The temple remains.

Fragments of past transmissions echo below.

Category: Email Archives

  • Why are all chairs so low?

    The chair I'm sitting in is too low. Most chairs are too low for me. I don't get why they only make low chairs.

    It's a problem everywhere I go. When I'm playing the piano, at Starbucks, at my desk, etc etc etc.

    “But Michael, why don't you just get a chair you like?”

    Hey, it took me a whole year to get a $5 mouse pad! Sometimes, I prefer to complain.

    Eventually, I'll get frustrated enough and something will change. Just wait and see.

    Anyway…………………..

    I know you're curious about meditation. You've probably tried it and struggled with it and gotten confused by it.

    Have you asked yourself why?

    You should be able to do this.

    But not if you're only interested in “mental health” or “de-stressing” or “calming down” or “self-care”.

    Nothing wrong with those, but you don't need meditation for that. Probably better to go for a walk or have a drink or whatever.

    Meditation is for when you know something is deeply wrong with you, and you want a technique that will help you untangle that. It's not to be taken lightly.

    It's like journaling on steroids.

    But, you have to do it the right way. There are so many confusing messages out there about how meditation works, it's no wonder you've had a hard time with it.

    Sign up for No Problem.

    See you there.

    —Michael

  • I have nothing against philosophy, but I want to go deeper

    Meditation is the way to understand yourself on a deep level.

    Not abstract philosophy, not empty intellectualization.

    I’m just sitting here typing this, hearing police sirens, children screaming, and birds chirping.

    That’s what’s going on for me right now.

    RIGHT NOW.

    These stimuli provoke reactions in me. Where are the reactions? In my head? That’s what you’ve been taught to think, I’m sure.

    But, where are they?

    Who knows?

    They’re just there.

    Here.

    Wherever.

    I don’t have to figure it out. I can sit here and let the whole drama play out with or without my participation. I can just watch it happen, or not watch it happen.

    This is how you gain wisdom and untangle knots.

    It’s a skill, not some feel-good Instagram meme.

    You must practice it.

    It’s hard and it should be unpleasant at times. If it’s never unpleasant, you’re certainly doing it wrong. Get it?

    Good.

    Ready to do more? That’s where No Problem comes in. It’s level 1 of the KorMeditation approach to meditation.

    —Michael

  • Too fixated on the present 😣

    Joe: Michael, I wish I could just not let things bother me so much.

    Me: Like what?

    Joe: Like what so-and-so said to me the other day.

    Me: What would it look like if it didn’t bother you? How would I tell?

    Joe: Well, I’d be less upset.

    Me: What would you do differently?

    Joe: I would be more relaxed.

    Me: Yeah, but what would you DO? How would it affect your behavior?

    Joe: I don’t understand.

    Me: How would I, as an outside observer, know you weren’t bothered? You’re just telling me how you would feel. That’s all internal. What about external?

    Joe: I suppose I would smile more.

    Me: Oh, I get it… Ok, pretend I’m looking at you from a distance. What would I see?

    Joe: I would move more freely.

    Me: Suppose I followed you around for a couple days. What would I see?

    Joe: I don’t know.

    Me: You’re too fixated on the present moment.

    (END)

    See, Joe’s problem is that he isn’t aware of larger patterns in his behavior. That’s because he’s bought into the mainstream narrative that says feelings are a problem.

    He fixates so much on his feelings that he neglects to even notice what they’re doing to him.

    Don’t be like Joe.

    Learn to be OK with your feelings, so you can focus on what’s really important.

    KorMeditation will teach you how to do this.

    —Michael

  • A concrete proof of meditation’s usefulness

    Let me try to lay this out in a logical, step-by-step progression:

    1. Meditation helps you understand yourself.

    2. Understanding yourself helps you understand other people.

    3. Understanding other people helps you have empathy for people who do bad things to you.

    4. Having empathy for people who do bad things to you helps you become aware of why they do bad things.

    5. Becoming aware of why they do bad things helps you understand why your reaction to their behavior only makes things worse.

    6. Understanding why your reaction makes things worse leads to better reactions from you.

    7. Better reactions from you leads to more of whatever it is that you want.

    Conclusion: meditation leads to more of whatever it is that you want.

    But, it can’t just be any ole’ meditation. It has to be the kind of meditation that leads to greater self-awareness.

    This is what I teach in No Problem.

    Get started now.

    —Michael

  • Anxiety makes you tell bad stories

    Do you identify as “having anxiety”?

    If so, you’re probably in the habit of telling long, convoluted stories about why things are the way they are, and about why you’re afraid to do things, and about why other people are wrong for having done what they’ve done.

    I hate reading those stories.

    They’re too long.

    Stories don’t need to be long to make a point. Usually, the point is pointless anyway.

    Don’t take your stories so seriously.

    Learn to meditate.

    (it will help you see stories as stories, so you can stop defining yourself by the story and get on with your life and do the thing you were trying to do before your ex-boyfriend became a jerk and started calling you in the middle of the night and you got anxiety and had to write 10 paragraphs about it on facebook when you could have just shut your phone off and gone back to sleep.)

    You can do it here.

    —Michael

  • Meditation should have a goal

    Here’s something I just posted in the Radical Acceptance Through Meditation Facebook group:

    ✨✨✨

    If it doesn’t have a goal, how do you know you’re doing it right?

    Look, it’s all well and good to “just sit” if that’s working for you. But, you know as well as I do it doesn’t work all the time. No matter how much you tell yourself “meditation has no goal” or “things are fine just as they are”, you still avoid meditation because you’re not sure if you’re doing it right, or because you’re not sure what the point is.

    The only way you’re going to figure that out is by setting a goal and trying to achieve it.

    No wonder you’re so bored.

    ✨✨✨

    Are you a member of the group? If not, join.

    —Michael

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