DW's Blog

Moving Forward by Looking Inward: Life’s Journey According to Emerson

by DW Green — October 16, 2024

Life is a “progress,” a passage through time, “not a station,” never a stopping place.

As Emerson taught, life is a “progress,” a passage through time, “not a station,” never a stopping place. It is a progression of events that leads to insight, self-knowledge, and the discovery of our inner home. One experience at a time, we begin to understand who we really are and what happiness truly means for us. Then, what the poet Emerson wrote becomes glaringly clear: “Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.

Read more – Don’t Take Me for Granted

...

by DW Green — September 25, 2024

Once we’ve pursued our doubts to their conclusion, we forge a stronger, not weaker, belief system.

Doubt is what leaves us open to truth, wherever it lies, however difficult it may be to accept. Above all, doubt compels us to reexamine everything we’ve been led to believe is unassailable. Without doubt, life would be a series of untested, uncertain assumptions, none truly ours, but borrowed from others whose truth we’ve adopted as our own.The problem with accepting received truth rather than discovering it for ourselves is that it’s not worth dying for—and we don’t. It becomes a veneer of ideas beneath which we live our lives without passion or care. This kind of faith happens around us but not within us—we merely go through the motions. At the first crack in the edifice, we’re gone; at the first chink in the castle wall, we flee to less demanding pastures.Doubt, conversely, is the mother of conviction. Once we’ve pursued our doubts to their conclusion, we forge a stronger, not weaker, belief system. These truths are genuine because they’re now true for us, not just for someone else. To suppress doubt, to discourage thinking, to try to stop someone from questioning the unquestionable is to make them more susceptible to cynicism and less accep...

by DW Green — September 18, 2024

By embracing these paradoxes – of life and death, being and knowing, thinking and awareness – we open ourselves to a more profound understanding of existence.

In the dance of existence, life and death are merely two sides of the same coin. Life expresses beauty in its myriad forms, while death, far from being a loss, is simply a transition within the greater continuum of being. This paradox points to a deeper truth about the nature of reality and our place within it.

At the core of our experience lies the eternal “I am,” a state of being that transcends time and space. This “I am” exists in a perpetual here and now, not bound by physical location or temporal moment, but in a dimensionless presence where the finite and infinite intersect. It is in this placeless place that we find our true essence, where our individual consciousness meets the divine.

While our minds often get caught up in the stream of thoughts, true awareness lies beyond thinking. Awareness acts as a container for our thoughts, allowing us to observe them without being consumed by them. This capacity fo...

by DW Green — September 11, 2024

“We must also embrace a fundamental truth about existence: everything is in a constant state of flux.”

In the early 20th century, Frederick Lewis Donaldson articulated seven social sins that Mahatma Gandhi later popularized. A century later, these principles resonate with even greater urgency in our rapidly evolving society:

Wealth without work
Pleasure without conscience
Knowledge without character
Commerce without morality
Science without humanity
Religion without sacrifice
Politics without principle

These pairings highlight the critical importance of balance in various aspects of human endeavor. When we pursue one element without its ethical counterpart, we create imbalances that ultimately exact a cost on individuals and society as a whole.However, as we grapple with these enduring ethical challenges, we must also embrace a fundamental truth about existence: everything is in a constant state of flux. All that comes into being will eventually pass away. This principle of impermanence applies not only to material things but also to ideas, systems, and societies.Recognizing and accepting this truth of perpetual change can be profoundly liberating. It reminds us that...

by DW Green — September 4, 2024

“Cultivating discernment requires the courage to sit with discomfort until truth emerges.”

Discernment is the ability to perceive the world and others from an objective standpoint, free from emotional entanglements. It allows one to interpret life’s symbols and patterns with clarity and empathy, rather than falling victim to desire and aversion. This skill helps distinguish between the heart’s wisdom and the mind’s chatter.

Cultivating discernment requires the courage to sit with discomfort until truth emerges. It involves looking beyond surface-level appearances and delving deeper into the essence of situations and people. By developing this capacity, individuals can make more informed decisions and navigate complex interpersonal dynamics with greater ease.

True discernment fosters a growing sense of optimism and hope for humanity. As one becomes more adept at seeing things as they truly are, it becomes easier to recognize the inherent goodness in people and the potential for positive change in challenging situations.

by DW Green — August 28, 2024

It’s about getting in touch with the Being part of human.

We have forgotten what rocks, plants, and animals still know: how to simply be—to be still, to be ourselves, to exist in the Here and Now. To bring your attention to a stone, a tree, or an animal doesn’t mean to think about it, but to simply perceive it, hold it in your awareness. Something of its essence then transmits itself to you. You sense its stillness, and that same stillness arises within you. You recognize how deeply it rests in Being—completely at one with what and where it is. In realizing this, you too come to a place of deep inner rest.

We’ve always been there, here, but didn’t know! Who am I? It’s about getting in touch with the Being part of human. By focusing on the interdependence, unity, and connectedness that was always there from the beginning, the “problem” of self/other isn’t so much solved as dissolved and transcended. This discovery is often depicted as a journey, path, or pilgrimage, but it’s more like the fading of an image on a screen—an interesting trip deep within yourself.

There...

by DW Green — August 21, 2024

The self is the root of all fear.

Fear is both innate and learned; it is tied to our past experiences. To liberate our thoughts and feelings from fear, we must understand the past through the lens of the present. The past constantly seeks to shape the present, which then becomes the identifying memory of the “me,” the “mine,” the “I.” The self is the root of all fear. Fear exists only in relation to an idea, and an idea is the response of memory manifesting as thought.