requests for some guided meditation. Here we have it. Just sit back and relax as Michael talks us from Eterntity to here in about 20 minutes.