The Translucent View

Right now, sitting where you are, reading these words, take a few moments to close your eyes and feel your body. Settle yourself . . . relax . . . come fully into this moment. Can you see the print on this page? It is seen, right? But seen by whom? In this very moment, [...]

“Trailing clouds of glory do we come, from God who is our home,” wrote William Wordsworth. As preverbal babies, we experience ourselves as limitlessness. At one with what we see and feel, we have no need to define ourselves. We are both nothing and everything. Then Iago imposes a sense of limitation, of something missing, [...]

Create a room that is perfectly dark.  You might need to tape black plastic over the windows,  And lay a towel at the bottom of the door.  Make it so dark that you can sit with your eyes open  And see not a single chink of light.  Now sit in that darkness, with your eyes [...]

This practice, from my 2008 book Leap Before You Look, was also featured in the new film Awake in the Dream.  It is short and simple to use, but remarkably effective and transformative.  Try it out, and post your experiences in the space below. Whenever a judgment or evaluation Arises within you, Whether positive or [...]

Here is a practice for you to try: With a friend, go to a supermarket, But not your local supermarket, where you may know people. Drive a little way to the nearest town. Take the shopping cart and enter the supermarket. Your friend will be observing you, And will give you a mood, a personality [...]

Last week we finished a weekend seminar  in Vienna: at one time the home of Mozart, Beethoven, Sigmund Freud, Gustav Mahler and many others. My host took me to Theater an der Wien: the oldest opera house in the city, where The Magic Flute and many other great operas had their premiere. Afterwards we went [...]

Maria attended one of our retreats a few years ago. Now in her fifties, she has been practicing meditation, which she had learned from a well-known Indian guru, for more than thirty years. She had a very calm, empty, silent presence. She dressed in plain, very sensible clothes, and her gray hair was cut in [...]

Before we go any further you might ask the legitimate question,  “What are your qualifications, Arjuna Ardagh,  to write an article on this subject? Are you a psychologist?” “No, I am not.” “Are you a licensed psychotherapist?” No, also not.” “Do you have a Pd.D. in communications?” “Ummmmm.  No, I’m afraid not.” “So what on [...]

Notice how you are already breathing in this moment. Is the breath coming more into the upper part of the body? Is it reaching the diaphragm? Or is the breath reaching all the way down to the lower belly? After just watching the way you are breathing for a couple of minutes, Begin to bring [...]