Talks 2007
Click on the links below to listen to the audio.
December 30 LA (listen)
Spiritual life when you have a cold... or worse.
December 16 LA (listen)
You do not exist.
December 9 LA (listen)
No one can love you as much as your Self. Stop blaming others for what they can't give.
December 2 LA (listen)
The war within us.
November 25 LA (listen)
The difficulty of teaching spiritual work.
November 18 LA (listen)
What does it take to wake up from a dream? What does it take to wake up from life?
November 11 LA (listen)
Nothing in life will answer any of the questions you have about life. You have to exit the system entirely.
November 4 NY (listen)
An incessant hunger for awakening is what makes awakening possible. An occasional hunger leaves you asleep and starving.
October 21 NY (listen)
Open-eyed meditation is gazing into the eyes of another person and seeing past the accumulated narrative to the purity of the being within.
October 14 LA (listen)
Serenity and bliss are not the end of the spiritual path. As long as there is a you to have an experience, the path continues.
October 7 LA (listen)
Keeping it real.
October 2 LA (listen)
My experience of meditation, step by step. The process of surrender and what it feels like to go deeper and deeper.
September 30 LA (listen)
Seeking is the most essential ingredient in spiritual awakening. The hunger for truth is what brings truth.
September 23 LA (listen)
There is a pervasive hysteria in our culture today that dominates people's lives. Use it or succumb to it. It is your choice.
September 18 NYC (listen)
There is a "peace" that comes from acceptance and a "peace that surpasseth understanding." One is the doorway to the other.
September 16 NY (listen)
Today is my 40th anniversary of meeting Rudi and Blanche both on the same day. At least that is my personal mythology. Blanche is not so sure.
September 13 NYC (listen)
The nourishment of a meditation class vs. Rosh Hashana dinner.
September 9 NY (listen)
Presence as an act of grace. How the vertical intersects the horizontal and informs our lives.
September 2 NY (listen)
Spiritual work is the only way two human beings can exist in the same "space," the same state of being. It is the true path to love and oneness.
August 26 LA (listen)
Learn to trust your Self instead of your mind.
August 21 LA (listen)
Do not expect a spiritual life to give you anything. If you are looking for happiness, worldly success, pain relief, you will not find them here. But you will find what you have been searching for.
August 19 LA (listen)
If nothing you are looking for is in the future, how do you find joy in a present you do not like?
August 12 NY (listen)
The Tower of Babel. People are as isolated as nations in their inability to communicate. True communication does not involve words.
August 5 NY (listen)
Going deeper.
August 1 NYC (listen)
Inaugural class in the New York apartment. The idea is not so much to change yourself but to be yourself.
July 29 NY (listen)
The desire and fear to be seen as you truly are. Open-eyed meditation is the practice of seeing and allowing yourself to be seen.
July 22 NY (listen)
Yahweh, the God of Moses, Christ, Mohammad and Job. The spiritual approach to a wrathful and incomprehensible God.
July 1 NY (listen)
Show me a child in his first seven years and I'll show you the adult they will become. On transcending Karma.
June 24 NY (listen)
The nature of being stuck in your life and in your practice and how the smallest change can free you.
June 17 NY (listen)
Life wants to erupt inside us. Let it.
June 10 NY (listen)
Our emotional life is as natural as the weather. It comes and it goes. To expect it to stay sunny forever is not true to nature.
June 3 LA (listen)
A talk in praise of my students.
May 27 LA (listen)
The difference between Rudi's work of spiritual effort and the practice of no effort is the difference between undergraduate and post-graduate work. You need both.
May 22 LA (listen)
Being broken down, having everything taken away, is how we discover that which cannot be taken away.
May 20 LA (listen)
Communion, the wordless experience of being with another, prepares you for communion with your shadow and then finally with your Self.
May 13 NY (listen)
Seeing spiritual work as plumbing, chakras as valves, and teachers as rotor rooters helping to unplug the system.
May 6 NY (listen)
Every choice we make in our lives is based on a hunger for survival. Unfortunately, or fortunately, we will not survive.
April 29 NY (listen)
The journey of the prodigal son. The urge to seek the world of experience and the yearning for the journey home.
April 22 LA (listen)
Rudi always said, a spiritual life is the journey to becoming nothing. In truth we are already no thing so where is the journey?
April 15 LA (listen)
We enter life like Pinnochio arriving at Pleasure Island. Soon we grow long ears and tails and become beasts of burden. Spiritual life reminds us who we truly are.
April 8 LA (listen)
The true meaning of resurrection is not that you can be reborn but that You can never die.
April 1 LA (listen)
When understanding and meaning evaporate and the mind realizes how little it can actually grasp. Learning to admit that you don't know.
March 25 LA (listen)
"Opening Weekend 101." The spiritual lessons of having a movie opening nationwide.
March 11 NY (listen)
For many people, a spiritual life is the pursuit of otherness, an escape from life, from what is. True spiritual life is embracing what is.
March 4 LA (listen)
There are two kinds of tension to be dealt with spiritually: daily tension which can fuel your liberation and negative psychic tension which leads to endless bondage.
February 25 LA (listen)
How do you fix it when you make a mess of your life? How does one find redemption?
February 18 LA (listen)
Babies are taught who they are. We discover who we really are by letting go of what we were taught.
February 11 LA (listen)
When was the last time that you felt that you were alive? When was the last time that you were aware of 'being'?
February 4 LA (listen)
Suffering brings you to reality. Reality is what is. When the mind surrenders to reality, you arrive at the truth of being.
January 28 LA (listen)
The Sundance Film Festival, egoism, swag and the pursuit as spirituality. Even ego is God at work.
January 24 LA (listen)
Rudi was an alchemist. He knew how to transmute matter into spirit, blind yearning into spiritual upliftment. The key is "the wish."
January 21 LA (listen)
It takes the journey of a lifetime to arrive at where you've always been. The value of searching for growth, happiness and fulfillment.
January 16 LA (listen)
Being deeply stupid does not affect enlightenment. The only intelligence required is remembering to be present.
January 9 LA (listen)
What do I do now? When sitting becomes unbearable, stop sitting. Why meditate if it isn't wonderful?
January 7 LA (listen)
You do not need to travel to a secluded beach to find yourself or to be in the moment. The best vacation is from your mind. Take it now.
December 30 LA (listen)
Spiritual life when you have a cold... or worse.
December 16 LA (listen)
You do not exist.
December 9 LA (listen)
No one can love you as much as your Self. Stop blaming others for what they can't give.
December 2 LA (listen)
The war within us.
November 25 LA (listen)
The difficulty of teaching spiritual work.
November 18 LA (listen)
What does it take to wake up from a dream? What does it take to wake up from life?
November 11 LA (listen)
Nothing in life will answer any of the questions you have about life. You have to exit the system entirely.
November 4 NY (listen)
An incessant hunger for awakening is what makes awakening possible. An occasional hunger leaves you asleep and starving.
October 21 NY (listen)
Open-eyed meditation is gazing into the eyes of another person and seeing past the accumulated narrative to the purity of the being within.
October 14 LA (listen)
Serenity and bliss are not the end of the spiritual path. As long as there is a you to have an experience, the path continues.
October 7 LA (listen)
Keeping it real.
October 2 LA (listen)
My experience of meditation, step by step. The process of surrender and what it feels like to go deeper and deeper.
September 30 LA (listen)
Seeking is the most essential ingredient in spiritual awakening. The hunger for truth is what brings truth.
September 23 LA (listen)
There is a pervasive hysteria in our culture today that dominates people's lives. Use it or succumb to it. It is your choice.
September 18 NYC (listen)
There is a "peace" that comes from acceptance and a "peace that surpasseth understanding." One is the doorway to the other.
September 16 NY (listen)
Today is my 40th anniversary of meeting Rudi and Blanche both on the same day. At least that is my personal mythology. Blanche is not so sure.
September 13 NYC (listen)
The nourishment of a meditation class vs. Rosh Hashana dinner.
September 9 NY (listen)
Presence as an act of grace. How the vertical intersects the horizontal and informs our lives.
September 2 NY (listen)
Spiritual work is the only way two human beings can exist in the same "space," the same state of being. It is the true path to love and oneness.
August 26 LA (listen)
Learn to trust your Self instead of your mind.
August 21 LA (listen)
Do not expect a spiritual life to give you anything. If you are looking for happiness, worldly success, pain relief, you will not find them here. But you will find what you have been searching for.
August 19 LA (listen)
If nothing you are looking for is in the future, how do you find joy in a present you do not like?
August 12 NY (listen)
The Tower of Babel. People are as isolated as nations in their inability to communicate. True communication does not involve words.
August 5 NY (listen)
Going deeper.
August 1 NYC (listen)
Inaugural class in the New York apartment. The idea is not so much to change yourself but to be yourself.
July 29 NY (listen)
The desire and fear to be seen as you truly are. Open-eyed meditation is the practice of seeing and allowing yourself to be seen.
July 22 NY (listen)
Yahweh, the God of Moses, Christ, Mohammad and Job. The spiritual approach to a wrathful and incomprehensible God.
July 1 NY (listen)
Show me a child in his first seven years and I'll show you the adult they will become. On transcending Karma.
June 24 NY (listen)
The nature of being stuck in your life and in your practice and how the smallest change can free you.
June 17 NY (listen)
Life wants to erupt inside us. Let it.
June 10 NY (listen)
Our emotional life is as natural as the weather. It comes and it goes. To expect it to stay sunny forever is not true to nature.
June 3 LA (listen)
A talk in praise of my students.
May 27 LA (listen)
The difference between Rudi's work of spiritual effort and the practice of no effort is the difference between undergraduate and post-graduate work. You need both.
May 22 LA (listen)
Being broken down, having everything taken away, is how we discover that which cannot be taken away.
May 20 LA (listen)
Communion, the wordless experience of being with another, prepares you for communion with your shadow and then finally with your Self.
May 13 NY (listen)
Seeing spiritual work as plumbing, chakras as valves, and teachers as rotor rooters helping to unplug the system.
May 6 NY (listen)
Every choice we make in our lives is based on a hunger for survival. Unfortunately, or fortunately, we will not survive.
April 29 NY (listen)
The journey of the prodigal son. The urge to seek the world of experience and the yearning for the journey home.
April 22 LA (listen)
Rudi always said, a spiritual life is the journey to becoming nothing. In truth we are already no thing so where is the journey?
April 15 LA (listen)
We enter life like Pinnochio arriving at Pleasure Island. Soon we grow long ears and tails and become beasts of burden. Spiritual life reminds us who we truly are.
April 8 LA (listen)
The true meaning of resurrection is not that you can be reborn but that You can never die.
April 1 LA (listen)
When understanding and meaning evaporate and the mind realizes how little it can actually grasp. Learning to admit that you don't know.
March 25 LA (listen)
"Opening Weekend 101." The spiritual lessons of having a movie opening nationwide.
March 11 NY (listen)
For many people, a spiritual life is the pursuit of otherness, an escape from life, from what is. True spiritual life is embracing what is.
March 4 LA (listen)
There are two kinds of tension to be dealt with spiritually: daily tension which can fuel your liberation and negative psychic tension which leads to endless bondage.
February 25 LA (listen)
How do you fix it when you make a mess of your life? How does one find redemption?
February 18 LA (listen)
Babies are taught who they are. We discover who we really are by letting go of what we were taught.
February 11 LA (listen)
When was the last time that you felt that you were alive? When was the last time that you were aware of 'being'?
February 4 LA (listen)
Suffering brings you to reality. Reality is what is. When the mind surrenders to reality, you arrive at the truth of being.
January 28 LA (listen)
The Sundance Film Festival, egoism, swag and the pursuit as spirituality. Even ego is God at work.
January 24 LA (listen)
Rudi was an alchemist. He knew how to transmute matter into spirit, blind yearning into spiritual upliftment. The key is "the wish."
January 21 LA (listen)
It takes the journey of a lifetime to arrive at where you've always been. The value of searching for growth, happiness and fulfillment.
January 16 LA (listen)
Being deeply stupid does not affect enlightenment. The only intelligence required is remembering to be present.
January 9 LA (listen)
What do I do now? When sitting becomes unbearable, stop sitting. Why meditate if it isn't wonderful?
January 7 LA (listen)
You do not need to travel to a secluded beach to find yourself or to be in the moment. The best vacation is from your mind. Take it now.