Uploaded March 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Talk titled: "Soulmaking Rivers (Q & A)", given during the event "Tending the Holy Fire". Held at Colehayes Park, Devon on 2018-02-06.
Topics covered: soulmaking and emptiness, soulmaking: form of image fading, essence remaining, definitions: divinity (or god or buddha-nature), existentialist dharma, soulmaking: participation, images: expanding one's range of image and fantasy, awakening: different kinds of liberation through eros and soul, emptiness: dualistic view of fabricated vs the unfabricated, soulmaking: dark gods (the weird, dark, pathological, sexual, etc.), jhana and soulmaking, mahayana, ideational-imaginal (context: aesthetic or moral values/virtues)
Teacher's note on suitability: the talks and exercises from this 'tending the holy fire' retreat are intended for experienced practitioners who already have a working familiarity with this particular soulmaking paradigm, as outlined, for example, in the following retreats: 'the path of the imaginal (longer course)'; 're-enchanting the cosmos: the poetry of perception'; and 'of hermits and lovers: the alchemy of desire'. integrating that previous material and also taking the talks in this new set in their intended order will, for most, support a better and fuller understanding of the teachings from this course. without this practice and knowledge base, the material from this retreat may be confusing and unhelpful.
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To donate to Rob's foundation, The Hermes Amara Foundation, visit https://hermesamara.org, and click the Donate button. See Rob's Dharma Seed bio (dharmaseed.org/teacher/210/) for a description of this organization and Rob's founding of it.
Original audio: dharmaseed.org/teacher/210/talk/50519
Transcript link: dl.airtable.com/.attachments/3e94a8f269e9f688a78ab0be0c601e59/0da3e0dd/2018_0206SoulmakingRiversQandA.pdf
Talk titled: "Soulmaking Rivers (Q & A)", given during the event "Tending the Holy Fire". Held at Colehayes Park, Devon on 2018-02-06.
Topics covered: soulmaking and emptiness, soulmaking: form of image fading, essence remaining, definitions: divinity (or god or buddha-nature), existentialist dharma, soulmaking: participation, images: expanding one's range of image and fantasy, awakening: different kinds of liberation through eros and soul, emptiness: dualistic view of fabricated vs the unfabricated, soulmaking: dark gods (the weird, dark, pathological, sexual, etc.), jhana and soulmaking, mahayana, ideational-imaginal (context: aesthetic or moral values/virtues)
Teacher's note on suitability: the talks and exercises from this 'tending the holy fire' retreat are intended for experienced practitioners who already have a working familiarity with this particular soulmaking paradigm, as outlined, for example, in the following retreats: 'the path of the imaginal (longer course)'; 're-enchanting the cosmos: the poetry of perception'; and 'of hermits and lovers: the alchemy of desire'. integrating that previous material and also taking the talks in this new set in their intended order will, for most, support a better and fuller understanding of the teachings from this course. without this practice and knowledge base, the material from this retreat may be confusing and unhelpful.
---
To donate to Rob's foundation, The Hermes Amara Foundation, visit https://hermesamara.org, and click the Donate button. See Rob's Dharma Seed bio (dharmaseed.org/teacher/210/) for a description of this organization and Rob's founding of it.
Original audio: dharmaseed.org/teacher/210/talk/50519
Transcript link: dl.airtable.com/.attachments/3e94a8f269e9f688a78ab0be0c601e59/0da3e0dd/2018_0206SoulmakingRiversQandA.pdf










