143 - Eye Of The Beholder

In this episode, I celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the Secular Buddhism podcast by announcing a new AI-powered website, EightfoldPath.com, which serves as a modern application of the Buddhist concept of skillful means. Skillful means, or upaya, is the idea that teachings sho ...  Show more

Why are we so uncomfortable with not knowing? We often race toward any answer, even a bad one, just to escape the anxiety of uncertainty. This episode explores the strange and profound world of Zen koans.Using the powerful story of the nun Chiyono and her breaking water pail ("No ...  Show more

Eckhart answers questions about our identification with the ego and our thoughts. He says the light of consciousness is relentlessly gobbled up by the mind and turned into thinking. He believes practicing presence is the only immunity against our thoughts. He says as we begin ...

In this episode, Eckhart talks about expanding our consciousness. He says that we outgrow the limited perception we have of ourselves: a person with a personality and a product of our past. We need to get in touch with what Eckhart calls the “deep I,” or the transcendent self. ...

Ram Dass talks about the value and limits of psychedelics – when they can enhance the spiritual path and when there can be risks. From ancient times there has been the idea of an elixir sometimes called Soma and the use of natural herbs to effect spiritual transformation. The exp ...  Show more

Are we truly aware by how much our eyes influence our perceptions? Often times, we kid ourselves with the notion we rarely judge by sight. We are inundated by countless images that shape our reality. Today, let’s share a cordial conversation with Jay Bradley, former cast membe ...