No. 35 Freedom Is a Deep Knowing with Sebene Selassie
Episode Notes
Sebene Selassie is a well regarded meditation teacher and author of the new book You Belong: A Call for Connection. She joins us for a deep, fluid conversation about:
The spirituality of belonging, the false binaries we live by, and the stress those create
The feminine and mystical and how that belongs in a meditation practice
The transformation of self-compassion and acceptance
Racial social justice work as true relationship-building and the path to helping ourselves become free
And Sebene's personal story of meditation, self discovery, and spiritual belonging
“Spirituality is a soulful attitude that I aspire to bring to all of life. I approach my life with the understanding that there is more to it than just what my ordinary senses can reveal and what the rational mind can understand. And that’s the truth of my existence.”
“Paradox can be challenging, but only if we need things to be certain and black and white. Actually, there is a relief in paradox. It’s like, ‘Oh, thank goodness, I don’t have to figure it all out. Both can be true and there is mystery.’”
“What practice teaches us is that I can have difficult emotions come up, and not be in contention with them. I can have pain in the body, and not fight it. I can really desire something, and not need to grasp for it. It’s building capacity to have a measure of ease and freedom, no matter what is happening. ”
“[The combination] of being able to see things clearly and then to meet it with kindness... [is] like this magic wand. It’s the transformation. We think the transformation comes from action and changing. It actually comes from allowing. ”