[December 4, 2022 Update: Originally published November 11th, 2022 it’s being republished with a new date due to recent podcast publishing challenges and requirements]
I pitched the October 30th, 2022 Insight Timer live event Practical Purity thus:
What’s the importance of true purity? How can we view purity and what can we realistically think, say and do to increase the purity rate from day to day in our everyday mundane lives?




1. freedom from adulteration or contamination
a Dictionary definition of purity
2. freedom from immorality, especially of a sexual nature
Some notes:
- mind, emotions, body
- optimal energy, perhaps some qualities like:
- Balance
- Stamina
- Tranquility
- Lightness
- Softness
- Flexibility
- Uprightness/Authentic/Truthfulness
- Proficiency
- Puritan origins
- Hellfire Club
- How can this be transformed?
- sex, sexual activity/energy
- waking up in the middle of being emotionally entangled
- (living) environment inside and out: cleaning, tidying, energetic hygiene
- 4 nutriments:
- food
- sense-impressions
- volitional thought
- consciousness
- If fear based driver (activity) then energy will be fear based
- ‘setting the intention to increase purity and then being able to have the will power and desire to make the necessary changes, as hard as those may be’
- Impact (And/Over) Intent | (1/25/2022 — “Ask Us Anything – LIVE” With Denny K Miu And Lydia Grace)
- 100% responsible for our intentions
- 50% responsible for impact of our intentions
- Podcast | Studying And Practicing With “The Iddhipāda-Vibhaṅga Sutta — An Analysis Of The Bases Of Power” (SN 51:20): Introduction; The Sutta’s Key Encapsulation Paragraph & A Translation Reading (1 of 7)
- Reference this podcast series for will power, achievement, change and desire to do so
- radical acceptance mantra of “it’s OK” along the way
- Impact (And/Over) Intent | (1/25/2022 — “Ask Us Anything – LIVE” With Denny K Miu And Lydia Grace)

Audio: Practical Purity
The raw unedited YouTube transcription of this podcast:
homeless welcome this is Josh defog
integratingpresence.com welcome to this
live event titled practical Purity and
take what you find helpful from this and
leave the rest so the description I have
here is what’s the importance of true
purity
how can we view Purity and what can we
realistically think say and do to
increase the Purity rate from day to day
in our everyday mundane lives so I
thought we’d look at a definition uh our
dictionary definition of Purity it says
freedom from adulteration or
contamination the second definition is
freedom from immorality especially of a
sexual nature
well you know this country was founded
on puritanism right or part of it was
um from what I understand or what I’ve
heard too is that they were so strict
that they didn’t they weren’t wanted
where they came from so I think that’s
interesting then we have the Other
Extreme like the hellfire club which is
basically like I don’t know if I’m
misrepresenting this club or not but I
would say definitely hedonistic if not
debauchery and it’s kind of anything
goes right in secret so where these
proclivities can be indulged in in
secret and not have to affect society
those around them perhaps as much
probably most of us don’t fit into these
two extremes I would think but where’s
the middle ground to this first off
where does purity affect us I would say
on the three main levels that we
experience most days mind emotion and
body so then some of the benefits I
would say of somewhat living more of a
Pure Life is optimal energy some of the
payoffs for this perhaps could be
balance stamina Tranquility lightness
softness flexibility uprightness
authenticity truthfulness and
proficiency and there’s also this
interesting notion of transforming so
whatever comes across our path whatever
Falls in our plate how can it be
transformed into a more pure nature
because for whatever reasons we’ll
encounter things that we perceive as I
guess impure and if there’s an intent to
purify something how can we do that how
can we transform what’s already here now
what we experience in our lives and I
don’t know if I have too many direct
answers to that so it’s just kind of a
question for contemplation let’s just
dive in here to one that is the most
obvious around sex you know the Hot
Topic juicy topic of sex sexual activity
Sexual Energy
so this is easy and monastic life
um I’m just drawing on what I hear and
seeing known from Buddhist monastics
it’s really easy right there’s no
there’s no sex at all no sexual activity
they it’s a precept that they have to
refrain for any kind of sexual activity
whatsoever so in the laylife Buddhist
laylife State a lot of them take
precepts and one is not to abuse one’s
Sexual Energy so we’ve I’ve gone over
this plenty of times before but the
obvious one is kind of like adultery no
adultery that one seems pretty obvious
right there’s so many there’s families
involved there’s a partner involved
there’s the legal system involved in
this there could be kids Community they
went and got a marriage license there’s
so this one should seem fairly obvious
right even for me if there’s open
relationships too it just doesn’t
there’s it’s really risky so what do we
do as far as everyday life even just
with our sex sexual energy right there’s
things like seduction people using their
sexual G basically to kind of control
manipulate get what they want right so
detecting this and refraining from this
but also not repressing one’s Sexual
Energy too what it you know what are the
wholesome skillful ways to express
Sexual Energy what should be done with
it especially if one doesn’t have a
long-term committed loving relationship
until one gets into that
so these are all kind of questions to
consider so what about one’s living
environment I think this is one of the
easiest things that we notice our living
environment inside and out so the
easiest one we have control over is
where we live cleaning our space where
we live apartment houses wherever it
might be whatever we have access to
tidying things as well and then it gets
into more subtle things like energetic
hygiene and this can be something like
burning sage or smudging whatever plant
material is effective in your area
can be things like crystals before I
lose you on the woo-woo this is just
something to experiment on your own you
can look up how to smudge a house how to
smudge my space and basically it’s just
like well you brush your teeth you take
a shower things like this but the energy
levels in the house once it’s
everything’s cleaned there’s an
energetic component to address some
people like silver salt and Sage or are
things as well what I recommend for this
is whatever you find try it out for a
little while see if it makes any change
or help in your life and if not stop or
talk to other people about how to do it
so outside our living environment too
this has been an ongoing thing where I
live currently is I’ve pretty much just
stopped picking up trash uh other than
my general vicinity of where I live so
right along the borders it’s just gotten
too much so I don’t I used to pick some
of it up but I just really can’t keep up
I’ll just say really briefly it’s kind
of an open call for suggestions about
this I mean what do you do with people
just guessing here they’re maybe they’re
in so much pain maybe they’re not even
conscious of it maybe they don’t care
maybe they feel victimized it’s hard
knowing maybe they don’t even notice you
know the level of Consciousness isn’t
even there that they can
live with trash right outside their
place like a pig or something pick up
what you can am I doing enough am I not
doing enough personally I like to keep
my general area outside clean and then
if I have time and it makes sense to do
a little bit beyond that sometimes the
other big things here are the four
nutriments these are talked about in
Buddhism too and these are basically
what you’re putting in to your beingness
if that’s a word so the obvious one is
food the second one is since Impressions
and then I’ll come back over this you
know what you’re looking at listening to
smelling tasting touching the next one
is volitional thought so what are we
consciously thinking about when we feel
we have a choice to think about
something so when we know that we’re
choosing to think about certain certain
things or we well I’ll come back to that
and then Consciousness that’s kind of
the most subtle layer of these nutrients
so food is obvious right you eat crap
food You’re Gonna feel like crap it
might feel good for a little bit but
then more than likely you’re going to
feel like crap out people that know me
know I have like a pet agenda of organic
food food that hasn’t been sprayed with
synthetic pesticides and chemicals and
after eating primarily that for a while
and then eating something that has been
sprayed with synthetic pesticides and
chemicals genetically modified once the
level of sensitivity is built up then
this is even more noticeable at least
for me not everybody is as energetically
sensitive right away some of the easier
things for me to detect if you do dairy
I don’t do a lot of dairy but organic
milk versus non-organic milk it’s pretty
most people I know can taste the
difference immediately in those so
basically it’s just make Common Sense
choice I mean if you’re presented with
certain options of food choosing the
better options just that simple and
eventually what I find is that we’ll get
cleaner and cleaner diet that those junk
foods that used to provide so much
pleasure now they almost switch where
they just they might not even provide
any pleasure just by but then you’ll
start craving healthy food and getting a
really healthy food buzz from healthy
food so the Sims impressions are easy
it’s you just treat it like food this
was food would you eat it whatever
you’re watching on TV is it beneficial
helpful or is it like eating junk food
or maybe working in the sewer spacing
out same thing with we read and listen
to Ray says I was literally just
thinking about McDonald’s and I never
eat that the last time I had McDonald’s
by the way I think was in
2009 or 10 on a road trip so I was
traveling with somebody somebody told me
recently they got rid of all the healthy
options they used to have salads and
stuff stuff at McDonald’s now the only
thing they could eat is the fries I know
it’s it’s convenient but even things
like Chipotle supposedly use non-GMO
food they’re fairly quick I haven’t ate
them in a while things like Panera I
know they got a lot of chemicals out of
their food also just buying things that
are quick to eat at health food stores
possibility traveling a lot of even
small towns will have a health food
store so volitional thoughts so how many
times a day do we wake up and like oh
well this line of thought that I have is
negative or it’s not helpful so choosing
to think about things that are helpful
because what we pay attention to we give
energy and what we give energy to we
participate in and amplify to so when we
do have a conscious choice to direct
where and what we think about consider
is a helpful skillful wise not only for
me for others both and for everyone
ideally and it’s a process it’s a
training as well and this is why
mindfulness is so important because if
we’re not aware we can’t be able we
don’t know what we don’t know right so
the next one is consciousness I’m
probably gonna skip this if anybody has
had any specific questions or anything
they’d like to share about Consciousness
that is nourishing versus stuff that’s
not I think one of the easy ways if
anybody’s ever done certain types of
substances we know that certain types of
drugs and substances one will be like a
really low vibration or a low
Consciousness level and some may
temporarily boost Consciousness alter it
raise a vibration however there’s lots
of caveats to that like it can do so
artificially people can get hooked on
these things people don’t integrate
experiences from them they artificially
can speed a process that a person’s not
ready for but just basically noticing
similarities and parallels to that if
you’ve had those experiences there’s
things where we just feel like we have
access expanded consciousness of course
meditation is one of the best ways I
know of to do this the next thing here
that I learned recently is our
motivational factors so if we’re
motivated by fear if fear is a driver in
our activities then they energy
surrounding this will be based in fear
so even though we might have some decent
productive or changes that come from
Fear like uh the stick in the carrot
thing they’re still going to be fear
surrounding that a fearful energy
involved in that so feeling or being
mindful of this as well so our
motivation what kind of energy and
what’s behind what our motivations and
drivers are so that type of energy is
going to feed in to the result as well
so has anybody here ever woken up in the
middle of being emotionally entangled
with someone basically not even knowing
uh what’s going on and then all of a
sudden oh wait I’m in an argument and I
just realized it so entangled in this
you know for me personally it’s like
waking up and oh I’ve pushed this and
pushed this just to try to prove a point
but has it even really helped trying to
Stand My Ground in order to try to
convey a point I would say sometimes
maybe yes other times it’s like making
things worse so again mindfulness of
waking up oh hey there’s a choice in
this matter what energy am I bringing
usually is an energetic game so where
whoever is dominating an energy and the
strongest the tendency tends to be for
the other person to match that energy
level just so they can relate to the
other person when in fact I find it more
helpful and I’ve been taught that let
the person be however their energy is
and focus more on the energy I want to
bring to the response instead of
matching that energy coming at me so I
focus on okay listen wait and then
respond with the energy that I wish to
convey and how I respond is going to be
a big factor and I feel sometimes just
those altercations as long as they’re
not abusive and sometimes they just need
to happen like some every press need to
come out if we’re constantly avoiding
conflict that’s almost as Dent or mental
sometimes than being entangled
emotionally Tangled perhaps something
for consideration again when we’re
mindful that we do have a choice and we
can pause and reflect and have different
choices available than the immediate
knee-jerk reaction which before I
started meditation practice it was just
basically based on habit patterns and
responding in the same old ways so I ask
a few friends about how they engage in
Practical purity
and one of the things I got was setting
the attention to increase Purity than
being able to have the willpower and
desire to make the necessary changes as
hard as those may be so basically this
is intention settings so most of all of
our activity is driven by an intention
and this is a Clarity I got on this I
did a live event a while back about
intention and outcome so the clarity I
got on this was our intentions are 100
our responsibility so if I set an
intention to do something setting that
intention is 100 on me now the outcome
is 50 50. so part of it will be my
behavior what I say what I do and the
intention comes into that and then the
other part is the other party how it’s
met viewed perceived and responded to so
the the responsibilities shared there
because I can’t control how it’s what I
say is going to be received I am so I’m
partly responsible for that but not a
hundred percent right so the increased
Purity here setting that intention and
then sticking to it and the willpower
this is an interesting thing it’s a
whole another ball whacks about how much
we actually volition and will we
actually have involved how that whole
process works of course I’m not 100 up
on how willpower works or doesn’t a lot
to say about that but I’m not qualified
to be an expert in that obviously in the
desire to make the necessary changes is
really important the series I did on the
any pot of the roads of power one of
them necessary to accomplish just about
anything is the desire that’s the first
thing are we just doing central desire
or would you have a desire to actually
have something beneficial more lasting
benefit for our long-term happiness
happiness of others well-being of others
both in everyone so desire to make the
changes look that desire and the changes
that need to be made and sticking to it
persistent patient persistence and
making sure you’re having good
instructions too because if the
instructions are awful and what we
should be doing then it doesn’t matter
how patient or persistent we are and so
that’s where discernment comes in to
know the difference right and I would
also add to this radical acceptance too
because some days it’s just too freaking
hard to to make those changes we need to
make so the Mantra of radical acceptance
is it’s okay so it’s okay that I’m kind
of failing at this now it’s okay that I
don’t want to fail it’s okay that it
sucks that I’m failing at it or
perceived that I’m failing at it and
it’s okay that I’m doing the best I can
applying that so we don’t beat myself up
and at the same time notice that the
next step from that is making those
changes we need to make making those
changes we know we need to make that
we’ve been putting off again I just kind
of want to reiterate why this might be
in important Purity is just the
energetic quality right so we notice
maybe reflecting back on when we felt
we’ve been
done things pure and how the energy
level is and then how we’ve done things
we might consider unpure and now without
any kind of value just on an energetic
basis kind of looking at the energy if
it’s clean uplifting helpful instead of
falling in to this thing of oh I’m a bad
person I shouldn’t have done that a
little bit of that can help prevent it
from happening again at the same time it
can be pushed too far into like a
self-pity shame blame and guilt things
like that a healthy reinforcement to see
that it’s not beneficial it might be
kind of a relief in the moment it might
be kind of benefit from it weighing
those as well but practically how do we
make those assessments to see what’s
what’s beneficial and helpful and of
course good clean energy it’s all
obvious right when we’re feeling good we
feel like we have good energy then life
seems more amazing we were able to enjoy
the things we want in life
to help others better and help ourselves
better and then also not pushing it into
puritanism because I mean we have these
things like these certain religions
where there it’s just ridiculous amount
of extreme Purity where it’s almost
unrealistic and so what ends up
happening is the opposite where people
rebel against those things well may you
all find practical Purity in your days
ahead and see and know the benefits for
yourself for others for each other in
all beings everywhere may all beings
everywhere realize Awakening and be free