Jake’s path has led him to deeply engage with the contemplative and mystical dimensions of various religions and spiritual systems. This includes experiential practice at Buddhist and Christian monasteries and profound relationships with Vedanta and Sufi teachers. He takes deep and seemingly unapproachable teachings from different religious/spiritual texts and mystics and offers them in a clear way. This allows people to open up to a new understanding, which they will hopefully integrate into their lives through inner work and contemplative discipline.
Ultimately, Jake shares that The Beloved does not belong to any one religion or spiritual system. He also understands that religions can provide sincere seekers with tangible rituals and a faith community to be part of. However, once religions become too institutionalized, hierarchical, cultist, or materialistic, they become corrupted and lose touch with their original essence. It is also important to note that all religions and spiritual systems do not have the same ethos or end goal.
“The Ultimate and Highest leave taking is leaving God for GOD, leaving your notion of God for an Experience of That which transcends all notions."
~Meister Eckhart~
When Jake works with people at retreats, one of the most important ideas that he tries to instill in them is that a retreat should not be an escape or vacation from our “real life”, but an all-embracing work that either introduces us to or deepens our journey into the essential nature of our existence. Jake has often overheard participants at various retreat centers exclaim somberly when their time at that place was over, “I guess it’s back to the daily routine now.” However, in wakefulness there is no daily routine, merely life and the vital work that beckons us to engage with it in every moment.
In order to prepare for entry onto any authentic spiritual path, we need to clearly see our familial, social, cultural, and religious conditioning and become aware of our delusional egocentric leanings toward competition, greed, pride, nationalism, hatred, prejudice, desire, and spiritual materialism. Once we are cognizant of our loud and unconscious hypnosis by the socially constructed world, we can become silently vigilant to our innate wholeness and the unified reality of the Oneness of God. It is our willingness to work beyond our comfort zones that allows us to stretch towards new altitudes of understanding while also relinquishing our egotistical wants and worldly attachments.
Any retreat that Jake facilitates, regardless of its main topic, engages the following practices in varying degrees: contemplation of sacred books and mystical teachings, nature walks, seasonal reflection, and silent prayer. Each of these ingredients are vital in creating a holistic atmosphere that is deeply nourishing.
Please Contact Jake about leading a retreat or giving a lecture with regards to Sacred Wisdom.