24. Catherine Harding – The Headless Way – part 3 ****
Posted December 18, 2008
By areti
In this program Catherine emphasizes that she is not a teacher and touches on some points she wanted to make clearer.
It is all about sharing what is clearly obvious, once seen.
Music by The Moody Blues, Andrew McCubbin, Armenian Duduk and some Mozart.
Catherine and Douglas Harding’s Website.
It Is So Simple~ So Obvious~This~
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No teacher no student no path no goal ~ no one gets the simplicity of Being ~
Happy Holidays “One and All”
Love, charlie
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Hi Charlie,
If paradox is holding us from entering the Gateless Gate “~ no one gets the simplicity of Being ~” Why would you invest in that , lest you be like the moneychangers in the temple of God. Hopefully ‘someone’ will overturn your table
Seasonal greetings to the All,
tomvds
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if I AM intelligent energy then why would I (intelligent energy) created such a crappy life? lose of job, illness ending in depression………….doesn’t seem too intelligent…….but there does seem to be loads of energy, rolling toward hell………..
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Lets get real folks!
There is a ‘you’ and a ‘me’ until it is clearly seen that there is no ‘you’ or a ‘me’.
So, there is work to be done. All is included in what is. To deny any part of ‘what is’ will lead you back into separation.
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By what nature is the assessment made? “IF I am intelligence”?
There is ONLY ONE Intelligence expressing itself – How can you say it is a stranger to you?
How can you possibly know anything (in particular the ‘elements’ of a crappy life without that intelligence? THAT expresses itself as Everything without a single exception.
In Essence it is undifferentiated yet in expression is is the totality of differentiation.
As the Buddha is reported to have said: “samsara and nirvana are not two”.
It is the mind that divides (appears to divide) that which can never be divided.
This fact can be directly perceived right where you are, where you appear to be.
The clear and empty nature of space-like awareness contains everything.
Nothing of the content touches that space-like awareness and yet it is all awareness ‘appearing’ as this and that. All it takes is the slightest expansion of attention to include the body as it is – an appearance. Get a taste of this view and so everything is clear and obvious just as it is.
However, if the endless gravitation back into ‘thought’ continues, then the open view is just a theoretical postulation and so the endless debate goes on. It is unnecessary to talk endlessly about this. First and foremost SEE what IS. Establishing oneself in that seeing is the dissolution of identification with ME, ‘an image of self’.
See that there is no self with any substance or independence and the drama of life dissipates all by itself, without any effort.
There is no ‘you’ or ‘me’ and to say “let’s get real folks” is worthy of a door to door broom salesman. In this clear and empty space-like awareness there is nothing to be done and that is clearly obvious. Making ridiculous statements with such conviction should reveal something to the one expressing them – but they are usually the last to see the erroneous nature of their own postulations. Even so, all is valid in the appearance. The Essence remains the same, no matter what appears to manifest.
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Hmm…. making ridiculous statements with such conviction should reveal something to the one expressing them – but they are usually the last to see the erroneous nature of their own postulations ……. unless of course, the statements are made from Gilbert.
Come on Gilbert… lighten up !
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“all is valid in the appearance” means I can lightheartedly relativate my ill conceived attempts at non-duality-speak. That way they reveal to me I’d better keep still. Allthough everyone can talk about this, because It is who you are. Yet some mortal vessels resonate with greater clarity than others. So be It.
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You Can’t Get What Does Not exist
What are you looking for? Something you don’t already have right here and right now?
The search for wholeness, completion or joy is doomed to fail. But only one hundred percent doomed to fail. That is the awful truth that no seeker wants to hear. Cannot hear! Dear One: This really IS it. Just what is, as it is. There is no hidden state or fabulous freedom that the individual can gain no matter how earnestly it tries. Why? Because in FACT there is nothing that is not already what IS. You simply cannot find what is not lost! The search is The One Seeking ItSelf. Never finding ItSelf. But obviously still BEING ItSelf. In the failure of the search there is the seeing of This.
Are You A “Seeker”?
Seeking “Wholeness, Completion, Happiness, Love or “Liberation” from “Anotherâ€, whether that “revered other” be a “Guru, Guide, Lover, or Friend”, is a perfect way to avoid Paradise. Paradise is THIS. Just as it Is and just as it Isn’t. All seeking “out there” is a dream of a “meâ€, foolishly knocking on the door to Paradise, from inside Paradise! Paradise is only lost in seeking it.
That said, have you yet noticed that all these nonduality books, websites, meetings, talks and other expressions essentially seem to say the same thing in different ways? That there is no person, no individual “self” apart from the totality of what is?
Have you been self inquiring, investigating, meditating or doing some other “spiritual doingness” to attempt to attain a state of peace, joy, or freedom? Have you come to realize that none of it has delivered on te promise that “someday if you just keep going, you will attain” .. what? Something wonderful and magnificent and special? And then maybe you too can get up on a pedestal and preach the gospel of advaita nonduality to the huddled masses of suffering seekers?
Think again. This is a MYTH and there will be NO “special state” for you, simply because the one who wants a special state is an inauthentic pretense of being a flawed (or a special) individual. A “person” claiming to be in charge and powerful, yet suffering, or to be not in charge and suffering as a victim.
But it is all assumed – all an act, the pretentious sham of being “me”. Looking to be “not me” and wanting what isn’t. “I want therefore I am”.
Where are you really going? Can you ever move away from here? Haven’t you yet noticed, wherever you go here you are? As you are and are not?
You can’t get something called enlightenment, liberation, an eternal state, your true nature, or existence-consciousness-bliss (like the old fakes from India promised; they called it “sat-chit-ananda. But fakery is nonsense regardless of how the letters are put together and what concept you have come to believe.) Because why? Because all that conceptual stuff is myth. You are what you seek. The Oneness you are looking for is Oneness looking.
What if this as it is and as it ain’t really IS as good as it gets?
What then!?
“At some stage we are looking for answers “out there†and also relying on spiritual “experts†to tell us who and what we are. That really keeps us looking 180 degrees away from the heart of the issue. Fortunately, your own being or true self is already present and available at all times to be seen and recognized for what it is.” ~ John Wheeler
Happy Holidays, Gilbert! Love ya.
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it’s fascinating to see how quickly it can be said…”i am not the body or the mind”, and yet, when it comes to words, somehow or another they are suddenly MINE… the mind is in constant contradiction…especially when provoked. every single ‘moment’ is an opportunity to see what you are… is what you are a thought/re-action?…or are you simply and constantly the awareness…that ‘seeing’? re-action diminishes considerably when there is awareness of that whole thought/re-action structure.
being is already relentless … seeking is escape and escape is suffering because there is NO ESCAPE … that relentless being is the only ‘teacher’! and when expression happens from that relentlessness … well … seems to be a good opportunity to see what this ‘me’ is really made of!
ahh…and yes charlie…THEN what??…just THIS in all it’s wonder!
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The ‘idea’ of self has no being. The idea appears in being – that which appears is not what it appears to be. The mind deals with appearances only and the central figure ‘me’ takes all this activity in mind to be real – it must, otherwise its own foundations are revealed as empty. If ‘you’ place all your trust in what the mind throws up, then ‘you’ are missing the very nature of being itself. Understanding is silent – wordless, like a new born baby – no future, no past – just THIS clear and obvious nature of presence. A baby is not ignorant of its surroundings – that ignorance appears to be learned ‘later’ and so ‘people’ take their day dreams to be reality – they interpret their dreams with fabricated profundity. They ‘learn’ about Non Duality and sprout aphorisms AS IF they really KNOW what they are talking about. If they are challenged they say things like “Come on (Gilbert), lighten up”.
Do ‘you’ imagine that the life of dreams, which you believe is reality, is going to be pacified by chit chat? The ‘me’ will ‘appear’ to use every trick in the book to survive. It is a rare thing that anyone ever comes to face reality full frontal. It is unbearable for the ‘me’.
Are you blind to the struggle in your own being? Has the mind found a way to play with self calming mantras? Anything to avoid the truth?
What is on offer is a ‘way out’. Chatting with the ‘prison guard’ (the modern Western teacher) about methods of escape is useless. The fear of discovering that there is no ‘me’ is the same equation as the fear of death. If you imagine that you can negotiate your way through life without facing reality, then you are dreaming.
Frankly speaking, I find that most ‘spiritual people’ have been filled with utter nonsense regarding ‘The Way’ and their very conversations about this are almost entirely composed of second hand ‘knowledge’. All the while they ignore the only true fact that they can ever be sure of – The fact of BEING – immediate presence – immaculately clear and obvious. Only when the mind includes the impressions of immediate being presence can it function with any clarity. Without this, the mind is a tyrant which plagues mankind and we see the ‘results’ everyday in the media. It is real – but what have you EVER done about aligning yourself with reality – in order to bring any balance into your life? Dreams are dreams. The infinite potentiality is right HERE, right NOW. Ignore it if you must – but don’t tell me to lighten up, especially when it is obvious that your life is dominated by confusion and inner doubts. Listen to the programs and cease from making ridiculous statements here. (If this barrage does not stimulate some genuine interest in your own presence, then may GOD in all his mercy help you.)
If the ‘me’ is poked in the right spot, then there is a definite possibility of SEEING it for what it is.
Apologies to all who believe that ‘spirituality’ should all be roses roses and no thorns.
- MeRrY ChRisTmaS to ONE and ALL.
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QUESTION..
is sailor bob and tony parsons on the same page? i heard parsons say on you tube “there are very, very few people who really understand this open secret?’
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It’s simple but can be terribly complicated. Telling a common seeker “this is it”, “stop the search”, while this is ultimately true, they will still remain puzzled. It’s rare for one who can understand immediately. Meditation, investigation and contemplation is very necessary for a unripe seeker.
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Wow ! I think I pissed Gilbert off a little bit..
Oh well, its not a big deal, we are just 2 dream characters that see things differently.
But who we truly are is ONE (and not even that) so no harm done, its just amazing to watch ONE have a disagreement with itself but it becomes very disturbing when it is seen as two separate entities having a disagreement.
- MeRrY ChRisTmaS to ONE and ALL.
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There is no Page.
‘The Open Secret’ is a book written by Tony himself (It is a concept – there is no secret). If you read it you may see why he says very few understand it. Nisargadatta also says that few take delivery of this ‘knowledge’.
There are, in the appearance of things, a lot more who pretend to understand it than those that ARE the understanding.
I would not recommend listening to both, to Bob and to Tony. The concepts used are quite different. Choose one and stick with them. It may be quite confusing if you try to merge the ‘different teachings’. One may ‘appear’ to make the other wrong, etc. They are both only ‘sign posts’ pointing at your own true nature – HOW accurate the signs are is only proven by the ‘effect’ produced on your being.
If you remain stuck on concepts and no resonance, clear and bright, emerges from listening to a teacher, then move on till you find one that does.
The bottom line is this: Everyone, teachers and all the rest, all the books and all that is said, is merely an appearance in that pristine, immaculate space-like awareness that you ARE. If this fact is not recognized then there is belief in the existence of ‘others’ (higher or lower than yourself) and so we tread a circular path until we drop.
The bondage of self is the hardest and the easiest thing to be free of.
There are seemingly two paths. One very hard and difficult, the other easy and quick.
As a ‘me’ we have no choice which path is ‘taken’. As the clear essential nature of what we truly are there is no choice necessary – You are ALREADY THAT clear and present essential being. The only ‘thing’ that stands between that freedom and yourself is a concept of separation – which is the dualistic notion of being an entity, a ‘me’ and ‘the world’. The boundary between inner and outer is only an idea we have picked up along the way.
Breaking free from the bondage of the dream state may appear to be very painful and this may be why so many simply imitate an ‘awakening’ – it probably seems better to play a spiritual game with a fabricated ‘reality’ rather than facing reality.
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thanks gilbert..that answers my question
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Merry Chistmas to ‘ALL’,
The best ‘PRESENT’ you cannot give or receive is the ‘PRESENCE’ that you ‘ARE’!:)
Love from ONE to ONE.
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Hi Vat,
Your words ring true over here, well said .
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Dear Gilbert,
If you say that no one can deny his being, wich is true.
And if you ask anyone they will agree and laugh about the obviousness of that.
How can you say that very few get this?
best regards,
mark
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Thank you Catherine, Areti, Gilbert, and Douglas for the Headless Way. Please keep the enriching cyberwaves coming. The music’s great too.
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Everyone is THAT (or THIS).
Whether they ‘know it’ or not (as Bob says) it doesn’t really matter.
The CORE Essence is change-less – The expression is endless change.
The ‘apparent’ journey of ‘someone’ back to the core essence is ONLY in the appearance. As the ‘seeker’ draws near to the immediate TIMELESS KNOWING it fades away. In the experiencing of this fading one KNOWS that what I am is this unchanging nature – totally beyond doubt or question – yet there is no entity there to claim any qualities for itself. It is NO THING – which is the true nature of everything without exception. All the natural flow, including apparent ‘friction’ is in ‘the pattern’ that appears. There is truly only ONE pattern, like a fractal pattern. The further you go into it the more it appears to unfold. Isn’t life just like that on every so-called level? The flow out and the flow in of ‘The Tide’, which we call the manifestation, the appearance, are linked inextricably to each other. This fact is easily perceived in the fact that you cannot breath in without breathing out first and you cannot breath out before you breath in etc. The whole universe move upon emptiness. The AXIS of Being is the gate-less gateway to the liberation from believing that there is a ‘self’.
Whatever expression that ACTUALLY ‘turns you around’ to SEE is valid.
Those who insist that it must be ‘all good’, all roses, roses and no thorns may well have some issues left to deal with. Such provocations, such statements, are usually un-welcomed by those very ones I speak about.
I could sprout beautiful and poetic phrases exclusively and lull ‘people’ into a fabricated garden of Eden. But the other end of the stick will ALWAYS manifest and it is a challenge that undoes many aspirants. If you have not resolved the ‘inner anger’ then it will rise up and destroy everything that you imagine that you have achieved. It may be a blessing – yet how many welcome the challenge of a worthy opponent? It may be all concepts – but SEE that all of one’s trial and tribulations are based on concepts and beliefs. FEW certainly appear to live from beyond the mind. This is our true nature and our possibility is to truly LIVE from our core essential being – beyond beliefs and even beyond what we call knowledge.
You are made of LIGHT.
There is NO other light – Even though this light is invisible it is by this light that everything is seen. It is SEEING.
Fumbling in the dark, believing that I am a limited being is just ignorance.
Trace it all back to the first instant of your very being – negate everything that arises – attach to nothing and SEE that you are nothing but this SEEING.
There is no benefit for ‘someone’ in this negation.
That is why it is not on sale – there are no customers.
Many words to say so little.
Merry Christmas….whatever that means.
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Everyone is THAT (or THIS).
Whether they ‘know it’ or not (as Bob says) it doesn’t really matter.
The CORE Essence is change-less – The expression is endless change.
The ‘apparent’ journey of ‘someone’ back to the core essence is ONLY in the appearance. As the ‘seeker’ draws near to the immediate TIMELESS KNOWING it, the seeker, fades away. In the experiencing of this fading one KNOWS that what I am is this unchanging nature – totally beyond doubt or question – yet there is no entity there to claim any qualities for itself. It is NO THING – which is the true nature of everything without exception. All the natural flow, including apparent ‘friction’ is in ‘the pattern’ that appears. There is truly only ONE pattern, like a fractal pattern. The further you go into it the more it appears to unfold. Isn’t life just like that on every so-called level? The flow out and the flow in of ‘The Tide’, which we call the manifestation, the appearance, are linked inextricably to each other. This fact is easily perceived in the fact that you cannot breath in without breathing out first and you cannot breath out before you breath in etc. The whole universe moves upon emptiness. The AXIS of Being is the gate-less gateway to the liberation from believing that there is a ‘self’.
Whatever expression that ACTUALLY ‘turns you around’ to SEE is valid.
Those who insist that it must be ‘all good’, all roses, roses and no thorns may well have some issues left to deal with. Such provocations, such statements, are usually un-welcomed by those very ones I speak about.
I could sprout beautiful and poetic phrases exclusively and lull ‘people’ into a fabricated garden of Eden. But the other end of the stick will ALWAYS manifest and it is a challenge that undoes many aspirants. If you have not resolved the ‘inner anger’ then it will rise up and destroy everything that you imagine that you have achieved. It may be a blessing – yet how many welcome the challenge of a worthy opponent? It may be all concepts – but SEE that all of one’s trial and tribulations are based on concepts and beliefs. FEW certainly appear to live from beyond the mind. This is our true nature and our possibility is to truly LIVE from our core essential being – beyond beliefs and even beyond what we call knowledge.
You are made of LIGHT.
There is NO other light – Even though this light is invisible it is by this light that everything is seen. It is SEEING.
Fumbling in the dark, believing that I am a limited being is just ignorance.
Trace it all back to the first instant of your very being – negate everything that arises – attach to nothing and SEE that you are nothing but this SEEING.
There is no benefit for ‘someone’ in this negation.
That is why it is not on sale – there are no customers.
Many words to say so little.
Merry Christmas….whatever that means.
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Gilbert, when you say its ONLY in the appearance, you must realize that this is where the apparent self lives. This apparent self is stuck in the dream and believes the dream to be real. What most seekers are asking is how does one awaken from the dream. Just by using pointers alone will not cut it for most and yes, there is ‘no one’ to awaken from the dream but you know what I mean, just play along.The goal is for all to be seen as One with no separation.
Yes, there is no ‘I’ or ‘other’ but speaking from within the dream , there is a ‘me’ and ‘other’. So, again, I will say that you Gilbert and John Wheeler are both masters at pointing to the truth of who we are but it is not enough to awaken the apparent ‘me’ that appears to be stuck in the dream.
I am speaking from within the dream also known as a prison and even though the prison is just an appearance, how do you tell someone that the prison they live in is not real, that the prison was self created and that it was never locked. I find that one way that may be effective is to meet this so called ‘other’ in their so called prison and from there walk them out of it. To simply use pointers alone will not do it, it must be seen and this takes ‘time’ and ‘effort’.
One must use’ time’ and ‘effort’ to see that ‘time’ and ‘effort’ is what stands in the way of true seeing. This statement contradicts itself but when fully understood, then the clear seeing will shine through even though it was always there.
So, my point all along is that what you say , Gilbert, is true, no arguments there but to the so called dreamer who appears to be stuck in the dream, needs more convincing than just pointers. It took time to believe in its separation and will take time to undo itself to see itself as the whole.
Thank you for this UGC site that you and Areti created, I hope it prospers into a place where true honest seekers can go to without the bullshit and finally thank you for taking the time and effort you put in this UGC site to remain alive and active.
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ralph,
“needs more convincing than just pointers”
“who” would you be trying to convince?
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“who†would you be trying to convince?
…. to the one who is asking the question.
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It’s a funny situation. You make the greatest effort, even though effort is not necessary, yet effort is still needed. Because beingness is available, you ask questions. No beingness, no questions. What knowledge to collect? You are the knowledge. Without you, there can be no knowledge.
Take the example of the dream world. That beingness is there, so the world is. Let’s say you begin to lucid dream. Now that you know it’s a dream, how to take yourself as that mere body? You are the entire manifest. So it is that beingness that is there in waking and dreaming states. What to transform yourself into? Without that beingness, nothing can be done. Just be, for YOU ARE THAT.
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Thanks Gilbert for this clear answer which I will enjoy to ponder awhile
Merry Christmas. Which I like to think means the celebration of (the arrival of)the Light (Dies Natalis Solis Invicti)
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The me cannot awaken.
Who is speaking from within a prison of concepts?
That is such nonsense it makes my head spin to contemplate what kind of game you play with yourself.
DO you need a rude shock to allow you to put aside these conceptual constructs?
Can you administer such a shock yourself to yourself?
Who is caught up in concepts?
They will certainly bind the mind in a time loop without an exit.
But they cannot bind the essence that you ARE. Cease from ignoring what you are. Nothing is closer to you than THAT. Not the thinnest membrane separates you from your own authenticity.
You are not the mind. Full Stop.
Are you asleep? No. There is only ONE seeing happening.
In the core essence there are no concepts.
SEE that all the problems arise only after concepts enter ‘center stage’.
Where are you SEEING from?
Be completely open and investigate this question.
The appearance of using time is only a translation in the mind.
BE the timeless and SEE.
Even the subtle perception of space (volume) is registering in the SEEING.
The essential value of any knowledge whatsoever is imparted by the KNOWING.
Without that knowing there is nothing at all.
THIS knowing is all inclusive – it only appears to become all inclusive as the mind releases its habitual hold.
It has always been all inclusive – One without a second.
The revolutionary nature of this FACT leaves one speechless.
Yet the understanding may send reverberations throughout ones whole being – and this can never be forgotten – because it IS.
Not ‘was’ or ‘will be’.
IS is forever IS.
‘Was’ is dead and gone and ‘will be’ never arrives.
These ‘things’ cannot be ‘popular knowledge’ unless they are watered down and distorted – as we have seen throughout ‘history’.
Self-Evident. Look for what is self-evident in your own immediate presence – without memory or mind translations. SEE what is Clear and Obvious.
All internal debates cease.
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Merry Christmas to all the family !!!
Much much much love
Sergio
My best wishes for all
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You ask : Where are you SEEING from?
Be completely open and investigate this question.
Okay, fair question.
Yes, I am not the mind and yes, there is only one seeing happening but in this one seeing it includes the dream characters (the humaness) . It may be an appearance but it is there.
Anyway, when you speak of appearances, it begs the question, what is real and what is unreal ? Perhaps there is no such thing as ‘real’. That it simply is only what is.
No use in debating with someone who refuses to acknowledge the ‘humaness’ in the whole.
Oh well, it is what it is.
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hm…there is nothing cute or lovey about this
little terms bandied about makes the mind feel comfortable
what the hell is comfortable about annihilation?
this is directed to no-one in particular…because i’ve seen this mind do it too…
thinking about ‘one-ness’, ‘nothing excluded’, ‘all valid’ …while it may be relatively true…it’s a crock of shit if those are the thoughts the mind has contented itself with
even thoughts of annihilation are not true…happy all inclusive thoughts are just as false as thoughts ABOUT emptiness or extinction
anyhow! much thanks and happy holidays to the UGC team…the conceptual blowtorch as it were!
nathan
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isn’t humaness just another concept?
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Question: Are you aware right now?
Answer: Yes
That awareness is what is being pointed to…
It is undeniable and indescribable…it is no thing the mind can grasp…it is the natural state…you are That…you are that Awareness…
Stay with That awhile… then, so to speak, the ‘humaness’ arises (it might be a thought)…and instantly the recognition comes about that the essence of the ‘humaness’ is also the Awareness. It must be…because without the Awareness the ‘humaness’ could not arise.
Ho Ho Ho…good job Areti and Gibert…I am looking forward to more podcasts in 2009.
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Addressed to no one in particular:
Everything is a concept! If something can be named, labeled or perceived, then
it is some-’Thing’.
What cannot be got at or perceived is the perceiving or seeing itself, which is not
a thing or ‘NO-THING’!
“That which can be spoken of, is not the eternal tao” or something like that……
All the best,
Suki
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No one is being attacked here – it is all sharing. If someone is offended then right there is the problem that must be examined. WHO? is offended?
The mind only has what it calls the ‘relatively true’.
It is not about what the mind is comfortable with.
The definition of reality is ‘That which never changes’.
There is no compromise. Compromises belong to mind. In recognizing that which never changes in oneself, it is not a matter of seeing ‘something’ or acquiring some second hand knowledge. It is knowing, knowing, knowing.
All these points being tossed up as some sort of defense strategy are all based on second hand opinions and old ideas.
Be honest – have you ever had an original thought?
Whatever ‘you’ cling onto, imagining that it will shelter you from the naked truth, the rawness of unadorned reality, is useless – a concept, a belief or something you have learned is nothing but the changing parade of phenomena. Where is the security of phenomena found? Metal rusts away, mountains are weathered away, bodies age and turn to dust. The mind is an endless stream of impressions, thoughts, feelings and dreams. Is reality to be found in any of these ‘things’ – if it were, surely you would have found it by now. The buzz of opening Christmas presents lasts a short ‘time’ before the mind turns it over into disappointment – “I wish I had got such and such”. In some cultures it is not polite to rip the wrapping paper off like a madman.
One must carefully unwrap and also take the time to thank the ‘giver’ with the appropriate gestures.
Maybe we could approach this ‘self-examination’ with something akin to a gentle touch – peel off the beliefs and SEE what is what? All processes are time bound and SEEING is instant.
Seeing through beliefs takes no time at all – but it requires that I drop my agenda and my old ideas first. Old ideas are dead and they weigh us down. A conceptual bondage is unnecessary and the entity that gets bound is non existent – no matter how much you protest that it does. Drop the protest and SEE this clear and immaculate space. Listen to Catherine’s programs again.
The greatest gift anyone has is beyond description.
We play with words, maybe skillfully or not – yet the one element that is necessary remains, at all times, beyond words – it is the activity of knowing – which ‘appears’ as an essential recognition of my true nature – and my true nature is COGNITION.
Knowing – Seeing.
There is nothing else.
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Yes, it is all sharing here, nothing to take personal.
The ‘personal’ is the culprit in all of this.
It is what stands in the way of true seeing.
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‘Such tricks’ of the mind are endless. Human-ness as you call it, is only the form that THIS intelligence weaves into a time-space pattern. It is real ONLY in its immediacy.
Do you know this immediacy? Are you consciously this immediacy?
The secondary mind translation is the transient, momentary expressions.
KNOW the primary first. Then the secondary will ‘make sense’ and its conflicts will resolve themselves.
One can shape shift all of one’s knowledge and knock the ragged corners off, smooth it all over with wear and tear ‘poly-mania’ and polish it for the next presentation.
But if you catch the mind playing those games, it is truly a blessing.
One can play these games for decades and nothing changes. Teachers can throw us out of their meetings and still the resilience of the habitual mind keeps springing back like a wort on the end of your nose – very obvious to everyone but yourself. It is all mind stuff – time bound.
The timeless essential nature needs to take no concern over such activities.
How compassion arises for these apparent ones that appear to be caught in the mind is a mystery. Maybe the deliverance out of bondage is merely just another appearance.
The view is actually wide open – why do we focus on a fly speck on the glassy essence?
Why do we make the angels weep?
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This ‘having no head’ thing has never made any sense to me except as an anology or (here comes that word again) pointer.
That one’s stomach exists because the individual can see it and the head doesn’t exist because the individual can’t see it is nonsense. Either both exist or both are illusory.
Using vision as a sole criterion as to existance, a person born blind would, by this logic, have neither head nor body.
The position of the eyes precludes their seeing the head, obviously. Why limit it to only the sense of sight. Can’t you feel with your hands that you have a head? If you say no, I’ll hit you on your head and ask if you feel that.
Photos, mirrors, other people, all indicate that even visually the head exists.
We can’t see planets in distant galaxies. We can’t even see people in other cities or countries. Do the existance of planets or people depend on me,me,me seeing them with my sense gathering eyes?
C’mon people, use your HEADS.
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I signed up with Twitter recently. I did a non-duality search but didn’t find many people. Are any of you Twitter users. I would love to follow non-duality people and their comments on Twitter. Thanks
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“The heart is the gateless gate to reality. Move from the head to the heart.” – Osho
C’mon people, use your HEART.
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SEEING is not happening through concepts. Pure seeing is unattached to concepts.
Whatever ‘sense’ the mind tries to ‘make of it’ can only be more concepts. So drop all concepts and SEE. Then it doesn’t need to be ‘made sense of’.
‘We’ are so habitually attuned to believing that the mind’s translation is reality, so when we are asked to SEE without any words, concepts or images from memory, it seems like an impossible task. Yet SEEING is happening ‘all the time’.
The natural state is wordless……it was there long before you learned any words and it remains ever present – yet we ignore it, in preference for a bunch of concepts and learned theoretical postulations, etc. Seeing or Knowing are not beliefs – there are direct and immediate. You don’t need any guru to stare into your eyes for seeing to start happening. Knowing is the basis of all you know of.
All our problems are in the conceptual realm. A concept is a concept – if you can’t see the simple truth of that simple fact, then the mind will just go on and on until this fact is recognized. For whom does it matter? You see, we always personalize it and this subtle and not so subtle activity goes on un-noticed, so we miss the essential point. All we have left is arguments and protection of beliefs, which we cling to as if life itself depended upon it.
Someone somewhere will ‘hear’ what is being pointed out – but the SEEING from beyond concepts is the key experience – indescribable, yet some of us try to describe it in so many words.
The heart and the head are both appearance in the immaculate nature of clear awareness. SEE this for yourself. You cannot take the words of others, because that keeps it all in the realm of belief. Start from the fact that you KNOW that you ARE. What belief is necessary to know that?
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Hi Richard,
As you rightly point out, the literalist take on “headlessness” is absurd and contrary to the facts (“Bow to the facts” D.H.). ; Ofcourse the body has a head as you so sharply have observed. This is not about hallucinating that the body is headless. No need in stacking one hallucination upon another hoping they’ll cancel each other out, that’s crazy. First deal with the primary illusion. Where are you truly looking from? Answer that. If you imagine yourself to be looking through tiny peepholes located in a meatball you call your head then you have imprisoned yourself by hallucinating your reflection from the mirror or photo’s on your shoulders. (You have dulled yourself in being a separate third person). How real is that? Yes, visually heads do exist, offcourse; As objects when you see people and in mirrors, on photographs, etc. But what is seeing right now, where is seeing happening? The eyes do not see, they just receive light. What you really, really, really are, that has no eyes, no ears, no head, no body, no nothing. You are that formlessness, not objectifiable, not locatable aware capacity that’s not served up separately with what’s appearing. But you imagine yourself to be located inside a head, behind the eyes looking out! When you bow to the facts you’ll find that when you turn your attention 180°, where you imagined your head to be, you find the world, the Universe appearing in THAT wich the Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, the One Essence appearing as everything. Take your stand as Awareness only, then you can have as much heads, 7 billion or more, as you want
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Any expression that fails to point out that ALL concepts are meaningless empty bullshit will keep on keepin’ on reaffirming the false “me” and utterly ignoring the FACT that Being IS and “you” are NOT… If there are ears for the space Gilbert is coming at the false sense of self FROM then perhaps Nothing will happen to No One. No guarantees. Nothing is for sale here. Not even “some thing called no thing”.
Some of you (you know which ones) have been endlessly circling the drain and like a little spider trying it’s best to survive against the tide of this Water of Life that annihilates the false in ruthless love and compassion will argue as you have done for years hopping about from “Annette” to “Charlie” to “John” and now thrusting your idiot self story on sincere listeners… cut the crap. Listen to Gilbert. The power in Gilbert’s expression consists in the FACT that there IS no “Gilbert”. “You” that you argue for the existence of will never “get it”.
A saying goes, “FACTS are stubborn”. The FACT of Timeless Being is WAY more powerful than your speck of identified consciousness.
What is eternal?
That which NEVER changes.
But that will NEVER be grasped because your True Self is That and never did “divide itself”.
Where is the assumed separation right now?
It’s a tale told by an idiot, signifying nothing.
You are NO thing. Argue that you are a thing and that “little me†thing apparently suffers. Stop and notice what is seeing the seeing and there is the Naked Freedom that we call “Reality” – One with no second.
How? What asks? Where does a question arise from? Or a questioner?
What is real? Not you!
As my BFF John Greven points out, “If ANYTHING is assumed to be other than bullshit – then there is something wrong with the perspective”.
Take that – and BE.
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Hi tomvds,
I agree with all you say and all Gilbert says and am not disputing the actuality of The Absolute Oneness.
About Ralph’s quote: I’ve posted elsewhere how many Advaitins are all jnana without bhakti and how balance is needed to prevent their becoming automatons. (Even better is
Gilbert’s, they ‘are both appearance…’) Osho is not a good example of this. But it’s best not to mention his exploits, lest Gilbert might request Rolls Royces from his many admirers.
I enjoyed Catherine Harding’s interviews here as well. That we can hear such interviews as these and the proceding ones is really a privilage.
Have read Douglas Harding’s “On Having No Head”, must be 25 years ago. And since then have a few times seen and done his experiment. For some it hits them deeply and they rave about it. Different strokes for different folks.
Thanks to those who have responded to my post.
Richard
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Yes, much a do about nothing. Just squigles appearing in and as non-conceptual Awareness. THIS is all about NOT taking yourself to any outside refuge. No need to be sycophantic and kissing ass “Be Ye Lamps Unto Yourselves”. Look For yourself ! You Are Already That, no matter what some psuedo-guru guy might say you have to do or not do. Too often we allow others to tell us who we are. You alone have the authority on who you are. You alone are at your center. “Only the Alone will enter the bridal chamber”
Right or wrong perspectives appear in that as presently arising thoughts, wich are ever changing having no independent reality in and of themselves. The real is that which not changes, IT IS who YOU are in spite of what ‘others’ may say, whoever they are, “I will not be talked out of who I am! And saying No to such efforts to persuade me of the error of my ways turns out to be saying YES to truth and LIFE!”
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Hi Charlie,
Nice to communicate with you once again, it’s been awhile. Yes, I am one of those who you speak about that for years have been hopping about from “Annette†to “Charlie†to “John†but I did not stop there. I kept hopping to Gilbert to Scott Kiloby to Gangaji to Eckhart Tolle to Leonard Jacobson to Adyashanti to Osho and etc.. (lots of hopping, I guess I was a rabbit in my previous life). These so called teachers all have something of value to offer.
In fact, the world is my teacher , including the separate self I take myself to be. I am you and you are me. One Essence appearing as everything.
I agree “lets cut the crap”.
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Gilbert,
Is it a matter of seeing beyond the concepts to what is beyond? Or do we just except what the mind interprets as concepts and ignore them knowing the concepts are not true.
Is all this happening in the Awareness but the mind interprets it as happening to a seperate person? If I SEE that will the suffering end?
I’m not sure I understand how you drop all concepts..are concepts ever needed to live this life?
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If we imagine some realm beyond concepts which needs to be seen, then that is just another concept.
Recognize that seeing is happening. THAT never changes.
Concepts appear and disappear in that SEEING.
You ARE the SEEING.
No step need be taken……..all steps and all methods lead away from it.
As Nisargadatta says: “All paths lead to unreality”.
The mind is the story of ME. It is time.
By imagining that I need time to get ‘there’ I have already deluded myself (as a way of expressing it).
Start from this immaculate clear and present fact of being. Add nothing to it and SEE.
All other questions will lose there supposed importance.
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Why do we hate it?
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Who hates what? Duality.
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New Program, last for 2008 coming up soon. Seasons greetings to all….and remember that you don’t have to over indulge to enjoy this moment. Happy new moment from ‘us’.
“May all your chickens have legs and some ground to run around on”
- Warm waves of bliss to all – Gilbert.
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I know that I will take a beating for this but I think it is priceless and says it all.
This is my Christmas Greeting to all.
“We have a fear of facing ourselves. That is the obstacle. Experiencing the innermost core of our existence is very embarrassing to a lot of people. A lot of people turn to something that they hope will liberate them without their having to face themselves. That is impossible. We can’t do that. We have to be honest with ourselves. We have to see our gut, our excrement, our most undesirable parts. We have to see them. That is the foundation of warriorship, basically speaking. Whatever is there, we have to face it, we have to look at it, study it, work with it and practice meditation with it”.
- Chogyam Trungpa
P.S. I wonder, do you recognize yourself in this statement above ? I know I do.
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Ralph.. Are you for real?
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Hi Ralph,
First you quote Osho, whose followers engaged in all kinds of misbehavior (Nisargadatta would kick them out of his metings) and now you quote Trungpa about a fear of facing ourselves. Maybe that’s why he drank to excess.
Haven’t you got some credible person to quote? Someone who walked the talk?
Or maybe you might just quote Ralph and his imaginings.
Happy, prosperous, healthy New Year,
Richard (am I for real?)
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Richard, try putting your energy on what is being said instead of who said it. Who gives a rats ass about Osho or Trunpa or Ralph or Richard. I am not interested in the ‘individual’ but instead I am interested in the truth and I’ll take it wherever I find it.
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I’m looking forward to this new program! But still there are many good programs on this site worth re-listening to. Program 2 for instance :It’s a “FULL STOP”-installment, let it pass through your personal firewall and It’ll terminate you. It may makes you see that It’s no use to ” put legs on snake” and run around like chickens with your head cut off
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Legs on a snake…That’s Great~!~! LOL
I just wanted to thank Gilbert and Areti for this space and the Truth that is so relentlessly pointed at here. Yes, Tom…. burn the firewall down with the obviousness of What Is~!~!
Blessings and Love to ALL in the New Year,
Mark
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Thanks Catherine. Simple, succient and clear. The talk is one I can go back to on a regular basis when I find myself overly identified with the ´social self´ which by the way is a term I find quite useful. Take care, John
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