Ayahuasca is a literal magic potion.

And real magic, we may say, is not all fairy dust, rainbows, and orgasms.

Let’s take a look at the beautiful and at times hideous medicine: Ayahuasca.

——

In my life *nothing* has been more profoundly healing and life-altering than working with Ayahuasca.

When I first came to the medicine in 2018, I had spent years dealing with significant guilt and anxiety.

Within a few sessions with Ayahuasca, ~95% of my guilt and anxiety dissolved.

The past, which had previously seemed so three-dimensional and heavy, seemed to collapse down to something 2-d and lightweight.

It was like a burdensome backpack filled with troubling memories simply fell away.

Not only that, but my fear of death (the root of all fear) diminished by ~90% or so as well.

I hadn’t realized how much resistance I was still holding—resistance to life, to death, to being human.

A huge portion of this resistance simply melted away as I directly experienced the Divine Intelligence of Nature letting me know that I could *completely* Trust in What Is, in every moment.

Further work with Ayahuasca took me deeper and deeper, allowing me to experience profound states of egolessness, timelessness, Oneness, and the Pure Light of Heaven.

Through Ayahuasca, Bufo, meditation, inquiry, and reading many non-dual teachers, I came to know God—simply another word for Being or Reality—directly in my own experience.

The effortless ALIVENESS of All That Is, and the Infinite Intelligence permeating the Whole Dance, revealed itself to me with resounding clarity, such that I cannot forget.

I now walk through life continuously in awe of the Radiant Mystery of the Now, the Divine Artistry of every moment. I feel the Grace of God as the Living Presence of which every experience is constituted.

I now have an ability to be gentle with myself and chuckle at my human foibles and idiosyncrasies, on a level I could not previously imagine. I totally still have vices and addictions and ‘shortcomings’ and less-than-wholesome tendencies and whatnot, but I no longer see this as a “problem” or something I need to change.

It all simply IS as it IS, moment to moment. And I can let it be as it is, and know it is All Okay. Paradoxically, this ALLOWING of everything to be AS IT IS seems to continue to heal and free me far more than any ‘self-improvement’ approach ever did.

Ayahuasca is *not* a walk in the park and should not be over-romanticized. I would not recommend it to everyone—only those who simply feel an *intuitive* call to it. Some of my experiences have felt akin to dying, or giving birth, or wading through an eternal desert of suffering.

It’s no joke. It’s not for the faint of heart. Ayahuasca is a Master Teacher who is not afraid to give you the Medicine your Soul truly needs, rather than what you may *think* you need.

I have been profoundly humbled by this medicine many times. Recently the medicine has really taken me through hell to *humble* and *ground* me in *compassionate presence* on the Earth.

At times my faith has been shaken by this medicine, yet this has also shown me the beauty of faith: What would be the use or power of faith if we were always absolutely certain of God’s Perfection?

Through this work I have come to see Faith and Trust in God as our greatest allies on the path of life. Nothing is more powerful. Nothing strengthens a human being like Infinite Faith.

Thank you, Ayahuasca. At times I have cursed you and wondered why I keep coming back to you, yet later on an Understanding always blossoms. An Understanding that you were seeing me more clearly than I could see myself, simply giving me what I needed.

Given the immense Purge we’re going through on this planet right now in these tectonic times, I can honestly say that I see no greater ally for mankind right now than Ayahuasca and other plant medicines.

These medicines literally enable you to Heal and Clear inner blockages in a few hours that might otherwise have taken a lifetime to release. When experienced in a wisely cultivated context, they can occasion literal miracles of Rebirth and Reconnection to Love.

Thank you, Ayahuasca. I love you.

The post Ayahuasca: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly appeared first on Jordan Bates.

Am “I” “privileged”?

Totally!

I’m the luckiest motherfucker alive!!

An entire multiverse is given to me in every nanosecond and I don’t have to do anything to earn it.

It simply spontaneously appears.

A literal infinite playground on which to dance whatever dance I wish to dance appears spontaneously every nanosecond.

In perfect clarity, with unimaginable precision and detail.

It’s gorgeous as fuck brah!!

If you look closely the same is also true for YOU and every other person — most don’t notice this though.

On a more relative level: Was “I” born into a “privileged” life situation?

Yes, 100%, I was!!

I could easily point out that there is no “I” and that we are all actually the One experiencing every possible life circumstance simultaneously…

But let’s stick with the realities of duality for a moment:

Yes, existence has a tragic aspect and my heart hurts and goes out to the countless people in profoundly painful and challenging situations; I too have experienced immense pain.

Yes, being born into a middle-class American existence afforded me a lot of opportunities that others on Earth right now do not have!

(That American opportunity-advantage seems to be collapsing more and more all the time, especially post-C-19, but that’s another story.)

I am grateful for this and happy to call myself the luckiest motherfucker alive, as I already said.

Yet I also do not often use the term “privileged” to describe my situation.

Why?

Because “privilege” as a concept/construct is INEXTRICABLY ASSOCIATED with an elaborate ideology that one might call “modern American Leftism,” “social justice ideology,” etc.

In general, I recommend burning down ALL ideologies because no ideology can ever present more than a paltry shadow of Truth — like literally even the best ideology captures 0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000000001% of Truth.

When held as loosely as possible, most or all ideologies can be useful maps/lenses/mythologies.

Yet to me, modern American Leftism is one of the MOST INSIDIOUS AND DISEMPOWERING ideological mind-viruses presently wreaking havoc on the general population.

It is an ideology utterly steeped in projecting a victim identity onto large swaths of people and pitying those people, thereby making them lower than and disempowering them.

It is an ideology largely held by people who endlessly engage in compensatory virtue signaling, projecting/protecting an image of themselves as “compassionate saviors,” not realizing that this is arising from a place of almost pure arrogance, neediness for recognition, and egoistic self-validation.

“The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off.”

I am not interested in creating more war-minded dualities of “Us and Them,” “Victim and Perpetrator,” “Inside and Outside,” and so on…

All dualities are disempowering because they are NOT ultimately true.

There are not two things in existence, there is ONE non-thing:

YOU.

YOU are IT….

YOU are the WHOLE non-enchilada.

YOU are the only one here.

YOU are the ALL.

Reality is a Rorschach test that simply presents to you in every moment an EXACT MIRROR REFLECTION of WHAT YOU ARE BEING.

It is ONLY when we each RECLAIM our POWER as the One Infinite Creator of Reality that we will transcend the war-creating dualities that plague us.

By turning people into victims, we only perpetuate our own collective disempowerment.

Am I interested in birthing a New Paradigm Civilization in which ALL BEINGS are honored and enabled to THRIVE and live their Soul-Joy-Truth??

100-MOTHERFUCKING-PERCENT !!!!!!!!

But the way to do that is NOT through dualistic savior-complex-born ideologies that continue to divide the world up along arbitrary lines.

If you haven’t noticed, that’s the game humanity has been playing the past few thousand years and it’s brought us a lot of good ol’ fashioned war and genocide and enslavement and so on.

Only by TRANSCENDING duality and ideology and Recognizing each Being as who they truly are —— THE ONE INFINITELY POWERFUL, FREE, AND GLORIOUS GOD SELF —— can we ACTUALLY birth a New Paradigm on this planet.

Only by Empowering ourselves and others to take 100% MOTHERFUCKING OWNERSHIP FOR ALL OF REALITY AS THE ONE INFINITE CREATOR, will we unlock the non-linear quantum leaps in Creativity, Imagination, and Innovation that we KNOW in our Hearts are possible.

Only by Recognizing that EVERY SINGLE BEING WON THE MOTHERFUCKING LIFE LOTTERY and is being Gifted an Entire Multiversal Playground in Every Moment, and RADIATING from this Energy of GRATITUDE, will we transmute this Realm into the Heaven we all know it can be.

Only by NOT NEEDING anything to Change — by Recognizing the HEAVEN THAT IS ALWAYS ALREADY HERE when one drops all ideology — will we then Bring Forth the Earthly Paradise so many are yearning for.

Move the fuck beyond “privilege” and “white guilt” and “_______ lives matter” and “intersectionality” and “________ rights” ALL THAT SAME OLD VICTIM/OPPRESSOR DUALISTIC BULLSHIT.

BY CHOOSING TO SEE THE WORLD THAT WAY YOU ARE ACTIVELY RECREATING THE EXACT THING YOU BELIEVE YOU’RE FIGHTING / DISMANTLING.

SEE YOURSELF AND EVERY BEING YOU ENCOUNTER AS THE ONE MOTHERFUCKING GOD SELF — AS THE LIVING MIRACLE OF INFINITE MOTHERFUCKING INTELLIGENCE THAT THEY ARE.

And I mean EVERY BEING — not just the ones your supposedly-egalitarian ideology tells you to Love.

LOVE EVERY BEING AS YOUR VERY SELF.

YES, that includes TRUMP and BIDEN and HITLER and GENGHIS KHAN and JEFF DAHMER and MAO and STALIN and ______________.

LOVE AND HONOR EVERY SINGLE BEING AS IF THEY WERE THE LUCKIEST MOTHERFUCKER ALIVE!

Because in Truth… They Are.

They Are the ONE Always-Already-Free INNOCENCE of BEING.

They are Infinite Loving Intelligence.

They are Reality Itself.

And So Are YOU.

You are not your fabricated mental images and stories about a small finite rapidly-expiring helpless monkey on a rock in space.

What You Are is INFINITELY Beyond That.

Your dualistic concept of “privilege” and all your other ideological constructs are compensatory, deluded, and insincere.

You’re full of shit and your dualistic ideology is keeping humanity locked in place rather than calling us to RISE with SOUL-LOVE-POWER into the NEW.

I’m full of shit too — these words are nothing more than the silly hieroglyphs of a naked monkey painting on a cave wall.

When one ceases to see words as having any possibility of accurately expressing reality and instead sees them as poetic-magickal tools to trigger blindspots/shadows to rise into Awareness, the game of language is then approached differently.

So yeah, ALL my words are full of SHIT.

Non-duality is just another BULLSHIT word game.

The only difference between us is that I know and admit I’m full of shit. I don’t need to defend anything and I don’t need anything to change.

BECAUSE I KNOW I AM ALWAYS ALREADY THE LUCKIEST MOTHERFUCKER ALIVE.

It is because I don’t need SHIT from anyone that I can actually BE what the Fuck I AM and RADIATE the NEW.

The ACTUAL NEW, not just the Same-Old-Same-Old dressed up as a holier-than-thou self-righteousness circle-jerk.

Stop stroking your own illusory ego and start LOVING YOURSELF AND THE WHOLE EARTH AND EVERY BEING ON EARTH AS YOUR OWN BODY.

If you actually want a Shift, that is — if your talk of “changing the world” isn’t just hollow self-validating lip service.

Prove me the fuck wrong, bitch!!

Show me what you are.

I love you.

Truly and Honestly: You are Perfect Now, just as you are.

Divinely, Flawlessly Perfect.

And at the same time: You’re full of shit. You are not what you say you are.

Me too.

That’s the Paradox.

Humbling one, ain’t it? : )

So yeah: Fuck “Privilege”

Fuck the elaborate self-validation circle-jerk of Leftism and all other ideological/religious clubs.

That goes for YOU too, Rightists, anti-Leftists, Feminists, Anti-Feminists, SJWs, anti-SJWs, Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, vegans, spiritualists, New Agers, rationalists, post-rationalists, effective altruists, solipsists, nihilists, atheists, metamodernists, Game B-ers, integral theorists, non-dualists, scientism-ists, and all other ideologues.

If your “spirituality” or “good guys group” identity separates you IN ANY WAY from the rest of humanity, it is deluded, compensatory, insincere, and full of SHIT.

We’re more Creative than this.

Did you come to this planet simply to validate your own ego, or did you come here to Wake The Fuck Up and thunderstrike this Sphere like a Bolt of Motherfucking Lightning??

If you’re triggered, good. Those feelings literally show you exactly where you are believing false ideas about Reality.

And, spoiler alert: Literally ALL beliefs are untrue — nothing more than little fabricated, compensatory monkey-mind creations.

You have to go beyond belief and TASTE THE MOTHERFUCKING ICE CREAM OF DIRECT NON-CONCEPTUAL EXPERIENCE if you want to grok what I’m speaking about.

Or don’t. Literally totally up to you, and I don’t care either way. It is unwise to listen to me unless you want to challenge your deepest assumptions. Feel free to write me off as a loony tune or a bigot or whatever, unfollow me, and get on with your existence :))

All Good, and All Love from here; I wish you Enjoyment, Blessings, and Freedom.

I wish you the Feeling of Knowing beyond doubt that YOU are the Luckiest Motherfucker Alive.

P.S. Key point: I am NOT denying the experiential reality being pointed at by the concept “privilege.” I am making the more subtle point that the concept of “privilege” and the larger Leftist ideology of which it is part, are insidious/divisive/disempowering in nature and cannot take us where we want in our Hearts to go. Genuine Love and Togetherness can only be discovered through the transcendence of all ideology.

Further Reflections

[The post above, titled Fuck Privilege, was published as a social media post. After a powerful process of discussion and contemplation here are my reflections.]

My essential points in that post still resonate with me. I do feel that Leftist ideology is largely disempowering. I do feel that all ideologies are inaccurate and are gradually transcended on the path to clarity. I do feel that we are all the Totality of Being, and that we are all fortunate beyond measure to experience Life.

Yet upon reflection I can also feel the arrogance, bravado, insensitivity, anger, and ungroundedness in my tone and delivery. I can sense my own suffering in my words. I felt some sadness and embarrassment in relation to the post. I also had a few chuckles about this ridiculous character I’m playing in this life. A humbling experience.

I can see how the protective mechanisms of arrogance, entitlement, anger, bravado, insensitivity, ungroundedness, and an addiction to being seen as special/smart/wise, arose in my life in response to pain/trauma.

I take responsibility for these mechanisms, and I also see and appreciate how these exact aspects have also been essential on my path. Without them, I would not be who I am; I would not have lived the life I’ve lived; I would not have arrived at this precise moment. Like Kanye once sang, “Everything I’m not, made me everything I am.”

In the past year, in many ways, Life has been inviting me to ground, to humble myself, to deepen into service. I resisted the word “service” for a long time and still feel resistance to it. Some voice within me always says, “I am no one’s servant.” More stubbornness from the legendarily well-fortified ego of JB, hahah.

Yet Life is the Master Teacher, and nothing escapes its Omniscient Gaze. It always gives us what we need, and damn, sometimes that’s a bitter medicine to swallow. Life keeps holding up the mirror, urging me to see myself more clearly, and inviting me to come down from the clouds and root my bare feet back in the soil, like I did as a child.

Life is inviting me to be a man here on Earth right now.

I started to cry as I wrote that last sentence—guess it hits home.

To be a man on Earth is in many ways about 10,000x more challenging than playing the aloof eccentric sage meditating in the non-dual heavens.

Life is reminding me that duality is 100% experientially real and painful and heavy and horrifying and challenging, in all its tragicomic beauty.

Life is showing me how my ego twists the wisdom of non-duality into yet another ideology in order to bypass the suffering and complexity of this world.

Life is inviting me to recognize more deeply that “form is emptiness, emptiness is form.” Duality is non-duality, non-duality is duality.

Life is inviting me to embrace the Wholeness that includes both duality and non-duality, and resides beyond both.

Yes, we are all aspects of a Perfection that is entirely at peace with itself. Yes, there is nothing to do or prove or become or accomplish or attain. Yes, All is Well at all times, and no mistake is possible. Yes, we can entirely surrender and trust ourselves to the River.

AND: Yes, there is a concrete world right here in front of us that is asking for our help. Asking for our presence. Asking for our love.

This world is not an unreal illusion, as many Jed McKenna-ites and non-dualists insist. It is not a mirage.

Seeing it as such is often an important stage in recognizing its deeper nature, but as the parable says, you then return to the place where “mountains are once again mountains, and lakes are once again lakes.”

You return to arrive fully in the human experience.

To arrive fully in the human experience, with an Open Heart, ready to serve and be present with whomever is in front of you.

To serve whomever is in front of you as if they were God, as if they were You, as if they were your own child, for now you see that, in truth, they are.

Life invites you to remember that this world is your own Heart.

That this world is calling out to you, requesting your aid.

Requesting your vision, your gifts, your generosity.

Requesting that you come down off your damn non-dual high horse and thrust your hands into the garden soil.

Requesting that you listen to the people, the animals, the plants, the Earth—and skillfully respond.

“Spirituality without service is just mental masturbation,” as Bentinho Massaro once said.

Life is inviting me to embody and ground my highest Truth—to marry dual and non-dual in the alchemical furnace of Love.

Life is inviting me to truly embrace being a human on Earth at this time—and to embrace what is being asked of us, in this moment of Great Transition.

Life is inviting me to Serve.

Love,
Jordan

The post Fuck “Privilege” appeared first on Jordan Bates.

The “spiritual” community has a significant shadow around using “spirituality” to feel superior to others. This phenomenon includes me, 100%.

The ego easily latches onto “special” mystical or psychedelic experiences and uses these to form a new “special” identity as a “special” wise person who has had profound experiences and hangs out with “high vibe” people, etc.

The ego is endlessly subtle in repurposing powerful experiences for its own ends. Truthfully all of life is a mystical experience. Eating an apple is just as much an encounter with God as blasting off into some machine-elf DMT realms.

It’s just as spiritual to be a garbageman as it is to be a retreat facilitator. It’s just as spiritual to be a bartender as it is to be a “light warrior” or “Earth guardian.”

People are as they are. None are higher or lower. The most fearful agoraphobic person is precisely equal to the most fearless buddha. It’s all the One Mystery exploring itself.

Just start to notice this phenomenon of “spiritual superiority” in yourself and others. Notice it and chuckle at it and it will start to dissolve.

It’s freeing not to place yourself above others or in some “special” category. When you hold a “special” self-image, you’re always trying to protect this image and prop it up through self-deluding, fraudulent, or compensatory behavior.

When you start to really admit how full of shit you are, it frees you. You don’t have to pretend to be “special” anymore. You can just be you — just be the simple naked monkey you are and let that be enough.

The post On Spiritual Elitism appeared first on Jordan Bates.

JORDAN BATES IS FULL OF SHIT. He is a fraud and an imposter.

He projects and defends an image of himself that is not the whole truth.

He says he is purely about God and Truth and Love and Joy and Play and Awakening and Sharing Gifts…

And yet his thoughts and *actions* reveal a more complex picture.

His thoughts and *actions* reveal places where there is still a “he” that feels separate from God.

Separate from God and incomplete.

This shows up as subtle forms of craving and suffering.

Craving for money, admiration, validation, status, comfort, safety, pleasure, immaturity, non-responsibility, being ‘right,’ appearing ‘wise’ and ‘good,’ maintaining a certain image, and so forth.

None of this is inherently ‘wrong’ or ‘bad.’

It just is.

And yet: Only by getting RADICALLY FUCKING HONEST about…

Where he is currently coming from…

What he is currently aligned with…

Is it then possible for JB to ask:

Is this what I truly want to be aligned with, in my Heart of Hearts?

Is this what I want my life to be about?

Is this the most epic, fun, exciting, high-stakes game my Soul wishes to play in this lifetime?

Is this the level of Surrender and Service to Earth and to the Whole that my Soul truly yearns for?

Or is there something more?

Is there a Next Level Game knocking at my door?

Is there a more beautiful and enlivening Dance wishing to come through?

And if so, what would it take for me to Align with that?

What would compel me to sacrifice and revolutionize my current ways of being?

What would feel so fucking powerful and worthwhile and transcendent that I would be willing to burn away every last shred of separative personhood to Align with it?

Sit with these questions, if you like. They’re fucking powerful.

We’re All Full of Shit

[Below is an extension of “Jordan Bates is Full of Shit” published on my Instagram and Facebook]

It feels good to admit that you’re full of shit.

Because the truth is that we’re all full of shit.

There is no such thing as an “authentic” person.

Because “personhood” itself is simply a concept, a construct.

All personalities are fabrications — simply stage characters we choose to play in the theatre drama of the apparent world.

We’re all pretending, we are all entirely making it up as we go along.

And most of us are trying so hard to “keep it all together” — to fabricate a shiny and coherent image that others will accept.

This creates internal stress and pressure that slowly kills us. It sucks the Joy and Love out of life.

So when you admit that we’re ALL full of shit, it liberates you! The jig is up!

No one has it together! Hell, no one can truly be said to even exist.

“Existence” is the first concept.

What is actually here cannot be said to exist or not exist.

It is the unknown, the unfindable, the indefinable.

As such all definitions are lies.

And thus to live a ‘human life is to live a lie, a dream, an illusion, a fabrication.

Of course, the paradox is that the Grand Illusion is made of absolutely nothing other than Truth.

Truth-less Truth is all there is : )

And Truth is indefinable… yet we live in definitions, stories, mythologies.

‘You’ cannot experience anything without first defining/conjuring it into ‘existence’

An infant does not “have” “experiences” that “happen” to “someone” because there is no one there yet; no “person” has been fabricated yet… There is simply a zero space in which empty, groundless, undefined phenomena vanish as soon as they appear.

On top of that pure open innocence we erect castles of definition, belief, concept, conditioning, dogma, and assumption — and all of them are lies.

So…. Admit you’re full of shit; admit you’re making it all up and have no idea what you’re doing… And feel yourself relax and unclench … Shout it from the rooftops! “I’M FULL OF SHIT!!”

Then what can anyone say to you? What can touch you after that? It’s like in the 8 Mile rap battle when Eminem disses himself in every way possible so his opponent has nothing left to use against him.

“Yeah, I am literally a complete fabrication dancing across the made-up stage of this apparent world I defined into existence — so what? It’s a fun game and I like it”

Let the pressure go; you cannot hold it all together because there is nothing to hold together; any solid world you think is here actually vanishes as soon as it appears; look closely and notice how all phenomena morph into something else in the very nanosecond they appear.

Thus you cannot actually define them or pin them down or say they have any inherent nature — this is what emptiness means

And “emptiness” itself is an empty concept.

There’s nothing to hold together. There’s nothing to lose.

So fucking do what you truly want to do and fucking play the game you truly want to play — be as you are.

Because it’s all for fun and it’s absolutely **weightless** — 100% weightless. All apparent burdens are born of definitions and assumptions.

Drop them all — “world,” “self,” “others,” “senses,” “time,” “space,” “God,” “consciousness,” “emptiness,” “Absolute,” — and what are you left with?

You’re left with You — Pure and Stainless and Perfect, as you always were … Utterly untouched by any apparent circumstance.

Take what is useful from what I’m saying; let go of the rest; these are just words; I’m playing with words here.

The words cannot give you what you want but maybe they can point at it if you’re willing to burn them down and look with dead honesty at your own experience.

Or don’t do that. It is utterly 100% okay either way. Everything is perfect.

Always. Take what is relevant, let go of the rest. All is Well.

Yet if you like: Heave a Sacred Sigh of Relief.

Everyone is full of shit.

Including me right now. You’re not the only one. So you can finally R E L A X.

And maybe… Just maybe… When you do finally relax…. You’ll see that the ‘shit’ is entirely made of Gold…

Entirely made of God…

Entirely made of pure innocence

The post Jordan Bates is Full of Shit appeared first on Jordan Bates.

When you’re sad or depressed or ‘down’ or in a heavy state…

This is a rich opportunity to investigate the nature of experience — to ‘vipassanalize’ the self.

“Vipassanalize” is a term I learned recently from Frank Yang.

I highly recommend reading his recent posts on Instagram if you’ve gone deep into non-duality / awakening practice.

He’s on some next-level shit, and he’s hilarious.

To vipassanalize any aspect of experience is to see it clearly, such that it dissolves.

It is to penetrate to the deeper nature of what is going on, such that what appeared to be solid is revealed to be ‘empty.’

It is to deconstruct everyday experience to begin to see the deeper truth residing within it.

So what does that actually mean, in practice?

Well, let’s say you’re feeling sad, depressed, or hopeless…

Sit down, close your eyes, start breathing from the belly, and follow your breath for a minute or two initially to relax your nervous system.

Now, begin to look closely, scientifically, phenomenologically, at what is actually happening in experience.

Let go of words, concepts, definitions, categories, conditions, identities, personality, and so forth, and simply observe what is going on.

What you will notice over time, as you practice more and more, is that there is an immense openness in which all phenomena are arising and falling away.

There is a field of pure awareness, pure presence, pure being-ness, in which all objects of perception arise and fall away.

Over time you start to realize that you are that witnessing field.

You are the unsayable space-less space of pure formless awareness…

And everything that appears within the space of You, is entirely comprised of You — entirely comprised of pure awareness, pure being-ness.

Everything is simply the same un-pin-down-able energy-appearing-within-consciousness, or consciousness-appearing-as-energy.

Awake-God-Energy, the Totality of Being — call it what you like, words can only point at it.

And you are That.

To begin to realize this, again, look closely at the “depression” or whatever other texture is arising…

A good pointer is to “view yourself from the distance of the sun.”

And what is “depression” when viewed from the distance of the sun?

It’s just another texture, another ambiguous clump of sensory data.

It’s a sticky, dense, prickly, or heavy coagulation of energy moving through the system to be released.

Except what often happens is that the mind generates a story to rationalize the presence of the feeling, of the texture…

And then the sad, self-pitying story reinforces and fuels that texture, creating a feedback loop.

To short-circuit this feedback loop, you need to drop the story, or see directly that the story is empty.

Empty = nebulous; not-solid; having no fixed or pin-down-able meaning.

As Byron Katie likes to say (paraphrasing), “Suffering occurs when we believe our thoughts.”

Suffering occurs when we are identified with the stories our minds are telling about who we are and what is happening.

When you look really closely at your own mind, you can notice how awareness has been conditioned to latch onto thoughts — to be ‘hooked’ by thoughts.

A thought or story appears about such-and-such person doing X or Y to me, or needing X or Y from me, and BOOM, suddenly we’re off to the races…

Plummeting down a rabbit hole of spiraling thoughts that keeps us stuck in the same loop of self-identification.

The most core thought with which we are identified is the “I” thought — the idea that “I” am a separate, distinct, finite being named Jordan with solid, pin-down-able attributes and a solid, pin-down-able life story.

This is not the case.

Meditation is the art and practice of being no one, which is what we really are.

In being no one in particular, we are freed to be no-thing and everything at the same time.

So, returning to the case of depression, what you want to examine with a microscope are the stories your mind is running that are perpetuating the heavy textures of energy.

Watch closely how your mind latches onto stories and invests them with a sense of self and a sense of importance.

In truly weightless reality, nothing is heavy and nothing is more important than anything else.

Look for the self to which the stories are referring:

Where is this character that is supposedly so important and solid and who has been through so much miserable shit?

What you eventually start to see is that this character is an illusion created by the ceaseless firehose of story-telling in your mind, which gives off an ambient illusory flavor of “me-ness.”

When you start having moments of cessation — where thoughts and self-ing entirely stop, for even a few moments — there is no character anymore.

In those moments there is only This — This-Here-Now, Infinity, un-pin-down-able radiance.

And you see that it is all You.

And then you laugh, most likely — because you’ve had your first glimpse of Freedom, and it was staring you in the face all along.

Freedom is to see directly that all reality ever is, is un-pin-down-able radiance dancing upon the omnipresent 3+-d projection screen of awareness.

That’s the punchline.

When you’re able to drop the stories that create self-perpetuating feedback loops, energy is free to flow more easily through your system.

This is why David Hawkins’ ‘Letting Go’ technique is so useful:

It is essentially a practice of dropping mental stories as much as possible and simply feeling the impersonal energy-textures moving through your system as fully as you can.

This short-circuits the feedback loop and allows these energies to be dissolved and released.

For particularly dense or heavy energies like anger or aggression, I also find that more active releases — such as running, punching a bed, screaming into a pillow, singing loudly to loud music, dancing wildly, and so forth — can be very useful for clearing this stuff as it arises in the system.

As you become increasingly free, you may not need techniques so much anymore, as you’re more and more of a ‘clear channel’ through which energies can flow easily and automatically.

Awareness itself — the burning flame of clear seeing — is the most powerful healer and can clear your backlog of unresolved psycho-emotional-energetic baggage, once the flame is ignited, if this is your pure intention.

Though of course there are also many fascinating cases in which various teachers or gurus have apparently had quite powerful awakenings, yet retained certain stubborn clumps of unresolved trauma that led them to act in non-integrous ways.

Ongoing humility, sincerity of intention, and openness to ever-deepening realization, are essential.

So…

There you have it.

This is the essence of how you vipassanalize, or “see through,” depression.

Deconstruct it.

See that it is simply a feedback loop of energetic textures + false mental stories.

Expand beyond it.

Notice how much more is always going on.

Be infinite openness.

Love,
JB

If you’d like to go deeper into realizing Freedom, read these books, subscribe to my newsletter, and follow me on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

Featured Art by: CoryaYo

If you are a creator, healer, artist, coach, or entrepreneur on the path of awakening…

Wishing to deepen your awakening, master life, connect to others on the same path, and learn how to create soul-aligned abundance + a more beautiful world by sharing your gifts…

Click here to explore and apply for Ouroboros: Vortex.

Ouroboros: Vortex is my Mastermind / Community / Accelerator for awakening entrepreneurs rising together to joyfully birth the New Earth. Enrollment is open till 2/22/21.

The post How to ‘Vipassanalize’ Depression appeared first on Jordan Bates.

Brothers and Sisters,

[Prepare for long, deep, vulnerable sharing…]

Whoa, so a lot happened the past few days … where to begin?

Basically, last week I started feeling some heavy, depressive energy…

I attributed it to winter weather, lack of sunlight, mediocre sleep, not enough movement, a couple too many holiday beers, watching too many episodes of a scary-ass mind-bending show on Netflix that I don’t recommend…

Probably these were all legitimate factors, but now I see there was also something else going on.

A few nights ago it came to a head and I really found myself in a dark place, feeling as low as I had felt in a long time. It felt like I was being tested… by Life, possibly by malevolent entities looking for weak points in my system… 

I did my best to simply witness what was happening, let the storm pass through, and receive whatever messages it had for me.

What I started to feel and realize was that something in my system was not feeling aligned…

I began to sense into this before bed, while reading a great book called The Illusion of Money by Kyle Cease, then I reopened the book upon waking and sensed into it some more… Cease’s words stirred something in me:

“Money is not what we really want. What we want is freedom, joy, creativity, love, connection, community, energy, health, contribution, peace.”

——

“I realize that many books about money are only about the results. I know that it might sound backward to suggest that you don’t need to chase results to experience abundance, but what if chasing results is actually the thing that’s keeping us from experiencing real abundance? What if we’re starting to understand that believing we need any specific result is just a remnant of an old paradigm that thinks the results are more important than us? The results aren’t the magic; we’re the magic. We’re the source of any result that comes into our lives, so we can stop falling in love with results and start falling in love with ourselves.”

——

“… life’s highest calling for you might be to relax and live in a simple, humble way that allows your presence to powerfully impact each person you come into contact with…”

——

“Our endless desire for money (or fear of money) is often really a desire to be safe or to be seen by the world. This book is about eliminating the need to seek safety through the illusion of money and learning to see ourselves for the perfection that we are, beginning to bring our creative power to the world in an authentic way, and allowing ourselves to receive massive, true abundance in all areas as a byproduct.”

———

EPIPHANIES

It’s not that these words said something I hadn’t heard before, or even something I hadn’t myself expressed before. But certain lessons hit you in different ways at different times, and seep in more deeply…

A couple epiphanies began to reveal themselves:

I.

First of all, I reconnected to something I noticed during my 3-week jungle dieta in late 2020: When it comes to the deepest level of soul-aligned creativity, more than anything else…

I AM A GODDAMN RAPPER AND WRITER.

In the jungle, in the absence of Internet, I found myself melting away countless hours writing and making rap music.

I fucking love rap music. Save for God and my family/fiance/friends, there’s nothing in this world that I love more. It’s everything to me: Pure, raw, unfettered expression.

Reading and writing are on a similar level — I adore them. Writing and rapping are the lifeblood for me. When I think of rapping and writing for the rest of my life, I feel intensely happy and excited.

One key realization, then, was that it’s time for me to deepen my focus on rapping, music, and writing—to go all in on my Highest Joy on an EVEN deeper level. To deepen further into alignment and trust in God.

As such, I’m intending to spend even MORE time on music, rapping, beatmaking, and writing this year, so keep an eye out for more songs, albums, essays, books. I’m also intending to continue writing/creating a lot for Ouroboros School and also to find creative ways to infuse my music into the School.

II.

The second revelation that began to make itself known was that…

Ouroboros needs to change in some way.

I couldn’t quite put my finger on it at first, but I knew something was misaligned.

I meditated more upon this, and I began to realize more clearly something that had been coming into focus for months:

The coaching / transformation industry has a major shadow around money.

Most of the industry leaders are over-fixated on money—on signing ‘higher-ticket’ clients at all costs, in order to hit “$20k months,” “6-figures,” etc.

Now, look, don’t get me wrong: There’s nothing wrong with signing higher-ticket clients and making good money. If I’m going to work with someone long-term, for 6+ months, having regular sessions, providing them with in-depth resources, giving them challenges and exercises, tuning in with them energetically, and giving them unlimited messaging support, that’s a lot.

Long-term 1:1 work requires a lot of energy, and at this point honestly I feel it would be rare for me to feel called to dive deep 1:1 with someone in a 6+-month container for less than a ~5-figure sum.

(Presently I have three long-term clients and I feel like I’m about at capacity in that area, though if you feel a deep call to work 1:1 with me, you’re always welcome to reach out and see what’s possible. I don’t call what I do “coaching” anymore. It’s more like shamanic / nondual mirroring + New Earth entrepreneur activation. I’m also considering starting to offer 1.5-hour breakthrough sessions.)

From the client side, I can also say that it’s very powerful to make higher-level investments in yourself. Last year I invested over $20k to join masterminds / programs / coaching containers led by some of my awakened-entrepreneur heroes, and it was some of the best money I ever spent.

It was a massive activation: I birthed Ouroboros, ignited and led the powerful Ouroboros Tribe, launched rap albums and courses, and recuperated my investment several times over.

So, all of that to say that it’s not that there is any inherent problem with making or receiving higher-level investments. Rather, it’s powerful and I’m a fan of doing so.

The issue, though, is when MONEY gets placed on the top of the pyramid and worshipped as if it is the end-all-be-all.

Nine times out of ten, advertisements or landing pages for programs for online coaches place MONEY at the front and center: “This is how much you can make !!” “Hit 6 figures !!” Etc.

Classic marketing advice says it’s good to do this because the way to sell something is to focus on TANGIBLE OUTCOMES and on the GAP between the PAIN someone is in and the JOY to which you can lead them.

There’s wisdom to be learned from such classic marketing heuristics, and there’s a way to apply that wisdom artfully and integrously…

But when you blatantly shout all over the place that it’s possible to make $100k+ per year as an online coach while traveling the world living a glamorous lifestyle…

Don’t be surprised when you call in a tsunami wave of ‘coaches’ who aren’t necessarily in integrity or deeply committed to the path of truth/embodiment, but are more so wanting to cash in.

What I began to notice is that MY OWN Ouroboros marketing / messaging had been somewhat permeated by this money shadow…

Or rather: My money shadow.

Example: I had made it a key, front-and-center point that Ouroboros can help someone make “$5k-15k per month” as a New Earth entrepreneur.

Now, it’s true that this is entirely possible; I and many others have done this. It’s true that I have a deep understanding of how to do this, especially if certain contextual factors are aligned (e.g. In the case of being a coach: You possess deep transformational gifts, have a solid network/reach, are good at content-creation, are persistent and charismatic, enjoy speaking with people, etc.). And it’s true that I share my understanding in-depth in Ouroboros School.

Yet, by making this “5k-15k per month” thing a central point, I made it seem like money is / should be the TOP or near-top priority for people in Ouroboros.

When really, the aims are more like: Alignment, awakening, joy, freedom, creativity, mastery, integrity, health, play, wisdom, sovereignty, and genuine contribution to the birth of a more beautiful civilization. That’s true wealth.

When you’re deeply on the path of true wealth, money tends to show up as a by-product, especially when you allow it to flow and understand the fundamentals of New Earth business. Yet money is just a means, not an end in itself.

And don’t get me wrong: Money is a beautiful tool / energy that enables a lot of things. I honor, appreciate, and love the energy of money. And we absolutely need it (at this stage of civilization) if we want to do things like quit our day jobs, focus on living our truth full-time, buy land and build healing centers, regenerative farms, permacultural eco-villages, New Earth cities, great pyramids (hey, let the kid dream!), and so forth.

Yet money is a tricky little leprechaun. It’s very easy to become over-attached to it and addicted to chasing it. And ironically, the energy of ‘chasing’ implies ‘not-having,’ aka scarcity, and then internally you find yourself living in poverty. Many millionaires, even billionaires, are still internally living in scarcity, feeling like ‘not-enough.’

And sometimes I find myself there too: Refreshing Coinbase for the 7th time in a day like a slot machine. Feeling pangs of envy about the success of others or worry that others’ success means there’s now ‘less to go around.’ Getting caught up in stories like, “Once I just have X amount in the bank, then I can really relax.”

But then I hit that number and my mind just generates a new number, and I start to see that the game is rigged.

Same old ‘never-enough’ poison. Same old ego seeking comfort and security in the external; same old story that it just needs ‘a little more’ of this or that. And a little more… And a little more…

The answer, then, of course, is to relax now. 

To stop making our relaxation conditional.

To unconditionally trust, embrace, and relax into life.

Much easier said than done, to be sure. I notice it helps to relax into the up-and-down JOURNEY TOWARD deeper and deeper relaxation—hah.

In other words: Enjoy the process.

We’re all headed back to the ultimate relaxation of full dissolution into the inviolable, ageless, desire-less One. We’ll get there as sure as the sun will rise.

In the meantime, it’s fun to have a chuckle at the foibles and quirks of our monkey minds.

RE-ALIGNING OUROBOROS

So, anyway…

I did some deep soul-searching work to re-align Ouroboros, and I now feel new life has been breathed into the Vortex.

Here’s a succinct summary of the shifts:

I.

I went through a big process of toning down the emphasis on the money aspect of Ouroboros.

While money is beautiful and important and necessary to build the New Earth…

And while I still absolutely see Ouroboros as a Vortex for Abundance in all forms…

And while Ouroboros School still contains all the blueprints I’ve used to create financial prosperity for myself as a New Earth entrepreneur…

Money is secondary to and a byproduct of…

Alignment, joy, truth, awakening, aliveness, creativity, integrity, sovereignty, contribution, mastery, knowing the abundance of NOW, and grounding the New Earth frequency on this planet.

‘New Pioneers’ by Mark Henson

Thus I made money less front-and-center, and I significantly increased the emphasis on these more core values, on This Historical Moment, and on what we are being invited to step into as far as waking up and birthing the New Earth.

II.

I also determined that the long-term Ouroboros container I am launching right now is not called Ouroboros School of Wealth and Wizardry…

It’s called Ouroboros: Vortex.

The School is one aspect of what’s emerging but I realized the container is more like a Mastermind / Accelerator / School / Network…

So “Vortex” feels more fitting, powerful, and all-encompassing.

III.

I also realized something about the tuition payments for Ouroboros.

I realized am going to experiment with what I am calling The Flex-Tuition Activation Model…

In which new tribe members will co-determine their annual tuition for the Vortex…

You can read more on this on the landing page / in the application if you’re curious.

The idea is that given the widely varying (financial) contexts people find themselves in globally…

The optimal annual tuition will differ from person to person.

So the idea is to empower YOU, if you feel called to Ouroboros, to let me know what annual tuition investment is going to be both doable and activating for you…

What is going to be workable yet is also going to be enough to “light a fire under your ass” to do things you’ve never done, take massive action, RISE, and BIRTH what your Soul is wanting to bring forth on this planet…

This means that, whoever you are and whatever your circumstance, if you are meant to be part of Ouroboros, you can be.

I don’t know how long I’ll go with this model—could be forever, could be a month; it’s highly experimental. So if you resonate with Ouroboros, now is the time to apply.

And, mind you, I’m still going to be highly discerning about who I invite into the Vortex…

I have to sense a deep ripeness and readiness…

Because I understand the power of curating a community of beings who are truly MAKING MOVES…

Who are sincerely DEDICATED to living their Soul-Joy-Truth in this lifetime and sharing their gifts to help bring Heaven to Earth.

IV.

I also added more photos and testimonials from the Ouroboros Tribe so anyone visiting the Vision page can get a better feel for the energy of the community and what kinds of results people are seeing.

For example, my dear brother Jonathan Maccaul, a martial artist, master energy worker, and badass New Earth Warrior who I highly recommend following, said the following of Ouroboros:

“Ouroboros has been a life altering experience for me, on every level of BEing!”

The experience has gone way beyond what I expected… It’s catalyzed many big shifts in my own Journey of Remembering who I truly am and what I came here to do. Jordan continues to inspire and empower as one of the most authentic and Soul-driven individuals that I have ever had the pleasure of knowing personally.

The knowledge and approach to New Earth Entrepreneurship, that he shares freely in Ouroboros, is practical and pragmatic and resonated deeply with me right from the beginning. I am now confident that I can truly experience grace and ease in the process of sharing my medicine with the world, while having the most amazing human experience imaginable. Thank you Jordan and all of the incredible beings who were called to the Ouroboros Tribe! I am so grateful for all of you and am excited to co-create the New Earth together!”

——

IN SUM

All right, I think that about covers it, family.

It’s been a DEEP process to bring Ouroboros into even deeper alignment, but the Vision now feels more Alive and Powerful than ever.

I have a strong sense that these shifts are going to Elevate Ouroboros and everyone in the Vortex to even greater heights.

If you have any feedback on the updates / fresh Vision, I’d love to hear it.

And once more, enrollment for OUROBOROS: VORTEX is open till 2/22… If you feel called to be part of the Tribe and to take advantage of the opportunity to choose your own tuition… apply now.

A few days ago Tanja and I arrived on the island of Mallorca, Spain…

The combination of gaining CLARITY on how to Align Ouroboros + the return to Sunlight + Ocean has had a massively REJUVENATING effect on me.

I’m now once again feeling Charged Up and ready to playfully create with the rhythms of my Soul.

Sending Huge Love to all of you. : )

Let’s make 2021 an EXPANSIVE year in every sense!

Cheers to Joyfully and Playfully and Artistically BEING What We Are and bringing Heaven to Earth!

Blessings,
JB

The post A Double Shot of Epiphany: On Soul Joy and the Tricky Leprechaun Called “Money” appeared first on Jordan Bates.

Dear Family,

Do you feel it too?

The Voice of the New…

Whispering…

Whispering…

Whispering…

“A New Earth is wanting to be born.”

The Old has been breaking down for quite some time now…

In 2020, we saw this breakdown accelerate…

Our civilization’s absurd totalitarian reaction to the emergence of Corona…

Has illuminated the fear, neuroticism, and pathological desire to control…

That lie at the very core of the Old.

The spiritual sickness of our civilization runs far deeper than anything recognized by mainstream Western medicine.

It is the sickness of separation.

The sickness of forgetfulness of Who We Are.

We’ve been profoundly disconnected…

From Nature…

From each other…

And from ourselves…

For far too long.

All the sickness that we see on Earth, at every level of mind, body, spirit, society, and so on…

Emanates from this fundamental sickness of disconnection, separation, and fear.

This is what we’re truly facing.

This disconnection is at the root of why vast numbers of humans were already “fat, sick, and nearly dead” pre-Corona…

This disconnection is at the root of why most people on Earth live like slaves, spending most of their time doing shit they don’t want to do, padding someone else’s pockets…

This disconnection is at the root of why we still murder each other en masse, why we’ve raped the Earth and initiated an epoch of ecological crisis…

But now…

Something is shifting…

You feel it in your bones…

You sense it intuitively…

The breakdown of the Old is accelerating…

Even as the tentacles of the Old squirm desperately to keep things ‘locked down’…

The tectonic changes are increasingly impossible to ignore…

It’s like the whole planet drank ayahuasca and is presently experiencing a Great Purge…

It feels archetypal, rather like the Great Flood of Noah…

Like a Flood of high-frequency energy is pouring into this realm…

Pushing all the ‘gunk’ to the surface to be cleaned, released, transmuted…

And as if via a karmic roundhouse kick to the face…

Humanity must now gaze upon the shadows it has sewn for centuries…

Make no mistake: There’s no going “back to normal” now…

“Normal” was always a lie anyway.

“Business-as-usual” is done for.

Now…

We are being asked to wake up.

As if from a millennia-long nightmare, dissipating in a flash…

We are being asked to remember Who We Are.

Earth is wishing to be reborn.

And what an exciting opportunity this is…

To go back to first principles…

And redesign the DNA of our civilization.

To wisely, consciously, and artfully reinvent…

Education…

Healthcare…

Governance…

Farming…

Nutrition…

Business…

Money…

Work…

Birthing…

Parenting…

Relating…

Laws…

And all the rest…

This is what we are being asked to do.

Hah-hah-hah!

How marvelously glorious!

I can think of few things more epic…

Than to be summoned, in this Great Mysterious Dream and Dance of Life…

To assist in the liberation of a planetary consciousness…

And to midwife the birth of an awakened civilization.

Since you are reading this…

YOU are meant to play a role in what is unfolding…

YOU are being called to Rise into your Higher Destiny.

This begins with what you do day-to-day…

How you direct attention…

How you speak…

How you walk…

How you pray…

How you carry yourself…

How you treat others…

What you eat…

How you breathe…

How you meditate…

What you wear…

Where you live…

Who you surround yourself with…

What you consume…

What you create…

What info you absorb…

What you give…

What you take…

How you relate to your addictions…

How you relate to your boundaries…

How you relate to sex and romance…

How you relate to family and children…

How you relate to masculinity and femininity…

How you relate to plants and animals…

How you educate yourself…

How you earn a living…

How you spend time in nature…

How you connect to Divinity…

And so forth…

THESE are the fundamental building blocks of life.

THESE are the fundamental keys and codes…

By which we self-hypnotize into a particular frequency and reality-tunnel…

Ask: How would your Divine Sovereign Self approach all these aspects?

Your King or Queen Self…?

Your Infinite God Self…?

Tune into your Infinite Self that is One with all things.

Start to feel this Presence as a living reality in your body.

Come into relationship with this Presence and allow it to gradually reshape all aspects of how you live…

Find the others who are doing the same…

And BUILD and BIRTH a New Earth from this frequency of Presence, Connection, and Unity…

This is what we are being asked to do.

Today…

Today is 1/11 of 2021.

I can think of no more auspicious date than this to do what I am about to do…

As of today, the gates are officially open for…

OUROBOROS: VORTEX

What is OUROBOROS: VORTEX?

A New Earth Educational Institute…

At the intersection of Awakening, Creativity, Entrepreneurship, Life Mastery, and Birthing the New Paradigm.

A Powerful Network and Vortex for emerging New Earth Leaders…

To “find the others,” learn, collaborate, and blossom together.

A deep library of razor-sharp teachings + ongoing live workshops to guide you…

To transcend the matrix in all aspects…

Master life in these tectonic times…

LIVE your Soul-Joy-Truth 100%…

Create Wealth for yourself and your family…

And help bring Heaven to Earth.

If you deeply resonate with these words…

NOW is the time.

Enrollment is open till February 22nd (2/22/21).

If you wish to hop aboard the starship, now is the best moment to apply.

There are already ~30 of us in the Vortex, as I’ve been quietly inviting powerful souls to join the Tribe and test everything out…

The results so far have been stunning.

There has never been a better moment…

To break out of the Old…

And to start birthing the New.

“Normal” is dead.

2021 promises to be a wild ride.

It’s time to remember who we truly are…

And BE IT.

For our families, the Earth, all beings, and for our own Free Souls.

Will you join us?

Love,
Jordan

Click here to explore and apply for OUROBOROS: VORTEX.

The post Birthing the New Earth: OUROBOROS School of Wealth and Wizardry appeared first on Jordan Bates.

Dear Family,

I wanted to send a note to acknowledge you.

To acknowledge your suffering.

To acknowledge that human life can be profoundly painful, challenging, even nightmarish.

In a certain sense this “life is but a dream,” but the paradox is that, within the dream, dream pain is real—and it hurts.

So I want to tell you that I see you.

I feel you.

You are a warrior and a hero for getting out of bed each day and playing your role in this world.

Sometimes it’s truly not easy to do so.

Thank you for being you.

You are beautiful.

I love you.

The Pathless Path

There is a Path beyond suffering.

There is a Path that leads Home, to Who We Truly Are.

And we are all on this Path, whether we realize it or not.

And we will all return Home, as sure as the sun will rise.

And when we do, it will be beyond our wildest imaginings.

And when we do, we will see that in Truth we never left.

We have always been Home.

And we have always been Whole.

And we have always been held, enfolded, blanketed in the Divine Love of God, of Truth.

God is real, brothers and sisters.

God is you, God is me, God is we, God is All That Is.

There is nothing other than God.

And one can meet and know God directly, within oneself.

One can know one’s own Deathless God-Essence, within oneself.

This has been the most astounding discovery of my life.

I realize this may sound foolish, naive, or fanatical.

That’s okay.

I simply feel irresistibly called to tell you that God is real—more real than any of us can possibly fathom.

God exists—and this is the greatest news one could possibly receive.

God is the only Reality.

God is Now.

And Heaven is a frequency.

The Kingdom of Heaven is Here and Now, if we have eyes to see it.

We discover it when we become once again like little children, letting go of everything we believe about who we are…

And opening ourselves to the Pure Being and Pure Awareness that reside in the Space and Silence between thoughts…

In this Space of Pure Being and Pure Awareness, one can discover an etheric Presence…

A Presence that is beyond time and space, beyond birth and death, beyond all categories and identities…

This is the Presence of God.

This is our Truly Infinite and Eternal Nature.

And, miracle of miracles, one can know and connect to this Nature directly, within oneself.

This is the Essence of all spirituality, all religion, all meditation, all of Life itself: Where it all points and where it all leads…

Back Home, to the discovery of God within yourself.

To the Remembrance of your Inviolate Wholeness and Oneness with the Source of All That Is.

To the Remembrance that you are not your body, your name, your opinions, beliefs, religion, politics, skin color, gender, titles, roles, or anything the mind can conceive…

To the Remembrance that you are the Forever Beyond.

Divine Intelligence.

Limitless Living Mystery.

Vast Air.

This Remembrance redeems all of Life.

One’s endless searching, striving, and grasping come to an end, as one realizes that This Eternal Moment of Now contains Everything.

Everything you’ve ever dreamed of being, and infinitely more, is already within you.

There is nothing you must do, possess, become, accomplish, or attain, in order to be Enough.

You simply already are Complete, Whole, Perfect, Divine, Infinitely Worthy.

Paradoxically, the more deeply this realization sinks into your very cells and bones…

The more you then find yourself living your Highest Joy.

You find yourself living a Life beyond your wildest dreams, manifesting relationships and opportunities more perfect than anything you could have wished for…

While also seeing each moment as Utterly Whole and Complete unto itself—nowhere to go, nothing to do, no one to be.

“If you only knew what the gods had in store for you, you would laugh and weep simultaneously, naked on a beach, on your knees, bowing down before the Ocean, arms outstretched to the Heavens…”

And thus, finding God is the key to Life.

Waking up is the key to Life.

Only God, only waking up, can bring True Peace and Happiness.

A Peace and Happiness that transcends death, transcends impermanence, transcends “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune”…

As we rediscover our Original Omnipresent Abode in the Soft Yet Indestructible Depths of the Father-Mother Light.

And yet if you seek God as simply a means to an end…

If you seek Truth as simply a means to Peace and Happiness…

It will evade you.

Sincerity is essential.

Pure yearning for Truth is essential.

You must truly aspire to “Know Thyself.”

To know Who You Truly Are.

And you must be willing to let go of all that is less-than-true…

Which turns out to be most everything you ever thought or heard…

In burning away all your most cherished identifications and beliefs…

You eventually find the Pure Nameless Flame of your True Nature.

This process is no joke.

It requires you to take Full Ownership of your Reality.

To dissolve all victim identities.

To withdraw all blame and projections.

To realize all the ‘enemies’ you hated were simply You in another disguise.

It is no small undertaking.

It is the Greatest Adventure you’ll ever take.

And in Truth it is the One Adventure that we are all on…

The Adventure of forgetting and remembering, forgetting and remembering…

Of playing Hide and Seek with God, with the One…

Always eventually remembering that we chose to play this Joyful Game, to dance this Joyful Dance, and that All is Eternally Well.

Hah-hah-hah!!

What a Ride.

What a Romp.

What a Bodaciously Kowabungalicious Foxtrot.

Be as you are, my friends.

Trust.

Trust eternally.

Flow easily.

And rest well.

Victory is assured.

We all already Won.

And it is not possible to lose.

Rejoice!

Rejoice!!

Breathe.

Pray.

Give thanks.

And be as you are.

Thank you for You.

All is Well.

Love,
Jordan

If you’d like to go deeper into understanding spiritual awakening and the Reality to which I am pointing here, read these books, especially those by David Hawkins, Eckhart Tolle, and Jed McKenna.

The post The Pathless Path Beyond Suffering and the Way to True Peace and Happiness appeared first on Jordan Bates.

“When the student is ready, the teacher appears.”

— Zen proverb

Let’s begin with a radical perspective: 99.99% of books are not worth reading.

The worthwhile ones, however, are Sacred.

The best books are cage-melting Red Pills that appear only when you are ready for them.

Such books literally have the Power to transport you to a new reality.

A truer, lighter, more beautiful reality.

If you’re willing to pay the price.

“The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off.”

The price of moving closer to truth is the relinquishment of all comfortable illusions.

The process of melting away comfortable illusions is painful.

But I’ll be damned if it isn’t worth it.

Infinity times over.

11 Sacred Texts to Wake You Up From the Matrix

In the past two years or so, the following books appeared to me when I was ready for them.

Each one was a Red Pill that awakened me from various aspects of the Matrix, the sum of my illusions.

I am tremendously grateful to these authors, though I also caution against attaching to any of them, or any ‘external’ authority, period.

Even the greatest teacher can only reflect back to you the Truth of Who You Already Are and What You Already Know.

As Krishnamurti put it, “When you follow anyone, you cease to follow Truth.”

Follow only the Truth that whispers in the depths of your very Heart and Soul.

May these Sacred texts serve as beautiful, useful, healing, and liberating guides, leading you back to the voice of your own Soul, the voice of Spirit.

From these and any other books / teachers, my heuristic is: Take what is useful and resonant for you now; let go of the rest.

All right, let’s do this.

1. Spiritual Enlightenment: The Damnedest Thing by Jed McKenna

“The belief that something is wrong is the fire under the ass of humanity.”

— Jed McKenna, Spiritual Enlightenment: The Damnedest Thing

It’s not really accurate to call this one a book.

It’s more like a Spiritual Atom Bomb that will likely fuck you up for a while.

Jed McKenna has an unprecedented knack for slaughtering Sacred Cows and challenging cherished beliefs.

As such, I have previously dubbed him “the Friedrich Nietzsche of spirituality.”

Warning: Honestly, do not read this book if you are not ready to have someone stab your deepest fears with a sharp stick. This is not a book for dabblers or dilettantes.

If you’re ready to read a book that will pour kerosene on you, light you on fire, and burn away whatever is not your Truest Essence, this is your book.

I also encourage you, while reading this (and anything), to keep an eye out for Jed’s shadows and blindspots; don’t take his word as Gospel.

Hint: Jed’s is akin to a Divine Masculine perspective on spiritual liberation; his work is best balanced by reading other authors who integrate more of the Divine Feminine.

I started with this book because I think it is The Single Most Powerful Text I’ve Ever Read, though I would recommend reading some of the others on this list (Hawkins and Tolle, specifically) prior to this one. You’ve been warned.

“All beliefs. All concepts. All thoughts. Yes, they’re all false; all bullshit. Of course they are. Not just religions and spiritual teachings, but all philosophies, all ideas, all opinions. If you’re going for the truth, you’re not taking any of them with you. Nothing that says two, not one, survives.”

— Jed McKenna, Spiritual Enlightenment, The Damnedest Thing

2. Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender by David Hawkins

“It might be said that the smaller we feel inside, the greater the amount of power, money, and glamour must be accumulated in order to try and compensate for the inner smallness.”

— David Hawkins, Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender

This book is something of a Godsent Magic Potion for curing ailments you didn’t even know you had.

This is the book I have recommended more often than any other book in my life.

I’ve also received the most feedback from people indicating that this book changed their life in a profound way. One friend told me he rapidly read it 4+ times in a row.

Thank you, David Hawkins, for writing what is basically the closest thing on Earth to a One-Stop Shop for all your healing and liberation needs.

This book is a highly approachable and practical Sacred Blueprint to the processes of self-healing and spiritual liberation.

Like Jed McKenna, Hawkins is not without his shadows; for instance, it seems he underestimates the fallibility of kinesiology.

Again, attach to no teacher; follow only Truth. Ultimately I view David Hawkins as one of the greatest teachers and sages Earth has ever known, and for his work I am eternally grateful.

If you want a more vivid preview, see this article / video I created about Letting Go.

“All judgment reveals itself to be self-judgment in the end, and when this is understood, a larger comprehension of the nature of life takes its place.”

— David Hawkins, Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender

3. King, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of Mature Masculinity by Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette

“In the absence of The King the Warrior becomes a mercenary, the Magician becomes a sophist (able to argue any position and believing in none), and the Lover becomes an addict.”

— Moore and Gillette, King, Warrior, Magician, Lover

Holy shit, what a text.

I remember the moment I heard Martijn Schirp recommend this book in Costa Rica, after an Ayahuasca ceremony, and something about the title stirred my Soul, indicating, “Yes, read it.”

A few short months later I devoured this Gemstone and found it to be an Absolutely Priceless Map of Sacred Masculine Development.

So. Many. Fucking. Epiphanies.

Nine words: Extraordinarily Useful Jungian Archetypal Map Of Divine Masculine Development.

Gentleman and Ladies too: Read this. Yesterday.

I’m now searching for the feminine equivalent to this book, and so far my best leads are the book Women Who Run With the Wolves, as well as this epic article, Queen, Mother, Wise Woman, Lover.

4. The Ascent of Humanity: Civilization and the Human Sense of Self by Charles Eisenstein

“Another way of being is possible, and it is right in front of us, closer than close…”

— Charles Eisenstein, The Ascent of Humanity

I previously wrote an entire fucking article singing the praises of Charles Eisenstein and his magnum opus, The Ascent of Humanity.

I’ll say it again: Dude is an Absolute OG Cultural Physician expertly diagnosing the ills of the Western global-consumerist monoculture.

Don’t read this unless you’re ready to pull back the veil and realize all of the ways you’ve been lied to.

Don’t read this unless you’re ready to start waking up from the Matrix and realizing how much Sacred Knowledge we’ve forgotten as a global civilization.

The Ascent of Humanity is one of the ultimate Red Pills for ripping off the blinders and seeing clearly the shadows and sicknesses of the modern world.

Charles Eisenstein is utterly essential reading.

“We in the richest societies have too many calories even as we starve for beautiful, fresh food; we have overlarge houses but lack spaces that truly embody our individuality and connectedness; media surround us everywhere while we starve for authentic communication.”

— Charles Eisenstein

5. The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle

“What a liberation to realize that the “voice in my head” is not who I am. Who am I then? The one who sees that.”

— Eckhart Tolle

I fucking Love Eckhart Tolle.

If you know the dude please let him know that I’d love to fly to wherever he is at any moment in time and treat him to a beautiful dinner at the restaurant of his choosing.

This book is a Holy Jewel.

It is a Bullshit-Obliterating Laser Beam of Clear Seeing.

I have friends who’ve listened to this audiobook 50+ times.

The number of friends of mine who cite this book as paradigm-shifting is dizzying.

This shit is Flame.

Eckhart is That Dude.

Read it in the Only Moment We Ever Have: Now.

“Being spiritual has nothing to do with what you believe and everything to do with your state of consciousness.”

— Eckhart Tolle

6. Trip: Psychedelics, Alienation, and Change by Tao Lin

“McKenna seemed excited and delighted by topics I’d just finished expressing in my novel as sources of bleakness and despair and confusion—technology, drugs, human existence, the future.”

— Tao Lin, Trip

Holy Moses, I Love Tao Lin.

He’s an under-the-radar Sage in my book.

Dude is a Psychedelic Wizard-Genius.

He probably wouldn’t really care for that flowery title, but that’s my appraisal and I’m sticking to it.

When I found out he wrote a book about the Great Sorceror-Trickster-Philosopher Terence McKenna and the shadow side of modern life, it was a done deal: I had to read that shit.

And I wasn’t disappointed. Lord, I wasn’t disappointed!!

I even had a chance to interview Tao about the book.

Thank the gods!!

Life is but a dream!!

“From what I understand of existentialism, it says we should make our own meaning in an indifferent universe. [Terence] McKenna corrected Sartre by saying nature is not mute, as Sartre felt, but obviously it is humans who are deaf. Existentialism seems like an ends, but I’ve learned that it can be more like a phase.”

— Tao Lin

7. When Things Fall Apart: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times by Pema Chodron

“You are the sky. Everything else—it’s just the weather.”

— Pema Chodron

Oh, Pema.

Pema, Pema, Pema.

Thank you, sweet soothing Divine Feminine Seer-Sage.

If life is rocking the shit out of you, read this book as soon as possible.

This is the best of Buddhist literature: Unconditionally Loving no-bullshit illusion-melting illumination of the Nature of Reality.

This book found me at a time when I direly needed it, and for that I am eternally grateful.

Pema pens potent poems of Awakening!

Thank you, Pema.

“If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.”

— Pema Chodron

8. Power VS Force by David Hawkins

“We change the world not by what we say or do, but as a consequence of what we have become.”

— David Hawkins

Oh yeah, David Hawkins Round Two, baby.

I Love you so much, David.

This book is Utterly Paradigm-Shattering.

If you are laboring under the illusion that nothing worthwhile in life can be attained without teeth-grinding fist-clenching hard work, read this as soon as possible.

Hawkins illuminates the way in which paradigms of Force are doomed to be vastly less effective than paradigms of Power.

In short: Force means trying to push and shove and control reality. Power means liberating oneself internally such that one begins effortlessly magnetizing one’s Soul’s true desires.

If you’re saying “bullshit,” consider that that may be your fear, ego, resistance, and conditioning talking.

Power VS Force is life-changing. Read it. Last week.

“The skillful are not obvious
They appear to be simple-minded
Those who know this know the patterns of the Absolute
To know the patterns is the Subtle Power
The Subtle Power moves all things and has no name.”

― David R. Hawkins, Power vs. Force

9. Spiritually Incorrect Enlightenment by Jed McKenna

“Live free or die. That’s the motto of escape. It’s just that simple.”

— Jed McKenna

Mr. McKenna makes another appearance!

This is Book Two of his Enlightenment trilogy.

Book Three, Spiritual Warfare, is also indispensably ego-melting.

Spiritually Incorrect Enlightenment somehow manages to be nearly every bit as gripping and stunning as Book One.

Jed is just truly inimitable sort of Jedi existing on a whole other plane.

Reading four of his books in 2019, weighing them against my own Soul, and determining my RESPONSE to Jed McKenna was a seminal event of my life.

All Glory due to Jed and to the Most High for bringing this staggering text into earthly existence.

“Suffering just means you’re having a bad dream. Happiness means you’re having a good dream. Enlightenment means getting out of the dream altogether.”

― Jed McKenna

10. The Kybalion by Three Initiates

“The lips of wisdom are closed, except to the ears of Understanding.”

― Three Initiates, The Kybalion, 1908

“And Death is not real…”

— Three Initiates, The Kybalion, 1908

Ohhhhh shit.

Here we go.

Here we go.

The Kybalion is one of my most beloved books of all time.

One of my Bibles, right up there with the Tao Te Ching. 

Published in 1908 by the anonymous trio, the Three Initiates, it is widely accepted as a mesmerizingly accurate distillation of Ancient Hermetic Wisdom.

It feels like this text was channeled directly from Thoth or Hermes or something like that.

If you are ready to pull back the veil and open up to the Unfathomably Intricate Mystery of the All, start here.

Infinite Thanks to the Three Initiates. Whoever you are, I send you a ridiculously prolonged Soul Bear Hug.

“Do not make the mistake of supposing that the little world you see around you – the Earth, which is a mere grain of dust in the Universe – is the Universe itself. There are millions upon millions of such worlds, and greater. And there are millions of millions of such Universes in existence within the Infinite Mind of THE ALL.”

― Three Initiates, The Kybalion

11. Prometheus Rising by Robert Anton Wilson

“Belief is the death of intelligence.”

— Robert Anton Wilson

Oh, Bob.

BOB!!!

Thank you, Brother.

Thank you so much.

You were truly a Wizard Warrior King.

And here you truly outdid yourself, penning one of the most useful Sacred Maps of Consciousness Evolution in history.

I Love You.

I Love You.

Thank you for existing.

“If you think you know what the hell is going on, you’re probably full of shit.”

— Robert Anton Wilson

Read the Sacred Texts of This World

“Sit in a room and read—and read and read. And read the right books by the right people. Your mind is brought onto that level, and you have a nice, mild, slow-burning rapture all the time.”

— Joseph Campbell

Life is too short to read books that don’t truly grip your Soul.

There are certain books in this world that can melt the cages you didn’t even know you were in.

Here I’ve given you a list of some such books.

May they bestow upon you many blessings.

Cheers to Freedom, Clear-Seeing, Soul Power, Divinity, Courage, and Unconditional Love.

See you around the next bend in the River.

Truly,
Jordan Bates

If you appreciated this, you’ll love 12 Books That Destroyed and Rebuilt My Mind.

Note that the Amazon books links on Refine The Mind are affiliate links, meaning I’ll receive a small portion of the profit if you buy via my links, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting my work.

Feature art: ‘Wizard’ by katya-gudkina

The post 11 Books to Wake You Up From the Matrix appeared first on Jordan Bates.

1. Does it seem ironic at all to speak of ‘prioritizing public health’ in a civilization that has systematically produced the sickest, most unwell, most obese, most addicted, most suicidal population of humans in history, and has raped the planet? And is it wise to trust said civilization’s default assumptions about the best ways to ‘prioritize public health’?

2. Is death a ‘bad’ thing or is it a beautiful intrinsic part of Life, that allows the entire process to continue? Does our Essence die or is it deathless?

3. What is best for Gaia, for Earth? Does Gaia have an Intelligent Immune System that naturally checks and balances the earthly order, sometimes through events that wipe out disharmonious segments of earthly life? Can we trust Earth? Can we trust Nature?

4. Do we live in a culture that pathologically fears death and pathologically attempts to control/conquer Nature? If so, how are those pathologies showing up in our culture’s response to this pandemic, and to what dark/unfree places might those pathologies lead us, if taken to an extreme?

Much Love

If you haven’t yet read Charles Eisenstein’s profound essay, ‘The Coronation,’ I highly recommend it.

If you wish to read my comprehensive view on COVID-19, read my essay, ‘Coronavirus, Enlightenment, and the Planetary Transition.’ If you wish to discuss these matters, join the Refine The Mind Dojo on Facebook.

The post Some Important and Challenging Questions About COVID-19 appeared first on Jordan Bates.