For decades, I've been interested in spiritual paths that give attention to the luminosity or inherent brightness of our being (called Shakti in Sanskrit). Kashmiri Shaivism and (Tibetan) Dzogchen are two such paths to awaken the whole body-mind to its living, radiant source.
WARNING! Before importing an ancient, foreign tradition into your modern American mind, first boost the power of your critical thinking, for you will encounter heaps of horseshit from the pre-scientific, superstitious, isolated, feudal, patriarchal cultures that are the tradition's homeland.
I'm always wary of the clock striking 13. For example, I'll be reading an English translation of, say, a Dzogchen text, and I'll come across an insight into some psychological process that will give me a thrill of recognition, and then in the very next lines, I'll see something like, "Recite this mantra of protection, Queeko, Queeko, Queeko, then set a ghost-trap at the Eastern Gate." Yep. 13 o'clock. It's like Alan Watts said: you have to be already enlightened to get anything useful from the world's scriptures.
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