mikestilerblog
| Forum role | Member since | Last activity | Topics created | Replies created |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Member | Feb 14, 2016 (10 years) |
- | 1 | 0 |
- Forum role
- Member
- Member since
Feb 14, 2016 (10 years)
- Last activity
- -
- Topics created
- 1
- Replies created
- 0
Bio
I am an artist, a cartoonist and an old-time meditator who has recently relocated to Ojai, CA from Maine, where I lived for over 40 years. Have to say, I am loving SoCal living.
In the year 2000, while at a meditation retreat at Springwater Center, in western NY state, I looked up at a full moon and suddenly understood what the Buddha meant when he said that, through perfect, unexcelled enlightenment, he truly attained nothing at all.
Since then, a lot of stuff has shifted for me. Meditation has ceased to be a chore and has become inseparable from everyday life. Art, too, has taken on a deeper meaning and now includes everything, all experience, informed by the question, 'Who am I?' I now tell people, 'Yeah, I still make art in many mediums, but my primary medium is empty space.'
A few years ago, I began meeting with people, both individually and in groups, with the intention of investigating who and what we are beyond the limits of thought and expectation. I do not consider myself a teacher, nor do I have an interest in promoting a particular philosophy, spiritual tradition or discipline. In fact, these meetings and little retreats have nothing to do with me. They are just an expression of aware presence taking the form of a living inquiry.
I have created this blog in the interest of providing a space for myself and others to investigate vital questions of what it means to be a human being and whether it is possible to live our lives without conflict.