Robert Augustus Masters, Ph.D., is the author of 11 books (including Transformation
Through Intimacy and Spiritual Bypassing), a relationship expert, a spiritual teacher, and a highly experienced psychotherapist (and trainer of psychotherapists) with a doctorate in Psychology. His uniquely integral, intuitive work (developed over the past 33 years) dynamically blends the psychological and physical with the spiritual, emphasizing full-blooded embodiment, authenticity, emotional openness and literacy, deep shadow work, and the development of relational maturity.
At essence his work is about becoming more intimate with all that we are, in the service of deep healing, awakening, and integration. In all this he works side-by-side and in very close conjunction with Diane, his wife and partner in all things. His websites are www.robertmasters.com and www.masterscenter.net.
Interview recorded 8/1/11.
Video and audio below and as a Podcast.
Really, really interesting. It resonates with my own insights I´m having lately. For example, I was sitting in meditation this week and was sensing how closed-up my system was (shallow breathing, not much body heat, and some ´dead spots´ around the belly and the heart area) and the ´reason´ for this was clear to me, as I just experienced a lot of frustration at my workplace: it had to do with not being able to connect with certain people, because of a certain shyness and you could even say shame. Well, so I was experiencing this situation on an energetic level. And then it dawned on me that the thing I long for most is to be completely embodied. So my deepest longing is not to become a Buddha! – along with this came a sensation of sadness. So there was a moment of honesty, and then my system opened up a lot more, energy started flowing downwards again. And this sentence came to me: ´not wanting to become a Buddha feels really good!´, and I repeated it a few times as it had some sort of healing effect like a mantra.
Well, I felt like sharing this example. On the experiential level this was not a big opening, but I I do feel it gave me a key for future situations when my system tends to close down (to know my deepest priority). Of course an even deeper meeting with truth will have to take place on the ´battle field´ (or at least that´s how the mind likes to view it.) This ´battle field´ is pretty much non-existent within a monastery or shielded guru-life.
I would find it interesting to hear more from personal experiences from teachers in which they confronted themselves with there fears in stead of avoiding them. Usually there´s a lot of talking about either spiritual peak experiences or dark night of the soul experiences. but it would also be inspiring to hear a teacher tell about a particular situation in which he/she did not went in avoidance mode but in stead kept his/her eyes wide open. Sure, thee are a lot of stories teachers reaching a breakpoint and they consciously stayed with it, and as result it transformed them.
But I´m more interested in examples of descending into the body, by facing things like shame, guilt, arrogance etc… within daily life. Usually when teachers talk about this they keep things very general; they talk about relationships and so on. And that´s great because they point to the actuality of living, but it would also be very inspiring to hear real-life examples of meeting a certain blockage within the system.
Rick, I understand that you will interview Florian Schlosser in a few weeks from now. Perhaps he is willing to give some specific examples (so not just the big highs and deep lows as told on conscious tv – although I found that very inspiring also.)
But for the record, I really enjoyed the interview with Masters, and I´m definitely interested in his book.
Robert’s integral approach is a vital insight into truly dynamic spiritual transformation. It is not about avoidance, or escaping in any way. This is about being free to allow, honor and become intimate with it all: the highs and the lows, the light and the dark, the fear and the joy, and all the yin and the yang that life may bring. And in the process, from that foundation, from that freedom, one’s true nature is revealed and the real spiritual journey begins.
But ultimately, IMV, no matter how hard one may try, by-passing isn’t really a tenable option. Life takes care of teaching us that too … along with a little help from people like Robert. And now I’m curious about his poetic side :]]
Thanks to Rick and Company for the insights.
Yeah, ultimately life will teach us that by-passing isn´t the way to go, but it can be the case that we need a lot of lifetimes for this to truly dawn on us. So some help is definitely welcome, at least seen from the perspective of this apparent person.
Agreed Arjen … Realization/Awakening, because it is acausal and not time-specific, can actually happen at any time before, during or after the transformational aspects (psychological, emotional, developmental), that play out in the relative, temporal realm. But as long as one is manifesting as a body-mind in this world (or the next?), there is no avoiding it. And whatever help one can get is surely welcome, and often, it would seem, sadly not recognized.
May be its just me, but the sense I got was Robert Augustus Masters carries an ego the size of Mt Everest! “The age of gurus is over” (can see all of future!), “Ramana’s system is flawed”, XXX may be good but his systems lacks in psychological side. etc I could go on…Obviously he is very smart and is doing some great work, but was amused the see Mt Everest popping up
Robert obviously has a very strong masculine determination and a well developed intellect…
which has served him well in many ways both spiritually & materially…
fortunately now he has a wife… which hopefully will provide the needed balance… as he himself has stated…
overall there were many experiences … i feel that many of us can relate to…
and if Robert was local and i could afford it… i would check out his body-work… and see if his energy is healing for me…
but here’s the thing… and here i am expanding my commentary… to include all the interviews i have heard… here and elsewhere…
in all my 41 years on spiritual path… it seemed obvious from the start…
as well as part of the traditional/holistic spiritual teachings…
that all need to be taken into account… spirit… mind… body… environment… world… non-dual awakening… behavior… and gratitude…
with the understanding that to improve the world we need to improve ourselves first…
like Gandhi said … “be the change you want to see in the world” …
and like Amma says… here i’m paraphrasing… in order to interact with the world… [meaningfully on a large scale]… without collapsing… [and/or getting embroiled in various scandals sex/money/power/distorted teachings etc]… it may be necessary to be a “successful” monastic … and attain/stabilize “genuine” Self-realization… first… to become an “egoless” instrument in God’s Hands … this can also be done… to some extent… by some living in the world… and all to the good… if enough humility & innocence & purity are there…
and in working on our-self… besides spiritual practices…. which obviously includes a lot of inner work… which no one can do but “you” …
but can be more effectively done in the presence of genuine teachers… many of which are swamis, gurus… and some are genuine incarnations… full or partial like… Mata Amritanandamayi, Karunamayi, Shree Maa, and perhaps others…
besides all that… it’s wise to include… as needed… some of the almost innumerable approaches to… body work… healing energy work… appropriate counseling… various appropriate exercises… suitable diets like vegetarian/vegan/fruitarian … knowledge of most current nutritional science which recommends unprocessed-plant-based diets… periodic fasting… celibacy or healthy monogamous intimacy… etc
so obviously there can be a lot on ones plate… and it’s up to each of us to keep it simple… and many different phases to go through… which life itself will guide us if we accept… and see… keeping in mind that no one phase or approach is ABSOLUTE…
so having said all that… more and more i see the need to simply accept whatever phase people are on… i just returned from local farmer’s market… one fellow who overheard me last week… discussing love flowing from the silence of the heart … it resonated with him… his big smile indicated he felt something… but he interpreted it… as me talking about Jesus… although i never mentioned Jesus… today i was in a hurry and wanted to ask him if he was interested in a DVD on nutritional science… but he quickly said he was only interested in talking about Jesus… what could i do but to accept that his faith in Jesus is influencing his behavior favorably… at this time…
so like wise… the phase of non-duality stuckness( on the level of talking )… or any other stuckness for a while… maybe simply has to be accepted… as we ourselves may go through it one way or another…
for those of us on a holistic spiritual path… a familiar aphorism…
“before awakening… chop wood and carry water… after awakening… chop wood and carry water…”
i feel sometimes is used in a good way and sometimes is simply used to justify misbehavior…
so i would like to rephrase it…
“before awakening… make effort to adhere to spiritual principles & behave accordingly… after awakening… effortlessly adhere to spiritual principles & behave accordingly… as an example & benefit to whole world”…
and if it should happen that due to the merit of past-live karma and God’s grace… one awakens in the midst of leading a questionable wild life… well it may require quite a bit of cleaning up … and could even take a few lifetimes… to really become a humble innocent pure instrument in God’s Hands… but some in this situation find themselves teaching… and some… distorting the eternal spiritual principles… which forever have been and will be pointing to the eternal spiritual truths…
one example… “the age of gurus is over” … this is real convoluted thinking… and i have no idea what benefit it serves to say it…
the simplest meaning of guru is simply teacher… and all those who teach and do not what to be called teachers… simply are playing with your minds… perhaps this is the western egoic reaction to the gurus of the east … especially a few questionable ones… on account of which it is highly irresponsible… in my view… not to respect with gratitude the many awesome teachers… who brought the spiritual knowledge of the east to the materialistic egoic west… listen to the interviews by Philip Goldberg, Timothy Conway and some others…
and on another level… there is the Indian tradition of each family having a local “family” guru… and if you have noticed… Hinduism and Vedic Knowledge are spreading all over the globe… with many beautiful swamis emerging as effective “gurus” … see FaceBook…
also one of Amma’s goals is to re-establish the “gurukulu” way of life on earth… where students live together with their guru… on an equal family like basis… see… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurukul ….
thanks for listening to my 2cent point of view… yours may be different… each of us 7billion is unique… like no two snowflakes is the same… is that true… is that absolute true… hmmm
here’s a 2 min Amma video… see that little boy sitting next to Amma… wonder what his destiny is…