The Enneagram and the Three Poisons
Three creatures chase and bite each other at the center of the Wheel of Samsara. Their inexhaustible pursuit powers everything we think, feel, or do. The satisfaction of one guarantees the dissatisfaction of another. This is the Buddhist diagnosis of our condition: our psychology is fundamentally arranged to perpetuate suffering. Join us for a six-day online course that combines the Tibetan Wheel with the Enneagram to map the specific form these three poisons take in each of us.
The Human Being as a Cosmos
A look at how the Fourth Way maps the universe into concentric worlds — from the Absolute to the Moon — and why the human being, far from being simply “on Earth,” is understood to inhabit all of them simultaneously.
Wheel of Fortune
When inner accidents stop in us, it will make us more free from external accidents. There are too many accidental things in ourselves and we can get rid of these accidental things only by creating a center of gravity, a certain permanent weight, weight in the sense that it keeps us more balanced. And for this we need a school.
Counting Exercise
Practitioners were given the exercise to count each moment they remembered themselves from the beginning of their day, and aim to reach no less than 100 times…
Learning to Observe Ourselves
Self-observation is very difficult. The more you try, the more clearly you will see this. At present you should practice it not for results but to understand that you cannot observe yourselves. In the past you imagined that you saw and knew yourselves. I am speaking of objective self-observation. Objectively you cannot see yourselves for a single minute, because it is a different function, the function of the master.
Self-Remembering
When you become aware not only of what you are doing but also of yourself doing it, you see both ‘I’ and the ‘here’ of ‘I am here’. This is self-remembering.
Hoisted Higher
In the play we performed in Italy this past month, I cast Luisa as Demeter—the lead role in a retelling of the Greek myth of the harvest goddess whose daughter Persephone is abducted to the underworld by Hades. Having no prior theater experience, the challenges before Luisa were considerable.
Ancient Schools and the Transmission of Knowledge
Every generation inherits the accumulated wisdom of those that preceded it. But knowledge transmitted through time is subject to a natural decay: what was once living and flexible gradually hardens into dogma, losing its capacity to transform those who encounter it. To counteract this process, every age must take upon itself to find a fresh expression of ancient truths.
The Haystack of Spirituality
What drew me to this work is a desire to understand myself more clearly, but not just in an abstract or purely intellectual way. In a way that actually changes how I live, relate, and choose. I’ve spent years observing patterns in myself that I can recognize but don’t always fully master, cycles of effort and withdrawal, moments of clarity followed by old habits reasserting themselves, and a recurring sense that there’s a deeper coherence trying to emerge if I can learn how to meet it properly.
Milan 2026
Milan is a crossroads of sacred traditions, where early Christian basilicas stand alongside Gothic cathedrals and Renaissance masterpieces. From the 4th-century foundations of Sant’Ambrogio through the soaring spires of the Duomo to Leonardo’s revolutionary experiments in perspective and symbolism, this northern Italian city preserved centuries of esoteric knowledge in stone, mosaic, and paint. Each period found its own language to express eternal truths, which we will trace throughout our week together.
Twelve Functions
Our psychology is composed of four independent minds… subdivided into three parts. All parts are forced to cohabit, influencing one another and yielding twelve distinct modes of psychological operation. In this four-day gathering, we will superimpose this twelvefold structure onto Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper.
Who Does This Work?
Those who gather the courage to take the next step and join this work discover something unexpected: despite their differences, they forge the closest friendships. What brings them together runs deeper than age, culture, or circumstance, for it is rooted in the very core of their being.