Dispatches from Beyond the Dream
For years I joked that when I found the perfect purse, I’d know I’d attained enlightenment. This would be a handbag with an easy-access outer pouch for my cell phone, not too many internal compartments for losing stuff, and a kind of all-season quality that would make it fashionable in summer or winter. In search […]
Read More…With the dissolution of the dream self four months ago, I woke up to the shocking realization I’d spent a lifetime with an undiagnosed case of mistaken identity. Like someone with amnesia, in place of true nature, there was a construct called Lori-Ann, a fabrication that suffered from the push away and pull toward pleasures […]
Read More…Four months ago I fell off the edge of an identity called Lori Ann, into a sweet free-fall where each unfolding moment reveals itself as my lover. Sometimes this lover is rough, riding me hard, bitch slapping me with chaos and change. Other times my beloved kisses me tenderly with the beauty of what is […]
Read More…Ever since I noticed I don’t exist, I’ve been discovering hundreds of other no-selves all over the world–on Facebook pages, online forums, websites, blogs and even in my local community. In these new virtual and actual meetings, my reporter personality (still here) has been busy asking questions about this radical change of perspective called waking […]
Read More…The day after waking up from the dream of being a separate self, the everyday took on an enlightenment afterglow. Three months later I’m still tickled by what I call “the indescribable lightness of wow,” a kind of newborn fresheness from which life is perceived. What is this wow? With the caveat that what arose […]
Read More…A reader recently asked me, “What I really want to know is what lead to your awakening? What life were you leading that contributed to this event?” He wondered if there was a certain way to cultivate a fertile ground for enlightenment, a kind of prerequisite plan. Well, for one, by the time I awoke […]
Read More…Want to get enlightened? Want to know how? Are you thinking: enough of this suffering already, just give me the prescription, recipe or detailed map to the gateless gate. There’s gotta be an easier way than years on the meditation cushion, yoga mat or at the feet of a guru. Well, good news, there is […]
Read More…Given New Year’s resolutions are most often affirmations of should do’s that we have no interest in really doing, this year I’m offering some reverse psychology. Instead of ten proactive enlightenment steps, here are ten compelling reasons to avoid enlightenment in 2012. 1) We get to be right. Even if we are wrong, we sure […]
Read More…Two days after enlightenment obliterated the me I thought I was, my partner Fergus had a relationship upset. Something I had done or not done was impacting his well being. I listened with an empty mind to his concerns, then went to bed early. When he finally joined me at midnight I’d been soundly sleeping […]
Read More…From the front lines of enlightenment, this reporter is experiencing artillery fire in the form of naysayers and skeptics, along with curious questions and well wishes. Telling my story so far is a bit like being a stand-up comedy act, where half the crowd is laughing with me and the other half, laughing at me. […]
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The Awakened Dreamer 