Deconstructing Yourself

This is a video of me speaking at the Portland Float Conference last October (2012). I’m adapting Shinzen’s ideas about how to deconstruct the ego to the environment of a flotation tank. Thanks to the guys at Float On for inviting me up to Portland, and for putting on such a fun and interesting conference.

Deconstructing the Self, Part 3 by Michael W. Taft The next time you’re talking to yourself, in your mind, ask yourself this question: Who or what is talking to whom? Are there two people in your head, one that is talking and one that is listening? If not, then it’s kind of weird that you [...]

I remember as a teenager, feeling that the Monty Python joke “my brain hurts” was talking about me. It was clear to me that my biggest problem in life was my own mind. I was very anxious, sometimes experiencing paralyzing anxiety attacks. Have yo ever been so afraid you couldn’t move? But most of all [...]

Hey, a book co-written by Peter Baumann and myself, Ego: the Fall of the Twin Towers and the Rise of an Enlightened Humanity is available for pre-order on Amazon. It’s about the evolutionary background of the human condition, especially the ego. Why we feel the way we do, and do the things we do. And [...]

by Michael W. Taft The name of this blog is “Deconstructing Yourself,” but what does deconstruction have to do with meditation? In short: everything. Deconstructing your experience—in the sense of analyzing or seeing through—is the essence of the meditative endeavor. Specifically, deconstructing your sensory experience, including the experience of being you, an ego. On first [...]