I've been a teacher and academic advisor at the graduate and undergraduate level for more than a few years. I have also done a lot of one-on-one client counseling. My areas of interest include classical east-west philosophy, mythology, comparative spritual traditions, and depth psychology. I always try to relate everything I teach to the process of self-discovery and personal growth.
One of the purposes of this blog, Two Minds Meet, is to discuss ideas I have studied and taught for many years, and that I have applied in my own life. One model I developed that has worked well is called Soul Shaker: Gateways to Self-Discovery. As legendary bluesman Albert King would say, "It'll blow some good people's minds" (in a good way).
Soul Shaker doesn't presume to teach you how to become "enlightened". It does organize and describe some powerful messages and pathways that certain great world teachers of the Classical period have described. Its function is to help you figure how you are going to enact your own process of discovery, hence, "Gateways" in the title.
The great world teachers I refer to arose on the world stage from Europe to China and many points in between, all within a few hundred years of each other, centered around 500 BCE. This part of history is called the Axial Period, a fascinating time when quantum leaps took place in the evolution of human consciousness. Examples of great world teachers include Plato, The Buddha, Lao Tzu, Jesus, and Plato. A few were so influential that religions formed around them. Others remained obscure but were no less potent sources of power and insight.
I studied their ideas in depth when I was in graduate school. This body of knowledge is sometimes called perennial philosophy. I found surprisingly common themes on human self-awareness in their core messages. I was personally transformed by their ideas, but not in any religious way. My mind truly transformed however, into a broader, calmer state of awareness. Over time I developed a more sophisticated, all-embracing worldview. It has helped me to live a more effortless daily life, flowing through chaos.
I decided to provide an overview of Soul Shaker in this blog because the rate at which the world is regressing into ignorance, fear, and divisiveness has really intensified in the last few years. The world only gets better when individuals become wiser.
The good news is, it is all completely solvable if we all chip in, by each working on ourselves. For some reason, I have a real knack for distilling down the deep ideas of the Axial Period for people, so they can enact them in their lives.
Some of what the old philosophers had to say may offend your sensibilities if you follow a specific religion. That's why I call it Soul Shaker --It's supposed to get you out of your comfortable box, to start living out of your own center of awareness...instead of according to any one doctrine.
That's the root of the world's problems today, clinging to this doctrine or that. What we need is emphasis on similarities. This in turn allows a richer celebration of differences. If perennial philosophical insight ever reaches critical mass, "differences" become immaterial because they will have now been transcended for the most part. I am a pragmatic and realize that's a lofty statement. Let's play with the idea more as we move through the blog posts.
Many find that what I teach has brought a new clarity to their faith if they have one. Others outgrow their particular belief system and let it go. I can't tell you what you will specifically get out of Soul Shaker. We are all wired differently with different capacities, proceeding in different ways.
To be continued in the next post...
One of the purposes of this blog, Two Minds Meet, is to discuss ideas I have studied and taught for many years, and that I have applied in my own life. One model I developed that has worked well is called Soul Shaker: Gateways to Self-Discovery. As legendary bluesman Albert King would say, "It'll blow some good people's minds" (in a good way).
Soul Shaker doesn't presume to teach you how to become "enlightened". It does organize and describe some powerful messages and pathways that certain great world teachers of the Classical period have described. Its function is to help you figure how you are going to enact your own process of discovery, hence, "Gateways" in the title.
The great world teachers I refer to arose on the world stage from Europe to China and many points in between, all within a few hundred years of each other, centered around 500 BCE. This part of history is called the Axial Period, a fascinating time when quantum leaps took place in the evolution of human consciousness. Examples of great world teachers include Plato, The Buddha, Lao Tzu, Jesus, and Plato. A few were so influential that religions formed around them. Others remained obscure but were no less potent sources of power and insight.
I studied their ideas in depth when I was in graduate school. This body of knowledge is sometimes called perennial philosophy. I found surprisingly common themes on human self-awareness in their core messages. I was personally transformed by their ideas, but not in any religious way. My mind truly transformed however, into a broader, calmer state of awareness. Over time I developed a more sophisticated, all-embracing worldview. It has helped me to live a more effortless daily life, flowing through chaos.
I decided to provide an overview of Soul Shaker in this blog because the rate at which the world is regressing into ignorance, fear, and divisiveness has really intensified in the last few years. The world only gets better when individuals become wiser.
The good news is, it is all completely solvable if we all chip in, by each working on ourselves. For some reason, I have a real knack for distilling down the deep ideas of the Axial Period for people, so they can enact them in their lives.
Some of what the old philosophers had to say may offend your sensibilities if you follow a specific religion. That's why I call it Soul Shaker --It's supposed to get you out of your comfortable box, to start living out of your own center of awareness...instead of according to any one doctrine.
That's the root of the world's problems today, clinging to this doctrine or that. What we need is emphasis on similarities. This in turn allows a richer celebration of differences. If perennial philosophical insight ever reaches critical mass, "differences" become immaterial because they will have now been transcended for the most part. I am a pragmatic and realize that's a lofty statement. Let's play with the idea more as we move through the blog posts.
Many find that what I teach has brought a new clarity to their faith if they have one. Others outgrow their particular belief system and let it go. I can't tell you what you will specifically get out of Soul Shaker. We are all wired differently with different capacities, proceeding in different ways.
To be continued in the next post...
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