Filo Sophie King is one of many unpretentious, extraordinary people doing their part as friends along the path to spiritual awakening.
What you think of as nothing is in truth, everything. Remember it is all only a dream. Realize that what you want is not up to you, and will never be achieved by you, even though it is what you are. See that everything has already happened, and yet nothing has happened. Accept your destiny, whatever it is and however long it takes. Surrender, yet keep going, for love.
In this episode, we discuss self inquiry compared to self-remembering, the teachings of Gurdjieff and the Fourth Way, and other topics on spiritual awakening.
If you enjoy the podcast, consider supporting it by purchasing a book, t-shirt, or film at the store.
QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.
Selected Links and Topics from this Episode:
The rationale for not charging for spiritual teachings, and Filo’s offering to help anyone who reads his book: “Everybody belongs to everybody.”
Filo’s primary teacher was in the Fourth Way tradition, but “the Fourth Way doesn’t take you all the way.”
The desire to move away from suffering.
What is Self-remembering? Being present, mindfulness. However, “self has to remember itself” is how it’s described in the Gurdjieffian teachings, which splits the self into two. For many years, it was the ego trying to awaken, which is impossible.
The personal self is a construction. The Fourth Way teachings stop at the person learning how to be present.
The difficulty of moving away from a teaching when it becomes your social structure, it’s like leaving friends and family.
The difference between being present and Awakening. Self-remembering has to become Self-realization.
“If teachings burn out the ego, they are doing their job.”
Using non-dual teachings as spiritual bypass.
Self inquiry compared to self-remembering and other thoughts on spiritual awakening.
The belief that the mind is not silent. Thoughts arise in silence. Exploring that when you’re waking up and falling asleep and the thoughts are less active.
The value of relaxing.
How to do self inquiry.
Contact – a film with Jodie Foster that’s an analogy of the end of the spiritual search and perhaps the beginning of spiritual awakening….
Most recently, Federico Faggin founded the “Federico and Elvia Faggin Foundation” to support the scientific study of consciousness. But his path to the study of consciousness was preceded by his contributions to some of the key technologies in the computing world. In 1968, Dr. Faggin moved to Palo Alto, California, to work at Fairchild Semiconductor, where he created MOS (metal-oxide-semiconductor) silicon gate technology, which is a core technology used in fabrication of most microchips today. From there Federico Faggin did groundbreaking work at Intel, co-founded and led Zilog (conceiving the Z80 microprocessor), cofounded and led Synaptics (which pioneered touchpads and touchscreens), and became president and CEO of Foveon.
I asked for help. I prayed, not verbally and not even consciously, searching for an answer to my fundamental questions: “What is the meaning of my life?” and “Is death really the end of everything?”
In this episode, you’ll be treated to one of the top minds working to develop a new science of consciousness, and one inspired by his personal experiences of the profound.
“I could in no way to get qualia out of electrical signals.”
Faggin’s first spiritual experience in 1990: “I experienced myself as the world that observes itself with my point of view. I was a point of view of the world upon the world…. I was both the observer and the observed.”
“My desire to understand consciousness was genuine.”
20 years of exploring consciousness.
While CEO of Synaptics, Federico dedicated 30-40% of his time to study consciousness.
Federico Faggin reached the conclusion that consciousness cannot be a property of the brain. “What was clear was that consciousness must be fundamental…. Consciousness cannot emerge from something that has no consciousness.”
Consciousness and free will go hand-in-hand.
Identity, consciousness, and agency (free will).
“One” is the totality of existence.
A monad (part-whole) is a consciousness unit.
One want to know itself, and when one knows itself it brings into existence a monad. If One doesn’t know, it doesn’t exist. It is potential existence, but it doesn’t exist.
Every cell of the body is a part-whole of the body. Each cell contains the entire genome of the fertilized egg so each cell has the potential knowledge of the entire organism. We are fields, we are not the body. Each field is a part-whole of the totality.
The body is quantum and classical.
“At the deepest level reality is organized as a hologram.”
The difference between knowledge and being. “The difference between living an experience and reading about an experience.”
A quantum bit has an infinite number of states, while a classical bit has one state (0 or 1, up or down, right or left, etc.).
“Only a conscious being knows what is represented by quantum physics as those states.”
“A quantum state cannot be reproduced. You cannot make a copy. You can make a copy of a bit.” “That’s exactly like our conscious experience. I’m the only one who knows the state of me… The state of this field we are…. We are fields that control a body, and the body looks at a reality and makes an image of that reality that we, conscious beings, feel and perceive as reality…. But the body filters out all kinds of stuff.”
“What we believe to be reality is only what the body has given us to look at as conscious beings.”
Out of the body experiences.
“I have confidence that what I need to know will come.”
The Diamond Heart Approach, A.H. Almass, was a major part of his understanding of consciousness. Diamond Heart is a spiritual and psychological method.
“If you want to just know for knowing’s sake, you will come to know.” ~ Federico Faggin
Uniting science and spirituality.
“Hard Problem and Free Will” theory of consciousness paper with Giacomo Mauro D’Ariano and Federico Faggin
“You can no longer believe that life emerged out of no life.”
The postulate that One wants to know itself.
Scientism versus science; changing the paradigm.
“We are not a computer. We are quantum and classical.”
“We cannot solve the problems of humanity that are in front of us if we do not understand who we are.”
Death, identity, and near-death experiences. “I lost completely the fear of death.” “To me, death is a passage to who you really are.”
“The ego pays attention exclusively to the information produced by the body.”
Federico Faggin confirms that cats are conscious. The great questions of life have now been answered. 🙂
Message in a Bottle: Reflections on the Spiritual Path is a new book from the TAT Foundation Press. Rather than another book by a spiritual teacher, this book takes the approach of asking spiritual seekers, those still on the path to “finding,” to share their stories and wisdom. Interestingly, each contributor to this volume also includes a “message in a bottle” to their younger self. Rather than advice to others, that message is what they would say to themselves in hindsight.
In this episode, I interview one of the contributors to this volume, to delve deeper into what he learned from writing his chapter. Along the way, we touch on dreamwork, Tony Robbins, Richard Rose, self inquiry, and more.
August “Augie” Turak was the first student of Richard Rose and played an key role in introducing me to the spiritual search through his founding of the Self Knowledge Symposium. Thus, I was happy for the opportunity to interview him in support of his new book, Not Less Than Everything: One Man’s Quest for Spiritual Enlightenment, a true spiritual adventure story designed to “reintroduce the miraculous” into the dialogue of spirituality.
Augie’s work via the August Turak Foundation carries the inspiring message to “bring a transformative message of higher meaning and purpose to a Western Culture increasingly bereft of meaning and purpose.”
In this episode, August Turak offers dozens of quote-worthy statements about spiritual experiences, enlightenment, the purpose of life, how to shorten one’s spiritual quest, prayer, and more.
Augie explain some of his writing process, using a writing coach, using his time during COVID to finish the manuscript, becoming the protagonist of his own story, the importance of “set and setting” in telling a story
The role that depression played in Augie’s spiritual search. Looking for cosmic consciousness to cure himself of despair
The devolution of religion into a focus on “health, wealth, and progeny”
Augie’s book as a counter to a culture “Beset by doom and gloom and dystopia”
“The Poison We Pick” – Andrew Sullivan’s article describing the spiritual crisis at the heart of the opioid crisis
The ultimate purpose of life is enlightenment – a journey from selfishness to selflessness
The Hero’s Journey – the call, resistance to the call, the desert, the great trial, death & rebirth, the return to help others
We’re all longing for transformation. The 3 forms of transformation: condition, circumstances, and a transformation of being. The latter is what we’re all longing for
The death of the ego, enlightenment, is the ultimate form of selflessness. But you cannot consciously surrender. “We want a guarantee that if we let go, then we’ll find God. That can’t be done.”
The long development of the vector that guarantees that when the day comes, “you let go in the right way.”
Richard Rose said “you have to attack the gates of heaven with everything you have. You will fail. Those gates don’t swing in, they only swing out. You have to have some help from the other side. Mystics call it the ‘magnificent defeat.'”
How to shorten the span of despair that leads to enlightenment.
Learn to “hit the wall faster.” Try to be honest, just being mindful is not going to cut it.
“Nobody wants to go to ‘the Desert.’ You have to go to the Desert.”
“Get a group, a community.”
“Get a teacher.” Their job is to disillusion you. To rid you of illusions. “Deep down inside, we are terrified that if we lost all of our illusions there would be nothing left.”
“It’s very frustrating to work with a good teacher.”
Learning to create, conserve, control, and focus your energies
There are a lot more lousy students than lousy teachers
The importance of being coachable. “Americans are fundamentally uncoachable.”
“What would it be like to give myself totally to God?”
“The absolute essence to a spiritual path is commitment”~ Bob Cergol
90% of what Richard Rose taught was lifestyle – “living the life”
“Spirituality is fundamentally countercultural”
The friction is what breaks the ego – it’s not technique, it’s the pressure the ego gets under when nobody understands you, you have no one to turn to
Rose’s most controversial philosophy was that “results are proportional to energy applied.” The vast majority of people go into spirituality to escape the harsh realities of life. And the harshest reality of life is that results are proportional to energy applied.
What happens when you take the rigor of a physicist and combine that with the earnest desire of a seeker of enlightenment? In his mid-twenties, Shawn Pethel picked up a book by Ken Wilber and was introduced to Eastern philosophy and the idea of enlightenment. As a scientist, he recognized that these Eastern meditators were true spiritual explorers who were gathering data and trying to systematize the exploration of inner space. Most importantly, they spoke of an answer, “enlightenment,” which Shawn recognized as what he had been built to pursue in this life.
So Shawn pursued enlightenment, first through a decade of reading and working alone, but then discovering a community of fellow seekers that greatly accelerated his path.
In this episode, Shawn discusses the highs and lows of his spiritual search, meditation, following what is given to you, the importance of connecting with what you care about, and enlightenment.
If you enjoy the podcast, consider supporting it by purchasing a book, t-shirt, or film at the store.
QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.
Selected Links and Topics from this Episode:
How Eastern mystics were exploring and gathering data through meditation.
“I felt my whole life I had been built to seek [enlightenment].”
The value of having to articulate our internal narrative.
The value of being around people who are practicing being open and honest.
Wanting to know “what am I?”
“If you see something you must be outside of it.” This is a very useful concept that led Shawn to a “homegrown meditation” style.
Meditation phobia
To meditate without ceasing. At every moment you can, observe what is going on. Yet, don’t create some kind of crazy standard for yourself.
What progress in meditation looks like.
Nisargadatta Maharaj’s “I Am.”
“What do I do now?” Getting stuck on the spiritual path.
Your energy comes from being in touch with what you really care about.
What is the universe trying to tell you? What’s the thing “right in your face?” What’s the most obvious thing the universe is trying to get you to pay attention to right now?
The need to get honest with yourself about your priorities. Enlightenment doesn’t have to be the honest priority, but you need to be honest about what is.
Daniel Ingram as a mentor.
The vanishing of the “I am.”
“I can’t talk about what is, but we can talk about what you’re trying to substitute for what is.”
“The mind is a narrative machine.” It creates stories.
Asking “where is my body?” “where is my mind?” while lucid dreaming. Spiritual seeking while lucid dreaming.
Don’t beat yourself up comparing your efforts to others. Go with the effort level you have. ” Keep track of it and act in a way that’s in accordance with it.”
“Science is about building models, and those models come from your intuition and then you check them rigorously…. There’s a lot of creative process that’s in there.”
“I think a lot of seekers are not in contact with what really matters to them, or not got it in very good focus.”
