The Paradox of Awakening, Psychological Maturity & The Way Out of Struggle | Bruce Tift

Bruce Tift is a psychotherapist, author, and longtime Vajrayana Buddhism practitioner with over 40 years of practice. As a therapist, he has worked in psychiatric wards and social services, and has maintained a private practice since 1979. He taught at Naropa University for twenty-five years and has lectured internationally. A student of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, he has had the fortune of meeting many realized teachers along the way. He is the author of "Already Free" — a book exploring the relationship between psychotherapy and awakening through the lens of both Western psychology and Vajrayana Buddhism.In this conversation, we explore the relationship between psychotherapy and awakening, the irresolvable paradox of relationship, and what it actually means to be psychospiritually mature.We get into holding developmental models lightly, learning to experience story-free anxiety, stepping out of identification through immediate sensation, and why struggle is actually a way of not dealing with our lives — and what to do instead.We also explore individual vs couples therapy and navigating the polarity of connection and separateness, using Circling to understand emotions and develop intimacy, nonduality and the Vajrayana view, a healthier approach to awakening and liberation, and the hard problem of consciousness.🔗 LINKS & RESOURCES 🔗Bruce's personal site Already Free — Bruce Tift Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind — Shunryu Suzuki Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche What is Circling?🕰️ TIMESTAMPS 🕰️0:00 - Introduction2:10 - The pivotal events that put Bruce on the path6:32 - The relationship between psychotherapy and awakening13:01 - Bruce pulls the chair out from beneath me16:58 - The irresolvable paradox of relationship18:10 - Is it possible to heal and develop psychologically without psychotherapy?19:34 - What does it mean to be psychospiritually mature?23:30 - Holding developmental models lightly25:55 - Learning to experience story-free anxiety35:23 - Stepping out of identification through immediate sensation42:30 - Why struggle is a way not to deal with our lives53:43 - Individual vs couples therapy — navigating connection and separateness1:06:29 - Using Circling and relatefulness to understand emotions and develop intimacy1:10:29 - Diving into nonduality and the Vajrayana view1:18:08 - A healthier view of awakening and liberation1:26:11 - The hard problem of consciousness*Subscribe to my YouTube channel to watch the video versions of the Elevating Consciousness Podcast *Subscribe to the Insighter Substack to get in-depth articles on the theory and practice of human transformation through a post-conventional