73. The mind is Infinite
New program……Listen up. How anyone could miss what is being pointed out is remarkable. Approximately 36 hours of programs and seeking is still happening?
The grasping consciousness known as ‘the seeker’ ignores the obvious and wants ‘God himself’ to come down out of the clouds and be his personal teacher. Sadly many believe that God has done just that. It is all Bunkum.
Music inclusions: Canned Heat, Radiohead, The Swell Season, Zero 7, Jethro Tull, Bob Dylan, Rivertriibe, The Kinks and Pipkins with “Give me dat thing”.
The UGC is Phenomena. Everything is phenomena. Put another nickle in the Nickelodeon. This unprecedented ‘service’ is free but there are costs involved. Donate a small amount to keep this site going, if you find some value in it. You might even feel good about it.
Everything is Consciousness – there are no exceptions.
Waiting to be OK is like waiting for a train that never comes. No you, no wait, no train.
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Some One stole a wheelchair this location was sitting in.
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Ah, once again happily surprised to see more!!!! Thank-you as always.
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a quotoe from the Bold man himself, Our Bob. “Stay with the knowing that you are , erverything else will take care of it self , thats all thats needed”.
The duration of doing this and how long is needed comes up here, a hectic life with the mind being drawn into the appearence of haveing young kids about ect the day is soon over before you know it and then your lying in bed and its oh yeah theres that knowing , is to be with bits here and there enough to bring it into veiw. love Jacob
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+4
I’ve been enjoying everyones stuff here—Just ran into these wonderful quotes that seemed to fit the discussion, so, here you go:
“Awareness is who we are! Awareness itself! We are not the ego, the personality or body, who says Awareness is ‘mine.’ THAT is the incorrect identity, the ‘old man,’ the ‘liar from the beginning,’ the ‘deceiver,’ the devil himself. THAT is the one to be ‘put off.’ That is the one to ‘come out from … and be ye separate.’”
“Tranquillity is ever present as our very Identity. It is always ‘here,’ but we cannot be very well aware of it while battling the external picture, and we cannot be aware of it at all while believing that Identity is dependent upon, and dictated to, by a world of ‘things.’”
“Many have come here thinking the discovery of Identity is to be an ‘illumination.’ Oh, how many times we have talked about that! Well, it is an illumination, but it has nothing to do with wild or unearthly emotions. It has to do with a joy quite beyond sensation”
Question: What are my obligations to other people? That is, as Awareness, what are my obligations to images and objects of perception?
Answer: From this standpoint, we have no obligations to other people. We simple do all that seems to be the sensible, honest thing to do. We do this while aware that the Identity ‘they’ are is That which is being this Self-same Awareness. What ‘they’ call miracles appear everywhere for everyone to see.
“In order to see Truth as Truth is, it is only necessary to be the Truth one already is – and cease from the false identification, from the one who uses, manipulates and ‘possesses’ Truth. … ‘But how do I do this?’ … We do this by simply being motiveless Awareness only – which, among other things, is to perceive without opinions (judgments), without saying ‘this is good’ and ‘that is evil,’ ‘I like’ and ‘I don’t like.’ Inevitably, the first step is to end judgment, then to perceive that our real Identity is Awareness itself, not the ego-container. It is as simple as this. Words cannot tell of the wonders that become apparent when this effortlessness is put into practice.” From William Samuel’s book — “A Guide To Awareness and Tranquillity ”
And hey love Jacob here is another little something special from William for you—I was remined of this story when I saw your signiture: T’was meant to be—-
There was this old man who had the rug pulled out from underneath him, that is he had a heart attack and doctors did not expect him to live. He is lying there on the hospital bed with tubes sticking in and out of him all different places. A nurse comes to his bed, bends down and whispers in his ear, “Does you know what love is?”
The old man wondered for a moment, he had been talking about love for thirty years, but still he answered truthfully, “No, I don’t know what love is.” The nurse bent down and whispered again in his ear, “It don’t matter, ’cause God loves you!”. From that moment, the old man started to get well and as he later told the story he would say, “No, I don’t know what love is — but I know that love IS!”
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Beautiful thanks!
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OKAY, here’s the DEAL.
About a year ago I offered some of these programs to any University Radio Stations to use free of any charges. One station took up the offer. Nothing much eventuated probably because it was a one off situation.
Of course many Professors would balk at condoning anything so radical as what we offer, simply because it undermines just about everything they teach. Yet, I KNOW that this so-called message WORKS. All the psychology in all places and times has a limited benefit and usually the ‘patient’ gets caught in a loop. Methods and practices just don’t get to the core issue all that well.
I am going to ask you to be proactive in finding a suitable Radio Station in your area. A University Station or a Community Station and make contact with them, ask them if they wish to run a series of interesting programs. We will even tailor make ‘Call Signs’ for each station and make ‘promo spots’.
I will make inquires here in Melbourne and see if I can get the ball rolling here. There is no reason why this ‘resource’ cannot spread the message far and wide.
The ‘message’ is like a SEED. It has the potential to eliminate the bondage of self. Who on this planet would NOT want such a thing?
Commercial interests want to make a dollar out of everything but this is NOT about money or getting ‘rich’.
Ironically very little ‘support’ is given to such a clear and precise ‘means’ of communication. The support that we get is from a few ‘individuals’.
Seekers are self-centered and only think about themselves and often take everything for granted. Often the ones they love the most are taken for granted, simply because they themselves are so wrapped up in themselves they can’t see their own behavior is detrimental.
Huge Corporate Style Ventures receive backing from Governments and Millionaires in the name of ‘progress’ or whatever. The percentage of ‘success’ is usually minimal.
This ‘message’ we offer WORKS and the evidence shows up on a regular basis. The evidence is not turned into a sales pitch.
No one is obligated to do anything once the message finds its mark.
Everyone is free to continue AS they ARE.
NO Strings attached.
So, there you have it. Will you participate and assist with this venture?
Let me know.
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+6
There are 2 university radio stations in my area that I listen to quite often so will contact them and see what happens. Loved the music this time Gilbert and the direct pointing. Anybody still not getting it? You never will so stop trying! Loved the music on this one Gilbert and a small donation is on the way. Strong is good and so is more!!!
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Elena sent me this quote:
“Music is the space between the notes”
Claude Debussy
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+5
G: “All the psychology in all places and times has a limited benefit and usually the patient gets caught in a loop.” I suppose because it starts with the premise that there is an inherently flawed ‘me’ that can be (or needs to be) fixed. A me who is looking to a future time sometimes by delving into the past. That’s the loop. There is no resting in naked presence awareness.
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Where are you Seeing from? – G.S.
Contemplating this potent pointer has great potential for stopping or jarring the mind in its habitual conditioned reflexive ways of functioning. The mind quietens considerably! Revealing what is already present, open spaceless spaciousness, a transparent emptiness in which everything just appears or shows up. Some call this the Meta-Mind or Consciousness? What does it matter, just labels. Once tasted, you may chuckle at the futility and impotence of words. This is all very contradictory sounding, none the less…..words and language are what we have to facilitate communication (some are more adept and skillful! I am not). Even if this means pointing with structure and logic to THAT which defies logic (as we understand it) and seems Unstructured.
P.S.- Outstanding podcast, very clear!
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+6
Everything is clear and obvious. From habit and memory the mind responds with “Yes but……”etc.
It is exceedingly simple.
Where the un-mediated functioning of seeing-knowing is ‘taking place’ there is no problem.
Watch the mind and see if what I am saying is true or false.
Retrace whatever is ‘seen’ to the seeing.
The TRUE nature of the mind is clear and empty.
End of story.
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There is no else-where.
There is no else-when.
Only this timeless un-mediated IM-MEDIACY.
PS. GREAT podcast!!
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You are what is, a thought is of the past… are you the past or non-conceptual nowness? And if what is is a thought, then you are the thought not what it is saying about itself.
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Take a closer look. What meaning has any of this got without the mind of memory (me)?
It is meaningless. It is all meaningless. We can all de-construct each others comments and win ‘degrees’ in English Lit and still MISS the essential point.
The UGC is not here to hone clever intellects into clever dicks. Only a ‘me’ can be offended.
Substance abuse is due to addiction.
Non Duality cannot be abused but in the appearance it appears to be diabolically abused by clever smart ass intellectuals.
Even some so-called ‘teachers’ are chief abusers of this subject – to the point of capital punishment, in my opinion.
The absurdity is that some of these ‘teachers’ and ‘experts’ are held up high as the pinnacle of clear thinking.
All they are is just an agent to substance abuse – the addiction of the ‘me’ and the substance being peddled is ‘You don’t have it YET’.
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+6
scarfox,
Thought appears in the present tense only(there is only the present). It’s content can be about a fictional past or future, which in of themselves do not of course exist, except as thought constructs or concepts. A thought is different from You, but NOT Separate. It appears in what You Are, the Seeing/Knowing or non-conceptual Nowness(as you like to call it).
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+6
The ‘seeker’ never finds… because that which seeks is what is sought. There is NO separation anywhere… so there is no ‘seeker’ on one side, nor ‘sought’ on the other. That’s the reason why the (apparent) ‘seeking’ is SO frustrating…
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All divisions are conceptual. Reality is undivided. Therefore, thoughts/concepts cannot describe the real. Sometimes, there is an arising of thought patterns that seem to originate from a “me”. It is recognized that when these thoughts pass, I will still be, therefore, they are not me.
Not one more word needs to be added to this website. There are ample pointers here to end the idea of a seeker. If it is thought that one hasn’t “got it”, that’s just an idea appearing in perfectly lucid awareness. There is no quest, no mountain to climb. All such dramatic ideas are centered around the idea of being a separate, limited self and the attempt to transcend this imaginary condition.
I know it wasn’t “of you” but thanks to Gilbert and Areti for making such a great resource available.
(Ed: INTELLIGENCE is ‘making’ everything without a single exception, including the smile and the recognition)
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+9
Just a note about my website ‘seeing-knowing dot com’.
It is being revamped. The site had problems with logging on to make comments. The site will be very similar to this site very soon. So, there will be two places to ‘get into the nitty gritty’ and have your ego knocked around, all for free.
But in all seriousness, this is not just for the few.
The recognition is happening ‘all over the place’ and it is a beautiful demonstration that the ‘message’ works.
We don’t have to change our language into ‘Sitting in a chair is happening’ or ‘this body-mind organism is going to the toilet’. That is absurd and it sounds extremely absurd. ‘Anger is arising’ is another crazy catch phrase.
Just because everyone goes quiet when such conversations are dominating does not mean that anyone is actually realizing anything. It may simply mean that no one is game to say anything because the ‘Furer’ will jump on them if they say the wrong thing. Now to top it all off, such ‘Teachers’ charge a small fortune to attend their ‘concentration camps’ – all in the name of ‘Non Duality’. How absurd does it get? They even have a well respected ‘name’ in this ‘Scene’, if we can call it that.
That is not what we are on about here.
I say: ‘Donkey wonky, piddle and plonky’ – and at least that is plainly absurd without pretending to be some esoteric PATH to freedom.
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I am new here, but i watch..tfu, listen to your podcast for about a year. That stuff is great! xD Thank you ver much.
So…I think that what you’ve written here isn’t quite true. Such techers like Mooji has this spiritual manner but for some people this approach is (i think) more efficient then a plain way that you prefer. Some people begin their searching with common spiritual/religious beliefs and conviction and they simply wouldn’t believe your way is good. Also Mooji’s way to deliver a message pass exam in some cases, so why not?
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+1
Sorry for errors, english isn’t my native language.
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Note: There is a good reason why Charlie Hayes has not been interviewed for this site. Charlie is a bitter and twisted soul desperate to be recognized as a ‘Teacher’ and it is rather pathetic to witness. He has been given more help than anyone I know of and still he can’t stop himself from needing to be the center of attention. Even so, the ‘pointing’ is expressed through Charlie, it is just a pity that he himself misses the core message. Oddly enough the bitterness of his persona is standing beneath the Banner of LOVE. Totally absurd and infinitely humorous. We love you Charlie – Rest in Peace you old google eyed Prune face.
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+8
Haha I actually enjoyed one of the Charlie talks on his site where he got to the core with some crazy stuttering guy. He talks about the absolute, not the seeing/knowing which comes and goes in the absolute (which is the new thing these days that the seeing knowing comes and goes too). Did he die? On his site it said no one might have cancer (funny).
Also question to Suki, you said thoughts happen in the knowing, that they are not separate from you, but they are not the same energy as what you are. How is that possible? I know its just pointing but lets get straight to it, if there is an IN there is an OUT otherwise it is dual no? I’m not trying to start a non-duality lingo bingo, i’m just sick of the separation. To be this awareness but not its contents sounds non-dual and detached to me, when everything is awareness..So when a thought happens, isn’t that energy what I am along with the rest of what is happening that moment? Where is this in and out, I am everything in this moment, that leaves out the me-seeing. If I am not anything that happens (with no labels), then well there is nothing else. The realization here is that the knowing is what is happening or what is. But this isn’t it eh? I have to be some detached dual witnessing that disappears in sleep. At least when you are everything, and witnessing disappears you are still everything as nothing or pretending to be nothing. I don’t know I am if what is isn’t.
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Scarfox,
Just like you can differentiate the different body parts of your body as not being you, but at the same time they are not separate from you. The same applies to the thoughts and mind. Expand this view to the whole manifested universe. Everything is encapsulated within the Knowing. You can never know what the Knowing is, you can only be the Knowing. The Knowing is non-dual – Indivisible.
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+1
So am I the world or not. The so called problem here seems to be the old I had it I lost it I had it I lost it, caused by this story it seems: “Am I what is (sensations, sounds, visual objects, non-conceptual body(amorphous blob of sensations) etc, Or am I this no-thing that sees all of those. If I am what IS then that seems to be no separation since what IS is seeing anyway and I know I AM because of what IS. But the pointing here seems to be neti neti. Or is this you are not this and that just talking about conceptualized things like body and so forth? God I hate language sometimes because I never know what exactly is being said and people miscommunicate my questions as well. And yes what is changes but it is always what is so ‘what is’ the big deal? Why the duality?
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What you can perceive, you know to be different from what you are, right? This is called differentiation.
Perceived objects being different does NOT make them separate from what you are. They are contingent on that which perceives them, yes?
Perceiver and perceived are ONE. There is Zero Separation.
The Perceived arises or appears in the Perceiving, again NOT two.
That which Perceives is Not A Thing, can be called No-Thing.
So, You Are No-Thing Perceiving All things.
All things come from the One source of No-Thing.
You Are NO-THING.
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Thank you, much clearer now. Am I then, in a sense, being those things? or simply seeing them? Like do I be what is or see what is in kind of a detached way?
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There are NO Things. There is only the appearance of multiplicity or things. You are ONE Thing, that is actually NO Thing.
There is only ONE Substance or Single Block of Reality. From that emerges the appearance of Everything. You are forever seeing and experiencing Self.
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+1
Scarfox,
Just like you can differentiate the different body parts of your body as not being you, but at the same time they are not separate from you. The same applies to the thoughts and mind. Expand this view to the whole manifested universe. Everything is encapsulated within the Knowing(is a way of putting it,there is NO inside or outside). You can never know what the Knowing is, you can only be the Knowing. The Knowing is non-dual – Indivisible.
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+3
In this realm there are those who play the one up-man-ship game.
Anyone can pull apart anything anyone says and contradict anything.
Now, let me put things in order:
Anyone who says that the seeing-knowing comes and goes is just playing mind games.
If the seeing comes and goes, then how could such a ‘thing’ be seen or known to come and go, without the seeing-knowing?
So they are talking total crap and there are no Two Ways about it.
I am surrounded by Idiots…….pretending teachers and gurus plus a whole bunch of seekers who have been sucked in by ego-centric nonsense.
AND – I don’t care WHO says such things – They are talking CRAP. GOD himself could come down and tell me that the seeing-knowing comes and goes and I would tell him to piss off and stop talking shit.
“Eat them Apples” as my Granny used to say.
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+8
Yeah I don’t know, apparently the seeing knowing happens in the absolute. But thats exactly what I was thinking, there has to be a seeing that knows seeing comes and goes. Maybe they mean when we lose sight of the seeing, or in deep sleep, who knows. But if someone would answer my other questions that would be helpful.
Cheers
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There is only ONE seeing and it does not come and go. The thought ‘I see’ comes and goes. The ME cannot see, it is only a thought, ‘I see’.
There is no argument about this. It is so obvious and so clear.
Anyone who says that the seeing or the knowing comes and goes is deluded.
When did the seeing start? When did it stop?
It is ALL SEEING.
All these opinions and partial observations appear in the seeing-knowing. How else would any of it be known? By something that is NOT seeing or NOT knowing?
Kindergarden philosophy just does not pass the test here.
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+7
Only one seeing is what I implied. Can you address why there is no seeing in sleep, does seeing need an object to be conscious? Maybe I need seeing to be defined as best as it can again too by the way. A few times I’ve heard realized people say that they can be aware during the deep sleep state, i’m wondering how is there some kind of object like darkness or a feeling??
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new blood here.. first time poster..that is..
Interesting you mention Charlie Hayes. Just that I had spent a bit of time talking to him..In my heart of hearts I felt something didn’t feel right about it..but I kept going anyway…until I didn’t.. He had been advising me to do the work..to deconstruct everything..Work on the “who am i?”…and then frustration set in thinking that I simply don’t have the sincerity for this (his words)…and it was very much do loads of doing A and you’ll get B..”as long as there is a belief in a seperate person then you have to do the work”…After a couple of months and a couple of consultations as they are called and also throwing a few bob his way and alot more frustration..I stopped talking to him …plus a brief conversation with a friend helped my resolve to move on.
I can tell you now…as a tail wagging seeker…there is a huge amount of wonderful rubbish that delights and entices you in and promises you the world…..From my perspective it is hard to take..Even those saying ‘Nothing For Sale’…replace the No with Some pretty promptly..Who to believe? Who not to believe?
sure i suppose they need to make a living..or maybe delivering the truth is too hard for them and doesn’t sell as well..or this is just what happens..Or as someone else might say in a beautiful serene tone…It’s all oneness..
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+6
Scarfox, if I may – there is NO separation. What you are is not a thing but can be labeled “sentience”, “awareness”, “being”, etc. Within this arises the appearance of all things, which have no other “substance” than this sentience. But, truthfully, the words are unimportant. Words ALWAYS imply divisions and distinctions where there are none so no wonder it can seem confusing if these constructs are believed in. Words will never encapsulate what is. You don’t need intellectual understanding to BE – the being comes first.
Thought weaves stories but can never describe the real – oneness is too simple, and present, to need describing.
Consciousness does come and go but, even when unconscious, such as in deep sleep, there is a feeling of well being that one becomes aware of upon waking. This well being is, well – being.
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+9
In it’s “pristine” state, it’s said that being is aware but unaware of itself. What self, other than itself could it be aware of? Only with the arising of consciousness comes the apparent world of form and what we mistakenly call “duality” (which is really just the appearance of oneness).
“I AM” is the statement of consciousness and self-recognition but our true essence doesn’t have or need such words. Consciousness will set but the absolute will not.
I’m not an authority on this and these words are fully incapable of describing what is but it’s just what is happening at the moment.
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Clear pointing appears frequently on this site, from various apparently different ‘beings’. What is pointed at is the same non ‘thing’ which remains indescribable, no matter how elaborate the words may appear to be.
Periodically outrageous comments are made, sometimes for no apparent ‘reason’.
‘People’ get offended and some folks who BELIEVE that they are beyond being offended also get offended. Thus the exercise is accomplished. There is NO POINT in pretending to KNOW what you don’t actually know.
There is no shortage of pretenders. In fact just about everyone is pretending to be ‘someone’ that they are not.
Is that you?
“When I came back to Dublin, I was court-martialled in my absence, and sentenced in my absence, so I said they could shoot me in my absence” – Brendan Behan (IRA)
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+10
Ronna,
Everything IS clear and obvious. There is no ‘BECOMING clear and obvious’…
‘Becoming’ implies ‘here’ (where I am) and ‘there’ (where I want to be), and there is only ONE placeless place.
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+6
There is only a dream of separation. From the vast cosmos we appear as a speck, like the cell of a body. A cell is indescribable and appears and disappears within a mysterious, pure intelligence. Does it dream of its own significance or insignificance? Does it conceptualize itself as the whole? Separation is only a thought in consciousness, it is only a dream. Discard the dream of separateness and freedom from bondage is recognized.
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+6
When the seeing is clear of obstructions (beliefs) everything is clear and obvious. The words of most teachers and gurus contain the seeds of bondage of self and the evidence, the fruit of those seeds, can be found everywhere and especially in ‘schools for the advanced seeker‘. Great Oafs from little icons grow.
Hundreds and thousands are KEPT in bondage, while freedom from the bondage of self is a simple recognition – the recognition that there is no one in bondage. The ‘School’ perpetuates the story of me because the ‘school’ depends on its ‘students’ and on the fact that no seeker ever finds what it is looking for.
If the radical and clear message of ‘truth’ finds its way into the ‘school’ it is fiercely resisted and defiled as quickly as possible.
The words of a clear ‘teacher’ contains no implied bondage and in fact the concept of someone in bondage is dismissed quickly.
The belief is not supported. That is true compassion.
Those who are totally genuine find what they need. One could even say it is Lawful.
The Law of Reciprocal Vibration (or Morphic resonance), if you like those terms.
Watch the thumbs down…..ha.
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+13
Scarfox – Bob Adamson talks about ‘ordinary’ awareness. Why not give Interview with Bob Adamson 1 & 2 another listen.
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There is no reality in any appearance, AS appearance. That which appears did not come INTO being, does not contain it’s own individual being. The “Beingness” of any “thing” is it’s essence, what it really IS.
Dive into any “thing” – recall what was learned in “Science 101″ about the emptiness of the atom. Recognize that any “thing” is an appearance OF that underlying emptiness.
Then turn the lens of honesty around – dive into that body. The body is cells, molecules, atoms – the same emptiness.
There is only that emptiness, the intelligent essence which is expressing AS this and that. Yet taking the appearance AS absolute reality is to be spellbound by the appearance, by a CONCEPT of reality, a name and a form.
You have taken yourself to be a limited being, a “thing” which stands alone, therefore apart from the world. Your real being isn’t divided, isn’t separate, isn’t isolated or limited, for your real being is the essence itself.
That essence cannot be found anywhere, yet it can be found everywhere. What are you looking for?
You are that.
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+13
Now when you speak of appearances you mean words, correct? or words pointing to things. The words that point to the appearances are real as they are, this appearance called couch is in reality being yes? Theres always these terms that confuse the seeker, there really needs to be a non-duality dictionary
Presently I only know I am through these ‘appearances’ as they are the seeing/knowing, but when the appearance is separated with labels, as different objects to be identified with by another object (i’ve already created objects so ill stop here)..but you get the drift. Do you understand what i’m asking, not sure if i’m clear on it but this happens all the time- different words and same words being used differently.
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ONE-ness, what you really are, expresses Itself as ONE Appearance (likewise, the image in the mirror is ONE image). There’s no problem there.
Then words, like a template, divide this ONE Appearance into pieces/things. One of these pieces/things is ‘me’.
Without words there’s no division whatsoever.
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The mind appears to generate questions to none existent problems. For instance, who was I before I was born? what happens to “me” when I go to sleep? what happens after I die? Who cares! apparently the mind does. The mind comes and goes in that which Never comes and Never goes, some call it Awareness or Consciousness or Infinite Mind. Awareness is your true Identity and not the temporal fleeting mind/thought.
The reality is you was never born, so you cannot die. Only a belief is born and dies. The Unchanging Reality is Eternal and Infinite and is what You Are.
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+12
Yes, sometimes it sounds like you are all speaking French and I don’t speak French! The most important pointer is to sincerely and with some earnestness look past the pointer at what is being pointed to. It’s not about words, words are only the necessary instrument, it’s about actually seeing for yourself. Reality is wordless.
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+5
Scarfox, it seems that there’s an attempt to define being, to understand it through concepts which is impossible. Every “thing” is an appearance – thoughts, world, words, “me”, other, etc. None of these can seem to be without being/awareness. You must BE for anything to appear. Thought labels appearances as “things” but really it’s just the appearance of what is – whole and undivided. Thought WILL NEVER get it – it’s too easy.
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+9
There is actually no imperfection on this earth. There is actually no problem to be solved. There is actually nothing to be overcome or healed. There is actually no separate little ego with a mind of its own to be awakened, eliminated or put off.
It cannot be denied there seems to be much to contend with and correct. But to whom does it seem this way? Always to the one who thinks he is something of himself, to the one who thinks he has a mind of his own and that Awareness belongs to his personal mind, to the one who would make a servant of Awareness and have it report just what he wants to see and hear and feel. Then, that imprisoner of Awareness, called ‘mortal man’, is either happy or unhappy depending on how nearly ‘his’ Awareness shows ‘him’ what ‘he’ wants to see. All the while Awareness goes right on being aware. All the while Awareness goes right on just being what it is, consciousness being perfectly aware of existence. All the while Awareness constantly beholds the perfection of Existence and nothing else. The one in such great misery is that one to whom Awareness reports and who judges the reports of Awareness that come to ‘him’. The one who is elated or despondent, well supplied or in poverty, is the one who, judging the reports of ‘his senses’, either likes them or dislikes them. The one with the problem is always the one who considers himself a personality with a mind of his own that is aware—that is, who consciously or unconsciously believes himself to be the grand custodian and possessor of Awareness (Life).
Well, I have news for you. Awareness cannot be possessed. Awareness does not belong to a single man or woman. Awareness is not the servant of anybody or anything. Awareness ‘belongs’ to the Divine Mind, Infinite Consciousness, Reality, God, just as ‘yellow’ belongs to gold, just as the numerals belong to arithmetic. You are this very Awareness itself. You are not a mortal being who contains an awareness. You are the Divine Awareness, itself!
Can you imagine what this means? You no longer have any responsibility as a person to see this or experience that! You no longer have to judge anything that you see or hear as Awareness! You have no personal responsibility at all. You have but to be a faithful witness, a faithful Awareness, and not the enslaved Awareness of Bill or John or Mary. In fact, you are this already, without effort, because Awareness is God’s activity, God’s own knowledge of Itself, Reality’s Awareness of being what It is. All there is to Bill or Mary or John is the belief that they are something that can contain, possess, imprison, or make a servant and slave of God’s Awareness of being, of God’s knowledge of existing. Since the Awareness of Being is God’s activity, Awareness cannot be possessed, made a servant, or contained within a body, an object of perception. This eliminates the possibility that something exists that can contain Awareness, even in belief. Does this not put Bill and Mary and John in their proper perspective? They have no power, importance, nor authority of their own at all. GOD, REALITY, TRUTH is being exactly what they are. God’s Awareness of being God includes what is called Bill or Mary or John, just as it includes ‘beauty’ and ‘love’—just as gold includes yellow—just as arithmetic includes numbers.
Are you not aware of being right now? Of course you are. You are aware of these words. Is not this very Awareness all inclusive to you? Have you ever been outside it? Have you ever seen a sight that did not come to you as this very Awareness? Certainly not. Does not this Awareness include the mountains, the oceans, the microcosm and the macrocosm, the Pleiades and all the galaxies? This Awareness really is alone and all to you, is it not? Honesty, total honesty, will not allow you to answer otherwise. The Awareness that reads this book is infinite. It is alone. It is all. It is the Divine Awareness of Existence. It is God’s knowledge of Himself. It is God’s knowledge of being God. It does not belong to ‘another’. It is not contained nor possessed by ‘another’. It is not beholden to ‘another’ called Bill or Mary or John. This Awareness, this very Awareness, that is aware right here, right now, is God’s Awareness of being all that God is. The ‘responsibility’ is God’s. The ‘burden’ is God’s. This Awareness is free. Awareness has never really been bound to a body called Bill, Mary of John, nor judged by any of their judgments, nor limited by these limitations. Awareness says to those who are weary and heavy laden, “Leave the separate sense of self and return to me and I will give you rest.”
Awareness has just gone right on being aware. You, dear Reader, are AWARENESS. You are not a big tub of ego with a personal name that has had Awareness reporting to it!
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+23
Advaita means ‘Not-Two’. Or ‘One-without-a-Second’. Or ‘There is no separation anywhere’.
That says it ALL.
It summarizes what so beutifully and eloquently explains Sandy.
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-4
How do you now he didn’t get it?
I like Charlie Hayes’ videos but they really don’t resonate with me, not at all, maybe you’re right.
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0
Awareness is about realizing you have never been separate from what you already are. Not having to constantly ponder the question, well who am I? (Although it’s a good question). Who I am is awareness itself. Always present, clear and obvious. All I know is I am eternally grateful to you all for your wonderful insights (pointers), inspite of what was said about the French thing. It is all pointing to what is here and now. I am off the hook because what I am has never been on the hook.:) How would any of that be known without clear pointing. I say again, look past the pointing to what is being pointed to. Freedom is here and now.
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+6
Seeing-Knowing IS.
Being IS Seeing-Knowing.
Then ‘you’ are liberated. Only thought says ‘Not yet’ or ‘I don’t understand’…
But these thoughts (and every thought) are been-seen-known.
‘You’=Being-Seeing-Knowing.
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+3
What’s wrong with right now. . . even if you DO think about it?
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+3
Don’t worry Fernando – the seeker does not want anything too direct.
It leaves nothing for the ‘me’ to hang onto.
The seeker desperately wants to be led into the depths of ‘heaven’ carrying all its garbage intact.
St.Peter is the ultimate bullshit meter. No one gets in – no one at all. So long as you believe that you are a person then that bullshit story weighs the psyche down.
This pure awareness is lighter than a feather.
More subtle than any ‘thing’.
There are no contenders for this ‘knowledge’. That is obvious.
If we added some promise of a future time when that ‘me’ would really ‘get what it seeks’ this site would be jam packed to visitors.
Ironically it is not for the few – yet it appears that only a few truly want to go beyond the bondage of self.
Let it be.
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+4
“to transcend the body-mind and establish in your beingness, is for the kindergarten spiritual seeker, the lowest level. But now I am talking to a sadhaka who is getting established in beingness; that
first lesson is over now.”
-Nisargadatta
Straight from the horses mouth, does this contradict everything said here?
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+2
The sense of beingness or I amness is still part of the manifestation. It is still an experience, albeit a subtle one. What you truly are never manifests and can be referred to as Being or Awareness. In fact that is all there is , is Being or Awareness.
Awareness or Being cannot be experienced because it is the context or substratum for all content (experience or manifestation).
Content is Never separate from Context, but the Context remains unblemished, pure and unchanged regardless of the presence of manifestation or its absence.
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+6
Everything that is said can be either correct or incorrect – it can never be TRUE.
True understanding is wordless and silent.
This can never be expressed – only pointed to.
You have no idea how language was formed or why. All you have are theories and definitions and with those you bind yourself into such a confounded knot. You believe that by thought you will free yourself.
Where the actuality is, that it is thought that has bound you into a realm of mere beliefs. And Belief is NOT the actual. Whether your ‘situation is conceived of as being gross or very subtle, it makes little difference. What is it that recognizes difference and what is compared to what?
What needs to be recognized is that everything is being referred to the ‘me of memory’ and everything is being judged from that ‘translation’ through words.
Be silent.
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+8
Gilbert I wonder is it true that only a few want to go beyond the bondage of self? I can’t remember wanting to delve into all this. Then suddenly I look around my room and I have 100 books on Advaita. Perhaps it replaced working hard. Perhaps it was a way out… perhaps I imagined something admirable about seeking. Who knows.. But each new book represented a little bit of hope. This is the book that will do it… And it becomes exhausting. U learn a few nice sentences along the way… Like ‘hope is the absolute rejection of what is’ or ‘the beloved hides itself by being everything’ or whatever. Some new words essentially.
I have all the answers to all the questions.. But they mean nothing.. they are learned answers. There is no grain of truth here. Only what comes out next. I am not honest. I am not dis-honest. Though when u hear that ‘the ordinary is extraordinary’ u can’t but seek to look for that.. do I wish I never heard about this? Nope. Do I wish now I could forget about it all and ‘get busy living’. Well yes I do…..
I suppose how can we want what we can never understand? Yet how can I not yearn about this mystery. Why do I persist in thinking that some have it and I Don’t. Who in hell knows? the ‘but’ keeps coming that they know that this is it… And yet were those words to come out of my mouth, they would be repeating something I have heard. The freshness of every instant is not felt here. Just another concept I have learned…..
Anyway, I can see this is a NO Bullshit sort of site.. I swore to myself I would just look on at this site and not get involved. Ha… Freewill eh..
I will not take the thumbs down badly as long as they don’t go into double digits
Frankly mr shankly
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+19
Frankly you are most welcome.
The only ‘problem’ is that I take the translations of the mind to be reality and they are not reality. At best they are approximations and at worst they are completely entangling contortions of the mind.
To ponder one’s existence with an open mind is a fleeting and uncomfortable thing, so it seems. However that uncomfortable-ness is pointing directly at the fictional character.
‘We’ resist the very thing that we should explore. The ‘me’.
How could what I truly am be harmful to what I am?
Everyone has an ‘inkling’ at the very least – an inkling of what is clearly true about ‘myself’. But the mind cannot put a totally satisfying ‘label’ on it. It is elusive.
How can what I truly am be elusive to myself?
The ‘reason’ it is so elusive is that what I truly am is not to be found IN thoughts. Thoughts APPEAR in what I truly am and they are all transitory and I am not transitory at all. I am here and this wakefulness cannot be denied. I may not be able to define it but I can certainly not ‘turn it off’.
What is being pointed to is very much like ‘space’. We see it but we don’t see it. It is ‘nothing’ to the mind.
You have never seen yourself. What you are is seeing and knowing.
Duality is due to the ‘split’ which is only the way in which the so-called mind ‘operates’.
If you have been following what is being offered here on this website it may appear that the ‘pointing’ is getting clearer and clearer.
One may feel as if there is the finest of membranes separating one from ‘realizing’ what is being pointed to.
However, what is truly being pointed to is nothing other than what you ARE.
What seemingly keeps one from the natural realization (which is already happening) is a bunch of concepts that are believed in.
They are only believed in because they have not be investigated cleanly.
SEEING is not perceiving (in my terminology).
Everything is actually clear and obvious.
But we take the mind’s translations to be ‘reality’ and they are not.
To KNOW what is real one must BE what is real.
The ‘person’ is not real. It is a description of ‘sensations’ (body). The ‘story of me’ is mind.
What you truly ARE is not the body nor the mind.
So, if you accept that this is true, then what are you?
With a genuine interest, one can contemplate what I am by dropping all memories and descriptions of ‘me’. Be totally OPEN to what presents itself.
The miracle of existence is ever fresh and it is un-mediated.
You are looking OUT OF the simplicity of being – but there is no ‘you’ there.
This clear and obvious view is not comfortable for the ‘me’ and it will avoid the view at all costs.
When you die to the ‘me’ the ever fresh view is unencumbered.
‘YOU’ can’t fabricate this view and there is no need to – BECAUSE it is ALREADY present as this pure function of cognition.
I call it seeing-knowing. You are nothing but THAT.
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+12
What is the difference between perceiving and seeing/knowing, is it because the knowing knows perceiving? But that is just an never ending loop, what is the point of differentiating the two (and then not explaining why you said that). Bewildering.
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+1
Frankly Scarfox, it is you who is doing the degree in Psychology, isn’t it? I did not finish High School. You want me to explain to you the difference between seeing and perceiving?
If you sit quietly and let the habit of labeling everything drop away.
Let’s assume that you are in a room. Everything is clearly registering in the room. Everything is appearing just as it is.
There is a table and a chair in front of you. Without the labels ‘table’ and ‘chair’ is there any perception of table or chair?
Contemplate language for a moment. Do you have any evidence of how this language came into being?
If language USER you, then there is ‘bondage’.
What I am pointing at does not require a Uni-Degree to recognize.
However, I would venture to say that those who understand what I am ‘getting at’ are very few. It ‘seems’ that everyone is caught up in words. They argue and chisel their definitions – they protect the concept of ‘my knowledge’ and all their ‘self-knowledge’ is nothing but bondage. It is absurd.
I repeat a recent quote…..”Why are you so unhappy? Isn’t it because……”(etc.)
If you don’t know the quote…….google it.
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+2
Well i’m not arguing, clearly I’m trying to see what is being pointed to, and if you are making a differentiation between two things then you know the rest. If I wanted to argue I would have said some bullshit like if you are talking about the English language then seeing is just to see with eyesight.
Anyway now that I know what you meant it will be easier to stop asking questions since your differentiation and then explanation are silly, if you used the word perception we already know you are aren’t talking about labeling-perceiving, actually I don’t think anyone defines it like that.
All I know is that my parents taught me language initially and that we are genetically programmed for it according to Noam Chomsky.
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0
And lol that you said ‘frankly’, which was used earlier when referring to the user frankly. Thats cute how it gets primed in the brain and then used.
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0
Frankly, it’s been said 1000 times – “The answer won’t be found in thought.” Do thoughts change being? Are YOU a thought? When thoughts disappear, do YOU disappear? No. This is all that is being pointed to – being isn’t a concept. YOU ARE RIGHT NOW. This is not a hope for a future state of perfection but realizing what is, and always has been, present.
Words/images are good for communication and invention but useless in describing what we are but we mistake these conceptual constructs for our identity. You won’t find yourself in a book, you are what is looking. You aren’t the seeker, you are that by which the appearance of a seeker is known. The seeker is basically a thought that says “I haven’t got IT and I need IT. I am lacking something. I am separate. I am small and limited.” Who KNOWS this thought? Is that which is registering these words an idea?
There is nothing to overcome, no enemy. All that appears in nothing other than awareness made manifest. No one is higher or lower in terms of being, it is the common ground of all. There is no one who is is more more less aquainted with it, WE ARE IT. Lastly, there is not a “we”, there is only that. All divisions are conceptual.
Words really can’t do this. As Bob Adamson always says, can you honestly say “I am not?” No. YOU ARE I AM.
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+4
Here is something that was incredibly helpful to me. In an exchange with Leo Hartong a few months back, he wrote: “There seems to be an ongoing idea that everything should change…that This As It Is is not sufficient…The paradox is that if such feelings are present IT still Is As It Is….and THIS is all there is.”
NOW is not an obstacle to overcome. Bypassing What Is, trying to arrive at some resolution, be it an attempt to destroy the ego, to understand awareness, or to relinquish thoughts by adding to others’ stories and making them your own, is all innocent, but fruitless. Picturing, imagining, believing and longing for anything outside of What Is NOW and HERE, does violence to where you are. And it strengthens the inner voice that tells you you should be other that what you are, reinforcing the apparent disconnection from yourself. The concept of an expansive identity is pretty, but dead. Enter the Now with your attention!
As long as you seek outside yourself, you will continue to ask for water and receive bread. Others have nothing you need. Quench your own thirst, only you can do it, and the crystal clear water flows abundantly in the HERE and NOW.
There are no mistakes and no secrets. There is nothing wrong with you, with the body, with thoughts, with feelings or with emotions. Whatever is unfolding now, just as it unfolds is What IS as It IS, and THIS is all there is! It is as simple as being present with your experience, just as it is. Give up any hopes or goals to transcend your condition or to be anything other than what you are. Be in the present moment and don’t know. Just be… naked, now and here. That is all.
The (I) AM is one with the NOW.
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+25
Maybe it can be compared to searching the world for a treasure that is all the while buried in your backyard. The searching is not harmful just unnecessary.
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+3
Hey Gilbert your new website looks spiffy.
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+4
What about people who want to kill themselves, what is the nondual prespective on this. Is this something wrong, or unadvisable? Or maybe just the opposite, “no one” (teacher) may advises such a sufferer from deep depression to commit suicide. Sometimes apparent suffering seems to overwhelm one and the only way out seems to be death. What in such a situation? I heard about (probably from one of NeverNotHere interviews) that one of self-realised teachers told someone to kill himself…. beacause he doesn’t exist anyway, isn’t it cruel, or maybe maybe it doesn’t matters.
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0
“Events happen, deeds are done – there is NO individual doer there of”
Buddha.
There is ONLY LIFE.
It is only the ‘me sense’ that was born.
You can die to that ‘me sense’ right now.
Without the particular instrument of cognition (body-mind) LIFE does not cease.
At a funeral we hear it said all so often: “Life goes on”.
The ‘we’ forget and drop back into the drama of the surface of the mind.
The essence remains untouched. It is ONE without a second.
You are THAT.
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+4
ALL there is… is Consciousness.
A sensation?… Consciousness. A perception?… Consciousness. A feeling?… Consciousness. An emotion?… Consciousness. A ‘me sense’?… Consciousness. A ‘not-me sense’?… Consciousness. The ‘others’?… Consciousness. The thought ‘I get it’?… Consciousness. The thought ‘I don’t get it’?… Consciousness.
They are ALL modulations of Consciousness, waves in the ocean of Consciousness. There is ABSOLUTELY nothing separate from (or other than) Consciousness.
WHO is in bondage???
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Ekhmm: Who has control over life and death? Who dies? Absolutely no one. Right or wrong, good or bad are interpretations of the mind, and people could go on discussing whether it is good or bad to kill oneself ad infinitud and never ever come to an agreement. And really, who cares? What is pointed to here is to see for one self that the separate ‘me’ that you believe to be real is a thought and nothing but imagination. You don’t stop being when you are not thinking. Is that so difficult?
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-5
Actually I think wanting to kill yourself is a fairly serious psychological issue. Maybe if you’re terminally ill or something and suffering a lot, but otherwise I’d say it’s not recommended. It is rather glib to say who cares or so what. The caveat on this site is to seek professional help, at least to advert any immediate crisis. Unfortunately (or fortunately) it is only a ‘me’ that suffers, but when you’re in a deep, dark place it’s not much solace. Generally I’d say it’s not a solution…seek help!
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+3
Right so, ‘who cares?’ is the most political incorrect question that one can make, especially after hearing a very dramatic story. It is a smack in the face of the imaginary person, a question that leaves ‘you’ baffled and without an answer, and, at best, makes you laugh out loud.
Likewise one could ask: If you want to kill yourself, why don’t you kill yourself ? Who decides such a thing?
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-6
What in the world would make you laugh out loud about it? It has nothing to do with political correctness. What if it was your mother or brother or child, wouldn’t be so funny really.
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+3
Interesting responses, I don’t wanna kill myself, it was hypothetical question.
BTW…. In my so called searching I’ve arrived to the wall and i don’t see any direction to go, maybe it’s good but the feeling of being separate is still running, of course i can say there is no separate entity but it would be simply deceiving myself. I feel like I should do something but i know the doing itself is running in the awareness. It’s quite intellectual. So what, have to wait until a circle of thoughts will die for itself or do self inquiry. Once i was doing self inquiry for a while there was a experience of emptiness, but now it’s only past memory.
In this whole non-duality it seems to me that there is no way out of myself, each movement i do is running in the falsehood. I struggle myself in all directions and all that is useless but i do it anyway.
Any idea?
I know mr. Gilbert you don’t like seekers
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It was not addressed to you. What you expressed may be what someone feels, somewhere. You opened the can of worms and I have dealt with it. Pandora’s box is full of crap.
The DOING is NOT running the awareness. Awareness IS. All apparent ‘doing’ APPEARS in awareness and is awareness, as the expression, the appearance. Everything IS awareness – it is not what it appears to be.
How these things are not recognized instantly is remarkable. How in hell can anyone MISS what is being pointed out?
AND you do not know whether I like seekers or not. You presume too much.
“Only when you know what you are, will you know what I am”. – that is a quote from my own writings, which it was interesting to see on another site, written by one of our pretentious gurus. They must come here looking for new material, I guess.
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There is nothing quite as baffling as death. Life only knows life. What is so threatening is the imagination of ‘Not Being’.
You have never known ‘not being’.
When Nisargadatta says “You are not the body nor the mind” it is not some spiritual, high flying philosophical sprouting of knowledge. It is one very direct pointer.
The ‘me’ is resistance to ‘what is’.
When the me gets cornered in its own corner, surrounded by its own suffering, the desire to escape is intense.
One way or another suffering does cease. You do not have to wait until you are laying on your deathbed to realize that the me is a fiction.
Rational advice is not what the suffering me wants.
If by chance, someone reading this site, feels desperate about taking their life, we advise you to seek professional help. Every major community has an organized facility to assist those in trouble. The staff are usually well equipt to help and they understand very well what is necessary, in the short term.
This site is not about psychology and we do not treat ‘people’ or provide any help, as such.
All that is offered is a suggestion to investigate WHO it is all happening to.
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+6
Ekhmm – what you might eventually realize by listening to these clear non duality pointers is that there’s nothing wrong with you and there never has been. You will never find the answer in the mind – really hear that. Mind is thought. You are not a thought. What you are is indescribable and wonderful. Don’t be discouraged, just know that.
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+3
“How can I find what I am?”
“I am seeking”
“I want to know that I am awareness”
“How does the pink elephant on the moon breathe with no oxygen?”
All these questions ask about an entity that does not exist. Why ask the question about how “I” can find, when there is no “I”? Why continue to posit a question about an entity that doesn’t exist?
We go on and on about “I am seeking and I have an intellectual understanding and I had it and lost it and blah blah blah blah….”
WHO is this “I”? First find it, then ask what it needs to do.
That “I” is like a platform – standing on that platform many questions can come – about how to do this, what about that… but it is the platform of “I” which needs to be questioned, doubted. But that’s too personal. We want to seek answers to spiritual questions while remaining comfortable upon our little fake platform of “I”.
Take a jackhammer to that platform. Watch that “I”-thought as it comes and goes, then notice that you are there, fully present, still and aware, to notice that “I”.
Which self are you, the “I”-thought that parades, or the self which knows that “I”-thought?
As long as that “I” remains unquestioned, the spiritual search is nothing but intellectual masturbation.
Now the next question will come – how do I watch the “I” thought……
You are there, present and aware. Right now. Your true Self. It isn’t hidden. It is obvious. Intimate. It is always shining.
There is one essence, one reality. THIS is it. That essence expresses by manifesting as this and that, yet it never BECOMES anything but what it is. The so-called “body-mind” is an expression of that essence, of that totality.
The idea “I” is merely an assumption – you are that essence only you have bound yourself with the idea that you are a limited thing. In believing in the idea of “things”, you have limited yourself to just one small, limited “thing” among things.
There is only “one thing” – you are that. The only “spiritual task” is to rid yourself of the idea that you are presently bound. Yet you don’t gain anything at all – you only remain as you are – the totality itself.
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+8
You are the totality – the essence – the singular reality – there is only THAT. THAT expresses in infinite ways yet what APPEARS TO BE is never anything but that essence.
Yet taking your Self to be a limited thing, you have automatically projected a divided reality, into a universe of “things” – there must be all that is NOT YOU. That idea is the very definition of limitation. It is that idea itself which is the bondage.
Therefore you overlook your presence as the whole, project yourself as a limited being, then seek to find the whole through various practices, reading books, analyzing pointers, etc.
The bondage or limitation is only an idea you, the essence, have placed upon yourself. So as that essence, review this idea, notice that it’s only conceptual, it’s only an assumption. Belief in that assumption is the only bondage.
You are not a person – the concept of person or individual IS the only bondage there is. And it’s not really bondage anyway, because you’re only doing it to yourself.
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+3
All of this is well and good, but I also feel that there’s a huge omission from most of this talk, which is the discussion of what happens after awakening. It is my feeling that in 99% of cases, recognition of one’s true nature is merely the beginning of the process. In rare cases – Ramana and Maharaj for example – understanding brings with it complete ego death, complete immersion in source. In all the rest, however, insight does not bring about these things, and there’s more work to be done. A lot of conditioning remains and continues to play itself out – albeit for no one. A lot of so-called teachers on this site are basically holding themselves up as Buddhas, when it’s palpably clear they are anything but. The insight into one’s true nature is the beginning – a candle to be held up in the darkness when the reactive patterns continue to appear. This is why Zen monks would traditionally have to wait at least a decade in the monastery after awakening. It is NOT as simple as one insight bringing about the end of the automatism of a lifetime’s functioning. Internally, there may be no further association with the personality, but the fact remains that conditioning is continuing. A true Buddha has reached the end of even this, has gone beyond all conditioning to become a living manifestation of the infinite. Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Svaha: Go, go, go beyond, go beyond the highest, beyond the highest reality, beyond self-realization, go beyond that too.
That is why there are hundreds of so called enlightened teachers out there, and only a mere handful of truly realized human beings. Like everything in the 21st century, we want to make this instant, easily accessible, a Mc enlightenment happy meal that can be got by anyone. But we forget the wisdom of the ancient methodologies of yoga, ethics, renunciation, diet which are not just the East doing things the hard way, but sound preparation, necessary homework.
I don’t mean any criticism of this site by this – it’s a wonderful resource, the best thing on the web. I’m just saying let’s get this in perspective. The insight is important – but it’s the beginning.
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+4
The mind is TIME.
There is NO process in the natural Wakefulness that is present Right Now.
Have a look. When can you look?
Now.
Is there another time when you can look? NO.
The SEEING is NOW and it is always NOW.
You cannot see yesterday or tomorrow.
Seeing and knowing is NOT post concept of ME.
The me sense APPEARS in the seeing-knowing.
There is NO duration in this pure cognition.
All these concepts about “the pointing is not enough” or that “it is only the beginning” are nothing but concepts implying a future time. There is nothing wrong with right now except in imagination. If that is unbearable to look at, then you have come to the wrong place.
‘We’ postulate all kinds of ‘problems’, about how I am not ‘there’ yet and it is the very concept itself that clouds the clear and present evidence – the evidence that what you truly are is NOT encumbered by anything at all. What does it take to get through those vague beliefs?
A SHOCK can cut through it all – but one cannot administer a shock to oneself.
Life often provides shocks and sometimes one re-evaluates ‘what my life means’.
The problem, or one of the problems is that we have HEARD about something ‘Higher’ and we believe it, without any REAL proof. It is all projections of mind.
‘We’ have heard about some ecstatic ‘state’ and ‘we’ associate with that concept whatever experience from memory or imagination we may have ‘had’. So even in that ‘we’ pile a load of memories and imagination upon this clear and present seeing-knowing and ‘we’ feel limited.
How can any of these limited concept of methods and practices EVER free the mind from belief?
They can’t. It is ignorance – it is the ignoring of ‘what is’ – this Clarity that is ever-present.
It is NOT personal. It is Cosmic.
You are the Ultimate Being and through belief in second hand concepts you limit yourself and then you complain.
‘Seekers’ idolize this concept of ‘Awakening’ and ignore the natural wakefulness that is already clearly present. Decades pass and nothing satisfies. Swinging back and forth between Hope and Despair is wearisome and tedious.
‘When’ will you stop the mind and simply SEE that all your problems are merely concepts about another TIME.
In the IMMEDIACY of this ‘moment’ there is NO time at all. That is pure SEEING.
You have been told.
Still you wander off into the realms of the mind and time searching for your own true nature.
Do yourself a favor and observe a cat as it ‘goes about its day’.
It is not searching for its ‘self’ – it IS this One Essence expressing itself as a cat.
You imagine so much that is not real and you ignore the miracle of your own existence.
If you cannot take the direct pointing, then move on, on your imaginary journey to fulfillment.
What you truly are has never been bound by any concept or word.
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+6
Hi All – it’s kinda of funny.. To me it appears like we are all in the same room…I am looking around the room and u all are saying it is this room.. This is the right room.. You don’t need to look any further…. Here look..And you know for certain that it is the right room..And you can’t possibly figure out how I can’t see this is the right room..and in actual fact you don’t really care whether I know that it is the right room because as far as you are concerned it doesn’t make one tiny bit of difference whether i do or i don’t..It is just that i am annoying..I keep going on and on…It is so glaringly obvious that this is the right room to point that you think that I am nearly being stubborn to not want to accept that this is the right room..”How many times do we have to tell you that this is the right room”.. “You are obviously just pretending, or you just like imagining there is a different room”…And for moments it is seen that it is the right room..and actually i am nowhere to be found in this room or am “no one thing” in this room ..and there is a little satisfaction for that..And when that is gone there is a longing for that sensation again..and then you say “Oh for the love and honour of sweet divine Jayzussss stop going on about your little glimpses that this is the right room.. It is the right room..even when you feel that it’s not..it is..because there is only this room..And anyways you are not even you..there is nothing here in this room that you are not..So how could you not be in the right place”..And i dance away with those words for a moment and my heart sings a little and then I dance back in again (u hearing the jig)
with a comment under my breadth along the lines of..”well it doesn’t feel like it, Randall”…..at which point you say..”Yeh and you would know what it is supposed to feel like…Right I quit..talk to someone else..you obviously don’t want to listen to whats been pointed to”..so we stop talking about it for a while…We talk about the weather outside for a bit..and u ask me am I going to go and see Invictus with Morgan Freeman and I say i downloaded it illegally..and you ask me could I burn you a copy..and I say yes
I like the bluntness in how you all talk..And mostly what you all see does make music somewhere within…So thank you for all that is written.. and the fine cafe you’ve have here..It is quite unqiue.. In fact totally..
Frank
Frankly Mr Shankly..
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+5
Frank,
What does it feel like? What can it feel like? Break it down to it’s most basic information – it “feels like” sensations and perceptions, which are really subtle sensations. Raw data. Before the mental translations about it all, it’s purely raw data. At this point you don’t know what the hell it is. Then the mind comes in and supplies all the knowledge, labels – from memory. Yes?
You can substitute that subsequent information about the raw data with anything. That is where beliefs reside – in the mind. So you “believe” you know what that raw data is. You may feel a headache, and I can tell you it’s a chicken sandwich. If you believe that, you’ve only replaced one belief with another.
So the task is not to try to replace the information about the raw data or sensations, not to go with those existing beliefs and then try to figure out why that chicken sandwich is in your head, but to question the appearance of the raw data or sensation itself.
If something appears, what is it made of? What is it’s essence?
We know from science class that the building blocks of “matter” are atoms. Is there anything in the universe that isn’t a bundle of atoms?
And what is an atom? It’s basically empty space – behaving in a way as to APPEAR as this or that, as solid or liquid or gas. So the subsequent appearance is only the result of the behavior of that empty space.
If you put on a quantum lens, you wouldn’t see “objects” – you wouldn’t see FORM. You would see emptiness. And if you turned that lens around upon that body, you would also see the same emptiness, forming itself AS body. Yes?
So the APPEARANCE isn’t reality, AS appearance. In other words, if I see an apple, I’m only REALLY seeing that emptiness, expressing as what I call “apple”. Yes?
That body-mind is that same emptiness, expressing as what we call a walking, talking, thinking human being. And the thoughts weave the story of an individual, which is only apparent if that resultant appearance is taken to be a separately existing “thing” and overlooking that the essence itself is empty.
That essence is knowing it’s own expression – including thought. And the story told in thought is believed in. The information about the expression is believed in.
The “frank” is a product of that story. What you actually are is that essence itself. But “frank” is difficult to fall away – because there is so much hanging upon it. A lifetime of attachments.
And it really doesn’t make any difference if that is realized or not, because you never BECAME “Frank”. You are never anything but that essence, the one “substance”, that singular “happening”.
So we might say – there is only one essence – you are that essence. That essence is expressing or manifesting as the universe – you, that essence, have taken yourself to be one small piece of that total expression, forgetting that you are the whole. You have done this by believing in the absolute reality of appearance, forgetting that any appearance is only your own Self.
You are presently enjoying your own expression, through one perspective. Enjoy that expression while it lasts. When it ends, you do not end with it.
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+7
It is obvious that many pay such slim attention to what is being pointed out. Going over the same ground pointing at the basics of it all is repeated a thousand times and still ‘stupid statements’ are made or ridiculous questions are posed. Every care has been applied to provide a thousand pointers without asking anyone to believe in anything.
Just look for yourself and see if it is true or not. How anyone could possibly miss what is being pointed out is just amazing.
Of course many have been filled up with so many erroneous concepts by gurus and teachers who just keep their followers trapped on a path to some vague future time of deliverance or whatever.
Seekers are held to ransom by teachers of erroneous information. They may APPEAR to be very genuine – however their teaching is a trap which is cunning and devious.
These teachers cannot be named because it would cause such a ‘stink’ you would smell it right around the globe. Seekers, in the main, are so gullible. They are easy pickings for someone who is one step ahead of them.
They go on and on about ‘waking up’ and it is all obviously nothing but a dream.
Do I hear an alarm bell ring?
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+4
«But in the process of symbolizing the universe in this way or that for this purpose or that we seem to have lost the actual joy and meaning of life itself. All the various definitions of the universe have had ulterior motives, being concerned with the future rather than the present. Religion wants to assure the future beyond death, and science wants to assure it until death, and to postpone death. But tomorrow and plans for tomorrow can have no significance at all unless you are in full contact with the reality of the present, since it is in the present and ONLY in the present that you live. There is no other reality than present reality, so that, even if one were to live for endless ages, to live for the future would be to miss the point everlastingly.» (Alan Watts, The Wisdom Of Insecurity)
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+3
If you do not know how this language came about ( in yourself ) or what ‘your’ next thought is going to be, then what good are all the philosophical view points? Waves thrash about in stormy weather and waves crash on the shores of a million beaches (constantly) – what good are they to the Ocean? What is the meaning of the sound of these billions of waves? What is the meaning of your own speech, if you do not know from where this language springs forth? No past, no future, no present. There is no time other than NOW.
Science offers ‘progress’ and domination over ‘nature’ and at best some sort of understanding of nature. Religion offers some clear pointing, usually in the first chapter of their text. Then misunderstanding takes over. What both have in common is that the essential truth that both science and religion can offer is actually the same ‘truth’ but it remains inexpressible.
Two apparently separate individuals may have the same clear understanding and yet the limits of (specialized) language prevents a resolution from taking place.
Who is thinking those thoughts? Who is responding to what?
Who are you really? What are you truly?
Where could any answer come from?
The natural conviction of knowing what I am does not come from the mind or memory.
The conviction is the knowing – which is immediate and NOT ‘post thought’.
Thought is just a translation which spontaneously appears.
You cannot get behind the awareness of thought.
Many believe that ‘awareness of’ is awareness – but that ‘awareness of’ is just a mind translation.
There is no one there, that is aware of thought.
Confounded confustications. Who said that?
(Smiling)
P.S. This site should win a prize surely. Where else can you find anything that offers such stimulation on a subject that is very often a total bore?
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+4
Out of nothing come sounds, sounds are heard, sounds are registred, sounds are picked up by the mind and translated into meaning this or that, evaluated, compared, measured, analysed understood or not understood, reacted to or not – all in relation to a supposed reference point – it is one movement, one action – happening spontaneously, for no reason at all. In reality, nothing has happened, nothing happens. In reality there isn’t even such a thing as mind. Without words there are no things, no ‘here’ no ‘there’, no ‘me’ no ‘you’, no time no stories, no problems – yet you ARE. Hearing-seeing-knowing is going on – always already.
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-2
piersede – “awakening is merely the beginning of the process?” What is the process? Who is the authority of this process? What are the clues and signs the process is complete and why not today? How do you let go of the process once it is no longer needed? To give up the process you would need to completely abandon feelings of specialness. Completely abandon the idea of higher or lower. Completely abandon the belief in an I that will be awakened. There’s no way round it. The me in your story of becoming is a fabrication. Realize that and no more process.
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-1
Do yourself a HUGH FAVOR & read only Randall’s & Gilbert’s post & visit only their websites. I felt as if my conditioning was so intrenched that it would take a long time before understanding would come. Visiting other websites & listening to so called teachers only left me confused. I zeroed in on Gilbert & Randall (I’m not saying they are the only ones who point clearly) and the confusion lifted.
They NEVER WAVER from clear, precise pointing.
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+5
Great comment Jackson and reflects ‘my’ experience as well!! I also appreciate comments made by Suki.
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-2
thank u randall.
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+3
Thanks G …you have me fairly well figured out.Please don’t stop pointing
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+4
Cheryl, the process – I believe – is to be free of one’s conditioning completely, rather than resting on the laurels of supposed ‘non-doership’ and acting in basically the same way. Philip Renard wrote a nice essay on this called ‘The Hot Potato’, in which he discusses the reluctance in the non duality community of talking about this subject. Liberation, as he puts it, is to remove entirely all karmic traces, including the ‘vasanas’ or unconscious inclinations. He has the honesty to conclude that neither he, nor anyone he knows, can truly claim this to be true, not even his teacher Alexander Smit. He even chooses to use the word ‘stabilisation’ rather than enlightenment, for one who has seen their true nature. After what he calls stabilisation, there is obviously no more seeking because it is clearly seen that one exists of nothing else than what is being sought. But this is not the end of the road. Ramana, it is true, said that there were no stages in mukti. But he also said that liberation is the state in which the presence and the absence of the body is no longer noticed. Like Philip Renard, I think this is a subject that needs further discussion in the community. So-called enlightened teachers seem to think that merely the ‘seeing’ makes them unaccountable for their behaviour. A mere glance at the history of this tradition suggests that’s putting the cart before the horse.
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+1
You have missed what is being pointed out. There is no individual to be accountable or unaccountable. And ‘seeing’ contains everything and nothing that is ‘appearing’, whether it be seen or heard, tasted or touched can EVER alter the seeing.
Everything IS the seeing. It is ALL SEEING – ALL KNOWING.
What we are talking about is Non Duality.
Who cares what Ramana said or didn’t say?
He rarely spoke apparently.
Who cares what anybody says?
The point is that the appearance called ‘an individual’ cannot do anything at all. It cannot see, hear or do anything. it is a concept and all your postulations about the ‘conditions out there’, past or present are just projections of the mind.
What is being pointed to is non-conceptual – it is no thing to the mind.
Everything is contained in this all inclusive ‘presence awareness’.
Not Two.
Nothing can bring about the recognition – yet it appears that something can. In the INSTANT that the recognition ‘happens’ the ‘past, present, future’ realms of the mind fall away.
That may leave you speechless, simply because there is nothing that can be said to explain ‘that’ and yet speaking does return and ‘pointing at THAT’ continues. And it appears that ‘others’ SEE through the conceptual trap of believing in being an individual.
Yet ultimately that is also an appearance.
Laughing is an appropriate response – for no one.
Hence, few are laughing, or so it seems.
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+5
What makes you the ultimate judging authority (of that)? Also just because the people on this site don’t talk about the amazing bliss and void, doesn’t mean they cant enter it so to speak. They just choose to cut through to the straight pointing.
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0
Of course nothing makes me the ultimate judge – it’s just a humble opinion. I’m merely raising a point that I think is worth discussing. After the insight, I think it’s clear that there’s a period when conditioned habits begin to fall away, now that they’re no longer fed by resistance in the mind. This might be called a seasoning period, or a process of maturation. I don’t see why this is such a big taboo to discuss – or could it be that those who feel they’re answered the final question don’t like it pointed out that there’s work to be done still. That work is to watch any contraction, any reactivity, to burn up all karmic traces. The Zen Ox-herding tales are a wonderful illustration of this process – sitting astride the bull is not the final goal. In fact, it is strongly pointed out in the Zen tradition that overcoming a sense of pride at this achievement is a strong hurdle for those at the initial stages of understanding.
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+3
Yes the traces of ‘ego’ can inflate again. However, if it is seen that it is all concepts and that there is actually no ego, how can it inflate?
Symbolic stories have their place as ‘pointers’. That is their value, even though they may also entertain the mind. Most Fairly Tales have a symbolic meaning far beyond the surface meanings – and that is why they survive for centuries and are retold over and over.
Where is the Bull? There is no one sitting on the Bull. There is No Bull. Seekers imagine they are sitting on a camel approaching an wonderful Oasis. The ACTUALITY is plainly obvious right here, right now. AND that there is no one here or anywhere. However distasteful that may appear to be – it is total liberation but only in the realization of it – which is wordess and silent. it is this Singular Instant which NEVER slips away into time, past or future and the label ‘the present’ has no meaning in the face of the actuality of this Singular Instant of Knowing.
The word liberation implies an absence of bondage, so it is a dualistic word. Awakening is also a meaningless word that appears in this ever present Wakefulness. Who is asleep and who is awake? Who woke up and who fell asleep? It is all stories and Nothing more.
Damn Hell, isn’t anyone paying attention? (smiling)
When the mind cannot find any words to describe this ordinary simplicity of being, without searching for some other answer, then a clear understanding may well eliminate all beliefs in whatever habitual beliefs that the mind presents.
There is NO path that leads to this presence, NO Zen path and there is no projected or actual duration in which to even take one step away from this actuality, right now. All arguments on this point fail miserably – but for the ‘stubborn me’ such pointing is just not acceptable. “After all, I have been progressing and I have come a long way …and I am almost there…etc.”
All apparent individuals appear in this actuality – whether they be Masters of Zen or Beggars in the back streets of a slum.
Everything is THAT. Every thought, state or concept is only an appearance – transient and fleeting. Isn’t that so very obvious?
It is all equal.
Equanimity is not something that anyone can cultivate.
It IS.
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+8
Just listened to this one again it is awesome!! So clear, so direct
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0