Lately, I’ve been reflecting on the way we talk about the Mystery.

We want to understand it — to name it, define it, make sense of it.

But in doing so, we push it further away.

Because the Mystery isn’t something the mind can grasp.

And the more we try, the more tangled we become.

This is the strange paradox at the heart of the spiritual path.

The more we seek it, the more we solidify the self that’s searching.

These days, the internet is filled with voices shouting about awakening.

Social media scrolls by like a digital sangha — full of insights, diagrams, teachings, philosophies.

And yet, I often wonder: are we getting any closer?

They talk about it conceptually —concepts are just strategies of the mind.

And if it lives in the mind, it’s not the Mystery anymore.

In fact, the mind is the very thing getting in the way.

The moment we “understand” it cognitively, its true nature slips through our fingers.

It becomes information. Not transformation.

And the more they talk about it, the further we drift.

These influencers want to share it. I’m sure with good intentions.

But what’s the impulse?

To gain?

Because if it’s feeding this ego construct, it’s already drifted.

That part of us can’t be spiritual.

That’s the paradox.

Our persona is what keeps us from it.

Without depth of integration, the essence gets lost.

Because the Mystery can’t be transferred through words.

Only through presence. Silence. Space.

It’s not in the sentence — it’s what lives behind it.

We’re trying to think our way into the Mystery.

But the Mystery doesn’t live in thought.

It doesn’t speak the language of logic.

Trying to understand the states of awakening through the mind is like trying to see air.

You can understand the concept of it… the molecules, the chemistry… but that doesn’t help you breathe.

There’s an old idea I love, that the moment you name the thing, it’s no longer the thing.

As expressed in the opening line of the Tao Te Ching:

The Tao that can be named is not the eternal Tao.

The word Nirvana, for example, comes from the Indian tradition and has gone through so many translations, reinterpretations, and Instagram quotes that it’s almost meaningless now.

Once you think you understand it, you’ve already lost it.

Lao Tzu knew this too.

He said, “Those who know do not speak. Those who speak do not know.”

And yet… he spoke.

He wrote.

So did Ramana Maharshi.

So did Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, who simply called it “I Am.”

It’s why many spiritual teachers speak in paradox, metaphor, or even silence — because true awakening can’t be held in words.

These teachers used language not to define, but to point.

Like someone ahead of you on a mountain path yelling back, “Careful, there’s a boulder here.”

They can’t climb the mountain for you — but they can help you avoid a few traps along the way.

In my work, whether it’s at a live event or in these newsletters, I’m not trying to give people the answers.

What I’m doing is untangling.

Not revealing some hidden truth, but unwrapping the tight knots the mind has tied.

The real transformation doesn’t happen in words.

It happens in the space they create.

You might spot a thread of a thought you’ve been gripping to without knowing.

And just like that, it loosens. 

A subtle shift in the atmosphere. A breath. A softening.

Each of these newsletter becomes a small ritual.

Something you can feel, not just read.

A kind of medicine for the modern mind.

Not more information, but less interference.

The world says: Do more. Try harder. Be better.

But what if that’s exactly what’s keeping us stuck?

The mind thinks the world works through effort.

Through steps and strategies.

It says: If I just meditate more, eat cleaner, read the right books, follow the right teachers… then I’ll get there.

But what if there’s no “there” to get to?

What if the Mystery isn’t something to reach — but something to relax into?

The truth is, most of us are over-efforting our way deeper into the trap. 

Trying to climb out with the very tools that build the walls.

Real transformation doesn’t always arrive the way we expect it.

It doesn’t come through comfort, control, or figuring it out.

It comes through cracks.

Through grace. Through surrender.

Through moments that can’t be explained — only experienced.

So… what do we do?

We stop trying to do.

We sit quietly and watch the mind do what it does, and we don’t follow it.

We breathe. We listen. We allow.

We see where we are tethered to our beliefs and concepts.

And maybe, if we’re lucky, we get a glimpse.

Not of something new, but something always here.

You don’t need to climb a mountain to find it.

You just need to stop climbing.

Because the Mystery isn’t out there.

It’s right here.

Just not where the mind is looking.

I’ll see a lot of you at the retreats starting tomorrow

I can't wait!

– Paul

P.S. Let me know if this raised any questions for you.  I'm always happy to hear from you.

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