December 2022 / More
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Convictions & Concerns
TAT members share their personal convictions and/or concerns
Eddie Traversa in Memoriam
I try and do my best to provide people with good information on how to overcome obstacles and get the most of life. The articles on here mainly focus on the psychological or spiritual—though it must be said that these are often one and the same.
I hold advanced degrees in psychology and have worked as a psychotherapist for a few decades. I am passionate about trying to help people.
I am in the 6th decade of my life which has caused me to think about the challenges of aging. I am a believer in that you are never too old to change the course of a life.
~ Eddie Traversa
On November 1, Eddie Traversa's family posted on Facebook to let his friends and community know that he had passed away. Eddie was, as the April 2021 TAT meeting described him, "in the unique position of being both a psychotherapist and awakened, which gives him a deep perspective as well as a broad tool set with which to help clients."
Eddie was a friend to TAT, and TAT members called Eddie a friend. In the responses that follow, people share their personal remembrances and reflections on Eddie's life and his passing.
I worked with Eddie as my therapist for years, and found him through Shawn's site. Eddie was by far the most practical teacher I have come across. The type of groundedness and openness he exuded I felt as undistorted love. He was incredible at somehow simply allowing you to be whole while at the same time pulling you in when needed.
I will miss him dearly.
~ Nic R.
I heard recently of the passing of Eddie Traversa, and was glad that TAT is finding a way to honor him this month.
I first met Eddie through his old website back in 2005. That site was taken down around 10-12 years ago, and for those of you who never read it, it was a real gem.
Just a few months after my death experience in the canyon, I found the site. I read every article he presented, as it was the first place I had come across that was discussing the experience that had just happened to me.
I began to add some comments, which he always had a useful response to. Then we began to communicate over email directly, later via Skype. He had clear insights for me. His main discussion point at the time was "going inward" and what that term really meant. He felt that standard spirituality was the opposite of going inward. He also gave me my first real understanding of what Richard Rose called "between-ness." Eddie's almost step by step guide to it is something I still remember, and I can't say I "use" because it sort of became ingrained in me the more I understood it.
Thanks for your help Eddie in 2005-06 when I really needed it. You helped give me a framework to move forward from.
~ Howdie Mickoski
I was in therapy with Eddie, on and off, for two years. I learned a lot from him, and he helped me enormously. I’m deeply grateful for Eddie’s help and for the opportunity to get to know him a bit. He was a great guy, and I miss him.
My takeaways from working with Eddie are likely specific to me, at least to some degree.
I began therapy with Eddie because I was depressed and anxious, was having trouble dealing with the challenges in my life at the time, and felt my search was dead ended. I had developed a view that life was fundamentally about pain and suffering and that joy, pleasure, or beauty were nothing more than fleeting distractions from that fact. Eddie challenged this view and suggested I was caught up in black-and-white thinking. Over time, he suggested that I have chronic trauma from my childhood and that that was coloring both my view of life as suffering and my approach to the search. It took me a long time to see the relevance of what he was talking about; it was hard to accept.
What became clear to me after a while was that what I was secretly hoping to achieve from the search was a resolution of the past, that this had been a major, but unacknowledged, motivation for my search.
When I reflect on Eddie as a therapist, there are several things that stand out to me. He was very skilled and knowledgeable, often pointing me to the academic literature on what we were discussing, but maybe more importantly, he cared deeply. Eddie didn’t tell you he cared; he showed it through his responsiveness, his questions, and his sincerity. He was also incredibly patient. I was slow to accept much of what he was pointing to, but Eddie seemed to have faith that I would catch on at some point. Also, based on my own experience, I think Eddie was very skilled in helping people see their unconscious motivations for the search, while at the same time reinforcing the sincere yearning to know the truth. As one of Eddie’s t-shirts read, “No worries, mate, she’ll be right.” Cheers, Eddie.
~ Mark S.
Living in the States, I never got to meet Eddie in person but I was lucky to hear him speak at a TAT Foundation event via Zoom. A few years earlier, I had learned his dream analysis technique and I found it to be an incredibly helpful and illuminating approach to me in my journey and I feel grateful to him for that. Reading through the comments on the Facebook post announcing his passing, it seems that so many people were positively affected by his life. I feel lucky to have been introduced to him and his work.
~ BH
I was introduced to Eddie’s work before I was introduced to Eddie. On a group self-inquiry retreat, one of the participants led a “dream analysis” exercise credited to Eddie. Over the years, I worked with dreams in a number of ways and with a number of people, trying to figure out what their meaning for us might be in understanding ourselves and our place in the world. When Eddie presented at a TAT meeting, it was a chance to see how he saw spirituality, at least to me, as a part of life, and an aspect of ourselves that it was practical to explore, rather than as something that we must strain to make relevant to our daily lives. I also noticed that Eddie was appearing at our retreat at what was something like 3 or 4 AM his time. That kind of dedication, and the relaxed way he seemed to relate to the human condition, made him someone I feel lucky to have briefly crossed paths with. I didn’t know him, but I feel the impact he had from the comments on his Facebook page. I see that he is already deeply missed.
~ Brett S.
Eddie was a kind and deeply insightful soul who touched my life and I’m certain countless others. I was privileged to be able to work with Eddie in both a spiritual capacity and also within psychotherapy, if we choose to draw a line there. The way he was able to weave the two together, one helping the other while also having them separate, was artful and helpful in degrees I’m still realizing today. I will miss him, and we are so grateful for the various ways he contributed to TAT and to our lives. Thank you, Eddie.
~ Michael R.
What I remember from listening to Eddie at the April 2021 TAT meeting—his gentle manner, and an approach to helping others spiritually or psychologically. The articulation of that latter approach seemed to me fresh, original, not conceptual nor leaning on a particular tradition or teacher.
From an interview on spiritualteachers.org, Eddie’s path did include considerable mental and physical suffering. His decision to re-start his psychotherapy practice to me reveals a commitment to a matrix of helping and being helped, which I see as characteristic to people prior to and after Realization. I would guess his willingness to share generally—for example at the April TAT meeting last year—bears that same stamp of ladder work. Speaking of that time of his life, Eddie said “I adore being alive, and I adore being with people,” which touched me.
Thank you Eddie, for so generously sharing of yourself with all of us.
~ Eric C.
It is tragic when the spiritual scene loses an authentic teacher and friend. They are too few, and Eddie was one of the good ones. He wrote, "I am passionate about trying to help people," and he was. That was the part of Eddie that I knew and appreciated. So hold the lessons you learned from Eddie tight, make them part of your life, and then let's step forward into the breach and do our part to help.
~ Shawn N.
Eddie was a friend to many seekers of self-definition and the Truth. His cooperative efforts with the TAT Foundation and its members were acts of true friendship. He will be missed.
~ Mike Gegenheimer, President, TAT Foundation
I was very fortunate to have met Eddie and to have had the opportunity to work with him a few years before his passing. Eddie was a friend and teacher in whom I found a deep source of care and sincere presence, from which I greatly benefitted. After nearly a decade of being "stuck," and questioning whether I'd make it, he helped me find a way forward.
I was in anguish when I met Eddie. I seemed simply unable to let go of the past, and unable to get out from under my own fears and wounds. He saw me when no one else could, and he offered a caring hand in friendship. He helped show me how to compassionately acknowledge my own traumas and unmet needs, to take care of myself in an entirely new way, and to meet challenges with a new mindset of surrendered confidence. He taught me to relax, the importance of composure and presence, and to embrace myself in a mature way. He taught me to be wary of extreme measures, to question the worth of angst on the spiritual path—and to value joy, passion and curiosity in the quest for truth.
My heart goes out to all those who knew him and who were touched and affected by him in ways similar to myself. I know he helped many people through a lot of pain and confusion, and helped many take significant and milestone steps toward standing on their own two feet and becoming their own authority. I also know his legacy is strong and that there is no greater way for us to cherish and honor all that he shared than to carry it forward and let it live through us.
You will be greatly missed, Eddie—thank you so much for your love and wisdom, and for our time together. You changed my life.
~ Luke R
~ Thanks to Brett S. for gathering this information. Comments or questions? Please email reader commentary to the .
Return to the main page of the December 2022 TAT Forum.
TAT Foundation News
It's all about "ladder work" – helping and being helped
(This is a complete listing of local groups. See the main page section for just the groups with recently updated information.)
New listing for Aiken, SC:
Looking to start a self-inquiry group ... finding like-minded people to talk about Richard Rose and his teachings either online or in-person in a home setting ... to question what it means to find our true selves.
~ Email
.
Update for the Amsterdam, NL Self-Inquiry Group:
The group is not holding meetings currently, but email
for information.
Update from the Central New Jersey Self Inquiry:
The Central Jersey Self Inquiry Group welcomes serious participants. We are a small group and meet every other Sunday from 6pm to 7pm eastern time on zoom.
One weakness of our group is that it has happened that we don’t have enough rsvp’s in order to meet. Strengths of our group are that inquiry topics are native to our own interests and that we rotate leadership of each meeting. Another strength is that we invite guests occasionally to keep our meetings fresh and productive. Here are some recent topics:
- What is your response to uncertainty?
- After reading a short piece on Between-ness: Does Between-ness speak to your intuition? Have you applied it/can you apply it?
Members of the NYC and Central Jersey Inquiry Groups worked together to hold a one-day retreat recently. Retreat was held in person at the Heart of Art studio in Mercerville NJ; in total 8 people participated.
Activities included: what brought you here; guided meditation followed by a series of writing exercises and discussion; group meditation; inquiry based on Liberation Unleashed recording.
Members felt the retreat to be valuable, and discussed possibly meeting in NYC in the near term.
~ For meeting info: facebook.com/groups/429437321740752.
Questions?
for more details.
Update from the Central Ohio Non-Duality Group:
The Central Ohio Non-Duality Group has continued to meet virtually during the pandemic with a group of core members. As a result, the participants now dial in beyond Central Ohio from CA, TX, MD, NC and OH. We will continue to meet virtually on Tuesday evenings at 6:30 to 8:30 PM and welcome new participants. The meetings feature confrontation sessions that are a serious effort to engage in self-inquiry with the help of friends on the path. New participants can begin by first observing the process, if they wish, to understand the purpose and nature of such efforts by like-minded seekers. The Central Ohio Non-Duality Group recently posted the meeting link to its local Meet-Up site inviting new participants. If interest is shown for in-person meetings by participants in the Central Ohio area, in-person meetings will be re-started on a second evening.
~ For further information, contact
,
, or
.
We're also on Facebook.
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Our group has started to do in-person meetings. As the first meeting has gone well, the consensus is to hold them monthly or bimonthly. Currently, the venue is “The Cahir House Hotel” in Cahir, Tipperary, from 8 am to 4 or 5 pm on a chosen Saturday, and folks can hang out longer if they wish. Meetings have scheduled topics provided by the participants in advance of the meeting. There is a group rapport session during the day for an hour, which got good feedback last time. And finally, we try to stick to a theme for the day in the same style as the TAT retreats. For more information, contact Patrick or Colm.
Update from the email self-inquiry groups:
The Women's Online Confrontation (WOC) group consists of weekly reports where participants can include:
> What is on your mind?
> Any projects that you want to be held accountable for?
> Responses to a selected excerpt (in the previous report).
> Comments/responses/questions for other participants.
A philosophical/spiritual excerpt with two or three questions is included in each report.
Based on what we share, participants ask questions to help get clarity about our thinking.
The intention is to help each other see our underlying beliefs about who we are.
One rule we try to adhere to is not to give advice or solve problems.
The number of participants, to make it work efficiently, is between 4 and 7 including the leader.
We continue to have two men's email groups active. Since the beginning of the year, four participants have left and one other participant has returned.
The weekly reports function like slow-motion self-inquiry confrontation meetings, which has its pros and cons. We alternate by asking each other questions one week then answering them the following week. Participants provide brief updates of highlights from the previous week and optional updates on progress toward objectives that they use the reports for accountability on.
Both the women's and the men's email groups welcome serious participants.
~ Contact
or
for more information.
TAT Press publishes Anima's and Art's book: Always Right Behind You: Parables & Poems of Love & Completion.
Update from the Gainesville, FL self-inquiry group:
We continue to meet at the Alachua County main library on Saturdays from 2 to 4 PM. We typically schedule meetings for alternate Saturdays with an occasional extra week between meetings due to holidays or the TAT meeting schedule and our group's associated retreats.
We talk with newcomers about the objective of the group as a forum to stimulate the progress of self-inquirers and we ask them what their most heartfelt life-objective is, and then we usually listenen to each volunteer who want to talk and then be questioned about what they've said.
~ Email
or
for more information.
Update from the GMT Support Group for Seekers:
We meet every Sunday gmt 18.30, live on Google Meet. Rapport and confrontation, talk and exchange.
Someone mostly brings a theme, like a text, poem or whatever to set the mood. Then 10 minutes of silent rapport after which everyone gets their turn on the "hot seat" for 10-15 minutes—the group listens to what the person has to say about the theme then asks friendly questions—depending on how many participants we are. The questioning is aimed at providing material for self-inquiry. There have been sessions in which we just chatted, but that is more the exception.
~ Contact
*
The GMT support group group held a
weekend intensive retreat in West Sussex, UK on Friday-Sunday, Nov. 12–13.
On the weekend of 12-14th November a small number of people gathered for an in-person spiritual retreat in West Sussex
U.K. The aim was to foster a spirit of friendship and provide a face to face retreat for TAT interested European folks with the
theme of ‘Make Your Whole Life a Prayer’.
Tess Hughes joined us via Zoom and Peter O. made a moving talk about his life and spiritual path. Freddie L. offered a very
powerful guided meditation, we conducted Harding experiments, rapport, and it was a great opportunity for discussion and a
deepening of friendship. We hope to run another similar retreat sometime next year.
See "A Seeker-Organized Weekend Intensive Retreat" for feedback from participants including a poem by one of them.
~ E-mail
for more details.
Update from the Greensburg, PA self-inquiry group:
I am meeting every Saturday morning with three of my former Greensburg SIG group participants who are into non-dualist paths, such as Adyashanti and Mooji. There is also another participant, a professional psychologist who is interested in eastern philosphy and who wasn't in my SIG group but makes a great addition to our proceedings. These fellows are sincere seekers. We spend our time discussing our respective paths and comparing notes. Our new venue is a place called the White Rabbit Cafe in Greensburg. I'm hoping that the lull here has ended and that we're ready to be more dynamic again.
~ Contact
if interested in local self-inquiry meetings.
An update from the self-inquiry group in Houston, TX:
The backyard patio meetings are now moved to Zoom meetings, which take place at 4 pm on Saturdays. There are 3 active and inspired participants right now. Topics vary from Mr. Rose's writings to "What is on your mind?"
~ Contact
for more information.
"Ignoramuses Anonymous" blog
Ignoramuses Anonymous is for seekers to explore questions together…a fellowship of seekers for whom ignorance of the absolute truth had become a major problem. It started as a blog for Pittsburgh PSI meeting members back in 2009. Welcoming discussion on the path.
Ig Anon looks inactive again. The idea is to have a kind of seeker’s blog to process our thinking out loud and hopefully also help seekers new to group work see what we’re thinking about and if it resonates. My feeling is shorter posts in a range of 100-300 words are easier to put together and probably to read than recent 1000-word posts; however, there are no rules about it.
See this post from a
Four-day isolation retreat at TAT Center, with photos and YouTube clips.
Update from the Lynchburg, VA self-inquiry group:
We have been meeting on Thursday evenings from 7pm—8:30pm, online, via zoom. Norio Kushi, Paul Rezendes, and Bob Harwood are consistent guests. We've also had some other interesting characters show up from time to time. Topics come from readings or questions brought up by our members. These are sent out, along with the zoom invitation each week. Recently we posted some "considerations" for joining our group:
** Try to frame your comments as questions to Norio, Paul, or Bob. Draw these questions from you own experience rather than generalities. Maintain attention and discussion on the question rather than philosophical musings.
** Question other participants, in the spirit of group-assisted self inquiry, but without attempting to lead them to any particular conclusion or bring attention to yourself.
**Allow for and attend to the silence and the space that is always present. When you aren't speaking, see that as your role—to hold that space.
**Question, in yourself, the use of personal story-telling and quoting others—though sometimes both are helpful and appropriate.
**Consider the way in which you are listening. Does it have a quality of acquisitiveness or openness?
**Continue to question your own intention for coming to this meeting and let that guide any comments/questions/discussion.
~ Please contact
or
if you're interested in being on the email list.
Update from the New York City self-inquiry group:
The New York City Self-Inquiry group meets by Zoom every Monday from 6-8 PM EST.
You can use this link.
Our format is inspired by Art Ticknor's self-inquiry retreats, giving equal time for each person to answer a spiritual, philosophical, or personal "question of the week." By asking questions, we practice being sincere and reminding one another about the great mysteries of life.
More details, as well as our weekly discussion topics, are available on our MeetUp page (first link above) and via email at
.
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- Dec. 11: John Kent Thesis Chapter 16: Death and Passing Through Zero "You are on the verge of Enlightenment when you see yourself in your totality and futility." - Jan. 8: John Kent Thesis Chapter 17: Revelation |
Update from the recently listed Online Video Confrontation Group:
The Monday Night Online Confrontation Group is going strong with a core group of participants and room for a few more. Now meeting at 7:30 pm EST (previously at 7 pm), using the online video conference platform from Zoom. The goal of the group is to practice confrontation/group self-inquiry.
~ If you're interested, email
or
.
Isaac and AJ interviewed Art Ticknor on their Plant Cunning Podcast series, where they "invite herbalists, ethnobotanists, farmers, mages, fungi experts, community organizers and all kinds of other interesting people to the microphone to share their wisdom and experiences with us": Self Realization with Art Ticknor.
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- Wed, Dec 7: "Are you primarily instinctive, emotional or intellectual? In what role is the gut, heart, head?" - Sun, Dec 11: John Kent's Dissertation, Ch 16: Richard Rose's "Death and Passing Through Zero" (can be downloaded here: https://www.searchwithin.org/johnkent/Chapter_16.html). Dan G. hosts, monthly 3:15pm EST. Link to join the meeting. - Wed, Dec 14: Shawn P. will host. - Sun, Dec 18: Joint Dublin, Ireland Confrontation Meeting 2-4pm EST. Patrick K. will host. - Wed, Dec 21: Shawn N. will host. - Wed, Dec 28: Christmas Party meeting online. |
Update from the Raleigh, NC Triangle Inquiry Group:
We're a small group that these days meets every first and third Tuesday of the month via Zoom. We usually have four to eight participants and new members are welcome. Except for a brief hiatus, we've been meeting regularly since the late 1990's. Our main focus is on looking at beliefs that can get us stuck in habitual ways of thinking which can limit the possibility of seeing the true nature of things. Although I act as a sort of MC in our meetings, there's no teacher or group leader and we all try to help each other in the search for the Real.
~ Email
for more details.
Update for the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area TAT Center:
Bob Fergeson spent a year as resident teacher before returning to Colorado in March.
Mark Wintgens continues as our chief-seeker in residence and invaluable caretaker. He is looking forward to hosting retreats and meetings for local group members as well as all TAT seekers. And TAT is looking forward to the possibility of hosting the August 2021 TAT meeting at the Center.
~ Email
for information about the TAT Center.
Update from the Richmond Self Inquiry Group:
There isn't a Richmond self inquiry group at the moment…it never really got off the ground. I'm considering a few different approaches for round three, but it'll be at least a few months away before that takes form.
~ Email
for information about future meetings and events.
Update from the San Francisco Bay area self-inquiry group:
See the Shawn Nevins interview by Iain McNay of Conscious.tv, kicking off the publication of Shawn's book Subtraction: The Simple Math of Enlightenment.
~ Email
for information about upcoming meetings and events.
TAT Press publishes Shawn's Images of Essence: The Standing Now, which features his poems with photos by Bob Fergeson, The Celibate Seeker: An Exploration of Celibacy as a Modern Spiritual Practice, Subtraction: The Simple Math of Enlightenment, and Hydroglyphics: Reflections on the Sacred, which features his poems with photos by Phaedra Greenwood.
Update from the Washington DC Area Self-Inquiry Discussion Group:
[This group was previously listed as the Rockville, MD self-inquiry group.] We've been meeting monthly at Rockville, MD Memorial Library. While the library is closed for public health reasons, we're participating more in a weekly online book club. Forum readers are welcome to participate.
~ For more information, please email
or see the website http://firstknowthyself.org/virtual/.
Downloadable/rental versions of the Mister Rose video and of April TAT talks Remembering Your True Desire:
"You don't know anything until you know Everything...."
Mister Rose is an intimate look at a West Virginia native many people called a Zen Master because of the depth of his wisdom and the spiritual system he conveyed to his students. Profound and profane, Richard Rose was not the kind of man most people picture when they think of mystics or spiritual teachers. Yet, he was the truest of teachers, one who had "been there," one who had the cataclysmic experience of spiritual enlightenment.
Filmed in the spring of 1991, the extraordinary documentary follows Mr. Rose from a radio interview, to a university lecture and back to his farm, as he talks about his experience, his philosophy and the details of his life.
Whether you find him charming or offensive, fatherly or fearsome, you will not forget him, and never again will you think about yourself, reality, or life after death in quite the same way.
3+ hours total. Rent or buy at tatfoundation.vhx.tv/.
2012 April TAT Meeting – Remembering Your True Desire
Includes all the speakers from the April 2012 TAT meeting: Art Ticknor, Bob Fergeson, Shawn Nevins and Heather Saunders.
1) Remembering Your True Desire ... and Acting on It, by Art Ticknor
Spiritual action is like diving for the Pearl beyond Price. What do you do when you don't know what to do or how to do it? An informal discussion centered around the question: "What prevents effective spiritual action?"
2) Swimming in the Inner Ocean: Trips to the Beach, by Bob Fergeson
A discussion of the varied ways we can use in order to hear the voice of our inner ocean, the heart of our true desires.
3) A Wider and Wilder Vision, by Shawn Nevins
Notes on assumptions, beliefs, and perspectives that bind and free us.
4) Make Your Whole Life a Prayer, by Heather Saunders
An intriguing look into a feeling-oriented approach to life.
5+ hours total. Rent or buy at tatfoundation.vhx.tv/.
Return to the main page of the December 2022 TAT Forum.
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Beyond Mind, Beyond Death
