What Remains When Your Spiritual Beliefs Are Washed Away

Evelyn Reed · 2026-08-24

You know that feeling when life throws something massive at you? I mean, something that literally shakes the ground you're standing on. Meditation teacher Delson Armstrong knows it all too well. Days after barely making it through a catastrophic flood, he sat down with Michael Taft for a conversation that cuts right to the bone. They asked a question that probably haunts a lot of us on this path: what's actually left when all the spiritual ideas you've collected, all the practices you've clung to, just... fall away? It's a raw place to look, especially right after a near-death experience. ### Beyond the Spiritual Ego One of the most fascinating parts of their talk digs into what Delson calls the 'spiritual ego.' It's that sneaky part of us that turns awakening into another identity, another thing to achieve and hold onto. We've all seen it, maybe even felt it in ourselves. That subtle pride in being 'the mindful one' or 'the seeker.' Delson and Michael talk about what happens when even that construct starts to dissolve. What's underneath? They point toward something more primal, an awareness that exists before any story we tell ourselves about who we are. ### A Love Letter for the Weary Delson is working on something special—a collection of Sanskrit aphorisms he describes as a 'love letter to the exhausted seeker.' Honestly, don't we all need that sometimes? He's weaving together insights from five major wisdom traditions: - Buddhism - Vedānta - Yoga - Sāṃkhya - Tantra The goal isn't to add more to your reading list, but to synthesize, to find the common heartbeat in these different paths. It's for when you're tired of seeking and just need to remember. ### The Paradox of Teaching How do you teach with real authority without buying into the whole 'guru' thing? It's a tightrope walk. Delson and Michael get into the practical challenge of holding space, sharing knowledge, and guiding others without letting the role define you. It's about service, not status. They touch on paraconsciousness, the play of karma, and the influence of figures like Nisargadatta Maharaj. They even explore traditions like Śrī Vidyā and the goddess Lalitā, seeing them as maps of consciousness more than mere mythology. Here's a thought that lingered with me from their dialogue: 'The deepest truth might not be something you find, but something you stop covering up.' It’s about unlearning, not accumulating. After a trauma like a flood, all the concepts can feel like debris. You're left with the immediate, the real, the raw sensation of being alive. That itself becomes the practice. This conversation isn't about providing easy answers. It's an invitation to sit in the questions, especially the uncomfortable ones. It's for when you feel like you've been seeking for miles and just need a reminder that what you're looking for might be closer than you think. It’s a talk that feels less like a lecture and more like a honest, late-night conversation between two people trying to figure it out, just like the rest of us.