About

I grew up with a tendency to question things. I always knew there was more to life than we can see and feel with our senses — and more to us. I just didn’t know what.

I wanted to understand life. I wanted to know why we existed, where we were from and where we were going.

This desire for knowledge became an unwitting yet driving theme in my life.  Any time I tried to make my life about anything else — anytime I tried to steer it in any other direction — it failed, often miserably.

I was diligent. I tried everything.

I meditated my ass off. I lit candles, burned incense, read countless books, learned about chakras and crystals, did qigong and yoga.

I tried many things, testing what worked and what didn’t, and figuring out what made sense and what didn’t. My search led me from New Agey stuff to more ancient, time-tested teachings such as Taoism, Buddhism and Zen.

I read Eckhart Tolle and Adyashanti, found things like the Work of Byron Katie and the Sedona Method which were amazing at helping take back control of the mind. Eventually, through the teachings of Indian sages such as Nisargadatta and Ramana Maharshi, I discovered Advaita Vedanta.

It was Vedanta that finally ended my search for answers.

I was blessed to find an amazing American teacher called James Swartz. The moment I met James in person and saw the light shining in his eyes, I knew I was in the presence of a truly free being.

I knew that if Vedanta didn’t work, nothing would.

Vedanta directly addresses the problem of human suffering. Enlightenment, I discovered, was not some mystical experience. It’s simply understanding the real nature of the self and reality.

I learned that freedom is not something we need to strive to add to ourselves.

Quite the opposite —

Freedom is our essential nature.

The source of our suffering is a case of mistaken identity. We think we’re one thing (our self-concept) when actually we’re something else altogether (the underlying awareness in which all concepts, and all things, are known). In Vedanta this is called superimposition; a result of avidya, or ignorance.

Outside of physical pain and immediate threats to our survival, our suffering is unwittingly self-created. It’s in the mind. Victim to our own self-limiting thoughts, interpretations, and conditioning, we are imprisoned in a cage made entirely of thought.

How do we get out of this cage?

Well, ignorance caused the problem, so only knowledge can solve it.

We were born free, and it’s up to us to now reclaim that freedom; not by adding anything to ourselves, but by subtracting anything that obscures the radiance of our own Self. When the false is removed, only what is true remains.

The Purpose of Unbroken Self

I created Unbroken Self as a way of sharing what I’ve learned and what has transformed my life.

The content of this site is written with love and integrity. As someone with a background in social science, I endeavour to share knowledge in a clear, grounded and concise way.

This began as a general spirituality/wellbeing site and is now primarily focused on Vedanta. I have love and respect for a great many spiritual teachings and paths, many of which helped me along my way, but Vedanta is an all-consuming love that only increased with time. I consider it the greatest gift of my life and I believe that gifts should be shared.

My only hope is that my words provide you with a glimpse of your true beauty and light — along with the tools and knowledge to set your mind free.

I’m glad you made it here and hope Unbroken Self is of help to you. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to drop me a line. You can also sign up for the newsletter for updates (you’ll see the form just under this post).