082. Tom Stine

For over two decades, several questions have been foremost in my mind: What is this life about? What is the nature of reality? What is truth? How do we live and thrive in this world? For many years these questions puzzled me, but being the inquisitive type, with a restless mind always seeking to find the answers to whatever confronted me, I kept searching and searching. Like many people, I kept groping around the edges of Truth, having occasional glimpses but nothing really definitive. But the Universe is relentless. If its first attempts at getting you to see don’t work, it starts pulling out the heavy artillery and blasting away at your illusions. That’s what happened to me. My seemingly wonderful life turned to crap, seemingly overnight. The Universe was playing rough, offering me a bit of “fierce grace” as Adyashanti likes to say. And it worked! I finally quit groping around the edges and instead leaped into the fire. I began questioning my illusions and starting to see something more. Much has changed over the years for me, and after those first glimpses of reality, life has taken on a new and more interesting form. I am now dedicated to sharing what I have seen with all those who, like me, are impelled from within to know, truly know, what life and reality are all about. We call this impulse “spirit” or “the Universe” or “God”, but in the end, we discover it is what we truly are. It is Life. It is the One seeking to awaken to Itself. And we are That. Interview recorded 8/7/11. YouTube Video Chapters: 00:00:00 - Introduction to Tom Stine and his work in spiritual awakening 00:04:09 - The Drive to Explore Beyond our Senses and Typical Human Life 00:08:16 - The Universal Urge to Know the Truth 00:11:56 - The Health Benefits of a Spiritual Life 00:14:24 - A Course in Miracles and its Practices 00:17:12 - Questioning the Truth 00:20:11 - The Question of Past Lives 00:22:26 - A Course in Miracles and the Need for Something More 00:25:38 - Discovering the Sedona Method 00:28:40 - The Journey to Adyashanti 00:31:43 - An Experience of Light Inside My Head 00:35:01 - The Power of Presence and Transformation 00:38:11 - The Value of Spiritual Practices 00:41:29 - The Truth and Behavior in Awakening 00:44:53 - The Power of Loving Kindness 00:47:33 - Puppets of Life, Rowing with the Stream 00:50:48 - The Perception of Individual Volition 00:53:35 - The Illusion of Choice in Decision Making 00:56:31 - The Similarity between Orgasms and Heroin addiction 00:59:45 - The Illusion of Choice 01:02:51 - The Illusion of Enlightenment 01:05:51 - The Experience of "I" 01:10:05 - A Shift in Perception 01:14:01 - The Perpetual Challenges of Life's Fan 01:16:18 - Subsequent Awakenings and Transformations 01:19:01 - Letting Go and Loving Your Ex 01:22:05 - Reflection on the Subjective Experience of Life 01:25:20 - Stunned Disbelief and Old Memories 01:28:38 - Satsang and Spiritual Journey shortcuts 01:31:00 - Subscription Service for Satsangs