Urban Guru Cafe
Discovering what you truly are
78. Rick Linchitz-Consciousness is all there is-and you are that.
Posted on 04.12.10 9:00PM under Rick Linchitz
Rick is a doctor in the USA. Around about 10 years ago he discovered unexpectedly that he was not separate from Consciousness. By mere chance, it seems, a man named Nadine was ‘heard’ by Rick at a talk in Costa Rica. Some clear of erroneous beliefs is relaxed yet they can challenge our beliefs simply by speaking. Listen and enjoy what Rick shares. it is so simple we miss it (usually).
Videos of Rick HERE – Rick’s Health Website is HERE.
Music includes: REM, Coldplay, Bob Dylan, The Stranglers, Jethro Tull and The Kinks.
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Posted by gilbert on 04.13.10 12:15 am
Rick is one of the easiest ‘people’ to chat with. There is nothing complex about what he shares. The quiet confidence that glows with him is natural. We trust you will enjoy this program and any more that we do with Rick.
Posted by Cheryl on 04.13.10 12:43 am
Thank you Gilbert as always refreshing and informative. One can’t help but be inspired by the light heartedness of genuine nonduality speakers. Indeed it cannot be said enough, there is only the eternal present.
When we talk about ‘the appearance’ what are we talking about? Merely a manifestation with no central character? Experienced by no one. Even logically it makes sense that SEEING this would be freedom from the bondage of a self, small s. This me character is palpable and heavy and always central in the appearance. The recognition then is that there is no centre to be found in the appearance? Appearance is only that which comes and goes.
Posted by WallyD on 04.13.10 3:37 am
Thank you Gilbert for another great episoide of the UGC.
Rick is right up my alley!!! Pure simple no hidden agenda nothing to promote just sharing nothing with no one. If people tell me to check someone out because they have a powerful light eminating from them, I stay away they might be radio active. Rick is very clear, any questions about why (as in why has this happened to you and not me) are comming from the idea that there is an individual. Every one is waiting for there turn….guess what, its never comming, No one gets a turn at enlightenment!!!
Posted by piersede on 04.13.10 3:47 am
This one isn’t updating under itunes – not sure if it’s just my problem…?
Posted by piersede on 04.13.10 5:56 am
Not sure about this one. Sounds like he gets it for sure, but I didn’t here one pointer in this… merely story.
Posted by suki on 04.13.10 6:35 am
All ‘pointers’ appear in the story. There is no way to describe what you are. Because all descriptions arise in what you are. ~ R.L. (paraphrasing)
Posted by gilbert on 04.13.10 1:05 pm
Those who get addicted to ever more pointers miss what is being pointed at. All it takes is one pointer that resonates in being. Open to that pointer. The resonance in being is LIFE itself. Some call it the love affair with the Beloved. The central factor that brings you HOME is the recognition of your own true nature. The photographer has an impulse to take a photo, to capture the essence of this joy of being, revealing itself in nature. Do we ever capture it? We ARE THAT.
Posted by billco on 04.13.10 8:43 pm
Now a seeker,now a finder. Keep forgetting, but its only a story. Lots of stories.
Posted by Cheryl on 04.14.10 1:08 pm
Stephen Wingate talks about programming and conditioning and how we believe in that and it’s 100% bs. I like that pointer.:)
Posted by gilbert on 04.14.10 2:29 pm
The Ultimate Equation is:
One Thing
—————-
No Thing
Posted by gilbert on 04.14.10 7:46 pm
Programming and conditioning is just more concepts. What conditioning is there unless you think about it?
What time is there unless you think about it?
These two questions are potentially totally liberating. The ‘open view’ is obvious without thought about conditioning or time.
It is more like a subtle taste of something that has been forgotten. it is not a concept. It is a living subtle knowing – which expresses ittself as the words ‘I am’.
There is no need to get angry about conditioning or forgetting what I am.
As soon as you perceive a problem (regarding these ‘pointers’ or in fact anything at all) then ‘you’ have a ‘problem’, even if you perceive that the problem appears to be in ‘another’. (I don’t like him – etc)
Sometimes things get quite stirred up here on the comment pages and some of it may appear to be deliberate. The ‘hook’ that has the ‘seeker’ all hung up in the air is a fictional hook but it seems very real due to the psychological pain. Whatever it takes to reveal the fallacy is completely valid. It does not need to be a long and protracted series of apparent events and revelations. In the appearance of things, it only appears that some are lost and some are found. There is truly only One Being. And this is clearly obvious right there where you ARE. It is only concepts that suggest otherwise.
Posted by suki on 04.15.10 1:38 am
When the mind cannot find any words to describe this
immediate experiencing – then a stillness beyond conceptualizing
‘appears’ as an expansive living ’sensation’ as subtle as space
itself. This infinitely subtle pure being-ness is what I am. What I
am is actually beyond this subtlety and as that ‘beyond’, there is
nothing – No Thing. What can be recognized is that everything
that ‘appears’ in THAT is also THAT, No Thing. This realm of the
appearance, from the grossest to ‘the infinitely subtle’ all
‘registers’ on THAT which is beyond all subtlety. Words cannot
describe it – they can only ‘point’. ~ Gilbert Schultz
Posted by Cheryl on 04.15.10 2:05 am
Well you can say where do beliefs come from? Programming and conditioning. Yes. Beliefs are just what you have come to know and are taken to be real. The only apparent trouble with dropping beliefs is it leaves some kind of a void. That’s why there is reluctance to do so. There has to be some trust in the pointers which point beyond the beliefs. ‘There is truly only One Being’ is a clear pointer to the true nature of existence. I can pretty much guarantee that no one would consciously choose not to understand that. So what is in the way of the recognition of that understanding? Erroneous beliefs.
Posted by Sandy Jones on 04.15.10 2:16 am
I listened to Rick’s talk, and to me, it was tender and honest and the pointer was very clear. He was pointing to Love; who could miss it? Love healed this man, the Divine Presence, This Awareness healed him. Clearly there was a ‘healing’ here. It sounds like he just let go and let Awareness be or in the language of ‘western’ Non-dualists “Let that same Mind that was in Christ be in you”. Christ Mind, Awareness which is being ‘who I am’. This, of course, is the only real identity we are, or ever were. From what I gathered, listening to this, it sounds like not only was Rick given ‘New Life’ but the ‘body’ was made new also.
Did you know that if sail an saltwater going vessel, one that has barnacles on its hull, into a pristine, clear, pure water lake, the barnacles fall off all by themselves? No scarping necessary.
So, in the same way, we bring ourselves back to the Living Waters, the Living Truth, This Awareness, Here and Now, This-That-Is-being-all-that-I-am, and the barnacles will just fall off all by themselves.
No matter how many times ‘they’ tell us this is not a ‘practice’, I say we do have put it to the test, we must return and return time again to the This Fact of Clear Pristine Waters as our Very Self,recongnize It, and with each new return the barnacles become less and less–A coming Home to Already Is.
A story William Samuel tells, (and this story is really about him):
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!”
This Living Presence, right here, right now, as you have heard a million times, This Is It. Clear as can be, God loves you; this Awareness never leaves or forsakes us, it is with us throughout every ordeal, every seeming loss, every pain, every joy, always The Living provision of Perfect Rest, Perfect Peace that is beyond understanding, despite any or every ‘human situation’.
We can deny this Awareness is Us from now until dooms day, but we cannot avoid this Awareness, we cannot shake it, be rid of it, even if we make our bed in hell.
Love is like that also, it never goes anywhere, even if or when a loved seems to die, love does not die, it is Here and It is Self Evidently Real–The images coming and going only prove it is Immutable.
Love is Real and that Love never dies, never leaves or forsakes us, just like Awareness; This One the Holy Comforter. Love, Truth, Reality, Awareness, Healing, Peace, Rest, is “always available in the twinkling of an eye by letting go a moment and acknowledging it with Childlike gratitude” (quote from William Samuel)
Well, that is what Rick pointed to for me. Thank you Rick and Gilbert.
Posted by gilbert on 04.15.10 2:25 am
The Void. From the point of view of habituated mind (belief in me) it appears as a void and so it seems threatening to the ‘me’.
It is not an empty void at all.
It is a LIVING emptiness which is FULL.
One simply stays with that openness and one gets a taste of it, as often as one can.
The addiction to belief in me is a long standing habit but like all habits it can be broken.
What breaks the habit is the actuality of SEEING THROUGH the belief.
No need to make any new beliefs out of what is recognized, in fact there is a natural elimination of the ‘creation’ of new beliefs because the nature of belief is cut at the root.
All this remains as theoretical postulations without a taste of it.
The mind will imagine boogie men in the dark and scare itself to death with very little to work with. Imagination is not reality, so how can something that is not real harm you?
The word ‘void’ loses all its scary ‘qualities’ once the imagination is paused. Much of the thinking is imaginary notions. Stick with the fact that you know are true.
Posted by frankly on 04.15.10 4:00 am
not that i have a clue about anything..i really don’t..all my words are probably learned from somewhere…but I like your equation above.. Zero cannot divide into 1 and One Cannot be divided by 0. Interesting or probably not. we learned that one at school…..
For what it’s worth..For me (who is still trying to get it), It is really clear when I hear those that are speaking clearly on this subject.. Here is why.. They leave ME with nothing to hold on to. Nothing to try and remember and keep as a new way to believe. What they say dissappears as soon as it has been said. There is nothing to grasp at in their words. Nothing to CHEW on. Nothing to disect,analyse or deconstruct..Nothing to HOPE about.. No set of instructions. No happy forumla. No step by step guide…Just the uncomprimising reality of reality. In the end there is a feeling of dissappointment after hearing them talk. But it is a gentle and relieving dissappointment. It is a caring let down..Somewhere deep down the truth sings to me in these words.. I just don’t know how to listen, I suppose…
As a by the by, I loved loved loved the intro part where the dog is being told to be quiet by Rick……I probably should be talking about another part but since everything is apparently that, then why not!!!!!
Frank from Ireland.. Yes Gilbert..the place where all the green leprauchauns go about their day supping on black pints
Posted by gilbert on 04.15.10 10:30 am
Frank, what you express there is spot on. The truth, if we can truly speak about the truth at all, is that there is no one caught, trapped or otherwise, anywhere.
The One over Zero is just an expression. The appearance of One ‘in’ the space of Zero. Space is Zero. No center, no circumference.
The believed in ‘me’ plus the dual opposite ‘not me’ is the SEEMING division of ZERO into a ‘subject’ and an ‘object’.
Pure Seeing-Knowing is actually Zero. It is not a ‘person’.
The investigation of the believed in ‘me’ cannot fail.
Conceptualization is what seemingly prevents the recognition of my nothing-ness. It is NOT a void.
Dare I mention the word ‘Love’?
Self-Love is vanity, limiting and vulnerable.
Love of self, which is all-inclusive, is the unlimited nature pure existence.
Self-Liberation appears as a dualistic concept – in actuality the liberation from the belief in being a ‘self’ is a ‘story that can never be told’ because there is no one there to tell it and no one to tell it to.
Scary?
The warmth of being open to ‘what is’ dissolves the belief in what is not.
Why punish yourself and everyone else over a bunch of erroneous beliefs?
Posted by gilbert on 04.15.10 3:49 pm
Sandy I know you mean well, and I mean no offense at all, but some of these concepts you put here are completely dualistic. So much of this stuff is like New Age Christianity – endless beliefs in dualistic notions.
Who is this God that loves you? What is Christ’s mind? Let the same Mind that was in Christ be in you? Mind cannot be put into anyone except as a belief. And ‘God knows’ haven’t we got enough concepts to disentangle ourselves from already.
The body appears in mind and the mind appears in awareness.
So long as you identify yourself with any ‘appearance’ then what is being pointed to is MISSED.
Yet it is the most Obvious.
The ONE has never been sick so any healing is only a partial view based on erroneous beliefs in ‘parts’. the sum of all the parts is not equal to the whole.
The DIRECT message is uncompromising and it has NO mercy.
It is not cold – it IS LOVE.
Warm fuzzy feelings are not going to save anyone. All relationships are doomed to fail. Relationship is ‘Relative to’ – Relative to what? Relative to ME. Is there truly a me?
NO. So all relationships are nothing but illusion.
There is no way out of the mind, except through NO MIND.
No offense intended.
Warm regards – Gilbert.
P.S. Those who are offended by words have missed the point.
The Complaints Department is closed.
Posted by Sandy Jones on 04.15.10 5:07 pm
Gilbert, you know I certainly take no offense at all–Words are just words—Pointers, as you call them, just pointers.
Yes, its true, my pointer is a soft feminine pointer which is quite different, but not wrong, just differnet than your significantly stronge male pointer—
You know that Yin Yang symbol thingy, its like that, wherein the two are really One.
I love my soft warm female pointers and I can see that you are very happy with your hard direct masculine pointers—Its all Good, and as you can tell, I see it as quite amuzing, as well it should be—
Life is such a Joy, n’est pas?
If you would prefer that I take my pointers else where, let me know–I’m easy–
Lots of Love, and many thanks, Sandy
Posted by suki on 04.15.10 11:36 pm
All there is, is the totality. Then whatever appears, in whatever disguise can only be that too.
Nothing to find, because nothing is lost.
This moment is everything, there is no moment other than this moment.
All pointers are nothing but source pointing back to source – You!
Posted by Joe Cap on 04.16.10 12:22 am
Frankly’s comments above:
Exactly- Even some of the comments here just stop everything.
At the beginning of the UGC second life meetings there will be these questions- then after a short time they completely disappear.
Ricks videos appeared to have something else: hate using the word ‘transmission’ but his sincerity appeared to ‘rub-off’ instantly. I think he could have been talking about the Chicago Blackhawks and this ‘something’ would still be there. Raw, direct, clear honesty which stops thoughts and doubts and questions.
….and, the second time listening the ‘dogs barking’ KILLED me as well! Especially the one at the end of the REM tune.
Posted by piersede on 04.16.10 12:44 am
Personally, I like both Gilbert and Sandy’s take on this, and find it to be saying exactly the same thing. Christians, and especially ones like Sandy, take Christ to be their guru, and Christ consciousness therefore merely another name for non dual awareness. Despite not being Christian myself, I’ve been deeply moved by my discovery of William Samuels via this programme, and Sandy’s continuation of his teachings on this forum.
Posted by Sandy Jones on 04.16.10 2:09 am
Gilbert, I assume you didn’t kick me off of here, so—Now I’d like to answer a couple of your questions;
The word Christ, Mind, Life and Awareness, for me are all the same word really. I don’t believe there are ‘two minds’ one that we have to get rid of. I think there is Only One and I call This Mind Awareness, It can be called many things; Consciousness, Divine Intelligence, Light, Reality, Truth, Love, God, Life, This, Presence, Beingness, Isness, One without a second. The word Christ need not be taken as ‘Christian’in the fundamental way we think– but it means ‘anointed’. And in fact anointed we are, just as you say, we Are It Already. That is, anointed with Awareness because we are aware—Simplicity, One, Only. I agree with you, we are nothing else but this Awareness because there is nothing else we can be but This All Inclusive Christ Light/Awareness, whether we know it or no it or not. Would be far better to know It, though.
My words may be distracting to some, but I know they are very helpful to others. Soft and round and infinitely spherical in the most feminine of ways is God’s as much as the direct,linear and hard.
I even love the words Cosmic Consciousness, what a great word for this Infinite Intelligence and Ineffable Unseen Awareness That I Am. Cosmic, Wow. Quantum science is now calling It Intelligent Design, and maybe one day soon that scientist will realize in astonishment, as he studies the Cosmic Universe, he has been looking at his very Self all along.
The Messiah is also a wonderful word; when we ‘redeem’ our selves, return to the Truth, which is the Understanding there is only One, One, Single, Alone Only, and no other. Come out from the far fields of mistaken identity.
I believe that the man Jesus was the first ‘western’ non-dualist teacher to be given any recognition. If you read his message in its most unaltered wording, in The Gospel of Thomas, you will see clearly that he is actually ‘teaching’ non-duality; He is pointing by using parables.
And yes, I could not agree with you more, Awareness has never been sick ( I thought I said that the first time) and there is no ‘other’ to be healed—but the remarkable thing is that when we recognize This Fact we are ‘healed’ in some way. Be it simply that moment of surrender where fear for ‘our little personal me-self who thinks he dwells in a world with a bit of limited time-life-as-body’ –In that moment when that ‘false self’ is gone, we can call it a healing. And it can be just that Marvelous Moment of Peace. A moment that may never be seen again, but once seen, it is now understood as True and we know. A moment when we realize ‘there is no me’ and yet we look about and Life is still here, I am still here, —That is a healing.
I do disagree that “all relationships are doomed to fail.” I see that all ‘tangible-time-things’ are transient, and those will always fail the ‘old man false belief’. But, we do not cling to those ‘things’.
We know that Love never fails to Be; when we realize that Life, Light, Awareness, Love, Reality, This Consciousness, right here, right now, are the Same One; the one that is reading these words, That One never fails, Self never leaves or forsakes Its Self ( this Self, My Self, one self, alone) despite all the carnage and destruction of forms and things in time, Love or Awareness is Still Here—That is a mighty powerful Love, I’d say.
Ok, I have taken too many words, as usual, to say what I wanted to say—Thanks,
And Thank you Piersede– Very nice
Posted by Marker on 04.16.10 6:58 am
Excellent Program and Really Great Comments~
Posted by Cheryl on 04.16.10 11:10 am
‘The concept that a character can awaken causes alot of suffering. Awakening can be defined as that there never was an individual.’ RL
Posted by confused on 04.16.10 2:42 pm
let me see if i have this right.
Everything is “THIS”?
So I’m experiencing “THIS” right now, even though my experience doesn’t seem to be what I think “THIS” should be like?
Even my minds’ label of my experience as not “THIS”, is “THIS?”
My experience is that I am an individual, while those who speak clearly on this subject say they do not have that perspective, and yet both are “THIS”.
But then there is clearly a difference in perception in my view as compared to these speakers who do not take themselves to be individuals.
what the hell is going on here
Posted by gilbert on 04.16.10 4:32 pm
The Soft (Fem) and the Hard (Mas) are complementary.
Music appears out of emptiness. It is invisible, yet Willy Shakeapeare
said that music was the food of the soul or some such phrase.
The dance of the opposites is everywhere and it appears that the dance is never resolved. Find THAT which never changes. Then concepts about God, man (Adam) and woman (Eve) do not even appear.
What you are looking out of is NON DUAL.
There is ONLY ONE and you must be that one. It could NOT be any other way.
Whether you realize that or not makes absolutely no difference whatsoever. You already innately know – it is not a matter of details – it is this pure activity of ‘knowing’.
THAT IS ALL.
Posted by Mike in SF on 04.17.10 4:18 am
I don’t really see what the fuss is about this guy. The part about the nature of time was interesting but other than that, he just throws in the word “apparent” and “appears” every other sentence and that’s supposed to be helpful?
Posted by su on 04.17.10 4:30 am
Sandy,
I so loved this post.
An absolute openness and clarity in it.
Thanking you.
Posted by gilbert on 04.17.10 7:39 am
Would you rather ‘we’ made ‘a fuss’ about ‘you’ Mike in SF?
No one is making a fuss. It is all ‘appearance’. Everything is Valid in the appearance.
“As soon as you make the slightest distinction, ‘heaven and earth’ are set infinitely apart”(quote from trom The Hsin hsin ming).
How can anything be truly set apart, if what we are talking about is Non Duality? There are no parts. The mind must be understood. We must use the mind to understand the mind – to go beyond the mind. It is all figurative and implies multiplicity. Investigate whatever appears to be separate (the me for instance) and truly SEE that the seeing-knowing is ALL inclusive.
When you see that you are not something that is separate or apart from this immediate, uninterrupted activity of cognizing, there is no one left to hold onto any opinion or philosophy, method or practice.
The natural openness of the apparent ‘other’ can be an attraction or a repulsion. Do you have a choice?
Let things be as they are. Stop trying to change or alter what is.
Knit picking and endless debate will never bring the clear view to the fore. It is already the first instant of seeing – it is only the mind that apparently obsures the clarity of seeing. The concept is not reality.
Posted by gilbert on 04.17.10 9:50 am
Anyone interested in what Sandy offers should go listen to an interview with her by clicking HERE. It may not be everyone’s ‘cup of tea’ but I know many do resonate with what William Samuels speaks about.
As for me: Just see me as a stirring stick. Whatever one believes in is merely a transitory appearance in mind. The conglomerate bundle of beliefs will obscure the clarity of clear seeing if they are engaged with. By stirring up emotions that are attached to these ‘apparent’ beliefs, they get spread around and a fresh glimpse can happen. Who is hanging onto belief and ignoring what is clearly obvious? I can tell you that this ‘job’ of being a stirrer is a thankless job. Insights happen and there is no need to go into analysis paralysis over ‘how’ any insight came about. When the belief system collapses, the clear and present knowing is left un-compromised by any thought.
it is all in the appearance of ‘things and time’.
THAT which is truly seeing is timeless.
Posted by Alex on 04.18.10 12:47 am
Hard men vs. soft women? Oh . . . that’s helpful.
Posted by gilbert on 04.18.10 1:24 am
Everything is perfect just as it is. If you perceive a problem, then it is your problem.
If someone insults you and you do not take delivery of it, how can you be insulted? If you take delivery then retaliation happens and on it goes. In the appearance of things, wars start over simple things and build up into massive campaigns.
Nip it in the bud.
There is no time for slap dash philosophies and endless discussions. There is no point in building up a wall of resistance. Reality bites.
All this is conceptual.
What is being pointed to is non-conceptual awareness. Ordinary, everyday, simple awareness.
If you have expectations of some big bang, some Zen concept about some state to achieve then you have missed it. So be it.
Whatever stops the mind dead in its tracks, will provide an open view. You can do this yourself – but it is not a complex method.
Just pause a thought and see.
Very simple.
The mind will come up with all sorts of excuses why this pause can’t be done. Useless. Just stop.
Posted by suki on 04.18.10 1:36 am
Regarding ‘teachers’ and ‘clear speakers’ on this subject and line of self inquiry. I think whatever deeply resonates with oneself and ‘feels’ right, sure, why not pursuit it. The litmus test of it is this, clearer seeing/understanding, dissolution of doubt and confusion and massive reduction in ‘mental’ suffering. These indicators should present themselves in a ‘relatively’ short time when taking on the ‘teachings’ or pointers of a clear speaker or teacher. If this is the case, then one is at least is moving in the right direction so to speak.
These are the ‘initial’ stages (appearance in time). Ultimately it is seen that there is no one here to suffer, just a mistaken false identification with an erroneous concept. When that is seen through by no-one, then the one undivided timeless living reality is revealed to have been here all the time – and in plain view. You are that reality, we ‘all’ are that.
Posted by Alex on 04.18.10 2:38 am
There is nothing “complementary” in non-duality.
The mind creates duality, then comes up with “yin/yang” in an attempt to resolve the false opposites. It’s a SPINNING wheel.
No one’s on it.
(This post is purely conceptual.)
Posted by Sandy Jones on 04.18.10 9:57 am
Its a good thing that non-duality has gotten us all to see the powerlessness of words.
And when we see how certain words, whatever the words, seem to arouse anger and or confusion, or annoyance, we know it is the “old man-me sense belief” who is annoyed, or making some big deal out of words. Who else could be upset by them, or perplexed by them?
Cetainly it is not Awareness, not This-That-Is, not This Living Presence I Am (you are)—Clearly, the only one perturbed with things, anything, yins or yangs, is but the mistaken-belief-mind. And that one does not exist—
Now what a joy that we have all arrived at the place wherein we know the unreality of ‘that mistaken belief sense’ that frets and scowls about everything, including all kinds of words– The ‘old man’ can be nothing but dependent on what pleases or displeases him–tossed and pummled by every thing his belief-self relys on–it is an unreal ‘out there’ that he gets unreally clobbered by.
And
We also know that there is no anger or confusion nor antagonism with anything, any words, or anyone in The Light of Truth/Awareness—
Well, there you go, its all settled, no matter how you slice This Light of Truth, Life, This Here and Now Awareness, Changeless One (we are) you cannot find a real problem at all, not anywhere–
As Gilbert says, we find that which never changes. And the words become the Instrument that either strums a song you like or not–take it or leave, it makes no difference to Life, The Light That IS is being all that you are.
Posted by Alex on 04.18.10 12:02 pm
When non-duality starts to sound like the back of the Dr. Bronner’s soap bottle . . . run away!
Posted by Cheryl on 04.18.10 1:22 pm
My friend just turned me onto ‘Avastu Design’ an off shoot of Randall’s stuff. I have to ask Randall why aren’t all the SL meetings posted? Yes I am never satisfied.:)
I’ve also been reading Mark West’s blogs. They seem to have stopped about a year ago. He would be a fantastic interview. Is he still living?
Rick’s videos are also good – there is no individual period. He says the concept that a character can awaken causes alot of suffering. Would it be correct to say it is the one and only thing that ever causes suffering. If that’s true then there could be nothing more important then recognizing your true nature.
The current suffering appears to be that of feeling disconnected. But it’s quite something and quite wonderful to know this has no basis in reality. The answer is not in the mind. There is consequently no desperate attempt to seek a solution. It does appear quite clearly that the root of everything is this belief in a me character. Kill it at the root and everything is solved. At least it will no longer appear as any kind of problem or suffering. How could you hate that?
Posted by piersede on 04.18.10 8:36 pm
I too recommend Rick’s videos – very clear pointers on there, and worth watching. Thanks for the link.
Posted by billko77 on 04.19.10 5:39 am
I just wanted to say that I’ve only just recently discovered U.G.C. and am so grateful that there is such a place. I have acquired a thirst to “know” the truth and was starting to wonder if i would ever be able to satisfy it. Thanks to all for making such a place a reality. I understand there is nothing I have to do, nothing to acquire, and nothing to become. I AM THAT. It’s so simple I would have never been able to figure it all out on my own. For the first time, since I started searching, I have found nothing to interpret.
Posted by gilbert on 04.19.10 8:22 am
Yes Billko, one realizes that ‘I have not taken a step away from here and now’. The UGC is a kind of dedication to a clear message, which takes many forms of expression. The teachers who are full of self importance do not appear here on the UGC.
Even so, It is all appearances – and the fact is that the molecules are spread out throughout the entire organism (universe) and each one is unique and ‘necessary’ just ‘where’ it is – otherwise it would not be ‘there’ where it appears to be – but remember it is an appearance – it only appears to be ‘there’.
The Open view is from HERE – and HERE is everywhere.
Your toes are on your feet, not on your chin. The mouth is below the eyes not above the eyes. Need I say any more?
Intelligence is a word that implies an activity of ‘knowing and motion’.
The Planet is a good example of that. You could consider all the implications and details of the ‘organization’ of this Planet and then consider the arrogance of ‘mankind’ in believing that ‘he’ could ever organize it better. All of his attempts have brought disasters of one kind or another. There is no ‘doer’ and that revelation clears the way for insight.
Posted by billko77 on 04.19.10 10:13 am
This is my first experience in talking to anyone else who has the same ideas i do. I have a question if u dont mind- i have moved away from all concepts that were supposed to one day culminate in an “awakening’. Reading Nisargadatta’s “I AM THAT” and listening to UGC’s podcast’s have planted me firmly in the NOW. I realize the past and the future are illusions that the ego uses to build itself an identity. There is no billko. There is only this one moment whos form is constantly changing. There is only one thing that has been constant, Awareness. The only “practice” i do is repeatedly and gently planting myself in the Now. Any comments will be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Posted by gilbert on 04.19.10 10:44 am
The mind is time. Drop the concept that you are planting yourself in the NOW. You cannot get out of the now. Try it and see.
The only place you can start is ‘now’. All activities ‘happen’ in this now, there is no other time than this so-called ‘moment’. There is no beginning to this moment and there is no end to this moment.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega”.
The concepts that hover around the idea of ‘duration’ lose all meaning.
Start from the fact of your own being.
Do not add anything to that being-ness.
BEING IS. ‘Becoming’ will never be.
Therefore whatever it is that you are looking for MUST be here now.
Therefore, all you need to ‘do’ is SEE what it is that is apparently stopping you from fully recognizing your own true nature.
The story if me not finding it is a story. Being is not a concept. The believed in entity is the conceptualizing – and whether you know it or not, all there is, is BEING. You are THAT.
Posted by gilbert on 04.19.10 10:58 am
It is all appearance only. How many clouds have there been in the sky?
Do any of them have any distinct and lasting characteristics as a separate entity? Trillions upon trillions of clouds have gathered and swirled around, dropped their rain, hail, sleet and snow, and then dissolved back into the empty sky. Millions are forming right now and millions are also dissolving. Not one cloud has left a trace of itself anywhere – no cloud is stuck to the sky. No thought is stuck in the mind. There are billions of microbes in and on your body and they outnumber the cells of the body by far. Who are you? Who is running this ‘show’? ‘We’ think we are so important but even something like the weather can put us in our place so easily. we run and hide, take cover, then we re-emerge and start our arrogant behavior all over again. Who are we? A small bug can wipe thousands of us out of the scene is a few days.
The tragedy of it all is that the self-centered activities and the self importance ’cause’ all the suffering and so few are willing to look at those factors with any precision.
Posted by billko77 on 04.19.10 11:55 am
Straight and to the point. I can feel the ‘TRUTH’ in your words. thanks Gilbert
Posted by anatta on 04.20.10 3:02 am
It’s not that one needs to believe the “right” things to know “the truth”, it’s that ALL beliefs are thoughts that cannot possibly describe reality. A belief is a stance – accepting thoughts projections as reality. What do thoughts/beliefs arise in? Who is aware of them?
Posted by fernando on 04.20.10 8:37 am
Even if a thought could describe Reality, that thought is ONLY a description, a concept.
‘The map is NOT the territory’ (Korzybsky)
The map (and every description) is a superimposition ON the territory.
Every thought-description arises in what you are: Presence-Awareness.
No one is aware of them.
Posted by billko77 on 04.20.10 9:45 am
My awareness of the present comes and goes. At times I am absolutely aware and at other times (still the majority unfortunately) I get lost in thought. I have little to no control over when this happens or for how long. I used to get upset with myself for allowing this happen, especially since at moments I have seen the ‘truth’ as clear as crystal. These days I try not to take it so seriously. I try to be ‘aware’ as much as I can and I also try to watch the thoughts and take note of how every thought is complete illusion. I know I AM THAT but I have yet to be able to stop the identificAtion with thought enough to realize the full implications.
Posted by gilbert on 04.20.10 10:25 am
If you are lost and confused a map can be very useful. It needs to be an accurate map of the territory you are in. A map of a forest in Japan is useless if you are in a forest in Canada. And you have to have the map up the right way. If it is upside down, then things get ‘worse’ easily. The mind must be understood.
We need to understand how the mind works. It is quite mechanical and always restless.
By watching the mind quietly, one realizes that one is actually beyond the mind. Getting a good taste of that brings many insights.
Posted by gilbert on 04.20.10 10:31 am
The concept ‘my awareness’ comes and goes. Awareness does not come and go. It cannot be limited by that which appears in it.
Space and time are appearance in awareness. Awareness is timeless and there are no boundaries anywhere that do not appear in awareness.
So the boundary is an appearance.
Everything is awareness.
‘Awareness of’ is a mind translation. ‘My awareness’ is a thought.
WHO is claiming what?
Posted by mark on 04.20.10 10:55 am
The mind, was fine. If anything is to be done, it is to let the mind be. Doing stuff. It is only when it starts to claim ownership that the problems start.
Posted by anatta on 04.20.10 11:39 pm
Bilko, where can a thought arise other than in awareness? It’s just a thought that says “I am unaware.” It must arise in consciousness like everything else. In the absence of consciousness, no thought, no-thing and no problem can appear to be.
Don’t look at thoughts as the enemy – they are the manifestation of being, as is everything. They only seem problematic if it’s believed they represent reality. Reality is non-conceptual and omni-present – it can’t be lost.
It’s like Bob’s old parable of the clouds and the sun. Thoughts are like clouds, do they dim the sun and make it disappear? of course not, they may just obscure it from time to time while there is fascination with them but the sun is always shining. If the sun wasn’t shining, there would be no clouds.
Posted by Sandy Jones on 04.21.10 3:23 am
I was just posting some excerpts ‘about thinking’ on the William Samuel website. When I read Anatta and Mark, they were saying exactly what William says: from “A Guide To Awareness and Tranquillity” a short excerpt:
Now you see, “thinking no thought” is not to stop thinking or to empty consciousness. The cluttered thinking to “stop” is the foolish business of judging sights and sounds. Of giving values to the images and thoughts of Awareness, of planning and calculating to bring about a mover perfect perfection. Those are the foolish things we do when identified as the personality-ego-intellect who believes he is the possessor of Awareness. Identified as Awareness, we find the Identity-we-are filled with every tangible and intangible thing that ever appears necessary.
ISNESS is the thinker, the thinking and the thought. What has this Thinking-I-am to do but sit back and enjoy the Thought of the Thinker?….like a mighty mountain watching the wonders of the seasons as they paint their pictures of perfection on my face! (William Samuel)
You can read more HERE
Posted by peter on 04.21.10 3:43 am
“Realization takes time to steady itself. The Self is certainly within the direct experience of everyone but not in the way people imagine. One can only say that it is as it is. Just as incantations or other devices can prevent fire from burning a man when otherwise it would do so, so vasanas (inherent tendencies impelling one to desire one thing and shun another) can veil the Self when otherwise it would be apparent. Realization takes time to steady itself. Spasmodic Realization is not enough to prevent re-birth, but it can not become permanent as long as there are vasanas.”
Sri Ramana Maharshi-
Posted by Cat on 04.21.10 7:10 am
To say ‘this is it’ is that enough?
Posted by gilbert on 04.21.10 12:10 pm
The realization that ‘this is it’ is a potent view. As an expression, it is a reminder. Many years ago I had this realization of THIS IS IT.
I made a big sign with the words in black. I put it on my study wall.
It reminded me often. The word ‘this’ is an inference of a particular place and time pattern. The word ‘that’ is less particular if it is all inclusive….but that also applies to ‘this’.
The point is that the realization is momentary and passes, or appears to pass, because the mind comes back in with ‘chatter’.
However, the silence of true understanding is not disturbed by the arrival of words, thoughts or ideas.
BEING CONSCIOUS is not ‘personal’.
One Being – One Awareness.
Posted by gilbert on 04.21.10 6:50 pm
Thanks to a very, very small number (those who make donations) of our 6000 plus visitors per month, this site will continue to offer programs for the benefit of all. Our tradition of one program a week is slipping a bit but the quality of what is offered will not slip. Enjoy…..and Be patient.
Posted by Cat on 04.22.10 4:12 am
Hey bill
Try John Wheeler’s book “The Light Behind Consciousness”, it’s pretty good.
Posted by fernando on 04.22.10 5:20 am
«There is no container for SEEING. You can SEE this by closing your eyes – look for a boundary – move the body through space – recognize that the SEEING is simply and obviously un-interrupted and unbound by any ‘thing’. Things appear – seeing does not appear or disappear. Everything ‘appears’ in the SEEING. It may render you speechless ‘when’ this revelation ‘takes hold’. No words can be adequate and all words are limited – they all simply appear and disappear. Who is the observer? Can you truly find one?».
Gilbert Schultz
Posted by billko77 on 04.22.10 6:22 am
Thanks to all. I’m going to sit back and just ‘Be As I Am’.
Posted by Cat on 04.23.10 10:39 am
“You are the answer. Your own natural state is what is being pointed to. As such you are already home. Whenever the mind settles down and lets go of its self-created questions, doubts and issues, all there is is simple clarity and peace. You do not need any techniques or pointers to be yourself. That is why they run dry. The menu is not the food. So do not try to eat the menu. Knowing that you are already the peace and freedom you seek you can call off the search, retire from the seeker game and let go of the pointers about who you are. You are who you are.”
John Wheeler
from “The Light Behind Consciousness”
‘radical self knowledge and the end of seeking’
Posted by billko77 on 04.23.10 11:22 am
I intended to sit back and not post for awhile, i mean i know this is not the billko helpline. I felt compelled to say that i was listening to the Ramesh Balsakar recording of Gilbert’s yesterday and i really connected with the part where Ramesh said there was only One ‘spiritual practice’ that he recommended- he said that one should at the end of the day take some time and review the day to identify all the things that one felt he had done during that day, and if one were honest with him or her ‘self’ that it would be realized that in all actuality each and every action had only been accomplished by the ‘will of God”. I took what he recommended a little bit further and ‘applied’ that to my whole ‘life’. There was a ‘moment’ when all these ‘memories’ seemed to shrink and then dissappear into nothing. I have had no thought of them since. I’m not claiming any type of ‘experience’, just a calm peaceful knowing i have never ‘known’, yet somehow i feel as though i have always ‘known’. VERY ODD
Posted by gilbert on 04.23.10 11:36 am
KNOWING is all that there IS.
The ‘knower’ appears and disappears.
The knowing NEVER disappears – it actually has never appeared as a distinct thing. It is EVERYTHING without a single exception and yet it is No Thing.
The mind will never solve this.
Simply be the knowing and be nothing but the knowing.
Posted by confused on 04.24.10 11:24 am
“The Planet is a good example of that. You could consider all the implications and details of the ‘organization’ of this Planet and then consider the arrogance of ‘mankind’ in believing that ‘he’ could ever organize it better. All of his attempts have brought disasters of one kind or another. There is no ‘doer’ and that revelation clears the way for insight.”
Is it really “mankinds” arrogance? If the same intelligence is behind all appearance, what distinction can be made between “mankinds’” actions and those that occur “naturally?” It would seem if all is perfect as it is, then everything is truly natural, even apparent arrogance and destruction.
Posted by gilbert on 04.24.10 6:04 pm
To Confused: of course there is no separation in reality. In belief, which is ‘appearance’ it is all separation, words, ideas. Who is confused, or in conflict, with the natural state of all things?
Even your own ‘complaint’ above could not happen without the life essence, which is One essence, expressing and appearing as everything (borrowing Bob Adamson’s book title).
The arrogance is hidden by the belief in ‘me’ and yet it is clearly evident.
Society is a Gentleman’s Agreement. Laws are past and ‘people’ follow suit. The facade is obvious yet no one questions it.
For example: The whales cannot defend themselves against those monkeys on the water.
It is ALL in the appearance of things. Who is offended?
There is nothing wrong anywhere, but my God it sure looks like there is something wrong.
Investigate the ‘place’ where the ‘wrongness’ is felt most strongly and truly discover that is there.
It may be the biggest surprise of your life.
Posted by confused on 04.25.10 12:27 pm
Is it safe to say this realization is the most terrifying thing that could ever happen to “me”?
(Ed: No it is not safe to say that – but who wants to be safe?)
Posted by NotClyde on 04.27.10 9:25 am
This is first class stuff–high octane. Many thanks, Gilbert.
Posted by Vulcanelli on 05.01.10 12:28 am
Rick mentions as others including Nisargadatta have, that ultimately there are no others and therefore no one to help. I have wondered about for some time and it makes sense to me when using the night time dream analogy which is often used as a pointer. In night time dreaming the dreamer creates a world and the people in it including the dreamer all which disappear upon awakening. By extension if there is a similar awakening from what is commonly called the waking state where there is a realization that all is consciousness, that there is no separate person to be conscious of anything and therefore no separate world or people to be conscious of; everything is one. What I wonder is that having seen this why would there be any effort bother to write books, post blogs, maintain websites or otherwise communicate ideas of no duality and realization to what are no seen to be just dream characters in a dream. If there are essential no others to help or awaken, why have any concern for them? Perhaps this conundrum is due to my thought based logic of the dream and were there an awakening from it this question would be irrelevant. I should add that for me, not having seen through the world of appearance I am grateful for appearance of this site.
Posted by gilbert on 05.01.10 12:57 am
The central problem is that we or you have heard about a state, probably called enlightenment, and we or you want it.
All the efforts to attain it are totally useless – but few tell us so.
Most teachers, whether intentionally or otherwise, perpetuate this conundrum. The ‘result’ is suffering. All the practices are punishment for the ‘me’ who is trying to achieve something.
There is no escape from beliefs. They must be seen for what they are…and the seeing needs to be free of the concept that it is ‘me seeing’. The mind translates what is already naturally occurring awareness, ordinary and uncomplicated presence, into a buch of fabricated ideas about HOW things are. It is all erroneous and needs to be dropped. The ‘me’ abhors emptiness because it ‘means’ death to it. So it appears to avoid the natural emptiness of mind and behaves as if it is running away from ‘reality’ just so it can add more substance to its ‘story of me’.
Suufering over this may reach a point where it all collapses.
Then empty mind is quite obvious.
The SAME emptiness of mind is totally available right NPW by simply pausing thought.
It’s up to you….and there isn’t one.
Posted by Vulcanelli on 05.01.10 10:51 pm
I understand about the empty mind, I’ve been at this for forty years. It is all so frustrating. The mind is like some unrelenting alien parasite that is always present regardless of what is done or not done. “Suffering to the point of collapse” seems to be the only thing left.
Posted by gilbert on 05.02.10 1:07 am
The mind is not the enemy. All that is necessary is to understand the mind. Observe it impartially. Understanding is actually beyond the mind. The mind translates understanding into what ‘people’ call ‘intellectual understanding’ and descriptions, words and story.
Ordinary understanding is all that is necessary. The elaborate decorations that the ‘me’ wears as its ‘pride and prejudice’ or as its ‘guilt and sin’ are all time bound notions.
The frustration is due to some concepts that have been taken on board. A dog chasing its tail is humorous for a little while.
Then it is not so funny.
It appears that the mind must burn itself out.
We have heard about some ‘higher state of being’ and we use that to judge ourselves and find we are lacking. But what if it is all a crock of shit? Awareness is not a ‘state’. You cannot know what awareness is. What you truly are IS awareness. Start with THAT.
Posted by Vulcanelli on 05.03.10 7:25 am
The dog chasing its tail analogy fits for me. Chasing ideas is what I have done all my life, thinking that through some teaching or some contact I could find the ultimate idea that would change me. Now I see ideas as completely insubstantial like wind that blows through a tree. The wind comes uninvited and unannounced, it shakes and sways the branches but never really changes the tree. The chasing continues as if by its own momentum but as you say, it isn’t funny anymore and there is little satisfaction in the it.
I am feeling it is like David Carse said, there is nothing the dream character (me)can do to awaken from the dream. It is the dreamer who needs to awaken. I think it is going to come to just quitting trying to wake up. If it happens it happens, if not then not.
Posted by JMac on 02.03.11 6:44 am
All paths lead to liberation as all paths lead nowhere.