Along The Deep End of the Spiritual Path Is The Progress of Spiritual Insights

Just about everyone, at some point in their life, has contemplated…

“The meaning of life”.

Along with how their life fits into…

‘The timeless wonder of it all’.

Who am I really… in the grand scheme of it all?

Is there a God?

Do we have a soul or eternalness that preceded this life

and continues after this life?

These are the classic philosophic questions that have been contemplated

since humans first hopped down from the monkey trees… that is

as long as one isn’t stuck on a mythic-literal religion that denies evolution.

Along one’s Spiritual Path…

Curiosity transforms into a desire to know more about

the ‘absolute Truths’ of Life

and whatever follows and precedes it.

This starts innocently enough without religion,

but with an almost scientific philosophy mindset.

These are the essential steps towards the Ultimate freedom of Liberation.

Once Awakened,

the veils that obscure reality dissolve and the relief of knowing, experientially,

the Ultimate Truths of our True nature will feel like

the Bliss that the projections imagined of ‘heaven’ would feel like.

For those few that heard that call of these Ultimate Wisdoms,

the whispers of wordless Wisdoms…

that feel there is much more to life, our life, 

and our place in this timeless wonder of it all…

~~~

For those seekers of Truth…

There is a Way.

It doesn’t take far into this Path to come to

‘the point of no return’ and earnestly seek the fulfillment of this Path. 

The goal of this Path is Liberation.

One prerequisite is “Self” realization,

which contemplates the classic philosophic question of

“Who am I”.

Along with those curious contemplations…

One will endeavor upon the Three Trainings

that are essential to one’s Path to Liberation.

Morality – Training in morality has as its domain all the physical, verbal, and mental behaviors belonging to every single aspect of life that is not explicitly meditative.

Concentration – To be able to Tune in to anything smooth, flowing, and nice

about what you are concentrating on and experiencing.

In the beginning, one ‘focuses’ on ‘one-pointedness awareness’…

Then, as the practice deepens,

One will naturally shift towards a broader perspective, in such a way that the peripheral view of the mediation object is the only way to experience the object.

This practice leads to ‘Insight Wisdoms’.

Insight Wisdom – To understand some specific aspects of the sensations

that make up our present experience.

By training in insight,

we can improve how we fundamentally perceive reality at a bare sensate level,

such that our actual sensate experience becomes progressively clearer,

and thus

attain profound insights into the nature of reality

and realize stages of awakening.

~~~

I define awakening as:

permanently eliminating the basic perceptions

that either duality or unity is the answer, and thus

attaining to permanent realizations that are

unshakable within the limits of biology.

The Progress of Spiritual Insights:

Is a set of stages that diligent meditators pass through on the path of insight.

Every spiritual tradition and every serious meditator that achieves ‘Enlightenment’, or ‘Awakening’ goes through these stages.

The Christian mystic St. John of the Cross’ wrote about

The Dark Night of the Soul which is a 5 part journey through these ‘Insights’.

Each stage also tends to bring up mental and physical raptures

(unusual manifestations).

~~~

I have complied a group of instrumental guitar arrangements that are part of my ‘musical meditation’.

Although these recordings are not meditative necessarily…

They are a part of my journey as I endeavor to progress along my Spiritual Path.

My intention of sharing such deep spiritual awareness is to help bring about the awareness that knowing unshakably the Absolute Truths of our life, all life and beyond.

Knowing this experientially is, in itself… ‘Liberating’.


 The Progress of Insight

Inspired by Daniel Ingram’s book Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha,

With this section “The progress of Insight”

Inspired by Mahasi Sayadaw

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The Start of 2020

Our business was doing great, but we still couldn’t afford to buy a house or a condo. Renting in Maui for another 30 years was not an option we wanted to take. Then, Bobbie Jo suggested we buy a sailboat that is comfortable to cruise and live in. By the end of January, we started looking for our new home.

After a long search, we found our dream boat in Mazatlan, Mexico. COVID-19 was not yet a concern when our boat hunt began, but masks were starting to appear at airports by the time we flew to Mazatlan. Originally, we had planned to get the boat ready as fast as possible to cover a full calendar for the busy wedding season. However, it was apparent our business was going to tank amid the pandemic, and the struggle went on until the end of the year.

Luckily, we scored an awesome condo for only $19 a day at Mazatlan. On the 10th day of our stay, we received the news that all harbors will be closed the next Monday morning. We thought we’d be stuck in Mexico longer, but another sailor advised us to leave before sunrise.

We felt the adrenalin of escaping the Mexican harbor master just before the sun rose that faithful day. The seas were rough as waves were building up in the tight channel that led us to the open ocean. We ended up anchored off an adorable little isle just a mile offshore. We enjoyed cruising to many spectacular anchorages and cute villages on our way to Puerto Vallarta, where we would depart for Maui on May 7. On May 30, 2020, we completed our 24-day passage from Mexico to Maui.