ON DEATH AND DYING: ILLNESS AND GRIEF What is grief?/ can it be used to find deeper truth?/ grief as loss of a dream; as breakdown of expectations; as appreciation beyond separation; as context for looking at suffering/ coping with a friend's dying; fear of letting go, denial, and healing into life and death/ karmic responsibility for someone's death? Letter offering a spiritual context for understanding death and meaning of life/ seeing through illusion of separation. 90 minute cassette

ON DEATH AND DYING: SUFFERING AS GRACE On suffering and grace?/ advice on how to live with having the AIDS virus?/ traditional medicine helping people confront disability or death? RD's vision of spiritual caretaking and conscious dying/ does illness always serve liberation? perspectives of soul vs. personality/ levels of prayer in relation to suffering?/ effect of sleeping pills and coma on awareness?/ using mediation in healing?/ finding faith? overcoming sense of helplessness in work with terminally ill?/ what happens after death? cosomology of the migration, incarnation and evolution of souls. 90 minute cassette

ON RIGHT LIVELIHOOD: WORK, MONEY AND BURNOUT SIDE A: Finding a fulfulling livelihood? being true to oneself; stages of spiritual journey and work; being fulfilled in roles without getting caught in them/ to keep or leave a high pressure job/ Spiritual growth possible from any choice; example of prison work/ how much money do we need? relativity of 'enoughness'; stories about money; money as play energy; faith; further clarifications. SIDE B: Finding our right livelihood/ appreciating human predicament; tuning to, not judging, the part we play/ on finding balance; art of living as coming back into the present/ how to use one's job for spiritual growth? story of prison-ashram project; disciplining the mind/ avoiding burnout; non-identification with actor; stuff for one's spiritual curriculum; perspectives to view it/ 'busyness' and impatience; cultivating spacious awareness and patience/ Sri Ram. 90 minute cassette

KARMA YOGA AND COMPASSION: SERVICE AND SOCIAL ACTION Defining karma yoga, 'right action' and 'compassion'/ manifesting these in our lives/ developing "compassionate action"/ serving without attachment to recognition or results/ the hard line of compassion (when to say "no")/ deciding who needs to be helped and how much is "enough"/ responding to a friend in despair/ avoiding burn-out in helping/ feelings of helplessness at the enormity of social problems and the magnitude of suffering/ "comapassion fatigue" 90 minute cassette

KARMA YOGA AND COMPASSION: POLITICS AND SPIRITUALITY Dealing with feelings aroused (hate, anger) at suffering created by others/ dealing with another's negativity without creating karma for ourselves/ examining motivations for social action/ responding to projections of others/ finding balance between "inner" and "outer" work/ RD's growing edge/ compassionate actions towards those who create suffering/ what we can contribute to politics; example of RD and homelessness/ why a spiritual person gets involved in politics; example of Jai Lakshman's involvement with nuclear waste issues/ what to to as parents concerned with politics and ecology/ facing the possible death of our planet. 90 minute cassette

ON SELFHOOD: SPIRITUALITY AND PERSONALITY Healing early psychological traumas; interface of psychology & spirituality/ using such healing for spiritual growth/ sense in which we "create our own reality"; who we are vs. who we think we are/ identifying with vs. fulfilling one's roles/ art form of life as impeccably moving from role to role; example of being an impeccable lawyer/ on "letting go" to just BE who I am/ the process of disintegration of personal identity (of 'somebody' becoming 'nobody'); bringing this awareness of "no-self" into daily life/ nature and role of ego vs. higher consciousness/ distinguishing 'intuitive heart' from voice of ego/ when to do psychodynamic vs. spiritual work. 90 minute cassette

PERSONALITY AND EMOTIONS: FEAR, ANGER AND LOVE Bhakti yoga, using our emotions on the spiritual path/ 'anger' and how to "give it up"/ 'righteous anger' vs. 'appropriate anger'/ 'fear' and it's transformations/ root of fear as one's model of separateness; ways of dealing with it/ judgmental mind vs. loving and appreciating oneself/ relation between fear and love/ open heart, love, God & Zen/ the desire for happiness/ Emmanuel's wisdom on fear and love. 90 minute cassette

PERSONALITY AND EMOTIONS: HEALING OUR EMOTIONS Spiritual techniques to use when overcome by emotion/ healing our emotional bodies/ role of therapy/ confronting and going beyond our darker sides/ forgiveness/ accepting vs. giving help/ establishing healthy boundaries/ "letting go" in a relationship without feeling one is losing a part of oneself; the desire to be "right"/ 'surrender' as dissolving boundaries. 60 minute cassette

SEX AND SPIRITUALITY: Integrating sex and spirituality; yoga as a transformation of energy systems/ energy (shakti), desire and obsession in the chakra system of the body/ purpose of orgasm and sexual energy/ "right sexual conduct"/ making sex sacred/ cultivating appropriate sex/ transforming sexual energy and desire systems/ difficulties of tantric sex/ moving energy up the charkas/ lust vs. compassion/ RD's integration of sex and spirituality/ the nature of kundalini energy; effect of its blockage; integration into daily life. 90 minute cassette

ATTACHMENT AND ADDICTION Attachment, guilt and spiritual practice/ addictions as attempts to remove the pain of separateness/ co-dependency models of relationship to God/ addictive desires from a spiritual perspective; Uncle Henry story/ sexual and intimacy issues/ diagnosing and treating the root cause of negative behavioral patterns/ spiritual practices as addictive mind-traps/ recognizing patterns of self-destruction, compulsion and addiction/ the founding of A.A. 90 minute cassette

INNER TUNING: CULTIVATING THE BALANCE Defining "inner tuning" and ways to work with it/ finding balance/ life-decisions, change and uncertainty/ accessing our "inner voice"/ ego vs. the inner voice/ art form of living with confusion/ "don't know" mind/ finding meaning in our lives/ listening for our unique purpose/ Karma and dharma/ changing life-plans/ perfectionist expectations preventing integration of heart and mind/ keeping one's heart open in face of suffering. 90 minute cassette

INNER TUNING: INTELLECT AND INTUITION Being a perfectionist vs. striving for impeccability/ "right effort"/ decision-making and listening deeply to the truth of each moment/ intellect vs. intuitive heart/ different levels of "heart"/ recognizing our fears and listening deeply/ becoming less invested in that part of us experiencing anger, grief or pain/ working with fear/ finding balance of inner and outer work/ bringing spirituality into daily life/ cultivating the "witness". 90 minute cassette

ON SPIRITUAL PRACTICE: FINDING THE MIDDLE WAY Benefits of a daily practice/ compassionate and disciplined practice/ sitting practice vs. working in a garden/ other forms of meditation and yoga/ knowing when we outgrow a practice/ role of effort in spiritual growth/ 'intuitive heart' and how we use it/ bhakti yoga and feelings of devotion/ feeling "stuckness" in spiritual practice/ effects of practice on motivational structure of our actions, jobs and lifestyles/ compatibility of "choiceless awareness" and action/ the moment of awakening. 90 minute cassette

ON SPIRITUAL PRACTICE: SPIRIT IN DAILY LIFE Is a satguru necessary for enlightenment?/ finding one's guru/ karmic curriculum and spiritual development/ helping others awaken spiritually/ meaning of secret practices and initiations/ going beyond "watching the breath" in meditation/ experiencing spiritual presence in daily life; a brief meditation exercise illustrating this. 90 minute cassette

THE PRACTICE OF "BE HERE NOW" Cultivating full awareness of the present moment/ what keeps us from being in the moment; example of doing dishes/ qualities of the heart-space when appreciating the present moment; example of watching a spider/ being in the present moment as optimum strategy preparing us for the next moment and as preparation for death/ 'right effort' for "being here now"/ attraction of living in the past or future that supercedes our desire to "be here now"/ coping with being torn between work and home life/ integrating 'intuition' into daily life; learning to be "free in forms"/ deepening appreciation of the ordinary; appreciation vs. judgment/ conditions and qualities of 'beingness'/ developing "witness awareness" while enjoying spontaneity and play/ RD swimming with dolphins. 90 minute cassette

SPIRITUAL PHILOSOPHY: DOUBT AND FAITH Absolute vs. relative reality/ overcoming doubt/ faith vs. belief/ benefits of doubt/ possibility of and attachment to and motivation for 'enlightenment'/ heaven and eternal damnation; hell as a thought-form/ doubt and fear/ faith, doubt and trust in method and where it takes you/ the finite and the infinite/ experience of meaninglessness and doubt vs. spiritual faith. 60 minute cassette

SPIRITUAL PHILOSOPHY: TRUTH AND BEING 'Being truthful' vs. 'being judgmental'/ example of being truthful with the dying and while doing bereavement counseling/ overcoming the illusion of ego-control and cultivating a state of "being" in total trust and harmony with the flow of life; ego-control vs. spiritual surrender/ on love and the beloved; the conditions and qualities of "beingness", where finite boundaries and separateness dissolve/ stages of "beingness" in the evolution of religions; partially vs. fully enlightened beings, upa- vs. sat-gurus and the meanings of stories from Maharajji and Jesus/ meaning of suffering; spiritual explanations of the holocaust and abortion. 60 minute cassette

SPIRITUALITY AND PSYCHEDELICS Social and political issues related to drugs/ escapism vs. sacramental use of drugs/ history of use of psychedelics/ how they work/ their effect on our egocentric predicament/ ritual and sacramental use/ sensory enhancements and shifts of perceptual boundaries/ enhanced "intuitive awareness"/ effects on social structures/ effects of illegality on 'set' or 'context' of their use/ experiences of 'psychological death'/ RD's experiences and shifts of consciousness/ absolute vs. relative reality/ cultural shifts and anachronism of chemicals today/ risks of use/ marijuana/ effects of chemicals on RD/ psychotropic drugs, "bad trips" and psychosis/ marijuana as a method/ viewing all methods as traps/ marijuana's effect on feelings of inadequacy, judgment and motivation/ depression/ getting free vs. getting high. 90 minute cassette