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some thoughts


What would we be if not woke/awake?
“Wokism” should not be confused with genuine liberation movements (woke/awake) that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in order to expand freedom of speech and expression for all (including for minority groups), raise awareness of systemic barriers to equal opportunity, and contribute to a world with equal access and participation for all.

Stijn Smeets
Sep 302 min read


awakening & healing
It's important to distinguish between the meditative path of awakening and the healing and self-development path. Each path has its own logic, and confusing them can be counterproductive.

Stijn Smeets
Aug 53 min read


radical kindness
Radical kindness Innocent yet not naive Vulnerable yet not fragile Naked yet not self-conscious Generous yet not sacrificial Gentle yet...

Stijn Smeets
May 221 min read


the suicidal and the mystic
There is a kinship between suicide and mysticism: both seek the end of the “self” as a release from suffering. Both are willing to fall into Death’s embrace in search of new life. Both have access to altered states of consciousness—consider, for example, the well-documented sense of “calm” that often precedes a suicidal act.

Stijn Smeets
May 12 min read


fasting as an act of love
What can be given to me, I don’t want. What can be taken away from me, I don’t need. - paraphrased after Eric Baret In traditions that...

Stijn Smeets
Mar 83 min read


empowering surrender
What if you truly surrendered and committed to the truth that longs to reveal itself through your body?

Stijn Smeets
Jan 163 min read


are you a spiritual materialist?
The Tibetan Buddhist tradition uses the metaphor of the three Lords to evaluate if you are slipping into spiritual materialism : Lord of...

Stijn Smeets
Jan 141 min read


spiritual striptease
It is a petition to be without identity, to be nothing and nobody (or everything and everybody, if you prefer). It is a suspension of societ

Stijn Smeets
Jan 143 min read


is god a dominatrix?
Holding onto the concept of God as a benevolent father or mother will leave us bewildered and tossed about in the ocean of confusion, as our

Stijn Smeets
Jan 63 min read


feminist men: emancipated, not castrated
"Most men are unlikely to respond to what they may hear as a feminist call for guilt, contrition, submission and/or disempowerment, yet...

Stijn Smeets
Nov 1, 20243 min read


are you meditating or dissociating?
Meditation (and mindfulness-related processes) and dissociation can overlap. Both can help us become more present, still, grounded in the mo

Stijn Smeets
Oct 26, 20244 min read


what's guilt but a second-hand emotion?
Feeling guilty means believing you've done something wrong and feeling bad about it. It can serve as a useful signal—a prompt to care...

Stijn Smeets
Oct 24, 20243 min read


my prayer begins in the shadow
my prayer begins in the shadow most intimate lover of my pain destitute and abandoned I lift my eyes in gratitude broken and lost...

Stijn Smeets
Oct 23, 20241 min read


consciously blaming another is a contradiction: when you are conscious, there is no other.
Comment from a reader on this blog post ( existential kink: undoing ourselves with radically owned honesty ): “ How beautiful, and...

Stijn Smeets
Oct 22, 20243 min read


pretending to be spiritual is worse than being ordinary
Comment from a reader on this blog post ( existential kink: undoing ourselves with radically owned honesty ): “I feel that a lot of zen...

Stijn Smeets
Oct 21, 20243 min read


forgiving means acknowledging my confusion
“What can be given to me is of no interest. I’m only interested in what no one can give me or take away from me. Everything else is...

Stijn Smeets
Oct 20, 20242 min read


silent meditation is an erotic encounter with the self
“Eroticism is assenting to life up to the point of death” - Georges Bataille The erotic is a place where extremes touch. It is where...

Stijn Smeets
Oct 12, 20242 min read


blissful ignorance: without political awareness spirituality is stultifying
"A spiritual practice is liberating when it deconstructs the external and internalized power structures that shape how we speak, act,...

Stijn Smeets
Oct 6, 20244 min read


existential kink: undoing ourselves with radically owned honesty
"Radically owned honesty means disclosing yourself completely while taking full responsibility for your experience." drawing by Kerry...

Stijn Smeets
Oct 6, 20244 min read


caring by not taking care
"Presence is care. To be witnessed in the fullness of your humanity is being cared for." Caring for each other creates community,...

Stijn Smeets
Oct 3, 20244 min read
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