⚡️ Enlightening Bolts

⛰ 3 Years on 400 Acres: What the Future Thinkers learned by starting a land project centered around creating art, cultivating wisdom, and building resilience.  Watch it here.

🎶 There fell upon my ear the holiest sound I have ever heard: Huston Smith discovered and recorded the transcendent chanting of the Gyuto Monks. Mickey Hart, former drummer of the Grateful Dead, called it a “vocal miracle.” Learn more.

👁️ Looking Closely is Everything: How the pandemic taught Craig to look closely at the world, and how he hopes to carry that forward out the other side. Read more here.

🎇 Image of The Week

David Hawkes in Sheffield, UK snapped this photo of the massive sunspot region AR3664 on May 8, 2024. The massive and highly active sunspot region has solar scientists abuzz. At 124,300 miles across, or over 15 times the diameter of Earth, it is one of the largest sunspot groups that we have observed in a long time. This enormous region is home to 58 distinct sunspots. AR3664 is an extremely active solar flare, producing many coronal mass ejections (CMEs) of solar plasma and magnetic fields in addition to numerous massive X-class solar flares, the strongest kind. Earth has already seen radio blackouts, geomagnetic storms, and breathtaking auroras visible at lower latitudes as a result of some of these eruptions.

🛡 The Good Challenge

We all face difficulties in our lives. Sometimes we face tragedies.

Loss is inevitable. Change is everpresent.

We cannot pin down and hold on to the things we love forever.

This facet of life, however, does not need to be viewed as horrible as it might appear at first blush.

When approached with courage and willingness, our suffering can help shape us, guide us, and prepare us.

We can transmute the tragedy of today into a newfound capacity for navigating the tragedies of tomorrow.

I'm fond of the notion that "misfortune that shapes character becomes good fortune."

If you become more than you were, the loss will still sting, but what you gain is a beautiful ability to help yourself and others in the future.

On top of that, it can instruct us to be more appreciative of the things we love while we have them.

None of this is to deny the reality of our challenges.

Just to say stormy circumstances always have some hidden sunshine.

And sometimes they are even seeds for better, brighter days.

 🪧 Follow Tradition or Carve Your Own Path?

Enjoy this thought-provoking dialogue between reminder between Esteban Palacio and Theo Zgraggen:

“Esteban: You think you know better than thousands of years of spiritual tradition?

Theo: Not at all. I just think that part of the beauty of the age that we live in is that we don't need to be confined to one source of wisdom or meaning.

Esteban: So, it's a spiritual buffet then?

Theo: Sure. But you say that like it's a bad thing.

Esteban: Look, I've heard spiritual teachers say that when it comes to the path, it's better to have one sharp blade than ten dull ones.

Theo: Right, I hear that. We only have so much time and if we're spread across all these different disciplines, we don't have time to really understand one of them.

Esteban: Right. It's not that one path is better than the other, but every path requires a certain level of discipline to get meaningful results.

Theo: Now that sounds dull. And tedious.

Esteban: It's supposed to be tedious. It's not supposed to be another source of stimulation for our ego. It's a path towards shedding our ego.

Theo: Sounds rigid. Not to mention, carving my own path frees me from cultural dogmas of the past.

Esteban: And following your own path isn't tied to your cultural dogma of individualism?

Theo: At the end of the day, didn't the first enlightened souls follow their own hearts before there was traditional fallback on?”

🤓 Learn This Word

Beschaulich: A German word that means quiet, pensive; living a simple life; pleasantly contemplative, unhurried in a fashion that inspires mental well-being.

⏳ From The Archives

A hand-picked classic HighExistence article.

37 Sage Stories from Pema Chodron for a Masterclass in Meditation

By Eric Brown

Pema Chodron should be a household name.

An American Tibetan Buddhist, she studied under Chogyam Trungpa and has published many books on the human condition, honest self-exploration, and the value to be found in honesty and spiritual courage.

We owe her a lot, as her book When Things Fall Apart was an important part of our teams’ early development.

With an uncanny ability to speak openly about the experiences we all go through in life, she can inspire you to delve deep into your personal phenomena with the spacious freedom needed to make meaningful progress along your path.

She can cut through self-serving beliefs and spiritual bypassing techniques with the honesty and care of a loving mother, but the straightforward wisdom of a teacher with decades of experience.

Each word is intentional, every phrase necessary. She peels back layers and layers of excuses and indecision to tell you exactly what you need to hear if you’re ready to hear it.

Embrace the honesty, and blossom into what you can become.

[Continue Reading]

🎬 Endnote

I hope you enjoyed this issue of Down The Rabbit Hole. Feel free to reply and tell me what you think.

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With Wonder,

Mike Slavin