I love to learn how things work and create, design, and build systems; I’ve been doing that all my life, and I doubt I’ll ever stop. I’m also fascinated by psychology, consciousness, personal growth and healing, and spiritual awakening.
Geek
As a child, I loved video games, science fiction, and weather. In high school, when home computers came out in the 1980s, I was magnetically attracted to them. I wrote video games in BASIC and assembly language for friends and classmates. Later, I studied computer science—first at Swarthmore, then at Indiana University, where I got a PhD.
Determined to land a job in the high-tech mecca of Silicon Valley, I eventually ended up in the semiconductor industry developing software performance tools. After six years learning the ins and outs of corporate life, I moved to Albuquerque in search of a slower pace of life, better dating, and bigger thunderstorms. A few years later, I left the semiconductor industry seeking more time for spiritual practice.
Spiritual Explorer
In my early 30s, I discovered philosopher Ken Wilber. His work helped me break out of my scientific materialist shell, and his Integral framework was a helpful guide as I started exploring meditation and mystical spirituality.
Determined to access spiritual insight, I explored many spiritual traditions and communities looking for a good place to “go deep”. Eventually, I settled into a local Tibetan Buddhist center (Albuquerque Karma Thegsum Choling, an affiliate center of Karma Triyana Dharmachakra). With a lot of study, practice, and guidance, I started to awaken to new ways of experiencing life. This awakening deepened as I shifted my attention to the Buddhist teachings of Ken McLeod and (later) Kenneth Folk.
Eventually, having found the insight I’d been looking for, I let go of my focus on Buddhism. As of this writing, I’m not affiliated with any particular religion or spiritual approach; my spiritual life is guided by an inner knowing and informed by a wide range approaches. I continue to seek deeper levels of awakening and ways to integrate awakening more deeply into my life. I describe my journey of awakening—and some lessons learned along the way—in my short book Tricksters in the Desert.
Psychotherapist
I enjoyed psychology courses as an undergraduate and considered pursuing a career in psychotherapy at that time; however, I ended up choosing to pursue my passion for technology, instead. Years later, after my high-tech career had wound down and my hunger for spiritual insight had been satisfied, I found my interests and career life circling back to psychotherapy and I completed a master’s degree in counseling at Southwestern College in Santa Fe.
I find mindfulness and insight to be great complements to other types of inner work (like building self-awareness, building social and emotional intelligence, and healing emotional wounds). I enjoy facilitating this type of inner work with others as a psychotherapist.
I live in Santa Fe, New Mexico with my wife Emilah DeToro and our furry “kids” Dora, Maisy, and Manu.