“Atmanjeet means Victory of the Soul, and it is my hope for you.”

In my introductory substack post, I wrote “Atmanjeet. This name, neither Hindu nor Sikh, was bestowed upon me by an elder yogi, versed in western spiritual nomenclature.” I also wrote, “As no child hopes to grow up to be an expert in fear and pain, neither did I ever dream of becoming a seeker, a wounded healer sort, or even a person who earnestly uses such language in reference to anything but the foundational archetypes of fictional characters.” Thus far, my writing here has tended toward the theoretical and academic, and the practices I offer toward the somatic, spiritual, or eco-therapeutic. Psychology, spirituality, somatics. I am equally at home, perhaps even more so, in creative expression. In many ways, I prefer working in a lighter, brighter register.

Having substantial depth in multiple fields and disciplines as well as an unusually wide range of reference and a curiosity about nearly everything, I have sometimes struggled with legibility. What I experience as a coherent body of interests and capacities may appear to others as scattered or unfocused. We often understand others by the nameable categories they occupy, and I have rarely fit neatly into one. It does not simplify the matter that one of my idiosyncrasies is identifying more with functioning as a verb than a noun. For example, I am at ease saying that I write, but “I am a writer” is somehow, to me, flattening and incomplete. “Writing” is a discipline, an activity, while “writer” is a discrete category, a professional identity. The good news I have been hearing is that multi-passionates and polymaths are beginning to be more recognized and valued than they have been even in the recent past. My film and its world are a kind of experiment to gauge how much range can maintain coherence and how elastic an audience’s receptivity can be, as well as to see what possibilities emerge when I expand the container. Victory of the Soul is dynamic as a project, and rather than pre-defining its contours I am allowing it to evolve according to its own logic.

I used AI tools to make the film. My stance on AI remains unsettled - there are elements of it I find highly disconcerting, and there are some that I find interesting. Late last year I designed a custom GPT experience because I wanted to explore AI as a medium. AI image and video generation have developed substantially over the past few years, are now strong enough to make a decent quality film, and will continue to improve quickly. As a filmmaker without access to the resources required for human film production, this is exciting for me. My little film had a tiny budget and I was able to do everything on my own. But here is the thing: I was able to do everything because I know how to do everything. I have put in the proverbial 10,000 hours of writing, I have produced, directed, art directed film. I know how to edit video. I have not made music, but I know music, and I know how to score a film. I trust my creative abilities and perhaps more importantly, my judgment.

Yes, I like to collaborate with others and make things with humans. In fact, there is an argument to be made that my most valuable capacities are upstream of execution. I very much appreciate others’ input and artistry and skills. Yes, I make creative work that has nothing to do with AI or even computers. Yes, I’ll continue experimenting with AI. I imagine that cinema might be headed toward a hybrid style of production, with room for AI-only and human-only productions as well. As a viewer, discernment will be important and not necessarily simply as a matter of knowing which imagery is “real” and what is “generated,” but for the ability to recognize genuine human authorship regardless of which production methods were used. At the same time, there is something I find promising in the democratization of film production. There are so many good stories and story-tellers out there who do not fit the established means of production and distribution, and who might not be able to realize their work even on smaller independent budgets. Like forgiveness, to which we have devoted significant attention, creative expression is one of the soul’s victories. And it is my hope for you.

I’ll leave off today with a little tidbit about Atmanjeet, the name and the film. The name, along with its meaning “Victory of the Soul,” was given to me well over a decade ago. I tucked it into a filing cabinet in my mind’s archives, thinking I’d never use it. When I finally recalled it for the purposes of this newsletter, I did a quick search on it, and noting its uniqueness, concluded that it must have been invented by its bestower and the lineage to which they belong, which takes much of its philosophy from the Sikh tradition and its practice from the Hindu. Atman, I knew to mean “soul” in Sanskrit, and “jeet” is a common component of Sikh names. A few months ago, I came upon the document that contained the name as given. It was, in fact, Atmajeet (and will now remain Atmanjeet.) And instead of writing this paragraph, I made you a film.

Today, let’s consider the concept Ātmajit, one who has conquered the self.

The Bhagavad Gītā states:

uddhared ātmanātmānaṃ nātmānam avasādayet

ātmaiva hy ātmano bandhur ātmaiva ripur ātmanaḥ

“Let a man raise himself by himself.

Let him not degrade himself.

The self alone is the friend of oneself;

the self alone is the enemy of oneself.”

How is it that there is a self that lifts and a self that is lifted, both friend and enemy? This short verse raises the question: what is the self? When I was a young man, it was this seemingly simple inquiry which led me to take up the study of philosophy. More recently, about seven years ago, I published a small book under the title Ātmajit, A Study of Self-Mastery. The first half of the book answers questions about the nature of the self, and the meaning of mastery, while the second half is a philosophical discipline of life through which mastery is gained. I should add that the title describes the subject of the book, not the condition of its author. The University of Mysore Press made no such claim on my behalf.

Let us ask, now, what is the self? The Sanskrit word ātman is usually translated into English as “self” and sometimes as “soul.” Neither word is exact. Depending on the context in which the term is used, ātman may refer to oneself in the ordinary sense, to the embodied individual person, or to that which the Vedānta takes to be the true Self: unborn, undying, not an object among objects, the very ground of awareness. For the purposes of this discussion, I shall refer to the ordinary self, with its thoughts, desires and emotions, as the lower self, written with a small s, and to the unchanging awareness as the higher Self, written with a capital S.

Now, ātmajit. What is this? The word joins ātman, the self, with jit, from the root ji, to conquer or overcome. An ātmajit is therefore one who has conquered the self. But here again we must ask which sense of the word “self” is intended. Conquest cannot perfect the higher Self, as its perfection is given. It is therefore the lower self that must be mastered, the mind and senses as they are governed by appetite, aversion, attachment and habit. Conquest, in this context, does not mean destruction. It means bringing the faculties into right relation. The disciplined mind becomes clear, action becomes deliberate. When the small s self is conquered, the higher Self may be known.

When I was nearly finished writing the manuscript, my wife Lila, who has a gift for seeing through a long philosophical argument to the mere human making it, asked me, “Why did you call it Ātmajit, rather than Jitātmā?” The established Vedāntic expression is jitātmā: one whose self has been mastered. Ātmajit, by contrast, means one who conquers the self. You see, I was raised in northern India, with Punjabi spoken around me. Its word for ātman is atam, and Atamjit had always sounded familiar to my ear. In Punjabi names, jit carries the sense of victory, and Atamjit may also be heard as the victory of the atam, the triumph of the soul or spirit. I liked the double meaning. One masters the lower self, and in doing so permits the higher Self to prevail. I told Lila, “Victory of the Soul sounds rather poetic, doesn’t it?” She considered this for a moment, and then she smiled, “I see. You are asserting yourself.” It is sometimes imagined in the West that self-mastery is the domain of yogi renunciants. I can only say that marriage provides no shortage of opportunities for its practice.

È un tale piacere ricevere le tue lettere. Mi fai sempre sorridere.

Mi piace molto la primavera in fattoria perché tutto comincia a svegliarsi: le viti, e gli ulivi, i pascoli, e i prati, e anche le api e le galline sono più attive. Tutto sta dicendo «Buongiorno!»

Buongiorno dall’Italia, Sonia!

Il professore indiano sembra affascinante. È una cosa piuttosto straordinaria viaggiare così lontano per insegnare agli altri la filosofia e i modi orientali di capire il mondo. Non ho mai incontrato qualcuno così. Sto guardando il disegno che hai fatto di lui, e scommetto che nessuno era elegante quanto lui neanche alla nuova Settimana della moda di Milano. Ma fai benissimo a seguire i tuoi istinti. Se non sei una yogi, non sei una yogi. Il prosciutto deve essere rispettato.

In questo momento sto lavorando a un progetto di matematica importante. Sai che in Italia abbiamo un famoso matematico chiamato Delfino Codazzi? Ha trovato equazioni importanti sulla geometria delle superfici curve. Alcune di quelle stesse idee poi sono diventate utili nella teoria della gravità di Einstein. Vedi, mentre tu esplori la metafisica, io sono in qualche modo collegato al mondo della fisica. Immagina: fisica e metafisica. Tu e io possiamo insegnarci a vicenda qualcosa sui misteri della natura e del tempo e dello spazio e dell’essere stesso. And of course, we can practice English together.

Recently, my uncle Vincenzo visited us from Rome. He works there at Cinecitta, which is a large film studio. Here is made a photograph that he made of me. This summer, I am going to visit him, and he will show me the studio. I am very excited, because even though I am good at doing math, I love cinema! What do you most like to study? What style do you like to wear? Maybe you can make me a drawing?

Now, I must feed the chickens and complete the project.

Ciao,

Delfino

Dear Sonia,

It such a pleasure to get your letters. You always make me smile.

I like very much springtime on the farm because everything starts waking up: the vines, and the olive trees, the pastures, and the meadows, and even the bees and the chickens are more active. Everything is saying “good morning!”

Good morning from Italy, Sonia!

The Indian professor sounds fascinating. It is quite a thing to travel so far to teach others about philosophy and eastern ways of understanding the world. I have never met someone like that. I am looking at your drawing of him, and I bet no one was as stylish as him even at the new Milan fashion week. But you are absolutely correct to follow your instincts. If you are not a yogi, you are not a yogi. The prosciutto must be respected.

Right now I am working on a significant math project. Do you know that in Italy we have a famous mathematician called Delfino Codazzi? He found important equations about the geometry of curved surfaces. Some of those same ideas later became useful in Einstein’s theory of gravity. You see, while you are exploring metaphysics, I am somehow connected to the world of physics. Imagine that - physics and metaphysics. You and me, we can teach each other about the mysteries of nature and of time and space and being itself. And of course, we can practice English together.

Recently, my uncle Vincenzo visited us from Rome. He works there at Cinecitta, which is a large film studio. Here is made a photograph that he made of me. This summer, I am going to visit him, and he will show me the studio. I am very excited, because even though I am good at doing math, I love cinema! What do you most like to study? What style do you like to wear? Maybe you can make me a drawing?

Now, I must feed the chickens and complete the project.

Ciao,

Delfino

Made using machines.

Produced with a machine

Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, famously arranged for attendees of his memorial service to be given a copy of Autobiography of a Yogi. As the story goes, he first read the book when he was in his teens. At the age of nineteen, in 1974, he took Autobiography along with him as he embarked on a seven month spiritual retreat in India. While the short-term expectations of the trip - meeting a guru, quick enlightenment - did not come to bear, the long-term personal and creative growth made it one of the most important periods in his life. Many biographers and Jobs himself framed it as essential to who he became. The appreciation he developed there for the intuitive faculty, as well as a boundless possibility mindset, would later become foundational to Apple’s philosophy.

I did eventually read Autobiography, perhaps in the last two or three years. The back cover blurb of my copy reads: “Named one of the 100 best spiritual books of the 20th century, Paramahansa Yogananda’s remarkable life story takes you on an unforgettable exploration of the world of saints and yogis, science and miracles, death and resurrection.” Let’s briefly put the work in its religious and cultural context. Autobiography of a Yogi sits within the Hindu religious framework, more specifically within a modern yogic devotional tradition that draws on core philosophical teachings of ancient Hindu scriptures (the Vedas and Upanishads) which explore the nature of reality, the self, and the divine, especially the insight that our deepest self is not separate from the ultimate reality or God (Advaita Vedanta, non-dualism.) In terms of practice, it belongs to the Kriya Yoga lineage of Mahavatar Babaji, Lahiri Mahasaya, and Swami Sri Yukteswar. At the same time, it weaves in strong bhakti (devotional) elements and simplified Tantric subtle-body practices focused on energy and inner awareness. The book also reflects a distinctly 20th-century cultural synthesis: a globalized reinterpretation of Hindu spirituality that harmonizes Indian traditions with Western (including Christian mystical) sensibilities, emphasizes direct experience over doctrine, and presents yoga as a scientific method of God-realization. Paramahansa Yogananda founded the Self-Realization Fellowship, best described as a modern universalist devotional yoga movement, in Los Angeles in 1920. He published his autobiography in 1946 under its auspices.

What I found most striking about Autobiography of a Yogi was its genius as a tool of persuasion crafted for the western mind. In Hinduism and Buddhism exists the concept of siddhis, supernatural abilities said to develop as a byproduct of disciplined spiritual practice. These include levitation, bilocation, materialization of objects, clairvoyance, telepathy, and the like. Hinduism generally considers siddhis incidental byproducts of spiritual practice, possible but not the goal, while Buddhism views them as phenomena that may arise within awareness but are ultimately irrelevant to true awakening. Each tradition strongly warns against seeking siddhis or becoming attached to them, viewing them as potential obstacles to enlightenment and even sources of spiritual downfall if misused. While Yogananda consistently emphasizes that such powers are secondary to god-realization, his book is filled with them. Indeed, despite repeated warnings against fascination with the supernatural, the “remarkable life story” promised on the back cover delivers exactly that: an unforgettable exploration of saints, yogis, science, and miracles. Chapter 30, “The Law of Miracles,” offers a philosophical and quasi-scientific explanation for how such powers operate. Drawing on Vedanta, yoga, and even Einstein’s relativity, Yogananda frames miracles as the result of mastering higher laws of consciousness and the subtle “light of creation.” He explains them as natural side effects of divine realization, always subordinate to the true goal of god-union. Enchanting and much more appealing to a novice than a dense philosophical treatise, tales of the extraordinary sit at the heart of the book’s appeal. It is easy to see how a starry-eyed young man hungry “for something more” might be inclined to go searching for its evidence in supernatural phenomena, especially if those are presented not merely as religious belief but practical science. All the more so if he wishes to be “something more” himself.

The common consensus among scholars is that Autobiography of a Yogi is best understood as a gateway text rather than a rigorous philosophical or scholarly one, functioning primarily as an initiatory work that sparks curiosity and reorients the reader toward direct spiritual experience. I would call it masterful marketing for the Self-Realization Fellowship, and Kriya Yoga: come for the wonders, stay for the inner reckoning. The book’s publication in 1946 dramatically expanded the organization’s reach, drawing in a wide audience that might never have encountered Yogananda’s yogic teachings otherwise. The 26 years between the organization’s founding in America and the release of Autobiography presented ample opportunity for Yogananda to grasp the western culture and mentality. The book’s vivid miracles read like scenes from a Hollywood film, its reverent treatment of Christ alongside Indian masters bridges the familiar with the foreign, and even its recurring motif of the automobile as a symbol of freedom and journey all combine to make ancient yogic wisdom feel exciting, approachable, and spiritually compatible with a Western, often Christian-raised sensibility.

It is said that Steve Jobs read Autobiography of a Yogi every year. Still, after returning from India, he went on to become a dedicated practitioner of Zen meditation. A decades-long Zen study and meditation practice like his suggest the sincerity of someone who was ultimately more interested in the moon than in the finger pointing at it. Though one might argue that all roads lead to Rome, Zen’s minimalist, austere, non-theistic nature stands in clear contrast to the highly structured, energetic, devotional approach of Yogananda’s Kriya Yoga. Its influence is evident in Apple’s signature simplicity and elegant design. But what, I wonder, compelled Jobs to reread Yogananda year after year? As a memorial gift, the book makes sense in terms of the weight of its influence on the young Jobs as well as its accessibility even to those who are not spiritually or philosophically inclined. Perhaps in his annual rereading of the text, Jobs sought to stay in touch with the young version of himself, to always remember those early transformative years? I have mentioned already that India and Yogananda inspired Jobs to adopt what would become his famous emphasis on intuition and trusting one’s own perception as well as a mindset of “staying hungry, staying foolish,” open to possibility. But there is also this: an iPhone is full of siddhis. The bilocation of the video call. All the world’s knowledge. Global navigation. Photographic memory. The ability to map constellations with the bare eye. The clairvoyance of seeing what someone halfway around the world ate for lunch that day. Musical ability to play any song. And so on. It is possible to purchase these without training the mind for the skillful means to negotiate any of them. We have dopamine addiction, thought outsourcing, and outright vices like online betting and worse. I suppose what I’m getting at is the commonly held view that this type of technology came at humanity much faster than our ability to integrate it psychologically, socially, spiritually in a healthy manner.

The Yogananda/Jobs/product design connection points to a broader defining dynamic wherein spiritual concepts, like the non-dualism Jobs found in Autobiography, or the Zen emphasis on no-mind (mushin), direct non-dual awareness, are being externalized into products and platforms, yet frequently detached from the rigorous ethical and inner development that once accompanied them. There are echoes in product metaphors: “frictionless” experiences, “seamless” interfaces, “flow states,” AI as extended mind, VR/AR dissolving physical boundaries, and rhetoric around “expanding consciousness” or “connecting everything.” Much of tech culture adopts the language and/or attempts experiential simulation of spiritual development while prioritizing growth, engagement, speed, and profit, and often comes with well-documented ethical shortfalls (addiction-by-design, surveillance, polarization, mental health impacts, etc.). This move toward an artificial simulation of the spiritual seems to me at once a reflection of a collective spiritual hunger and the product of a mindset more interested in becoming god-like than having a genuine orientation toward god-realization. In the face of this hunger and hubris, the counterweight remains what it has always been: sincere, embodied practice.

Let us, then, cultivate humility and finish today with a quote from Yogananda, as well as the opening passage of the Metta Sutta, often used in traditional Zen practice.

Yogananda said: “I gave the powers back to God, and I never use them unless He tells me to. My mission is to awaken love for God in the soul of man. I prefer a soul to a crowd, and I love crowds of souls.”

The Metta Sutta says:

This is what should be done

By one who is skilled in goodness,

And who knows the path of peace:

Let them be able and upright,

Straightforward and gentle in speech,

Humble and not conceited,

Contented and easily satisfied,

Unburdened with duties and frugal in their ways.

Peaceful and calm and wise and skillful,

Not proud or demanding in nature.

Let them not do the slightest thing

That the wise would later reprove.

Suggested reading:

Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda

Metta Sutta: Loving-Kindness in Plain English - Bhante Henepola Gunaratana

You likely know what a mandala is, but I will tell you a little about it anyway.

A mandala is a structured geometric design composed of symbolic elements, often featuring a circle surrounding a square. Found in spiritual traditions such as Hinduism and Buddhism, mandalas serve as representations of the cosmos, frameworks for organizing deities, and tools for meditation and contemplation. The term derives from Sanskrit and is commonly translated as “circle” or “center.” In the twentieth century, psychologist Carl Jung introduced the concept to many Western audiences. He interpreted mandalas as universal symbols that reflect psychological wholeness and the process of integrating different aspects of the self.

The nature mandala we are making today is relatively modest in its objective: to make a pleasing circular design using natural elements in order to calm and steady ourselves.

If I were to offer instructions, I would tell you the following:

When you are making your mandala, it is important that you start with the outermost circle first, and move gradually toward the center.

Give yourself more time than you think you need. Gather more of each element than you think you need. Get into it. Take time to explore and see what strike your fancy. Some items are obvious, like bright woodland flowers, but if you look closely, you may also find tiny little pinecones hiding on the forest floor.

You may make a mandala spontaneously, but I like to be equipped. Useful items include a small tote bag for foraged items, a little pair of scissors in case you need to cut a few branches, and a water bottle with a mist spray nozzle if you plan on working with flowers. Delicate blooms wilt quite quickly, and a little spray helps to keep them perky. And of course, I always carry an essential oil spray to help repel bugs. I have included my recipe below.

Now that you know what you need and what to do, you are ready to create. I wish you a beautiful mandala, and a day that brings you peace.

Atmanjeet’s Forest Bathing Spray

In a 2oz spray bottle made of blue or amber glass or metal combine:

1 tablespoon of witch hazel

½ teaspoon of jojoba or almond oil

20 drops of cedarwood essential oil

5 drops lemon teatree essential oil

15 drops lavender or geranium essential oil

Top off the rest of the bottle with distilled water, shake, and enjoy!

Forest Bathing Equipment

1. Ideal Light Pruner / Pocket Secateur

2. Mesh Foraging Bags that go over the shoulder or cross-body

3. Travel Size All Natural Mosquito Repellent with organic essential oils

4. Travel-sized spray bottle with mist nozzle

Let’s Explore Land Art

1. Land Art by Michael Lailach provides an overview of major artists and historical timeline of Land Art. A good starting place to explore the genre. Published by Taschen.

2. Groundswell: Women of Land Art by Leigh Arnold shines the spotlight on the vast number of earthworks by women artists to shed new light on land art. Published with Nasher Sculpture Center.

While the essays will continue to be available on Substack through a paid subscription, I have also collected them in a single PDF volume. Because the writing is conceptually dense and deliberately restrained, I have supplemented the essays with a Reading Companion and a set of visual schemas designed to orient attention and support immersion in the material, as well as audio voiceovers of each essay.

Readers engaged in reflective or relational work, including therapists, counsellors, teachers, and those with established meditative practices may find these essays useful. Those drawn to philosophical or psychological inquiry who are willing to follow the development of ideas across multiple domains may also find them interesting. This work does not aim to provide immediate guidance or resolution. It is written for those who are comfortable working through conceptual difficulty, remaining with unresolved questions, and examining forgiveness from moral, spiritual, psychological, and relational perspectives at once.

I offer these essays with belief in the power of forgiveness, and in the hope that they may be of some use when forgiveness is difficult. Forgiving is one of the soul’s great victories, and being forgiven one of its great graces.

- Atmanjeet

The essays, audios, Reading Companion, and visual schemas are available for $29 at https://www.victoryofthesoul.life/forgiveness

At the bottom of this post you will find a Library of Forgiveness, a reading list of major works that informed this series.

Library of Forgiveness

Classical Foundations

1. David Konstan — Before Forgiveness

2. Aristotle — Nicomachean Ethics

3. Seneca — On Anger & On Clemency

Abrahamic Traditions

4. Maimonides — Laws of Repentance

5. The New Testament (ESV)

6. Thomas Aquinas — Summa Theologiae (selected)

7. Al-Ghazali — The Revival of the Religious Sciences

Dharmic Traditions

8. Bhagavad Gita

9. Shantideva — The Way of the Bodhisattva

Modern Philosophy

10. Hannah Arendt — The Human Condition

11. P. F. Strawson — “Freedom and Resentment”

12. Jeffrie Murphy & Jean Hampton — Forgiveness and Mercy

13. Charles Griswold - Forgiveness: A Philosophical Exploration

14. Martha C Nussbaum - Anger and Forgiveness

15. Paul Ricoeur - Memory, History, Forgetting

Psychology

16. Robert Enright — Forgiveness Is a Choice

17. Everett Worthington — Forgiveness and Reconciliation

18. Michael McCullough — Beyond Revenge

19. Margaret Urban Walker - Moral Repair

Trauma and Moral Injury

20. Judith Herman — Trauma and Recovery

21. Jonathan Shay — Achilles in Vietnam

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“i thank You God for most this amazing”

i thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun’s birthday; this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any—lifted from the no
of all nothing—human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

-e. e. cummings

Let’s Get Comfortable

An organic linen eye pillow for relaxation. With lavender and flaxseed, and a microwavable heating pad and cool compress.

A thick handwoven yoga blanket for Yoga Nidra, Restorative Yoga, and Meditation. It’s just the right kind of little blanket.

Under ordinary conditions, forgiveness is most reliably recognized not through cognitive declaration or moral reasoning, but through a quiet, tangible shift in the body. If forgiveness is understood in psychology as a reorganization of the self in relation to injury, it must also be understood as an embodied event. Focusing on forgiveness under the ordinary conditions of everyday interpersonal injuries, relational slights, accumulated grudges, or minor betrayals in non-traumatic, non-grief contexts, we see it is most reliably recognized through its somatic markers. A weight long carried in the chest lightens. Shoulders that held unspoken tension ease. Breath, once constrained by background vigilance, deepens into fuller presence. The grievance, formerly a low hum of muscular holding or constriction, loses its physiological charge. What follows is a subtle softening: muscles release, the ribcage opens, attention expands beyond the narrow orbit of injury. People frequently realize they have forgiven only retrospectively, when a persistent somatic burden has already begun to lift.

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Psychomagic is a healing art developed by Jodorowsky that draws on the power of dreams, theatre, and poetry to heal unresolved mental, emotional and even physical issues. It consists of performing carefully prescribed symbolic or poetic acts in daily life that speak directly to the unconscious mind, creating transformation through concrete gestures rather than analysis or words. Normally, these acts are carefully tailored to a person’s unique story and often involve the participation of others. What I’m offering today is a non-personalized but deeply individual act, a city walk that invites the unconscious to reveal itself through the living poetry of the streets.

For this psychomagic act, you will need to be in a city that is made for walking. The weather and your footwear should be such that you may stroll comfortably for a minimum of one hour, and possibly an entire afternoon. You will not need a destination or an itinerary. You may enter a shop or two, or get a little snack, but know that this is not a shopping or sightseeing or errand running expedition. You will walk without objective, without hurry, with no fixed route. Somewhere along your travels is an object that is meant for you. You are not on a quest to find it, yet you will know it when it presents itself. Simply begin walking slowly, with no goal and no agenda. Stay open and present to the streets, the atmospheres, the sounds, and the small details around you. There is nothing to seek or hunt for. The object will appear when it appears, you only need to recognize it when the city offers it to you.

Once you encounter the object, pick it up. No need to analyze or understand it. Continue walking as before, carrying the object, perhaps for another twenty minutes or more. Let yourself feel its presence as you move through the streets and notice how it subtly changes the experience of the city around you.

Just as the object appeared on its own, so will come the place where you will leave it, or possibly offer it to someone. If it is a place, leave it there without concealment or display. If it is a person, allow the transfer to occur in a way that remains ordinary and unremarked. Do not explain the gesture. Trust the instinctive knowing of where and how. You will know intuitively when the moment is right. Once you have released the object, the psychomagic act may feel complete. You may continue to drift through the city, or choose to make your way home.

Trauma fundamentally alters the psychological conditions under which forgiveness can be meaningfully considered. Defined by overwhelming threat, powerlessness, and nervous-system reorganization around survival rather than meaning or coherence, trauma disrupts safety, agency, reflective distance, and affect tolerance, the very capacities that contemporary models of forgiveness presume. The term trauma here encompasses both acute trauma (discrete, time-limited events such as assaults or accidents) and complex trauma (prolonged, repeated harm often within dependency relationships marked by power imbalance or coercion). The distinction is critical: acute trauma typically leaves a recoverable pre-trauma baseline of relative safety and self-continuity, whereas complex trauma developmentally compromises those very foundations. In both forms, however, forgiveness cannot be assumed to function as it does in ordinary relational injury or grief and is neither an expected outcome of recovery nor a universal therapeutic aim. In the context of trauma, the question is less a matter of how forgiveness is done than it is about whether, when, and under what conditions it might arise without undermining safety, agency, or truth.

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The imagery starts at the 1:25 mark of the audio.

Once you have done the audio a few times, you will be able to do the Lighthouse on your own in about 30 seconds. Here are written instructions for the mental imagery:

Sit upright with your feet flat on the ground. Rest your arms either on your chair’s armrests or on top of your thighs. The palms may face up or down, as you prefer.

Close your eyes and state mentally: “The intention is discernment.”

Let the breath settle. Allow the exhale to become longer than the inhale.

In your mind’s eye, notice the darkness all around you.

Breathe out three times, counting back from 3…2…1.

See the lighthouse.

See your way.

Breathe out one last time, and open your eyes.

Grief arises from any profound loss that disrupts attachment, meaning, or identity, whether through death, estrangement, chronic illness, relational rupture, or irreversible change. In contexts of finality, as in bereavement, or ongoing ambiguity, as in nonfinite loss, forgiveness may emerge as one mode of intrapsychic integration, reshaping how the lost object, self, or circumstances are held internally. Across these varied forms of grief, forgiveness is neither a moral obligation nor a required step toward healing. It appears under specific conditions, shaped by timing, regulatory capacity, relational history, and belief systems, and may arise early, late, intermittently, or not at all.

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For much of its early history, psychology had little conceptual space for forgiveness as a distinct object of study. Classical psychoanalytic theory, centred on intrapsychic conflict, repression, guilt, and repetition compulsion, typically interpreted forgiveness as a moralized defense mechanism, denial of aggression, or premature resolution that bypassed genuine working-through. Forgiveness was thus regarded with suspicion as submission, displacement, or avoidance of insight rather than a true prosocial transformation.

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This type of walk is best practiced in the morning or late afternoon, on a beach that is sparsely populated enough to allow for an even walking pace for at least forty minutes. I prefer warmer temperatures, when it’s possible to walk barefoot along the shoreline where the sand is damp and slightly firmer. In any season, sun protection is worth considering. The particular walk I’m offering today follows a simple to-and-fro, and I often find that sunglasses or a sun hat are useful when walking more toward the sun.

Now, you have two options. One is simply to take a long beach walk, about twenty minutes out and twenty minutes back, and let the environment do the work on its own. The other is to join me in this audio, where I offer minimal guidance designed to support reflection on a relational or ethical matter, something involving how you’re relating to another person, or how you’re holding a situation, without trying to analyze or resolve it.

Dear Everyone,

I have made a little holiday gift for us.

It’s called Expand and it is a single-session interactive chatgpt experience that shifts attention when things feel narrow or stuck. Non-directive, non-advice-giving, intentionally brief (about 5-7 minutes,) it can be useful when focus gets caught on a single concern or a crowded set of demands. You can find the link below.

This time of year can be stressful for many. Even in warm climates, just the shortness of the days can feel subtly constricting. I designed this experience as a simple pause.

Wishing you a beautiful holiday season,

Atmanjeet

Here is the link to the experience: Expand

PS. Feedback is welcome, if you are so inclined. hello@victoryofthesoul.life

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Forgiveness presents a profound philosophical paradox: in validating the victim’s resentment, it acknowledges a moral wrong, yet simultaneously relinquishes the perpetrator’s debt, releasing its claim on justice. While previous accounts in this series have described what forgiveness is, and its historical and religious contexts, today we ask what forgiveness implies about our most fundamental moral concepts. Drawing on P.F. Strawson’s theory of reactive attitudes, we recognize resentment not as mere emotion, but as a morally significant response that constitutes our interpersonal ethical fabric, binding autonomy to accountability. Forgiveness does not merely restore harmony; it forces us to confront what it means to be responsible for our actions, whether justice can ever be reconciled with mercy, how the past continues to bind us, and whether moral transformation is ge…

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