Caroline Bliss: The Compassionate Heart

17/08/2025

So sad that my dear, dear friend and inspiration, Terence Stamp, died this morning. His passing was peaceful and timely but still, he will be sorely missed.
Nearly 40 years ago he changed the course of my life when - instead of encouraging my vast ambition to be a movie star - he opened a different door into the profound teachings of the philosopher and teacher J. Krishnamurti. This was a direction away from the ego, rather than feeding it, and the deep understanding of this was the beauty which underpinned Terence’s own life.
He died as he had lived; full of grace.

27/01/2025

As we stagger into 2025 I am aware of not posting on this page for a long time. 2024 was, for me, a hugely busy year internally and externally, and it seemed to grab my attention and not let up.
Difficult illnesses in my family and friends took a great deal of energy, plus work and the endless small challenges of life.
One thing which is constantly being made clear is that everything changes, nothing stays the same forever. However much we know this fact in our minds, when change comes it can throw our sense of self and any stability we appear to have created. Meeting change is one of the deepest challenges we face as humans because the brain and the nervous system crave stability, security and a sense of being in charge of our lives.
The beauty of change, however, is that it urges us to be present and keep questioning and learning. Change is painful if we resist, and it is in looking at that within us which resists which teaches us the most. The actual change is driven by the intelligence of life, and however much we may dislike the ‘new’, we know that that too will change in time.
We think we know what is best for us, and that life is an endless road to find happiness or fulfilment. We inwardly compare and analyse how well we are doing in this and in turn this comparison sets up judgement and conflict when things don’t seem to flow.
Perhaps life is not about that at all. Perhaps we are here to learn how to move beyond judgement and conflict to a place of acceptance and peace, to a feeling of love rather than happiness. It is actually that love which we confuse with happiness and once we have found it we know we have come home inwardly. Then the endless changing world can continue in its flux and we no longer hold on and try to control it.
Therefore in meeting resistance to change inwardly, which is hard and demands all our attention, we learn about ourselves and the human condition. It is not about creating a state of detachment, it is galvanising all our energy to be IN the change, meeting life where it is taking us and seeing the limitations of our preconditions and ideas about ourselves. Once we see the resistance up close and know that this is the root of fear or pain or anger, we can allow that emotion to flower and die through us. Only then can we be silent and present with ourselves and life and come across the immensity of love.
This is true on the world stage too, where the ground under our feet seems to be shifting in ways which are deeply unsettling and confusing. Nothing is certain anymore, especially as we enter an age of post-truth.
But seen from the perspective of inner love, time opens its constraints and history shows us that we have been here before, the pendulum of change keeps swinging and we can only accept the challenge of change with the equanimity of love.

11/03/2024

Please share if you know someone who might be interested! x

05/10/2023

Please join me for this early evening talk if you are interested:

Is the separate self an illusion or is it a blueprint for our journey here on earth?

16/03/2023

I am delighted to be part of Alternatives' three part workshop this March, talking about my role as a spiritual teacher.
Two years ago I was chosen to give a talk at St James's church in London and be part of the amazing group of teachers who work with Alternatives to spread wisdom, compassion and love. I have enjoyed meeting many of their followers who are all experienced seekers, serious about deepening their understanding of life, and I've had the pleasure of leading some workshops in person and online.
I look forward to this upcoming course and to leading more events with Alternatives later in the year.
https://www.alternatives.org.uk/event/becoming-authentic-spiritual-teacher-0

18/10/2022

THE HABIT OF FEAR...
We have become used to fear and anxiety, and the events of the last few years, including the pandemic, wars and climate crises have entrenched that fearful state into a habitual way of reacting.
We despair at the way society is going, but we forget that we are society; it is the outer structure of our collective inner state.
This means we are each responsible for how we approach the future.
We can’t control the future or force it to be as we want it, the future is created from the inner response to what is happening now. Therefore, it is important to question how we approach the challenge of living.
There will always be challenges, but if we see them as problems we are already in conflict as we have already decided we want to be free of them. In wanting to be free we attempt to solve or escape any situation using the brain which sees through the lens of the subjective self. This in turn keeps us trapped in time, linked to the fears of the past projected into the future, which in turn creates that future.
But we also want to escape ourselves and transcend to that peace beyond separation without engaging with the intensity of our human emotions, our pain, loneliness and anger which is the stuff of our daily lives.
This creates more conflict as this human self is our vehicle through which we navigate our journey on this earth and so cannot be avoided.
Only in facing and understanding with total compassionate awareness our limiting fear can we hope to expand beyond and allow the new.
So perhaps, for a moment, we can have the courage to stop reacting, distracting, or numbing ourselves and fully engage with who we are right now. In feeling with ourselves, we feel with Humanity as we are not separate, and out of this intensity of feeling comes a movement of compassion which is love. Experiencing this love right at the core of our being silences the mind and opens the door to that which is beyond; infinite peace.
The perspective from Infinite peace is one of unconditional acceptance of all the seeming opposites which humans experience as we tread this earthly, time-bound life.
As this acceptance ripples through the individual self, life is seen as a daily invitation to wisdom, and love imbues all relationship as we step into the unknown and create the new.

01/08/2022

Join me online for a free 3 part course with the amazing Alternatives, who have asked me to present a taste of my work over the next three weeks.
First session is Monday 8th from 6-7pm. I hope to see you there!

Experience a free 3-part teaching of Caroline’s deeply practical spiritual teaching

10/07/2022

“Journey through compassionate love to the infinite peace which lies beyond the Self”

Are you struggling with self-love in this messy, chaotic world whilst also yearning for a deep peace which is limitless?

Join me for a transformational weekend retreat where you will learn to hold your deepest self in unconditional love, seeing your path and the challenges you face as part of the intelligent tapestry of life, perfectly woven to teach you wisdom and compassion.
At the root of self-acceptance is acceptance of all selves, as we are intrinsically connected. Here we find the door leading us beyond separate forms to infinite peace, where we expand into the One movement of Life and rest in the silent love of all that is.

At present there are 2 places left for this retreat.

November 4 - 6th ’22 Gloucestershire.

For more details go to www.carolinebliss.co.uk where you can email me, or you can reply to this post.

‘There has never been a more important time for each of us to find an inner truth which is unshakeable’

26/06/2022

FINDING HARMONY IN BEING
As the line from the musical goes: ‘When you know the note to sing, you can sing most anything’.
How true this is.
If we consider that each of us has a note to sing or sound in this world, and that each of our notes is unique and crucial to the grand symphony of life, we can see how important it is to find out what our true note actually is.
It is not the sound the ego wishes to make, it does not spring from the image we carry of ourselves, nor is it what we think is necessary. It is an essence which is our essential truth.
Finding our inner truth, however, is paradoxical since we cannot know our own truth, we can only be it.
While we make noise from the ego we create disharmony, which we and others then react to, keeping us in a subjective/reactive loop. We try harder, sound our note louder, higher or lower, getting ever more lost in the search for harmony.
It is especially hard while the world itself is in such disharmony. Humanity is in crisis, and our consciousness is fracturing with the stress of the brain’s attempts to solve the problems of existence. Wars, corrupt governments, financial crises, food shortages, mental health problems and ever-growing natural disasters as the planet warns us of our ignorant behaviour; these are just a few of the many challenges humanity is facing. Since this is all being shown to us on an hourly basis over social media, it is very hard to find a perspective, let alone find and sound our own note.
For that we need stillness, quiet, a period of not doing, not knowing. That action runs against the tide and can feel meaningless in the cacophony of life. But it is in fact the most useful action we can take, as the only real power we have comes from living authentically, from deep within ourselves where the door to love and infinite peace resides.
Journeying here takes time, patience, courage, gentleness and compassion. We need to learn what we are not. We need to remove the block we have put up to our own loneliness, fear, pain and rage and allow the years of conditioning and emotional memory to release through us, leaving us vulnerable and open to the tender, fragile experience of being human.
This is a moment by moment unfolding into what is, without conflict, until we reach the root of ourselves where we touch upon the shared experience of being human; understanding that our consciousness is not separate from the rest of humanity.
At this point we are at the edge of the known. Bringing our total attention to this edge, the brain falls silent as it cannot grasp what is beyond.
In the silence is the realisation that we are the one movement of life itself, beyond time and space, the ground of Being out of which consciousness is born and dies.
It is from here that the note of the self sounds naturally through us, and its essence is love. We stop trying to become anything other than what we are; a perfect part of the extraordinary symphony of life which encompasses joy, sorrow, birth and death and all the melodies of the Universe

Caroline provides the link between the Western approach of self-love and fulfilment, and the Eastern philosophy of freedom from the self and inner peace.

18/03/2022

So privileged to have given my first talk at Alternatives in the magnificent St James's church in Piccadilly, London. Apart from the history, beauty and special atmosphere of the church, so many of the great spiritual teachers have spoken there in the past.
Thanks to all those who attended, whether virtually or online.
In these challenging times it was good to look at the root of conflict in ourselves and ask why humans are still suffering, still violent, still at war. Each of us holds the key as each of us shares the consciousness of the whole of humanity.
Finding inner freedom therefore holds an urgency which is palpable...

15/03/2022

I invite you to join me online for the live stream, or in person tomorrow evening for this immersive exploration of what it means to be an awakened human in this time of crisis.
There has never been a more important time for each of us to find an inner truth which is unshakeable.

Are you looking for Self-love, or the infinite peace of freedom from the Self? These two traditions of self-knowledge and wisdom have often been taught separately. However, Caroline’s clear philosophy, born of a lifetime of inner work, personal revelation and experience, shows us that both these s...

27/02/2022

As the world faces crisis after crisis there has never been a more urgent time for each of us to find an inner truth which is unshakeable. Far from being a selfish act, going within reveals the interconnectedness of humanity; we are not separate selves acting independently, we are the consciousness of the whole. The inner journey through self-love to the infinite peace beyond the self opens us to a transformational energy of compassionate awareness. It is this awareness which informs each of us how to respond moment by moment to the unfolding crisis humanity faces, bringing our unique gifts to our everyday existence in this time of chaos and upheaval.
Join me for my first talk with Alternatives either in person at St James's Church, Piccadilly or online on Wednesday March 16th at 7pm.

with Caroline Bliss