Rob Menning McRae
I am a psychotherapist, spiritual advisor, writer and artist based in Hamilton, Canada. My internationally published and multiple translated book “Living As God” was published in 2006 by Namaste Publishing, Vancouver, and revised for a second edition in 2012.
I have had the good fortune of giving talks in such places as the Omega Institute of New York, bookstores and Unity churches across Ontario and California, and as far as Holland, where my first book has been translated into Dutch.
I hold a Master’s Degree in Spiritual Counseling and Psychotherapy from Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, and am a member of the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO).
After experiencing mental health challenges both personally and in my family of origin, I sought answers in the world’s wisdom traditions, which ignited a series of profound spiritual insights and shifts starting around the age of 20. I would say I’m still integrating those insights, as I heal and bring ever greater alignment of what I know, with how I live and experience the world.
I have spent time in ashrams, monasteries and retreat centers, and my main teacher for years was Byron Katie (met her in 2009 and did the School for The Work in 2014) until I met Rupert Spira in 2017, who has been my main teacher since then. I have deep respect for, but no affiliation with, any religion or path to awakening.
Ultimately, my only concern is to ease suffering in any way possible.
When I am not being a psychotherapist and running a small counselling center in Hamilton (wisepathcounselling.com) I am making art whenever I can, nerding out with music and novels, enjoying nature on foot and on my bikes, and trying chase my cat Milo enough that he gets tired and can just sit with me in silence a while.
about emptyfullness
Emptyfullness is a non-denominational word that describes the paradoxical nature of reality that is pointed to in all religions and spiritual philosophies under various names. It is an attempt to literally translate the Sanskrit word sunysata/ sunyata, which describes the primal source of all things as a void that is pregnant with all possibility. Every part of life and creation is the same way, equally empty and full at the same time – just like this moment is both empty of any meaning other than that which you apply it, and also completely present as the entirety of all infinity. By embracing this paradox of reality, we may come closer to understanding and feeling the perfection in this moment, the holiness in the mundane, the sacredness in all of this. I make no silly claims to finality, but I’ve tasted our oneness, and it is certainly not what I thought it was going be. But I can say this: it’s sweeter.
“True Fullness seems empty, Yet it is fully present”
– Tao Te Ching, verse 45 (translation Stephen Mitchell)
