I’d like to talk to you about tantric mysticism.

Tantric mysticism is the networking of spiritual practices. Tantric mysticism, in short hand, is living in the world and attaining enlightenment.

Of course, I don’t know where else you could live and attain enlightenment.

There is a central dichotomy that seems to exist for a lot of people in spiritual practice. And that dichotomy is the spirit and the body, the world and other worlds, left and right, yin and yang, forward and backward.

The point of spiritual discovery is to show you that there is no dichotomy, that everything is one, and yet at the same time, one is diversity. People seem to have a lot of trouble with this, I’ve noticed.

It seems to me that most people who practice self-discovery are miserable. [Laughter.] They’re unhappy, they lead lives that they really don’t like, they don’t seem to have a good time with what they do. They’re always so busy trying to be good, that they don’t have any fun.

So, for those individuals who have done that for a while and have decided that it’s time for a change, I offer tantric mysticism.

Tantric mysticism is having fun with enlightenment.

Enlightenment is something that never happens to anyone, we all know that.

It’s this carrot at the end of the rainbow [laughter] that they always tell us will occur to us. But then if we listen very carefully, of course, as they say in the Gita and numerous other books, they say that basically the odds of an individual attaining enlightenment in any given lifetime are so ridiculous that Nick the Greek would never, ever consider betting on the side of an individual who tries to attain enlightenment.

It really doesn’t matter. That’s the central theme of tantric mysticism. [Laughter.] But you have to understand that it really doesn’t matter in a very precise way.

In other words, it really matters that it doesn’t matter, quite a bit. Because if you just say “It doesn’t matter,” then obviously it matters, it matters because it doesn’t matter. Whereas if it doesn’t matter, it really matters.

Now you’re beginning to understand tantric mysticism [laughter.]

Tantric mysticism is a very, very advanced form of spiritual practice and most people have a lot of trouble with it, so I don’t recommend it. Because they really don’t want to be happy and have a good time with what they do.

Also, it really involves a lot of sophistication. If a person still wants to follow the school of thought that there’s a school of thought, it won’t work. It’s the pure acceptance of the ridiculousness of all life, at the same time with a sense of tremendous purpose and a want for nothing but light and purity and truth.

It’s a realization that we have one side of ourselves that is immortal and luminous and perfect. And another side of ourselves that is just the opposite. And that both are equally holy and they fit together perfectly. Except that sometimes we don’t think that they do, and they do anyway, but sometimes we don’t think that they do.

So tantric mysticism, then, involves the use of any spiritual methodology. Yet it’s a way in itself.

It’s not simply a Unitarianism in the sense that it’s a blending, and the composite end is the blend. Not at all. Tantric mysticism is a specific method of spiritual practice. Yet it can use all other methods of spiritual practice.

So for example, the student of tantric mysticism is free to practice Zen, the yoga of love, the yoga of selfless giving, the yoga of power, Buddhism, shamanism, it really doesn’t matter. Any place that you find anything that will help you, regardless of what the “ism” is, it’s useful. Wherever you see truth. And if you see truth at Denny’s [laughter] and if you see truth in church, if you see truth out at the power spot, wherever it is, it’s still truth. What’s the difference?

So tantric mysticism has a lot of etiquette, but no rules. And the etiquette is not something that can be explained, per se. It’s something that you learn as you go deeper into the study.

The reason it’s difficult for a lot of people is because there are no rules, and people love rules and regulations, because then they have something to rebel against [laughter.] And if there’s no rules and regulations to rebel against, then what are you going to do with the rest of your life? So tantric mysticism is the ultimate frustration for most people. It’s the only path where they don’t tell you what to do.

Lots of recommendations are made in tantric mysticism. So many in fact, that it’s confusing. Because opposites will be recommended all the time. Because one thing is as good as another.

The trick with tantric mysticism is to find what works. And that will change as you change.

So whether we’re dealing with the sophistications of the Tibetan Rebirth Process and the dissolution of the self and the assumption of caretaker personalities, if we’re out at the desert moving through the luminous realities, through the vortex in the doorway, into the other worlds.

If we’re at work and just being conscious and directing what we do to eternity, if we’re at the movies, if we’re in love, it really doesn’t matter, because everything is eternal.

Yet it’s not simply that realization that is tantric mysticism.

Tantric mysticism is the way of not getting stuck in any form of self-discovery, essentially. Using them all, but at the same time remaining a little bit beyond them, without a sense that one is superior to them in any way.

Tantric mysticism is fascinating because in the history of self-discovery, if we examine it, either in the West or East or anyplace else, what we find is that people like to set up oppositions. Tantric mysticism, of course, has nothing to do with oppositions. It recognizes the tension of oppositions and uses that tension, that polarity as something positive.

Tantra is the reconciliation of opposites.

The tantras, of course are the ancient sacred books of the East that outline tons and tons of ways to attain enlightenment and advanced states of spiritual consciousness. But when I use the term I mean it as “the reconciliation of opposites,” seeing that opposites aren’t exactly opposite. Some days they are, some days they aren’t. Some days they’re complements. Some days they’re the same thing.

In other words, the rules change all the time. It’s as if you were playing chess and suddenly they tell you that the moves that a queen can normally make can’t be made anymore, because there was a rule change. And then that works fine for a while, and as soon as you learn that, they tell you, “Well it changed again.”

As soon as you hold on to something, they take it away from you. And then after a while you think you can outsmart them by not holding onto anything, you see. And then they say, “Well, that doesn’t work either.”

Tantric mysticism gives you nothing to hold onto. There’s even more in Zen, and in Zen there’s nothing. [Laughter.]

Now, naturally, there are basic elements in tantric mysticism. The two most prominent, of course, are meditation and selfless giving. And the two primary qualities necessary for study along the way are humility and purity. It’s a very traditional form of self-discovery.

But it doesn’t mean that you hate yourself, it’s the only thing that doesn’t work, you see. The idea is that you don’t need to hate yourself. Yet if you find yourself hating yourself, you use it. [Laughter.] There’s nothing that doesn’t work in tantric mysticism.

Tantric mysticism is the study not just of your own personal realization, but of life. And we feel that everything that happens to us, or that we observe, can be used for our advancement, no matter what it is.

Now, there are those in the world, of course, who think that the practice of tantric mysticism gives them license to do all those little nasty things that they’ve always wanted to do. There are those who think,

• “Well, God, I’ve always wanted to do so-and-so and such-and-such, and if I practice tantric mysticism, it means that everything is OK, and everything is taking me towards enlightenment.

• “So I’ve always had this ‘urge’ to go to bed with a thousand people at once. [Laughter.]

• “So now that I study tantric mysticism, of course, it’s OK, because it’s spiritual.” [Laughter.]

That’s not exactly tantric mysticism. No. No, it’s limited to groups of a hundred and under. [Tremendous laughter from the audience, Rama joins in.]

The other side of tantric mysticism is of course mysticism. Mysticism is the study and the application of power and going through different realities and fields of attention.

Some people are under the auspices of a school of thought that suggest that all there is, is God and light and luminosity, and that there are no levels, and to be exploring other planes of reality takes you away from enlightenment. And I don’t think so, because enlightenment exists in everything, in the finite and the infinite, what’s the difference?

That’s our koan of the night. “What’s the difference?”

You can be busily at work and realize eternity. You can be meditating and do the same. It really doesn’t matter.

So tantric mysticism then involves the analysis of power. How it works in your life. Where you gain it, where you lose it, how to increase it. How to move through different layers of attention, to move through different worlds, planes of existence, the bardos. While here, now. Or to see that you’re not here now, that it’s just an illusion. Which is very real.

So on the one hand, tantric mysticism then is the networking of various forms of spiritual discovery. And in tantric mysticism we study Zen. We study karma yoga. We study all the different traditional forms, and we use them. At the same time we feel that life in the shopping mall is as important as life in the meditation hall, because it’s all life.

That’s why this doesn’t work for a lot of people. You see, people like to keep things segmented. They like their good to be good and their bad to be bad. And if the two suddenly seem to be interactive, it upsets them. So tantric mysticism doesn’t work for people like that, nor should it. There are other forms that do.

Tantric mysticism is for the person who can see that there is dark and there is light, and at the same time there’s something beyond both. And that we don’t have to have one or the other, we have them all. That it’s not bad to be physical in the world, because that’s part of God. And at the same time to go beyond that is fine, too.

And then you can be beyond it and in it at the same time, or do neither. And enter into nirvana, where all such distinctions go away.

So when you practice tantric mysticism, you’re always “on.” You’re always on stage. It’s not the sense that, “Now I’m going to go sit and meditate and be spiritual. And then later on I’m going to go out and do things that are not spiritual.”

There’s no difference. Everything is spiritual, everything is holy.

But again, it’s not simply that thought, “Well, now I know that, so everything’s OK.”

No. No, that’s a very superficial judgment. Rather it means that you will be seeing the eternal in the finite, and the finite in the infinite.

It means that when you’re with people you try and serve them without a sense of self-importance. It means that no matter what is happening, you’re meditating. Not in the sense of being spaced out and not being in the world, but rather being conscious.

And that you don’t mix up your realities, at least not for a while.

That when you’re in the office you pay attention to office work, and you get it done perfectly and impeccably. And when you’re meditating you do the same thing.

And you realize that there are different languages, just as we dress differently for different occasions. We may dress one way to jog, another way when we work, and it’s best not to get them confused. Because it’s very hot to jog in a three-piece suit, you see, and you look kind of ridiculous in your Nike shorts in the office.

So tantric mysticism is a very sophisticated study. It suggests that there’s a time and place for everything and for nothing. And sometimes there’s no time and place. It alters according to reality.

And you change realities constantly and depending upon the reality you’re in, everything is different. So if you’re in one plane of attention, there’s one language to be spoken, there’s one etiquette. If you move into another plane of attention—into another reality, another bardo—it all changes. As do you. You might become a different self in a different reality, or then be no self whatsoever. No doctrine, in other words.

Unless it’s the reverence for life.

No preconceptions.

So the student of tantric mysticism, then, meditates, of course, and does everything that everyone else does in all the other paths. The only difference is that they have more fun.

Because in most spiritual practice—and I don’t think this is necessarily the purpose of the practice, I think this is just what people do with it—people hate themselves, or they hate the study, or they hate everybody else. There’s a lot of frustration.

There’s this sense that in order to be a higher self or a better person or lead a better life, or whatever it might be, “I have to do this, and I can’t do this.” And as soon as you decide that, you go to war with yourself. And in a war, no one wins.

Because you’re gonna set up polar opposites:

• “I desire, I want, I think this is good, this would be fun.

• “But they say in the book that I read that this isn’t good. They say this is good. I really don’t want to do it, I’m not quite in the mood. I can force myself to do it.

• “Yes, I’ll do it. And I’ll hate it every minute, and I’ll get frustrated.”

That does not engender spiritual progress or enlightenment, at all, that attitude.

What works is being happy. Happy not only in the relative sense of a transitory happiness, but in the sense of attaining inner peace, becoming conscious of eternity.

Becoming consciousness itself and beyond it. That’s what I mean by happy.

That’s what works.

You should see dramatic, tremendous changes in your self-discovery all of the time. You should be a new person constantly. The old self has dissolved, the new self, more refined self appears. That self dissolves.

That’s tantric mysticism.

It’s going from self to self, from form to formlessness, without ever feeling that we’re really a part of anything, yet everything is our family, everything is our self.

We don’t feel that we have to destroy the self to attain enlightenment, because there’s no self to destroy.

So it’s a very difficult way for some people. Because it means that whatever life does is right. You have to have, in other words, a complete and childlike faith in God, in eternity, whatever phrase you want to use for that miserable force that runs our destiny.

No! I mean for that wonderful force [laughter] that runs our destiny. You just have to have complete faith in it. ’Cause what choice do you have, anyway? When was the last time you were consulted about your destiny? [Laughter.]

So you might as well go along with the program. Because otherwise you’re going to be very unhappy.

In other words, eternity does everything perfectly. Did you ever try and argue with God? It’s a one-way experience. [Laughter.]

So in tantric mysticism, we feel that rather than argue, it’s better to make friends. To see that we are God, that everything is one, and everything is diverse. And to not set up rigid standards that we have to follow which we know we won’t. Nor to just give in to every thought and desire that we have, because that won’t make us happy either.

Rather, just to leave ourselves alone. To meditate, to do all we can for everyone else without getting stuck in that, and thinking how wonderful we are for doing that, and to just be, essentially.

To learn the various spiritual methodologies and disciplines that engender enlightenment and practice them, whatever ones appeal to us. And keep studying.

To feel that there’s no end to truth, there’s no end to enlightenment. There’s no best way. Each way is a wonderful way, if it works at the time. And if it doesn’t work for us, it may work for someone else.

To not get caught in systems, but to use them. I suppose tantric mysticism is—if I can use a computer analogy—it’s spiritual systems analysis and networking.

And at the same time to just know that all there is to know is what we know at the time.

Does that make sense? I’m not sure. It’s not always necessary to make sense. That’s a difficult one for some people.

In other words, you don’t have to understand life. You can’t, it’s impossible to understand life. You can become fully conscious of it, merge with it, be it, and go beyond it, but you can’t understand it. That’s what makes it exciting. But one should never stop trying. That’s tantric mysticism.

In other words, you accept that you’ll never be enlightened, because you can’t possibly be enlightened. Because the you you are now will never be enlightened. It will go away. Well, something else may be enlightened, or you may be enlightenment. But that’s just a word, anyway, what’s the difference?

It’s that koan, it comes around again. Sort of like Alice’s Restaurant.¹¹

ॐ

A sense of humor is very important in the practice of tantric mysticism.

But not the sense of humor that is dependent upon the expense of others, nor the one that lacks refinement. Some people get so caught in their humor, you see, they use it as an escape. Rather, humor is.

Tantric mysticism is a very, very, refined spiritual pathway. It means that we’ve already learned how to be a very nice person, and it means that we’ve already done all the essentially right things, or if not, we’re working at it.

It doesn’t mean that we abandon ourselves to anything.

To really abandon oneself to God requires tremendous discipline and patience, and years and lifetimes of practice.

When we talk about abandonment, we don’t mean the abandonment of the person who says, “Oh sure, I’ll do whatever I want, that’s spiritual.” Well, I suppose that is. For them. But that’s not tantric mysticism.

Tantric mysticism means that you already have it down, and you give it up. It means that once you’ve succeeded, you go beyond success.

A lot of people avoid success for various reasons. And they think that by shunning success, they’ll succeed in a spiritual way.

In other words, if I leave the material world, if I put it down, if I put down money, if I put down sex, if I put down my friends, all these things, somehow I’m going to be a holy person. With the thought, that all those who don’t do what I do, are not holy. How ridiculous! What egotism and vanity!

Sometimes a person needs that, though. At that stage of their development, they need to say those things. Because that’s the direction life is bringing them in. So there’s a tremendous tolerance for all, yet at the same time, not to get stuck even in tolerance.

Tantric mysticism takes us into the superconscious. It’s the only way it can really be practiced. Otherwise it’s just a lot of ideas.

But when you’re able to move into the superconscious awareness—in other words, deep meditation, where we go beyond the body, beyond time and beyond space—then you can begin to practice tantric mysticism on a more sophisticated level.

Because then, what will happen, is you’ll do that, you’ll go into a higher plane of attention, and the world goes away, time goes away, space goes away, everything goes away.

But then, you’ll be here again, and it’s very disconcerting at first.

• You’re in the world again, and you have to fill out your tax form, and you have to arrange the meeting, and you have to talk to this person, and you have to deal with your aging body, and all the different things that are happening in the world

• And five minutes ago you were meditating and you were absorbed in the superconscious, and you were perfect light, and now you’re here again.

Now, for most people that’s very difficult. They set up this dichotomy. One is spiritual, one is not, but you see, tantric mysticism saves you.

Because it shows you that, how wonderful, now we’re here, now let’s do the best we can with this particular world, and bring the awareness of the superconscious into it. Let’s do everything we do as perfectly as possible, without setting up an idea of what perfection is. If you decide to will it, will it. If you don’t will it and you just let it happen, let it happen. Either is fine. Trust yourself.

For about a minute a day. [Laughter.] That’s tantric mysticism.

So see, I can’t really explain what tantric mysticism is. It’s more of a feeling. It’s kind of like the door is shutting.

• You know there are a pair of electric doors, huge doors, right? And you want to get to the other side, what’s on the other side of them.

• And naturally, you show up just as the doors are almost closed.

• So what you do is you zip through, and there is a very good possibility that you’ll get crushed by these giant doors.

• But you just manage to slide through at the last moment!

That’s tantric mysticism. It’s just sliding through. Reality to reality, loka to loka, the finite and the infinite. Without a problem.

And to find that when you’re frustrated, even though you were just in a very high field of attention—and there was nothing but joy and happiness and now you’re frustrated, and you can’t figure out why that happens—not to worry about it, to use it. To see that there’s something there that can be learned.

And “Recognition,” as they say in the Tibetan Book of the Dead, “is liberation.” That’s tantric mysticism. To recognize where you are.

As long as you try and cover it up and pretend it’s not so, there’s no growth. You’re fixated.

You see, tantric mysticism has a lot to do with attraction and repulsion.

Whenever you run towards something, you’re fixated. Which doesn’t mean you shouldn’t run towards it. You can run towards it, you just shouldn’t be fixated when you run.

Whenever you run away from something, you’re fixated. Well, there’s some things in life that’s very good to run away from. But you just shouldn’t be fixated when you run away. Easy to say, difficult to do.

ॐ

Tantric mysticism is the realization of eternal awareness, and to feel that every moment is of equal importance. The moment of your birth, the moment of your death. Because they’re all happening at the same time constantly. You’re not one finite person fixed in a body in time and space. You are!

But at the same time you pass through all levels of attention, all realities. You’re a conglomerate. You’re made up of countless selves.

And at the same time there is no self. It depends on the level of attention that you’re in. In some levels of attention, there’s no self. In others there’s self. It’s all the same.

Or is it? Hmmmm. In tantric mysticism, one is always suspicious. [Laughter.]

You can’t trust anyone, particularly yourself. Which doesn’t mean you shouldn’t trust. You can trust without trusting. Or is it the other way around? In tantric mysticism you’re never sure which way it is, except that you assume the way you’re going is the way it is. And even if it’s not, it might be an interesting place to go.

You’re beginning to get disappointed, I can see. [Audience laughs.]

Use it! [Rama laughs.] Hmmm.

It’s a complex subject.

Most people I observe in self-discovery hate themselves. Or they try and hide themselves. The idea is, if I don’t really accept what I feel, because it’s not spiritual—whatever that means—if I just sort of pretend it’s not there, it’ll all be OK. I’ll just do what it said on page 31. And it’ll work out.

On the other hand, of course, the other school of thought is, “Well, don’t worry about what it says on page 31, just do what you want! And that’ll be wonderful.” [Laughter.]

Now you can do either—you probably have done both at one time or another—but it didn’t bring you enlightenment, did it? Ha! Got you there!

So tantric mysticism, then, is neither. You might find yourself in either, but it doesn’t matter, does it. I’m not sure. I lose track. But anyway—it’s in the middle.

You see, that door is closing, you just have a moment to go through it. And you’ve got to slide right on through. If you get stuck, what do you do then? Die. [Laughter.]

Well, it could be worse. There are worse things than death. Life. [Laughter.] You haven’t lived too many lives if you don’t know what I mean. But anyway. We’ll let that one go by.

See, that’s what you do in tantric mysticism, you see, you let it go by. It doesn’t matter what it is, you let it go by.

• Somebody comes up and says, “Would you marry me?!” And they’re everything you always wanted, you see. The perfect person. Yech. [Laughter.]

• But you know, they come up to you and they say, “Will you marry me!!??” And you say, “Uh … sure … If that’s what you really want!” [Lots of laughter.]

• Since it really doesn’t matter, or does it?

• So then you go, you get the license, you get blood tests, you go through the whole thing. You get to the ceremony and you’re standing there …

• And they say, “Will you (ahemahem) take (ahemahem) to be your lawful (ahemahem)?”

• And you go, “I’m not sure. It depends on what plane of attention I’m in. Which self are you asking?” [Laughter throughout.]

• At this point your perfect person will begin to eye you. “Jesus, stop it Henry, everybody’s listening!”

Now you could not show up, you could just not go to the wedding at all, or you could just get all of the presents and split. [Lots of laughter.]

I don’t know, it doesn’t really matter, I don’t think. It might to others though. See, that’s the thing you have to consider, is the welfare of others. Otherwise it would be easy.

But in tantric mysticism we have to be more concerned with the welfare of others than with our own welfare. However, that doesn’t mean that you should allow anyone to abuse you in that name.

ॐ

When you try and pretend that you’re something that you’re not, you very cleverly keep yourself that way. To simply, do everything that you want to do, won’t change you either. This is what the student of Zen discovers. That,

• “Well, sure, if I do everything I want, if I fulfill all my desires then I’ll still be the same. The same person. They won’t necessarily go away. New ones will come. I’ll just want to do the same things again.

• “But then again, to not fulfill them won’t do anything either, then I’ll just be unhappy and I’ll be the same.

• “What do I do Zen Master?”

At which point he realizes that the Zen Master has gone. [Laughter.] Vacation in Barbados. [Laughter.] Very wise Zen Master. Leaving the student to figure it out for themselves. That’s tantric mysticism.

Because in tantric mysticism no one does it for you. Because if they do then it was their experience, not yours. It’s an experiential school is what I’m suggesting. You have to live your life.

There’s advice along the way.

• “Don’t get married.” [Laughter.]

But then there’s counter advice.

• “If you really want to get married you should definitely get married—the most wonderful thing you could do.” [Laughter.]

So the poor student is perplexed and doesn’t know what to do. They’re making progress then.

Well then, how do you ultimately decide? Flip a coin. [Laughter.]

That’s the way all great spiritual teachers have always made their decisions. [Laughter.] You flip a coin, but you flip a certain kind of coin that you get in spiritual teacher’s school in another world. And of course heads are both sides. [Laughter.]

So if you try and pretend that you’re not something, it doesn’t work. Because then you lead a false life. You try and pretend that … Let’s say you want to be a very reverent and spiritual person, and you have a concept of what that is.

• It’s walking around on air, hands folded, that sort of thing. Saying to everybody in sort of a flaky, bhakti conversational mode, “Oh yes, oh, everything is so wonderful, isn’t it?” [Laughter.]

People are dying all over the world, suffering. Everything isn’t “very wonderful,” necessarily. What do you mean, “It’s all wonderful”? Have you lived!?

• But then again, to go to the other side, and “Everything is miserable and terrible because everybody dies.”

Well, that’s not so bad. Life is eternal. Everything goes on. It’s just the surface that changes and when you really see, you see there is never anything to be sorry about.

The middle. That’s where the extremes meet. [Laughter.]

So, rather than trying to be your image of a spiritual seeker, or rather than taking a teacher—if you have one, a spiritual teacher—and setting them up on a pedestal and trying to make them into something that they’re not, everybody should just go out to a nice restaurant and have lunch. [Laughter.] That’s tantric mysticism.

But when you get there, you have to study the menu and assess it carefully. You have to look around, and observe the level of attention of everyone who’s there. You have to learn everything you can about that moment. If you’re eating a bowl of onion soup, you have to pay very, very particular attention to the onions.

And you have to decide whether it’s a good soup or bad soup. You can’t just say, “Well, it doesn’t matter.” Of course it matters, you’re paying for it. [Laughter.] You have to pay a lot of attention to that soup.

But then at the same time, you can move into another level of attention while you’re sitting there. The room will dissolve, everything will go away, you’ll go into a higher plane of attention, and it really doesn’t matter.

And there’s no disparity between the two. Unless you get them confused. Which some people do, in which case you’re confused.

Remember, you can only be confused, if you try and figure something out. [Laughter, some applause.]

So then, rather than try and pretend that you’re something that you’re not—just to be novel—why don’t you just accept yourself?

And you might find out that you’re many, many different things. That you do have desires, that if you follow them, will frustrate you and make you unhappy. You might have desires, that if you follow them will make you happy.

That’s karma. You have a choice, and you live with the results.

And not to be afraid of experimenting with your life. To feel that the way someone else attained enlightenment, is not necessarily the way that you did, but at the same time not to throw it all away.

To study the things that one can learn, and do your very best at all of them, all the traditional ways. Because obviously they did something for someone. Yet not to be bound by them.

Be creative in your self-discovery. And not just simply to be, if being means just being whatever you happen to want at the moment.

Because you can do that, but it’s just a subway ride that goes ’round and ’round. You’ll come back to the same station over and over.

No, it’s necessary to engender change in your existence. But the way to do it is not by forcing yourself into some pattern.

The way to do it is to meditate and to stop your thought, and to become conscious of immortality. And then change happens by itself. It’s very pleasant.

It’s not torture. You don’t have to hate yourself.

And to work for the welfare of others. Without feeling superior, feeling that you know more than they do, or that you are better in any way.

These things engender change in my experience. Not hating yourself. Yet if you find yourself hating yourself, to accept that as another transitory experience, another dream.

All of life is just a dream. Tantric mysticism is the study of dreaming. We move through different dreams. We experience each one, we accept it, we enjoy it. But then we move on to the next one.

We trust life implicitly. We simply don’t bind ourselves to any dreams, and if we find ourselves being bound, we accept that and do the best we can with it.

Tantric Mysticism.