Western Core Tantra by Forrest Landry (Book Summary)

“Western Core Tantra” By Forrest Landry is a metaphysical exploration of how we can best live in this world. In this seminal work, Landry explores ethics, morality, spirituality, religion, meaning, purpose, and values among other essential elements of our existence. The text is written in a specific format to provide a particular cadence to the reader. In my in-depth summary below I took the formatting out to improve readability although through that removal it may lose some of the intended emphasis. 

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*All sentences in quotations are direct quotes from “Western Core Tantra” and are attributed to Forrest Landry. Bold is added for skimmability. 

 

Ethics & Morality 

• “Ethics: organized thought concerned with the study of, and adherence to, the principles of effective choice.” 
• “Ethics is the study of the principles of the most effective means of self-expression, in both words and actions.”
• “It is about how to make one’s choices more effective, for all of oneself and for all others, in both form and feeling.”
• “Morality is an externally defined set of rules in a particular domain, generally applicable to all selves in that domain.” ( Hence what is considered moral in one domain may not be moral in another) 
• “Morality also refers to the apparent degree that the choices of a given self happen to adhere to those rules. Morality is the application of a collection of statements or codes which (hopefully) represent the principles of ethics in terms appropriate to that specific domain/world.”
• “Rather than being about public/visible actions within a domain, ethics is internal to oneself and independent of any particular domain.”
• “The relationship between ethics and morals is similar to the relationship between philosophy (metaphysics) and science (physics).”
• “Ethics is always the ultimate basis for any moral, statutory, or civil code in much the same way that the scientific method (a theorem of metaphysics) is always the ultimate basis for any physics.”
• “Ethics focuses simultaneously on the value, meaning, and purpose of expressions (choices and events), with an emphasis on meaningfulness.”
• “Each “action” is a form of communication between self and world; it involves aspects of both perception and expression. In this sense, ethics is the study of the ‘best way to communicate’.”
• “To act in accordance with ethics is an affirmation of the integrity of self and the significance of others. To require others to be ‘ethical’, or to label them as being ‘unethical’, is itself inherently unethical. One cannot enforce ethics (ethical action and choice) on any other, in any world, ever. It is impossible.”
• “Only by being ethical can one encourage, allow and enable others to also be ethical.”
• “Life is ultimately ethical, yet it is not moral. Life and evolution depend (in part) on occasional exceptions.”
• “Life itself is dynamic, inherently involving inequality, in evolution and change, a flux across a boundary; a dynamic which eventually exceeds and extends beyond all fixed boundaries. No world is ‘fair’, nor can any world be expected to be fair, even though all worlds are beautiful (in their own way).”
• “The more one acts ethically, the more one is enabled to act ethically in the future, and the easier and more natural the pattern of one’s life.” 

 

Truth 

• “No one is ever wholly wrong; there is always a grain of truth in whatever anyone says, or is in their being. Rather than focusing only on what is false, or who or what is at fault, wisdom involves focusing on whatever is true, whole (wholesome), valid, and right.”
• “The process of learning and the finding of Truth is more effective when one searches for that which is true, rather than for that which is not.”
• “Truth is more than “that which one can consider” (perceive) with total confidence, clarity, and certainty.”
• “Truth is that with which one can personally act with total confidence and effectiveness.”
• “Truth is not so much about correctness in thinking as it is about the significance and efficiency of choice. It is not so much about perceptual certainty as it is about expression with clarity, effectiveness, and confidence.”
• “To realize truth and honor in life one needs to be gentle and firm, to have both compassion and ruthlessness, and be able to act with both sensitivity and severity. These aspects cannot occur singly; they must always occur together.”

 

Responsibility, Maturity, & Integrity

• “One is always responsible for all aspects of their expression and choices at the exact moment of their choice, neither before nor after.”
• “To the extent (neither more nor less) that the same conscious being can continue to make choices they continue to be responsible.”
• “One cannot ever be responsible for the choices of another. One cannot be held responsible for the reactions or responses of others. One can be held responsible only for their own actions and responses.”
• “Maturity is in proportion to the quantity, quality and significance of the choices made.”
• “The absolute degree of maturity= the degree of responsibility x the relative degree of wisdom x the degree that one’s choices of responsibility are made in accordance with that wisdom.”
• “Maturity, growth, and wisdom are measures of the degree of integration (within the self) of both experience and the capacity to think, feel, and reflect.”
• “Integrity has the meaning of ‘to act as one together’. It connotates wholeness, health, and a complete unity of being. Where the degree of intensity in interaction is very high, one is required to act with a very high level of integrity (very ethically).
• “The integrity of self must precede the connectedness with the world (experience).”
• “Wellness must take precedence over fullness.”
• “The maximum level of intensity with which one may have contact with a world must always be slightly less than the maximum level of integrity that one has within the self.

 

Meaning, Purpose & Values 

• “Meaning, purpose, and value are distinct, inseparable, and non-interchangeable. To truly have any one of these, all three must be present.”
• “Purpose is a measure of external potentiality. Purpose is a reflection of want.”
• “Value is a measure of internal potentiality. Value is a reflection of need.”
• “Meaning is a measure of the potentiality between things. It is the basis of desire.”
• “Significance (meaning) is more basic than both value and purpose. Everything has significance.”
• “There is never an absence of significance. Every perception and expression cannot not have some degree of meaningfulness. All perceptions and expressions have some degree of purposefulness and value.”
• “The purpose, value, and significance of each life, consciousness, and being, is always plural. No event, thing, or domain is ever without — or ever has just one –purpose, value, or meaning.”
• “There is no expression that is without purpose.There is no perception (experience) that is without value. All experiences have equal value. All expressions have unequal purpose.”
• “Purposes will always contain or exclude other purposes.”
• “Meaning is always (and only) in between both self and other.
• “Purpose is individual. Evolution is universal. Evolution is not progress. Evolution is the purpose of life to become more alive.”
• “To consider progress is to assume purpose. What may be the purposes of one may not always be the purposes of another.”
• “Progress to one may be regress to another.” 
• “To over emphasize purpose, function, and work is to risk losing one’s values, self worth and feeling of the significance of life, the meaning of one’s own and the value of all others.”
• “Significance is innate, independent of all state and function, worth and means.”
• “The degree of the perfection of value is the product of the degree to which one values all things, and the degree to which one values all things equally.”
• “The perfection of purpose increases with depth, coherency and the degree to which it is manifested (expressed) through other purposes and actions, with clarity, purity, and accuracy.”
• “The degree to which one realizes meaning and significance in life is in proportion to the product of the degree of one’s perfection of value (perception/experience) and the degree of one’s perfection of purpose (expression/creativity).”
• “The strongest, most affirming, and sustaining value is the acceptance of diversity in all creativity and experience.”
• “The deepest purpose, taking precedence over all others, is the desire to realize the maximum possible creativity and experience.”
• “The degree of significance in life increases dramatically when approaching the absolute limits of the perfection of value and purpose.”
• “Life is significant and meaningful more than it is purposeful or valued. The purpose and value of one’s life will always find its basis in the meaningfulness of one’s life.”
• “All experiences and creations are valid, valued, and valuable. No one experience or creation is any less or any more valid than any other. Experiences and creations of lesser intensity are as valid as experiences of greater intensity.”
• “Life IS its own purpose, value, and meaning. All that is life, all that is alive, is valued and sacred. The purpose, meaning, and value of all life is to live, to live well and fully, on all levels of being and in all worlds.”
• “The Meaningfulness of Life: to live well and fully. ‘Well’ means to maintain a high degree of internal integrity (symmetry) of Self; to live a healthy and wholesome life.’Fully’ means to maintain a high degree of connectedness (continuity) between self and reality; to be fully present in life.”
• “To truly acknowledge life is to expand from the motivations of “being comfortable in life”(driven by purpose or simple values of material acquisition) to the motivation to increase significance in life (driven by clarity, artistry, and creativity).”
• “The degree to which emotion is apparent is in proportion to the degree of blockage, resistance, or de-coherence involved in value, significance, and purpose.”
• “Values can be shared by all. It is possible and reasonable to value everything; to consider all life and all aspects of life as sacred.”
• “Ultimately, others will hold the same values as oneself. The same deepest values underlie all. It is not reasonable, however, to believe that others will hold the same purposes as oneself. It would be very unlikely, except at very deep layers of soul.”
• “Values are realized, clear, and pure in proportion to the degree to which they are specific, known, and local to self.”
• “The greater the clarity and the more positive the statement of value, the more meaningful and rapid its resolution in manifestation.”
• “To realize and implement “I love everything” (as a value) is vague, difficult, and ambiguous. To enumerate one’s values in detail is to allow for more immediate and direct realization.”
• “Regardless of the value involved, one cannot enforce or impress any value on another. There are no necessary value conflicts.”
• It is never an error to value more or to value too much. There can only be the mistake (the sin) of valuing too little. 
• “All values coexist and support all other values. Only by having all values may one have any values.” (opposites cannot exist without one another) 
• Each value enables one to have more (and other) values.
• “Value is unbounded and formless; it cannot be constrained or modified by anything which exists.”
• “One cannot not have values. Value IS, and cannot not be.”

 

Emotions, Health & Healing 

• “The degree to which emotion is apparent is in proportion to the degree of blockage, resistance, or de-coherence involved in value, significance, and purpose.”
• “Health refers to the ability to choose and respond, rather than just the ability to function. Having options, opportunities, and potentials (choice) is as important as goals, actualization, and fulfillment (consequence). ‘Potentiality’ is equally as important as ‘reality’.” 
• “Mind negates absence, separation, discontinuity. Where there is conflict, disconnection, or discontinuity in the mind, there will be emotion and pain, drawing attention and awareness to the disconnection. “
• “Healing involves a letting go of form and a return to feeling”
• “To let go of attachment to outer form allows for an acceptance of inner feeling.”
• “To remain attached to only one specific form and to discard or reject all others is to suffer an obsession, and in this way, discontinuity and pain.”
• “The correction for obsession is not suppression, but extension. To focus on only one person or only one aspect of life — and to include nothing else — is a painful discontinuity.
• “Therapy is about helping the patient to know and accept all parts of self.”
• “To reduce the pain and suffering caused by a conflict (a disconnection between various ideologies and beliefs), it is necessary to heal the connection; to integrate these ideologies and beliefs by recognizing, honoring, and enlivening each of them.”
• “Peace is the result of nurturing and integrating the life of all beliefs. Any attempt to suppress, restrict, or inhibit love, ideals, beliefs and ideologies will cause pain and suffering, both for oneself and for all others that one touches.”
• “The action of labeling something or someone is problematic to the exact degree that it encourages a tendency to focus on only one aspect of that which is labeled, rather than on the whole. 

 

Politics & effecting change 

• “Politics is what happens when a group of people makes decisions based upon what they fear, rather than on what they love.”
• “Consensus is what happens when people in a group make decisions on the basis of what they love,what they all commonly desire together.”
• “To effect positive change is to:help all others (everyone) to know their real desires, and to cooperatively help discover the most effective method(s) for their realization.”
• “To make positive change is to help everyone act on the basis of what is wanted, (or needed, or desired) so as to get what is wanted/needed/desired, rather than on the basis of what is not wanted or feared.”
• “The rapidity and persistence of the changes one makes in the world increases with both the degree of intensity and the degree of coordination of one’s interactions with that world.”
• “The best methods of group decision-making help people to know what they love, what they really care about, and enables them to choose on that basis. The solution to unproductive political debate is to practice all values with unconditional acceptance.” 

Joy and Pain 

• “Joy and Pain are both Real.”
• “One has an experience of joy when one perceives an increase in one’s potentialities. Events and choices which increase apparent freedom, are expansive, and decrease feelings of limitation will tend to result in experiences and feelings of joy.”
• “One has an experience of pain when one perceives a decrease in one’s potentialities. Events and choices which decrease apparent freedoms, are constrictive, and increase feelings of limitation will tend to result in experiences and feelings of pain.”
• “Pain is typically literal, factual, and objective, and is found by going into the deep world (reality). “
• “Joy is typically symbolic, mythical, and subjective, and is found by going into the deep Self.”
• “To shift from the mythical to the factual is to decrease potential and experience pain. To shift from the factual to the mythical is to increase potential and express joy.” 
• All pain is a reflection (a realization) of discontinuity.
• “Joy corresponds to the potentiality of events of connection, continuity, and union.”
• “Joy and pain are not opposites; they are complementary aspects of a deeper whole. They have the same relationship to each other that potentiality has with actuality. They are both found in proportion to the intensity of the self-to-world interaction. Where the degree of the intensity of the interaction between self and world changes, there will be (cannot not be) either joy or pain or both.”
• “One does not need to experience pain to experience joy.”
• “One cannot increase or decrease the potentiality of either joy or pain without also increasing or decreasing the potentiality of the other.”
• “One’s ability to experience joy is proportional to the strength of one’s willingness to remain present in the potentialities of the unknown.”
• “The qualities of joyful experience can only be nurtured, not ensured.”
• “Joy, happiness, and love, cannot ever be a goal. They cannot be made; they can only be.”

 

Spirituality & religion 

• “Spirituality is about how one perceives and experiences, how one accepts and integrates those perceptions and experiences into oneself. It is about how one integrates life’s events, reflects upon them and learns from them.”
• “Spirituality is a philosophy about the role that a reality (a world) plays within oneself.”
• “Spirituality: the ability to remain whole and maintain a continuity and integrity of self. Acceptance and integration is the effective practice of spirituality.”
• “Inner Peace: A faith and realization of the capacity of one’s own spiritual nature, an ability to remain whole and to maintain a continuity and integrity of self, regardless of the degree of pain and suffering experienced in the world of the body.”
• “Any self-reflective consciousness in vivid and intimate contact with nature will tend to develop a high level of spiritual awareness. Living in nature inherently compels acceptance of situation, life, and truth.”
• “All forms of life in nature must ultimately accept nature as it is.”
• “When involved with others in social interchange, one’s inner sense of spirituality combines with others to create a shared religion.”
• “Religion is about how one expresses with others for the common good, the greater social and natural environment in which one lives. It is about one’s expressions and connections, choices, and how one integrates their choices into the community in which one lives.”
• “Religion is a philosophy about the role one plays in a world and about how that world accepts each self.”
• “Spirituality relates to the integration of a world into oneself. Religion relates to the integration of oneself into a world.”
• The essential difference between them, is that spirituality is a perceptive and subjective process; whereas religion is an expressive and objective process. Subjective experience is private, where objective expression is public.”
• “The measure of one’s spirituality is defined in terms of the skill and ability to integrate personal experiences of the world into one’s self. The depth of one’s spiritual nature is proportional to the capacity and ability to accept and integrate all experience and all aspects of one’s own inner nature. The greater the diversity and range of intensity that one can accept while still maintaining an integrity of self, the greater the level and quality of one’s spirituality.” 
• “The measure of one’s religious nature is defined in terms of the skill and ability to integrate one’s expressions into the community and world in which one lives and acts.”
• “The depth of one’s religious nature is proportional to the capacity and ability to integrate personal expressions and choices into the world, the community, and the environment.”
• “The greater the diversity of intensities of expression and creativity one can express while maintaining the integrity and wholeness of the world (the environment and community in which one lives), the greater the level and quality of one’s religion.”
• “Spirituality is about being; religion is about doing.”
• “A named philosophy is a religion. If a philosophy (way of life) has neither name nor a socially recognized form, it is, in essence, spiritual.”
• “There can be no spirituality without a self (soul) and there is no self that is not to some degree spiritual.”
• “There can be no world without a religion,and there is no religion that is not bound to a world.”
• “Some type of spirituality is a basic and intrinsic part of everyone’s life.In that life cannot be lived without perception or experience, and the implicit integration of these into self, one also cannot not be to some degree spiritual.” 
• “In that life cannot be lived without expression, choice, and creativity, and at least the implicit integration of these into world, one also cannot not be to some degree religious.”
• “In that there is a social need for unity on the part of all peoples, there is some aspect of religion in everyone’s life.”
• “Religion begins with one’s desire to express an inner felt spirituality.
• “Spirituality is about acceptance of life, which includes acceptance of it’s inherent diversity and complexity.”

 

Reason & Faith 

• “All of choice is uncertain; one can never know all the consequences resulting from one’s least action.”
• “Reason: The use of a fullness and completeness (accuracy/correctness) of thinking as the primary basis of one’s choices.”
• “Faith: The use of a fullness and completeness (precision/discernment) of feeling as the primary basis of one’s choices.”
• “Faith and reason are not in opposition; they are mutually reflective, complementary aspects of a deeper whole. To have faith is to embrace the mythic, rather than to be rejecting the factual.” 
• “Faith has no reason of its own; yet all reason implies faith. Reason has no faith of its own; yet all faith implies reason.”
• “Faith is an acceptance of potentiality and creativity, rather than an ignorance of reality and actuality.”
• “No effective choice can be made only on the basis of reason or faith alone.”
• “To have Faith is not to have certainty; it is to allow Trust.”
• “Faith is not blind; it is vision wide open.

 

Limitation & Freedom 

• “Mental and physical processes work best as the result of constrictive choices; choices that have the effect of limiting potentiality. Specific mental and physical states (a content of experience) can be attained as the result of a goal-driven activity. They can be achieved with practice and effort.”
• “Emotional and spiritual processes work best as the result of expansive choices; choices that have the effect of increasing potentiality.” 
• “Emotional and spiritual dynamics (a context of experience) cannot be attained or realized (will not ever be realized) as a target of any goal driven activity, technology, process, or technique. They will never be achieved by any amount of practice and effort.” 
• “To be free is to be aware of potentiality and choice. Limitation is the necessary actuality and consequence of having made a choice.”
• “Accepting a practice of discipline (a limitation) eventually results in a freedom to achieve optimal self expression.”
• “The degree of individual freedom in a society increases dramatically in proportion to the degree of cooperation among individuals.”

 

Clarity, Simplicity & Complexity 

• “In the practice of spirituality, philosophy, and art, clarity, not simplicity, is the more essential value.”
• “To speak, write, and live with elegance and grace is not to be demonstrably simple, as much as it is to be profoundly clear.”
• “By emphasizing and valuing clarity, one is enabled to value diversity and complexity.”
• “Clarity is distinct from simplicity. An emphasis on simplicity is not central to the realization of spirituality and enlightenment. The practices of simplicity,such as abstinence, asceticism, and minimalism, are means to an end: the realization of true clarity.”
• “The desire and practice of “spiritual simplicity” must always be grounded and return to an underlying desire for clarity.” 
• “True clarity,particularly regarding the meaningfulness of life, can always be obtained in more than one way.”
• “For every way in which something is simple, there are always at least two ways in which it is complex.’ 
• “Yet it is also true that for every aspect of complexity, there are always at least two ways in which it can be simple.” 
• “Simplicity itself is not always so simple. In an effort to make one aspect of something more simple, a price is often paid in making other aspects more complex.”
• “To be effective, proceed with an emphasis on clarity of essence. Do not submit to the desire or drive for simplicity of appearance. Creativity will be lost when there is an over emphasis on simplicity rather than on essence.” 

 

Omniscient, Transcendent & Immanent 

• “Cultures/religions with an omniscient focus place the highest value on objectivity and understanding. They are ultimately values of wisdom and intelligence. (Science, Technology, Materialism, Capitalism).”
• “Cultures/religions with a transcendent focus place the highest value on the hereafter and otherworldly. They are ultimately values of mysticism and spirituality. (Christianity, Buddhism, other organized and institutionalized religions).”
• “Cultures/religions with an immanent focus place the highest value on the here and now, life and living in the present. They are ultimately values of nature and community. (Gaia or Earth consciousness, Paganism, tribalism).”
• “All three values are needed and are mutually supporting and affirming. Holding any one value over the other two results in imbalance and suffering. Maximum effectiveness occurs when there is a balance among these three primary value systems.”
• “Where there is an excess of a transcendent emphasis in a culture, there is a tendency to justify the means in terms of the ends. This leads to much unnecessary worldly suffering, cruelty, strife, and war.”
• Where there is an excess of a omniscient emphasis in a culture, there is a tendency to invalidate the meaningfulness and significance of life (that which does not sustain life is not itself sustained).This can result in an (over) emphasis on separation, isolation (man from nature), and valuing the mundane over the sacred.
• Where there is an excess of an immanent emphasis in a culture, there is a tendency towards excessive individuality, lack of vision, and over-consumption (a realization of cancer).”