LWT 25 | Eckhart Tolle’s Teachings and the “Gay” Pain Body – Interview with Richard “Nick” Fyffe

Summary: Can the teachings of Eckhart Tolle help dissolve the personal and collective gay pain-body? Is being gay a help or hindrance to spiritual awakening? Does the label “Gay” limit a deeper experience of the true essence of life? On this recording of our August 3, 2010, teleseminar, we were joined by special guest Richard "Nick" Fyffe to explore what the teachings of Eckhart Tolle say about being gay, the possibilities for healing, being honest, living an authentic life, and spiritual awakening. In our conversation, we discussed how the process of labeling people (and ourselves) in general can often lead to an overidentification with the egoic label itself. We also talked about how the gay man, though a heightened sensitivity to difference, might in fact be closer to appreciating the different forms that are all expressions of a unified life force that bonds us all together as one. Nick is a Peace Minister with the non-denominational, interfaith Beloved Community. As a Minister of Spiritual Peacemaking, Nick works with other gay men who find themselves in the grips of Christian fundamentalism, and especially men who are now in traditional marriages and find themselves living a lie. This was a deeply moving interview with a ton of great insights for healing the gay pain-body and living your truth. We invite you to listen with an open heart, and to share this conversation with all those who may benefit from its message of hope, healing, and love. Peace, Leo & Greg About Our Guest Richard “Nick” Fyffe, Peace Minister, likes nothing more than regarding himself as a “regular Joe”….”I find it more and more “extraordinary” to be “ordinary”….How liberating it is to “come without credentials” without the labels that one imposes on oneself or the labels society loves to put in place”. Just a bit about Nick. Nick is from Ohio but has lived in Arizona for 6 years with his partner Brian. They have been together 10 years. After graduating high school, Nick married very young at age 18, and soon after had 2 sons. When he was “outed” as a gay, he divorced at age 23. Years and decades of self-judgment, family rejection and the loss of visitation with his sons, depression deepened and manifested in a self-induced Christian fundamentalist mindset. The combination of being gay and Christian launched him into a deep spiritual quest for relief from his depression. During this time Nick was engrossed in his working career of nearly 30 years with AT&T. Then came along Eckhart Tolle…..life changed…quickly at first, then some back sliding and little by little things started shifting. “I’ve allowed the thought (forms) of others to manage my entire life…and worse yet…I adopted them as my own”…..an intense study of Eckhart’s teachings followed, along with the teachings of Krishnamurt, one of Echhart’s often quoted spiritual teachers. This brings us to the present period when Nick was recently ordained as a “Minister of Spiritual Peacemaking” or “Peace Minister” after completion of seminary studies with the “Beloved Community Seminary” (a non-denominations interfaith seminary). Nick’s Peace Ministry has been focusing primarily on working with other gay men, who find themselves in the grips of Christian fundamentalism and especially men who are now in traditional marriages and find themselves living a lie. Those who married because their religion told them to do so or they followed societies traditional “Thinking”….JUST LIKE NICK DID. Nick can be reached at nickfyffe (at) aol.com. Update:  Here is part 1 of a presentation tapped at the Bodhi Tree Bookstore with special guests Nick Fyffe and Peter Bedard of www.CreateYourHealth.com. Sign Up for Our Free Teleseminar Series   Our teleseminars are free and are held on the first Tuesday of every month at 5:30PT/8:30ET.