André Duqum

Why do you think that is?

That's the starting point.

So let's keep diving in.

You would think that through the times of modernity, the more technology, the more access to food at our doorstep, the more affluence would correlate to increase in well-being.

And yet we see the loneliness epidemic.

We see anxiety through the roof, teenage suicide.

All of these markers indicate an internal poverty, so to speak.

amidst an external abundance.

And I think when you're referring to exploring what is it and who do we identify with, it's getting to the heart of the matter.

And so I'd love to just keep on diving a little bit deeper here with you.

You said it already.

So it seems like so much of your work is aimed at exploring the paths to self-mastery.

And people that are listening to this podcast have various different traditions and lineages and ways in which they've turned inwards, essentially.

How would you define self-mastery and the uniqueness of the Shaolin path as a distinct way up the mountain, so to speak?

Okay.

later down the line, decades down the line, is the core and the essence of really what the goal of the practice is?

It feels like so much of the path is this progression from unconsciousness to consciousness, from compulsivity and reactiveness to responding to choice.

And if we're to have any shot at, so to speak, unlocking the master within us, there is this saying or phrase about chi follows yi that I would love for you to speak to because it seems like right now we're giving our energy, our life, our attention to so many things externally and not giving self away.

the opportunity it has to be examined, to inquire about it, and to grow awareness in it.

And so what does that mean?