OM School Live

"For all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these, 'It might have been.'" - John Greenleaf Whittier   Sometimes life is... well... disappointing. We sit down for a great 5-star meal and get served stale crackers and warm beer. What happened? It SHOULDN'T be this way! But it is.   Oftentimes we make choices that, through no fault of our own, lead not to some promised land, but in the opposite direction from it. And, often, by the time we realize it, we can't even see our glorious destination, it is so far over the horizon.    1Dream lost! So what do we do now? Let go? Settle? Reframe? And my personal favorite, be realistic?

How to set boundaries where there weren't any before  "Boundaries define us.  They define what is me and what is not me. A boundary shows me where I end and someone else begins, leading me to a sense of ownership.  Knowing what I am to own and take responsibility for gives me freedom" - Henry Cloud  We all have experienced it.  There are always people who seem to completely ignore your needs, interests, desires, preferences. In other words, people who simply ignore your boundaries. Or is it really that simple?

The Buddha is a metaphor. It represents you. In today's episode, GP will be flying solo. Lisa is attending to family affairs and and, rather than. jus running a rerun we decided to do a brief discourse, a meditation and a and Q&A period.   Love to you all Lisa & GP

No, it is NOT all your fault  "Judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree and it will believe itself stupid for the rest of its life" - Albert Einstein  The foundation of the entire self-help/personal development movement that began back in the 1980s was a major step forward in human psychology and emotional health. Prior to then, the possibility that someone could overcome difficulties, limitations and tragic life events, was the stuff of heroes, movies and myths. Not for the everyday person like you and me. Something shifted in this time and the realm of overcoming our own limitations became a widespread, accepted possibility. It brought with it a great promise of personal growth and a clear step-by-step process for achieving wealth, happiness,  success and all the goodies of life.  It grew from a couple of books on a shelf in the back corner of the bookstore to a multi-billion dollar industry of books, programs, courses, audios, videos, coaches, schools and eventually entire radio and video channels.  In all this enthusiasm there was a major thing that was overlooked. We were all quite naive about the depth and tenacity of our personal and cultural conditioning. And so, while we all, with sincerity, took on the task of improving ourselves, some rather old and nasty assumptions still lingered deep in our unconscious and it didn't take long before they once again began to arise.  We made a noble attempt to improve ourselves and our circumstances but failed to realize even a fraction of the promise. What happened?   We ran straight into the old pattern that has been around since Eve and Adam had that snack. GUILT!  Guilt, self-blame, judgment, discouragement and a resurgence of the kind of self-punishment that has been with us for a very long time.   In a study at Harvard a few years back, they tested the efficacy of positive affirmations. It turned out that, if the individual already had high self-esteem, the affirmations gave them even more. But, if they did not have that level of self-regard, they actually got even more down on themselves. When we are children, vulnerable and dependent, we take in and embody everything our parents teach us, both directly and energetically. To a greater of lesser extent, everyone was taught that there were things wrong with you that had to be fixed. We accepted this true and strove to meet those standards set before us. We did not have the capacity to discern whether or not our supposed flaws were simply what our parents, and the culture at large, found unacceptable. And the message was clear. You are not OK as you are and need to be improved. Fast forward, to you adult life and doesn't that sound a whole lot like the mantra of self-help?  What if there never was anything wrong with you but who you were was simply unacceptable to those around you? As Albert said in the opening quote "Judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree and it will believe itself stupid for the rest of its life."  Let me say that again... what if there wasn't then and isn't now anything wrong with you? Can self-help fix something that isn't broken? You could, quite literally spend your entire life looking solutions to the flaws in you and never succeed, simply because there aren't any. You would walk the self-help treadmill and we all know how far you walk on a treadmill. The spiritual path takes a completely different approach. It starts from the assumption that there is nothing wrong with you. You are NOT broken. And it sets you on the path to discover who was there before all the conditioning and mistaken assumptions ever happened. 

The Spiritual Entrepreneur Transforming the system from the inside out “They must find it difficult, they who have taken authority as truth, rather than truth as authority.” - Gerald Massey, Historian Recently I and my producer Lisa were asked to contribute a chapter to a book titles "The Magnetic Entrepreneur - The Spiritual CEO." At first, it felt a bit odd. But I decided to give it a shot anyway.    What wisdom can I offer to someone who is seeking to create something new in the world? Someone who wants to deliver an important message or help people live fuller and more meaningful lives, but finds themselves bogged down in "the business."    It is true that business, as it has come to be practiced almost everywhere in the world, does not have the best interests of all humanity as its focal point. Yes, as someone with deeply spiritual motivations, we have little choice but to participate in a system that is, quite frankly, the antithesis of what we stand for.    While there is a well promoted image of the entrepreneur as an aggressive, go-getter, sacrificing everything for success and being lauded in Forbes magazine of the Shark Tank. The face it, anyone who works for themselves, in any capacity, is an entrepreneur. From the hairdresser to founder of a budding tech company, being the head of your own enterprise is entrepreneurship.    So how do we "do business" keep our spiritual perspective.   That is what todays show is all about. Join us for the next episode of "OM School Live" every Tuesday at 12 noon eastern time. at http://youtube.com/gpwalsh or in the private facebook group https://facebook.com/groups/gpwalsh

Right Action... Wrong PlaceBart: "They ruined my childhood!:Lisa: "Your childhood is currently happeningThat humorous title sums up our current clumsy means of dealing with human suffering. No one can deny the fact of human misery. But wouldn't you think, that after all this time, we might have a clue as to how to alleviate it? For literally thousands of years we have been scratching our collectives nose when it is our universal butt that is itching. There can be no relief to the annoying itch until we scratch in the right place. I mean when you're cold you don't put a sweater on the coffee pot. You put it on you. Needless to say, this isn't the result of a lack of sincerity or persistence. It is simply our ignorance as to the source of our discomfort. We have completely mistaken the cause and, as an inevitable result, have come up with consistently failed solutions. In every field of human activity we have learned to assess our results and alter course appropriately. Yet, in this endeavor to be free of suffering we don't scrutinize our most fundamental assumptions about its cause and cure. We seem to be stuck in the idea that somehow human suffering arises from conditions and therefore we engage relentlessly in the activity of trying to change conditions. We change partnersWe change jobsWe change locationsWe change clothesWe change leadersWe change political systemsWe change economic systemsWe change religionsWe change attitudesWe even rearrange the furnitureYet the suffering remains. And it will continue to. Why? Let me ask this. What do all of those changes have in common? They all are an attempt to change external conditions in the hopes of alleviating the experience of suffering, discontent, discomfort. We keep scratching in the same place, despite the failure to achieve relief.2500 years ago Buddha suggested a path to the end of suffering. The first step in that path was simply "Right views." In other words, seeing things as they actually are. We can infer from that, that the first cause of suffering would be wrong views. Needless to say, trying to alleviate suffering while being steeped in wrong views of how suffering actually comes to be, would definitely be scratching your nose when your butt itches.The incredible profundity of non-dual self-inquiry is that its whole thrust is to question those assumptions that have led to human suffering.Join us for the next episode of "OM School Live" every Tuesday at 12 noon eastern time. at http://youtube.com/gpwalsh or in the private facebook group https://facebook.com/groups/gpwalsh

“I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” – Albert EinsteinWorld War III does not loom in the future. We are in it right now and have been for a while.Wars are a result not a cause. The actual armed conflict is the last step in a long process. We tend to think only of the gunfire and bombs as the war but the war begins long before the first shot sounds. No war or battle can take place without a storyline to support it. In other words, the mind must be captured, influenced, convinced and thus moved to action. So the real war is always for the mind.In our modern time with mass communication, this influence has been kicked into high gear. We are constantly bombarded with memes, images, slogans, sound bites and talking heads in an attempt to influence us into supporting their position.Although this means of influence has always been known and practiced by those in a position of influence, there is something different about what is happening now. For the first time ever this is global, it reaches everywhere and almost every moment of every day there is an attempt to influence our minds. Actually that word influence is too weak. It is an attempt to control it.But I see something else at work, something unprecedented. These attempts at control are only effective when the one being controlled is unaware of it. Once awareness is present, it completely falls apart. The idea or story that someone wants to instill in you must be believed by you in order to have any power or activity. If you don't believe it it is dead in the water. And so these self-serving storylines are always presented as the truth.But they are not. Beliefs need to be believed. Truth is true whether anyone believes it or not. True is self-sustaining, self-existent, self-luminous and incorruptible. Humanity as a whole is seeking truth, not just another set of beliefs. Which is why I call this World War III. There is a global upheaval of the mind happening. The old paradigm has long ago betrayed its falsity. The old way of human organization has proven to be wholly inadequate, a fact made stunningly apparent in the dismal response to the pandemic and the blatant profiteering where there should have been selfless cooperation.But I have to put forth a warning.In this time of enormous ambiguity, propaganda, divisiveness and polarization it is easy to jump to a new position. Once you realize that you have been deceived there is a tendency to grab on to a new position that is simply the opposite of the one abandoned.This knee jerk reaction gives rise to what are called conspiracy theories which are, in many cases, just as deluded and dangerous as the falsity they are a reaction to. We can go beyond all this. We don't seek a better story, we seek the truth and the truth is not a story. It is not just a different belief, even if it is an improved belief. Let me propose a standard by which all human interaction, behavior, organization and relationship should be informed and it is the only one that will make WWIII the last war ever. That standard is Love!We are not at war with people. There is a pervasive belief system that needs to be exposed as a belief. But that exposure must happen within each of us. Can we drop our position and open to something beyond positions?Can we embody that universal love?Can we become conscientious about our choices?Can we recognize our total interconnection, that suffering, anywhere in the world, is my suffering?Can we transcend the modern universal narcissism we have all succumbed to?Can we stop with the selfies and move beyond "I" to "We"?If every act we engage in is devoted to the benefit of all, war will end, poverty will end, the destruction of the...

Resolving the Conflict Between Love & Attachment“This is love: to fly toward a secret sky, to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment. First to let go of life. Finally, to take a step without feet.” ― RumiIn our modern approach to the human necessity of relationship we often try to draw a hard line. We insist that love and attachment are opposites and you have to let go of one in order to experience the other.Ah, life is not so simple.Attachment is a term that seems to have nothing but negative connotations. Perhaps we should use this word instead... BONDING.The positive side of what we call attachment is bonding. If a child does not bond with its mother it will struggle with emotional difficulties its entire life. Attempting to compensate for the absence of this essential human need results in all of the psychological distortions and even physical ailments we experience throughout life. It will also means that future relationships will be filled with the attachments in the sense we now commonly use it. So the real issue we must look at is not attachment, but a lack of genuine bonding.There is an enormous gift that comes with being a human being. It is a gift that, as far as we know, no other critter on the planet possesses. It is the capacity for introspection and compassionate discrimination. Unlike our non-human brothers and sisters, we can recognize conditioning and conditioning. In this recognition we can bring to ourselves the quality of love, self-acceptance and appreciation that was lacking in those formative years. In other words, we can create an inner environment where a miracle takes place. We SELF BOND. This bonding is not one thing bonding to another. It is the bonding with our Original Innocence.You see, the process of healthy bonding with parents is actually creating the inner environment where we are comfortable in our own skin. We feel a sense of completeness, of resourcefulness. The loving acceptance of parents creates a loving acceptance of ourselves. This is the natural bonding that, in adulthood, expresses itself in the healthy bonding in relationships and minimizes, even eliminates the potential for unhealthy attachments, that is relationships with strings attached.If a relationship, of any kind, is an attempt to compensate for something very essential missing from you, it will inevitably have strings attached. It can't help it. The need we have to this bonding with ourselves is to critical it simply must be either fulfilled or compensated for.When this inner environment of self-acceptance is present there is no need for the nervous system to create the layers of self-protection that make up our self-defeating conditioning. Instead, there is more direct access to your true nature. That means you really do know what you need and want. Then, inevitably, you will be finding experiences and relationships that express your wholeness, instead of finding experiences to try to compensate for its absence. You will be bonding and not attaching. There will be no strings.The good news is that this Original Innocence is always present. Because it is what you are It can never be destroyed. it can only be obscured by the nervous system's primary mandate to keep you alive. And everything I teach is a path back to that Innocence, sometimes through some difficult inner spaces, but always arriving at the place where this is nothing but light and love. Then even the word bonding falls away, since there is no need to bond with what you already are. Bonding dissolves into Oneness and in that Oneness there are no strings, no attachments. There is only Love.Join us for the next episode of "OM School Live" every Tuesday at 12 noon eastern time. at http://youtube.com/gpwalsh or in...

"And suddenly you realize: you are in every dot of the universe vanishing and arising.” - Amit RayDesire is one of those hopelessly ambiguous things that gets either denounced as the cause of suffering or held to be the ultimate goal. We are either monks or hedonists. Neither is accurate!Let's take a step back and look at this inevitable and natural function of the human system. Without desire life is impossible. In its essence it is the motivation of life itself. What is the very best way for life to guarantee something happens or you do something? Make you want to. Job done.This works perfectly when the creature is completely at the behest of nature and natural instincts. But it is a completely different matter when consciousness matures to the point where it is participating in the process; judging it, attempting to control it, wanting it to be different than it is and experiencing cultural biases toward desires that, prior to this would have just be pure innocence.Culture or society, in its attempt to usurp nature and exercise its own control, has characterized the most natural of human motivations in a dark light. It has done so, so successfully that we are ourselves the enforcer of these rules. The end result being, we have become disconnected with our soul, which is simply a word for your true nature, or what I call Original Innocence.The other thing that results is that our capacity to discern what is natural and what is culturally imposed gets blurred. We can't tell anymore and so we do evil in the name of good and act in ways that can only be labeled inhuman.The way back to that Original Innocence and our capacity to discern between natural and unnatural desires starts with a rather simple process. We have to allow both, feel both, experience both and let our capacity to discern the difference mature and grow. But when attempt to do that we find within us a great deal of resistance. All the judgement, criticism and negative characterizations come to the surface. We find it hard to feel these desires. We find it hard to dream our heart's dream. We find ourselves with a great deal of inner discomfort and conflict.So I offer the simplest advice. Simple to hear but not so simple to do. Give desire equal time and feel both the desire and the resistance to it. When you do something strange happens. The conditioned nervous system, being a totally adaptive mechanism, once it recognizes that the desire can no longer be suppressed will begin to adapt to the new environment. It will, in fact, begin to reconcile the the dissonance. It will look for balance.The more time you give desire, without trying to force it, the more that environment is transformed. Remember, you can't assume that every desire that arises is natural to you. So you have to let all of it be sorted out. Eventually, you will begin to discern between the unnatural or egoic, programmed desires and the ones that are as natural to you as breathing.Those desires may come to pass at that point. They may not but that is not the reward. The reward for perseverance here is the end of inner conflict. And the other name for that is peace. Inner Peace is the reward.Join us for the next episode of "OM School Live" every Tuesday at 12 noon eastern time. at http://youtube.com/gpwalsh or in the private facebook group https://facebook.com/groups/gpwalsh

"Unable to perceive the shape of You, I find You all around me. Your presence fills my eyes with Your love, It humbles my heart, For You are everywhere." - Poem from the film, The Shape of WaterOne of the difficulties of being a spiritual teacher is I can talk about what is true directly. I can't point to something and say there it is.Lacking this, I am forced into the use of similes, metaphors, stories, inferences, parables. One such metaphor I like to use is the shape of water.Water is an amazing substance. If you think about it for just a little bit you find it to be totally mysterious.It sustains and is a necessity for all life. yet it is transparentIt is easily seen through yet it bends lightIt is soft and light to the touch, yet it can carve a canyon in solid graniteIt takes the shape of whatever container is is put in and yet it has no shape of its ownAnd so it serves as a perfect metaphor for consciousness.You can see it it yet through it you see everything else. Without it you simply don't existIt perceives all light and even the subtlest of substances, space itselfIt is undetectable to the senses yet there is nothing without itIt too takes the shape of whatever environment it finds itself in and, in the most mysterious of transformations, stays in that shape, even when the environment has changed.This is the nature of the conditioning that we all struggle with. All the emotional and psychological problems, limitations, struggles have all a risen from consciousness, temporarily confined in a particular container and then forgetting that is as free as water.Join us for the next episode of "OM School Live" every Tuesday at 12 noon eastern time. at http://youtube.com/gpwalsh or in the private facebook group https://facebook.com/groups/gpwalsh

"Adam, where art thou?" - GodShortly after the fall from grace the all-seeing God went looking for Adam and Eve. Obviously not on his omniscience game that day he called out "Adam, where art thou?"Where indeed.Adam responded that he was hiding. When the all-knowing asked him "Why?" the recalcitrant, literally born yesterday human responded, "I was ashamed."For centuries now adults and children alike have been tormented by the idea that there is a very harsh and judgmental super being who not only records all your deeds for later prosecution, he even records everything you think. The ultimate thought police.As a spiritual teacher I can actually agree with that whole litany: -He does know every deed -He does know every thought, emotion, sensation, impulse and desire and -He does judge them, and almost always does so harshly and without mercyHow is this possible? How can this being know absolutely everything you do, think or want and prepare the most horrible punishment for your transgressions?Because She is You!She (or he if you prefer) is a deep disowned part of yourself; your inherent divinity, your mystery, your magnificence, your Original Innocence. In other words God is the disowned voice of your very soul.This voice had been disowned and powerfully so. Disowning simply means it cannot be acknowledged. And this taboo against its acknowledgment is the foundation of western religions (the Abrahamic tradition) and indeed all of western culture.The consequence of this institutionalized, horrific injustice is that we take upon ourselves the fault, the guilt, the shame, the blame for the very worst of human behavior. In the meantime, the very best, that which wish we could be but which we no longer have access to, we project outwards on others. And the ultimate form this projection takes is the idea of God.God represents the ultimate, the best, the unattainable, everything we would regard as divine. He/She also represents the ultimate rule maker and rule keeper. enforcer, the punisher, the strict enforcer of all laws. Law that were imposed on us by the way. We had no say in their selection.But every quality we attribute to this super being is nothing other than a projection of your own self. God is your disowned Soul.All the gods, all the heavens, all the hells, are within you." - Joseph CampbellAll the gods and goddesses, all the angels and demons, all the heroes and villains, THEY ARE ALL YOU!That is why God seems to know everything about you. That is because she does. She IS you! But, in our ignorance, we have projected it all on an imaginary super being. And we did this simply because we have never been allowed to accept our own innate divinity. And yes, that divinity includes our innate power. Yet the fact remains that all those qualities, which have been denied and projected outward, are your forever qualities. They are your true nature.So what happened? How did our actual, innocent nature get so demonized? How did the God within become the wrathful God without and to such a degree that to even question it is the most severe blasphemy?Early in our lives we learned to keep so much of ourselves hidden. I have spoken and written extensively about this so I will only summarize here. This sad but necessary state of affairs is a normal part of the process of growing up. The bottom line is, you were not acceptable to your "Tribe," your caregivers and the culture in which they operated and so you confronted the most horrific existential crisis... it was unacceptable and thus dangerous to simply be yourself.This was the condition of childhood that caused us to send big parts of ourselves to the basement of disowned selves, simply to survive. Not only did we disown the very best parts of us (the God...

"No man chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks - Mary WallstonecraftThis have been a question that has perplexed human beings as long as evil has existed. And in fact, evil is a relatively recent invention. When we use the word evil, it is burdened by our current sense of morality. This is good so this is evil. We hold to these "absolutes" even though our rules about them change according to circumstance. Case in point:Murder is bad... unless you are protecting your property, fighting "bad" people, promoting democracy or taking stuff you really needStealing is bad... unless it is from people who we don't think are good or entitled to their possessions and taking stuff we really needLying is bad... unless you are concealing the truth or justifying all the previous rulesLust is bad... unless it is in marriage or a man sowing his wild oats before settling downYou are bad... unless you are following all these rules unquestioningly and don't think for yourselfFor all its claims to the contrary, morality is relativistic and, in our childishness we argue incessantly over side is objectively "true." If we can't come to an agreement, we go to war. And notice that it always seems to be the right side that wins History is always revisionist..Let me. put a completely different spin on it, one that is far more practical and we don't have to invent angry super beings to enforce it. The problem of evil is really the problem of SUFFERING. Anything we do that creates unnecessary and avoidable suffering is evil.As Ms. Wallstonecraft points out in the opening quote, we mistake some behavior as being beneficial to us (namely bringing happiness) but it brings exactly the opposite. So Buddha was right al along. At the root of all human suffering (aka evil) is ignorance. And as another sage put it, "Father forgive them they don't know what the hell they're doing."So if we are ever to eradicate evil and its compounding consequences from the world, we must make a momentous discovery. Where does happiness truly lie?Answering that question is the heart and soul of genuine spirituality. To know where lasting happiness, lives and thus reap its inevitable fruits of peace, community, individual self-expression and universal harmony, we must know who we are. Like a lion in a cage or a whale in a swimming pool, I cannot be living a life that does not fit and be happy.And so, like a broken record (remember those?) I say the same thing over and over in every possible way that I can. I echo the ancient words etched in stone at the prophetic temple of Delphi in ancient Greece. "Know thyself."When I know myself, as I truly am, I no longer mistake actions, thoughts or feelings, that inevitably lead to suffering, for a path to happiness. And thus I solve once and for all the perplexing problem of evil.Join myself and host/producer Lisa Berry for the next episode of "OM School Live" every Tuesday at 12 noon eastern time (5pm UTC). at https://youtube.com/gpwalsh.

Call Off the Search“We already are That for which we are seeking." - PapajiHave you ever spent time looking for your keys or sunglasses only to find that they were in your hand all along? Of course, everybody has. It is a fascinating and mysterious phenomenon of the human mind that we can simply not see what it right in front of us, even filtering out what is touching our skin. That is the power of perception and the power of our assumptions to obscure that which is right there in front of us.Stage magicians know this. They know that people have built in prejudices and presumptions that will allow the magician to distract the viewers to such a degree that they can do something right in front of them and it won't be seen.Airport? Can't miss itWhen I was learning to fly airplanes (a long time ago) I was doing an approach to an unfamiliar airport. I was flying, my instructor was next to me and said, "Let me know when you have the airport in sight." I was looking quite vigilantly but i just didn't see it. After a while he said, "Do you see the airport?" "No" I replied and he gave me this look of bewilderment.Suddenly I did see it. It filled the windshield. I was right on top of it. I had been looking for something small and distant with such an expectation of what I was going to see that I didn't see what one would think, absolutely no one could miss. Hence my poor instructor's utter bewilderment. By the way I did get better at it.Is the problem we're are naive? Is the problem we don't pay attention? Is the problem that we are easily duped? No, those are all the symptoms of unquestioned assumptions. Once you see how the magician does it, you are never fooled again. This is the whole thrust of spirituality and its simplest and most profound practice, self-inquiry. You see, in this case you are both the magician and the audience.When we have assumptions that are not questioned we will miss that which is right in front of us. Suppose you grew up with very disapproving parents who were never satisfied with anything you ever did. As a child, mommy and daddy are always right and so you conclude that "I am just not smart enough." This sinks into the nervous system not as a thought but as an assumption so unquestionable that it rarely appears in conscious thought. Yet it is silent influencing all your perceptions. All the evidence to the contrary will be either overlooked, ignored or reframed into something self-diminishing.It isn't true. It never was. But perceptions shapes our experience in such a way that it is literally what we see, hear, feel, smell, taste and think. You may even take "How To Be Smart" seminars and try all sorts of smart pills. But the fact is, you are already smart. Your parents were wrong. They simply did not see your value because they didn't see their own.So when the spiritual teacher comes along and says, "You already are everything you have been seeking" you say "Huh?" We are incredulous.Yet, the teacher insists. You are that already. You just don't see it." To quote Christ in the Gospel of Thomas "The kingdom of God is spread upon the earth, but the people do not see it."Spiritual awakening is not some form of altered, mystical, expanded consciousness. It is a revealing of what has always been, Even accepting the possibility that maybe this is the case, opens the doors of perception to allow in evidence that was totally filtered out just a moment before. When something deeply believed to be true is seen, not as true, but only as an assumption believed to be true, immediately perception shifts. You see the world differently because you see yourself differently.So consider this, as least as a possibility. What if you already are everything you had ever hoped to be? What if it was only your beliefs that were holding you back and nothing real. Can you take that...

"Tear off the mask. Your face is glorious." - RumiIf the soul is on a journey, to where is it headed?Has it left eternity to wander through time?Has it lost its anchor in the cosmos?Did it begin like a newborn some aeons ago?Is there some terminus, some destiny that awaits?Must it learn to see its own glorious face?When we speak of the heart and soul of something, we speak of its essence. We speak of the raw reality, stripped of all add-ons, accumulated extras, barnacles and slivers. And yet we seem to think of Soul as a person, created at some distant point, traveling through countless lifetimes, learning, developing, growing toward some, as of yet, unknown conclusion.It is self-evidently true that, in our human lives, we experience growth, evolution, acquired knowledge and (hopefully) wisdom. It is then natural for us to assume that this process of ever deepening insight had a beginning and perhaps some final scene.But I don't believe that is the case. While a musician or composer improves over their lifetime, does music improve. Certainly individual creations that express the wonder of music improve, grow, evolve. But does music? Perhaps it is only the expression of music that grows. It even reaches a pinnacle of its time and becomes perfected. Only to be subject to the whims of changing times and a whole new field of expression opens up.I think of the Soul like that. What appears as growth is, in fact, the ever expanding appearing of the infinite in the field of time. Soul is such a rich word. It conveys color, depth, warmth and heart. It is like a rhythm that pulsates and animates an otherwise lifeless body. Soul is Life having fun, celebrating its own glorious face. And since, like music is not bound by the song, Soul is not bound by the body, it is only made manifest in it, it is only Soul's expression that evolves. And again like music, it remains an inexhaustible and mysterious essence.I personally experience growth, progress, ever increasing quality, subtlety and nuance and rejoice in that experience. But those appearances are only an ever increasing awareness of a boundless source, a fountain that never runs dry, a lotus that never stops opening, the unquenchable fire of Soul expression.So is the Soul on a journey?From where to where?Where is there to go in the infinite?And when did this journey happen in the eternal now?No, Soul sends forth the fragrance of time and space so that it can fill it with its own forever unfolding mystery. And then, in the heart and mind of every form it itself has spontaneously mused into existence, it rejoices.It populates eternity, blissfully in delight of the beauty of its own glorious face. And that face is you.

“If you're really a mean person you're going to come back as a fly and eat poop.” ― Kurt CobainThe most difficult, tenacious and subtle of all the unconscious beliefs that govern our lives, none compares to the VOW!So what exactly is a vow? let me give you an example.Here are a bunch of common, unconscious beliefs we holdI can't make enough moneyI can't find a good manI can't get my needs metNow contrast that to the same underlying belief but as a vow.I wont find a good manI won't make enough moneyI won't get my needs metOne is a statement of a deep belief, that grew out of difficult, traumatic events of the past. Even the most tenacious of beliefs have within them the desire that some day, somehow things could be different.The other is a powerful act of will. It asserts that even if things could be different they should not be and I am committed to keeping it that way.From the point of view of spiritual healing you can come to see that you are suffering, not because you are not enough and therefore can't do a particular thing, but because you believe yourself to not be enough. This is an unconscious belief we picked up early in life and it has just stuck around.It can take some time but these unconscious believes can be brought to the surface, released from the nervous system and you will find yourself actually feeling like you are enough.But a vow is different. It makes no difference whether you can or cannot, what you are enough or not, whether you are worthy or not. You simply won't allow it to happen. A vow, in the way I use the term is an energetic, karmic commitment or contract. It is a sacred, unbreakable commitment to live your life in a certain way, according to a particular code of behavior, forever! Yes, that's right, forever. A deeply held energetic, sacred vow will remain in effect throughout every subsequent lifetime, until it is uncovered and you are released from it. Vows of silence. celibacy, poverty, unselfish service are all common ones we know of in various religious traditions. But we each have our own version of these.I will never be happyI will never be rich (I will only allow myself to get by)I will never hurt another being (no matter how much I am hurt)I will always follow the rules (even to my detriment)I will always punish myself (for everything)Where do these come from? Let me give you an example from my own life. When I was little my father and my older brother took great pleasure in tickling me. They would do it all the time. I hated it. I remember, quite vividly, one day I decided, "I will never be ticklish again" and I wasn't. The tickling stopped, of course, because it was no fun for them anymore. But I was never ticklish ever again, by anyone, and I still am not.How many more of those kinds of vows, made to stop things happening to us, have we made in our lives that, while still be enforced have completely slipped out of conscious awareness?Now that is a rather benign example. My life is not adversely affected by me not being ticklish. But, imagine, that same kid who, whenever he asked for help got hurt instead and as a result making the vow, "I won't ever ask anyone for help and if they offer I will not accept it."This type of vow, avoiding some painful consequence, is actually easy to become free of. There is another kind though that is not easy at all. In the next blog I will go both of these kinds of vows and begin talk specifically about one that affects almost all of us; money vows.Join myself and host/producer Lisa Berry for the next episode of "OM School Live" every Tuesday at 12 noon eastern time (5pm UTC). at

Did you know our ancestors, the hunter/gatherers, had a work week of just 20 hours. Yes, they worked only 20 hours a week.When you consider all of our ancestors going way back that means we all did that for literally millions of years. That is how our bodies were meant to function.Have you wondered why you feel tired most of the time?It isn't because the body is physically exhausted. It's not like you're working the farm 16 hours a day, ploughing behind a horse.We are exhausted from distraction!We are bombarded with all sorts of things vying for our attention. And all of those things claim to be important.Yep that next meme on Facebook is going to be the thing I have been waiting for all my life. "Damn! Another cute cat picture."I can't emphasize enough that unplugging from all of this is absolutely essential for our mental, emotional and even spiritual health.Considering that:Stress is a contributing factor to pretty much every physical illness andConstant distraction and multitasking is a known, severe stressorIt stands to reason that we must UNPLUG! But how?Before we can talk about how we must become convinced that we must. That it is not a luxury but an absolute necessity.That is what Lisa and I will be discussing on the next OM School Live.Check it out live every Tuesday at 12noon Easter / 5pm UTC athttps://YouTube.com/gpwalsh

Funny the things we know by heart but never stop to think about what they mean.Row, row, row your boatGently down the streamMerrily, merrily, merrily, merrilyLife is but a dream"Life is but a dream?""What?" ...or perhaps put more aptly... "WTF?"It seems obvious that the boat is you and the stream is your life and it is a beautiful guidance to walk (or row) gently through life. Be gentle towards yourself and everything and everyone else. It is also a significant reminder to remain "merry" or, if you prefer, happy, cheerful, with a positive attitude. Since, like most streams, yours too is filled with rocks, rapids, stagnant pools, whirlpools and water creatures.But the punchline flies in the face of our modern rather literal and materialistic point of view. Life is a dream?Actually that last line gives the "why" as to the first three. It brings every event of your life and, by extension, everything going on in the entire world, into perspective. Our lives, as total as they seem, are but a passing shadow. They are like a face seen in a cloud. It is only an appearance, a momentary projection, a dream.Some may take offense at having all of their ambitions, accomplishments, triumphs and successes given the same status as a fleeting moment in last night's sleep. Others may release a great sigh of relief and pray that the dream (or nightmare) end soon. (Truthfully we have all felt that a bit more frequently this last couple of years.)If we really knew that this life we make out to be sooooooo important was, in fact, not even a blip in the field of time, something that would pass, an experience that would fade into oblivion like some unremembered event from grade school, I do believe, we would approach everything, not with indifference, but with gentleness.Now, just to take this to a different level. Life is but a dream. But you, are not.Every dream requires a dreamer. No dream lives on its own. No dream appears to itself. No dream can exist without a perceiving self to witness it. So you are not the dream. In fact, you are not even in the dream. Like living through those experiences in grade school (or the horror of high school) your whole life will one day fade from your mind and its memories.For me, rather than making this everyday dream of life insignificant, it fills me with awe and wonder. The mystery of me, the dreamer, changeless, even timeless, immersed in a forever changing kaleidoscope of experiences, none of which possess my changeless nature, makes the dream precious while simultaneously removing all of its fears.So, recognizing the fleeting, subjective nature of the life dream, don't treat it with disdain, disregard or despair. Row through it gently, merrily. Enjoy the smells and tastes. Immerse yourself in the wetness with all its rocks, rapids, stagnant pools, whirlpools and water creatures. So that, when the dream ends, as all dreams surely will, there will settle into your heart a smile that will linger in that eternity within you from which this and all dreams have come.Join myself and host/producer Lisa Berry for the next episode of "OM School Live" every Tuesday at 12 noon eastern time (5pm UTC). at http://youtube.com/gpwalsh.

A New Year ContemplationIt's that time of year again!.It is the time of:SlogansSelf-promisesEndless memes and, of course,Unused gym membershipsIt is the time of year when we learn that the habits of the last year (often carried over from prior years) do not suddenly step aside and congratulate you on your current enthusiasm. The problem, as I see it, is that we don't really understand or honor our needs. And we don't don't understand them because we don't really know ourselves.The spiritual path is the path of self-knowledge and self-knowledge leads to an inner clarity about every aspect of our lives.It has been my experience that whenever I, or someone I work with, gets a sense of clarity about themselves, they also get clear about their needs. With that clarity they embrace those needs as beautiful aspects of the self and in that embrace, those needs get fulfilled, sometimes in the most extraordinary way.No one can tell you what you should or should not want. Although many try, no one really has the right or authority to impose on you some standard as to what is acceptable what isn't. That authority belongs solely with you. Having the ability to exercise that authority comes only with self-knowledge. Hence I value self-knowledge above all else.Acquiring self-knowledge is not easy. It requires a shift in focus, a training of attention and a willingness to scrutinize even the most cherished assumptions we hold about ourselves. It requires a willingness to visit some dark places within us. It requires us to allow ourselves to feel things that, at first, seem difficult, even impossible, to stay present with. It requires us to recognize and then relinquish our resistance to change, in all of its subtle forms. And finally it requires us to do one of the hardest things there is to do, love ourselves unconditionally.So, as we pass into this new year, let's set aside the traditional resolutions and give ourselves the one gift that truly does keep on giving, the self-knowledge that unfolds into the fulfillment of all needs and the enjoyment of all wants.Join myself and host/producer Lisa Berry for the next episode of "The Flow" every Tuesday at 12 noon eastern time. at http://youtube.com/gpwalsh or in the private facebook group https://facebook.com/groups/gpwalsh

"Close your eyes, fall in love, stay there." - RumiLove is not a business. It doesn't keep score or accounts. It accumulates no credits or points and seeks no awards.Like the sun, which does not meter its constant flow of light, love by its very nature is unconditional.That means no conditions. It does not have prerequisites. It is not tit for tat (is that still an expression.) In short, it is not transactional. It is not a business deal.But we human beings also have needs. We need people to help us and we do need some things to be transactional.The key to healthy relationships, of any kind, is to know when to just love, seeking nothing in return, and when we have to get something back for our efforts.The home is both.We become couples, learning to lovingly meet each other's needs, and taking enormous pleasure in doing so, is key to romantic bliss and longevity.There is nothing more painful when that unconditional flow of care is lopsided.Eventually one begins to feel used and unappreciated, while the other is totally confused at the subtle (and not so subtle) bitterness that inevitably rises to the surface.Love is brutally honest with itself and infinitely patient with others.As always the key to experiencing this level of relationship maturity and happiness comes with understanding. We absolutely must be able to discern between:The conditioned patterns that came about because of traumatic experiences, the majority of which happened in our vulnerable years and...The individual being that wants nothing other than to be loved and to be able to love without fear of rejectionIs this a tall order? You bet.Is there a shorter alternative order? Nope!It comes down to this, we human beings have to come to see that love and love alone will save us from ourselves. With that love comes a wisdom that eventually perceives the innocent child in even the worst character.This sets us free from all hatred and makes us free to give without the need of reciprocity, because it always comes back in some form.Join myself and host/producer Lisa Berry for the next episode of "The Flow" every Tuesday at 12 noon eastern time. at http://youtube.com/gpwalsh or in the private facebook group https://facebook.com/groups/gpwalsh

Change Comes from the Weirdest PlacesWhen I was a kid I lived in the midwest of the U.S. Although all the open fields and farms that used surrounded us eventually got gobbled up by the burgeoning suburbs, for a time it was a relatively rural area.There is a strange phenomena that occurs every spring, when the heavy rains that the surrounding farms depend upon, come with enthusiasm. Every dip in the ground forms a puddle, the crick flows and there emerges a thing called "seasonal ponds" or sometimes "spring ponds."A seasonal pond is a pond that appears in the spring, but by the end of summer has completely dried up. Not a particularly significant thing on its own. But what is significant is that, these ponds were not just a hole in the ground that filled with water. They were living ponds, full of life. They were full of aquatic reptiles (frogs, toads, gnutes and the like) and also, get this, fish, sometimes big fish.I took that for granted as a kid but later in life, I got really curious about it. OK, so the toads and frogs could walk (or rather hop) over from some permanent water body, but fish? Fish can't walk! How did they get there?So I consulted a friend of mine, well studied in such things, and was both stunned and delighted with what I learned. They flew in. You read that right... they flew in.Of course, fish can't fly any better than they can walk so obviously, they would have had to hitch a ride.That is exactly what they did.Fish eggs would be laid in the shallow water of large permanent lakes and ponds. Then along would come a host of water fowl on their way north. They would land in those ponds and lakes, collect fish eggs on their feet, land again in one of these seasonal ponds and voila, fish in the middle of nowhere where only a week ago there was just a dry, shallow hole.And so the fish rode in first class, On the Feet of Ducks.I am not making this up.It inspired me at the time to ponder how strange and unpredictable life is. How it can change with the wind and change again just as fast. Some changes are desirable and welcomed. Some not so much. Some flit by so quickly they are barely noticed. Some linger for what seems like forever.It also inspired me to write a song of the same name. Maybe we will play it during the show. Maybe not. You never know. That is the nature of change. OK, you can listen to it here, if you're dying of curiosity.Lisa, my business partner and the producer of "The Flow" recently had quite a dramatic car accident. Nothing to be concerned about she was completely unharmed, but it sure did change her day and her life.Truth is, we experience these life changing moments every moment of every day, albeit not so dramatically (mercifully so).There is an ever ongoing barrage of subtle bumps, rubs, pushes and pulls that change our entire life's trajectory, often imperceptibly. And, any kid who has ever taken geometry knows, even the tiniest change in direction, when extrapolated over enough distance, can put you a million miles away from wherever it was you intended to go.It is as if life is purposely kicking us out of the nest, like in the cover art for this episode. And that is exactly what it is doing. I mean, what is "The Flow" of life if not constant change?We must choose to participate in this flow. This is the great calling of this life.It is literally true what the Zen dudes have said for centuries, "You can't put your foot in the same river twice." Even if your feet are covered with eggs.So "Change - You DID Ask For It?" is what Lisa and I will be discussing this week.Join myself and host/producer Lisa Berry for the next episode of "The Flow" every Tuesday at 12 noon eastern time. at