Close your eyes in a dark room and wait. At first, nothing. Then, almost imperceptibly, something begins to move. A shimmer at the edge of vision. A pulse of light that seems to come from nowhere and everywhere at once. Geometric patterns that appear, rotate, fold into themselves and dissolve. You are not imagining these. … Continue reading What Shape is Inner Space? Is it Hyperbolic?
spirituality
When Psychology Studies the Occult Without Ever Going In
Where is the essence... A new paper in the Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences maps, with considerable care, the historical traffic between Western esotericism and psychology. The author, Júlia Gyimesi of Pázmány Péter Catholic University in Budapest, published "How Psychology Can Benefit From the Academic Study of Esotericism" in 2025, and traces … Continue reading When Psychology Studies the Occult Without Ever Going In
The Inner Demon Is the One Who Says “I”
We usually imagine inner demons as dark forces hidden somewhere inside us, waiting to be discovered, named, healed, or defeated. The language is everywhere now. People speak of facing their demons, releasing their demons, transforming their demons. It sounds courageous, but often it remains at the level of a story we tell about ourselves. In … Continue reading The Inner Demon Is the One Who Says “I”
Podcast Episode: Authentic Spirituality And Inner Worlds
Pip: If you have ever suspected that the wellness industry is selling you the feeling of awakening rather than the thing itself, breath4balance has some thoughts — and some receipts. Mara: Jan has been writing this week about what authentic inner life actually looks like, how mystical traditions encode real experience, and where symbolic systems … Continue reading Podcast Episode: Authentic Spirituality And Inner Worlds
Reclaiming the Inner World
There is a world we have almost forgotten. Not the world of phones, deadlines, opinions, news, appointments and the endless noise of the outside. I mean the inner world. The quiet world behind the eyes. The world of dreams, symbols, silence, light, intuition, prayer, meditation and subtle presence. Many old traditions knew this world very … Continue reading Reclaiming the Inner World
When Spirituality Fills the Mind Instead of Opening It
I have just published a new paper on PhilPapers: Authentic Spirituality and the Colonisation of Inner Space: Closed Symbolic Systems, Dark Magick, and Yoga as Liberation. You can find it here:https://philpapers.org/rec/KEPASA-2 This paper is part of a new series I am developing under the title Authentic Spirituality. The name may sound ambitious, but the basic … Continue reading When Spirituality Fills the Mind Instead of Opening It
The Light That You Are: What the Tibetan Rainbow Body Actually Means
Jan M. Keppel Hesselink, MD, MSc, PhD There is a story told in Tibetan Buddhism that sounds, to the Western ear, like pure mythology. When a great meditation master dies, the body does not decay in the ordinary way. Instead, it dissolves into colored light. Witnesses describe rainbows appearing around the place of death. The … Continue reading The Light That You Are: What the Tibetan Rainbow Body Actually Means
Why We Are Starting Something New: A Manifesto for Authentic Spirituality
Jan M. Keppel Hesselink, MD, MSc, PhD Something has gone wrong with spirituality. Not with the real thing, but with what most people are being sold as the real thing. Walk into any bookshop. Scroll through Instagram for five minutes. Browse the retreat listings online. You will find awakening weekends, chakra activations, kundalini intensives, breathwork … Continue reading Why We Are Starting Something New: A Manifesto for Authentic Spirituality
What does the word Tantra really mean? An instrument to ‘stretch’.
The word Tantra is frequently mistranslated in modern new age spirituality, but its Sanskrit roots reveal a much more technical and expansive meaning. It comes from the verbal root tan (to stretch, extend, or expand) and the suffix tra (an instrument or tool). Literally, Tantra means "an instrument for expansion." Meaning a way to gain … Continue reading What does the word Tantra really mean? An instrument to ‘stretch’.
The Yoga Paths leading to Tantric wisdom
Yoga leads to tantric wisdom: a dialogue between a pupil exploring the trutrh and the master. Historically, yoga and tantra have distinct origins, but they influence each other over time. Classical yoga, as codified by Patanjali, emphasizes ethical discipline, meditation, and the pursuit of liberation through self-control and contemplation. Tantra, which emerged later, is more … Continue reading The Yoga Paths leading to Tantric wisdom
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