Martyn

  • The Usurper

    The Usurper

    The mind, it just makes up a bunch of questions to bother itself with. Questions that it demands answers to before it will allow itself to rest. Which of course is never. The mind just endlessly justifies its own existence, its own primacy. But maybe we shouldn’t be so hard on the mind. It’s doing… Continue reading

  • All In

    All In

    If you are insistent or even desirous of keeping your life exactly as it is then it’s probably best not to embark on the spiritual path. Better to just sit tight and tolerate your afflictive mind than to “give it all to God” or “surrender everything to the Self”. Because that’s what’s required, a single-minded… Continue reading

  • There Is Only One

    There Is Only One

    Question: how does one resolve the seemingly contradictory notions that on one hand, God/consciousness is everywhere in everything equally, and on the other, some places and some people are more sacred and holy than others? It’s a function of apparentness. To those who are misled and confused by false notions, the divine is variously less… Continue reading

  • The Fourth

    The Fourth

    The fourth state, turiya, pure consciousness, is present with all other states. But at first it’s perceived, as its name suggests, as one alternating with other states of consciousness. Until through repeated and consistent exposure it’s revealed to be the foundational and ubiquitous, singular reality. Continue reading

  • Untitled Thoughts #13

    Untitled Thoughts #13

    Loving the gap. When thoughts drop away, leave them there. Enjoy the gap, the silent space of being. Non-grasping, aconceptual aware presence. Just go with your flow, remain unattached. If there’s frustration there’s expectation and desire. Wanting something that isn’t usually leads to suffering if grasping and thirsting are also present. If something “must (or… Continue reading

  • The Page

    The Page

    I show up to write each day but it’s sometimes hard to turn up at the page with nothing around me. The room I’m in has no interesting elements or items within eyeshot. The computer desktop on which the writing page itself sits is completely bare. All intentionally reduced. That I have a twinge of… Continue reading

  • The Mystery of Devotion

    The Mystery of Devotion

    How does one square the circle of devotion to deities in nonduality? It’s a mystery. And I mean that in a technical sense. It’s an apparent truth that the mind can’t fathom or explain. But what’s a spiritual rationalist to do with this kind of essentially faith-based view? Loosely speaking there are at least two… Continue reading

  • Eclectic Spirituality

    Eclectic Spirituality

    Is it more likely nowadays that a spiritual seeker will be more eclectic and varied in their sources than before the internet? Is this then a new kind of approach than the typically singular, structured traditions of instruction and knowledge? Is there some power and value in that? Good, bad, other? I know many earnest… Continue reading