Finding the God Within
August is dedicated to Entheos. Once you find the god within, you must learn to channel it to the good without.
I hold that God is of all things the cause immanent, as the phrase is, not transient. I say that all things are in God and move in God.
—Baruch Spinoza
Imagine standing at the edge of a vast, shimmering void—not of nothingness, but a pulsing, living expanse that hums with the energy of existence. This is a glimpse of the All.
Infinite being comprises us yet also courses through us.
To find entheos, the god within, is to tap into this nondual current and wield its power. But doing so must be undertaken with reverence and good purpose.
Entheogens like psilocybin can be shortcuts to transcendent experience, but they’re not the only path. (They were sufficient to make me a humble acolyte, to shake me from dogmatic non-belief.)
The journey begins with practice, moves through discipline, and culminates in sublime surrender.
Then, only then, can one can discover the power.
To harness the power, as one might fire, one must become an instrument of good. But take care. Fires without a circle of stones can burn out of control.
Toward the Tantric
Begin with the sutra, the grounding wisdom and practice. Sutra is preparation. It primes the mind and spirit to channel something greater—but only when one is ready. It can involve meditation, breathing, or simply sitting with your thoughts until a deeper, more elemental you can detach from them as passing clouds.
Sutra is the foundation. It lets us address the mental chatter, emotional clutter, and active churn that can prevent us from being and becoming within the All’s unfolding.
After the foundation is set, we move toward tantra—not just esoteric rituals or sensual mysticism, but the practice of inviting the transcendent to become the immanent. This journey from sutra to tantra requires a prayerful dialectic—a conversation between the self (or collection of selves) and the infinite consciousness.
What begins with the humble reflections of the monk becomes a back-and-forth that reconciles one’s individuated identity with the unfolding cosmos. It might be helpful at first to think of this back-and-forth as occurring between you (discrete and localized) and the All (infinite and cosmic).
There is a peculiar alchemy in turning the mundane into the sacred, or finding the entheos while standing firmly in the world, then channeling that god to good. One doesn’t beg for power like a Muslim does to smite unbelievers; one aligns oneself to reveal the power, hold it, then wield it.
Power, in our sense, isn’t domination or control of others—it’s expanding one’s self-sovereignty, acting with purpose to create and transform as part of the unfolding All.
But again, power is like fire. It can warm or destroy. Without virtue’s circle of stones, it will burn unchecked, consuming you and those around you. Virtues are the natural limits that let you practice within your power.
The Six Spheres of Virtue (Part One)
These great vows are universal, not limited by class, place, time, or circumstance.
The circle of stones enables one to refine one's power.
Risky Business
Upon discovering one’s power, she will learn that asymmetries lurk everywhere—in our institutions and our relationships. The god within can become a manipulator, a dominator, or something darker. Be wary of those who seek power without virtue, or who mistake dominance for strength, enthusiasm for efficacy, or harm as a means to harmony.
Unleashing tantric energy is inherently risky.
Both traditional texts and modern practitioners warn of several potential difficulties. Intense emotional material can surface rapidly, overwhelming someone without proper preparation or support. Those who suffer from psychological instability will not fare well. Practitioners report phenomena like uncontrollable energy surges, physical discomfort, sleep disruption, or feeling unable to contain the currents. The intensity of the practice can create challenges in relationships or daily functioning if not properly balanced, and there's a risk that naive practitioners will turn to intense experiences to avoid dealing with practical problems.
Traditional tantra emphasizes proper guidance, gradual development, and an ethical foundation, especially as these energies—while natural aspects of human potential—require respect and skillful guidance to channel.
One must also determine the object of channelling and how she’ll direct it. Is your power meant to heal, to create, to disrupt, to destroy? Is it flowing through art, action, or quiet influence?
Transgression
No path to the sublime is without its rebels. But the manner of transgression can be dark or grey.
There’s Dark Transgression—the pursuit of vice, the reckless plunge into excess or harm. It’s the shadow side of power, seductive but destructive. Think addiction to the power, then exploitation, manipulation, or cruelty dressed up as freedom.
Then there’s Grey Transgression—peacefully breaking rules that stifle the Good, suffocate the spirit, or protect the politically powerful from justice. Grey Transgression is the artist who defies convention to create something beautiful and true, or the innovator who challenges stasis to forge a new reality. Grey transgression involves using one’s power not to make harm but to create harmony. But that means circumventing what’s arbitrary or oppressive, aligning with the will of the All, as a Taoist might align with life’s flow.
This brings us to Grey Dogma, a playful paradox at the heart of the journey.
Dogma, in its rigid form, is a cage. But Grey Dogma is a set of principles that guide without binding, a doctrinal core that shines and is as impenetrable as a diamond. Grey Dogma invites us to recognize that to find the god within, one must submit to being an instrument of the All. Submission here is not subordination but alignment. It’s the willingness to let the fire flow through you, shaped by virtue, directed by good purpose. Its the artist who hears the muse, the warrior called to the cause, the seeker who faces the mystery and lets it enfold him and carry him to teloi that were determined long before his birth.
Since all culture is a kind of con game, the most dangerous candy you can hand out is one which causes people to start questioning the rules of the game. —Terence McKenna
A Note for August: Entheogens can crack open the door to experiences that offer glimpses of the god within and the All beyond. But they’re not the destination. They’re a shortcut for those, like me, who were not brought up in a tantric tradition. Once the door has been opened, the real work lies in the daily practice: the sutra that grounds, the tantra that channels, the virtues that shape. This power is a birthright, but it’s also a responsibility. Wield it with care, direct it with clarity, and always commit it to the service of the good. In surrender and then in self-sovereignty, you don’t lose yourself as much as you find the entheos, avatar of the All.