Dan Rodman Meditation

10/02/2021

Hey guys Check Out my Podcast entitled Spiritual Evolution Podcast. If you like some Midnight Gospel you will like my content:

One of the most powerful callings in life is to wake up to the spiritual dimension. From there, we can be brought through a powerful journey of understanding that can go totally beyond our expectations. Listen in to my podcast and learn about the basics and the deeper levels of spirituality informed...

01/12/2021

Hey all! Get in touch if you are excited to have meditation and /or spirituality classes. Message me directly or go to my website and look under "About Dan" and "Contact" to find my contact info.

11/12/2020

The Three Sisters: Non-attachment, Faith, and Patience

Non-attachment, faith, and patience can be considered to be like sisters, since they all create space in us. Space for rest, despite obstacles. Non-attachment, or letting go, is the space we create when we no longer hold on to things, to need things or people to be something they are not, to let go of our ego, and to be free of the sickness that comes with the stuck feeling of grasping at something. When we are faced with an obstacle in life, if we have non-attachment, we will also have faith.
Faith is for some the holding onto someone else, your own deeper self, or a higher power to overcome obstacles. A deeper level of faith is letting go into the love of someone else, yourself, or a higher power. This letting go means that we are no longer holding to our on ideas of what we want or what we do, but rather rely on a deeper truth or love or power to support us. A letting go into this deeper power can look like non-attachment, but can still have a heartfelt wish for something to come true. Let the Heart do the work, having faith that things will work out, as opposed to being anxious about how things will go. When we let go, we also achieve patience.
When confronted with an obstacle, we can either pine over its existence, or let go, have faith, and have patience that it will eventually subside. Patience allows us to endure in times of difficulty. In patience we decide to rely on our hearts as a ground, and let go of our need to have things be different from what they are. All things are impermanent, and we will eventually succeed in achieving rest in ourselves if we are patient. Patience is choosing to have rest in yourself right now, even if something is happening that would otherwise make you feel restless. It is a letting go, a natural faith, and a food for our soul when we are starving from adversity. Patience feeds us, it satiates the fire of angst and resistance.
Non-attachment, faith, and patience are the three sisters we rely on in the face of adversity. From their support we can have the groundedness, clarity of mind, and strength to act if necessary. We can always invoke these states of heart and mind when we need them most. May you know the power of non-attachment, faith, and patience that you may come to rest in restless times.

10/21/2020

Immanent and Transcendent

A primary description of the Divine's nature is that it is Immanent and Transcendent. Let me begin by talking about the immanent nature of the Divine.
Immanent in this context means in the world or in creation. This immanence can be expressed in many ways. The most personal is when the Divine is experienced as a person. This is called an Avatar. In the Christian tradition Jesus is the presence of God in human form. In the Hindu tradition Krishna and Ram among others are considered Avatars as well. These avatars are the most personal expression of the immanence of the Divine. From there we can include all the Divine beings, the Buddhas, the saints, the angels, all sorts of Divine beings play as channels for Divine will and blessing. From there we can move to every human and every being as being an expression of the Divine, in that we all share in the Divine reality within us. From there you can include all of nature, the plants, the rocks and crystals, the oceans and rivers, the deserts, every natural thing plays as an example of the Divine presence. So too do all the buildings, all the cars, all the high places and low places, places of worship, places of gathering, places of solitude, entertainment, sadness, joy, excitement, and pain. All of these things share in the Divine reality. Ultimately, everything in the world is an expression of the Divine, since the Divine is the source and ground of its reality. The immanence of the Divine is the fact that nothing ultimately can be apart from the Divine, that no matter where you look, the face of God is there. To live not knowing that is to be of the world, beautiful as it is, whereas to live knowing that is to walk with God.
The Transcendent nature of the Divine is just that: it is utterly Transcendent. It Transcendent of all of existence, since it is the groundless ground of it all. It is beyond all thought, since it is the source of it all. It is not merely infinite, like something very big. It is the basis for the notion of all size and shape. It is utterly beyond. It is without limit. It is unimaginable, incomprehensible, unfathomable, ungraspable, unspeakable, undoable. The Divine in its ultimate nature is beyond our reach, however an intuition gathered from an idea of it can be a guiding song in our hearts. It can be found in the stillness of our own mind, as a whisper of calling. It can be found in the eyes of our loved ones. It can be found in the rocks and trees, in the birds song. It can be known through our suffering, and our transcendence of suffering. It can be known in our lover, and the love that is forever. It can be seen in the stars and how they all sing the same song. The Divine can be known in all things, and for that we can be like children, receiving the gift of the day like a many sided music box. May you know the Immanence and the Transcendence of the Divine, that you may be full and also completely free.

Daniel Rodman3 minutes ago2 minImmanent and TranscendentA primary description of the Divine's nature is that it is Immanent and Transcendent. Let me begin by talking about the immanent nature o...1 viewWrite a comment

10/20/2020

Dealing With Uncomfortable Emotions

Life brings us obstacles. That is inevitable. Some people are more sensitive than others, and some are less capable of handling the emotions that arise from the obstacles we experience. In this handout I want to offer a way to deal with uncomfortable emotions so you don't feel overwhelmed by them.
The first thing to keep in mind is that all of our emotions occur in our minds and hearts, and are not just some force from the outside. Because of this they are susceptible to how we relate to them and therefore we will experience them differently according to where our mind is at. If we cultivate our minds a certain way, that will change how we relate to uncomfortable emotions, and can allow us to change how we feel and deal with our feelings.
The first step is to let go of resistance to uncomfortable emotions. Those emotions are difficult enough as it is, but to add to it a layer of emotional resistance to them makes it even worse by denying them, suppressing them, or even trying to ignore them. We can often seek out things to drown them out like drugs or alcohol. Not resisting your emotions is the first step to coming to terms with your experience, and letting yourself become whole again.
The second step is to allow yourself to feel what you feel, to let the emotions you have to arise as they want to naturally, but to not get lost in them, or in thoughts that perpetuate it. This is done by coming to terms with the situation and cultivating a sense of knowing in your heart that despite what is happening you are still ok, and that life is ok. You can use the breath to bring yourself to that understanding within you, even use some meditation practice to cultivate this feeling of being ok, allowing yourself to console yourself.
The third step is to talk to other people who you are close to or who you trust about what you are feeling and thinking, seeking advice or consolation that will help you heal. Most of us have someone around us who is willing to listen to our troubles and offer us some comfort. Talking about our feelings allows our experience of them to be less intense, since they become shared with another mind, and therefore expand to live in the world and not just in us, freeing us of some pressure.
Uncomfortable emotions are never permanent, they go away of their own accord if we are willing to give them space in us. Finding it in us to give them space without being lost in them is the practice of mindfulness. Presence that is unbiased and allowing all things to arise is the heart of mindfulness, and if we can have the presence of mind when uncomfortable emotions arise, we can not only feel upset, but we can also feel compassion and love for ourselves and others.
Uncomfortable emotions always only arise in the context of our own thoughts, therefore our perspective on what is happening is what shapes how we react to it, and not necessarily what happens in the world. Mindfulness is the practice of mastering how we relate to our experience, so that we feel all of the fullness of life, and do not get lost when obstacles arise. It is always helpful to check ourselves to see if what we think is happening, what our perspective is, is accurate or not. Communication and understanding the situation fully is the best way to know if what you think is true is actually true and not just a projection.
Meditation and mindfulness practice allows us to recognize states of mind that do not serve us and let them go, while cultivate the states of mind that do serve us, and to know the difference. In meditation we can truly deepen our relationship with a centered place in ourselves that knows that we are complete as we are and that we are innately ok, and that life is innately ok. In mindfulness practice in our daily life we maintain a constant presence to our mind to notice when difficult emotions arise so that we can let go of resistance, attachment, craving, clinging, and avoiding, while cultivating, acceptance, forgiveness, patience, love, compassion, and surrender.

Daniel Rodman6 minutes ago3 minDealing With Uncomfortable EmotionsLife brings us obstacles. That is inevitable. Some people are more sensitive than others, and some are less capable of handling the emoti...2 viewsWrite a comment

10/07/2020

09/08/2020

The Inner Dimension

The world we experience is usually thought of to have four primary dimensions: length, width, height, and time. What I would like to offer is that in spiritual practice there is a fifth dimension. That is the inner dimension. To illustrate, we can see that there is a spectrum of levels of meaning or care we have for different things in our life. How much we care about a piece of lint on the floor is different from how much we care about an apple we are going to eat, which is still different from how much we care about those we love. This spectrum of shallow to deep care and meaning is the inner dimension. It determines how much we experience meaning in the world we live in.

The inner dimension is not just a passive fact of our lives, since our ability to experience the meaning of things and people in the world is relative to our ability to appreciate them. If we appreciate things and people more we experience them as more meaningful. Thus an active practice of appreciation dramatically expands our ability to experience meaning and fulfillment in our life.

There are ways to deepen our ability to appreciate, and therefore bring forth our ability to experience the meaning of things. Lets take a little stone on the shoreline as an example:

You're walking on the shoreline, appreciating the breeze and the sound of the waves, and the horizon of the ocean in the distance, when you come upon a stone in the sand. Its a dark colored stone with little white dots on it. At first this stone to its inner dimension is experienced like any other ordinary stone. But as you get closer and pick it up you begin to appreciate it more. You notice that those white dots are not actually rock but little barnacles on the stone. The fact that living things are on this rock makes you appreciate it more, and so you feel more fulfilled by the experience of the rock, thus its inner dimension changes for you. Then you start to notice the little details of the rock, the grooves and the smoothness of it. That is enticing and makes you feel curious about the rock even more and you feel more meaning and fulfillment from the rock. If we reflect on the life story of the rock and the barnacles we can see that it has also had a long journey before it ended up in front of you, making it feel even more meaningful and fulfilling. Even more is if we reflect on the fact that a cause and effect chain goes back all the way to the big bang billions of years for this on little rock to exist. Even more is the fact that existence itself is a mystery and a wonder, and this little rock is an example of a part of that vast mystery of life. So you can see that something small and ordinary can become truly meaningful if we enact our ability to see the inner dimension of the things around us, if we can appreciate.

The Transcendent is the meaning within all meanings, it is limitless meaning, and beyond that. When we begin to tap into the inner dimension, whether within ourselves or by seeing it in others we begin to approach deeper and deeper meaning, until we experience the meaning of life itself, the meaning of the Transcendent. This Transcendent meaning, once recognized, is seen in everything around you and within you. It is the One Transcendent Meaning that all things have in common. This can be understood to be a culmination in our ability to appreciate, since the experience of Transcendent Meaning is itself an experience of limitless appreciation. Even still you learn and grow in how you know this Transcendent Meaning, and it blossoms like a flower evermore. May you come to know the power of appreciation that you may know the inner dimension of all things, and come to know a Transcendent Meaning.

www.DanRodmanMeditation.com/blog

08/23/2020

Humility

Humility is to act, speak, or think of yourself in such a way as to put yourself in a posture of letting go of selfish pride. Not only this, humility also has the attitude of serving something greater than one's self. Also when we are humble, have humility, we are not taking esteem as an indulgence. Rather we give all esteem to a purpose greater than merely our own satisfaction. For example, if someone is a leader of a business or organization, they can lead with pride and self-indulgent force, bossing everyone around, or they can have humility and a sense of deep service to a collective cause, inspiring his employees or co-workers to follow his lead because it is something that everyone can believe in.
Another moment when we are humble is when we have a guest over to our home. Even though it is our place they are visiting, we serve our guest as if it is theirs, taking their coat, serving them tea or food, putting the needs of our guest before our own. This is humility. Humility and service go hand in hand. True service is never without humility. This is not to say you feel lower or less than, or judge yourself to be inferior to the ones you serve, but rather, you chose to come from love, and in love we serve each other by putting other's needs before our own needs and our own image or ego.
Humility is also a prerequisite for spiritual development. Without humility, without putting yourself in a position of service, you can never overcome your ego and self-indulgence. With selfish pride you take up all the room in your heart, saying “I, me, and mine is most important.” But with humility you surrender your ego to something greater, you make space in your heart for God, or the Spiritual Reality. May you come to know the sweetness of humility, that you may make room in your heart for something greater than yourself.

www.danrodmanmeditation.com/blog

08/23/2020

Authenticity

Our society has many invitations to be something you're not. Whether it comes from magazines, the media, our classmates, or society as a whole, we are regularly bombarded with information and relationships that want us to feel like we need to be someone other than who we are. We need to be cool, we need to be hot, we need to be successful, we need to be smart, we need to be tough, we need to be perfect. All these images in our heads act as an un-centering, and un-grounding force within us that makes us feel like we are less than.
The only way to overcome this feeling is to let go of these false idols and let yourself be who you truly are. Who you truly are doesn't take effort: it's easy, natural, and restful. Its just being yourself. This is authenticity.
Being honest and expressing your true self not only rids you of the burden of insecurity and false idols, it also fully empowers you to accomplish your goals. When we seek to do something from a place of insecurity and pretending to be someone, we come from a place of weakness within us, since we are against ourselves. On the other hand, when we are truly openly expressing ourselves naturally, we align with our whole self and therefore our whole power. From this power of authenticity we are able to do things with grace and ease, being guided by our natural intelligence that comes from a restful heart.
Authenticity is one of the many prerequisites for genuine spiritual development. To be spiritually in tune you cannot simultaneously be against yourself. To be against yourself is in truth the root of an un-spiritual mind, one that is ignorant, and in denial, without alignment with your truth. Your truth and the Truth of all existence are already in union. Like a wave to the ocean, your truth is an expression of the Universal Truth of reality. You cannot come to know the Universal Truth, the Transcendent, without knowing yourself as well. To know the Transcendent is to know your true self as well. Spiritual practice aims to recognize the fact that the personal truth and the Transcendent truth are ultimately united, although ignorance and other negative factors of the mind mire us in separation and block our ability to know this.
In authenticity we pave the way for release from falsehood, allowing ourselves to recognize our unity with the Universal Truth of life. May you come to be your most authentic self, that you can take the road that leads to liberation.

www.danrodmanmeditation.com/blog

08/22/2020

I am glad to announce a new weekly meditation and spirituality class on wednesday nights at 6:30pm. The zoom link is

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8349613081

also its on my website under Classes. Please tell people you know. Its free, so come join and deepen your practice. We'll go over various handouts discussing different spiritual topics and do a 15 minute guided meditation. Let me know you're interested by messaging me or by contacting me through my website under Contact

https://www.danrodmanmeditation.com/classes

If you are interested in meditation classes, wether its one on one or a group, please contact me to schedule a meeting.

08/19/2020

If you are interested in learning meditation from an experienced practitioner please contact me for more information. Meditation is the process of becoming conscious people. It transforms everything in our life because it transforms what filters everything in our life: our mind. Awareness and benevolence are the two primary forces of the mind that bring about a transformation.

go to www.DanRodmanMeditation.com and click on Contact to get in touch or just message me.

Meditation is the practice of cultivating our minds. This is helpful because everything we do and think occurs through the use of our minds. Therefore, to change our minds is to change our life and our way of being in the world.

08/05/2020

The Phases of the Heart of Service

Service is the greatest of all actions. It is love in action. It is the full expression of the heart in the world. Service is cultivated slowly but surely for those who dedicate their hearts to service. Whether it looks like helping friends out in times of need, helping the homeless, being a social worker or a politician, or being a spiritual aspirant, service has many ways and many forms. When we look at the progression people go through in their development of a Heart of Service, there are three primary phases one can see.

The first phase is like a king serving his people. It is noble, and proud, and shines like a beacon on a hill. It is the outermost layer of the Heart of Service. In this place there can still be a self-reflective awareness that thinks “look I am such a good giver!”. It is not inherently selfish, but simply an easy downfall at this point. The nobility of this stage guides the heart of service to the next phase.

The next phase is like a person serving their close family. This goes through the abstract layers of noble service to realize a genuine regard for the people you serve. In this place you are so close with those you serve they are like family, they are your intimates. The service is sweet like honey, and the emphasis is more just about fulfilling the needs of the needy and not so self reflective. The deep intimacy of this phase finally gives way to the last and final phase.

The last phase of the Heart of Service is like the way the hand that cradles the foot when it steps on a thorn. It is instantly responsive from a non-separate place. It acts out of the innate union of all beings in the heart. There is no thinking about it, you just do it. In this place we are all one body, one heart, one spirit, and we act in accord with the ultimate reality. It is innately blissful, and the fullest expression of our hearts reality. This phase arises after deep prolonged practice and service to others.

The three phases above are not mutually exclusive, since all three are together. Non-separation, intimacy, and nobility are all expanding layers of the expression of the Heart of Service, and they are the full expression of service in all its attributes. Ultimately the outer two layers of nobility and intimacy give way to the realization of non-separation or unity, but they can all be present for the sake of the world. May you come to know the phases of the Heart of Service, that you may aspire greatly for their fulfillment.

Daniel Rodman3 minutes ago2 minThe Phases of the Heart of ServiceService is the greatest of all actions. It is love in action. It is the full expression of the heart in the world. Service is cultivated ...1 viewWrite a comment