If I had a time machine, the first two places I would go would be the Globe Theater in the time of Shakespeare and conquered Massachusetts. Everything that we think of as alternative lifestyles germinates with that crew of eccentrics in the 1840s and 1850s. The commoner, the better, the funkier, the better.
Dean Sluyter is an award-winning author who has taught meditation since 1970, from maximum security prisons to the Guatemalan rainforest. He’s a student of Eastern and Western sages from multiple traditions and has completed numerous pilgrimages and retreats in India, Tebet, Nepal, and the West.
In this episode, Eric and Dean discuss his latest book, The Dharma Bums Guide to Western Literature: Finding Nirvana in the Classics, which reflects his lifelong exploration of the awakening process as well as his years as a prep school English teacher.
Registration for The Well Trained Mind Program is now open! Learn the foundations of mindfulness and create a more fulfilling spiritual practice in Ginny’s live virtual program that starts on October 9. Visit oneyoufeed.net/mindfulness to learn more!
But wait, there’s more! The episode is not quite over!! We continue the conversation and you can access this exclusive content right in your podcast player feed. Head over to our Patreon page and pledge to donate just $10 a month. It’s that simple and we’ll give you good stuff as a thank you!
Dean Sluyter and I Discuss How to See the Dharma in Western Literary Classics and …
- His book, The Dharma Bums Guide to Western Literature: Finding Nirvana in the Classics
- The role (or lack thereof) of efforting in meditation
- The difference between awareness and mind
- What it means to “relax your grip” or “let it be” during meditation
- The Dharma and the Infinite in The Cat and the Hat
- That dualism is the way the world appears to us when viewed through the thinking mind
- How to find the fragrant emptiness at the core of our minds, beyond all thoughts
- That only the infinite can give us infinite joy, in the finite world – having can’t match our yearning.
- The nature of desire is that it replicates itself
- Kindness in Huckleberry Finn
- That the kingdom of heaven is spread upon the earth, within and all around us
Dean Sluyter Links
Dean’s Website
Instagram
Facebook
By purchasing products and/or services from our sponsors, you are helping to support The One You Feed and we greatly appreciate it. Thank you!
If you enjoyed this conversation with Dean Sluyter, check out these other episodes:
Dean Sluyter Interview (2019)
Inventions in Literature with Angus Fletcher
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
