Author Archive
Assemblage Point
In various traditions associated with the Toltec, there is often a reference made to what is called your assemblage point. Like many terms encountered in spiritual teachings, it is given the power to mystify and misdirect. Like all symbols that are used in ordinary communication, its power is determined by the one who uses it. [...]
[Click to Continue →]Grace
Maybe you can already see how knowledge insinuates itself in all ways, through all thought – including your spiritual process. You try to think yourself into higher consciousness. You use mental strategies in order to make yourself appear more authentic. You use word to calm the mind of its war of words. You try not [...]
[Click to Continue →]Dry Dirt and Daffodils
Once upon a time in a land not so different from our own, there lived a man. He awoke one day, groggy from a long sleep, and found himself alone in a house filled with clutter. Worse, his head was filled with thoughts that pained him and would not give him peace. He was sorely [...]
[Click to Continue →]Significant Experiences
Student: What would you say were significant experiences or actions that you took that stand out in your mind? Barbara: I guess we can go back to the first premise of this teaching, which is not to believe yourself or anybody else. We learn to listen to what we are thinking, what we are saying, [...]
[Click to Continue →]Living with Awareness
Student: How do we answer the question, “What do I do with my life? What do I do with my job? My wife? My strife?” How do you make life decisions without an explanation or a story for everything? Barbara: OK. Let’s start with the story that there is something to be done about my [...]
[Click to Continue →]Spiritual Warriors
Student: One word we use a lot is “warrior” when we describe this path. What do we get out of seeing ourselves in the role of warrior? Barbara: Well I very often see people come into this teaching with the idea of a warrior as somebody with a saber between his teeth taking on life, [...]
[Click to Continue →]Lies and Distortions
Student: We use the word “lie” and “liar” a lot. For a lot of people, them’s fighting words! Barbara: Yes. Those are rough words. Student: Can you expand on why we find ourselves using a very powerful word like “lie”? What comes of seeing ourselves as “liars”? Barbara: When there is a disturbance created, we [...]
[Click to Continue →]Standard of Perfection
Student: If we don’t have a standard of perfection that we are aiming for, how do we gauge where we are in the process of our evolution? Barbara: First of all, the self-judgment doesn’t come from listening. The self-judgment comes from our conditioning over a lifetime. We’ve learned this way of being with ourselves, this [...]
[Click to Continue →]Rumi
Student: I was reading this in Rumi, and I know that you and I share a fondness for his poetry. We have been talking a great deal about beliefs and language and messaging. Rumi has a story about God talking to Moses. “I want burning, burning! Those who pay attention to ways of behaving and [...]
[Click to Continue →]Recapitulation and Emotions
Student: In Toltec writings, the word recapitulation is mentioned. Various techniques are described regarding breathing, movement, location. What is the most salient element of recapitulation? Barbara: Number one, don’t let the number of syllables in the word intimidate you! It is just a word, and it refers to a review of events or people in [...]
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