The current socio-political climate in the US, and much of the world, is such that we all have work to do to understand our relationship to differences in personal identity. Doing awakening work today requires us to lean in to how we embody our lived e …
Category: Essay – Profile Page
White Woman Witnessing
It’s been a deep journey of grief for me since George Floyd was murdered by police officers in Minneapolis on May 25. You might wonder why this is newsworthy, the feelings of a white woman of late life, product of privilege, in the face of global unres …
Body of Love: Awakened Embodiment in Action
What does it take to embody and express love in our actions? Many spiritual paths talk about acting in a loving and kind way, and it’s a worthy ideal…but how do we make it real? Especially in these challenging times! Industrialized culture, deeply di …
Interview w/ Dr Leticia Nieto and Kirstin Eventyr
Awakened activism is a natural outcome of maturation and involves a deepening and widening beyond self and group identifications into something broader. It goes hand-in-hand with coming to know the self as much larger than a single identity, and acting …
Growing Up Beyond Inclusion
“If only we could just get along. If only we could just be one happy, human family.” It’s a good dream, a valid dream, and one worth investing heart and soul into. And us White people want to believe that including people of color will get us the …
Hidden Agendas: The Shadow Side of Activism
WHAT IS THE SHADOW?Shadow is a term psychologist Carl Jung used to describe the unconscious dimension of our psyche which our conscious self – our ego – denies or is unable to access. Hidden in our shadow are aspects of ourselves that were unaccep …
Ecology of Mutuality
In the Trillium Awakening path, we tend to talk about mutuality in terms of an exchange between two people – an exchange of deep authenticity. “Being in mutuality” generally implies a willingness to encounter each other vulnerably, with presence and re …
Racism is Alive in Me
As we say in Trillium Awakening: the good news is that perfection is not required in order to have a spiritual awakening. And, we are quick to add: the bad news is that perfection is not bestowed upon spiritual awakening! This is a humbling fact, to sa …
My Story
I’m delighted and a little surprised to find myself writing this “teacher bio” — who’d a thunk? Here’s why: once upon a time, when I was little, science was my family’s religion. My parents were “fundamentalist atheists” meaning that they were as vehe …
The Simplified Short Version of Van’s Evolved Dharma
There is only Ultimate Radiant Divine Being, or the Ultimate Divine Self. Paradoxically, Ultimate Radiant Divine Being is simultaneously both unmanifested and manifested.There is nothing/no thing, no one, no where, and no place that is not Ultimate Div …