Infinite Smile

"The moment we recognize that the white hot fire of desire won't kill us, we begin deepening a practice that can't help but show Freedom."

"The light of awareness has the ability to break the bonds that continually prevent deep clarity from tearing down the boundary between self and Infinite."

"I wrote Awake in This Life because I didn't have much of a choice. Too many people have an awful choice that involves either trying to fit into the religious tradition of their past which no longer holds much relevance, or they can choose to have no spiritual life at all. This isn't a choice that people have to make. There is another way."

"Let clarity reflect itself internally so that the question of what you want allows you to get out of your own way."

"The mask of personality is also a blinder to what is infinite in others."

In this podcast, Michael shares his experience of going through the deep trials of spiritual work. Rather than being impediments to the Path, Michael argues that the powerful challenges that stillness brings helps to bring light into and through our work. This paradox, while confusing to the mind, helps us uncover the spaciousness that lies beyond the mind.

"When we live from a place of non-opposition, we have more tools with which to build lives of meaning."

"Whether or not the Buddha actually lived or not has nothing to do with our awakening. Clinging to stories that surround our ideas of the Buddha, or Christ, or any other mystic are what let our fundamentalist natures flourish."

"What is it to be a self? What is it that wants to hang on to things we know will be taken away?"

"The ego can't control the process unless there is movement."

"Problems show up along the Path when we start asking questions like: Where do I move to become still?"

"You've got to want Freedom in order to taste it. This doesn't mean that we attach to the goal, but we do have to lean intentionally into the endeavor."

When we allow for us to see what is True about all things, we see ourselves.

"Having a sense of the Ultimate Truth, even uncovering a deep realization of the Ultimate Truth, is not enough."

"It doesn't matter where you are, or what state you are in. Just practice there."

In this podcast, Michael discusses how our willingness to not get anything even as we give shows us the Path to Awakening.

In this podcast, Michael discusses the loss of a sangha member and how this loss has inspired so many to deepen their practice.

In this podcast, we've combined three sections of different talks. Common among each talk is Michael's assertion that meditation is the simplest and yet the most demanding of all activities.

In this evening's talk, Michael talks about how meditation is the simplest and the most demanding of all activities.

In this evening's talk, Michael talks about how the study of our negativity frees us from its hooks and barbs.