Approach Vs Avoidance: Drivers Of Success Vs. Spirituality
by Ishar Keshu
In this talk, I explore two deep forces that quietly shape the human mind and spiritual path: approach and avoidance. These forces are rooted in our tendency to seek pleasure and expansion, or to avoid pain and harm — and they influence how we relate to desire, fear, success, restraint, and awakening. I explain how approach energy expresses itself as striving, ambition, confidence, and forward movement, while avoidance energy shows up as caution, renunciation, discipline, and non-harm. Drawing from Eastern spiritual traditions, I look at how avoidance-based orientations emphasize accuracy, humility, and restraint — and how these qualities can support inner stability and wisdom. At the same time, I explore what happens when either force becomes unbalanced: how excessive striving fuels restlessness and ego, and how excessive avoidance can turn into fear, rigidity, or stagnation. This is about recognizing these energies within yourself and learning how to integrate them.
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Austin, TX, USA