Taft - The Mindful Geek: Secular Meditation for Smart Skeptics

THE MINDFUL
GEEK

Michael W. Taft

2015

Copyright 2015 by Michael W. Taft All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Cephalopod Rex Publishing 89 Kensington Rd.

Kensington, CA, 94707 USA www.mindfulgeek.net

www.meditationwithmichael.com

www.deconstructingyourself.com

International Standard Book Number: 978-0692475386

Version number 001.00

Until you make the unconscious conscious,
it will direct your life and you will call it fate.
~ C. G. Jung

Acknowledgments

Id like to thank my meditation teachers, Dhyanyogi Sri Madhusudandasji, Sri Anandi Ma Pathak, Dileepji Pathak, and Shinzen Young for all their love, patience, and guidance over the decades. Shinzen in particular has been instrumental in the ideas, formulations, and system presented in this book.

The Hindus have a saying that your first spiritual teacher is your mother, and that is certainly true in my case. Thanks, Mom. And thanks to my whole family.

Thanks to Thomas Metzinger, Judson Brewer, Dave Vago, and Richie Davidson for serving as friends and inspiration, and for their research and thought leadership which is moving the field forward.

Thanks to Sandra Aamodt, Bridgette Anderson, Al Billings, Gareth Branwyn, Bill Duane, Braxton Dudley, Jessica Graham, Sean Dae Houlihan, Todd Mertz, Julianna Raye, Zachary Schlosser, Corey Swartsel, Lindsay Strke, Ishan Walpola, and Erik Yates all contributed vital notes, feedback, and enthusiasm that helped to greatly improve this text. And thanks to Troy Coll, Carol Schneck Varner, and Emily Yates for proofreading above and beyond the call of duty.

Thank you to Bill Duane and Michael Van Riper for giving me the opportunity to field-test so many of these ideas and teaching methods with the bergeeks at Google.

Thanks to Rick Hanson for his unflagging and deeply enthusiastic support. Peter Baumann for making so many things possible, and for keeping things interesting. Corey Swartsel, Douglas McLeod, Ellen Balis, Maurizio and Zaya Benazzo, Amy Hertz, Amber Rickert, Jessica Graham, and Rick Jarow for being wonderful human beings.

Thank you to Morgan Blackledge and Laura V. Ward, who have been friends on this journey of awakening ever since the old days in East Lansing. Requiescat in pace, Robert Nash.

Thank you to Krisztina Lazar and Ernst Schmidt for helping to conceive and design the exterior. Thanks to Gareth Branwyn for editing the final manuscript, and for contributing so much experience and help to the crowdfunding campaign. Hail, Eris!

A deep thanks to all my students over the years who have taught me so much, and for being such fierce, brave, and loving people.

Very special thanks to Krisztina Lazar.

Finally, the creation of The Mindful Geek was made possible by the generous contributions of many individuals to its Indiegogo funding campaign. Id like to thank the following people, as well as many others who wished to remain anonymous. My apologies if I have inadvertently left anybody off of this list.

Adam Farasati, Adam Pfenninberger, Allison Ayer, Alvin Alexander, Ana Rubio, Andrea Lazar, Arrowyn Husom, Audrey M Korman, Bianca Petrie, Bobby L Bessey, Boris Schepker, Brent Cullimore, Brian Baker, Brian P Rumburg, Bridgette Anderson, Brooks M Dunn, Charlotte Kay, Christine Rener, Cory Smith, Cyril Gojer, Damian Frank, Daniel Abramovich, Daniel B Horton, Daniel L Ruderman, Daragh J Byrne, Darin Olien, David B Tierkel, Denise G Ellard, Dianne Powers Wright, Dominick Pesola, Donniel Thomas, Douglas McLeod, Elan J Frenkel, Elvira Gonzalez, Emily Barrett, Emily Yates, Eric Klein, Erin Diehm, F F Seeburger, Francesca de Wolfe de Wytt, Francis Lacoste Julien, Gareth Branwyn, George R Haas, Gil Evans, Giuseppe Falconio, Glenda K. Lippmann, Heidi E Clippard, Heidi Hardner, Hirofumi Hashimoto, Hulkko Heikki, Isabelle C Lecomte, Jacqueline Nichols, Jamie L Rowe, Jeanette Cournoyer, Jessica Clark-Graham, Joan T Sherwood, Joel Bentley, John B Rasor, Jonathan Schmitt, Joy C Daniels, Judy N Munsen, K A Berry, Karen Cowe, Karen Yankosky, Kaycee Flinn, Kenneth Britten, Kenneth Lalonde, Kestrel C Lancaster, Laura Saaf, Laura V Ward, Lauren Monroe, Laurie Morrow, Linda L. Small, Linda Read, Lindsay M Strke, Lisa J Brayton, Loren W Smith II, Louis Billings, Lydia Leovic Towery, Mark J. Miller, Mark K. Glorie, Marsha E Parkhill, Micah Daigle, Michael Baranowski, Michele P Berry, Michelle L Lyon, Yogi Nataraja Kallio, Nick R Woods, Noah J Hittner, Pamala Lewis, Paula A Zittere, Peter H Goh, Pokkrong Promsurin, Qadir Timerghazin, Randy Johnson, Rebecca L. Johnson, Richard Miller, Robert D Larson, Robert Y Smith Jr, Saiesh C Reddy, Samuel D Brown, Sanjeev Singh Guram, Sara A. Sporer, Scott R Petersen, Sharad Jaiswal, Shyamaa Creaven, Stefan Kahlert, Stephen Wharmby, Stina Stiernstrom, Sue Kretschmann, Susan Whitman, Suzanne Rice, Timothy Boudreau, Todd Sattersten, Troy Coll, Tyler Osborn, Volkmar Kirchner, William D Culman, William Duane, William H Taft Jr, Willow Pearson, and Zachary Schlosser