The Field Guide and Roadmap of My Buddhist Writing Journey
As I said in my very first article, I recently decided to step up from passively consuming Medium content and start writing about Buddhism.
My approach to this endeavor is a bit experimental and is definitely still a work in progress, both with regard to the type/style of content I’m generating and also the way I’m approaching my use of the Medium platform.
One of the things I’m experimenting with is this article, which will be a dynamic, ongoing and ever-changing outline/roadmap of my ideas, my articles, and my creative directions and intentions as a Medium writer on Buddhism.
This article will change and evolve as I post more articles and I research more content. If you like what I am doing and where I am going with this, please feel free to check back regularly to see what’s new.
Simultaneously with developing my Medium content, I’m also learning, exploring and developing a knowledgebase of linked content on Obsidian. If I had my Druthers, I’d rather post this article as an Obsidian-style Canvas or as a dynamic Graph View with links to my Medium posts to show the linked and interconnected relationships of my concepts and thoughts. But hey, I’ll make due as best I can with linear text and links.
Anyway, here my inaugural roadmap of the topics that I’m exploring, the articles that I have in the pipeline and the areas that I’m excited about exploring in the future:
1. Buddhism Basics
I am starting with a few articles that share my thoughts on several of Buddhism’s most foundational concepts, principles and teachings. I’m not holding myself out as a guru or super-attained Buddhist master, but rather just establishing some core information and viewpoints as a foundation for the articles and explorations that will follow.
2. Responding to Professor Giles
I’ll then dig into some articles that directly and specifically address ’s articles criticizing Buddhism and its core principles. The issues, concepts and misconceptions in these articles are so delightfully numerous, complex and intertwined that I will need quite a few articles to unpack them with the care and respectfulness that they deserve. I am really looking forward to experiencing the growth and evolution of this particular exploration.
3. Exploring Western Philosophy
As I said in my very first Medium article, one of the wonderful, unexpected benefits I gained from researching my responses to Professor Giles was a renewed interest in Western Philosophy; its history, its teachings, and the extent to which it can be reconciled with Buddhist teachings and can supplement (and even support) Buddhist practice in a 21st century pursuit of wellbeing. I will be probing this with dreams of generating thoughtful and constructive input from (and ongoing dialog with) real, live philosophers.
4. Sharing My Failures in Buddhist Practice to Smooth the Path for Others
During my nearly ten years of Buddhist practice, I have aggressively roadtested a number of different traditions, disciplines and meditation techniques. Some worked great, others did not. I’ve struggled, failed, tried again, failed again, changed course, made progress, plateaued, changed course again, and again, and again until I finally gained stability, composure, and satisfaction in my practice.
While I agree with the general proposition that some amount of struggle is an unavoidable (and also important) part of the spiritual journey, I’m hoping that sharing my own experiences might give some hope and guidance to others who are struggling like I was.
5. SoulMaking in Plain English
My Buddhist practice is currently focused primarily on exploring SoulMaking Dharma as created by the late Rob Burbea (the former resident teacher at Gaia House in Devon, England and author of the seminal masterwork on the Buddha’s teaching on Emptiness and Dependent Arising entitled Seeing that Frees) and as now taught by the current holders of Rob’s lineage: Catherine McGee and Yahel Avigur.
Burbean SoulMaking is a rich, beautiful, and, for some, a radically imaginal form of Buddhism that I have found to be rigorously true to Buddhist teachings yet invigorating and revolutionary in its embrace of feelings, emotions, imagination and creativity as integral supports for spiritual practice. Most of all, I have found Burbean SoulMaking to be highly beneficial in my quest for meaning in my life and in Life in general.
As remarkable and beneficial as Burbean SoulMaking can be, some practitioners find Rob’s teaching style/language/terminology to be prohibitively challenging. I myself struggled with Rob’s style and terminology at first, and I hope to make it a bit more accessible to newcomers by sharing my thoughts, experiences and observations of SoulMaking Dharma in my own style and voice. It’s a tall order, and we’ll see how it goes.
6. Embodied WellBeing Content
Another major area of interest that I am exploring and will be writing about concerns the creation, protection and sharing of what I call Embodied WellBeing. There is a huge amount of overlap between WellBeing practice and Buddhist practice, but there are some nuances and differences as well, and I’ll be exploring all of those.
And a Bit About My Initial Approach as a Writer on Buddhism
This is my 2nd published article on Medium and I’m going to be experimenting a bit to find my voice and style on this platform.
After studying the writing and publishing styles of a lot of Medium authors, I’ve decided that my initial approach (which runs contrary to a lot of the “advice” posted online) is to take my time in preparing and publishing, to endeavor a “quality over quantity” approach to my content, and to have a somewhat structured approach to the content that I publish. It might seem a bit random at times, but trust me…its all connected. I have about 30 articles in the pipeline that Ill be publishing over the next few months and most likely many more in the future. If you are reading this then thank you very much for your time and attention and I encourage you to follow me, post your comments and follow along as I explore a whole host of questions about modern Buddhist practice and its connection with Western Philosophy and Embodied Living.
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Oh, and if you’ve checked out my About page you’ll see I’ve listed www.wellscriptedjourney.com, a wellness, travel and personal development blog that my wife Edel and I are developing. It’s still under construction, but we hope to launch that soon.
