The three steps

2024-09-29T21:52:44+08:00 | 2 minute read | Updated at 2024-10-08T23:27:58+02:00

@ Gibster

Three steps towards

After years of doing (Rinzai Zen) meditation, I lost interest; it didn’t give me what I hoped. This last year, a breakup reignited my interest in understanding my mind and ego, because, boy, my whole system went into total meltdown mode! I found that direct path practices based on self-inquiry and non-dual insight meditation opened a new and faster path. It changed me in a profound way; I’m still a bit shocked by it. I think there are three key elements that did it for me:

Intellectual understanding of the ego

What is the (evolutionary) purpose of the ego? What mechanisms does it employ to ‘hook’ me? I really wanted to understand, and wrote an extensive chapter on just this; the intricate workings of it and why it makes sense that you identify with it.

Softening the ego

Once you understand the ego, you can almost see it as a separate entity. Then you have to change your relationship with it. Offer it space to relax in. I wrote an exercise where you will talk out loud to it, which will feel strange at first, but will trigger psychological effects that soften and externalize it; the rigid defenses dissolve. This is also where identification with it starts to fall apart.

Experiential non-dual insights

Through various exercises and guided self-inquiry meditations, countless small glimpses emerge; each one is a subtle opening where pure awareness shines through. Since these are actual experiences, they can already have a profound impact on you. These glimpses (Kensho) accumulate and merge into a deeper resting in consciousness over time, building and integrating them with the first two steps I mentioned, towards self-realisation.

I’m always open for questions, or help you with your own non-dual self inquiry process.

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You’ll find writings on non-duality, self-realization, Zen, Tantra and related topics here. My aim is to make these profound subjects approachable and digestible. I’ve found much of the literature abstract and inaccessible; understanding should be within everyone’s reach.

I’m a self-development addict; it’s fascinating to take yourself as the research object. I’ve explored various self-development trainings and retreats: primal therapy, shadow work, breath work, menswork, concentration meditation, etc. In the last decade, my main teachings come from Rinzai Zen under various teachers (mostly indebted to Jun Po Dennis Kelly Roshi - my most important teacher), and Tantra (various schools).

Always open to feedback and questions!

Love Gibster ❤️