Preface, Prologue and Table of Contents

When we believe we are the ego, or personality, we miss out on so much. We limit and compartmentalize everything and end up believing that our spiritual life is separate from everyday life—from our work, money, relationships, sexuality, body, nature and the world. Yet it is possible to adopt a different perspective. We can integrate all aspects of worldly life into our spiritual journey and discover that our worldly life IS our spiritual journey. The intention of this book is to support this integration. Read More

The Teacher-Student Relationship in the New Paradigm

In the old paradigm the teacher was venerated, and the students projected their power and authority onto the teacher, abdicating their own responsibility. The relationship was characterized by a superior-inferior dynamic in which the teacher assumed the role of the powerful, all-knowing authority, while the students were required to be obedient, passive and sponge-like. The path of learning was rigid, linear and formulaic. It trapped us in a limited paradigm, encouraging conformity and a disempowered, myopic worldview. Because of this imbalanced dynamic, the word teacher has taken on negative connotations, and some have thrown the baby out with the bathwater by rejecting the need for any teacher at all. This is an unfortunate and short-sighted reaction because it is the nature of, rather than the notion of, teaching that needs changing. Read More

The Story of Leslie and Brad’s Predestined Relationship

Although this story puts us ahead of the timeline by about a decade, it feels important to share it here. After Leslie’s father died in 2001 in Johannesburg, we were cleaning out an old closet in her parents’ house, and I found the painting, which had turned yellowish brown with age but was still clear enough to make out the features. While she was debating about whether to keep it or purge it, I stared at the painting, surprised by how much it looked like me as a young boy. Read More