Episode 11·November 21, 2023·1h 6m

The Bodhisattva Way

Ben Duffy traces his path from childhood and intergenerational trauma through psychedelics, a dark night of the soul, and a retreat insight that turned him toward service. He and Tyzen explore the bodhisattva way: trauma held in the body, and giving as the practice that loosens the cage of self.

That self which can be such a cage starts to loosen, and you start to open up to maybe what I am is not just this body, maybe what I am is everyone around me.Ben Duffy

The Bodhisattva Way, on The Ascension Podcast

Chapters 13

Show notes.

Show Notes

Growing up in Rochester with intergenerational trauma, weed as numbing, and never fitting the cultural box
Psychedelics open Ben at 15, followed by a dark night of the soul where resisting his gentler parts created anxiety and depression
A fasting retreat and mushroom journey reveal the limit of a self-only path and point him toward service
The bodhisattva turn: hospice, re-entry work, contemplative psychotherapy at Naropa, and trauma held in the body
Closing freestyle flow on getting out of your own way to let the soul move through

Key Takeaways

The spiritual path that stays all about you eventually hits a ceiling. Service loosens the solidified sense of self that becomes a cage.
Trauma lives in the body alongside its intelligence, so the body can be both the most painful place to be and the seat of presence and knowing.
Healing is not always conversation. Simply witnessing and holding space for another, as Ben did in hospice, is itself a form of healing.
Comparison and sympathetic joy share the same trigger. A minor tweak in how you see another’s life turns contraction into inspiration.

Meet the guest · Soul Fam

Ben Duffy

Contemplative Psychotherapist · Buddhist Philosophy · Depth Psychology

Ben Duffy is a Colorado-based psychotherapist with a master's in Contemplative Psychotherapy and Buddhist Psychology from Naropa University. He works upstream of symptom and story, blending IFS and depth psychology with Buddhist philosophy to walk people toward existential freedom.

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