Zang thal

"Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds."

- Bob Marley

Welcome to Take Back Your Mind. My name is Jason Miller, known in some quarters as Inominandum. I teach and write books about the occult; magic, witchcraft, that kind of thing. I blog about that stuff over at Strategic Sorcery. This blog is different. There will be little talk of magick and spirits here. Even if you think all that is complete bunk, thats ok.

This blog is about simply about living a more present, open, and mindful existence. We will be talking about everything from meditation to time management, from diet to spirituality, from excercise to love.

Why is it called Take Back Your Mind?

Most teachings on meditation talk about finding calm. Calm can be good, and its a side effect of practice, but for me anyway thats not really the goal. Some teachers talk about spiritual fulfillment, and though that might occur as well, it ultimately is not the goal. The goal is to take back what has been stolen from you: your attention span, your natural awareness, your ability to react as you will rather than how habit dictates. Someone took your mind, should'nt you go kick the shit out of them and take it back?

There is no need to become an uber-calm, sandal wearing, wanna be monk that is dead from the neck down. Screw that. Meditate because you want to delve more fully into the fracas. Be mindful because you want to feel and fuck and fight more and better than you are able to while being a sleeping slave to habit.

The goal is to wake up. To be present in every moment.

Thats why the url for the blog is Zangthal. Zangthal is a term from Dzogchen that describes a penetrating, unobstructed, and fully open state of mind. Thats the goal. My goal anyway.

On a personal level, I have accumulated lots of teachings on mindfulness over the last twenty years. I am a Buddhist Ngakpa and have studied with many Lamas both in America and in Nepal. I have also studied Hermeticism in western mystery schools and contemplative Christianity under a gnostic bishop, along with a smattering of anything else that I thought would be helpful. As I write this, I am surrounded by the books and claptrap of twenty years of spiritual searching. I know lots of stuff. But to be honest, I could be a lot better about applying it. I am hoping to change that.

In anywhere from a few hours to a few weeks, I will become the father of twins. A life already bursting at the seams will get even more hectic. I need to cultivate more compassion. I need to manage my time better. I need to conquer fear and habit. I need drop about sixty pounds. I need to not repeat the mistakes of my parents. I need be a better husband. I need to maintain rigpa. In short, I need to take back my mind.

The blog will be updated every Monday.