Lisa Carrillo, a chemical engineer turned author, recounts her profound spiritual awakening during a silent retreat in 2009, where she glimpsed the unity of existence. She discusses the importance of self-discovery, sharing tools to navigate thoughts and suffering. By embracing adversity, she highlights personal transformation and resilience. Carrillo also emphasizes the balance of humility and desire, advocating for mindful consumption of information. Through humor and insight, she inspires listeners to find meaning and growth in life's challenges.
Lisa Carrillo shares her transformative experience during a silent retreat, where her sense of individual identity dissolved, revealing interconnectedness with all of existence.
The discussion highlights the importance of embracing both effort and surrender, suggesting that letting go of control leads to trusting the natural flow of life.
Carrillo emphasizes the significance of self-awareness in relationships, urging compassion and understanding as means to foster deeper connections and personal growth.
Deep dives
Embracing Spiritual Awakening
Lisa Carilio emphasizes the profound impact of her spiritual journey on her life, starting from her early insights as a child to her transformative experiences during a silent retreat. She recounts a moment when her individual identity dissolved, leading to a clearer understanding of her interconnectedness with everything. This shift allowed her to see the mental mechanisms that create a sense of separation, ultimately equipping her with tools to help others unravel their own suffering. Through her books, she shares insights that challenge fundamental beliefs, revealing the joy and lightness stemming from embracing one's true nature.
The Nature of Existence
The exploration of existence delves into the idea of duality, where both pleasure and pain are integral to the human experience. Lisa reflects on how past traumas have shaped her understanding and resilience, reinforcing the notion that nothing ever truly harms our core self. She acknowledges that even the seemingly negative experiences contribute to personal growth and self-discovery. This understanding leads to an appreciation for life's complexity, turning challenges into opportunities for deeper insights.
Letting Go of Control
The concept of letting go is pivotal in Lisa's spiritual philosophy, where she suggests releasing the need for control over life’s outcomes. This approach encourages embracing uncertainty and trusting the natural flow of existence. As she shares her experiences, she suggests that both effort and surrender can coexist, each playing a role in how personal goals are pursued. Ultimately, the journey involves allowing life to unfold without clinging to specific expectations or rigid ideals.
Inner Wisdom and Authenticity
Lisa highlights the significance of tapping into one's inner wisdom as a guiding force in navigating life's challenges. She distinguishes between external authority and internal intuition, arguing that true strength emerges from self-awareness and authenticity. This perspective fosters a sense of empowerment, encouraging individuals to trust their instincts and experiences. Moreover, maintaining fluidity in one’s beliefs, allowing for growth and adaptation, becomes essential in cultivating a spiritually aligned life.
The Role of Relationships
Relationships emerge as a central theme in Lisa's discussion, where she underscores the importance of understanding and compassion within interpersonal dynamics. She reveals how recognizing the fluid nature of connection allows for more profound interactions and personal growth. Misunderstandings and conflicts can serve as catalysts for deeper insight and love when approached with an open heart. By moving beyond expectations and embracing authenticity, relationships can become spaces of healing and mutual discovery.
Joy in the Present Moment
Lisa articulates the notion that joy is rooted in the present moment, urging individuals to cultivate an appreciation for life as it is. This perspective encourages mindfulness, where awareness of the current experience fosters a sense of peace and gratitude. The practice of letting go of past regrets and future anxieties opens up the possibility for a richer engagement with life. Ultimately, embracing the wild and unpredictable nature of existence becomes a source of joy, leading to a more fulfilling experience of reality.
Although Lisa worked as a chemical engineer, spirituality always was the priority in her life. In 2009, at a silent retreat, her thought-based identity dropped away, and she saw only the single flow of benevolence in all that is.
When some of those thoughts returned a few weeks later (less convincing than before), there also came a deep curiosity to inquire into those thoughts. She developed many tools to return to a lived experience of the deeper knowing. Both of her books share these tools. All that is is a vibrant expression erupting from a single full emptiness.
Website: experiencingthetrueself.com
Books:
An Unprincipled Life: Living from the Unknown
Living Awake: 20 Techniques to End "I Got It; I Lost It"
Discussion of this interview in the BatGap Community Facebook Group.
Summary and transcript of this interview
Interview recorded January 26, 2025
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