Teachings given by Ken McLeod often continue to resonate long after I listen to them. Their power has much to do with presence, precise use of language, framing, and timing. I've saved many personally significant passages in a practice journal. This blog offers a selection of these “special” quotes.

Each post brings together an audio clip, its transcript, and a short reflection on why the passage matters to me after more than 20 years of studying, contemplating, and practicing this material. The source is Unfettered Mind, where the full recordings and transcripts are available.

These reflections arise from returning again and again to the same material and allowing new understandings and openings to unfold with their own rhythm.

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Thursday, 30 October 2025

The Violin Case

Awakening from Belief was the first retreat recording I listened to after discovering the Unfettered Mind website more than 20 years ago. Hearing Ken say that karma isn’t about justice but about how patterns unfold was oddly freeing.The violin-in-the-case image hit me hard. Karma shapes the space I move in, yet knowing that it’s enough allowed something in me to relax.

From Awakening From Belief 2

For instance, a lot of people think of karma as a balancing mechanism in the universe. It's what makes the universe just. Well, that's just a projection of the human value of justice on the world. It's nonsense. It's totally unjust. When you really appreciate how karma operates, how this process operates, you realize you have about as much room to move as a violin in a violin case. Fortunately, it's enough. So the choice points, to go to the point that you're raising, are few and fleeting. That’s why mindfulness is so very very important. Because through the practice of attention, through the cultivation of attention in the practice of mindfulness, you actually create more and more choice points.

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