Awaken Male Teacher

Home Base
Ojai, California

Foundation of Teaching
Radical Aliveness, Conscious Living

Example of Teaching
“The greatest gift we can give is the purity of our attention.”

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Richard Moss MD

In 1977 Richard Moss was a practicing physician when he experienced a spontaneous state of illumination that irreversibly changed his life and profoundly transformed his understanding of human consciousness and behavior. With this opening came a new level of sensibility including a heightened intuition, subtle insight into mystical and spiritual teachings, and the ability to sense human body-energy fields.

Impelled by this opening and its intensity which required virtually continuous self-examination, he took a sabbatical from his medical practice and began a period of withdrawal from his usual activities for nearly a year. During this time he spontaneously meditated for hours each day and read extensively in spiritual and psychoanalytic literature, as well as poetry, and mythology. Above all, he made a careful observation of the new quality of energy moving in his body, and how his thoughts instantly generated emotions and sensations.

From this introspective period grew his understanding that the root cause of most unnecessary human suffering and conflict comes from two basic forms of ignorance: Unquestioned identification with thinking, especially our judgments and beliefs, and secondly, the general inability in most people to engage threatening feeling in an aware, vulnerable, and creative way. He also began to recognize the presence of the inner teacher, especially through dreams. He realized that he was being guided through this unknown territory by his dreams. Thus began his study and contemplation of dreams, which is a central part of his teaching, and his immense respect for the wisdom that dwells in each of us.

While there have been many important influences in his life, his work evolved independent of any specific spiritual or religious traditions. His teaching is a path of transformation and conscious living that is accessible to anyone. What you will receive when you join him in his workshops or retreats does not depend on taking on any new belief system or joining any organization; there is no pressure whatsoever for you to change yourself until you do so naturally out of your own insight. His work is about catalyzing you to live as fully and creatively as you were born to live. It is an invitation to what he calls “radical aliveness” – a vitality and intelligence that comes from our deepest being.

Richard offers his teaching through his talks, through 3 – 5 “Deep Work” intensive seminars, and through his 10-day “Radical Aliveness Retreats”. His teaching style can be very direct, but is always respectful. Between sessions he is easily approachable and enjoys sharing meals with participants. In all of his programs, he guides participants into a profound connection to their essential selves. His goal is that you don’t just follow his or anyone’s work, but that you learn to become your own teacher. He is renowned for the experiential richness of his programs. Participants learn directly to experience their multi-dimensional consciousness and how to recognize and free themselves from limiting beliefs. He teaches an awareness approach to threatening feelings, particularly fear in all its guises, so that you learn to meet these darker spaces in creative, liberating ways.



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Quotes

  1. “The greatest gift you can give another is the purity of your attention.”
  2. “...when our minds are unconsciously in the future, the present disappears; it is simply not available to us. We substitute heading toward our lives for actually living.”
  3. “The Now is not an ultimate state to be realized but rather a continuum to be lived.”
  4. “The distance between yourself and another person is the same as the distance between yourself and yourself.”
  5. “Somehow, when we no longer feel in control, we become available to deeper aliveness”
  6. “To me, wholeness is the key to aliveness.  It is more than just physical vitality, it is  radiance, coming from being at one with yourself and your experience.  Life then flows through you.”
  7. “Mature psychological health cannot exist unless we are capable of doubting any form of conceptual certitude about ourselves or anything else.”
  8. “True healing means drawing the circle of our being larger and becoming more inclusive, more capable of loving.  In this sense, healing is not for the sick alone, but for all humankind.”
  9. “Life is the most precious and wondrous thing that any of us have. Along the way, one of the real miracles occurs when we realize that what really matters is to deepen our relationship to ourselves and that to do this we have to enter a spiritual journey. We have to discover anew, or for the first time, our own relationship to the Infinite. We must begin to risk trusting a whole new level of intimacy with ourselves, life and the people whose lives we touch.”
  10. “The sad fact is that we're not educated to be aware and therefore able to question the reality created by our thinking. We don't realize that we must take responsibility for our thoughts to find out if they are really true, and then set aside or at least acknowledge those that are simply opinion and bias. We don't recognize that most thoughts are ultimately judgments, and that the truth of any judgment is how that judgment makes us feel."
  11. “Surrendering to change is always a leap of faith. For something new to enter your life, you have to let go of the past and join your immediate experience right now. The key is less in what you do than how connected you are in yourself as you do it. In life there is no predetermined path you should or have to walk; you lay down the path by how you take each step. This is one of life's greatest truths."
  12. “Life has to be in the moment, spontaneous and venerable. There isn't any winning or losing. Life itself, as it flowers in depth and subtlety, is the reward, and it isn't always an easy or fun process. We must learn to see that the issue of happiness is irrelevant. The relevant quest is the expansion of consciousness."
  13. “In the Now, there really is no destination. Each moment is lived for its own sake, even as you move toward whatever you many choose to pursue. When you are focused on some outcome or achievement-or are looking forward to the day when you are able to live in conditions that you imagine will be superior to whatever currently exists-your life right now becomes just an interval on the way to the next event."
  14. “If your primary focus is to get over your health problems or get past a relationship crisis so that you can return to your former life and old patterns- that is, get back to business as usual-you are not really living. The distinction is paradoxical and sometimes subtle. It's the difference between walking through your life on your way to somewhere, and walking as your life. Even if you believe that where you want to get is extremely important, that destination is secondary. Your immediate experience is what really matters. It is your life."
  15. “Your closest relationships are often the ones that have the most effect on you, but they are frequently the ones most difficult to change. These relationships are complex and have long histories. Lifetime habits of avoiding being really present with each other may exist in many of them. Family members, for instance, might want to support you, but will not necessarily know how to genuinely listen or be present with you in a way that is enlivening. . . . Even with the best intentions, it can be very difficult to get beyond the past and into the Now."