Dedicated to liberation in all its forms, Deconstructing Yourself is passionate about fearlessly investigating, attempting, and questioning all things to do with awakening, meditation, mindfulness, brain hacking, consciousness, neurofeedback, and more.
Your host Michael W. Taft interviews some of the most interesting thinkers, authors, and teachers around, as well as other offerings. In this hard-hitting, radical, and fun podcast we look at secular post-, non-, un- Buddhism, Vajrayana, nondual Hindu Tantra, philosophy, the neuroscience of the sense of self, neurofeedback and the consciousness hacking movement, aspects of artificial intelligence, entheogens, and much more.
If you’re looking for fresh directions, free from dogma and conformism, think of the Deconstructing Yourself podcast as the radical cafe where you can hear from the most interesting luminaries either from the outside edges of dharma, or a fresh take from more traditional teachers. If you’re interested in more, check out the Deconstructing Yourself website at https://deconstructingyourself.com.
Pragmatic dharma teacher and host Michael W. Taft feel the power of the dark side, talk about nirvana, deconstruct the concept of nirvana, dive deep into the reality of death, look at the denial of death, and probably scare away all listeners.
Kenneth Folk is an instructor of meditation who has received worldwide acknowledgement for his innovative approach to secular Buddhist meditation. Learn more about him and his work at Kenneth Folk Dharma.
Show Notes
0:25 – Introduction and overview
2:20 – Preferring to be conscious or not conscious
5:28 – Avoiding eternalism and entertaining the possibility of death…or immortality
11:33 – The enjoyability of oblivion/nirvana (and establishing a definition of both)
19:15 – The Buddha presents a life extinction program, not a life improvement program
25:28 – Fear and denial of death, and rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic
33:15 – The relief of accepting the reality of death
34:48 – Enlightenment as a real-time report about what’s arising in experience
37:52 – The limitations of coming to meditation as a life improvement program
41:10 – Kenneth’s current practice assessing mindfulness, checking for tightness and temporarily suspending the self model
48:45 – The preposterousness of eradicating the self
53:41 – The Dharma Overground forums and posters having bad days after attaining some level of enlightenment
58:31 – How do know anything? Does Kenneth feel like he has any special or ultimate knowledge?
1:03:53 – Certitude is just another feeling on a level playing field with all others
1:12:10 – Awakening experiences invalidating each other: the second awakening erodes some of the truth of the first
1:14:10 – The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you
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