Soren Ross - Notes from a fellow traveler

Two small stacks of pages side by side on a writing desk at dawn, lit by a single warm lamp.

When It Doesn't Matter Whether It's True

I spent years sure I couldn't write without meditating first. Then I tested it. A pragmatist's filter for the beliefs that change nothing but how you feel.

A worn patch on a wooden gym floor where the same stance has been practiced for years, facing a cracked mirror, lit by a single low warm glow.

I Believed in Chi Twice

I spent thirty years certain I could feel chi, on the mat and later on the meditation cushion. Why the sensation is real even when the explanation isn't.

A library index card with the typed phrase 'SPIRITUAL BUT NOT RELIGIOUS' crossed out by a single pencil line; underneath, in handwriting, 'working draft.'

Spiritual but Not Religious: A Field Guide for People Who Hate Both Words

After thirty years of using the label, I can name precisely what 'spiritual but not religious' hides - and what survives once you stop using it for cover.

A late-summer outdoor terrace at dusk with two small tables pushed together, half-empty glasses, a single overhead light, no faces visible.

How I Left a Spiritual Community Without Becoming Bitter

Twenty-five years after walking out of a spiritual community that turned out to be a cult, the two traps that catch most ex-members, and what I kept on the way through.

A long wooden table in a simple morning-lit room with paper coffee cups and empty chairs, no spiritual iconography visible.

When You See the Red Flags but Stay

I spent seven years in a spiritual organization. The last six months, I saw what was happening and stayed anyway. The staying wasn't passive. It was a choice I made every morning.

A meditation cushion on a wooden floor in early morning light, beside a half-finished coffee and a folded blanket, with no spiritual iconography in sight.

When Meditation Isn't Working: Twenty Years of Wrong Expectations

I meditated 20+ years and watched the mythology peel off while the practice quietly stayed. The problem was never the meditation. It was the list of things I expected it to deliver.

A wooden desk in morning light with an open journal, fountain pen, and a stack of yellowed typewritten papers nearby - a still life of source-checking and slow thought.

How to Actually Think for Yourself (Not Just Think You Do)

Thinking for yourself isn't disagreement or strong opinions. It's slowing down at the moment an idea clicks, and asking where you got it from.

A coffee cup on a wooden terrace table in spring morning light, its shadow splitting the surface into two halves.

What If There's No Such Thing as a Spiritual Life?

If you need to add "practical" to your spirituality, you've already separated it from the rest of your life. That separation is the problem, not the solution.

An open dictionary with out-of-focus pages; a hand-drawn square, triangle, and circle on the right page.

The Dictionary They Gave Me

On borrowed vocabularies, offices that look like ashrams, and the one thing that finally broke the language I was given for my own inner life.

A laptop showing an empty email draft with a blinking cursor, coffee cup nearby, soft morning light - representing the moment of hesitation before a difficult conversation.

Knowing What to Say Doesn't Help

We don't avoid difficult conversations because we lack courage. We avoid them because we're calculating the aftermath - the unpaid hours, the villain edit, the emotional cleanup. Here's why "just be honest" is bad advice.

See all →

Astrology Works. Not the Way You Think.

The Cult Doesn't Need a Guru Anymore

The Vacant Post

How to Keep a Practice You No Longer Believe In

Featured

I Am The Foundation: Why I Stopped Looking for Answers Outside Myself

Twenty Years of Meditation: What Changed (And What Didn't)

What Seven Years in a Spiritual Organization Taught Me (And What It Took to Leave)

Thinking for Yourself