James Wood Teachings

Weekend workshop: June 25-27 at Cochise Stronghold Retreat in Pearce, Arizona. No new registrations will be accepted after June 10. Please use contact page if you are interested in attending.

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Unconsciousness is attaching to thoughts as if they were ultimately true. On one hand you have Reality, which is what is happening now. On the other hand, you have your thoughts about what should be happening. When those disagree, you have suffering. If you energize what you think should be happening in opposition to what’s actually happening, it hurts more. The fundamental thing you can’t change is what is is. Attaching to the thought “This shouldn’t be happening” causes anxiety. Accepting what you can’t change is serenity.

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Awakening is rare because it’s scary ― and yet it’s like the haunted house at a carnival. It’s all fake. The concept of mortality is horrifying, and most people would do anything to escape what feels like annihilation. The word “Nirvana” means “extinction.” It means ending the reign of your conceptualized world. Realize that words can point you toward awakening, just as a highway sign can point you toward a destination — but by themselves words have no ultimate value. The best way to get rid of fear is to notice that it’s caused by a thought that disagrees with Reality.

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A major misconception about meditation is that it involves a suppression of thoughts. It’s unnatural to suppress thoughts. As the heart pumps blood, the mind pumps thoughts. They’re going to arise; the question is what is your relationship to those thoughts? The practice of meditation involves a conscious relationship with thoughts, seeing that they are ultimately false. Thoughts can be useful, but they’re not ultimately true. Prayer and inquiry are forms of meditation. Prayer involves surrendering your desire to Reality, whereas inquiry is investigating whether thoughts are true.

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It’s helpful to treat intimate relationships as spiritual practice. It’s horrifying to see what we do to ourselves, but essential. There’s nothing like an intimate personal relationship to trigger unconscious reactions. Whatever upsets you, it’s really about you. It’s what you’re doing to yourself and blaming on someone else. It’s what you’re not seeing in yourself and unconscious, so you have to see it outside somewhere. We’re trying to heal the wounds we received as a child, the love we perceived as not getting from our parents. So we meet someone we can work that out with.

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Marriage is best used for personal growth in service to awakening. Most personal growth is in service to the ego. Personal growth by itself is not enough. If you put finding Freedom ahead of acquiring things, what you need will come to you. You can use worldly things for personal growth leading to awakening. You can enjoy practicing together. If your spouse wakes up, it could get interesting. Although many spiritual traditions are monastic, celibacy is not necessary. Grounding is important. We want to bring consciousness into human form and enliven it.

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Joel Goldsmith taught awakening from a Christian perspective, often calling it “illumination.” True affirmative prayer consists in meditating on the truth of scripture. The ultimate statement of divinity is “I am,” a subjective statement of divine identity. Introception is a recognition of what’s already true within you, a third form of knowing aside from thinking and sense experience. The good news is that we’re all already fundamentally free. Our essence is divine already. But we labor under false ideas. The whole world tries to tells us who we are. It helps to have a Teacher.

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Life is basically dissatisfying. It’s impermanent, a wheel of suffering. Try to find authoritative texts or living Teachers. Then it’s a matter of devotion, giving yourself utterly to a value beyond conventional or relative value. Some people would call that God. It becomes the guide for your life. It’s essential that your practice be sincere. Do your best to stay aware and use all circumstances for growth in awareness. You have to see yourself as you are and have the humility to allow something higher to remove obstacles. A useful prayer is I don’t know what to do. Please help.

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