Content Topics | Q&A

Fear, Money, Intimacy, Breakthrough: An Interview with Robert & Diane

April 27th, 2011 | By Robert Augustus Masters | Articles, Library | Topics: Awakening, Ego / Shadow, Emotions, Fear, Q&A

(This interview, conducted by Crystal Arnold in Ashland, originally appeared in The Sentient Times in November 2009)

Crystal: Understanding how to work with and transform fear is one of the most important skills we can master. Listening to the news, one has a plethora of things to be afraid of: nuclear war, climate change, swine flu, and the economy. Then there are also the unique life experiences that create fear within each of us, such as abandonment, betrayal, dying, lack of intimacy, or scarcity. Clearly, we cannot afford to ignore or avoid this primal human emotion. How is fear used to create a culture of control? » Read more: Fear, Money, Intimacy, Breakthrough: An Interview with Robert & Diane

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I-Thou: Spirit in the 2nd-Person

October 26th, 2010 | By Robert Augustus Masters | Articles, Library | Topics: Awakening, Meditation / Spiritual Practice, Q&A, Relationship

A.G. asked on March 30, 2009: Robert, during the most recent module of the Practicum you spoke about the I-Thou relationship to the divine, a.k.a. “God in the 2nd-person.” This is a subject that's been on my mind for a while now, having also come up during a one-day event with Terry Patten in Sacramento several weeks ago. I'd love for you to expand on what you said at the Practicum.

Could you tell us about your own relationship to spirit in the 2nd-person, how that evolved, and where you're at with it now? Why is it important to relate to Spirit in the 2nd person, as opposed to 1st- or 3rd-person? What blocks or limitations do people tend to have to relating to God or the Mystery in that way? What recommendations would you have for those wanting to cultivate such a relationship with the divine? » Read more: I-Thou: Spirit in the 2nd-Person

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What does it mean to be and feel feminine?

September 18th, 2010 | By Robert Augustus Masters | Articles, Library | Topics: Female/Male, Q&A, Relationship

S. asked on December 1, 2008: What does it mean to be and feel feminine?

Since we have both masculine and feminine in us, I would like to ask Robert this question: What does it mean to be and feel feminine?

Robert Augustus Masters:

As I’ve said before, I don’t find the categories of “feminine” and “masculine” very useful. Attributing qualities exclusively to one or the other tends to generate more confusion than clarity. Nevertheless, there’s still something to be said about what it means for a woman to step more deeply into her femininity, her quintessential femaleness. » Read more: What does it mean to be and feel feminine?

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Knowing When to Expose Wrongdoing

June 26th, 2010 | By Robert Augustus Masters | Articles, Library | Topics: Ego / Shadow, Q&A, Relationship

L.H. asked in 2006: Robert, I get so much from everything that you share, but this is standing out for me these days...

“...by putting our passion into leaving our prisons rather than trying to make them cozier or sexier (so that we, to take but one example, no longer confuse the eroticizing of unresolved issues with sexual freedom).”

I am finding it VERY challenging to watch this pattern in people in positions of power or in “committed relationships.” I feel like I am so keenly aware of the damage done to others from these positions and I desire to see that pain end. Its hard to enough to witness it in myself and others when we are going about our day to day (not as therapist, ministers etc), mostly due to the fact that I am still processing the pain I have caused other or they have caused me by acting on those passions that cozy up our prisons. Lately I find myself dealing with loved ones who appear to be doing everything they can to keep those bars in tact while thinking or acting like they are doing the opposite. The lines between keeping a higher perspective and my own emotional reactions are getting harder for me to separate. How do we differentiate our personal judgments from a higher principal? What is our personal responsibility in speaking out when we know? Are we guilty of enabling the pathology when we witness it and do nothing? » Read more: Knowing When to Expose Wrongdoing

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Healthy Boundaries

June 25th, 2010 | By Robert Augustus Masters | Articles, Library | Topics: Q&A, Relationship

S.S. asked on August 13, 2008: My question for Robert is… (and it is difficult for me to ask clearly because I have no idea of an answer) Please can you say something about boundaries?

I am focused on processing emotional issues which usually involve break down rather than build up. It reminds me of having colonic irrigation without the appropriate bacteria being replaced in the system. I would appreciate any guidance in the art of setting boundaries.

Is it wise to clear emotions, letting the natural self shine through without some kind of artful protection? » Read more: Healthy Boundaries

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Love at Higher Levels of Being

June 14th, 2010 | By Robert Augustus Masters | Articles, Library | Topics: Emotions, Meditation / Spiritual Practice, Q&A, Relationship

M.C. asked in 2006:

Robert, if knowledge and love from our higher levels can give us deep ease and compassion in the humanity (ego bound realms) of ourselves then we can extend that to others. With such an inner landscape we will have ease, communion, relationship with most of those who come into our world. Even those who have heavy trips going on.

In the case of intimate love-sex relationships in such a stage of being, I would think that one would tend to follow much spontaneous, post-rational, inner dictates of what is right. Sex, celibacy, erotica would then happen — or not — according to what feels appropriate for self and others on the specific case i.e. no formulas or blanket commandments. This would not guarantee steady, blissful and harmonious results, but results that would expand the mind and heart of those involved and dish out far less trauma-debris than usual intimate relationships.

Now, is that so? Is it much different? Do tell. » Read more: Love at Higher Levels of Being

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Habit vs. Passion

June 1st, 2010 | By Robert Augustus Masters | Articles, Library | Topics: Ego / Shadow, Emotions, Meditation / Spiritual Practice, Q&A

J.D. asked in 2006: Robert, I would like to ask you a question about habit vs. passion.

I am fasting at present and it makes me aware of how my life is just a series of addictive habits. And that even an integral life is a series of life-supporting habits rather than self-destructive ones...swapping good habits for bad.

This does not seem to be congruent with a passionate life for habit seems to be the antithesis of passion. While on autopilot life cannot touch us, the known is boring, the bored brain is a dying brain...a dying life.

Beyond the realm of good and bad habits, how do you suggest establishing "Flow" and passion in ones life? » Read more: Habit vs. Passion

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Robert Augustus Masters: Lucid Dreaming Interview

June 1st, 2010 | By Robert Augustus Masters | Articles, Library | Topics: Awakening, Conscious Embodiment, Death, Dreams, Ego / Shadow, Healing / Therapy, Q&A

Arthur Gillard: Do you remember your first lucid dream? How old were you?

Robert Augustus Masters: I don't remember what was probably my first lucid dream – in large part because in my early years I had trouble separating waking state and dreaming state phenomena – but I do remember becoming lucid during two types of dreams that started when I was about 5 or 6. In the first, I would find myself at the top of a tree or standing at the edge of a cliff….I'd leap off, feeling ecstatic, totally unafraid of hitting the ground below (which invariably received me the way that a pillow receives a weary head).

The other type of dream in which I'd become lucid was far from pleasant: In it, I'd be in my bed, tucked under the covers, feeling a strange chill in the air (and here I would become lucid), a grey-lit iciness that was very familiar – » Read more: Robert Augustus Masters: Lucid Dreaming Interview

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Methodless Methodology

April 9th, 2010 | By Robert Augustus Masters | Articles, Library | Topics: Healing / Therapy, Meditation / Spiritual Practice, Q&A

M.C. asked in 2006: Robert, I have a question on a stage of inner growth where all structured paradigms/practices seem to fall and fail.

In my situation at present (at age 61 and over half of those years spent in faithful'growth practices') I have included and transcended (I hope): the 'spiritual bootcamp' of family life and dharma-by-the-book obligations, the 'yogic bootcamp' of do's and don'ts, its Kundalini leaps and Guru dazzles, the I've-figured-out-what-this-is-all-about-and-I-have-the-means-for-smooth-sailing-ahead' (including psychotherapy) and I find myself in freefall, where I simply can't swear allegiance to anything or anyone anymore. I just do the practices that work at any given time such as (at present): meditation, dreamwork, chants, asanas and mindfulness in my work. But now there seems to be no elation or expectation of any particular goal or reward (enlightenment, superconsciousness...). Simply feeling more like 'myself' seems good enough. And, I've withdrawn from friends who want to enthusiastically pull me into any structured belief and action system of growth, including those I had applauded in the past.

Now, Robert, would you say that a stage such as my present one is: healthy?, indefinite? inescapable? a territory I will learn to know and love? Familiar? » Read more: Methodless Methodology

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Sex as “Ego Project”

December 3rd, 2009 | By Robert Augustus Masters | Articles, Library | Topics: Meditation / Spiritual Practice, Q&A, Relationship, Sexuality

R.M. asked on Sept. 15, 2008: After reading some of your work around sexuality (Transformation through Intimacy, working on Divine Dynamite) I am drawn to what you have to say. It feels to me that you are going into sexuality in its obvious and more subtle forms and encouraging the practitioner to let go of their addicted fixations to it, to stop making an 'Atman Project' out of the spectrum of sex and therefore rest more completely in Being. This is very appealing to me.

I would like to articulate my experience around this area and see if you can suggest any practices I can engage in that would be of benefit before working on this with you in the workshops. » Read more: Sex as “Ego Project”

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