333. Joey Lott - a podcast by Rick Archer

Joey Lott is not a spiritual teacher. He’s not offering enlightenment, awakening, liberation, or any such carrot to keep you searching for something else.

Instead, he’s just a fellow person who had the fortune to discover that the willingness to stop seeking for answers, for solutions to all kinds of imagined spiritual problems, reveals the peace of just beingwhatever is happening - which is all that is ever happening anyway. It’s not a glorious attainment. It’s not morally or spiritually elevated. It’s very mundane, and often uncomfortable - exactly like your life now.Joey doesn’t do formal teaching. In an ever-changing manner, he does experiment with inviting others to join in a conversation and explore the assumptions that underlie suffering.

Website: joeylott.comYouTube Channels:

Joey LottCompletely Ordinary

Books:The Best Thing That Never Happened
You're Trying Too Hard: The Direct Path to What Already Is

Transcript of this interviewInterview recorded 2/13/2016

Video and audio below. Audio also available as a Podcast.YouTube Video Chapters:


00:00:00 - Introduction to Buddha at the Gas Pump00:04:47 - Shifting Perspectives on Identity
00:09:22 - The Perception of Suffering and Reality00:13:34 - The intensity of my meditation practice
00:17:42 - The Addictive Cycle of Meditation00:20:49 - The Experience of Suffering and Inner Dissatisfaction
00:24:53 - The Relief of Stopping the Obsession00:28:35 - Fear of Triggers and Rituals
00:32:57 - The Shift Towards Surrender00:37:24 - Relaxation of Control and Shift in Perspective
00:41:47 - Embracing Fear and Facing Problems00:48:43 - Finding Balance in Spiritual Teachings
00:50:41 - The Middle Ground of Purification00:55:31 - Spiritual Teachings for the Benefit of Humanity
00:59:40 - Methamphetamine and the Brain01:03:35 - The Marginalization of People
01:08:25 - The Reality of Experience01:12:40 - Critique of Popular Spirituality
01:16:53 - Recognizing the Full Truth01:21:19 - The Directness of Experience and Comparison to Ramana
01:25:22 - The Illusion of Awareness and Consciousness01:30:06 - The Promise of Removing Uncertainty
01:33:55 - The Illusion of Ownership and Doership01:38:35 - Appreciating Concepts, But Valuing Experience
01:42:58 - The Paradoxical Nature of Taking Action01:46:49 - Dealing with OCD
01:50:39 - Perception of a diverse natural world and dangers of moral authority01:54:01 - The Decline of Bee Populations and Environmental Responsibility
01:58:47 - The Interconnectedness of Life and the Power of Consciousness02:02:37 - Ambivalent about taking money for conversations

Further episodes of Buddha at the Gas Pump

Further podcasts by Rick Archer

Website of Rick Archer