Western Baul Podcast Series

"Don’t Know, Go Straight" is a teaching that came from the Korean Zen master, Soen Sa Nim. We have two minds: thinking mind, and “before thinking” mind which is without thought (Don’t Know Mind). This is the mind of the moment, our true nature. Thinking mind, from which problems arise, obscures Don’t Know Mind. Yet, we need thinking mind to do all kinds of things. Our limitations are often mental constructs. Going straight refers to our need to act. When we come from Don’t Know Mind, we are shown the next right action to be taken. So, we don’t need to worry about what to do. Don’t Know Mind actually knows. It is a full body awareness, not just mental. We develop clarity by practicing coming from emptiness, without preconception. From the perspective of self-observation as described in the Gurdjieff work, conscience grows and informs our actions. Across different spiritual paths, there is the necessity to know who we are. Emotions stir up confusion. Practice is not about repression but holding or being with them without attachment to them. True fear is useful, and we can discriminate about right action when facing it. Being scattered or expressing stream of consciousness is different than Don’t Know Mind. Each moment can bring us back to this mind. Compassion isn’t something we do—it’s something that arises when we see clearly in a Don’t Know moment. There are different kinds of thinking mind, such as analyzing or checking minds. We see Don’t Know Mind in children. When we come from Don’t Know Mind we are more responsible since we take the whole into account. Humor arises out of Don’t Know Mind when we see the ridiculousness of our opinions. Elise Erro (e.e.) has been committed to a life of engaging spiritual principles and service through theater, support for the dying, and bringing enjoyment to others as a chocolatier.

We can look on irritation as a reality check since reality inevitably falls short of our expectations. Irritation can be destructive to spaces and relationships when it becomes anger. It is a gift in that it can show us something about ourselves and remind us of our intention to work. There is a lot of energy associated with irritation which can go elsewhere when recognized. Irritation can be triggered by external or internal circumstances such as being hungry or tired. People may provoke discomfort or irritation, but this reaction is often about issues from our past that we project onto others. Conscious sacrifice in not reacting to the unpleasant manifestations of others can be a challenging way to work on ourselves. We can learn to use skillful means when we need to address situations that are irritating. The greatest work we can do on the path is show kindness and compassion to others. We are easily irritated when our comfort is threatened, and habits make us comfortable. Reactivity for human beings seems to happen at light speed. We can’t catch it, but we can catch our outward expression. When things are going well, we tend to revert to old habits and go back to sleep. A deeper level of irritation occurs when we come in contact with the Work. It doesn’t go away since the dilemma of incarnation is not something we can resolve, but it can be used as food for evolution and transformation on the spiritual path. The longer we do spiritual work, the more vulnerable we become and the more susceptible to irritation. Irritation says something about our deep structure. A Master may provide irritation for others to see things in their unconscious. There would never be a pearl if the oyster was never irritated. David Herz is a spiritual practitioner who lives in Paris where he has been a journalist, technical writer, communications officer, and an English instructor at universities.

The heart of transition is navigating liminal space. This in-between place offers an entry point into reality, a portal into deeper relationship with oneself and the Divine. We are continually in the process of transition. Each transition is an invitation to awaken to possibility, to consciously go with life rather than resist it. In the Vedic tradition, tirtha is a Sanskrit term for a crossing-over point from ordinary to sacred space. Hospitals, churches, and airports are transitional places. Everything in the universe is food; we just have to figure out how to use it. Savasana, the corpse pose in yoga, can be used to practice dying. We will encounter trials and crises on the path, an inner overturning such that things will never again be what they were. To transform, we must understand that our present form and the way we conceive of ourselves and the world has to disappear for another reality to appear. Winning without losing anything is a vain and illusory hope of ego. There’s suffering and struggle but also joy and love in letting go. What if we turned toward transition rather than away from it? We have a capacity to totally agree with the moment. We have to remember to breathe during transitions. If we can relax, we’ll have no problem. We can learn to befriend the cage we are in. A gap is a place where the shoreline we have left behind is no longer visible and the shore we are heading for is shrouded in uncertainty. The Way is for heroes. Part of us is afraid, but another part is courageous. There is joy in comradeship and companionship on the path. When we are in transition, it is useful to consider the inevitability of it. Michael Menager is a musician, singer, author, and modern-day troubadour whose third album is titled Line in the Water. Mic Clarke is a writer, practitioner of Vedic astrology, and mental health social worker. Both live in New South Wales, Australia and are students of Lee Lozowick.

"Live and learn" is part of the design of a human being which comes naturally to us as children. Messages we receive in our family and society lead us to abandon our instinctual freedom and to develop habits about how to be. But the ability to live and learn remains dormant, and we may learn how necessary a spiritual path is and how we need to make it our own in order to realize its possibility. The Work refers to a system taught by G.I. Gurdjieff but also—in a broader way—to transformation which is available through different traditions or streams of the Great Work. Both effort and surrender are needed on real paths. We are all blind in some areas and, if we are honest in our self-observation, there are parts of ourselves that we don’t like. Being asleep can be considered as seeing only a sliver of reality since we are focused on ourselves. Also, we relate to the world through filters which overlay reality. The Work isn’t about being saved. Despite our insignificance in the universe, it (or God) needs our help. If we simply admire those who have served the Work in the traditions, we will not take responsibility for it. Making the Work our own is discussed in terms of practice with the details of life, strengthening the container until at some point we have majority vote to serve that which needs us, working with childish parts of ourselves and our weakest link, putting ourselves on the line, loving what we do not love, being in relationship to everyone, supporting others in their work, holding our seat without being territorial, dealing with pride and vanity, following the spirit of the law over the letter of the law, not separating life in the world from the Work, keeping agreements, and cultivating emptiness. The Work is about relationship between God and us. VJ Fedorschak is the organizer of the Western Baul Podcast Series and author of The Shadow on the Path and Father and Son.

Living a fluid life is about engaging what life gives us. As we walk through life, we’re walking through the movie we’re creating through our projections, which make life appear solid. But life or reality is fluid and dynamic, changing every moment even if we don’t usually notice. The source of the effort to confirm our solidity is an uncertainty about whether we exist. We use references points outside of ourselves to feel separate. We are always going to have stories; it’s our attachment to them that we have to give up to allow the fluidity of life and to see life as it is. The paradigm or consensus reality we live in is very materialistic. Coincidence and synchronicity signify the fluidness of life leaking out. If we’re aware of nonduality we don’t have to identify with what’s happening in duality. Paradox is when two contradictory ideas are both true. We are exposed to reality when faced with paradox. Our story is created by the mind pretty fast, before we realize it. If we think we’re self-observing and feel bad, it’s not self-observation. What we are mostly afraid of is our own projection, which has nothing to do with reality. Our projections are useful in that they point us in the direction we need to work. To mechanically complain or explain ourselves makes life solid and leaves no room for fluidity. When we go with what shows up in life, we are happier and carry a lot less weight. We sell life short when we make things solid. If we can go with life when it shows up differently than expected, then what happens in place of our preferences can be just as good or better than what we wanted. This can have a ripple effect in our lives. When we let go of little things, we experience freedom and lightness that encourages us to let go of bigger things. Juanita Violini is an artist and writer/producer of interactive mystery entertainment who has been a student of the spiritual path for over 35 years.