Comedy Sex God

The only thing I didn’t try was love. Loving my embarrassing little predicament and my predictable Christian-shame psychology. The kid in me didn’t want understanding or rationalizations or techniques or even experiences. It was so much simpler than that. The kid wanted love.

Metaphors, Campbell taught me, are used to tell stories about things that are hard to touch with our intellect—experiences like God. The man didn’t run like a deer, the man was a deer.

I like to think of it like this: “Pete” isn’t enlightened, but somewhere, underneath it all, “I” am. And when I rest in that “I” place, not swept away for the millionth time by my circumstances or headaches or personal disappointments, that’s just how I feel.

perhaps my malaise, my discomfort, was not just my pathology, but it was a deeper something in me attempting to awaken, and that maybe instead of treating it as some sickness that ought to be treated as a problem, I should see it as something graceful. To be honored. And maybe it would be useful to allow my life to adapt to tune to those feelings o

When our spirituality is tied to a symbol, even a beloved one like a Christ or a Buddha, you are limited to thinking about that symbol. It’s an object you perceive with your mind. You are always removed from it, looking from the outside, two instead of one. But the invitation from the divine is to more than a symbol. The invitation is to transcend

It’s not about certainty. Losing things, changing how and what you believe, is all part of it. It was the plan all along.

After all, our favorite episodes of Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones are when something happens. Good or bad. Because we know this will push the character. This will lead to growth, or change, or loss. And we love it. We know that for these characters, pain is the vehicle that takes them from where they are to where they’re afraid to but need to go.

has never, ever, had Chinese food without pretending that his fortune cookie says, “Help, Chinese cook locked in kitchen.”

Having the experiences and the sensations but not identifying with them is at the core of Ram Dass’s message. He teaches that instead of saying, “I’m depressed,” you could say, “There is depression.” Like, I’m over here, looking at it. Wow. That’s a heavy one. I don’t know if people get out of depressions like that one. But he asks, “Is the part of