What Remains When Your Spiritual Beliefs Are Washed Away

Evelyn Reed · 2026-08-24

It's a conversation that almost didn't happen. Days after narrowly escaping a catastrophic flood, meditation teacher Delson Armstrong sat down with Michael Taft. They weren't there to rehash old spiritual ideas. They wanted to dig into what's left when those ideas fall away—like debris after the water recedes. Think about it. When the structures you've built your understanding on get shaken, what's actually left standing? That's the raw, fascinating territory they explore. ### Primal Awareness & The Spiritual Ego They dive deep into primal awareness. That's the basic sense of being aware before any thought labels it. It's the ground of our experience. From there, the talk naturally turns to the spiritual ego. You know, that subtle trap where you start identifying with being "enlightened" or "a seeker." It's a tricky one. Armstrong talks about it with a refreshing humility, acknowledging it's a pitfall for any teacher. His forthcoming work is a collection of Sanskrit aphorisms he calls a "love letter to the exhausted seeker." It's not about adding more to your spiritual to-do list. It's a synthesis meant to clarify, drawing from: - Buddhism - Vedānta - Yoga - Sāṃkhya - Tantra The goal? To point back to the essence that all these paths hint at. ### Paraconsciousness, Karma, and Play The discussion gets into some profound concepts, but they explain them like you're chatting with a friend. Paraconsciousness—that vast realm of mind just outside our usual awareness. Karma and divine play, or *lila*. They reframe karma not just as cause-and-effect burden, but as part of a cosmic dance. It's a more playful, less fatalistic take. They touch on the wisdom of Nisargadatta Maharaj and the rich traditions of Śrī Vidyā and the goddess Lalitā. It's not name-dropping. It's showing how these different streams all flow toward the same ocean of understanding. ### The Challenge of Teaching Without the Guru Trap Perhaps the most relatable part is their talk about teaching. How do you speak with authority and clarity without buying into your own role? How do you avoid the guru trap, where the teacher becomes the central figure instead of the teaching? Armstrong approaches this with a light touch and clear self-awareness. It's about pointing the way, not being the destination. As Armstrong puts it, "After the flood, you see what the water didn't take. That's what matters." This whole conversation feels like that. It's about stripping back the non-essentials—the dogmas, the identities, the complicated theories—to see what's fundamentally, unshakably here. It's for anyone who's felt weighed down by seeking and is ready to discover what was never lost in the first place. The tone isn't lecturing; it's exploring. It feels like you're listening in on a genuine dialogue between two people trying to figure out the big questions, just like the rest of us.