Stream of Subconsciousness

On the Synergy Connection podcast, Lucy Forsting and I take a therapeutic perspective on the anxiety we are all experiencing as we look at the financial, political, and health concerns of the world. David Leonhardt, in an article for the New York Times ( Sept. 17, 2022 ), says the views of the nation are no longer being considered for the “good of the whole”.  This would appear to be true througho...

“ You may have expected that enlightenment would come Zap! instantaneous and permanent. This is unlikely.” — Ram Dass My book Instant Enlightenment, Awakening Your States of Mind , is finished. I’ve created a long summary—not that long really, only 10 pages—that reads quite differently from the book. Here is the first part of that summary, broken into three installments. Chapter 0 — Prologue Chapt...

How to build-in satisfaction? Entrepreneurs are curious and solution-focused. They tend to be innovators and risk-takers. Psychotherapists are social and structure-focused. They’re risk averse and are attracted to structures and solutions. These differences keep the two apart, but each would be well-served if they better understand these differences. This is evident in my talk with Micheal Lee, wh...

Live Q&A#2 with Chris Hammond, from World of Lucid Dreaming Academy A 90-minute interview, recorded in September 2019, goes into further on subjects in my book Becoming Lucid, Self-Awareness in Sleeping & Waking Life . This is the second of two sessions with Chris. The first interview is available as a separate podcast. You can get a free digital copy of the book (in .epub format) by clicking here...

I spoke with Amina Mara, Lucid Dreaming Coach & Host of The Dreamworld Podcast , about my book Becoming Lucid, Self-awareness in Sleeping and Waking Life . Amina writes: Deamosophy teaches you to explore and utilize your dreams deliberately, to gain the edge in your waking personal and professional life without having to spend crazy amounts of money to be guided by dream experts in the field!...

Episode 79 of Leanne’s Barefoot with Spirit Podcast: The Truth About Enlightenment About Lincoln Lincoln has a PhD in quantum physics, is a certified hypnotherapist and clinical counselor, with publications in dozens of fields and focuses on aspects of mindful experience from the neurological and subconscious to the mathematical and collective. He practices as a therapist and counselor providing t...

This podcast represents a turn toward a popular audience. It was my pleasure to speak with Burke, who is adept at carrying the ideas of those he speaks with to a broader audience. Burke presents me as the expert, but in the world of communication he has much to teach us. Listen to his questions. “Dr. Lincoln Stoller, an academic jack of all trades, currently specialized in hypnosis and sleep thera...

Daniel Silk, a psychotherapist in Melbourne, Australia, had me back on his third season of his Life Changes You podcast for a frenetic game of verbal rugby to score the goal of how therapy can change the culture. Listen to this 40-minute podcast here, the Life Changes You website , the Apple Podcast site , or any of various other podcast sources. At lifechangesyou.com.au Daniel says, “Explore what...

“ The term neurosis, as generally applied, is not accurate or helpful. In fact, one of the most negative influences on mental health is the ‘sick’ concept itself, which tightens and distorts, keeping us from a natural unfolding and realignment.” — Neal M. Goldsmith (2010), psychotherapist Psychedelic-assisted therapy consists of psychedelics without therapy, combined with therapy without psychedel...

This interview was aired on July 1st, 2022 on WDST - Radio Woodstock 100.1. In this interview we addressed culture, learning, and personal growth. The interview is 2 hours long; I begin speaking at minute 6. I lived close to Woodstock, NY for 25 years. I first met Shelli and Nathan when I helped bring the traditional Mongolian musical group Badma Khanda to tour and teach around 2005. We hosted a w...

 “The true art of memory is the art of attention.” — Samuel Johnson Memory is not a record of the past, it’s a resource for acting in the present. You remember in order to know what to do or not to do, not for nostalgic purposes. For the smartest beings in the universe, we certainly don’t see, hear, or remember much. There have been savants who remember everything, and their brains appear no diffe...

Lara May and I recently spoke on mental health and psychedelics. She’s asking questions, I’m answering them. I very much thank Dr. May for hosting me!     Dr. Lara May , PharmD BCPS APh CFMP    Lightbody Healing and Consulting    Integrative Nutrition & Functional Medicine Specialist,   Master Intuitive Healer & Teacher    drlaramay.com Here’s how Lara May describes herself: Dr. Lara works on the...

“ Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things .” — Isaac Newton , physicist and theologian Confusion Allan Ropper says, in his book Reaching Down the Rabbit Hole (2014): “An understanding of confusion has yet to be operationalized... It is not, technically, a disease, but a syndrome, a collection of problems.” Confusion exists on an interesting spec...

Daniel and I recorded this interview in February of 2022. Daniel Silk, a counselor and therapist in Melbourne, Australia, is an advocate for enlightened treatment in education and mental health. Daniel’s website is https://lifechangesyou.com.au/ Of the interview, he says: This was an educational chat for me with a really impressive person! Here is a link for you to subscribe to Lincoln’s blog and...

“ When we wake up from our confused state of mind, that is enlightenment .”— Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche Consider us to be architectural beings. There is a vision that begets a design, construction that creates a container, and a variety of living entities that consider us their home. The whole affair represents the experience of being. The quality of life for the entities depends on the success of t...

“ This world is the will to power—and nothing besides! ”― Friedrich Nietzsche , The Will to Power The word “empowerment” has gotten a bad name. It’s overused and undefined. What is the power that “empowerment” refers to? Therapy presumes the therapist has the power you lack. Follow my directions, the solution will emerge, and you’ll have power. In coaching, the coach presumes you have the power bu...

“ The sense-perceptible world is only part of what surrounds us… It is like a piece of ice floating on water—the ice consists of the same substance as the surrounding water but stands out because of certain qualities it possesses .”— Rudolf Steiner , from Theosophie , p. 114 What is an alternate reality to you? Can you describe it? What is the purpose of describing it? It’s odd we don’t spend more...

“You need to believe in things that aren’t true. How else can they become?” ― Terry Pratchett , from Hogfather Because most of our body’s operations are invisible to us, we presume the only effect we have on our body is through our intentional actions. We presume that we do not have control of what we don’t perceive and that our thoughts and mental images don’t affect our autonomic processes. This...

There is an infection called Covid-19. It has variants. There are things like vaccines. You have a reasonably good chance of surviving the vaccines. You do not have a good chance of surviving the infection. I have not been “vaccinated” but I have contracted the infection and spent a week in Intensive Care. My experience in the hospital was so frightening that I will now accept “the vaccination.” I...

“Covid is the social thought and conditioned response, including the rejection of it and the academic discussion around it. It’s all conditioned and predictable. It’s all feeding itself.” — James H. , Founder, Collective Intelligence Group People are frightened to admit they have sold off their right to think intelligently. For the most part, the population exercises neither natural nor artificial...

“Many highly intelligent people are poor thinkers. Many people of average intelligence are skilled thinkers. The power of a car is separate from the way the car is driven.”― Edward de Bono * The world changes depending on how you think about it. * You change depending on how you think. * Explore the landscape. See more clearly. Think flexibly. * Let’s explore alternatives. Attitudes and Goals Supp...

“The truth is that schools don’t really teach anything except how to obey orders.” ― John Taylor Gatto, two-time New York State Teacher-of-the-Year Schools were invented to provide a mix of conditioning, training, and understanding. Conditioning has always been primary in state-mandated education, as this is a basis for collaboration and consensus… In times of growth there are opportunities for un...

“ Enlightenment is ego’s ultimate disappointment .” — Chögyam Trungpa I’m putting together a course on enlightenment. I think it’s funny, odd really. We hold the notion of enlightenment in such high esteem that we make no effort to achieve it. We don’t even know what we’re talking about. This is true even if you’re not motivated by the idea. Enlightenment is a sacred cow. It’s an achievable goal....

“The sea drowns them out with its wide sounds, cleanses me with its noise, and imposes a rhythm upon everything in me that is bewildered and confused.” — Rainier Maria Rilke This series on the origin of thoughts presents a constructive answer. I’m not sure why others are not answering this question, or why other approaches to understanding thought don’t provide us with more opportunity to ask the...

“Unexamined beliefs are not worth having.” — Socrates Ways of Knowing If empathy is something you can have or not have, then it’s either a skill or a trait. If it’s a skill, then you can develop it. If it’s a trait, then you can express it, unless you don’t have it in which case you might regain it or else it’s simply not available… You can only empathize to the extent that you can recover and re-...