I never heard about Machik's Five Slogans before I joined Dakini's Whisper, but there is a familiar sense to this. It kind of resonates with some of the early hippie ideas of letting go of our "hangups", self-examination, and facing our fears—fears that are usually not protecting anything of essential value. In my 20's we were all into that! The problem I seem to have now is lack of awareness of when I need to apply the slogans. As a metaphor, a few times, I have had a "monster" like a Mahakala show up in a dream. I instantly become aware that I am dreaming, because I don't otherwise run into monsters. The rest of the time I just dream along, unaware that I'm dreaming. So it's not too difficult to call myself out when faced, for example, with someone in clear need of help, or maybe some grungy, scary-looking street person. I'm good with that. It's in the subtle, everyday orientation to how I approach most things where I most need to wake up. I think that brings me back to the first slogan, "Confess your hidden faults." I can assume that they are mostly hidden just from me, perhaps in the form of my own projections. Taking an honest and clear look, is that what I really fear the most?

When I coached youth soccer teams, I spent a lot of time teaching the basics, establishing the goals and setting the limits—what to do, what not to do. As the players grew older and more experienced, they had absorbed those lessons, and I began to encourage them to go beyond those limitations, to break the rules, so to speak, in expanding their game. That's how Mahamudra Journey is beginning to look to me. Maybe I was on a Mahamudra Journey all along, but I sure didn't know it. I'm not even sure what it is now, but it's not what I expected. Maybe it's less than I expected, but in this case, less is more!