A Skeptic’s Path to Enlightenment IN 9 MEDITATIONS
A 12-week course in analytical meditation specially adapted to a skeptical 21st century audience to achieve a happy, meaningful life, fulfilling relationships, and a better world
Fall session starts September 3,
registration accepted through September 8
Sign up for our newsletter and we’ll let you know when the next session starts
- Learn how to practice analytical meditation, a form of meditation that uses stories, creativity, and emotions to steer your mind towards a happy life and fulfilling relationships
- Let go of anxiety, stress, and craving to cultivate courage, confidence, and wonder
- Learn a modern, scientific approach to the thousand-year-old Tibetan Buddhist lamrim (stages of the path), a time-tested sequence that helps you gain greater clarity and insight into your own mind and reality
- Experience the profound benefits of Buddhist meditation by cultivating mindfulness, compassion, and awe without requiring belief in ideas like rebirth and karma
9 meditations that help you:
be your best self
manage life's difficulties
strengthen relationships
do good in the world
Student testimonials
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ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR
Scott Snibbe is an experienced and dedicated student of Tibetan Buddhism who has studied under revered teachers including Geshe Ngawang Dakpa, Choden Rinpoche, Ven. Sangye Khadro, Ven. Rene Feusi, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Gyumed Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Jampa, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. He has been leading meditation classes and retreats for nearly 20 years, bringing together the ancient teachings of Buddhist masters with modern science, humor, and practical applications for everyday life.
In addition to his work as a meditation teacher, Snibbe is also a successful digital artist and entrepreneur. He has created a number of bestselling art and music apps, as well as interactive art installations that have been shown in science and art museums worldwide including The Whitney Museum of Modern Art and New York’s Museum of Modern Art. His collaborations with renowned musicians and filmmakers, including Björk, James Cameron, and Philip Glass, have brought his unique artistic vision to a global audience.
Play Video about Scott Snibbe teacher of A Skeptic's Path to Enlightenment course
EACH WEEK'S CLASS INCLUDES:
Class lecture video
Guided meditation audio + video
Lecture and meditation transcripts
Self-assessment quiz
Reflection sheet
Online discussion community
Live weekly meditation & discussion
1-year access to course materials
Closed-captioned video
Inspired by great teachers’ encouragement to share Buddhist wisdom in a non-religious form
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Course Outline
The twelve classes in this course teach you specific analytical meditation techniques to overcome everyday challenges such as anxiety, hopelessness, anger, conflict, and craving. The course provides detailed meditation instructions to enhance your positive qualities like self-acceptance, gratitude, compassion, openness, courage, confidence, and wonder.
Class 1. What Is Meditation?
In this class, I will introduce meditation as a practice that not only helps to improve focus or relaxation but also strengthens the positive qualities innate in each individual, such as compassion, kindness, generosity, patience, humor, and finding joy in everyday life. You will learn the difference between mindfulness meditation and analytical meditation and how analytical meditation directs your mind towards its best qualities.
Class 2. What is the Mind?
In the second class, you will learn how to subjectively explore your mind through meditation and delve into the question of what the mind is. You will reflect on whether the mind is just thoughts, what observes those thoughts, what you are without thoughts, whether you see objects or their mental reconstruction, and how you can transform your mind towards happiness, presence, and connection.
Class 3. The Preciousness of Life
The third class will guide you to contemplate the miracle of existing at all. It’s easy to take life for granted, including relationships, possessions, health, body, and mind. Through this class, you will reflect on your existence and acknowledge your place at the end of the universe’s 14 billion years of evolution. The class aims to help you find joy in the simple fact of being alive.
Class 4. Embracing Impermanence
In the fourth class, we will focus on the Buddhist teaching that every moment is new, making change the nature of reality. You will learn how clinging to things as if they won’t change leads to fear and anxiety. You will learn how embracing impermanence helps you to let go of fear and anxiety, become more present to those around you, and make the most meaningful choices day-to-day.
Class 5. Mental Cause and Effect
The fifth class will explore how evolution, habits, and society affect your behavior, thoughts, and habits. You will learn how to gain conscious control of these aspects and strengthen your positive qualities.
Class 6. What Do You Do When You're Alone?
The sixth class aims to reveal a deep source of strength and support within your mind accessible to you anytime you need it. You will reflect on what you do when you are alone, scared, anxious, lonely, or afraid, and what you turn to. You will learn how to find a deep source of strength and support within yourself.
Class 7. Am I More Important Than Anyone Else in the Universe?
In the seventh class, we will explore the belief that you are more (or less) important than anyone else, which leads to suffering. We will delve into the Buddhist perspective of suffering, the ego, and how to find lightness in life that enables you to enjoy pleasure when you have it, be content when you don’t, and accept life’s inevitable pain.
Class 8. The Red Pill of Renunciation
The eighth class will guide you in developing the courage to let go of anger, craving, and self-centeredness, which are the real causes of your suffering. You will explore the transient nature of life, your inner habits and outer influences, and how you can find freedom from suffering.
Class 9. What Is Love?
In the ninth class, we will explore the concept of love from the Buddhist perspective, which is free from attachment and craving. You will learn how loving-kindness is wishing others to be happy and how to train your mind in love and compassion.
Class 10. The Interdependent Nature of Reality
In the tenth class, we explore the Buddhist concept of interdependence, which explains how everything in the world is connected and arises due to causes and conditions. We combine traditional Buddhist logic with modern scientific understanding to investigate how things exist in our mind and in the world. We will reflect on how our actions and choices affect the world around us and how we can use this understanding to cultivate greater awareness and compassion.
Class 11. Searching for the Self
In the eleventh class, we delve into the concept of the self and the illusion of independent existence. We explore whether we are our body, mind, or a collection of thoughts and memories. We will reflect on how this illusion of a separate self causes suffering and how to break through it to discover our deep interconnectedness with nature and all beings. Through meditation, we will explore the nature of the self and how to cultivate a more authentic and compassionate way of being.
Class 12. A Skeptic’s Path to Enlightenment
In the final class, we will integrate all of the previous teachings to develop a practical path toward enlightenment. We will reflect on the stages of understanding ourselves and reality, from the mind to interdependence, and how they progressively develop our mind towards its best qualities. Through meditation and contemplation, we will explore how to cultivate a life of connection and meaning, and how to use this understanding to benefit ourselves and others.
Learn 9 practical analytical meditation tools to create a happy, meaningful life, stronger relationships, and a better world
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FULL AND HALF SCHOLARSHIPS
For ordained people and those unable to pay for our programs,
please see our scholarship information.
COURSE FAQ
- The course starts Sunday, September 3
- Each Sunday for the next 11 weeks, the next class is released including a video and meditation that you can watch and rewatch any time you like, a quiz and reflection sheet
- Each Tuesday at 6pm Pacific Time there is an optional live Zoom meditation and discussion about the week’s topic where instructor Scott Snibbe will take questions and have students share reflections
- If you miss the live discussion you will have access to a recording
- Students have 24-hour access to an online community to discuss each week’s class with fellow students and instructor Scott Snibbe
- Students have access to course materials and the discussion community after the course is complete
- Students who successfully complete the course receive a course completion certificate