On this page, you will find an ongoing series of questions and answers to do with various topics related to the spiritual journey of awakening, enlightenment, and Self-Realization.

If you have a question of your own, I will respond. Reach out.

What would you say to a newbie on the spiritual path?⁠

All of the answers are within you.⁠

You are your own master.⁠

There is no greater authority in your life than yourself.⁠

⁠Your experience in the present moment takes precedence over all past and future experiences.⁠

⁠Trust your feelings and intuition; if something doesn’t feel right, move on immediately.⁠

⁠Simplicity always trumps complication.⁠

⁠There is no greater answer than Love.⁠

How do you get over the belief that enlightenment is very rare and difficult to achieve?

Look into the countless enlightened beings of the past and present.

There are many.

And then look into their collective message - that you are no different than they are.

How do I remain in a higher level of consciousness?

You don’t. States of consciousness, like all other things, fluctuate and change.

Holding on to one state of consciousness is futile because they're all impermanent.

Enlightenment is NOT a higher state of consciousness. It's beyond all states of consciousness.

It is consciousness itself.

When you're asleep, you're in a particular state of consciousness.

When you take drugs, they induce particular states of consciousness.

When you meditate, exercise, get hit on the head or have a particular diet are all times that induce specific states of consciousness.

There’s no such thing as an altered state, as all states are relative to one another, without a true baseline.

There’s no way to permanently remain at a higher level of consciousness.

Even the judgement of higher versus lower is relative and unimportant.

Enlightenment is beyond all states of consciousness, yet all states of consciousness are contained within it.

It’s the spectrum on which the so called higher and lower states take place.

Therefore worrying about whether you are in a higher or a lower state of consciousness is irrelevant on your journey for truth.

Your task is to find the entire scale itself, not what's being weighed.

Don’t get caught up in trying to achieve and maintain a higher state of consciousness.

Attempting to maintain a level of consciousness will just bring frustration.

I am not suggesting that you do not explore the different states of consciousness on your journey.

Explore them, experience them and understand them.

Consciousness can only be understood based upon its many states.

Within only one state, you can't understand it.

You must experience its ever changing nature in order to see that it’s empty - that is to say without a lasting independent essence.

If you're inclined, explore consciousness in whatever ways you feel are appropriate for you.

Meditate, exercise, experiment with diet, experiment with psychedelics, try chanting.

Don't be attached to any one particular state however.

They're all fleeting.

See this for yourself and go beyond consciousness into the void. This is enlightenment.

Do you think it's possible to spontaneously wake up without any prior spiritual practice or preparation? Would you understand what awakening is if you really haven't read or heard much about it beforehand?

It is certainly possible to awaken without any sort of deliberate spiritual practice.

Without the proper context of good spiritual teachings, awakening can be confusing for some.

It can also be confusing with good spiritual teachings too.

The shift out of the illusion of self is unmistakable from within, though articulating it might be very, very difficult for someone that has never heard of these ideas before.

One might not necessarily think their realization is spiritual in nature, but they will certainly feel profoundly changed and they might think they have gone crazy.

With grace, typically, they will eventually come into contact with appropriate spiritual teachings or people or experiences that will make sense of the whole shift in a timely manner.

Or perhaps they will begin to express their realization in a completely new and fresh way, that is uninfluenced by the expression of others that have had the same shift happen to them.

I would love to hear and enjoy the expressions of awakening by people that have had no relationship with spirituality at all. I imagine it would be totally fresh.

I have noticed though, that every being that comes to awaken, even with so called spontaneous awakenings, has in some way or another been walking a path, or preparing for the shift.

Most have walked the path deliberately, with awakening as their goal, while others have walked the path without awakening in mind.

In either case, all that awaken follow a path. Awakening does not just happen randomly.

Are there cases of people experiencing two or three mini awakenings at once? I'm guessing the more extreme the suffering, the more profound the awakening might be. For example, Eckhart Tolle got enlightened in an instant. No pre-awakenings. His depression was that great.

Though we can describe the many different qualities of awakening and separate these qualities into categories like awakening of the heart or mind, there is really only one awakening that is all encompassing that may be experienced from different perspectives at different times and at different rates.

For some, the path to full awakening is gradual and for others it appears to be instantaneous. However, I wouldn’t say that there is any awakening that is genuinely instantaneous.

Tolle may have suffered a lot prior to his moment of awakening, but following that moment, he sat on a park bench for years. I can speculate that during those few years, there was still an unfolding taking place during which the many aspects and perspectives of his awakening became clear to him. So in that sense, it might be said that he had many awakenings or insights that followed the initial one.

Understand that awakening is a constant unfolding without a beginning or end. For purposes of explanation, teaching and understanding, we can divide awakening up into certain categories and we can pinpoint particular moments along the path. But those sorts of distinctions belong to the intellectual mind. Awakening is beyond the intellect.

Though Tolle had a clear moment of awakening or enlightenment, we cannot disregard his entire past prior to that moment as if it had nothing to do with it. Tolle’s enlightenment was unfolding since before he was even born and even today, many years after it, it is still unfolding. This applies to all beings, enlightened or not yet enlightened.

The path unfolds differently for everyone, but the key thing to understand, in my opinion, is that it unfolds for everyone. To unfold implies a process, a series of many moments and experiences that culminate into this moment here and now. And just like this present moment, this unfolding is never finished, always continuing, always moving further.

Do you think one could reach enlightenment completely through letting go through Law of Attraction (LOA) teachings? Not doing direct self inquiry into the ego at all? After all, synchronicity is an acid bath for the ego right? Could it be completely dissolved this way?

In theory, it seems as if it’s totally possible that one can use ideas of co-creating one’s own reality, manifestation and the law of attraction to realize enlightenment.

The experience of co-creating one’s own reality is a powerful means of moving beyond ego. Some may think that desiring abundance or materialistic things is very egotistical. I disagree.

I feel that it’s more egotistical to believe and behave as if you’re not worthy of abundance. It’s only ego that fears, doubts, feels unworthy, complains and so on. It’s only ego that gets in the way of effectively attracting abundance into one’s life. If ego is out of the way, false beliefs are too, and abundance just comes right in.

Along the journey of co-creation, one is humbled before all of existence and the infinite intelligence of the Universe. This humility requires a shrinking of the ego.

The synchronicities along the way will further demonstrate the interconnectedness of the Universe and that nothing is isolated. This too, will serve to dissolve ego.

Eventually, one will come to see that the entire Universe is not separate from oneself. This is the end of the illusion of separation and the seeing beyond ego – enlightenment.

However, that’s only how it might unfold in theory. In practice, spontaneous moments of self-inquiry into the nature of reality and oneself are bound to take place.

One is bound to sit in contemplation of the questions “Who am I? What is True? What is Reality? What is God?” and answers are bound to surface and they will burn like a fire from within.

The deeper we go on this path, these questions become unavoidable. However, as I stated, these moments of inquiry will arise spontaneously. They won’t need to be actively sought out.

Of course, as one comes to find out who they really are, through self-inquiry, they will return back into the world to continue to play the game of life as a co-creator. That too, is inescapable.

I’m at this point that all spiritual teachings do not resonate with me. I accept none of them, even yours. Would you say this is part of the journey?⁠⁠

Absolutely. This part of the journey is absolutely essential. You’re a killer. There is a saying, “If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him!” That’s exactly what you’re doing.⁠⁠

The Buddha, no matter how wise, no matter how loving and no matter how much they want to guide you, cannot take you all the way. There comes a point along the path where the Buddha, or any other teacher, is no longer a help but rather, they’re only in your way.⁠⁠

I think of it this way sometimes. A parent wants their child to live a better life than they did, to be more successful, to be more wise, to be more intelligent.⁠

⁠For this to happen, there has to come a point where the child goes beyond the parent. Both parent and child have to recognize that they are from a different generation and what resonates with one of them doesn’t always resonate with the other.⁠⁠

The child has to grow up and live life as an individual if they want to live in a more evolved way than their parent. This isn’t always an easy step to take, for both parent and child, but it is essential for growth.⁠⁠

The hierarchy that involves parent and child needs to be broken. There should just be human beings, on the same level, neither superior nor inferior.⁠⁠

The same applies to all students and teachers. If you want to graduate high school, you have to say thank you to your high school teacher and then get out of high school and continue on in the world alone, as an individual.⁠⁠

The thing about the spiritual path is that it is the loneliest pursuit in all of existence.⁠⁠

The teachings do not contain the Truth. The teachers cannot take a single step for you. Once you recognize this, you thank them, and you kill them.⁠⁠

When they are dead, you will find yourself alone. You see that the teachers and teachings were just pointers, signposts. Now you have to look for yourself.⁠⁠

How can you stand side to side with the buddhas if you still look up to them?

How do I avoid getting ego involved when in difficult situations with others, especially family? Sometimes, feelings of frustration arise around them and I want to lash out. And then I feel bad about it. It's a destructive cycle.

Understand the importance of taking space to be alone so that you can bring your full awareness to whatever negativity that has been triggered by others.

When another triggers some sort of negativity within you, as soon as you become aware of what has arisen, recognize that expressing that negativity outwards will not serve you or the other in any way.

As soon as you recognize this, take space and be alone with whatever thoughts and feelings you have.

In your solitude, honor every thought, feeling and emotion.

Give it space to express itself within you.

Treat it like a guest in your house.

There is never any need to express it outwards at another, though.

This is how you heal pain, fear, and trauma with your spiritual practice.

There’s no need to feel bad about the times where you have acted out unconsciously.

You always act with as much wisdom as you have available to you at the time.

Despite having a high degree of spiritual awareness, we can and are likely to still have moments where we act out unconsciously, often times saying or doing things that hurt others.

Many spiritual people feel that when these moments occur, they have committed the greatest sin of all time and they beat themselves up with guilt.

The truth is that it’s okay. You can forgive yourself for all that you’ve done in the past and all that you may do in the future.

Just because you’re on this path doesn’t mean you’re supposed to always act like some sort of angel.

Be gentle with yourself.

Your spiritual practice is a practice.

That means you’re supposed to make mistakes, recognize them, and then adjust your practice accordingly.

So be easy on yourself and you will be able to move forward much more gracefully.

How can one heal past life trauma and pain? I've been getting flashes of past life events, usually very dark stuff like dying in a horrible and traumatic way.

It’s really no different than dealing with current life trauma and pain. Allow whatever may arise to come and go and welcome it with unconditional love and acceptance. Don’t bottle it up or try to escape it. Let it express itself and be dissolved. This is how we heal from any past difficulty.

In the past lives, you may have not dealt with certain experiences properly because you just weren’t ready. So you’ve brought them with you into this life to let them go.

Though these pains and trauma may be from a past life, they still influence your current life in some way or another. When you allow them the space to express themselves and you let them go, you will feel the benefits within this life.

What does awareness feel like? Is it distinguishable from the mind not thinking of anything in this moment?

There are many ways that we can experience the feeling of awareness.

On one hand, some may say that awareness has no feeling whatsoever, rather it is the space in which all feelings are experienced. On the other hand, some may say that it has a feeling of infinite spaciousness.

As the nervous system evolves and becomes accustomed to high degrees of consciousness/energy/awareness flowing through it, I have found there to be a very tangible, potentially intense feeling of ecstatic bliss that is more of a biological function than an emotional one.

The feeling of awareness can have many facets to it. One can feel awareness as blissful spaciousness even while the mind is thinking many thoughts. The presence of awareness is here now whether there are thoughts or not. It is the space out of which all phenomena of the world comes and goes.

If we're all enlightened, why are there monasteries, books, teachers... anxiety, depression, delusion, frustration, doubt?

That’s because enlightenment is absolutely pointless but suffering and the way out of suffering is not.

Why do little kids play make believe? Why do we pay big bucks to watch a movie? For the drama, for the emotions, for the fun. Playing pretend is the same thing that we do with our lives, actually.

In Hinduism they call it Lila, meaning ‘play’. That’s what it is. We play a game with ourselves. We suffer, then we suffer more trying to get out of suffering, then one day, we remember: Oh yea! It’s all just a play. I’m already enlightened! Hahaha.

That’s literally it.

If dreams aren’t true, why do we have them? I don’t know. They’re cool though!

Ultimately, from the highest perspective, everything only serves one purpose - to bring us back home, to who we really are, to enlightenment.

So when we suffer from depression, delusion, frustration or doubt, even though it sucks, it’s just meant to get us moving, to call us to action, to get us looking for a way out of all the drama once and for all.

So when we finally embark on a journey beyond suffering, we start to find pointers like monasteries, books and teachers.

These things point the way out of suffering completely.

Ultimately they are only pointers.

To really go beyond suffering, beyond this drama, we have to see that even the attempt to go beyond it is part of it! When we see that, it clicks.

We see that it’s all just Lila, just play and we laugh as we recognize we’ve been enlightened all along, free all along.

Do all enlightened people have special powers? For example, I've read so much recently about Parmahamsa Yogananda performing miracles, communicating with Gods and what not

No. Special powers (also known as siddhis, sacred skills, psychic gifts, or mystical abilities) and enlightenment are mutually exclusive.

At advanced stages of the spiritual journey, one’s energy is no longer put towards maintaining a false identity/ego. This energy is then available for other things, perhaps special powers, but not necessarily.

Look, this is all a dream. What isn’t possible in a dream?

The thing is, if one really wants enlightenment, even special powers aren’t intriguing.

The Universe might test you. It might ask,

“How bad do you want enlightenment? Do you want it more than you want the ability to fly?”

And you might reply,

“Yes, I want to wake up more than I want to fly.”

And the Universe might say,

“Okay then, prove it. Here’s the ability to fly. Let’s see what you do with it.”

Now if you get distracted by the ability to fly, you’ve failed the test and you won’t wake up until you overcome the desire for these special powers and such.

If you were distracted by the power to fly, that means certain tendencies, such as the need for power and validation were still active in you.

Now, you’d probably also lose the ability to fly, too. It was only a test.

Keep in mind that some people may have certain psychic or mystical abilities without necessarily being Self-Realized.

There are people that can talk to animals telepathically. This is great. They may serve the animals as healers and messengers.

But that doesn’t mean they’re fully awakened. You must use your discernment.

Psychic phenomena, powers, siddhis, abilities, and the like do not indicate a person’s degree of spiritual development.

Many sages have said that if you come across any powers, ignore them.

They are the final traps laid out to catch anyone that is not sincere about Truth, enlightenment, awakening, Self-Realization.

Do not be tempted by such powers and do not be fooled by those who display them.

How does one become enlightened? Can we use Self-Inquiry?

One does not become enlightened.

The word become implies some sort of transformation happening in the future. There is no future and you cannot become something you already are.

Instead, we can refer to it as the realization of enlightenment. Enlightenment is the lasting realization of who you really are. One may have glimpses or awakenings revealing their true nature. These glimpses may often be fleeting. To realize enlightenment is to abide in the default state; to remain there.

There are many ways to realize enlightenment. All involve a letting go of that which is not who you truly are. It is about subtraction, not addition. The process is internal and revolves around you only. Nothing and nobody can help you to realize your own true nature. It is all about you.

If one acknowledges enlightenment to be the realization of your true nature, there is only one question that needs to be asked: Who am I?

This question is really not a question, but instead it is a tool, a device. The question has no answer that can be expressed in any way, be it in thought, words, art, or otherwise. The question is a tool that focuses your very being, honing in on the very essence of your true nature.

The mind cannot answer this question. Any answer that it presents will not be true and therefore must be discarded, subtracted, let go of. When one truly realizes that the mind is futile for defining who you really are, there will be a great moment of surrender. The question will cease to exist and all that will remain is the truth of your being.

Though I recommend it greatly for those who are inclined, Self-Inquiry is not the only way to the realization of enlightenment. Each person’s path is different.

However, what is common between all true paths is a sincere intention, a letting go, great courage and an authentic desire for liberation and the realization of one’s true nature. If you stay true to your path while maintaining these qualities, you cannot fail.

What are the signs of an enlightened person? How can we find a genuine spiritual teacher?

Most people cannot just look at a person and say whether they are enlightened or not.

There’s no halo that suddenly appears over one’s head or anything of that sort.

Even the way a person speaks or acts does not reveal it.

Sure, someone that is enlightened might give off a special vibe or have a certain look in their eyes.

You might start weeping in their presence or they might touch you and put you in some deep trance-like state.

These mystical qualities do not necessarily mean someone is enlightened though.

Some enlightened people can do these things and some can’t. Some unenlightened people can do these things and some can’t.

These qualities really have nothing to do with enlightenment.

Be careful. Many unenlightened people might speak very well and be charismatic and inspiring.

They might be able to do some pretty mystical things, perhaps even miracles.

They might even say that they are enlightened, chosen, the prophet, the messiah and so on.

They might gain a large amount of devoted followers.

So if it is a fact that one cannot be sure if someone is enlightened, how should a seeker of enlightenment find an appropriate teacher? Ask a few questions like:

Does the teacher ask you to believe anything?
Does the teacher gain compliance by instilling fear in you (‘if you don’t follow me, you’ll burn in hell, you will have bad karma’ etc.)?
Does the teacher demand your loyalty? Are you unable to leave on your own will?
Does the teacher ask that you recruit more followers?
Does the teacher put on a show, and if so, does it detract from the teaching?
Does the teacher speak in jargon, technical, or foreign language as opposed to speaking clearly?
Does the teacher refer to texts or manuals more than their own insight?
Does the teacher have some sort of order of hierarchy within their student body?
Does the teacher claim to be the only true teacher alive?
Does the teacher point outward as opposed to inward?

If you answer yes to any of these questions, as a student, it might be best to move on.

How can you tell if someone is enlightened?

Ultimately, if you were able to recognize enlightenment in another, you would be able to recognize it in yourself too.

Conversely, a Self-Realized person knows the frequency of it and can usually recognize it in another. Real recognize real. You dig?

Forget about others though. To kick off the real journey, here’s a good question for a seeker to ask themselves:

“How can I tell that I’m not enlightened?”

You may respond to this question by naming off all of your human flaws. You may mention that you get angry sometimes, for example. Well, so do enlightened masters.

So your anger is not a problem. What else? You may mention that you have thoughts. So do enlightened masters. Ramana Maharshi had thoughts too. So your thoughts are not a problem.

Go through all of your justifications for why you’re not enlightened. When you inquire into each and everyone of them and understand that they are not a problem, it will dawn on you - you’ve been enlightened all along.

People love to talk about who’s enlightened and who’s not. The joke’s on them though. If they could really tell who was enlightened and who wasn’t, they would be able to see that they themselves are enlightened.

Do awakened or Self-Realized teachers all agree with each other?

There is only Truth. It’s the same for anyone that comes across it.

All concepts, words, teachings, philosophies that attempt to express Truth are simply pointers that are always off the mark, always imperfect, always missing something.

For this reason, I don’t even think it’s safe to say that all teachers agree with their own teachings.

I don’t agree with absolute certainty with my own words, because they are all just imperfect pointers.

All of those that know what is True recognize this, and don’t get caught up with the pettiness of words.

Because Truth can’t be expressed, awakened teachers have to get creative, they have to be flexible, they have to be inconsistent.

One moment they might say there is free will to snap someone out of their fixation on the idea that there isn’t.

In another moment they might tell someone to surrender their individual free will to the will of the Universe.

Also, if you ask the same question to two different awakened teachers, you are likely to get different answers.

This doesn’t mean that any answer is wrong, it just means that the teaching is alive.

That’s what makes this teaching so beautiful. It’s not written in a text book and considered absolute or final

It is simply a response that arises in the moment, catered to whoever is listening at the time.

It is not about agreeing or disagreeing on things that have been said in the past.

It’s only about what someone needs to hear in this moment.

I recently began using crystals and burning herbs like sweetgrass and sage. Do you have an opinion on using these tools for cleansing and healing?

Those things are great as supplements for your journey. They have special qualities to assist you if you’re receptive enough.

The fact is - you can own all the crystals in the world, but you must still do the deep inner work on your own to make progress on your journey.

Be mindful not to become addicted to accumulating spiritual items or distracting yourself with quirky practices and rituals.

Sometimes we can get hooked on buying books, trinkets like pendulums, statues, essential oils, and all that stuff.

We can fool ourselves into believing that these things will help us to be more peaceful. We can convince ourselves that we need to spend money on them. With this mindset, we can be easily sold to by any crafty salesperson.

We can also get hooked on doing new rituals and practices like tarot readings, sound baths, drum circles, and so on.

We can think that they can be replacements for our silent meditation practice and that they’re just as beneficial, if not more. But this isn’t true.

I’ve seen many people get overly involved in all of these things but still not yet actually sitting down to meditate quietly and really tap into their inner being.

I guarantee you that once you begin meditating and cultivate your practice even a little bit, the benefits that you see will exceed any benefits that you might get from crystals and other healing tools and modalities.

As well, you won’t be dependent on any of those special items or modalities for your state of peace. You will know that you have everything you need within you.

Some people are so dependent on their crystals and rituals. If you were to take those things away, they wouldn’t know what to do.

The idea isn’t to be dependent on anything. All answers and peace lies within.

Don’t get me wrong - those modalities and things are fun, they’re exciting, they’re a great way to make friends and find a like-minded community.

I myself own some crystals, smudge with sage, and enjoy a sound bath now and then. But they are merely supplements to my spiritual practice.

The benefits and shifts I see from all of those things pale in comparison with the immeasurable gifts I receive from my simple meditation practice.

So by all means, explore the spiritual marketplace and see what you find. Just remember, your inner being is all that you really need.

Apparently, intellectual understandings of spiritual notions are not the same thing as spiritual realization. Does this mean that intellectual understanding is all pointless?

Let whatever intellectual understanding you have that makes sense in your mind take over every moment of your life and it will click within you on a spiritual level, beyond the intellect.

For example, if you understand that there is only the here and now, whenever you catch yourself regretting the past or longing for the future, question yourself. Inquire into whether those thinking patterns are in alignment with your understanding of the present moment. When you question yourself, you’ll take power away from your old way of being, and slowly, your intellectual understandings will begin to click within you, beyond the mind.

Please note that I am only inviting you to question yourself. I am not inviting you to judge or criticize yourself for not being in the here and now, for example. Whatever your experience is, no matter where you are at on your spiritual path, it’s all good. No need for self-hate here. It’s okay to not be perfect at practicing learned or understood. This is not a problem.

Look, intellectual understandings are not bad. They’re great. They are the place we start on this path, they are what give us some direction. They’re just not the Truth itself, or the spiritual realization itself. To have the experience, awakening, or realization, we have to put our intellectual understandings to the test, we have to make the journey, we have to have the experience. That means you have to put in effort towards this and actually walk this path. You need to practice.

We can’t just sit in a classroom and take in theory. We have to leave the classroom and apply what we have learned. That doesn’t mean that what we learned in the classroom was useless just because it was only theory. It was just the first step. But once we go out and apply the teachings in our lives, we can then let them go as intellectual understandings.

Q: Can you speak about emptiness and no-self? What do you mean that there is no you or me? How do we see that more clearly?

A: I can speak about emptiness and no-self in a round-about manner. It cannot be expressed in words and so I can only use the words to point to it.

The general idea with emptiness and no-self is that nothing has any independent existence of its own; nothing exists in isolation from anything else.

We cannot pick out any individual entity, namely a self, and hold it up in isolation from everything else because it does not have its own independent existence. That’s what no-self or emptiness means - there is only One and nothing beyond it.

Nothing has any independent existence except existence itself. This means there is no individual ‘you’ or ‘me’, there is only the One. And this One includes rocks, thoughts, animals, nature, the entire Universe. It’s not many, it’s One.

Consciousness is the void field out of which the One arises. When we really look into the apparent individual entities that seem to be present, like the idea of ‘me’, we find emptiness. When we get really close to the illusion of the ego/self/me, we can’t seem to actually find it. Instead, what we come across is just a void; no-self, emptiness. That void is Consciousness.

You cannot see this more clearly, because there is nothing to see. That’s why it’s called no-self or emptiness. It’s nothing. What you have to do then, is stop seeing what’s not there. Stop seeing a self, an ego, any isolated entities. Stop seeing many separate forms. When you stop seeing them, emptiness is all that’s left.

Seeing no-self or emptiness doesn’t require a fancy trick, effort, a mystical ability or anything special. The special trick is actually what you’re doing - seeing things that don’t exist.

If I didn’t do that same trick for nineteen years of my life, I’d be the one asking you: How do I see ‘me’ or ‘you’ when there’s actually nothing? How do I see separation when there is only One?

All you’ve got to do is to stop this trick of seeing many things when there’s only One. When you stop seeing what isn’t actually there, all that will remain is the void, no-self, emptiness.

Do some cities have higher consciousness than others?

Different places do have different frequencies. Your own home can have different vibrations from room to room. Some cities do generally have higher frequencies than others. Consider a war torn city, full of traumatized, fearful people compared to a peaceful place.

For some, if they are called, they will benefit by moving to a more spiritually oriented, higher vibrating place. For others, it won’t make much of a difference.

Certain places, such as particular regions in which many spiritual masters lived, are in fact more conducive to spiritual growth than other places. However, one has to be ripe in order to benefit from going to these places. It’s not like you can just go to Arunachala, the hill that is said to be the abode of Shiva, and have everything just magically be handled for you. You have to be ready and it has to be part of your life’s path.

Some areas are said to be energetic vortexes, like the planet’s chakras. If you feel called to any of these types of places, go and see what happens. They don’t necessarily have to be far away places. The forest near your home can be a holy place.

In fact, you can make any place a holy place. You can change the vibration of any location with practice and intention. Oftentimes, it happens spontaneously too. Just by meditating, being in devotion, feeling peaceful and joyful, you can shift the vibration of any location and it will have a lasting effect. Do this repeatedly and the effect will last for far longer than you will be alive.

Just don’t feel as if the reason for your spiritual progress or lack thereof is because of where you’re located. Don’t make this idea into an excuse. For many of us on this path today, we have spent lifetimes in very holy but isolated places. In this life now though, we have been called into the cities to serve as anchors of expanded consciousness. If you recognize yourself as one of these people, stay and complete your mission.

I have heard about how mystical union and unity consciousness is not enlightenment. Can you shed some light on this?

To speak of "union" or "two things united" or "two things merging" or to say "I became one with everything" implies that two separate things became one/united. Therefore, this is still based in the illusion of separation.

How can "I merge with God" if I am already God and God is all there is?

To imply a merger implies that there were initially two separate things that later came together and became one.

In Truth, there was, is, and always will be only One. So there's actually no merging, no uniting truly taking place during those experiences of mystical union or unity consciousness.

Whenever there's an experience of unity consciousness, or of some sort of dissolution of the sense of separation, it's simply an experience. It's utterly beautiful, ineffable, rich with insight, and can be life changing. I am not one to dismiss unity consciousness as something irrelevant. It's important and can really change a person's perspective. It did for me.

Eventually, you will see that there's always only been One. From that point, all ideas of duality, separation, oneness, non-duality, unity, not-twoness, etc. just fall away.

I had my awakening in 2015, but now I find myself empty, no drive. I don't care about anything anymore.

I've definitely felt the same way. Fortunately, even though during those times I felt empty and as if there was no point to life, something in me knew that there had to be more. That knowing encouraged me to keep moving further on my path.

Deep inside, you have that very same knowing. That's why you're reaching out to me. If you really felt that there was no point in caring about joy and living your life to the fullest, you wouldn't even bother to contact me about it. But there's some hope inside you that's guiding you along.

It's very common on the path for us to have an awakening or realization that feels as if it must be the complete picture, as if there can't possibly be any more insight. This is just how the path is. For instance, we may have an awakening that everything is emptiness and it could feel as if that's the final understanding. We ask, 'How could there possibly be more?'

But there is more. There's always further. There's always more expansion. A deeper state of peace. A more embodied state of love. There are always new experiences that can be had. When I started to get that, I began to make an effort to live my life fully.

I made it a point to recognize that I didn't come here on this planet as a human being just to realize that it’s all pointless. I came here to enjoy it and to share that joy with others. So that's what I began to set an intention to do.

For me, it began with nature, I began to just appreciate the forest. Even though I had some crazy spiritual awakening and understood it's all emptiness and pointless and blah blah blah, when I looked at a flower, or tree, or animal, all of that spiritual insight was trumped by the very real beauty that was before me.

From there, I started to see the world in a new way and joy began to come. Keep going.

A few friends of mine are detecting something potentially extremely negative in the horizon, perhaps a spiritual war of sorts, but also sense that it is going to lead to a period of cleansing and part of the ascension in spirit. Any thoughts on this?

They’re detecting their own personal spiritual war and purification that is imminent or already underway. This isn’t a message of doom, though. They’re like caterpillar’s sensing that they must soon enter into the cocoon.

We are at a time when we are all in the process of embodying a much higher, awakened state of consciousness. We each to have follow through with our own spiritual cleansing and purification for this to happen.

For your friends and perhaps yourself, it may be coming in the near future. For others, their spiritual purification has already been completed or in its final stages.

Don’t fear or expect any significant events on the global landscape. That’s not what your friends are detecting. Don’t expect aliens (yet), for the Earth’s poles to suddenly shift, or for the day to turn to night.

Instead, look inwards at what’s unfolding inside your own system. If the world is to undergo a change, then each individual must undergo a change too.

What do you do if your egoic drive/motivation in life has completely dried up, but nothing else has moved in to take its place?

You rest.

You’ve been working for your whole life (and lifetimes before) driven and motivated by ego. Finally, you’ve come to a point where you can rest. Accept the opportunity and relax.

When egoic drive dries up, you enter into a place on the path where there is nothing to move you. You must rest, be lazy, and trust in the path. Before the Divine can come into your being to inspire and animate you, you must be initiated.

This period of having no drive whatsoever is an initiation. It is perhaps one of the most difficult initiations to go through because it is in stark opposition to one of the most powerful driving forces - the ego.

I’ve been through these stages a handful of times on my path. They’re always so difficult because they make you feel lazy and useless, like a bum.

During these stages, what’s being burned up are the egoic beliefs and mechanisms that impede true Divine inspiration from flowing through you.

Once these old mechanisms have truly been exhausted, something new and fresh will begin to inspire you. You won’t be able to resist it. It’s coming, in time. Until then, rest.

Can you share some tips on how to protect your energy when you are intuitive and sensitive? Sometimes it can be so draining and I can't seem to master this gift.

It’s important that you’ve recognized that being intuitive and sensitive is a gift. It really is. It’s not meant to be a burden or a curse. It’s a real blessing to be so aware of what’s going on in and around you. Of course, it takes practice to hone this skill and to learn how to use these abilities. You will find the balance and it will get easier with time and experience.

Become very conscious of what boundaries are and how to maintain them. You don’t owe anyone anything. You don’t have to go out of your way to help everyone with all of their problems. You also don’t have to agree to give help to those that ask for it. If you’re not in a stable place yourself, the last thing you should be doing is taking on other people’s issues. It’s okay to politely refuse.

You may also have to audit your social circles. Are there people in your life that only give you attention when they are feeling emotional? Perhaps inviting them to give themselves the attention that they seek from you is the answer to improving the wellbeing of both of you.

Maybe there’s a certain topic that you don’t feel comfortable addressing for other people. You don’t have to. Maybe you have to decrease the amount of time that you spend in certain places with certain people. These are boundaries. It’s important to maintain them, constantly.

It’s good to be generous with our energy. But it’s important to remember that we can’t give everything away, especially not all at once. If we did that, we wouldn’t be able to sustain our life of service for very long. It’s important to be efficient with how much we give and when. And it’s important to constantly check in on ourselves, on how we’re feeling, on whether or not we need to rest and recharge.

Sometimes when you’re out in the world, like at a busy mall, you can’t avoid picking up on other people’s energy. You have to prepare yourself before you go to places like that by reminding yourself that whatever you feel in another person is what you’re transmuting for them. This is your gift in action. You may have to meditate, practice breathing deeply, and do some grounding exercises before and after a trip to a busy place.

Spend time in nature to recharge yourself. Meditate, rest, relax, and do the things that you know put your system at ease. Eat well and stay hydrated. Be in the company of those that make you feel comfortable.

After your awakening, do you still feel emotions?

Of course. I feel the full range of emotions. However, I spend 95% of my time on the positive end of the spectrum. Most of that time is spent in a general state of peace and contentment.

Every now and then I will experience some frustration, anger, jealousy or some other negative emotion. This happens maybe a few times a month at most. Whenever a negative emotion arises, I immediately remind myself that it’s something that’s arisen to be exhausted out of my system and I welcome it unconditionally.

I know that whatever I’m feeling is what I’m healing. I usually take space and meditate with the experience so as to honor it fully as well as to avoid involving other people unnecessarily in my own healing process.

Beyond that, I experience other people’s emotions as well. I’m usually pretty clear on when an emotion belongs to me or another person. Just like my own negative emotions, I welcome everything that I may pick up on from another person unconditionally into my space. I know that I’m simply taking on their emotion to better understand their experience and to help them with their own healing.

As long as we exist as human beings, the full range of the emotional spectrum is available to us. There will never come a time when a certain emotion is off limits, no matter how evolved or awakened we may be.

Is enlightenment a merit or an accident? You can read books, meditate and arrive to conclusions but that doesn't make someone enlightened.

It’s an accident that happens only once you enter into the accident-zone. You can only enter into the accident-zone on merit, having practiced properly. Once you’re within that zone, the accident of enlightenment will happen spontaneously.

What this means is we can’t sit around and do nothing while saying that enlightenment is an accident therefore there’s nothing to be done. If that was the case, people would be getting enlightened all over the place for no reason. It doesn’t happen that way.

Enlightenment follows practice in some capacity. That practice might also have taken place in past lives.

After your awakening, do you get bored?

Never. My favourite hobby is meditation and there is never a moment that I can’t practice it. When there’s nothing to do, I don’t get bored. I get excited. That means I can just sit and see what’s going on inside myself.

You might think that the idea of just sitting around being exciting is ridiculous. But you have to understand that the depth of meditation that I experience has the potential of making worldly experience seem trivial.

Observe a wild animal at rest. Many of them just sit in one place for hours at a time, wide awake, totally in the moment. They don’t get bored either.

What is your advice on loving yourself?

No matter what thought, emotion, feeling, memory, or experience enters your field of awareness, welcome it unconditionally. This unconditional welcome is self-love.

If you don’t want to love yourself, that’s fine. Welcome that resistance unconditionally. That’s loving yourself anyway.

There’s never a moment that you’re unable to love yourself. You can always take a step back and welcome your experience totally.

What was your existential crisis like and what helped you get through it?

I saw that nothing external could ultimately complete me. I looked around and saw that everyone was hypnotized into believing that they would be complete once they pay off their mortgage, get a good job, get married, have kids, become rich, retire, or whatever.

But I asked myself, ‘Has anyone actually made it? Who’s actually happy?’ And I couldn’t find anyone that wasn’t moving towards something in the future in the hopes of being satisfied. It was like we were all going after a mirage in the desert.

I started to feel that life was a sick joke, and that there was no point to any of this, and that we were all just mindlessly seeking salvation in external things when none of those could actually fulfill us. I didn’t want to go on.

By grace, I came across spiritual teachings about the present moment, living in the Now, embracing the journey, and discovering our inherent completeness in this very moment. These teachings invited me to look beyond the mind and to discover myself as timeless, peaceful awareness.

By practicing mindfulness and being present, I began to find genuine peace of mind and being and began to understand that life isn’t a sick joke at all.

Do you have any advice or suggestions to help with discerning between the voice of ego and the voice of intuition/heart/god? I ask specifically in reference to making major life decisions and changes. How can I better know intuitively if I am making the decision/change for the sake of ego or for something beyond ego?

Ego is usually trying to protect or enhance itself in some way. So whenever you have a thought impulse that you’re not sure about, you can just inquire into whether there is some form of fear motivating the behavior or if there is some form of seeking either to gain recognition, status, revenge, and so on.

That’s one way of inquiring. The other way is to feel. What feels right? Intuitive impulses from the Heart/God/Higher-Self always feel easy, gentle, loving, relaxed.

Egoic thoughts coming from a selfish place usually feel lacking and fearful.

Overall, don’t get too caught up in wondering whether or not an impulse is egoic or heart-based. Just feel it out and eventually you’ll be able to discern very quickly. From that point, the ego begins to become quiet, allowing the intuition to speak to you loud and clear.

What was the most pleasurable/blissful moment of your life?

The moment of Kundalini Shakti awakening was more powerful and blissful than a thousand orgasms.

Following that however, I spent over a year in healing, recovery, and reintegration. Bliss is quite taxing on the human body. It’s not an emotion. It’s a visceral, biological phenomenon that can possibly kill someone if the system is not prepared.

Today, I experience bliss with almost every breath, but it is far more subtle than the bliss I experienced during the moment of Kundalini awakening. But this bliss I experience today is preferred because I can move through the world with it at the same time.

There are different degrees of bliss. The most powerful degree will leave you unable to move or even remember where you are. And then when it passes, you will have to allow yourself to gently come back down. The less intense degrees are much more subtle but much more sustainable by the body.

So what if you're deeply interested in spirituality but you fall in love with a girl who has no interest in these topics whatsoever. Can you still go with it? Even when you know she'll never care about it?

How do you know she’ll never care about it? You don’t.

The spiritual path is not a side-hobby, a quirky interest, a lifestyle choice, a cultural thing, a phase, a trend, or a movement.

The spiritual path is all there is for everyone, everywhere.

Everyone is on the spiritual path. Everyone is spiritual, whether they know it or not. How? Because this is a spiritual reality. Whether you know it or not, or believe it or not, it makes no difference. Everything in existence is animated by spirit.

On your spiritual path, you’ll come to discover this directly, and then the judgement of some people being more or less spiritual than others will begin to fall away.

So perhaps she is coming close to you because she’s ready to begin to travel this path more consciously. Perhaps she’s coming close to you to give you an opportunity to drop judgement and to be more open. Perhaps she’s a master in disguise, pretending to not know anything about this.

So go ahead with it. See what growth comes about and what exploration happens.

I thought all of this was totally idiotic at first, really. I laughed at the idea of spirit. But when the time was right, things started to become clearer and clearer.

Everyone is a moment away from a very profound shift in consciousness. Literally. Just give them a chance.

With that said, maintain high standards for who you would like to be in a relationship with. If you wish for a truly deep, spiritual connection, you can have it. You don’t have to settle.

That might mean finding someone that is more consciously on your wavelength or it might mean working with someone to bring them up to speed. In either case, become aware of your judgement and intend to move beyond it.

How do you know if you're on the right path?

Firstly, there’s only one path. You can’t get it wrong. Whatever you have done, are doing. or will do is the right thing. There is no such thing as wrong in reality. Wrong only exists as an idea in the mind.

Everyone is God. God doesn’t get anything wrong.

That’s the absolute perspective, which encompasses all of existence. But, there’s also the relative perspective, which is more specific to you as an individual.

The second point is just as simple. How does your path feel in your body? The right path always feels right, good, comfortable, exciting, easy.

Your whole system does its very best, moment to moment, to tell you when you aren’t on the right path. The way it tells you is by how you feel. That’s what feelings are. They’re guidance from the wisdom of your entire body-mind-spirit organism. When things feel good, you’re on the right path. Simple!

Together, the absolute and relative perspectives make up a paradox. An easy way to understand and reconcile this paradox is to contemplate the idea of a movie.

In a movie, the main character may make a mistake and put themselves in a tricky situation, but they haven’t really done anything wrong, because the mistake they’ve made is what provides context for the entire movie, in which they will eventually succeed and overcome their challenges.

The same applies to your life. You can make a mistake and it may seem as if you’re on the wrong path, but really, just like in movies, things have to unfold the way that they do to provide the drama and the playground for your expansion. With this understanding, there’s really only one path - the right path.

I wish I could light my candle with your flame. I'm feeling very alone on the spiritual path right now and am getting caught in old patterns of thinking and suffering so much. What do you think about transmission? Can you transmit energy through these written messages here? Can you respond to this message in a way that the space between your words will carry a transmission of energy that will help me awaken to what I am? Thanks kindly.

Transmission of the message of Truth is a real thing. In fact all spiritual transmission takes place beyond or between the words. So yes, I can and do transmit Truth through these written messages here, but it is always in the space between the words, in the silence, as you say, because Truth cannot be expressed in words.

It has happened on multiple occasions, the energetic transmission of Truth through these words here. It has happened to others in my physical presence and even over text messages or Facebook with my friends also.

But I have never put in any conscious effort to actively transmit Truth to anyone. The moment any sort of agenda like that comes in, it can’t happen. The transmission takes place from within the silence of me and it resonates within the silence of you. To have an agenda is to disturb that silence and therefore, it cannot happen.

So no, I cannot respond in any particular way with the goal of transmitting anything to anyone. All I can do is allow these words to flow from that place of Truth within me. As you be with these words, simply be open within that place of Truth within you. It is in that moment that a transmission can occur.

I don’t have anything that you don’t have. I have nothing to give you. I can only reflect back to you what you already know, and that is what I am doing. It is up to you to recognize yourself in the reflection, and that recognition is what the energetic transmission of Truth is.