Relevant Podcast Episodes
Tap into timeless wisdom for a more balanced, fulfilling life. Taoist Master Mikel Steenrod brings you ancient teachings made practical for today’s world. Whether you’re searching for inner calm, spiritual direction, or clarity in daily challenges, each episode offers simple, profound insights to guide your personal journey.
Designed for newcomers and seasoned spiritual seekers alike, these monthly episodes help you slow down, reflect, and live with greater purpose. New episodes drop every first Friday of the month.
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In this episode of Living the Tao, Taoist Master Mikel Steenrod explores the transformative power of acceptance and spiritual hygiene. Discover how letting go of “wouldas,” “shuddahs,” and “kudas” can free you from the past, and learn why managing your sensory and mental inputs is essential for cultivating calm, stillness, and enlightenment. Whether you’re seeking clarity in a chaotic world or looking to align with the Tao, this episode offers practical wisdom and timeless insights to help you grow.
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Dear Friend,
What I’m going to outline here is a simple 3 level method to get one to a basic spiritual understanding of the Tao, provide one with the means of balancing the big four managements and to get one to a vantage point where the nature of enlightenment can be fully understood.
This is the exact method taught to my mentored students by me, and it is the method that dominates the 4 Ascendant. It is a simple, reliable, and safe method of spiritually advancing yourself.
It should be noted that spiritual progress does NOT come from the intellect. You’re reading here to prepare yourself to undertake a journey.
The reading, performed by your intellect, is not the journey.
Thought helps to direct activity, but it is not the activity itself. Talking versus doing is the difference between a couple of old fish wives gossiping about a person versus being the person doing something noteworthy enough to be gossiped about. Being the person gossiped about is a lot more fun.
The 3 Level Method of the 4 Ascendant Tradition
First Level of Spiritual Practice:
Second Level of Spiritual Practice:
- Stillness.
- Acceptance.
- Invocation.
Third Level of Spiritual Practice:
- The Mind of Clarity.
The mind of clarity is the point at which in-depth spiritual growth can be made. It is the point at which Social Mind can be directly opposed.
On average, it is entirely realistic to reach the third level with two committed years of practice, if it is something that you actually want to do. Part of the reason you actually go through the practices is to see how far you want to go through the practices, and gain an insight into what your true personal goals are.
Do You Need All Parts of the Three Level Method?
Different parts of the human population are going to respond to different parts of the practice. You don’t have to have a huge, intense resonance with all parts of the practice to be on the enlightenment pathway or to balance your life.
The things that jibe with you are going to change by your age and your situation. That’s okay. That’s part of embracing a basic Taoist principle: All things change. You are not wrong because things change. That is how it’s supposed to be.
Any single one of these practices can induce insight. How much insight, and whether or not that insight is going to be useful to you isn’t known. Any one of these practices is also strong enough to be a primary pathway to enlightenment.
The First Level of Taoist Practice
Calm
Calm is not something that should be simulated with the intellect. So, you don’t want to be sitting around pretending to be calm, when you are not on the inside. That isn’t actually calm. That is the appearance of calm.
Calm refers largely to the calm created very specifically by the 4 Ascendant Tradition’s practice known simply as calm meditation. Without it, practice is difficult. With it, practitioners get a direct route to TAO MIND experience. Calm is a natural outgrowth of the meditation experience.
In order to avoid a huge, ungainly post, I have created other posts on the different parts of the method. If you have any questions, please place them into the comments.
Warm Regards!
Master Mikel Steenrod
Keeper of the Gate of Man and Heaven
(Lineage Holder of the 4 Ascendant Spheres Purity Adept School of the Tao)
