Sunday, December 10, 2017
My book and Emergence Education Press (https://press.emergenceeducation.com)
Emergence Education Press
Recently I announced that my book "Kundalini Splendor: The Future as Ecstasy" had been accepted for publication by a new firm called Emergent Education Press. The founders of this publishing house are Jeff Carreira and his wife Amy Edelstein. These two are each doing remarkable work in the world, all in the service of bringing needed change to our world. Amy does truly exciting work with inner city students, helping them to find ways to increase their inner stability in an unsteady world (for example, by learning to breathe deeply in the face of crisis). These students respond by telling her how helpful such techniques are for them.
As for Jeff, he is extremely active as a writer and meditation leader, giving workshops and webinars in many countries. He has a devoted following and I feel they will be a responsive audience for my book. I feel extremely fortunate to work with such a dedicated couple in such a critical area as bringing needed change to our world through a spiritual approach.
Here is a letter I recently received from Jeff describing his plans for the coming year. I am printing it here so that you can know about the folks I will be working with on this project. Maybe you can even attend one of his workshops.
Hi
Today I want to tell you about some exciting plans I have for 2018. A new emphasis is emerging in my work, which is enhancing the way I teach, and I want to share that with you.
What I'm feeling is that I want to spend more time doing in-depth work with people who want that type of engagement. Lately I have felt my love for spiritual intensity very strongly. I've been doing more practice myself and I feel called to create opportunities to share spiritually charged awakening opportunities with others. You are invited to contribute your brilliance, your energy, and your inspiration as part of this journey.
I am dedicating this year to efforts that will catalyze energetic openings and spiritual awakenings in as many people as possible and then I'll create structures for engagement that will allow us to stabilize in a new level of consciousness together.
So let me spend a few paragraphs explaining what I feel so inspired to share.
I am an idealist. I don’t believe that reality is built up from bits of matter that combine to eventually form life and consciousness. I believe that reality is conscious and awake from the start. I've spent hours in spiritual practices of all kinds allowing myself to become more and more comfortable with the fact that reality is not a three-dimensional space filled with material objects - reality is a living source of intelligence and care.
A mind that has never perceived beyond time and space cannot conceive of this. Without such an experience we assume that the three-dimensional world of time and space is all there is.
And even a mind that does experience beyond the mental confines of time and space cannot hold any memory of what it just experienced once it returns. All that remains after such a miraculous journey is the memory of how it felt and the mental impressions those feelings produced. The mystery remains a mystery even to those who have experienced it.
A great deal of spiritual work is aimed at reproducing the feelings and mental impressions of the beyond - but these are shadows of the actual awakening.
The secret to awakening as far as I've discovered is to let go of any need to conceptualize. If we learn to allow the unknowable to remain unknown then we find ourselves immersed in the mystery of being that is always all around us. Even the most vague concept that we hold about the mystery restricts our access to the unknowable beyond.
Awakening practices are often referred to as esoteric which means secret. This is not only because they have tended to be practiced by small numbers of people who prefer to work privately outside of the gaze of the public eye.
They are called esoteric because they illuminate realities that cannot be known by the mind. They will always be a mystery to our mental processes and if we in any way want them to conform to our conceptual capacities we will find them forever out of reach. We will endlessly swim in the invisible swirls of illumination while assuming we don’t see them.
Awakening is not something that we can see. The term Spiritual materialism refers to the habit of relating to awakening as if it were a feeling or experience that we could possess. We insist that unless we are actively feeling it or seeing it, it doesn’t exist. Our tendencies toward spiritual materialism must be released before we can perceive the imperceptible.
I will be honest with you, I don't intend to teach as publicly as I do now indefinitely. I believe that everything has a natural life cycle. A spiritual teacher has something to share and they share it and then it is time to let new voices bring fresh energy and light into the world. At that point I imagine that the teacher is free to work in different ways supporting those they have trained and using their energy to hold a community of awakened souls together for the mutual benefit of all.
I don’t believe that those whom I support need to teach what I teach. They will have their own expression and their own experiences to share.
What I do believe is that the greatest service I can offer to a new generation of teachers is to support them to stabilize in the mystery beyond time and space. That is why I want to dedicate my energy in 2018 to a journey into the highest consciousness we can enter and stabilize in together.
My work has come to a new level of fruition and I am interested in mentoring those who either are already sharing their experience or will share in the future. I want to create structures of connection that will hold a diverse group of awakening individuals so that they can exchange freely between each other and grow together with me.
In this spirit I want to share my plans and enthusiasm for what I see coming in my work in 2018.
Preview of 2018
In 2018 Craig Hamilton and I will continue our amazing collaboration in the Opening to the Infinite program. For the past two years Craig and I have provided a container in which hundreds of people have experienced the miracle of awakened awareness and sustained it together over time.
Next year will also be the fourth year of my rigorous philosophical program called The Breakthrough Intensive. In this program we actively shift our perception of reality beyond the current paradigm by studying and bringing to life ideas and perspectives that transform our fundamental assumptions about reality.
Next year you will have more opportunities to work with me in person than ever before.
I will be teaching in-person every month in Center City Philadelphia and at the Aligned Center in Irvington, New York.
There is an exciting collaborative workshop planned for late January in Irvington, a weekend retreat in Asheville, NC, and a daylong retreat in beautiful Montreal in May as well.
In June you can join me for a three-day retreat in Switzerland held at the magnificent Villa Unspunnen Retreat Center. This is an opportunity to explore the union of meditation and philosophical inquiry in a spiritually rich environment.
My fourth annual 6-day summer retreat is the most focused and intensive opportunity to engage with me and it will be held in August once again this year, but this year we will be working together at Highland Lake Cove in Flat Rock, NC - a beautiful new retreat center built around the banks of a picturesque mountain lake.
Looking all the way ahead to November 2018 I will be leading a meditation and yoga retreat on the awe inspiring southern coast of Portugal with my friend Silvia Rodrigues. This will be a very small (approximately 18 participants) and intimate opportunity to relax into spiritual practice and awakening together.
2018 is also going to be the year that I launch a venture that I have been envisioning for the past three years.
I am happy to announce that in March of 2018 I will be opening The Mystery School for a New Paradigm membership program. The Mystery School will offer weekly guidance in condensed time efficient forms, as well as monthly forums for engagement and an audio teaching library at a cost that is affordable to anyone.
You are invited to engage with me to whatever degree fits your needs and interests. You can simply look at the essays I periodically send, join one of my free events, become a member of The Mystery School, participate in a course or program, or join me on retreat somewhere in the world.
The goal of my work is to initiate and stabilize as many people as I can in a direct connection to the unknowable mystery and support them to share the fruits of that connection in their own unique way.
As I finish writing this letter I feel so much love and appreciation for you and all you do to awaken the world.
Thank you for all of your interest and support.
Love,
Jeff
Recently I announced that my book "Kundalini Splendor: The Future as Ecstasy" had been accepted for publication by a new firm called Emergent Education Press. The founders of this publishing house are Jeff Carreira and his wife Amy Edelstein. These two are each doing remarkable work in the world, all in the service of bringing needed change to our world. Amy does truly exciting work with inner city students, helping them to find ways to increase their inner stability in an unsteady world (for example, by learning to breathe deeply in the face of crisis). These students respond by telling her how helpful such techniques are for them.
As for Jeff, he is extremely active as a writer and meditation leader, giving workshops and webinars in many countries. He has a devoted following and I feel they will be a responsive audience for my book. I feel extremely fortunate to work with such a dedicated couple in such a critical area as bringing needed change to our world through a spiritual approach.
Here is a letter I recently received from Jeff describing his plans for the coming year. I am printing it here so that you can know about the folks I will be working with on this project. Maybe you can even attend one of his workshops.
Hi
Today I want to tell you about some exciting plans I have for 2018. A new emphasis is emerging in my work, which is enhancing the way I teach, and I want to share that with you.
What I'm feeling is that I want to spend more time doing in-depth work with people who want that type of engagement. Lately I have felt my love for spiritual intensity very strongly. I've been doing more practice myself and I feel called to create opportunities to share spiritually charged awakening opportunities with others. You are invited to contribute your brilliance, your energy, and your inspiration as part of this journey.
I am dedicating this year to efforts that will catalyze energetic openings and spiritual awakenings in as many people as possible and then I'll create structures for engagement that will allow us to stabilize in a new level of consciousness together.
So let me spend a few paragraphs explaining what I feel so inspired to share.
I am an idealist. I don’t believe that reality is built up from bits of matter that combine to eventually form life and consciousness. I believe that reality is conscious and awake from the start. I've spent hours in spiritual practices of all kinds allowing myself to become more and more comfortable with the fact that reality is not a three-dimensional space filled with material objects - reality is a living source of intelligence and care.
A mind that has never perceived beyond time and space cannot conceive of this. Without such an experience we assume that the three-dimensional world of time and space is all there is.
And even a mind that does experience beyond the mental confines of time and space cannot hold any memory of what it just experienced once it returns. All that remains after such a miraculous journey is the memory of how it felt and the mental impressions those feelings produced. The mystery remains a mystery even to those who have experienced it.
A great deal of spiritual work is aimed at reproducing the feelings and mental impressions of the beyond - but these are shadows of the actual awakening.
The secret to awakening as far as I've discovered is to let go of any need to conceptualize. If we learn to allow the unknowable to remain unknown then we find ourselves immersed in the mystery of being that is always all around us. Even the most vague concept that we hold about the mystery restricts our access to the unknowable beyond.
Awakening practices are often referred to as esoteric which means secret. This is not only because they have tended to be practiced by small numbers of people who prefer to work privately outside of the gaze of the public eye.
They are called esoteric because they illuminate realities that cannot be known by the mind. They will always be a mystery to our mental processes and if we in any way want them to conform to our conceptual capacities we will find them forever out of reach. We will endlessly swim in the invisible swirls of illumination while assuming we don’t see them.
Awakening is not something that we can see. The term Spiritual materialism refers to the habit of relating to awakening as if it were a feeling or experience that we could possess. We insist that unless we are actively feeling it or seeing it, it doesn’t exist. Our tendencies toward spiritual materialism must be released before we can perceive the imperceptible.
I will be honest with you, I don't intend to teach as publicly as I do now indefinitely. I believe that everything has a natural life cycle. A spiritual teacher has something to share and they share it and then it is time to let new voices bring fresh energy and light into the world. At that point I imagine that the teacher is free to work in different ways supporting those they have trained and using their energy to hold a community of awakened souls together for the mutual benefit of all.
I don’t believe that those whom I support need to teach what I teach. They will have their own expression and their own experiences to share.
What I do believe is that the greatest service I can offer to a new generation of teachers is to support them to stabilize in the mystery beyond time and space. That is why I want to dedicate my energy in 2018 to a journey into the highest consciousness we can enter and stabilize in together.
My work has come to a new level of fruition and I am interested in mentoring those who either are already sharing their experience or will share in the future. I want to create structures of connection that will hold a diverse group of awakening individuals so that they can exchange freely between each other and grow together with me.
In this spirit I want to share my plans and enthusiasm for what I see coming in my work in 2018.
Preview of 2018
In 2018 Craig Hamilton and I will continue our amazing collaboration in the Opening to the Infinite program. For the past two years Craig and I have provided a container in which hundreds of people have experienced the miracle of awakened awareness and sustained it together over time.
Next year will also be the fourth year of my rigorous philosophical program called The Breakthrough Intensive. In this program we actively shift our perception of reality beyond the current paradigm by studying and bringing to life ideas and perspectives that transform our fundamental assumptions about reality.
Next year you will have more opportunities to work with me in person than ever before.
I will be teaching in-person every month in Center City Philadelphia and at the Aligned Center in Irvington, New York.
There is an exciting collaborative workshop planned for late January in Irvington, a weekend retreat in Asheville, NC, and a daylong retreat in beautiful Montreal in May as well.
In June you can join me for a three-day retreat in Switzerland held at the magnificent Villa Unspunnen Retreat Center. This is an opportunity to explore the union of meditation and philosophical inquiry in a spiritually rich environment.
My fourth annual 6-day summer retreat is the most focused and intensive opportunity to engage with me and it will be held in August once again this year, but this year we will be working together at Highland Lake Cove in Flat Rock, NC - a beautiful new retreat center built around the banks of a picturesque mountain lake.
Looking all the way ahead to November 2018 I will be leading a meditation and yoga retreat on the awe inspiring southern coast of Portugal with my friend Silvia Rodrigues. This will be a very small (approximately 18 participants) and intimate opportunity to relax into spiritual practice and awakening together.
2018 is also going to be the year that I launch a venture that I have been envisioning for the past three years.
I am happy to announce that in March of 2018 I will be opening The Mystery School for a New Paradigm membership program. The Mystery School will offer weekly guidance in condensed time efficient forms, as well as monthly forums for engagement and an audio teaching library at a cost that is affordable to anyone.
You are invited to engage with me to whatever degree fits your needs and interests. You can simply look at the essays I periodically send, join one of my free events, become a member of The Mystery School, participate in a course or program, or join me on retreat somewhere in the world.
The goal of my work is to initiate and stabilize as many people as I can in a direct connection to the unknowable mystery and support them to share the fruits of that connection in their own unique way.
As I finish writing this letter I feel so much love and appreciation for you and all you do to awaken the world.
Thank you for all of your interest and support.
Love,
Jeff
