Jesus called out the hypocrisies of the religious institution.

Throughout history, those who broke the veil weren’t silent about injustice or the truth of their experience. They risked everything—beatings, exile, even execution—to speak what they knew.

Here are a few mystics who stood up to corrupt rulers…

ELIJAH (Ancient Israel)

King Ahab framed an innocent man named Naboth on false charges of blasphemy—just to steal his vineyard.

The prophet Elijah traveled to denounce the king to his face.

“You have killed and taken possession. In the place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, dogs will also lick up your blood.”

This was unprecedented: someone without official position took the side of a wronged man against absolute power. Queen Jezebel swore to have him killed within a day. He fled to the desert and begged God to let him die.

Instead, he disappeared into legend—taken up by a whirlwind, never to be found.

ZHUANGZI (CHUANG TZU) (China, ~300 BCE)

The King of Chu sent two officials with a formal offer: “We hereby appoint you Prime Minister.” Zhuangzi didn’t even look up from his fishing pole.

“I’ve heard there’s a sacred tortoise in your temple—dead for three thousand years, wrapped in silk, venerated on an altar. Tell me: Would that tortoise rather be dead and honored? Or alive and dragging its tail in the mud?”

“Alive,” they admitted, “dragging its tail in the mud.” “Go home. Leave me here to drag my tail in the mud.”

He mocked the powerful relentlessly. He called out their robbery dressed as governance:

“A poor man must swing for stealing a belt buckle.

But if a rich man steals a whole state, he is acclaimed statesman of the year.”

His writings became one of the two foundational texts of Taoism. Centuries later, they helped birth Zen Buddhism.

SOCRATES (Athens, 399 BCE)

They charged him with “corrupting the youth” and “not believing in the gods of the city.”

The real crime? Teaching people to think for themselves.

For decades he’d wandered the public square, asking questions that made powerful men look foolish. What is justice? What is virtue? Do you actually know what you claim to know?

They offered him exile. He refused.

“The unexamined life is not worth living.”

The jury of 500 Athenians voted to execute him. He drank the hemlock without flinching. His students begged him to escape. He wouldn’t.

“I would rather die having spoken in my manner than speak in your manner and live.”

Twenty-four centuries later, we’re still asking his questions.

JESUS (Palestine, ~30 CE)

He dined with outcasts and sinners, affirming their inherent value. He healed on the Sabbath. He called out the hypocrisy of his own religion’s leaders.

“The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.”

The scholars, rabbis, and so-called respectable men of position plotted among themselves to put an end to his mystical talk. Though he knew he would be arrested and killed, he was entirely surrendered to whatever destiny he had to face.

The men who destroyed him are forgotten. His words changed the world.

MUHAMMAD (Mecca, 7th century)

His message threatened the establishment: All people are equal in the sight of God.

The Meccan elite began with ridicule. Then abuse. Then open persecution.

They covered him and his followers with filth as they prayed. They pelted them with stones, beat them with sticks, threw them in prison, and tried to starve them out. For ten years, he continued preaching under the most perilous circumstances.

When he finally returned to Mecca as conqueror, he forgave his former persecutors. The past was wiped clean.

AL-HALLAJ (Baghdad, 10th century)

The Sufi mystic declared “Ana’l Haqq”—“I am the Truth”—speaking of his union with the Divine.

Both Shiite and Sunni authorities condemned him. He spent nearly 10 years in prison.

On the day of his execution, they beat him with scourges, cut off his hands and feet, and hanged him.

He danced to the gallows singing praise to God.

“It is now time for the lover to make the One single.”

His persecutors tried to silence him forever. His words have echoed for 1,100 years.

HILDEGARD OF BINGEN (Germany, 12th century)

At 82 years old, she buried a man in her convent cemetery. The local clergy said he’d been excommunicated and demanded she dig up the body.

Hildegard said no. She knew he had received the last rites. She had received word from God. The night before they came to exhume him, Hildegard went to the cemetery and removed every marker and gravestone—so the plot could not be identified.

The furious clergy excommunicated her entire convent and forbade them from singing. “Come, Your Grace, my lord archbishop, and dig him up yourself!”

She was 82. She had already advised four popes and an emperor. She had written three volumes of theology, invented a language, composed 69 musical works. She would not yield.

The interdict was lifted months before her death. In 2012, the Church made her a Doctor of the Church—only the fourth woman ever.

MARGUERITE PORETE (Paris, 13th-14th century)

She was a Beguine—a free woman who lived outside convent walls, answering to no husband or abbot.

She wrote The Mirror of Simple Souls, teaching that a soul annihilated in Divine Love becomes one with God. “I am God,” she wrote, “for Love is God and God is Love.”

The Bishop of Cambrai burned her book in front of her and ordered her to stop teaching. She refused. She kept writing. She kept circulating the book.

Arrested. Imprisoned for 18 months. She refused to speak a single word to the Inquisitors. On June 1, 1310, she was burned at the stake in Paris—the first woman executed as a relapsed heretic by the Paris Inquisition.

The crowd wept at the calmness with which she faced her death.

Her book—the one they burned—survived. It was copied, translated, and read for centuries. They only discovered she was its author in 1946.

MEISTER ECKHART (Germany, 14th century)

The Dominican mystic taught of direct union with God—without intermediary:

“The eye with which I see God is the same eye with which God sees me.”

The Archbishop of Cologne charged him with heresy. One investigator found no basis for charges. So they sent different investigators. They found him guilty.

A Papal Bull declared he had been “led astray by the Father of Lies.” Eckhart died before sentencing—but his “heretical” words are still read today, while his accusers are forgotten.

KABIR (India, 15th century)

He taught that the Hindu “Ram” and Muslim “Allah” were names for the same God. “Ram-Allah!” Both pandits and mullahs were offended.

To brahmins, he was an outcaste. To Muslims, an infidel.

“Are you looking for me?
I am in the next seat.
My shoulder is against yours.
you will not find me in the stupas,
not in Indian shrine rooms,
nor in synagogues,
nor in cathedrals:
not in masses,
nor kirtans,
not in legs winding around your own neck,
nor in eating nothing but vegetables.
When you really look for me,
you will see me instantly —
you will find me in the tiniest house of time.
Kabir says: Student, tell me, what is God?
He is the breath inside the breath.”

He was called before the Sultan to answer for his teachings. The authorities wanted to make an example of him. The Sultan refused to prosecute—but Kabir was expelled from Benares.

Today he is honored throughout the world. Legend says when he died, both Hindus and Muslims fought over his body—and found only flowers.

JOAN OF ARC (France, 15th century)

At 17, an illiterate peasant girl told the heir to France’s throne that God had sent her to drive out the English. They gave her armor. She led armies. She liberated Orléans and crowned a king.

At 19, she was captured and sold to the English for 10,000 francs.

The Church tried her for heresy. Her crime? She claimed to hear God’s voice directly—and refused to submit that claim to Church authority. They interrogated her dozens of times. She never broke: “Everything I have done, I have done at God’s command.”

Under threat of burning, she briefly recanted. Days later, they found her dressed again in men’s clothes. She said her voices had returned.

On May 30, 1431, she was burned at the stake in Rouen. She was 19.

She asked a Dominican to hold a crucifix high enough for her to see through the flames.

25 years later, the Church annulled her conviction. 500 years later, they made her a saint.

HARRIET TUBMAN (USA, 19th century)

Throughout her early life on a slave plantation, she had seizures, blackouts, and visions she believed were direct revelations from God.

In 1849, she escaped to Philadelphia. Crossed into free soil and felt reborn: “I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. There was such a glory over everything. The sun came up like gold through the trees, and I felt like I was in heaven.”

She could have stayed safe. Instead, she went back.

Nineteen times she returned to Maryland to lead others to freedom. Legends say her capture was worth $40,000—whether true or not, she was hunted.

Admiringly called “General Tubman” by John Brown, one abolitionist said of her: “I never met with any person of any color who had more confidence in the voice of God, as spoken direct to her soul.”

When God told her to stop, she stopped. When God told her to wade into a freezing stream, she waded—and the terrified men behind her followed.

“On my underground railroad, I never ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger.”

They called her Moses.

DIETRICH BONHOEFFER (Germany, 1940s)

Two days after Hitler took power, Bonhoeffer went on radio to denounce the cult of the Führer. They cut his broadcast mid-sentence.

He ran an illegal seminary.

He smuggled out reports of Jewish deportations.

He joined the plot to assassinate Hitler.

“Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ.”

When friends begged him to stay safe in America, he said: “I will have no right to help rebuild Germany if I don’t share its suffering.”

He was hanged at dawn on April 9, 1945—three weeks before Hitler shot himself.

DOROTHY DAY (USA, 20th century)

She was arrested at 20 for picketing the White House for women’s suffrage. Thrown in jail. Went on a hunger strike. Then she converted to Catholicism and kept getting arrested.

In 1933, in the depths of the Depression, she founded the Catholic Worker—a penny newspaper that proclaimed: feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, and refuse to kill. She opened “houses of hospitality” in slums across America. She was a pacifist who opposed every American war from World War II to Vietnam.

The FBI called her a communist. They opened a file and recommended she be detained “in the event of a national emergency.” She was arrested in 1955, 1957, and again in 1973—at age 75, marching with Cesar Chavez.

“If you feed the poor, you’re a saint. If you ask why they’re poor, you’re a Communist.”

Pope Francis named her one of four great Americans. Her canonization cause is now before Rome. They sent the Vatican her FBI file along with her diaries.

“Don’t call me a saint. I don’t want to be dismissed so easily.”

THE PATTERN REPEATS

Those who touched transcendent truth couldn’t stay silent about earthly injustice. Not all were martyred. But all risked everything.

“This is the common experience of all the great seers, from Laozi to Heraclitus and Socrates, from Plotinus and al-Hallaj to Meister Eckhart and Saint John of the Cross; all were cruelly tortured and persecuted for their transcendent knowledge.”

—Swami Abhayananda, History of Mysticism

They didn’t bypass humanity’s suffering and they didn’t stay silent.

Neither should we.

He and I are both very into nonduality: Sri Ramana Maharshi, A Course in Miracles, Zen, Nisargadatta… all of the most earth-shattering veil-breakers…

And yet here we are, having challenges in our relationships with other human beings on this rock!

That’s because spiritual philosophy can only go so far as a concept.

It has to be embodied.

Which is why I am so thoroughly enamored by the brilliant, heart-opening method of self-inquiry by Byron Katie, lovingly called The Work. I write about Katie and her process in my book Original Sin Is A Lie—where I reference the fact that she’s been compared to Sri Ramana Maharshi for example due to the nature of her awakening: which was completely instantaneous! After being suicidally depressed for over a decade, one morning she woke up. She woke up to it all. Katie realized that we have made everything up in this world, and by investigating our thoughts, we can understand this and find real peace. (Read about her origin story either online or in my book... and I also go through an example of a thought I’ve ‘Work’d’ through.)

The Work itself is the analysis of a judgmental thought using four simple questions.

An egoic thought or judgement is written down, and then explored from a contemplative space. Upon writing down the thought, the first question to ask is, “Is it true?”

(This is her website with free resources, including The Work worksheet.)

It is immensely practical.

You see, spiritual work (lower case “w”) is experiential, or it is nothing at all. All of these concepts and pretty quotes by long-dead gurus are the first step and the least important one. It has to be lived. And Katie is one of the best in the world at the integration.

In this article I’m pointing you to three Byron Katie sessions.

Let’s see The Work done with the master, live in front of a studio audience.

Come on down… to the hotseat of presence and awakening!

Man: “I am angry, confused, hurt, and disappointed with church and government leaders because they don’t accept me as natural, equal, and worthy.”

Katie: “They don’t accept you as natural” — is that true?”

In this wonderfully intimate public session, Katie supports the inquiry of a gay man into his beliefs about himself and those around him.

I’m a bad therapist.

I’m a philosopher. A writer. I can’t help you in a one-on-one... that much!

The best thing I can do in that setting is listen. I can hear you out in a sincere, deep way.

Otherwise, for people going through a tough spot... Here’s B.K. and the most mind-blowing process for feeling better I have ever stumbled across in my two decades as a student of spirituality:

A son desperately wants to please his mother. “I want Mom to tell me that she loves me.” “Mom should stop saying no.” “I need her to enjoy something I give her.” When he believes these thoughts, he is miserable. When he questions them, he realizes that he doesn’t need her to do or be anything.

In these exchanges, people begin the process in TEARS.

But by the end of these sessions, the participants are LAUGHING.

It’s pure alchemy.

This final video below is heart-wrenching for 7 minute whole minutes where Byron Katie calmly listens to this woman’s story. This woman is falling apart into a thousand pieces. And yet at the 6m mark Katie lovingly reassures her, “Let’s start at the top, sentence by sentence.. I just don’t see anything here that we can’t walk through together. Not one thing.”

From the episode description: What would you do if your partner told you you were fat, then had an affair, died, and left their money to someone else? Like Karen, you might sink to new depths of shame and self-loathing. Join Byron Katie for this unforgettable journey into suffering, and watch as it turns into laughter.

They go from utter despair to zany laughter.

It’s the feeling of sincere relief: “Wow I can be free from this thought that has plagued me for so long.

I don’t have to keep walking around with these anvils in my hands!”

May we all begin to question the millions of false stories we continue to make up everyday, and find the deep peace within.

When the Buddha was asked, “Sir, what do you and your monks practice?” he replied, “We sit, we walk, and we eat.”

The questioner continued, “But sir, everyone sits, walks, and eats.”

And the Buddha told him, “When we sit, we know we are sitting. When we walk, we know we are walking. When we eat, we know we are eating.”

— Thích Nhất Hạnh

All this speculating and categorizing and book-reading and scrolling and thinking and doing!

You ever just, be?

The mystics saw through the stimuli of the world. And as much as I know this, I still get trapped by it. The world is a very captivating set of phenomena. And it’s why being firmly rooted in the present is such an artform.

There’s a lovely spiritual cliché from Vonnegut: we are human beings, not human doings.

But there’s just so much to do!

In my life, in the world. There are so many great books to read. My movie and TV show watchlist keeps getting larger, not smaller. There are so many places to see, foods to try, people to meet.

And yet, here we are.

I am sitting.

In a chair.

Breathing.

Noticing the thoughts come up.

That’s the primary technique for being rooted in the present, in meditation.

Most people think that meditating is stopping your thoughts. That’s a misunderstanding. Even experienced meditators don’t stop the thoughts completely. That’s Dōgen’s zazen, or Ramakrishna’s samadhi… where you’re merely an empty vessel for the śūnyatā or the Divine. That might be the eventual goal, but that’s not my morning meditation.

All I’m doing is being aware of being aware.

“Flow with whatever is happening and let your mind be free. Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing.”

— Zhuangzi

The present actually has everything. All of it. It’s the restlessness and resistance to this fact that brings us anxiety or regret. Anxiety of course is concern for the future, regret is concern for the past. When we’re here, fully, those feelings lessen. Because you’re in the truth! The truth of this unceasing present moment.

I am not always mentally in the present. But when I am, what peace comes to me! Ram Dass talked about how he was getting to a point where, while yes he still loved connecting with people, he could sit in an empty white room for hours and be happy. He was rooted in the power of the present moment.

Alan Watts the great British Buddhist had a wonderful image. He said we think the present is a little tick mark on your wrist. We’ve been deceived that the present is a *snap* and not the *ringing of a long sustained bell*. We’ve been lied to!

It’s here.

And here.

And here.

And it never runs out.

And we are starting to grasp how important staying rooted within it can be.

Krishna and the Hindu masters have preached about meditation for millennia. The Buddha attained enlightenment meditating under that tree. Even Jesus would go off into nature “to pray”.

But we didn’t know what it actually does to our bodies and brains until very recently. In the 1970s when Americans like Ram Dass, and then Daniel Goleman and Jon Kabat-Zinn went to India, meditation was still very esoteric. It was not studied scientifically until Dan Goleman and Richard Davidson started looking into actually scanning the brains of meditators. There were only a handful of studies published by the end of the 20th century. The number of scientific studies on mindfulness & meditation published starting in 2010, has increased exponentially every year. There are tens of thousands of research studies evaluating every dimension of what it does for us.

The results are undeniable.

Meditation, or being rooted in the present, benefits our respiratory system, our cardiovascular system, our neurological system, our ability to regulate emotions, our ability to reduce stress. These benefits are published in the most established medical journals in the world.

An especially exciting new realization from this research on the brain is called “neuroplasticity”.

It means that our neural pathways can be changed.

In much of 20th century psychology our brain chemistry was thought to be fixed. Now we understand that many of the ideas proposed by Eastern and contemplative philosophy are being validated.

In Buddhism they say we are “always arriving”. In meditation, we are practicing coming back to the present moment. And according to modern neuroscientific research, we are actually getting better at doing that. We can build the mind-muscle to come back to the present, even better than we could prior to meditating. This is a very useful image because it shows that we have the power to improve our own lives.

Our own sense of peace and happiness is attainable by coming back into the present, coming back into love. It’s this slow, gradual but deliberate, incremental increase that I rely on to work towards a fuller sense of self and a greater connection with others.

…I’m all over the place.

The brand strategists say:

I’m a mystic.

My niche is every sentient being.

Everyone is on the path of awakening.

Happiness.

Bliss.

The end of material suffering.

Awareness of The Transcendental Reality.

To see the Cosmos in the smile of a sunflower.

To feel the beating Sacred Heart of All Creation.

To merge with the Infinite Nameless One.

To remember Your True Nature.

I post everything from Christian deconstruction, to Taoist poetry, to Buddhist masters, to highlighting the suffering of the Palestinians.

It’s all related, to me.

Social media creation & sharing is a spectrum between “dear diary” and “content strategy”. I’ve leaned a bit more towards “dear diary” over the years, but now I’m starting to consider thinking about the strategy… if ultimately my goal is to help others come to understand the joy of what I’ve stumbled upon within the world mystic traditions, okay. Then maybe it’s worth some contemplation.

I don’t have to ignore and bypass the “strategy” side of it all; but how can I continue to be real? Authentic? Sincere to myself and to the work I’m trying to do: which is putting a coal on the fire of the Awakening of All Beings?

There’s also another mystic philosophy component at play here which is that you’re not really you.

I’m not actually Bob Peck.

Thank God.

I’m the capital M, Mind, behind him, and him.

The incarnation is passing quickly.

You’re a sandcastle and yet you’re also the ocean.

A good friend of mine who also does this—shout out Daniel Tyack—told me, it’s just a mascot. Once you understand that this body, this personhood, is just a mascot for love.

For light.

For truth.

And so it doesn’t really matter what anyone else thinks or says… about this… blink of an eye... this dewdrop on the lily pad. It seems like all of the mystics of history are really just erasing their individuality alongside their attempts to be truly helpful.

A Course in Miracles says:

That’s that “use me Lord”; without you & with You, without anything attached to the doer…

Because I’m not the vehicle, I’m not going to take you there.

You will take yourself there.

But if I can use what little time I have on this plane to share the meager gems that have transformed my own life, and my own views about finding the oasis within this dark and dusty desert, then I’ve done my job.

Ramakrishna’s Simple Images of Spiritual Wisdom (Part 2)

In my last Substack, I shared the great Ramakrishna and his humble simplicity. He was illiterate. He fell into samadhi daily. He puts such profound eternal truths in these beautiful accessible images. Here are a few more:

362.

The heavier scale of a balance goes down while the lighter rises up.

Similarly, he who is weighed down by the many cares and anxieties of this world sinks down into it, while he who has fewer rises up towards the feet of the Lord.

364.

In what condition of mind is the vision of God obtained?

When the mind is perfectly tranquil. When the sea of one's mind is agitated by the wind of desires, it cannot reflect God, and God-vision is impossible then.

410.

The tree laden with fruits always bends low. If you wish to be great, be lowly and meek.

415.

If you wish to thread a needle, make the thread pointed and remove all protruding fibers. Then it will easily pass through the eye of the needle.

So, if thou wish to concentrate your heart and soul on God, be meek, humble and remove all the spreading filaments of [outward] desire.

Podcasts

I keep guesting on pals’ pods, and I keep releasing my own podcast episodes as often as humanly possible.

There are a couple pending guest spots I’m on that I’ll be glad to share on the next article. On the as of yet unreleased The Vital Point episode in particular Jonathan Schecter and I spent an hour on the transformational Buddhist yogi, Milarepa.

And since my last Substack, I’ve published three more episodes of my podcast, Karmic Relief.

I have been absolutely blown away by these humans. It seems impossible that all 18 out of 18 episodes of this season have been phenomenal but they have been to me.

Three more episodes are coming out over the next six weeks, then I’m taking a short break to dive into a new job and the next book. I will resume recording the next season later this year.

May all beings be free and happy and at peace and alive in the Love of The Infinite Current.

Bob

The perfect job, the ideal partner, the dream house. For a moment, you feel it—that fleeting satisfaction. But then, almost imperceptibly, the restlessness creeps back in. The mind whispers, "Is this it?"

That’s the thing about this world—it never truly satisfies. It can’t.

A Course in Miracles makes this clear: Nothing out here will ever work the way we hope it will. Not in the way we long for deep in our souls. Why? Because this world was built on a false premise—the illusion that we are separate from God. And illusions, by their very nature, can never fulfill us.

Seek not within the world to find your Self.

Love is not found in darkness and in death.

Yet it is perfectly apparent to the eyes that see and ears that hear love’s Voice.

–ACIM (W-127.6:1-3)

Mystics across time have tried to tell us.

The ancient sages called life a dream. Rumi likened it to a guest house, temporary and passing. Yogananda compared it to a motion picture, flickering and unreal. But ACIM takes it even further: God has nothing to do with this world.

At first, that’s hard to hear. It feels like a loss, like everything we’ve ever known is being pulled out from under us. But it’s actually the key to liberation.

“The entire universe is God's cosmic motion picture, and that individuals are merely actors in the divine play who change roles through reincarnation; mankind's deep suffering is rooted in identifying too closely with one's current role, rather than with the movie's director, or God.”

—Paramahansa Yogananda

If the world was never meant to bring us lasting joy, then we can stop chasing it. We can stop placing our hopes in things that were never designed to fulfill us. Instead, we turn inward. We love—not because the world is perfect, but because within every being is the One who is perfect. We serve—not because we expect the world to change, but because love is who we are.

So no, this isn’t about apathy. It’s about clarity. Love, give, serve—but don’t be fooled. The world will always disappoint. But the Truth, the Divine within, is untouched by all of it.

Ramakrishna’s Simple Images of Spiritual Wisdom (Part 1)

Ramakrishna was one of the most extraordinary Hindu saints of the modern era. I write about him briefly in my book, but if you’d like to know him more deeply, I can’t recommend this biography enough. He puts spiritual truths in these charming, simple images that are almost infuriatingly accessible. How can the Eternal Truth be so clear? So easy? He does it time and again. Enjoy a few of my favorites.

Q: How can we devote our mind to God in this worldly life?

A: If a man lives in the world and busies himself day and night with worldly duties and responsibilities, he cannot give his mind to God. So it's important to go into solitude from time to time, and think about God. When the plant is young, it should be fenced in on all sides. Unless there's a fence around it, goats and cattle may eat it up. But when the same plant grows into a mighty oak tree, the same goats and cows will rest in its shade.

Q: Why are there so many different religious paths?

A: God himself has arranged for many ways of worship to suit the varied temperaments of his worshippers in their different stages of growth.

A mother has five children. There is fish to be cooked. She prepares different kinds of fish dishes, to agree with every kind of stomach. For one child, she cooks fish pilau, for another pickled fish, for another baked fish, fried fish and so forth. She has cooked all kinds of dishes to appeal to their different tastes and digestions.

Q: How is one to live in the world and lead a family life?

A: Attend to all your duties but keep your mind fixed on God. Wife, son, father, mother - live with all of them and serve them, as if they were your very own. But know in your heart of hearts that they are not your own.

The maid in the house of a rich man attends to her work, but her mind dwells in her home in her native village. Furthermore, she brings up her master's children as though they were her own. She speaks of them as 'my Rama' or 'my Hari', but she knows in her own mind that they do not belong to her.

The tortoise moves about in the water of a lake. But do you know where her mind is? On the bank, where her eggs are laid. Do all your duties in the world, but let your mind dwell on thoughts of God.

Podcasts!

My podcast, Karmic Relief, keeps wheeling and dealing. I released episode 14 (of the reawakened season) with Michael Phillip of Third Eye Drops earlier this month and Carol Howe, an ACIM Master, is coming this week. And I have several more excellent recordings coming ASAP.

I’ve also guested on a few the past couple of months. Hanna Williams of @organic.abundance and I went in the paint for two hours… coming soon. And this was a great convo on Mind Love with Melissa Monte:

There is a YT playlist and a Spotify playlist of my guest appearances.

Lastly, I’m very thankful for the creative momentum that’s been gently snowballing over the past few years. If you’re reading this, this far down on my Substack, I am sending gratitude to you. I was impacted by the recent Meta layoffs this month, so I’m taking time to really get grounded in my spiritual practice. Spend quality time with my family and friends. And push out the last of 2024’s Karmic Relief recordings!!

May all beings be happy and free.

Whenever it seems like there is nowhere to turn for a glimpse of sanity, I reflect on the lives and teachings of the world mystics.

In our human history, there are sages who have ‘broken the veil’. In ancient and modern times, women and men across every continent have transcended the game of sense perception. They have escaped the matrix of duality. These people are worth sincere study and contemplation, now more than ever.

My heroes are whoever breaks and transcends the norm from a place of love and light. If you smash a rigid institution, not from ego, but from love and compassion, you receive my adoration.

They don't give a f but they give all the f’s, about every being.

Does that make sense?

Here are three reasons why I love the mystics.

They call the world crazy, because they know it's not our home

This world is actually a dream.

We understand from contemporary science that our senses are almost comically unable to perceive much of anything.

The human eye’s capability is called “visible light”, which only covers wavelengths from roughly 400 nm to 700 nm (nanometers). The grander, complete electromagnetic spectrum ranges from extremely short wavelengths (gamma rays) to extremely long wavelengths (radio waves), spanning approximately 10⁻¹² meters (picometers) to 10⁴ meters (tens of kilometers). Given the enormous range of the electromagnetic spectrum, the fraction that corresponds to visible light is indeed tiny—on the order of 0.0035%.

The ancient Chinese poet Zhuangzi gives us this comical taste of so-called reality:

“Once, Zhuangzi dreamt he was a butterfly, fluttering about happily, enjoying itself.

It did not know it was Zhuangzi.

Suddenly, he awoke and was unmistakably Zhuangzi again.

But he did not know whether he was a man who had dreamt he was a butterfly,

or a butterfly dreaming he was a man.”

Many mystics across traditions—from the Taoists to the Sufis to the contemplative Abrahamics to the Zen masters—all use the concept of a dream to help us poke through its frailties.

Jesus himself tells his disciples to ‘be in the world but not of the world.’

And it’s because when you really investigate them, the values of the world are caught in delusion. It’s a “dog-eat-dog world”: competition, selfishness, greed, accumulation of material; all of which ultimately leads us nowhere. Aside from suffering.

The great Sufi poet Hafez calls it “the lunatic's sphere”.

“Listen: this world is the lunatic's sphere,

Don't always agree it's real,

Even with my feet upon it

And the postman knowing my door

My address is somewhere else.”

It’s an insane world, and it’s because it’s based on a false premise: that we are separate from God—an impossible, laughable idea that can only come from the little ego mind.

A Course in Miracles says:

They call out the hypocrisy of institutions and mainstream religion, and the institutions don't like that

Many of the great mystics throughout history were so embodied within the Truth of Our Oneness, that they ultimately drew the ire of the institutions of their day. Accessing this Infinite Power (which is in every being), in such a complete way enables a level of fearlessness to speak truth to power.

We all know what happened to Jesus of Nazareth.

Mansur Al-Hallaj was a Sufi saint from medieval Iraq who got into a lot of trouble for saying “Ana al-Haqq”, which is Arabic for “I am the Truth”—sound familiar?? (John 14:6...)!

Al-Hallaj’s followers understood this teaching to mean “fanā”, which is a state of mystical annihilation. The individual ego has dissolved, with only God remaining! The Persian master had an ego death and was set free from the delusion of maya-separation.

Unfortunately the institutional Islamic clerics interpreted his teachings as “hulul”, which is the doctrine of God indwelling in human form. They took Al-Hallaj as claiming his own divine specialness, and he was executed for blasphemy.

Al-Hallaj famously danced to the gallows in chains, as he was intoxicated by the Spirit which dwells in All.

There is no shortage of these stories in the world mystic traditions.

Thankfully they can’t kill us anymore. I can’t die from angry Christian comments on Instagram.

They are funny, paradoxical teachers who know that language can’t hold the Truth

When you “break the veil”, you understand that ‘The All That Is’ is actually beyond human comprehension. The human ego mind does not like this thought and will go to war against it. Conceptually or violently!

Kabir was a 15th-century Indian mystic who lived in a particularly contentious period between Hindus and Muslims. He belonged to neither religion, yet he fully embraced the essence of both. One of his humorously antiestablishment concepts for the Divine was “Ram-Allah”; as “Ram” is a Hindu deity and “Allah” is the Islamic term for God. He understood that no one tradition can hold it, despite their aggressive claims for exclusivity.

He sang:

"Koi bole Ram Ram, koi Khudai;
Ram ke Malik hai, Khuda ke Malik hai."
(Some chant 'Ram, Ram,' others 'Khudai';
But Ram and Allah are both the masters of all.)

"Pothi padh padh jag mua, pandit bhaya na koye;
Dhai aakhar prem ke, jo padhe so pandit hoye."
(The world perished reading scriptures, none became wise;
He alone is learned who knows the two-and-a-half letters of love.)

Much like Al-Hallaj and othter mystics, Kabir was persecuted by members of the institutions, but his teachings live on with great reverence to this day—in both of those traditions, and beyond. He continually emphasized that words, and form altogether, are inadequate tools to describe The Ineffable.

And if we’re talking comedy and ineffability, I can’t end this article without one of my absolute favorites.

Zhuangzi was an ancient Taoist poet, and comedian. Incredibly, Taoism comes down from essentially two teachers: Laozi, the semi-mythological attributed author of the Tao Te Ching, and Zhuangzi, who was more verifiably real a few centuries later. Zhuangzi is carrying Laozi’s torch, but with more levity, and within a cultural setting that is yet again rife with inter-religious conflict.

He gives us that brilliant butterfly dream joke from earlier.

This is how he describes the Intangible:

“The fish trap exists because of the fish.

Once you've gotten the fish you can forget the trap.

The rabbit snare exists because of the rabbit.

Once you've gotten the rabbit, you can forget the snare.

Words exist because of meaning.

Once you've gotten the meaning, you can forget the words.

Where can I find a man who has forgotten words, so I can have a word with him?”

In Rafah, where they ran over Saint Rachel…

I have never seen such godforsaken horror, this unfathomable nightmare, whose reality eliminates any horror movie reassurance—“this is not just a movie”—we must tell ourselves, over and over again, as words themselves are feeble captors of this apocalypse.

The tortured screams of widows lamenting their lost babies hurtling through our cross-Atlantic phone speakers without end. A cruel one-way radio, forcing us to watch & listen as the helpless become more helpless, if they are not turned into shards of flesh and bone.

The ‘beheaded babies’ headlines of October 2023 are now an Orwellian full circle… the only headless children anyone has seen are the lifeless Palestinian torsos I saw yesterday, in between Russell Brand’s conversion to Christianity and an Instagram ad for colorful cookware. The stock photo dish was eerily Middle Eastern.

I want to mourn in silent respect and reverence for these innocent fallen cherubs.

But also, The Atlantic just said killing kids is okay.

And for some reason thousands of humans clicked a strange button with the intention to listen to what this drunken wannabe Bodhisattva has to say. So I feel compelled to put it as plainly and clearly as possible:

Stop killing the Palestinians.

The children, the women, and the men.

The father scraping in agony at the rubble covering the bodies of his most beloved little ones. 

He deserves to live, too.

The Palestinian people are a beautiful, brotherly & sisterly, culinary, resilient culture. Every Palestinian I know personally is a beacon of friendship, inclusion, and joyful laughter. They want to live in peace with their new neighbors. And they want the past eight decades of violence to end. They want to sit under the shade of the olive trees their grandfathers planted.

And me, a cosmic cowboy in a faraway shady spot, believes they deserve it all.

May the shade of the bombs paid for by the taxes that come out of my bi-weekly direct deposits, transmute into the shade of those ancient olive trees—for every Palestinian who endures this unparalleled modern hell.

I see your beauty, and I join with you as another Mask of the One.

May all sentient beings be happy, free and at peace.

I wrote the above piece a few months ago during the Israeli military’s strikes on Rafah. Rafah is the Palestinian border town with Egypt where hundreds of thousands of Gazans were told to evacuate to, as it was considered “a safe zone”. If you aren’t aware of how it turned out, refugee tent cities were incinerated by fires from Israeli bombs paid for with American tax dollars. If the hundreds of Palestinian civilians murdered didn’t die by the explosions, they were taken by fire.

We’ve now hit one year since Hamas’ violent assault on Israel’s Nova music festival and several Israeli neighborhoods on the border of Gaza. Violence which I’ve condemned over, and over, and over again. Violence which Jewish-American scholar Norman Finkelstein has compared to Nat Turner’s Slave Rebellion. Referencing the pacifist, abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison when questioned about Nat Turner, Finkelstein offers a similar sentiment: ‘after so many agonizing years of brutal subjugation and dehumanization by force, what did you think would happen?’

Fundraiser Dinner in Austin on October 10th

(TICKETS HERE)

With my dear friend, local activist and healer, Madeline Vu, I am co-producing a fundraiser relief dinner to help feed Gaza. It is a bittersweet mix of warmth and heartbreak.

We’ll have inspiring poets and delicious food—at a classic Austin loft space celebrating the beauty and resilience of the Palestinian people. And yet, our poetry gathering will take place one year and three days after the initial aggressions that created this apocalyptic hellscape with seemingly no end in sight.

In the first six months of the so-called “war”, Israel killed 15,000 children. For context, 500 children were killed by Russia in Ukraine in two years. The destruction in Gaza has been unfathomable. The Palestinian people have a right to live peacefully on their land, and they want to do so in harmony with their neighbors. While we condemn Hamas’ violence on October 7th, we condemn Israel’s violence the past 51 weeks, whose collective punishment against the entire population is a violation of international law. And we condemn Israel’s occupation of Palestine, the past 76 years. In Gaza, every university and every hospital have been bombed—with over 90% of its infrastructure destroyed since October 2023. 

Israel’s far-right, ethno-nationalist leaders have not hidden their intentions to make Gaza unlivable; and with the aid of US tax dollars they are doing just that.

In supporting relief efforts, there are both high-level international humanitarian NGOs making an impact, which we admire; and there are grassroots mutual aid efforts on the ground supporting Palestinians as well. We’re raising money for the latter, The Sameer Project, which directly supports Palestinian families with food, water, tents, diapers, and other vital needs.

Please join us at Royal Blue Grocery on October 10th at 7pm.

We’ll have:

​Poetry readings by Sara Bawany, Tane Ward, Isra Cheema, Bob Peck (me), Wajiha Sultana Rizvi, and Lilas Taha.

​Bites by Wee’s Cozy Kitchen and sweets by Austin Kuih Co.

​Palestinian goods for sale by Palestine Online Store, founded by Haithem El-Zabri.

​Raffle prizes from local partners: Birds Barbershop, 3rd Eye Cacao, Earth Commons, EleMINT, Shelley Moon Designs, KG BBQ, and more...

Identifying With Every Being

Yesterday I posted the following quote from Thích Nhất Hạnh. The late great Zen Buddhist monk was able to walk the line between global grandfather of secular mindfulness and fearless antiwar activist hero. In his later years he showed us how to see the smile of a sunflower, and yet he hit the world stage in the 1960s courageously protesting the war in Vietnam—generating admiration from none other than Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He humorously recounted the early years hearing bombs not far from his monastery in his native land: “It’s pretty hard to sit and meditate when there are bombs going off down the road.”

Thích Nhất Hạnh is the only human being to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by MLK, modern America’s legend of spiritual peace and harmony. He writes,

“Continue practicing until you see yourself in the most cruel and inhumane political leader, in the most devastatingly tortured prisoner, in the wealthiest man, and in the child starving, all skin and bones.

Practice until you recognize your presence in everyone else on the bus, in the subway, in the concentration camp, working in the fields, in a leaf, in a caterpillar, in a dew drop, in a ray of sunshine.

Meditate until you see yourself in a speck of dust and in the most distant galaxy.”

Exhibiting the most psychedelic nature of nondual Zen, the great teacher reminds us of our inherent Oneness with All Creation.

A passionate activist responded, “Tough one for me as I have no desire to see myself in Netanyahu.” I replied that, “it’s a really really really tough one.”

I’m not Thích Nhất Hạnh.

It’s hard as hell to see myself in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and any of his fellow cabinet members calling for the eradication of their neighboring civilian population.

But that’s why we must keep practicing the spiritual path, and integrate these methods for unity.

Keep serving those in need.

Keep loving all sentient beings.

And keep practicing.

ATX, see you on Thursday night!

Bob

“Teach only love, for that is what you are.”

—A Course in Miracles, (T-6.I.13:2)

Sometimes I ask myself, “Why do I make content? What’s the intention here?”

And then I saw this young lady on Twitter… X… Elon… and she goes (I don’t even want to say it):

“Why aren’t we shaming [“F” and then a vowel and then a “G” and a “S”] …??”

“Why are we not shaming these people anymore?”

We need to bring that back!”

And she has a very big following.

And I was like Ohhh!!!

It’s to be a voice in the choir of unity, and love, and oneness.

It’s to megaphone the mystics of all traditions who have broken the veil of separateness... who see the One in every being.

Oh yeah!

That’s why I do this.

And I humbly invite you, reading this, to join the choir.

The 2-Year Anniversary Of My Life’s Work

I published Original Sin Is A Lie: How Spirituality Defies Dogma and Reveals Our True Self two years ago this week.

My book (and the social content supporting it) is responsible for an almost unimaginable amount of new connections and friends and gratitude. It still surprises me that the damn thing has 4.8 stars on Amazon. The best compliments I’ve received are in the realm of:

“You’ve articulated what I’ve discovered in my own journey.”

“You made me like Jesus again.” (Take that, angry Christian commenters.)

“Thank you for letting me realize I’m not crazy.”

My response to that last one is “you might be crazy, but you’re not alone.”

There are more of us crazy mystics out here seeing the One in All. Feeling the love and the light and the pain and the darkness. Integrating our psychedelic learnings. Trying to walk the talk. Appreciating all paths, and the Pathless Path.

I’m still interested in getting the book out there further to help more people in need of the concepts & the masters I reverently point to—so I’m listing it for 25% off ($14.47 → $10.85) until the end of September!

And I’m thrilled to announce that the Spanish translation, El Pecado Original Es Mentira, is complete and will be available for sale very soon—in time for the holidays! Deep bow to my dedicated friends, the book’s mystically-minded translators.

I’ve also begun work on book #2! More to come as I get further along. Expecting to make considerable progress now that my son is returning to preschool. It’s been amazing being with him this summer, and I’m also ready to get back to the craft a bit.

KARMIC RELIEF Podcast is going strong. It’s currently riding on bi-weekly releases with an incredible lineup—both of recorded episodes to edit and interviewees to film. If you’re enjoying the show so far, please subscribe to my YouTube and/or star that baby on Spotify / Apple Pods. Thank you.

Lastly, I’ve added a few new designs to the apparel shop to celebrate two freaking years, and because pretending to be able to design t-shirts still makes me laugh.

May every single, falsely-separate, sentient being be liberated. —Bob

"All worldly pursuits have but one unavoidable and inevitable end,

which is sorrow:

acquisitions end in dispersion;

buildings in destruction;

meetings in separation;

births in death.

Knowing this, one should, from the very first,

renounce acquisitions and storing-up,

and building,

and meeting;

and, faithful to the commands of an eminent Guru, set about realizing the Truth.

—Milarepa

Let’s consider the "futility" of the material world of form.

Oxford defines “futility” as:

That's the word and sensation that came up for me after reading The Life of Milarepa, a medieval biography of an ancient Tibetan Buddhist saint who broke through the veil.1

It is an idea that comes up again and again in the mystic traditions.

This world is emptiness. It’s a Cosmic Dream. Even according to the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics, so-called “reality” doesn't have a fixed state until it's measured.2

Certainly this is a foundational concept in two of my spiritual pillars, Advaita Vedanta and A Course in Miracles. In fact that's their biggest overlap—worrying too much about form is not only pointless, but that a fixation on form (this world) actually prevents our reunion with the Father (ACIM) or the Self (Advaita).

Milarepa (ca. 1028–1111) was a redeemed "great sinner" (his words), thanks to his Shakespearean upbringing. His respected, prosperous father died young, leaving his estate to the boy Milarepa’s uncle and aunt until he came of age. Instead of being faithful stewards of their late brother’s riches, the uncle and aunt squander the money and essentially enslave young Milarepa, his sister, and his grieving widow of a mother. After years of abuse, his tortured mother told her son to go learn black magick from a teacher in the mountains and take retribution against their evil stewards. After his initial resistance, she threatens to end her own life if he doesn’t do so. He does. After years of study he obtains the ability to call in hailstorms, generating an especially powerful storm on the day of a great wedding party, when his evil uncle’s family is gathered in celebration. The storm destroys the house, killing at least thirty people, ruining their bountiful harvest, and wrecking the boy Milarepa with unbearable guilt.

He begins his trek through the snowy peaks to find a teacher that can help him repent and develop along a true spiritual path. After what becomes three failed teachers, Milarepa meets the great master, Marpa the Translator, a householder lama and disciple of Naropa who translated several Buddhist texts into the Tibetan language.3 The night before Milarepa’s arrival, Marpa has a vivid, prophetic dream that a Buddha is on his way. However, their initial relationship was extraordinarily difficult. Marpa coldly instructs Milarepa to build a building, and destroy it. Several times! ‘Not over there, over here! Destroy it and build it in the correct location…’ The final building that Milarepa constructed with his own hands is a nine-story tower still standing today!

Six long years passed without an ounce of oral transmission. He carried on with a battered body of aching shoulders, infected hands, and immense existential uncertainty. Until finally, Marpa confesses that it was all an act. He purposefully had to put his beloved student through hell in order to run off all of the evil karma that was generated from his teenage murders. The teachings are given, and at last Milarepa is instructed to practice them in the distant snowy peaks.

He meditated in the mountain caves of Tibet for YEARS. And we need an app and nice headphones to sit for 10 minutes. Milarepa is often pictured with green skin, because he meditated in isolation for so many years, he would cook a makeshift stew of boiled nettle leaves. Grass soup. When the occasional hunter or traveler stumbled upon his cave, they were initially terrified of what appeared to be a green ghost absorbed in meditation. Eventually, Milarepa broke through into the Complete Awareness. The Highest Transcendental Reality beyond form, beyond definition. He’s as extraordinary and miraculous as any saint I've stumbled across... he even appears to his disciples after his death, like a few other famous spiritual teachers.

One of the most miraculous moments in his story is a demonstration he gives toward the end of his life. Milarepa left a hand imprint on a cave wall which can still be seen today. How could he do this? A Tibetan tour guide told spiritual teacher, Gregg Braden:

“The great master’s meditation teaches that he is part of the rock, not separate from it. The rock cannot contain him. To the geshe [great teacher], this cave represents a place of experience, rather than a barrier of limitation. In this place he is free and can move as if the rock does not exist.”4

There is no spoon.

What he teaches is extreme discipline in meditation and detachment from the world of form. Milarepa saw that everything falls apart here. Everyone is busy running around rearranging these Titanic deck chairs. It doesn’t matter how neatly aligned they are. They’re about to be at the bottom of the ocean.

From one of his ‘ten thousand songs’:

When you are young and vigorous

You never think of old age coming,

But it approaches slow and sure

Like a seed growing underground.

Strong and healthy,

Who thinks of sickness

Until it strikes like lightning?

Preoccupied with the world,

Who thinks of death

Until it arrives like thunder?

Who can tell when death will come?

Ever think of this,

And devote yourselves

To Dharma practice.

The time has come for you to help yourself.

Life flees fast. Soon death

Will knock upon your door.

It is foolish, therefore, one’s devotion to postpone.

Rest in a natural way like a small child.

Rest like an ocean without waves.

Rest within clarity like a candle flame.

Rest without self-concerns like a human corpse.

Rest unmoving like a mountain.

Long accustomed

To contemplating compassion,

I have forgotten all difference

Between myself and others.

In the monastery of your heart and body,

you have a temple where all buddhas unite.

When one comes to the essence of being,

The shining wisdom of reality Illumines all

Like the cloudless sky.

But isn’t that apathy? I’m not going to sit around and do nothing. People are suffering and they need our help. Milarepa tells us that trying to “help” another, while still caught in the veil of illusion is like jumping into a rushing river to save a drowning man without knowing how to swim.

The beautiful nuance of Milarepa’s view on nonduality is his embodiment as a bodhisattva. Milarepa’s bodhisattva nature is seemingly ironically, entirely dedicated to the service of other beings. In meditation, he’s continuously praying for the upliftment of all. Many of his songs close with this intentionality. It is precisely his intense, loving focus on the betterment of all sentient beings that motivates his austerities!

His 15th century biographer, a Buddhist Kagyu “religious madman” Tsangnyön Heruka, writes:

“[Milarepa] engendered in himself such an intense and far-reaching enlightened awareness (Bodhicitta) that by listening to him or even by hearing his name human beings who had no inclination toward the Dharma were moved to tears of faith, causing the hairs on their bodies to vibrate, and bringing about such a transformation of their whole perception that the seed of Enlightenment was sown in them...”5

This world is a crazy place. It’s easy to become disheartened by the violence, hunger, war, catastrophes, and the tangible, totality of suffering.

And yet after over twenty years of spiritual study, I have not once stumbled across an authentic spiritual teaching that suggested we be apathetic to the suffering of others. Apathy and indifference are not spiritual—they are egoic, and that’s not what the great women & men mystics of the past who’ve beaten samsara prescribe for us.

But we shouldn’t get caught either.

Jesus makes the subtle distinction to be ‘in the world, but not of the world’ in John 17. In the apocrypha, he tells us to “be passersby”. This world is a bridge. We are to “cross over it", but not to build “our home here.”6

Milarepa’s incarnation is a phenomenally inspiring life story of a human being who endured countless painful hardships in his life, from a very early age. And he overcame it all, including his own murderous past. His unparalleled devotion to the practice of deep meditation and lovingkindness melted away all delusion of separation, lifting up so many millions of seekers in the past millennia.

The 20th century Tibetan Buddhist monk and translator of Life of Milarepa, Lobsang P. Lhalungpa, illuminates us in the prologue:

“…The aim is to cultivate goodness consciously in thoughts, words and deeds to become a ‘jewel among humanity.’ From the outset, one works to free oneself from all superstitious complexes of superiority or inferiority based on sex, race, color, or creed. A deeper sense of one entire human family and universal fellowship has to be developed as the foundation for a right attitude to human relationships. Only then is the seeker led toward a process of spiritualization.

…Without this preparatory development of a sound and sane basic attitude toward the goals of living, the whole spiritual endeavor is susceptible to egoistic self-love, as distinguished from a practical concern for one’s permanent freedom. For even where consciousness has achieved an exalted level, its need must be further developed into an effective instrument for the process of universal emancipation of all human beings.”7

Mindfulness for Schoolteachers: Program Pilot Results

While I am happily dedicated to releasing more episodes of Karmic Relief Podcast, and building more content on my humble YouTube channel, I am also the co-founder of a mindfulness initiative focusing on teaching mindfulness and meditation to schools—both students and teachers.

Our main offering is a 6-10-week MBSR-type program called The Aware Educator, and I’m thrilled to share that we saw significant improvements in attention and awareness among our first teacher participants! In our pilot study with 40 K-5 teachers in Queens, New York, we utilized the Mindfulness Attention Awareness Survey (MAAS) to measure the impact of our program.

Before the program, the average MAAS score for the group was 3.758.

After completing the program, the average score rose to 4.155!

To put this into perspective, research by Positive Psychology indicates that the average score for undergraduate students is 3.85, while Zen meditators score an average of 4.38.

Our results show a notable enhancement in mindfulness, bringing our educators closer to the level of experienced meditators. If you’re a schoolteacher or associated with leadership in your school, please do book a call with us to learn more.

Thanks for reading,

Bob

Author’s Note: Spiritual Instagram has revealed a startling lack of understanding about the similarities between the founding religious figures—whom Yogananda, many Hindus & mystics, along with myself, consider to be Avatars of the Divine. Who are they and what do they teach? Here’s my take with academic citations included.

To be clear, this is a short excerpt from my book Original Sin Is A Lie: How Spirituality Defies Dogma and Reveals Our True Self. I am the writer, owner, and publisher so I can put it wherever the hell I want. The following section omits the biographies of each figure within the book—I’m jumping straight into the overlapping teachings for the sake of brevity. I hope you enjoy… even just formatting these powerful quotes from our elder brothers gave me chills.

🕉🕎✝️☪️☯️☸️

The avatar is a human manifestation of the Divine, born out of Absolute Compassion to serve and illuminate the rest of humanity.1 They teach us to realize our True Nature. Almost every system of religious or spiritual belief contains divine, or awakened personas who guide the rest of us stuck in primal mud.

The term comes from Sri Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita, who comforts his cousin Arjuna with the following:

“Whenever righteousness wanes and unrighteousness increases I send myself forth.

For the protection of the good and for the destruction of evil,

and for the establishment of righteousness, I come into being age after age.”

—Krishna, Bhagavad Gita 4.7–8

Human civilizations rise and fall. Everything in the world of form happens in a cyclical framework.

During the peaks, humanity experiences harmony and brotherhood in the world. During the valleys, when evil takes over, a spark of divinity ignites within a human being who is intimately connected to our Creator, that ultimate Cosmic Energy from which all things spring.

This Manifestation of Light centers their entire human life around teaching how to liberate us from our earthly bondage.

The plot points of their lives are eerily similar: all avatars have wondrous births. Their coming is prophesied by sages. As youth, they radiate compassion and knowledge far beyond their years. They correct institutional hypocrisies and misdeeds. And they ultimately teach us how to walk the path of peace and love.

“All human beings are potential gods; the wise man and the ignorant one both are true image-incarnations of God. The Divine Omnipresence fills each soul-image even as the mighty ocean is present in each wave. However, unless a wave dissolves itself and becomes one with the ocean, it remains inordinately limited. Until a devotee is fully liberated, he cannot truly assert: ‘I and my Father are one.’”2

—Paramahansa Yogananda

Quite simply (reductively), the primary mystical messages of each of these avatars are:

• The Path to Peace and its Internal Nature

• Compassion to All Beings

• Releasing Dependence on the External World

There are entire libraries dedicated to the teachings of these ancient masters so I'm only offering a meager flyover summary here, but a basic understanding of these teachers' parallels is important for the avenues and alleyways we'll be traveling in later pages. And of course, our lives at large.

On the Internal Path:

While the Gita is set on a battlefield of an epic war, for centuries yogic masters have interpreted this conflict as being two armies at war within one's mind: sensual egoic thinking vs. the illumined Self. The raging battle of Kurukshetra is merely the metaphor used for Krishna to guide his cousin Arjuna through a series of conceptual precepts and practical techniques leading to transcendence. Yogananda and others have even interpreted every major character in the Mahabharata as a symbolic representative of a unique aspect of self!3

The method Krishna prescribes for avoiding temptation is self- control through meditation as well as the mental withdrawal from their importance.

“O Mighty-Armed Arjuna, undoubtedly the mind is fickle and unruly;

But by yoga practice and by dispassion, the mind may nevertheless be controlled.

This is My word: Yoga* is difficult of attainment by the ungoverned man;

but he who is self-controlled will, by striving through proper methods,

Be able to achieve it.”

—Krishna, Bhagavad Gita 6.35-36

*Yoga as defined by Patanjali in the fourth century CE, is "the stilling of the mind fluctuations", the discipline to do so. Not quite modern 'American gym yoga' but its ancient antecedent.

This avoidance of external temptation is a key feature in the map of the hero's journey. It's an important plot point in their life story because it affirms their greatness. And the overcoming itself has a transformative power.

After his baptismal initiation by John the Baptist, Jesus walked off into the desert to be tested for forty days by Satan, who offers him different offerings of power and prestige, all of which he refused. In an especially striking parallel, the Buddha sat under the Bodhi tree for forty days, as Devaputra Mara ("chief of demons") offers him pleasure and power and other external trappings, all of which he refused.

“Ask, and it will be given you.

Seek, and you will find.

Knock, and the door will be opened to you.”

—Jesus, Gospel of Matthew 7:7

“The kingdom of God does not come with observation.

Nor will they say, ‘Here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For remember,

the kingdom of God is within you.”

—Jesus, Gospel of Luke 17:20-21

“Let those who are wise seek the Way. Those who find it will not return.”

—Krishna, Bhagavad Gita

“Those who seek to find the One without ceasing,

will find the Lord

dwelling in their own hearts.”

—Krishna, Bhagavad Gita

“Seeking within, you will find stillness.

Here there is no more fear or attachment—only joy.”

—Buddha, Dhammapada

“Irrigators channel waters;

fletchers straighten arrows;

carpenters shape wood;

the wise master themselves.”

—Buddha, Dhammapada

On Compassion:

“Bless those who curse you.

Pray for those who mistreat you.”

—Jesus, Gospel of Luke 6:28

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another,

even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

By this all men will know that you are My disciples,

if you have love for one another.”

—Jesus, Gospel of John 13:34-35

“The best type of yogi is he who feels for others,

Whether in grief or pleasure, even as he feels for himself.”

—Krishna, Bhagavad Gita 6.32

“Do everything you have to do,

but not with greed, not with ego, not with lust, not with envy

but with love, compassion, humility and devotion.”

—Krishna, Bhagavad Gita 2.45

“Radiate boundless love towards the entire world above, below, and across

unhindered, without ill will, without enmity.”

—Buddha, Karaniya Metta Sutta

“We will develop and cultivate the liberation of mind by loving-kindness,

make it our vehicle, make it our basis, stabilize it,

exercise ourselves in it, and fully perfect it.”

—Buddha, Samyutta Nikaya

On Releasing External, Worldly Desire:

“It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of heaven.”

—Jesus, Gospel of Matthew 19:24

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

Are you not of more value than they? Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?

And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lillies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.”

—Jesus, Gospel of Matthew 6:25-29

“When one's mind dwells on the objects of Senses, fondness for them grows on him,

from fondness comes desire, from desire anger.

Anger leads to bewilderment, bewilderment to loss of memory of true Self,

and by that loss intelligence is destroyed, and with the destruction of intelligence he perishes.”

—Krishna, Bhagavad Gita 2.62-63

“He who feels neither rejoicing nor loathing toward the glad nor the sad, who is free from grief and cravings, who has banished the relative consciousness of good and evil, and who is intently devout - he is dear to Me.”

—Krishna, Bhagavad Gita 12.17

“A mind unruffled by the vagaries of fortune,

from sorrow freed,

from defilements cleansed,

from fear liberated—this is the greatest blessing.”

—Buddha, Mangala Sutta

“I do not dispute with the world;

rather it is the world that disputes with me.”

—Buddha, Samyutta Nikaya

While the altar of my mind contains the teachings of Krishna, Buddha, and Christ, I’m not an authority on whether Abraham, Moses, Muhammad, or other famous prophets throughout history were avatars as defined as the fullest aspect of the Creator in the flesh (despite the Buddha’s agnosticism).

I know the above three and I have little need for more nourishment—they are each continental reservoirs overflowing the meager table pitcher of my heart.

That said, I fully endorse listing Abraham, Moses, Muhammad, Confucius, Zoroaster, Laozi, Socrates, Plato, Adi Shankara, Kabir, Mirabai, Bahá'u'lláh, Meister Eckhart, Guru Nanak, St. Francis of Assisi, The Great Peacemaker, Anandamayi Ma, Ramakrishna and countless others as avatars, as extremely important divine figures, prophets, sages, saints, or as the Ba'hai faith refers to many of these, “Manifestations of God”.4

I've drawn out some of the parallels between the Masks of the One most cherished to me, but in my admittedly still feeble understanding of the Infinite Nature of our Creator, categorizing these illuminated beings doesn’t seem to be very useful for conscious development.

What is useful however, is acknowledging the wisdom to be gained from each Holy Voice, and realizing that Spirit can come through in a variety of time periods and a variety of cultural backgrounds.

Ultimately the main reason I hold the avatars in such high regard is very simple: because I see the immense value in applying their teachings to practical living. There have been absolute giants of humanity who have found peace by connecting to an ever-present Divinity dwelling within themselves and the rest of creation. The fact that their teachings overlap so greatly is worth being aware of!

Karmic Relief Podcast

Gratitude for the soulful energy and momentum I’m receiving from the work on my reawakened podcast, Karmic Relief. The fourth episode from this 2024 season is up now and even editing it the other night I slipped into a beautiful mystical hypnosis… “moment by vanishing moment”… my latest guest is Timothy Conway, a scholar and devotee of the ‘pathless path’ for the over fifty years. I have ten more filmed to come out this summer. I have dozens of people to interview. I’m just getting started. Follow any of the following: YouTube channel / Spotify / Apple Podcast / Instagram to stay tuned.

This body is thirty six years old today.

May all beings be happy and free.

This illusory plane of time and space is a highly suitable environment for change and ultimately growth.

I'm not a caterpillar. But I'm not a butterfly yet. I'm in my chrysalis era.

I was a starving artist for eight years. My spiritual films found no audiences. And my bank account found no money.

I got a good job in tech six years ago. It altered my life completely. It also gradually made me realize that fulfillment is not in the 9 to 5. It's in the totality of our lives.

I self-published a book in 2022 about spiritual philosophy. The material itself is similar to the films. It's starting to get out there. With the help of Instagram and TikTok, this month I recently sold my one thousandth book.

It's not a life-changing amount of books when you look at the numbers.

But my hunk of wood—my life's work at this point—is on one thousand nightstands. Including my mom's.

It's helped hundreds of people work through religious trauma. I know because they've messaged me. They've commented. They've left reviews. I deeply honor everyone who has absorbed and appreciated my sincere, creative intention to serve humanity by unraveling the great truths of the world mystic traditions. The potentiality of helping the next suffering soul is why I devote my heart and my mind and my energy and my time... however much I have left in this incarnation.

I'm starting to poke out of the chrysalis. But my wings are not strong enough to soar on a gust of wind.

I'm still earning my "daily bread".

I get on a podcast and talk about spiritual philosophy: Bible scholarship, the chakra system, breaking the veil of illusion; and then work starts and I talk to my tech clients selling area rugs on social media.

I go from karma yoga to click-through rates. From the Four Noble Truths to Four Point 0 ROAS.

I'm in my chrysalis era.

Butterflies, thanks for the inspiration. Caterpillars, keep inching along. And to my fellow chrysalises, caught in a cosmic chasm between land and air, infancy and actualization, I'm extremely suspicious that this thin layer of film is about to crack.

P.S. Shoutout to the homey James McCrae (@wordsarevibrations) for coining the term “chrysalis era” — that butterfly inspired me.

KARMIC RELIEF PODCAST IS HERE

There are a lot of mystics on the internet—shout out and much love you crazy fools—that could use dusting off a textbook or two, warmly, without judgment. And secondarily, there are certainly a lot of scholars in academia who would be well served by eating a mushroom.

So I'm trying to bridge those two worlds.

Karmic Relief is an interview show where I talk to spiritual teachers, creatives, activists, scholars, people that live within these traditions and also appreciate the overlap.

What happens when you start to get activated internally that makes you activated in a compassionate way in the world.

I'm thrilled to be talking to fantastic, inspiring human beings. I have to do much less work, which is nice... because I'm just asking them questions about their story. It's a life hack.

Both academic scholarship in a grounded way of understanding the texts and the traditions has value, alongside of the authentic mystical experience, which requires no book—the snow falling on the mountaintop, the song of the wind playing for the leaves.

So I'm trying to balance both of those worlds.

I hope you'll enjoy these explorations, these really excavations, in the ones I've filmed so far (13 to be edited!!), they've all been really beautiful and deep and lighthearted.

Enjoy the first episode with the superbly multifaceted Aubrey Marcus on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts NOW! Subscribing to The YouTube channel and following Instagram is the best source to stay updated on weekly releases.

I also want to thank my good friends & collaborators Scott Standley, Ryan Padgett, Melena Kiriaki, and Maggie Burke for partnering on the first season of the previous incarnation: The Be Where How? Show, which ran from ‘20-’21. Those episodes are still up and they’re still being enjoyed by people who stumble into them… thank y’all deeply for your collaboration and ongoing encouragement!

ATX Events

Saturday May 25th @ 6:30pm - Healing Through Creativity at Soho House

Artists and creatives! I’m partnering up with two inspiring beings James McCrae and Laurén Janelle Green for a free event here in Austin. We have exclusive seats at Soho House for those wanting to hear from these talented mystics, artists, and storytellers. Come ask them your questions, hear a live performance from Emma Zeck, and even share your own words from the experts’ prompt. Reach out to me to see if there’s still a spot left!

Friday June 14th @ 7pm - Creative Renaissance ACT II at ArtUsCo Gallery

Join us Friday evening June 14th for an art mixer and collective discussion hosted by Byran Olivas, Juan Villegas, Rosemary Villegas, Madeline Vu, and me! Everyone is welcome in this collective conversation around art, regeneration, and creative action. Participate in our book swap by bringing a book, meet like-hearted individuals who care to make a difference, and add to the panel discussion led by local artists and creatives on art, history, community action, spirituality, and more. Tickets are here.

Thank you. May all beings be happy and free.

-Bob

Initially I did not know where he stood philosophically, because the man makes psychedelic artwork. After I shared my book title, Original Sin Is A Lie—as the discussion of psychedelia made me feel safe to do so (ha!)–he mentioned that he is a "born-again Christian".

Usually 'born-again Christians' are even more rigid and fundamentalist in their beliefs. When a person comes to an institution in their adult life, it can make them especially closed off to everything else. This is not always the case, as I've said many times: Christianity is a valid path to God. In my view, the initial image of being "born again" by Jesus (John 3:3) is a powerful mystical symbol of our rebirth as a Divine Child of God. Sadly however, that term in English & American church culture, means something totally different in terms of Christianity or Churchianity's spiritual superiority. It tends to create an egoic moral righteousness, "I'm born-again!"; which is the exact opposite of the authentic spiritual experience, seeing All as One. Exclusive elitist spirituality is the enemy of the Truth—the Truth of Our Inherent Divinity, that every sentient being is Equally Beloved in the Eye of The Creator.

Anyway.

What this artist said was that he did believe in reincarnation(!!). That it was taken out of the Bible by the early church fathers—for example Jesus refers to John the Baptist (a contemporary) as “Elijah” (an ancient prophet), who has “come again” (Matthew 17 & John 1)—which is what Yogananda says, and a few others.

But this is what got me.

You know that doctrine from American Christianity: that everyone will, eventually, have a chance to find the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Shocker, it's actually from Paul of Tarsus, not Jesus, in Paul's letter to the Colossians (Col 1:23). And it's the mantra behind all colonizer missionary work. It's the Manifest Destiny proselytizing bullshit anthem that creates armies of evangelicals in the developing world. "Saving" indigenous populations from... their own spiritual harmony with the planet and Creator.

My new friend said that 'everyone might not find The Gospel in this incarnation, but thanks to reincarnation, they'll ultimately run into the Bible at some point and have the opportunity to be saved.'

I wish someone had recorded the reaction of my jaw breaking the tile floor we were standing on.

This is is how hardcore Christian apologetics can be. This is how many backflips they can do to make the case for their exclusivist, egoic moral high horse, Only-Way garbage.

I get so worked up about this because I've studied the mystics, and they all preach Unity. They tell us of our Inherent Beauty. And I've contemplated this Truth, this Reality in my own humble way for many years. There is no 'Us & Them', reincarnation or otherwise! We're all One. Warmly, lovingly, Jesus Christ is not needed to be “Your Personal Savior” in order to be reunited with our Divine Creator. According to the mystic masters, and the nondualists (like Jesus himself), there is actually nothing you can do to become separate from God! Try as hard as you can, the Infinite Current of Unconditional Love Behind All Creation is inescapable. It is merely our own ignorance of our True Nature. As the great Swami Vivekananda writes, “It is we who have put our hands over our eyes and cry that it is dark!”

The Palestinian people continue to endure the most apocalyptic hellscape in the modern era

Speaking of “the chosen people” delusions, the Israeli government & military continue their morally-depraved, dystopian annihilation of an entire people. If for some reason the Palestinians survived six months of intense bombing in civilian areas, they are now facing starvation en masse. To be clear, this is an entirely man-made famine by the Israeli government, the military who uses an AI software called “Where’s Daddy?” to more effectively eliminate entire families, and who just murdered seven World Central Kitchen workers last week.

These humanitarian angels cooked and dropped off 100 tons of food for starving Gazan families the day before their third van was destroyed by Israeli missiles. The message is clear, if you feed starving Palestinian men, women, children, and babies, the Israeli military will fucking blow you up.

Last month was the anniversary of peace activist Rachel Corrie’s death, you can see my tribute to her on IG or TikTok.

And if you’re completely unaware of what’s happening in Israel-Palestine, read Democracy Now, The Intercept, and CounterPunch. Help feed Palestinians by contributing to the Palestinian Childrens’ Relief Fund here.

Podcast SZN

I’ve been humbled by a couple new podcast appearances:

• Melissa Denyce is the charming, prolific host of Love Covered Life. She was generous to interview me on the best YouTube video title I’ve been associated with yet:

• Michael Phillip is a brilliant podcast host, Platonic philosopher, and absolute Jung-nerd who has become a good homey. He generously texted me a month ago to come back onto Third Eye Drops to talk about … Gnosticism! I have long admired the Gnostics and despite my lack of a PhD on the topic, we had an in-depth conversation about “the church’s oldest enemy” with a few laughs. (YouTube, Spotify)

• MINE. COMING. I SWARE. It’s now called “Karmic Relief”—a podcast, YouTube, and public access show where I delve into the intersections of spirituality, creativity, scholarship, and activism with thinkers who embody the overlap of these realms. I’ve been interviewing friends at Austin Public, a public access studio in East Austin since December. The first episodes should be available to enjoy next month. IG is @karmicreliefpod (& this Stack) to stay tuned! Here’s a still of me and Laurén Janelle Green, a brilliant creator, businesswoman, and philosopher pal!

Closing

You might find it unusual that I have a deep sense of our Internal Unity, and yet, I refuse to mince words on the actions of the Israeli military, for example, as well as any other purveyor of injustice and moral depravity.

Hey, Jesus flipped the tables. Spirituality and unconditional love do NOT mean doormat-ness. In fact, the spiritual path actually offers us even more power in this world, because it comes from A Place Beyond It All.

That said, I am still doing my best to see the inherent beauty of all beings, including the seemingly-soulless warmongers pressing red buttons to eliminate neighborhoods. Unlike my friend at the art gallery, within the mystics’ view of reincarnation, we’ve all been every one of these roles… hundreds or thousands of times. We’ve all gone through it all… and while we MUST stand up for the vulnerable, feed the hungry, and serve all; I try to do my best not to judge. To keep peace in my heart, knowing that this world is merely a bridge.

“Continue practicing until you see yourself in the most cruel and inhumane political leader, in the most devastatingly tortured prisoner, in the wealthiest man, and in the child starving, all skin and bones. Practice until you recognize your presence in everyone else on the bus, in the subway, in the concentration camp, working in the fields, in a leaf, in a caterpillar, in a dew drop, in a ray of sunshine. Meditate until you see yourself in a speck of dust and in the most distant galaxy.”

—Thich Nhat Hanh

I got a call from Richard’s phone in October 2023. I answered quickly, excited to hear from him. “Hey man, been a little while. Good to hear from you!”

A young woman’s voice replied in a solemn tone:

“This is Richard’s daughter. I’m sorry to share that he’s passed.”

My heart sunk in disbelief. How could the man who heals everyone, be gone?

My wife and I had heard Richard mentioning his only daughter for the past fifteen years. (We are in Austin, Texas, and she lives with her two children in west Texas… a 9-hour drive away.) He was the humblest of men, and yet he did not conceal his pride of the fact that his daughter also has his spiritual gift. Vanessa is an intuitive and a healer, just like her dad. 

Despite my shocking heartbreak of losing him (in this material plane at least), I remember a paradoxical joy emerging in finally becoming connected with her—a formerly-unknown sister in spirit. I offered my sincere condolences and made plans with my family to meet her and her lovely fiancé at Richard’s house. That night in October, we hugged, we cried, and we shared stories of how her father had so profoundly influenced our lives.

I was very glad to share with her that his presence & insights take up a few humble pages in my life’s work, Original Sin Is A Lie: How Spirituality Defies Dogma and Reveals Our True Self, and that several readers have told me how much they’ve appreciated his wisdom within the book.

Sadly, he got sick and left us. When it’s time to go, it’s time to go. This is the world of transits. But the most amazing fact about Richard’s departure worth sharing here is the circumstance leading to that phone call. After learning of the devastating news of his passing from the police, Vanessa flew into Austin. The next morning, waking up in his home, she received the passcode to his iPhone. According to discussions on Apple forums, a 6-digit passcode would take an average of 500,000 guesses, and the phone will become disabled after 10 guesses.

At 4 AM, Vanessa felt Richard’s spirit, who told her to sit up and get grounded. He reassured her that he is always with her, and he gave her the code. She unlocked his phone on the first try.

It’s simple enough. She needed to let his people know. How else was she supposed to do that? By him coming to her and giving her those numbers. You see, spiritual adepts are able to receive information from the astral realms. Call it whatever you like. As a creative, I like the term “intuited”. Most of the great musicians, painters, and even some of us god forsaken writers tend to admit that they ‘didn’t really come up with that piece’… rather that it ‘came through them’, in a sense. As Richard shared with me many times, we actually all have this capacity. To receive. To be connected with Spirit. If we’re all the children of the Creator, how could a single one of us be excluded from Their Love?

This past weekend we had a celebration of Richard’s life. My dad wrote the eulogy, which I lovingly read aloud to family and friends, gratefully including Vanessa and her fiancé. It is reprinted here with permission from Bob Peck III and Vanessa Rodriguez. I hope you enjoy.

From my first meeting with Richard I knew that he was special and that what seemed at first like a random assignment hadn’t been random at all. I was an insurance claims adjuster at the time and had been assigned to handle a claim Richard had filed for some storm damage to his home. Instantly upon meeting him I began to suspect that he was of a Native American heritage. In addition to his western mode of dress and ponytail, there was a quiet dignity about him that seemed consistent with what I had observed in both movies and documentaries about the various indigenous tribes. Inside his home I noted a collection of Native American objects and art.

As a student of frontier history, I was well aware of the conflicts between the Americans of European descent and the American indigenous people, as well as the indignities perpetrated by the American government and its army upon the tribes. So as we stood in an area of his home where he had noticed water leaks from the storm, I made a brief statement of conciliation that I hoped would serve to ameliorate whatever in the way of animosity Richard might harbor against people who looked like me. I don’t remember exactly what I said, but I distinctly recall him looking at me quizzically and then clicking out.

I think most of you who knew him know what I mean by clicking out. He tilted his head slightly and closed his eyes as if he was listening to something he could barely hear, then he nodded slightly and opened his eyes again. He later told me that “the old ones,” as he called them – at other times he called them “the grandfathers” – had told him that I was alright, that I had no intention of causing him any harm or betraying anything he might tell me in confidence. That was the exact moment our friendship began.

And it was a friendship. Richard and I shared many a meal. We talked on the phone. He mentored my son and daughter-in-law like a loving uncle. He was a guest in our home on a number of occasions and was always kind to my wife and daughter. He introduced me to some of his Native American friends, and he met and dined with some of my friends as well. I even met his mother during a trip my daughter and I took to the Inn of the Mountain Gods, a beautiful resort near Ruidoso, New Mexico, and he occasionally shared personal information about his family and his past with me.

Of course, Richard also provided me with much in the way of spiritual guidance. He encouraged me to meditate and shared insights into symbolic events, such as the time I was walking down a golf course fairway and noticed a rather large snake crossing in front of me. Within seconds of my spotting the snake, a majestic bald eagle swooped down, stomped the snake to death and carried its carcass away. “That was a sign that God is protecting you,” he told me, and then he launched into an explanation as to the Native interpretation of the symbolism represented by the snake and the eagle. It was not uncommon for him to share insights like this with me, probably because he understood my fascination with Native culture.

When I was first diagnosed with cancer, he performed Apache healing ceremonies on me, once in the hospital and another one months later as the cancer seemed to return. As proof of his strong connection to the divine, the hospital healing took place shortly after a procedure to remove some cancerous tumors. In the aftermath of that procedure, as I was coming out of the anesthesia, the female surgeon informed my wife Joan that she had been unable to remove all of the tumors, that what she had removed appeared to be malignant, and that I should get my affairs in order as I would most likely be dead within 3 to 6 months. At this point, I looked up to see Richard standing at the foot of my bed.

“Is this the one that’s going to get me?” I asked him.

“No,” he said. Referring to the old ones, he continued, “They’re just trying to get you to focus harder on your spiritual life.” Immediately after this brief exchange, Richard engaged those of my family members present with us in the room to assist him in drawing the cancer out of my body. Whatever they did must have been successful, because a week later, during a post-op review of the pathology report on the tumors that had been removed from my body, the surgeon’s associate advised that every tumor that had been removed was deemed to be non-malignant. That was more than a dozen years ago. If I hadn’t believed in miracles before, I certainly did from that point forward.

Richard was also blessed by the angels who control the elements. Despite the extreme droughts which have plagued Central Texas in recent years, his lawn was always green. This was made possible by small rains that fell exclusively on his property, much to the consternation of his neighbors.

On the same day that my daughter and I met Richard’s mother and other members of his party in Ruidoso, Richard offered to perform an outdoor prayer ceremony for us. It happened that this particular day was very rainy and windy. Undaunted, Richard guided several of us to a stand of trees that would afford some cover from the elements. The instant he began the ceremony, the high winds were stilled and the rains completely stopped. Then, literally the exact moment the ceremony was over, the winds and rain returned full force.

On another out of town trip, he and I and several of his friends decided to take in some horse races one evening. As we watched the horses for the next race being led through the paddock to the starting gate, he turned to me and said, “You know, horses will tell you which one is going to win.” When I expressed some doubt about this, he just said, “Okay, I’ll show you.”

Noting one of the horses toss his head back, he said, “That’s the one that’ll win.” Sure enough, the head tossing horse won. In the next race, he picked the horse that had wagged its tail slightly as it passed by. Winner. And so on. We watched maybe 7 or 8 races and he picked the winner in every one.

“You know, you could make a lot of money just betting on horse races,” I told him. But he just smiled and replied, “We’re not allowed to do that.”

Many were the times that I marveled at his powers and the universal synchronicity in which he lived. But he was a very humble man. Each time I did so he brushed me off, saying, “I’m just a channel.”

His connection to the divine allowed Richard to see things that others simply couldn’t, and he was able to have conversations with souls of the departed. For example, several years before I met Richard, my fiancé, a wonderful woman named Marcy, passed away. Marcy was chiefly responsible for my return to God after years of what I would describe as devout atheism. “You know, she watches over you still,” he would tell me. And from talking to her, he could tell me things about my past that he couldn’t possibly have known were it not for his communication with Marcy.

He could see his own past lives and he could see yours as well. Many of the revelations he shared with me served to explain my interests in this lifetime and why I had been drawn to form friendships with certain others I had known in previous lifetimes.

One of the most memorable experiences I will ever have took place at a powwow on the Otoe-Missouria reservation where Richard’s friend, George Koshiway, had grown up. I had been invited to attend by George himself, a very affable individual whom Richard always referred to as “Brother George.”

The powwow was an absolute spectacle with hundreds of attendees. Members of more than a dozen tribes were present, many wearing their authentic Native American regalia.

The occasion was a birthday celebration for George’s mother, who was considered to be an honored Otoe elder. There were speeches to commemorate the occasion, Christian prayers spoken in a Native chanting style, much drum beating and a variety of dances unique to the various assembled tribes. Collections for various charities were taken up and numerous gifts were handed out to raffle winners. Midway through the celebration, food was served in an informal buffet. As a sign of welcome, servers piled my plate high with food.

As an outsider whose only interest was observing the pageantry of the occasion, I had no intention of dancing, but several times I was either invited to dance by one of the females present or exhorted to do so by the master of ceremonies. It was like I was being honored in a small way mainly because I was Richard’s friend. Images of that event will stay with me forever.

The most memorable part of the evening for me, though, was the reception Richard received upon entering the building where the event was held. A hush fell over the multitude as all heads turned to recognize him. Those sitting on the dais, including Mrs. Koshiway, the honoree, all rose and strode towards him to offer their greetings. In a way, it was like he was royalty. At least that’s how he was treated, and it was an amazing thing to see.

I suspected their obvious respect for Richard was well earned by his devotion to them given over many years and many visits to their respective reservations and homes. The amount of time and travel he must have expended for the sake of those now honoring him was unfathomable, and seeing the reception accorded to him made me realize why he had such little time for his own relaxation. “I’m just so busy,” he would often tell me, and though I never doubted him, the looks of respect and admiration he was receiving confirmed a truth that really needed no confirmation.

Richard was true to his Native American heritage and often spoke of the importance of keeping what he called “the old ways” alive, meaning the old Native rituals and traditions. This, along with his healing work and the spiritual guidance he provided, was his main interest in life.

Richard was also true to himself. More than any man I’ve ever known, he lived for others. He served God by being of service to everyone who had a need he could meet.

Despite his many gifts, Richard remained a very humble person. As an example, for as long as we’ve known him, my son Bob and I, when mentioning Richard in conversations with people who didn’t know him, have referred to Richard as a “shaman.” Not too long ago, when Bob used the word in a book he had written, one he had shared with Richard for his review, Richard corrected him. “I’m a medicine man,” he said simply.

There was no pretense in Richard. He understood who he was and why he was here, and because of his natural humility he would be the last person to ever put on airs or represent himself falsely.

It’s sad that people like Richard are so very, very rare. I know that for as long as I may live, I will never meet anyone like him. There will never be anyone who better understands his purpose for being here as clearly as Richard understood his. I miss him now and I will continue to miss him and remember him and be thankful for him until I meet him again on the other side.

I have no doubt that most of you feel the same way.

So I will close by saying, thank you, Richard, for everything you’ve given me and my family. You will live in our hearts forever.

Author’s Note:

I wrote an earlier version of this article in the summer of 2020, in response to race relations and police brutality in America. How can we forget the tragic George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery murders forever etched into our collective consciousness?

Now I’m noticing similar critiques of both white Americans and spirituality—two earthly characteristics of the temporal persona behind this keyboard—regarding the ongoing Palestinian genocide. That Americans aren’t doing enough (quite possibly true), and that spirituality is just a “love & light” band-aid (couldn’t be farther from the truth.) This article makes the case for the validity and practicality of authentic spirituality with an activist lens. I felt compelled to republish it, tweaking the focus to the Palestinian liberation movement, which interestingly enough has long shared an overlap of solidarity with Black America.

The Palestinian people have been a part of my conscious efforts since 2018, when I began filming my feature, “Solidarity: Five Largely Unknown Truths about Israel, Palestine and the Occupied Territories”, released in 2020 (watch here on YouTube for free). I have emphatically condemned the horrific attacks on Israeli citizens by Hamas militants on Oct. 7th 2023, and I have deep love for Jewish people and the Jewish religion. My political stance is best reflected by non-violent Palestinian activists like the late great Edward W. Said, contemporary journalists like Mariam Barghouti, and poets like Mosab Abu Toha, alongside Jewish activist organizations like Jewish Voice for Peace, self-described as “Jews organizing toward Palestinian liberation and Judaism beyond Zionism.”

How Spirituality Empowers Allyship

There’s a trend emerging across current takes on social—that spirituality is privileged, and that despite its importance for well-being, it’s reserved for comfortable cushions, not community organizing or social justice. I’m all for self-awareness. Analyzing one’s own practice in the grander societal picture is useful, but I disagree with the initial premise.

In all actuality, spiritual work can be hugely impactful in benefiting racial and societal harmony.

The two greatest heroes of social action of the 20th century, Gandhi and MLK, were intensely spiritual.

Gandhi’s movement removed the British Empire from India without firing a bullet. When he was assassinated, his dying words were “Ram Ram”, a mantra of divine worship. King was, of course, a Christian minister, who once said, “I have so much to do today that I had better spend another hour on my knees”—implying that his spiritual practice of contemplative prayer fueled his productivity and passion as America’s most legendary community organizer. Happy MLK Day.

Reader’s note: Figures of this magnitude are complex, as they are indeed humans underneath. There is a tense scholarly debate about racist comments Gandhi made during his colonial beginnings as a lawyer in South Africa. I personally side with scholars who maintain that they were before his vigilantly anti-colonial, universalist evolution but you can decide for yourself.

Beyond these two massive figures, true spirituality has to do with the evolution of the conscious individual.

Society will only advance to the level at which we all expect and demand it to become, when every person is focused on our own conscious transformation.

From the ancient Taoist text, the Hua Hu Ching:

“If you want to awaken all of humanity, then awaken all of yourself.

If you want to eliminate the suffering in the world, then eliminate all that is dark and negative in yourself.

Truly, the greatest gift you have to give is that of your own self-transformation.”

The above quote is absolutely, mind-melting-ly true. Self-transformation is the answer.

And also, to avoid trivializing the suffering taking place across the world, let’s be especially clear here: privilege can create blind spots. It could be considered an aspect of “all that is dark and negative in yourself.”

Privilege contributes to this perpetual status quo of seemingly-endless heartbreak, one gut-wrenching photograph of a newly-orphaned Palestinian child immediately followed by another gut-wrenching video of a father mourning the deaths of his sons. This unbearable series of murderous incidents by the Israeli military’s state violence was not decades ago, or even a few years ago. We have witnessed an unfolding genocide, livestreamed to our phones since October 8th.

Privilege is an uneducated, or worse—intentionally-ignorant—avoidance of the suffering of marginalized people, which needs to be called out directly through education and awareness.

And spirituality can help. Quoting the 13th-century Christian German mystic and philosopher, Meister Eckhart:

Spirituality is not to be learned by flight from the world, or by running away from things, or by turning solitary and going apart from the world.

Rather, we must learn an inner solitude wherever or with whomsoever we may be.

Jesus of Nazareth shared this viewpoint. He was clearly concerned about uplifting the lowest members of society, stating explicitly that “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:40). In Luke 10:30, he specifically uses the illustration of the Good Samaritan—a despised ethnic outcast to his Jewish audience—as the hero of a story about becoming a loving neighbor.

The Buddha taught metta, or lovingkindness to all beings. Krishna explained that service to others is not only useful but actually a form of divine worship. The true teachings of spiritual principles across a variety of world religions and spiritual systems from the common to the esoteric understand unity and emphasize compassion, solidarity, and love.

Unfortunately these truths are often twisted by institutional religion into egoistic judgements and hypocritical tirades of faux-moral-righteousness. This frustratingly prevalent ‘high-horse-ness’ afflicts all religions, including American Christianity, diluting the true teaching underneath. But that’s a whole ‘nother article!

The traits that I keep seeing the activist internet requesting, in my view, are all methods that can be aided by, and established through, sincere spiritual work.

Listening

Speaking as an ally, on behalf of allies and allies-to-be, the first step in allyship is listening.

Within the Buddhist tradition, there is a practice called mindful listening. It’s a “way of listening without judgment, criticism or interruption, while being aware of internal thoughts and reactions that may get in the way of people communicating with you effectively.”

It’s as simple as sitting, resolutely in the present moment with the other person: open ears without bringing anything else to the table.

This practice can be uncomfortable. I’m a talkative person. I want to respond to you right away, but in my tendency to respond and acknowledge, I can bring my preconceived thoughts and feelings to my response without fully hearing the extent of what you said.

And this applies directly to the heartbreak caused by immense, inhumane suffering.

Conversations about humanitarian crises are emotionally heavy. We can be so quick to deflect or jump to a conclusion to avoid the weight of the discomfort. Our inability to listen to (and to truly hear) the experience of our Palestinian sisters and brothers is preventing us from acknowledging the current state of injustice and agony, which keeps all of us from moving forward together in a harmonious way.

Here are just a few examples of the unimaginable pain being endured by Palestinians. As of this writing:

• The Israeli military has killed over 22,000 CIVILIANS since October 8, 2023

• Nearly 25,000 children in Gaza are now ORPHANS

• Children are nearly HALF of all casualties

• As of November 1, Israeli authorities held nearly 7,000 Palestinians from the occupied territory in detention for alleged security offenses

• As of November 11, the Israeli military had destroyed over half of the HOSPITALS in Gaza

These injustices are real and they need to be understood thoroughly.

The Palestinian experience is one marred by decades of brutal subjugation since The Nakba, Arabic for “catastrophe”, in 1948, culminating into a nightmarish crescendo at the end of 2023.

The late great Palestinian-American scholar and activist Edward Said writes:

“Palestinians have been displaced. They have had their society shattered. They have had to live under military occupation. Their lands and lives are today systematically torn apart. There are no two ways about it I believe. Which is not to say that we must simply overlook the tragic history of the Jews, on the contrary, I would always want to say that as a Palestinian I should make my case to defenders of Israel on the basis of, taking full account of, making due acknowledgment of the history of discrimination against Jews. That kind of policy should never ever be visited on anyone for any reason at all, least of all by Jews in the name of their safety and independence.”

Amplifying

My spiritual work is very clear that not only are we all one family, but Vedantan philosophy even takes it a step further: that we are all ultimately One. Each cell makes up the body. Each drop makes up the ocean. The mystics tell us that we are all merely separate masks of the same Being, the All masquerading as the Many.

So let’s work toward having that recognition in our daily lives—Oneness is indeed the end-goal—and yet, before we can acknowledge this inherent unity, we must first recognize the differences. As we start to become more aware of the disparities between imperialist societies and victims of imperialism (through listening and education), the logical next step is to share this information, with other masks of our Self, in a loving way.

The late great James Baldwin, the famous Black American novelist and Civil Rights activist said:

“If I love you, I have to make you conscious of the things you don’t see.”

What I’m calling “Amplification”, includes a few subheadings.

Educating others by sign-pointing to relevant informational material by Palestinian educators, writers, and activists

A huge component of allyship is giving a voice to the voiceless and using our privilege of influence, no matter how significant, to help spread awareness. So please, follow these sources and retweet, reblog, restory.

• Dima Khatib - A Syrian-Palestinian journalist born in Damascus, managing director of AJ+

• Mariam Barghouti - A Palestinian-American journalist featured in CNN, Al Jazeera English, The Guardian, BBC, Huffington Post, The New York Times, & Newsweek

• Motaz Azaiza - A Gaza born Palestinian activist, journalist and photographer, recently selected as the GQ Middle East’s Man Of The Year in 2023

• Laila El-Haddad - A Saudi-Arabian Palestinian immigrant, activist, and mother

• Wissam Nassar - A Palestinian journalist and photographer who was a 2015 Pulitzer Prize Finalist, featured in The New York Times, Washington Post, Time, and more.

• Visualizing Palestine - A non-profit media center that acts as the intersection of communication, social sciences, technology, design and urban studies for social justice.

• IMEU - A non-profit organization giving access to untold stories, facts, and expert sources on all things Palestine.

Actively confronting falsehoods about the conflict either online or in-person

As stated by Amélie Lamont of The Guide to Allyship, she actually began creating her guide as a response to a situation of faux-ally cowardice:

In the summer of 2016, someone I considered an ally stood by and watched as I, a Black person, was berated by a racist. To make matters worse, I had a conversation with this person earlier in the day about the power allies can wield in situations of discrimination. But when the time came for them to take action, they were more interested in protecting their comfort.

Authentic spirituality prioritizes bravery over cowardice.

The Shaolin monks of ancient China.

The Freedom Riders in Selma, Alabama.

The Japanese samurai.

The Indigenous tribes of Latin America: from the Toltecs to the Maya.

Spiritual inner work can help strengthen our courage when it’s time for worldly outer work.

“If there is one word that you find coming out like a bomb from the Upanishads, bursting like a bombshell upon masses of ignorance, it is the word ‘fearlessness.’”

— Swami Vivekananda

If we’ve become truly aware of the unjust experience of marginalized people, and then we see discrimination occur online or in-person, but we are too afraid to act, we are condoning the continuation of the inequality.

Don’t go on a blocking spree. Share what you’ve learned, reference Palestinian perspectives and cite statistical evidence of inequality. Engage from a place of calmness and unity.

Funding grassroots organizations who are doing this work on a day-to-day basis

You’ve heard of tithing, right? Giving the church 10%? Money can help advance equality too, when it goes to the hands of organizations working towards relief.

• The Palestine Children’s Relief Fund

• UNICEF.org

• Save The Children

• Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres)

Conscious Evolution

Lastly, the contemporary racial and cultural climate can be difficult to navigate.

Allies, we have to be hyper vigilant in discerning the right course of action. Lots of white folks want to help, but we have to be careful not to veer too far into either “white-splaining” on one end, or into apathetic silence on the other.

Contemplative practices like meditation expand our intuitive awareness and sense of the subtler qualities of the present moment. Community work like feeding the less fortunate brings us face-to-face with difficult socioeconomic issues, increasing our own perspective and empathy for those of different cultural backgrounds. These practices can help us evolve as individuals to understand more clearly which situation calls for which action, and how to find the balance between listening and amplification.

And I can’t end this piece without emphasizing the importance of relentless, continual self-examination. Within a system of structural inequality & corporate media agendas, we’re constantly being programmed. I may think I’m so ahead of the curve but then another implicit bias pops up. I am a work in progress and I’m continually learning how to be more useful, more connective, and more focused on liberating myself and my community. The brilliant scholar and activist Angela Davis’s latest book is called Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement. (She’s unsurprisingly a longtime ally of Palestinian liberation.) Spirituality is intent on this aspect of steady, incremental personal growth.

Dr. Carl Jung who transformed not just psychotherapy but also anthropology, archaeology, literature, philosophy, and religious studies, wrote in The Undiscovered Self (1957):

“It is, unfortunately, only too clear that if the individual is not truly regenerated in spirit, society cannot be either, for society is the sum total of individuals in need of redemption.”

I’m not saying that spirituality will magically erase every problem.

We need to continually root out racism and colonial injustice wherever it exists—from individuals to institutions to these aspects in ourselves. We need to decondition ourselves from corporate media outlets controlled by moneyed-interests. We need to reprioritize our governmental budgets towards relief and away from the military industrial complex. We need more balanced education curriculums. We need more independent legislators. We have work to do, and we can all contribute in some way.

But spirituality is not reserved for a cave in the Himalayas, or a boujee yoga studio next to an expensive coffee shop. The timeless message of our inherent unity powerfully applies for the here and now, and can help us achieve a more equal, harmonious future.

Further reading:

The Palestinian experience and its history:

• The Question of Palestine by Edward W. Said

• The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance by Rashid Khalidi

• The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Ilan Pappé

• Mural by Mahmoud Darwish

• Justice For Some: Law and the Question of Palestine by Noura Erakat

• Fateful Triangle: The United States, Israel, and the Palestinians by Noam Chomsky

The spirituality of social action:

• The Story of My Experiments with Truth by Mohandas K. Gandhi

• The Undiscovered Self by Carl Jung

• The Trumpet of Conscience by Martin Luther King Jr.

• How Can I Help? by Ram Dass

• Subtle Activism by David Nicol

"Will Jesus come again? Metaphysically, he is already omnipresent. He smiles at you through every flower. He feels his cosmic body in every speck of space. Every movement of the wind breathes the breath of Jesus. Through his oneness with the divine Christ Consciousness he is incarnate in all that lives. If you have eyes to behold, you can see him enthroned throughout creation."

—Paramahansa Yogananda

Jesus of Nazareth broke the veil.

It’s a worthy celebration to honor that big brother of humanity. A man who came from a working class background in a relatively insignificant corner of the world, stepped into accessing the Totality. 

He saw through the illusion of separateness.

He understood on a heart-level, on a body-embodiment-level, that We Are All One. How can there be enemies, when the enemies are you? How can there be judgment and shame, when all we’re doing is putting handcuffs on ourselves?

"If therefore your eye is One, your whole body will be full of light."

—Jesus, Gospel of Matthew 6:22-23

I’m very fortunate to have two contextual backgrounds that add to my humble understanding of the man from Nazareth, and neither of them are American Christianity.

Yes, I was raised an Easter-Christmas Christian in Texas, but 1) I’ve been studying the mystics across all religious traditions for twenty years. The mystics speak Jesus’ same language of awakening. Yogananda is a great example. That modern yoga master and prolific mystic, understands Jesus as lucidly as any Christian commentator. And 2) I spent time in university, studying the New Testament and Formative Christianity. What both of those two separate fields pointed me to is the awareness of Jesus as a liberated, nondual, mystic master. As an embodiment of love—not as an exclusive king of an elitist institution. Ironically, he was anti-institution. Not only is this present in his teachings, like the Parable of the Good Samaritan for example, but it’s also present in his death. The departure of the incarnation was brought about by the state.

“If you bring forth what is within you,

what you bring forth will save you.

If you do not bring forth what is within you,

what you do not bring forth will destroy you."

—Jesus, Gospel of Thomas, Saying 70

We’re all children of the Creator. We’re all equally beloved in the eyes of God. And at the same time, it’s completely valid to tribute our fellow human beings who have fully polished their mirrors. I still have a few specks on mine. That’s okay. We can learn from these veil-breakers; their wisdom, and their love.

So this Christmas, may we honor the teachings of our big brother, who seemed to want nothing else aside from sharing his state of liberation with everyone and everything he was in contact with.

May we all find it. OM. Amen.

“The First Coming of Christ is merely another name for the creation, for Christ is the Son of God.

The Second Coming of Christ means nothing more than the end of the ego's rule and the healing of the mind.

I was created like you in the First,

and I have called you to join with me in the Second.”

—A Course in Miracles, T-4.IV.10:1-3

Recommended reading on the Christ Consciousness aspect of the Nazarene:

• The Mystic Christ, by Ethan Walker III

• The Disappearance of the Universe, by Gary Renard

• The Yoga of Jesus, by Paramahansa Yogananda

• May a Christian Believe in Reincarnation? by Abbot George Burke (Swami Nirmalananda Giri)

• Original Sin Is A Lie, by Bob Peck (me)

Speaking of breaking the veil…

My podcast returns. After a break to finish my book, in ‘21-‘22, it’s time to reawaken the Be Where How? Show. S2 of BWH is now Let’s Break The Veil: a podcast focused on spiritual philosophy and deconstructing religion, alongside meanderings through creativity, scholarship and activism. This is Life After Ego Death.

We filmed an excellent episode 1 at Austin Public with James McCrae (@wordsarevibrations) and I have several more thought-provoking guests coming up this year. Listening links & viral reels coming in hot at @letsbreaktheveil.

Thanks for being here.

Let’s Break The Veil Of Maya And Remember Our True Identity of Unity And Love.

—Bob

“Everyone discusses my art and pretends to understand, as if it were necessary to understand, when it is simply necessary to love.”

― Claude Monet

There’s this incredible, super slow, super boring BBC doc on the Impressionists.

It’s ‘good slow’ and ‘good boring’, you know what I mean?

I love slow documentaries.

This one is from the oughts, and it’s just perfectly fucking tedious. I love it so much.

It explains how the Impressionists were actually insanely radical for their time period. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, everyone was painting super realistic religious imagery. But Monet, Renoir and Pissarro were just like ‘here’s a blurry sunrise with a lady working the fields’.

They were rebels.

Even the name “Impressionists” was given to them as an insult, because an “impression” is like a rough draft. And they wore it like a badge of honor because they don’t give a fuck.

Anyway, the whole reason I’m making a commercial for this 2005 documentary on painters is because of an inspiring moment I can’t stop thinking about.

The film explains that Claude Monet was from Le Havre, a small seaside town in northern France. As a teenager, he would draw cartoons of prominent figures in the town to poke fun at them. Caricatures. And he was good. Obviously. Around this time, an older artist, Eugène Boudin, saw his cartoons and mentored him.

Boudin took the teenage Monet out into a meadow before dawn. They brought their easels. The young Monet sat awestruck as the sun gently emerged onto the horizon, pouring its light across the country landscape.

And that was it.

Monet later reflected that that morning was the birth of his reason for being.

"It was as if a veil was torn from my eyes; I had understood.

I grasped what painting could be."

—Claude Monet on Boudin’s early mentorship

Looking back, what an incredible thing for that mentor to help create someone as impactful in the history of art.

How can we find someone younger or newer in our space that has a real gift and offer them a revelatory moment about their own possibility?

CURRENTLY READING

Women of Power & Grace: Nine Astonishing, Inspiring Luminaries of Our Time by Timothy Conway (Amazon)

This book is so mystically-incredible, so well-written, and so useful to me at this time, I will very likely publish more pieces related to its heroines.

Timothy Conway, a profound mystic in his own right, writes in the introduction:

Here are the tales of nine women—illustrious spiritual leaders, splendid jewels of humanity. They all share at least one facet in common: each woman risked everything, stepping beyond all limiting conventions to rely on that wondrous Power we call God or Goddess. Relying on Divine Love, each woman became absorbed in Divine Love. One with the Divine, they now serve as potent instruments of Divine Blessing. They can transform your life!

As you draw closer to these women, it will become apparent that an extraordinary Force of love, peace, freedom and bliss has indeed come alive at the core of their hearts, and has radiated outward as a Grace-full influence touching the lives of countless other beings. I have certainly been touched by these women, experiencing the mysterious and beautiful effects of their love on subtle realms of light. I gather their stories and teachings in hopes that you, too, might be enriched by the currents of Divine blessing force flowing through these holy ones.

You will not regret picking this one up. (It appears to be out of print so I recommend buying it used on Amazon or eBay.)

PODCAST APPEARANCES

Lastly, if you like what I’m cooking up and putting down and serving up, I’ve been very regular on both Instagram and TikTok recently. Gratefully I’m also going on at least a couple podcasts a month, which you can check out on my website (‘Appearances’ page in the nav menu).

Thank you and Namaste y’all!

Bob

“Every empire tells itself and the world that it is unlike all other empires, that its mission is not to plunder and control but to educate and liberate.”

—Edward W. Said

When I’m not writing about mystic philosophy and esoteric topics like chakric metaphysics—and consequently feeling the climbing eyebrows of scientific materialists—my other primary creative outlet is making advocacy films.

The mystic’s worldview lines right up with advocating for universal human rights. If we truly believe from our innermost depths that we are all one big global family, or playing at the edge of mysticism, Oneness Itself, we start to act accordingly.

We try to reduce suffering.

A component of this sense of togetherness, and even obligation, came to light a few years ago regarding the persecution of the Palestinian people, and the production of my film, Solidarity: Five Largely Unknown Truths about Israel, Palestine, and the Occupied Territories (2020).

To be perfectly clear, I stand with the Israeli people, and yet there are issues with the Israeli government and Israeli military. Like the USA. The Israeli government is currently run by the most extreme right wing politicians in its history.123 This is common knowledge within Israeli society at the moment. It’s not a conspiracy to suggest that the Knesset is packed full of George W. Bushes.

And it’s not anti-Judaism to say this. I love my Jewish brothers and sisters and I want them to be safe and at peace.

I don’t support Hamas. I don’t support terrorism. This seems almost bizarre to have to continue to emphasize. No one justifies the atrocious brutality of that festival of peace-loving sweethearts. I cried, I got enraged, I was absolutely devastated watching the footage of Israeli citizens scared for their lives. That was unimaginable horror. There is no justification for that level of horrific violence.

And Israel has reacted with almost inconceivable vengeance. Israeli leaders are using genocidal language. Apartment buildings, convoys of Palestinian refugees, and as of this week a hospital has blown up in Gaza, killing hundreds of wounded and the doctors treating them. Just yesterday we learned that an Israel Defense Forces air strike hit the Greek Orthodox Church of St. Porphyrius, the third-oldest church in the world.4 The destruction of Gaza in these past two weeks has been maddening and even apocalyptic. Entire family lines have been removed from our gene pool. 56

The pendulum of extreme violence continues to swing back and forth in this region. And when you look closely at its history, you’ll understand that the Palestinian people have been brutally oppressed for the past 75 years.

The state began with the forced displacement (kind words) of 750,000 indigenous Arabs, including Arab Jews, from the region.7 Albert Einstein himself criticized the Israeli Herut (Freedom) party led by Menachem Begin, writing that they were “closely akin in its organization, methods, political philosophy and social appeal to the Nazi and Fascist parties” when Einstein refused to accept the nomination to become the president of Israel in 1948.89 Respected historians & journalists have even pointed out that Israel was involved in the creation of Hamas in the 1980s in order to counteract Yasser Arafat’s PLO; and a former Israeli Government adviser Avner Cohen wrote “Hamas, to my great regret, is Israel's creation.”10 11 Last year, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch came to the conclusion that Palestinians are living under apartheid—these exhaustive reports authored by two of the most-respected NGOs on the planet.1213

It’s a shame that these historical realities are so ‘counter’ to the corporate / mainstream narrative in the West but after years of research and activism within the space, they are glaringly apparent. These things really happened. And now the American cultural landscape has entered this McCarthy-esque era where any legitimate criticisms of the actions of the Israeli government are silenced, doxxed, or added to trackers like this one.14 Arabs in Israel are getting knocks on their door for expressing their support for Gaza online.15 Well I refuse to be bullied or frightened into silence. The only reason I am broadcasting these thoughts is to express solidarity with the persecuted in an attempt to try to reduce their suffering; which is a beautiful, enduring, core value teaching from the Jewish people.

What needs to happen right now is a complete ceasefire, and a central focus on negotiations to release the Israeli hostages. Then we can work in a collaborative effort to enable Palestinian self-determination, and a peaceful coexistence among the two peoples. Without this succession, we’re barreling towards even more troubling scenarios with potentially global impacts.16

The safety and freedom of Israelis and Palestinians is intertwined. This is called “Interbeing” in Buddhism.17 And it’s the only way out of this nightmare. May all beings be free, happy, and at peace.

I was lucky enough to have open-minded parents in Texas. Not only did my mom & dad not disapprove of my early interfaith inquiries, they both encouraged me to learn about spiritual traditions outside of American Christianity, the religion of their parents. So thankfully yes, I was that teenager reading Living Buddha, Living Christ by the great, as of today, late Buddhist Zen master Thích Nhất Hạnh.

When I read that book I felt a mix of both excitement and relief. These two ancient teachers whom I deeply respected, were actually not that different. The core message of both—the man sitting under the Bodhi tree and the man teaching in the hills of Galilee—was love. According to this modern master, they were telling us to be present. To be peaceful. And to generate sincere compassion for all beings.

I never really stopped reading about them, or stopped contemplating the teachings of “Thay”, as he was affectionately known by his students and admirers.

“The mind can go in a thousand directions, but on this beautiful path, I walk in peace.

With each step, the wind blows.

With each step, a flower blooms.”

— Thích Nhất Hạnh

Thích Nhất Hạnh was a giant of spiritual wisdom. I’ve lovingly referred to him as a ‘Vietnamese Yoda’, and I cracked up seeing that comparison by one of his monks in a beautiful film about his Plum Village monastery, called Walk With Me. He wrote over a hundred books. He taught into his 90s. And his insights penetrate you to the core. His teachings are a window into the present moment.

Thay was also a living example of the social action that generates from true spirituality. Mindfulness isn’t about being apathetic—by being fully present, we can be more effective in the world in a compassionate way.

He was expelled from Vietnam in 1966 for organizing protests of the Vietnam War. He befriended modern history’s greatest American, MLK, and encouraged King to lend his international voice to help resolve the conflict. Thích Nhất Hạnh is the only human in existence to be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize by Martin Luther King Jr.

“We often think of peace as the absence of war, that if powerful countries would reduce their weapon arsenals, we could have peace. But if we look deeply into the weapons, we see our own minds—our own prejudices, fears and ignorance. Even if we transport all the bombs to the moon, the roots of war and the roots of bombs are still there, in our hearts and minds, and sooner or later we will make new bombs. To work for peace is to uproot war from ourselves and from the hearts of men and women.”

In one of the best Thích Nhất Hạnh interviews online, another cherished & now-gone spiritual figure, Ram Dass, asks Thay about anger & social action.

Ram Dass asks:

“Many people who are activists, whose heart hurts because of the pain of injustice or the pain of the environment often say to me, that the attempt to be mindful of one’s anger, and hold it tenderly, will dissipate the energy of the anger that they use for social action. Will you talk about that issue?”

The Zen master responds:

“The energy of anger may be a source of energy, but when you use anger as energy, there may be danger. Because when you are angry, you are not lucid. You may say things or you may do things that can be very destructive. That’s why it’s better to use other forms of energy. Like the energy of compassion. The energy of understanding. But the energy of anger can be transformed into the energy of compassion and understanding. We don’t have to throw away anything. We only need to know how to transform one form of energy into another.”

I’m experiencing some sadness to have lost such a great vehicle for awakening for so many, but I can’t help but notice the feeling, and shift into a place of gratitude for what was nearly a century of presence and compassion. Suffering & loss are a part of this plane of existence, but as he famously articulated, “a cloud never dies”… it simply becomes rain.

May we honor Thay’s memory by truly embodying the practice, and inspiring others to do the same.

“As you begin to walk on the way,

the way appears.”

—Rumi

When I started writing my book on spiritual philosophy, I had hesitations around my background…

I’m not a monk.

I don’t have a PhD.

I honor monks, and I honor academics, and I cite both of them a lot!

But I’m just a creative guy from Texas with a kid and a tech job and a lifelong passion for comparative religion.

I’ve gotten some nice messages about the book in the past few months. Specifically a guy in California emailed me to say:

‘I loved your book and I really loved that you aren’t a monk… it made it that much more relatable…’

Let’s not listen to the false stories in our heads, friends!

They’re inaccurate.

And they don’t deserve to prevent us from making real, soulful strides as embodied human beings.

Speaking of identity, I recently made a video about my dad, Bob III, the Asterisk Man personifying a paradoxical duality. It was a real tribute, from the heart, and it hilariously got dozens of comments from women asking about his relationship status. He’s happily taken by angel of a woman, sorry gals!

His two halves that drew such adoration are:

He’s a Texas golfer who grills steaks, drinks cocktails and smokes cigars;

He’s also a pendulum-using, esoteric-book-reading Reiki master.

I related a moment I’ve seen personally. A fellow golfer in their foursome complains of a sore shoulder which prompts Bob III to set down his cigar and place his healing hands on his friend’s shoulder, right there on the tee box.

The moral is whenever we’re boxed in by society, or culture, or even worse, conventional thinking, the art of living is to step beyond it and embrace the multi-dimensional nature of our true selves.

Housekeeping

• The Spanish translation for El Pecado Original Es Mentira is underway, regardless of our failed fundraiser. We didn’t meet the goal but that’s OKAY. I’m learning. There are other ways to pay the team. The first pages that I’ve seen from Alejandro look fantastic, and I know it will be a beautiful final version next year.

• Speaking of ways to pay the team, my mystic shirt shop is back on Etsy. Resurrected under a new name: Inherent Goodness—which is the real meaning of “original sin” being a big ol’ lie. Check out the new designs and old favorites here.

• I’m beyond humbled to keep getting invites to podcasts. I love podcasts because they are a lovely excuse to have a sincerely deep conversation. While I’m usually sharing them to my Instagram, you can also find my appearances linked on my website or my Linktree.

That’s all for now! May all beings be happy & free.

Jesus of Nazareth does talk about “hell” in the Gospels. That’s true.

But there’s a very important distinction between the separate words used for “hell” in the Bible: “Hades” (Greek), “Sheol” (Hebrew), and “Gehenna” (Aramaic).

“Hades” is the Greek word for a dark underworld where evil people go. The fiery burning location predates Christianity. You might recall images from Greek mythology. Orpheus trying to find his bride who had passed to the underworld. Plato wrote about the Myth of Er, set in a fiery underground world that the hero traverses.1 The Hellenistic world had a massive influence on Judaism and formative Christianity.2 It is clear to scholars that the image of the Christian hell is heavily colored by a wide variety of influences (Greek, Roman, and even Egyptian)3; little of which has to do with the central figure of what later became Christianity, that Galilean big brother of humanity. “Hades” is used eleven times in the Bible, but only four times by Jesus himself (Matthew 11:23, 16:18, Luke 10:15 and Luke 16:23). It also occurs in Revelation, the final chapter of the New Testament, a spooky end-times book with little historical significance in terms of its closeness to Jesus’ teachings. The “Lake of Fire” in Revelation closely resembles Plato’s imagery in Phaedo.4

The word “Sheol” is the Hebrew word translated as “hell” in the Old Testament. It was the earlier Jewish tradition’s word for “afterlife”, not just “grave”, but it was more of a generic ‘abode of all dead’ without ethical context.5 For example, a late great king Samuel wakes up from Sheol sleepy and annoyed when a medium contacts him on behalf of Saul, asking: “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” (1 Sam 28:15) Sheol is clearly different from the modern conception of hell if one of the most famous, beloved kings of Israel belongs there.

In the entire New Testament, the word “hell” appears twenty-three times. Fifteen of these were spoken by Jesus and were translated from the Greek word “Gehenna” (Matthew 5:22, 5:29, 5:30, 10:28, 18:9, 23:15, 23:33, Mark 9:43, 9:45, 9:47, and Luke 12:5). Jesus uses the word Gehenna when he’s discussing the opposite of the kingdom of heaven. And he’s the only person in the Bible to use the term.6

Gehenna is an Aramaic word for the “Valley of Hinnom”: a trash dump. It was a smelly landfill outside of Jerusalem where trash was burned. While there was human sacrifice in that area centuries prior, during the time of Jesus it was just a bunch of garbage.7

It’s fair to conclude that his usage of the term “hell” is symbolic, like so much of his teachings. It’s not a literal description of endless eternal torture and suffering, it’s an experiential state of mind. Jesus is simply saying “that way of thinking is garbage”. Similar to the verse the “kingdom of heaven is within you” (Luke 17:21)—so is the suffering of hell. Hell is when we live our lives off the path of Love and Unity. It’s like living in filth. It’s not pitchfork demons poking you forever. Thanks Hieronymus Bosch(!)—a 15th century Dutch painter largely responsible for nightmarish depictions of a literal hell.

Admittedly there is a commentary from Jesus on the “everlasting fire” of Gehenna in Matthew. But like his uniquely-scorching criticism of the Pharisees8, this characterization is exclusive to Matthew. In Mark, Jesus has a single reference to hell, John talks about judgment without elaborating much on the consequences, and Luke has a solitary parable involving hell with a rich man and Lazarus9—typical of the Lukan author advocating for the poor.

The late Pope John Paul II spoke about notions of hell in 1999:

"It is not a punishment imposed externally by God but a development of premises already set by people in this life.

The very dimension of unhappiness which this obscure condition brings can in a certain way be sensed in the light of some of the terrible experiences we have suffered which, as is commonly said, make life “hell”.” 10

But Bob, and Pope John Paul II, what about that ‘gnashing of teeth’ line?? Doesn’t it prove Jesus was warning us about a cruel eternal damnation? That strange description used primarily in Matthew where Jesus warns people about what takes place in hell / the trash dump...?

Six times in Matthew, once in Mark and once in Luke, Jesus uses the phrase “where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth”, to add to the suffering image of “hell”. Here’s why I believe it’s a later invention of the Gospel writers and has nothing to do with Jesus’ actual teaching. Remember the Gospel of Thomas? That mysterious collection of sayings?

Within the scholarly debates around how early Thomas is, the Thomas-is-the-earliest-Gospel crowd point out that Thomas has no narrative.11 It’s merely a hundred short sayings. From a literary development standpoint, wouldn’t it make sense that a simple collection of verses came before a more complex narrative of plot points like in every one of the four gospels (Mark, Matthew, Luke & John)?

Again, Thomas has dozens of sayings that made their way into the other gospels in the Bible, and one such parable is “The Great Banquet”.

This parable told by Jesus appears in Matthew, Luke, and Thomas. For context, not all parables are in every gospel—a story is either unique to one, present in two, or three. Very few are in four, let alone five. What’s useful about understanding this, is that the differences between each version give us a fuller understanding of the texts themselves. Here is the “Great Banquet” parable in each version:

Gospel of Thomas, Saying 64:

“Jesus said: A man had guests; and when he had prepared the dinner, he sent his servants to invite the guests. He went to the first, and said to him: My master invites you. He said: I have money with some merchants; they are coming to me this evening. I will go and give them my orders. I ask to be excused from the dinner. He went to another (and) said to him: My master invites you. He said to him: I have bought a house, and I am asked for a day. I shall not have time. He went to another (and) said to him: My master invites you. He said to him: My friend is about to be married, and I am to arrange the dinner. I shall not be able to come. I ask to be excused from dinner. He went to another, he said to him: My master invites you. He said to him: I have bought a farm; I am going to collect the rent. I shall not be able to come. I ask to be excused. The servant came back (and) said to his master: Those whom you have invited to dinner have asked to be excused. The master said to his servant: Go out to the roads, bring those whom you find, that they may dine. Traders and merchants [shall] not [enter] the places of my Father.”

Gospel of Luke, 14:15-24, NRSV:

“...Then Jesus said to him, "Someone gave a great dinner and invited many. At the time for the dinner he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, 'Come; for everything is ready now.' But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, 'I have bought a piece of land, and I must go out and see it; please accept my regrets.' Another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please accept my regrets.' Another said, 'I have just been married, and therefore I cannot come.' So the slave returned and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his slave, 'Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.' And the slave said, 'Sir, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.' Then the master said to the slave, 'Go out into the roads and lanes, and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those who were invited will taste my dinner.'"

Gospel of Matthew, 22:1-14, World English Bible:

“Jesus answered and spoke again in parables to them, saying, "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a certain king, who made a marriage feast for his son, and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the marriage feast, but they would not come. Again he sent out other servants, saying, 'Tell those who are invited, "Behold, I have prepared my dinner. My cattle and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the marriage feast!"' But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his merchandise, and the rest grabbed his servants, and treated them shamefully, and killed them. When the king heard that, he was angry, and sent his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. "Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding is ready, but those who were invited weren't worthy. Go therefore to the intersections of the highways, and as many as you may find, invite to the marriage feast.' Those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together as many as they found, both bad and good. The wedding was filled with guests. But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man who didn't have on wedding clothing, and he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here not wearing wedding clothing?' He was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and throw him into the outer darkness; there is where the weeping and gnashing of teeth will be.' For many are called, but few chosen."

The main point of the story is that a wealthy man / king (God) invites people to dinner, and they refuse his invitation.

Symbolically, this is quite clear.

It’s God’s invitation for salvation / enlightenment / Unity with All that is refused by human beings (the host’s friends, analogous to God’s children) because we are caught up by our worldly obligations. Our focus is on our business responsibilities, our relationship responsibilities, and just general to-do’s that prevent us from enjoying this ‘divine feast’ of bliss and harmony with God.

In Thomas, the story is the most basic and clear. After the invitees decline, the host invites everyone his servants can find, with a little line at the end suggesting that ‘traders & merchants’ are no longer invited to this dinner. Their focus is on money, not God, (a consistent theme throughout the entire New Testament) and their preoccupation with worldliness prevents them from knowing their true selves, their true connection with the divine.

In Luke, the host responds by inviting ‘the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame’. Inclusivity with all, as again, the Lukan author tends to be more concerned with the poor than the other gospel authors. Otherwise, it’s pretty close to Thomas!

In Matthew, the ending takes a wild turn. Not only do the invitees become murderers who miss the RSVP, after they decline, the servants fill the house with many guests, including one who didn’t have on “wedding clothing”. Exclusivity . The king is outraged, telling his servants to “bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness... where the weeping and gnashing of teeth will be.” This ending is not in Thomas or Luke, the two simpler, likely earlier versions of this story.

Why would the Matthean author add this ending?

In an early section of this book I discussed how we know that the Gospel of Matthew was written in Galilee, around 70-80 CE, where there were tense sectarian divisions among Jewish groups at that time. The Temple was sacked by the Romans which created an environment of existential questioning for a large amount of the Jewish religion. So in this time and place, the Jesus-following Jews were competing with the Pharisees for new believers. The ‘many are called, few are chosen’ theme of exclusivity is glaring in Matthew, and simultaneously it’s where the image of “hell” (Gehenna, the trash dump) is accentuated by the ‘weeping and gnashing of teeth’: a reference to the Old Testament. Matthew 8:11- 15 even discusses a new group within Judaism ‘taking their place at the feast with Abraham’; and those on the outside (competing sects) can look forward to getting their teeth gnashed.12

When we comb through scripture with both an academic understanding of the history and a spiritual understanding of the symbolism, fear-based concepts like ‘burning in hell’ start to fall off. You see them for what they are: silly little fictions of fearful separateness that got added on top of original mind-altering truths of love & unity.

An excerpt from the book: Original Sin Is A Lie: How Spirituality Defies Dogma and Reveals Our True Self by Bob Peck