THE WORDLESS LIBRARY
ARTICLES, QUOTES, POETRY, ESSAYS AND OTHER WRITINGS by JEFF FOSTER
“In this presence beyond presence,
In this place that is no place at all,
In this warm embrace I call myself,
Even a ‘no’ is a secret yes,
Even resistance is deeply allowed,
Even doubt is a celebration of life… “
– from ‘The Promise’
facebook – jeff’s newest writing appears daily on facebook!
jeff’s quotes – jeff’s quotes about love, pain, healing, acceptance, enlightenment, compassion…
jeff foster en español – some of jeff’s writings translated into spanish on facebook
jeff foster en français – some of jeff’s writings translated into french on facebook
jeff foster auf deutsch – some of jeff’s writings translated into german on facebook
on living in deep acceptance
You Are Perfect Exactly As You Are – discovering radical self-acceptance in each and every moment
The Deepest Acceptance – a very short introduction to Jeff’s core teaching
Deep Acceptance of Life… And Saying “No”! – the cosmic YES that holds the worldly yes and no
On Trying To Allow This Moment – life allows us, we don’t need to allow life
An Invitation to Rest Deeply in Present Experience – right now, it’s okay not to have all the answers
Sitting in the Unresolved – The True Meditation – on welcoming the present moment as a dear friend
The Peace That Cannot be Destroyed – on recognising yourself as peace itself
The Inseparability of Wisdom and Love – awareness and contents of awareness are not-two
How Deeply Can We Meet? – the final teacher is life itself
This Living Day – embracing a new day full of possibilities
The Ocean is Waving! – the mystery of the ocean and the waves…
The Divine Mess of Your Life – why your life isn’t supposed to ‘work’
“I was speaking with a friend who had suddenly lost someone very close to him. His heart was broken wide open. He felt raw, exposed, unprotected, vulnerable, devoid of answers, unable to comprehend the mysteries of birth and death and sudden loss, unable to comfort himself with clichés. Why do loved ones disappear overnight? Why does such beauty seem to vanish so quickly? Why is there such pain, and why is there such grace?”
Read more: How to Meet Heartbreak
on healing, therapy, depression and the end of suffering
Divine Suicide – the story of a woman’s depressive breakdown and her call to awakening
Be Passionately Alive – on the common question “What should I do with my life?”
On Grief, Loss, Death and Awakening from Dreams – the deeper meaning of our grief
Grief’s Hidden Secrets – an invitation to stay with the pain
The Roots of Addiction – exploring addiction from a ‘nondual’ perspective
Addiction: The Search for Unconditional Love – another view on addiction
On Dis-Illusionment – the joy and pain of losing our illusions
On Insomnia – the deep surrender of sleep
Depression: The Open Secret – what depression is trying to tell us
On Feeling Misunderstood – on waiting for understanding
We Do Not Suffer Alone – suffering does not belong to ‘you’
Why Life Is Never As Bad As You Think – we only ever have to deal with a moment…
Fear Of Death Is Fear Of Life – why they are one and the same
How to Meet Heartbreak – the broken heart does not want easy answers
The True Worth in Feeling Worthless – the deeper secrets contained in everything we call ‘negative’
Therapy Without a Therapist – how does nonduality relate to healing and therapy?
A Healing Conversation – awareness and sadness have a little chat
The Purging of Guilt – on the stagnated life-energy known as ‘guilt’
Our Longing For Home – on what all beings truly long for
on relationships, compassion, listening, and the end of human conflict
Taking Sides – remembering that we are only fighting ourselves
Awakening To Great Compassion – the illusory barriers between each other…
Dirty Love – love is not what you think
The End Of Conflict – waking up from violence
The Nature Of Evil – nobody is good or evil
On Receiving Criticism – how can we listen without prejudice?
On Forgiveness – how do we forgive each other our trespasses?
On Discernment – the difference between judgement and discernment
On Judgement and Judging Judgement – the ins and outs of judgement
Listening To Each Other – coming out of conclusions
The Masculine and Feminine ‘Principles’ – we are all masculine and feminine
The Miracle of “Hello” – making the ordinary extraordinary
on the pathless path of spiritual awakening
Follow, Follow, Follow, Follow, Follow The Yellow Brick Road – we are all Dorothy…
The Journey After Awakening – nobody just “awakens” one day, and never suffers again…
Sitting with Discomfort – the deepest part of self-realisation
A Challenge For The Awakened – is our understanding reflected in our behaviour?
The Furnace of Awakening – ordinary life and the embodiment of awakening
“Am I Bovvered?” – mistaking detachment for awakening
Forgetting Who You Are – is awakening a goal, a path, or the journey itself? can it be lost?
Living Nonduality – not just playing with concepts, but actually living this teaching
This Living Teaching – advaita, nonduality, and holding father’s hand as he crosses the road
Realising “There Is No Me” – On intellectual understanding versus living realisation
In A Time of Crisis – the true meaning of ‘crisis’
Thought Cannot Buy Happiness – losing faith in mind
You Will Lose Everything – facing the reality of life
Alone With Life – the difference between loneliness and aloneness
“We can view depression not as a mental illness, but on a deeper level, as a profound, and very misunderstood, state of deep rest, entered into when we are completely exhausted by the weight of our own false story of ourselves. It is an unconscious loss of interest in the second-hand – a longing to ‘die’ to the false. This longing needs to be honoured, not medicated, meditated or analysed away.”
Read more: Divine Suicide
on spirituality
Nondual Yin and Yang – the opposites penetrate each other
Money and Spirituality – from personal profit and loss to universal prosperity
The Creation and Destruction of Karma – an alternative perspective on karma
The Nonduality of the Cross – an alternative perspective on the crucifixion
Detachment or Devotion? – two paths, same origin, same destination
The Essential Understanding – what goes to the core of all the world’s religions?
We Are One, But We Are Not The Same – how oneness manifests as diversity and uniqueness
Nothing is Everything – the ultimate paradox
A New Dawn in Spirituality – a report from the SAND conference in Holland, 2012
A Humanised Nonduality – nonduality as an absolute embrace of our relative humanness
A Call to Arms – a call for total transparency
On Being a Spiritual Teacher – spiritual teachers are human beings too!
Confessions of a Failed Spiritual Teacher – jeff talks about his role
I Mean What I Say – speaking from the heart…
“I May Be A Teacher, But I’m Just Like You” – awakening from the dream of specialness
Eat My Words – shedding the ‘teacher’ role in favour of presence
Death: The End Of Life? – another perspective on death
To Meet in the Play – jeff’s official statement on what it means to be a teacher
on meetings and retreats
What happens during a meeting or retreat? – a few words about what to expect
“Sometimes you will doubt what you are doing, and you may romanticise the old days when things were easier and more predictable, but then you will suddenly remember that the old way was false and never worked for you and that’s why everything had to change. Yes, it’s a risk to donate your life to what you love and what moves you and brings you joy, but having a comfortable and predictable life pales in comparison to feeling deeply, passionately alive and meeting each new day with fresh eyes and an open heart…”
Read more: Be Passionately Alive
on nonduality and Advaita
Awakening from the Dream of Nonduality – why jeff is not identified as being a ‘teacher of nonduality’
On Neo-Advaita – leaving the ‘there is no me’ club
There is No Choice – the trap of believing in the absence of free will
What is Non-Duality? – an interview on the basic message of nonduality
Why The Impersonal Does Not ‘Exist’ – the birth and death of fundamentalism
Does Nonduality mean ‘Not Duality’? – the metaphor of the wave and the ocean may help…
Is the Self an ‘Illusion’? Do I ‘Exist’? – some helpful pointers to clear up these misunderstood words
jeff foster’s poetry and prose poetry
> More Poetry…
“There is a locked vault containing everything you’ve ever longed for – all the riches of the universe. You spend your life trying to open the vault – through struggling, striving, meditating, transcending, guru-worshipping,believing, rejecting, accepting, praying, self-enquiring, yoga-ing, and so on and so on. Finally, exhausted, you give up trying to open the vault….. and that’s when the vault opens by itself. It was never locked in the first place. What’s inside the vault? This moment, exactly as it is.”
Read more: Quotes
a bit of fun
A Secret Love Affair with Life – jeff’s adventures at home, and in a supermarket…
Imagine a game… – the greatest game ever devised!
From Womb to Womb (via Tomb) – do we long to return to the womb?
The Advaita Trap – a funny look at how even ‘nonduality’ can be turned into a religion!
The Balloon – nonduality in a nutshell