Robert K. C. Forman's Blog

I'm just back from a wonderful trip to California.  Gave 12 talks in 14 days.  Met many, many wonderful people.  Even had a stunning motorcycle ride!    Some of the folks I met had already read Enlightenment Ain't What It's Cracked Up To Be.  I heard lots of mentions about the book's honesty, vulnerability and [...]

In part to celebrate my recovery from the heart attack, I took a few days off last week to hike the Appalacian Trail.  It is such a joy to have a body that works again! I had no idea how much I had slowed down! Aside from the “Hey there’s”, on my hike I had [...]

About a third or more of people who have bypass surgery, I've heard, struggle with depression. About 5 weeks after having that heart bypass operation, it hit me. Yup, I've become a proud member of that lucky third!  Now, I am something of an expert on depression, having been clinically depressed for about 3 years [...]

As you have probably noticed, I have been offline for about a month now.  In case you haven't heard, I had a heart attack and a quadruple bypass operation.  I know it's a shoddy reason for being offline, but hey, its the only one I've got!  Thank you to all the folks that have sent [...]

Today is the 40 year anniversary of the final zlooping of those strange tubes in the back of my head.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, read the book!  (Sorry, a too-easy plug, eh?) It's a wierd thing to celebrate, I must say, but a bookstore in England asked me for anniversary dates, [...]

Merry Christmas.  Though I'm not a Christian, I love the holiday.  I see it as the celebration of the possibility of the birth of the infinite  in us.  So that we have the capacity to become "fully God and fully Man" as the Nicean creed has it.  It is in that spirit I say, hey, [...]

Hi, I just wanted to say thanks for all the people at Goodreads.com who entered the contest to receive a free copy of Enlightenment Ain't What It's Cracked Up To Be.  The thing that I was most gratified to see is that of the 570 who entered the contest (570!!) some 71 put it on [...]

I'm just back from a wonderful trip to California.  Gave 12 talks in 14 days.  Met many, many wonderful people.  Even had a stunning motorcycle ride!    Some of the folks I met had already read Enlightenment Ain't What It's Cracked Up To Be.  I heard lots of mentions about the book's honesty, vulnerability and [...]

Two days ago, I put out this question:  if our Gurus mislead us about enlightenment, were they intentionally lying?  When they promised neon lights and an easy perfection, were they pulling the silk over our eyes intentionally? What I answered, basically, was that they were speaking about the shift in abstract or metaphysical ways, but [...]

Maharishi, Muktananda, Eido Roshi all extolled enlightenment as, in the words of one of them, "no mistakes, no weakness, no shortcoming—success everywhere, fulfillment of desire everywhere. That is enlightenment."  "No hindrances, no fears,"  said a famous Buddhist text. Were they charlatains, promising us lives that were utterly happy and successful? Were they lying outright to [...]