Path of the Practitioner

Continuing to Explore the Practice of 'Not Knowing'

Navigating the unknown is an integral part of meditation techniques, and constitutes the foundation of the Synthesis training program. This orientation and openness towards experience is an innate part of any spiritual path, and is a powerful way to step into the mystery of awakening, maturing, growing and learning. 

Magic (enhanced vivid experience) and mystery (questioning) are often discarded as 'non-scientific' in a reductionist Western paradigm, relegating them to the realms of fantasy, falsity or illusion. But looking beyond the world of scientific materialism nurtures a way of being that is fertile and connected - both to self and other. This half of experience acknowledges that the whole is more than the sum of its parts.  

Becoming curious about sensations that exist beyond the rational mind (the embodied animal self), allows us to reinvigorate the wild parts of ourselves that have been lost to cultural conditioning. Language and logic have their limits, requiring us to move from our minds into the intuitive wisdom of our guts and hearts. How this experience unfolds is unknowable and emergent, but we can structure the ways in which we hold ourselves during this process. 

Co-creating a Mandala in which each of us interweaves the threads of truth is characterised by shifting from a general ethos of greed and acquisition, to one of radically letting go, enabling a profound relaxation and ability to embrace the universe in the present moment. This interconnected transformation has never been more vital during such a time of planetary crisis. 

Lama Elizabeth Monson Ph.D. speaks out of the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition, sharing her journey and experiences, including insights from Oppenheimer that challenge our perspectives and reshape our relationship to the energy, flow and impermanence of the world around us. In this video, Elizabeth also shares a training practice that will help you 'feel to heal', by beginning to access the experience of something greater than our sense of self, with the intention to foster compassion, acceptance and peace.