The Space of Possibility: Recent Episodes
John Driggs
Cultivate mindfulness with these free meditations. Explore, expand, and enrich your being. Know yourself, love yourself, embody yourself fully. Learn to walk your own path in peace.
Unlike many philosophers, the Buddha’s entire philosophy was compelled by a simple and noble motivation: he wanted to relieve the world of its suffering. Without understanding this motivation at the root of Buddhism, there is no foundation to stand on; the entirety of the Buddhist path sinks into the sands of inadvertency.
The Buddha taught only suffering and its end, which is expressed in the Four Noble Truths — the indispensable foundation embraced by all Buddhist traditions and lineages, no matter how far their metaphysics and methodologies may diverge.
So, what are the Four Noble Truths and why are they applicable to you? That will be the topic of today’s episode.
As you're probably aware by now, practicing mindfulness isn’t always easy. There are just times and seasons in our lives when everything feels off. When we don’t feel concentrated. We can’t connect well to others or to our experience. Our emotions may be either dry and unfeeling or in extreme turmoil. And it’s nearly impossible to watch even a few breaths without becoming distracted. This, of course, is completely natural. It’s a universal experience for each of us at times to be flooded with obstacles that cloud our hearts and minds and prevent us from staying open, connected, and receptive to the ever-changing flow of experience.
I thought we’d take the space in this course, then, to look a bit closer at some of these obstacles, or hindrances. We’ll practice identifying them, opening to them, and working skillfully with them. We’ll learn how to embrace them as a part of our path to awakening rather than treat them as personal ‘failings’ or something ‘bad’ we have to avoid.
Okay, so, what hindrances will we explore?
Well, there are many hindrances that cloud awareness and strip us of our wisdom.
In this course, though, we’re only going to explore the five traditional hindrances laid out by the Buddha. We’ll start with just these five for a couple reasons. First, it would be overwhelming to open ourselves to the whole range of hindrances and their various subtleties right at the get-go. That’s just not practical or manageable. And second, this group of five encompasses most of the general disturbances we face, especially if we look at the energy dynamic, or quality, of each of them. So, to begin, these five lay a good foundation to build upon. And then, as you gain direct experience working with these five, you can further delineate and build out the subtleties of each of them.
Okay, so what are the five?
Well, the first and often most difficult is desire or thirst – the attitude of reaching out for pleasure, wanting it, grasping it, longing for it. The second is ill-will or hatred – any kind of pushing away from experience: resistance, irritation, or aversion against the unpleasant. The third is a low energy state, which is traditionally boxed into sloth and torpor, but which we can think of as lethargy, sleepiness, drowsiness, dullness, heaviness, laziness, or a lack of driving power. The fourth is an overly energized state, a frenetic and agitating one, which is often expressed as restlessness and the anxiety that accompanies it. And, finally, the fifth is doubt, which expresses itself in a multitude of ways: skeptical doubt, self-doubt, uncertainty or fear, confusion, or indecision - that feeling of going back and forth or, at its extreme, that feeling of being paralyzed and unable to do anything at all.
Get to know love directly. Not conceptually, but experientially. Come cultivate the capacity to carry Love with you in all places and at all times. Let Love become what you are.
Explore the divine connection in your own being. Let this direct experience of divinity shape your being in the world. *I recommend listening to this after completing Mindfulness #25.
Who are you, really? What happens when you look for yourself directly? What do you find? Explore directly the nature of self. *I recommend listening to this after completing Mindfulness #20.
Open to the direct experience of change. What implications does this truth have on your life and on your being? *I recommend listening to this after listening to Mindfulness #15.
The world begins with wonder. Wonder is the womb of understanding. It gives birth to questions. *I recommend listening to this after Mindfulness #10.
Support your insight meditation practice by learning a bit conceptually about what mindfulness is and what it isn't. *I recommend listening to this after Mindfulness #5.
Get to know love directly. Not conceptually, but experientially. Come cultivate the capacity to carry love with you in all places and at all times. Let love become what you are.
Explore the divine connection in your own being. Let Love become what you are. *I recommend listening to this after you have completed Mindfulness #25.
Who are you, really? What happens when you look for yourself directly? What do you find? Explore the nature of self. *I recommend listening to this after you've listened to Mindfulness #20.
The world begins with wonder. Wonder is the womb of understanding. It gives birth to questions. *I recommend listening to this after you've listened to Mindfulness #15
Open to the direct experience of change. What implications does this truth have on your life and on your being? *I recommend listening to this after listening to Mindfulness #10.
Support your insight meditation practice by learning a bit about what mindfulness is and what it isn't. *I recommend listening to this after your Mindfulness #5 practice.
Cultivate reverence - that strong feeling of awe, respect, and humility, that feeling of being a part of something much larger than yourself.
Continue opening to silence, to love, to that space which allows us to know all things.
Explore the mind-state of mudita, or sympathetic joy. Know directly what it feels like to find happiness in another's happiness.
Begin your metta - or loving-kindness - practice with a benefactor, someone for whom it is easy to feel unconditional love towards.
Learn the ancient Buddhist practice of metta - or loving-kindness. Cultivate feelings of goodwill toward yourself, others, and to the world. Let Love become what you are.
Explore the mind-state known in Buddhism as metta, or loving-kindness. What does selfless love, or love with no attachment, feel like?
When you look directly at experience, is any aspect of it staying still? Observe directly the ever-changing flow of experience. What are the implications of this direct truth?
Who are you? No, don't tell me what you do, don't tell me your likes or dislikes, don't tell me your hobbies or interests. Who are you as a matter of direct experience?
Open awareness to the content of your thoughts in order to discern with wisdom which thoughts to engage with and which to leave alone.
Open awareness to thoughts. Not their content, but as a matter of direct experience; as a phenomenon.
Explore the complexity of your heart and mind. Open awareness to the full range of mind-states and emotions.
Explore whether the heart and mind are being conditioned by desire, aversion, or delusion.
Get a glimpse into the awakening of your heart-mind, or citta. Begin to shift your experiential orientation from your headspace to your embodied heart.
Continue your exploration of the body and body posture as well as the direct experience of motivations and intentions, or volition.
Open awareness to the world of feelings - those pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral tones that color and condition our experience.
Learn about the 2500-year-old Buddhist practice vipassana and why it is applicable to your life.
By way of introduction, let's explore the power of belief, the power of whatever conceptual frameworks you have cast over your bare, ever-changing flow of experience.
Bring more light and color to the landscape of experience. Enrich and expand your being. Learn my intention for these courses and receive a map to help navigate you through the content.