If you are seeking love come back to That which is undeniable: You ARE. This - Existingness - simply cannot be denied.
This is what appears as the knowingness, I AM. As the ancients put it, I AM THAT I AM. Yet even THAT is but a tempral appearance
to what is Real and Timeless ... your very NON-conceptual Being, or "Awareness Prior to I AM."
That is a Peace that cannot be disturbed, That is a Love that cannot be sullied by any "opposite"
- That is a Timelessness before Time, That is the Isness before "It Is"; THAT is the Absolute before
"I Am". That is No Thing at all! Yet THAT appears as "Every-Thing" in this wondrous dream of Being. To paraphrase
Sri Nisargadatta, "This being No Thing is Wisdom; this Being Every Thing is Love".
Some residue of habitual energy-patterns in the brain, some thoughts and/or feelings of "me and mine" and desires
to "attain" or "hold onto" Love or Wisdom, may arise. Not a problem so long as there is no investment in a belief that such
stuff belongs to anyone!
Here is a pointer from my final teacher, John Wheeler:
"Sometimes the old ideas appear. There is no problem with that. Even if they appear they cannot really be believed,
and so they whither away naturally on their own. How can you be a seeker or searcher when your very nature is what is to be
obtained? So you can smile and watch the old ideas with some amusement! Whereas they used to generate seeking and suffering,
now they cause a smile. In a few moments they are gone and you remain as you are, effortlessly. You are what you are. Any
other idea, such as being some defective separate person is just a concept that appears to you and cannot touch you in any
way. To discover that you are what you were seeking and no concept ever can touch what you are, is the end of seeking, suffering
and doubt. What remains is peace and love itself, and this is none other than what you are. You are that. All comes to rest
in this". ~ John Wheeler
Paraphrasing one of my friends who shares as I do, "The difficulty is, when we apparently become individuals (in
the belief in a "me") then we seem to have become "something" and we are convinced (falsely!) that "I am a thing and all that
"out there" are "other things" and so now we have this longing for the thing called "me" to find another "thing" called release,
or freedom, or enlightenment, or some other thing to be added on to "me"."
But since this "me" is only a false belief, this search for wholeness is totally FUTILE. All "paths, processes, practices"
etc. only reinforce the false belief that there is an individual called "me" or "I" and "I" must seek and find Home, wholeness,
emotional release, peace, or my "true nature". It is a hopeless search in which what is found is a temporary moment of peace
which quickly disappears because the "me" has not been investigated and found to be the phantom that it really is.
Understand that this is NOT "just words." It is common for the false self to reject the message out of self-survival.
It's frightened to see this Nothingness because to it, this No Thing that is the Timeless Reality looks like its death! This
points to 'personal death' - not the death of the body but the death of the "me"!
And, as a very wise fellow once said, again, I paraphrase, "There is a principle which is a bar against all true
seeing, which is proof against all pointers being heard and which cannot fail to keep one in everlasting ignorance--that
principle is contempt prior to investigation".
You will not get anything here. It's really about "you" dying! You will get nothing for that "you" ... however
you may LOSE something - the hypnotic and totally false dream of being 'you". In the Energy of Expanded Unified Aliveness
that YOU are "you" may pass away. In Unknowing Freedom. This Spacelike Presence of Awareness, NON conceptual, NOT experience,
NOT feeling, NOT any "thing" at all yet also being Everything ... This is What you always have been ... Life Itself devoid
of separateness or suffering.
Let that sink in, please .....
And here is a highly recommended brief audio to listen to a few times:
Q: Dear Charlie, I am sorry to hear that you are discontinuing
your conference calls. I have found listening to them extremely helpful over the past months and would like to say thank you
for sending them. I look forward to receiving your e-mails full of information and articles and hope they will continue. Listening
to the conference calls everyone sounds extremely pleasant and great fun with a sense of humour and serious intent to see
what is timelessly real. Unfortunately, living in the UK I am not able to attend your meetings in Enid followed by the lunch. However, I understand that you will be visiting the UK later this year and I look forward
to coming along to the meeting in London.
With my best wishes, love from BM in The UK.
A: Poor health has made the trip to London unlikely; currently there are no plans to visit London.
Tony Parsons (www.theopensecret.com) is very clear on this and shares from the direct seeing that all there is, is The One. Tony is right in your back yard!
Visit his site, get his audios, and if doubts arise just stay with his sharing - and you can ring him up if there are any
questions.
You are also welcome to give me a ring if you like and as mentioned I am focusing more on one to one consultations to get any final questions dissolved.
Also, if a number of people want the conference call to be reinstated that would be possible but I would like to
see at least five callers to make the effort worth it (recently there have only been one or two calling in and those would
be better served by a one to one consultation.)
Pretty much all I have to share and all typical “frequently asked” questions are dealt with
in my books and I am a bit tired now so I am not moved to simply repeat what has already been shared. But nobody really
knows what will happen! The newseltters will most likely continue to appear once a week or so ... Anyway many thanks
for your good wishes. Love, Charlie
When the identity goes onto flesh and bone, blood and guts, thought and feeling machinery called
“This Body” that that identity as a born and sure to die body as I Am brings attachment or aversion. But only
always.
When awareness “contracts" and appears or arises as consciousness the game is on!
Consciousness I AM, I EXIST (not the concept I but the pure I of empty consciousness or “witnessing
Presence) though empty and meaningless energy, that energy contracts further and then that consciousness attaches to the brain-body
apparatus, and from there on out there is always a sense of suffering, of something lost, of pain or pleasure. The identity
now seems solid and the bones and flesh seem separated from Awareness and separated from Consciousness … and then appear
solid and really separated from the Life Itself - as the positive-negative poles of the conscious identity called “I
am this body, brain, thinking-feeling machine” contract more and more as life in the body goes on from birth to inevitable
death. This identity is a vast cauldron of suffering as there is either attachment to the body (trying to extend its life)
or aversion (really being so sick and tired of being sick and tired the consciousness just wants that body to die now as it
has become a burden that can hardly be borne any longer.
This identity, though false, is so seemingly real to all but a few called sages that the world
population is largely doomed to suffering this illusion of birth and death.
What to do?
First off understand that you are Awareness, and that Awareness is PRIOR to the Consciousness
of Being. Then understand that whether the body lives or dies is irrelevant to Awareness and even to Consciousness (and do
understand that Awareness and Consciousness while appearing as distinct are not actually separate, in the same way that a
wave is not the ocean yet it is made of the same essence of water that the ocean is… and so the wave called Consciousness
is both separate from and is essence the same as the ocean called Awareness.
What good is this understanding to the suffering identified one who considers himself or herself
to be this temporary born and sure to die body? No one knows. But this understanding MAY bring a deeper insight into what
is Eternal and Real distinct from what only SEEMS real (no matter how convincingly).
No promises!
Most suffer and die in this identity. Few recognize another bigger possibility … the Eternal
Possibility of freedom, power and love… the freedom of Being. The power of Consciousness-Energy, and the Love of what
IS as it is.
Being lived by Awareness-Consciousness and no longer taking oneself to be a separate born-sure-to-die
body brain apparatus is the Eternal Possibility of Being Itself.
May all beings be free in This Presence, beyond body, brain, mind, emotion, beyond understanding
and beyond seeking.
Q: A “seeker writes, “Do you really think yourself and Bob Adamson are enlightened
persons?
A: My response is twofold: One, There are no "enlightened persons" …there IS no "person"
in What Is … "enlightenment" is a concept ... there is no such thing in Reality …"bob" and "charlie" and “[seeker’s name]” are concepts describing hunks of mobile meat, machines
… there is no enlightened "meat" …. Yet … all there is, is "enlightenment" (A LABEL FOR) the timeless being
called "That" …
Tat Tvam Asi
That Thou Art
That IS (what is)
Q: So you know for sure that you are that and nothing else?
A: Don’t YOU?
Q: I am confused. I know that the only greatest certainty I have is that I am. I know that I am
not my body, mind or the person.
But that only truth still which remains is that I am.
I know that I could be awareness because I am there even when I am asleep.
But what really irritates me is , in the book, I am that...Maharaj says you have to go beyond
I am ....its the eternal state, the state in which beingness and non-being exist together… the state in which I was
before conception in the mother's womb. I am not sure what the hell is all that about. How can I remember what I was in the
mother's womb?
A: Irritates WHO!? One, Read the attached free version of “Paradise Found”. All these
questions are dealt with in my books and I am tired now so do not simply repeat what has already been shared.
Two, ponder Bob Adamson’s pointers and decide about his authenticity for yourself! I assure
you that there is NO doubt here that Bob is NO different than Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj and speaks FROM that timeless Being
that YOU truly are…
"Emptiness, suffused with intelligence (knowing), can be a useful pointer or description, but
remember--the description can never be the described. It is a valuable pointer only if in looking or seeing there is a recognising
of the actuality of this natural emptiness.
~
Every thing comes from, appears in, and returns to this natural emptiness. The coming and going
of things is transience, but the cognising emptiness, being empty, does not come and go. Being empty, it is of itself no thing.
It can never be filled or emptied of things, for things appearing in emptiness have no independent nature of themselves, and
so in reality things are the same emptiness--appearing as other. Every thing perceived is emptiness.
There can only be a problem if things--including the so called 'seer'--are believed to be other
than this natural emptiness".
~
"In recognising presence awareness, there is no 'thing' to see, just natural non-conceptual seeing,
actually as it is without subject or object. See this and the realisation is immediate that what is labeled as awareness or
consciousness or mind can never be formulated as either a subject or an object. Being empty of a subject or object, it is
emptiness seeing (cognising emptiness). Emptiness can never be emptied of emptiness, nor can it be filled by emptiness. With
that concept cancelled out, only the wordless thoughtless indescribable emptiness remains. Not a vacuum or a void, but a vivid
self-shining, self-knowing, self-aware emptiness, like a clear sky full of light. See for yourself. No one or other can do
it for you. Immediate simplicity. Continue to see that the seeing is continuous. Any doubt, question, or argument, and the
conceptual seeker has appeared again. See that and non-conceptual emptiness remains undisturbed".
~
"Recognise the naturalness that you are--pure, all pervasive, space like, ever expressing, spontaneous
presence-awareness, with no reference point (self nature) having any substance or independent existence. Failing to recognise
naturalness (the unity of appearance and emptiness, space and its content), delusion happens and there is a grasping of or
fixation on appearance--me and the other--a seeming duality. Without that fixation there is freedom as naturalness, delusion
dissolves and evenness (non-duality) remains--the natural state--simply this, nothing else. Naturally remaining as naturalness
(equanimity) is the natural (effortless) meditation of no one to meditate and nothing to meditate on--no trying to get or
trying to avoid, just effortless being which is always already so. Recognise this again and again".
~
"The reflection is not in the mirror but of the mirror".
It is impossible to grasp and hold the eternal selflessness. Why? This timeless statelessness
is unconditioned unkept raw and wild open darkness ... Love but REAL Love. This is is Endless Embracing allowing,
a vastness beyond the ken of mind and self to grasp ....Being, appearing as what the mind (the ego-sense of being an individual)
sees as either love or hate, either courage or fear, either war or peace. This Infinite Eternal Stateless Love IS ALL OF THAT
and NONE OF THAT.
There is NOTHING separate from Love. There is NO Love apart from This .... righthererightnow
Awareness.......
What if the search really is over? What if you REALLY ARE what you have been seeking inside these
“conceptual structures” – ideas only – of time, location and viewpoint? What is left to seek? Where
is a seeker? The seeker is just a thought of a me. Where IS that person who claims I think and I feel? Try to grasp a thought.
Might as well try to put a pound of space in a sieve.
Does a thought of I being me actually have any substance at all? And try to grasp it! Try and
grip onto any experience! Too late! Clouds pass. You Are The SKY of Awareness - no thing but That thou art. Be Still. Be.
Empty.
By the time you show up as an apparent entity to seemingly have a go at grasping and hanging onto
an experience - or a thought - too late - long gone!
What will your next thought be? Until it appears do you know? Can you? If not ... then who
thinks?
In unknowing all alone - This Endless Love is seen. This is Essence, Source, One Taste
... Belonging To No One.
Only when your life is lost into Life Itself can it be said by nobody at all that "awakening has
happened". But that is just another unplanned thought ... and there will be no one to claim "i am awakened". (Such a claimant
would be just another unsought thought ...)
This Cannot Be Taught.
Seeking "Wholeness", Completion, Happiness, Love or "Liberation" from “Another”, whether
that "revered other" be a "Guru, Guide, Lover, or Friend", is a perfect way to avoid Paradise. Paradise is THIS. Just as it Is and just as it Isn’t. All seeking "out there" is a
dream of a “me”, foolishly knocking on the door to Paradise, from inside Paradise. Paradise is only lost in seeking it!
This Loving Oneness Cannot Be Known. To “know”
Oneness there would have to be a sense of separation FROM Oneness. Who cannot see the fault in that logic?
"Can you identify a single thing that is not an object
to the subject that you are? Is the you, that is attempting to do this, an object as well?" -John Greven
Objects, by definition, are temporary... what is That which is NOT temporary, That which has NO
beginning or end, That which does not change? The Eternal is NOT a thing, yet there is ISness. What is That Unchanging Isness?
Is That Isness an object appearing to the subject that You are?
If there is a sense of longing for love, happiness or peace, a feeling
of needing to locate a truth, a sense of something still missing or something wrong, you must resolve the core issue of your
real “self-identity” right from the beginning. Knowing what you are and also knowing what you are not is essential
to realizing the natural state of your true Being. But knowing what you are not (not that not that, not body not words not
this or that) will not necessarily give the final push into the EternalState. One can spend a whole lifetime on
self-inquiry, yoga, study of scriptures, meditation, worship, or any other path of “becoming” and “someday”
and end up with nothing more than extreme frustration - unless the core issue of authentic identity is not resolved right
out of the gate.
Do you know what you really are? Get THAT handled first.
What are you? Undeniable Being. YOU ARE. Any doubt about that? Awareness
IS. Any question that Awareness IS?
Notice that language is temporary, and that temporal appearance comes and goes IN what is Real
– Emptiness, zero and less than zero, also called (but only with language) “Being”.
But where is Being PRIOR to the assumption of a linguistic reference point? Do "you" exist at
all? Without language how would you know this "me" you claim “I Am”?
Know Not
Most of what we "know" is past, memory. All else we seem to "know" is future, speculation,
imagination. All we think or believe we know as now is Not Really Now.
What IS is Prior To Now - and how could THAT be known? And by whom?
What is REAL? Not that not this. No thing? NO! Not even no thing. This is NOT a perception,
NOT an experience, NOT an experiencer, NOT a thought, NOT a thinker, NOT knowledge, NOT a knower, NOT a thing, NOT no thing.
Anything said is past and a lie. All beliefs are lies and only linguistic folly. This is no thing
and not no thing. That and Not That.
Un figure outable, un knowable, un experiencable, un graspable, un. UN. Not one and not many,
not two and not even NOT two.....
Stop. Drop. Drop. Drop it drop the dropper drop that and stop. Drop till you stop.
But Wait? There is NO Person. Who would drop what?
If "you" are reading and ears are hearing your reading this as a self-centered "me" identity
there will NOT be a true hearing, or seeing... the message is NOT that there is nothing you can do, it is that in Reality
there IS no "you". The "message" is From I Am to I Am (with great Love.)
Many share they have pain, unwanted and persistent. Pain, hurts, are happenings in this dream
as this timeless energy of aliveness pulsates into all forms from and AS formless Being. And it is only when "you" assume
it is "your" pain or that it is “me” that hurts, that suffering arises. ALL suffering is rooted in one core false
assumption: "I'm ME" - and that gives rise to "This is MY pain and moreover 'I' do not want this"!
The cure is simple: Remove the false cause and the effects cannot remain. To look within the space,
that presence of awareness that is always clear and always present wherever “you” are, to seek the source of that
assumed identity called “me” with “my” body and “my” thoughts, uproots the assumed cause
of all suffering. Simply look for the one you call “me” and see what you find. If anything! (You will find nothing
- which is another label for the Unborn You - Being-Energy-Love.)
Remove the false and only the Real remains, shining presently as the One Self you are. Ever fresh,
appearing as Everything, to No One (or NoThing, to EveryOne.)
Many say “I have been seeking”. That is not true! There is no I apart from all that
is; that “I” you claim as an identity is nothing but a thought that comes and goes in awareness. And the concept
I points to No Thing - That no thing is simple Awareness, Presence, Being. That is NOT a concept. I as a concept points to
that awraeness. Like air as a concept points to the stuff that the body breatehs in and out. Can't see air but it IS. Obviously.
Can't see awarness - that IS ... obviously. IT IS and IS what you are.
Seeking is a story added to that I that is just an assumed identity and that identity is just
flat false. What is TRUE? Who are you really? That assumption of being an “I” apart IS the assumed separateness
and it is ALL just a bunch of thoughts. Whether any thoughts or stories are here or not awareness is simply never missing,
never changes. This understanding is simplicity itself: That awareness is what you are, silent, clear, empty, all embracing
stillness in which sounds and movements arise. Take your stand as I AM Awareness and refuse the mind’s stance or positionality
“I am I, me, separate form awareness”. How can any appearance, any thought, any story actually be separate for
awareness? Nothing can appear unless the No Thing of awareness is. Awareness is here now, first and foremost. Who can’t
see that awareness is never missing?
Don’t mistake what you are – awareness – to be a thing apart from itself. You
are No Thing. Only That!
Q: With respect Sir, Who is this message
for... From one character in this dream to another.... Both do not have any control... Without control how does one say 'Who
am I' ???
C. Believe NOTHING! Ask YOU who is
this entity here which now believes "there is no control!?" That is another ego-ignorance! ASK YOU. WHO AM I? Seek the Source
of the I that asks and believes....
Q: Who is to ask 'Who am I'
C: The assumed entity that asks THIS
Q: So the 'Assumed Entity' should ask
'Who am I' on and on mechanically without expecting any answer. What is achieved here?
C. What is "achieved"? Absolutely NOTHING. Find the Source of that I that refuses to ask itself.
No more ofthese sorts of questions will be answered here now. REFUSE all questions
except "who am I?" Refuse all answers except I AM I. See that I is empty, meaningless. You are that I – THAT is NO THING.
Full Stop! Love!
Stunning and Authentic Pointers to What Is REAL and
PRIOR to All
Very moving tribute to two great Beings - Bhagavan Nityananda and Sri Nisargadatta
Maharaj. Stephen Wolinsky has come out of the direct non-experience of That which IS and Prior To I AM to impossibly share
the nonexpressible unknowable Isness of Absolute Love.
A movement of Love, Grace, whatever label you like for the
Reality beyond appearance of name form and language.... Prior to Consciousness, prior to language, even prior to nothingness,
You ARE - THAT. That IS The Absolute ... A humble bow to This ... gratitude flows into awareness from This.
Q: Why did the Buddha advocate the eightfold path as a means to liberation?
(goes on to list the whole 'path' thing! - deleted.)
C. First off - who is this entity that “wants to know?” What is this persona-mask ‘me’ that
assumes it is real, and wants to have answers, which are all useless, and that does not recognize that ALL “why”
questions are simply going to lead to more bullshit story? WHO wants yet another endless meaningless “tale told by an
idiot, filled with sound and fury, signifying … NOTHING!”?
Secondly, nobody really knows what that appearance of Life Itself some call “Buddha” REALLY uttered
and yet from direct seeing I tell you that beyond ANY doubt, the truth is a pathless land (as J. Krishnamurti put it- purportedly.)
Look: ALL paths lead AWAY from Paradise! Moreover, all "why" questions are coming out of an assumption
that (a) there is an entity that needs or wants to know, a "me", and (b) another entity called "Awake one i.e. Buddha" who
had answers and talked to others "not awake". There just ARE no such "persons" - it's all a bullcrap story!
Frankly I seriously doubt that the Buddha appearance ever did "teach" any such. The sense of it here is that since
there IS no person, no individual, no Buddha, no not-Buddha, no "awakened one" and no "unawakened one", that this story got
perpetrated in the ignorance of those minds that interpret and turn a spontaneous utterance of a fresh timeless burst of energy
arising as sounds into some holy bullshit.
Ponder this: If the Buddha really said THIS -- (which from here seems perhaps more likely that the exhortation to
follow some arduous “path”) -- “Actions happen, deeds are done, but there IS no ‘individual doer thereof”
-- then for whom would any ‘path’ have been advocated!? And BY whom?
Duh.
Let’s be clear! In this Timelessness, this ever-new Being-Awareness-Love, there IS no path and there IS no
such “attainment” as “liberation”. There is NO path, NO goal, NO seeker, NO Buddha - the old zen masters
said "If you meet the Buddha on the road kill him!" Thereby pointing to the FACT that there IS no "Buddha" -- and no
"you!"
There is NO Liberation ... OR, all there IS is Liberation i.e. Timeless Spaceless BEING appearing as everything!
... but the words only POINT and do not describe – THIS that You ARE is UTTERLY beyond description, beyond perception,
PRIOR to language, Empty yet Full Being – LIFE Itself, ALIVENESS. NOR do the words prescribe a path to "somewhere other
than here" that can be reached "somewhen other than now”. There just is NOTHING to get and NO-ONE to “get”
that!
You cannot get Here from Here! AND there IS no "person," no "you" - that is a false assumption that leads to endless
questions and seeking (and suffering!) so long as the assumption goes unchallenged!
The bottom line is there is nothing to get because there is no one to get this No Thing that IS – Timeless
Being, Nothing being Everything NOT TWO! It’s an already Done Deal! Seeking and paths are DENIAL of that! STOP NOW.
BE. There is ONLY This Being as it is! Full stop.
To be real and straight about it, that "path to liberation" is absolutely bullshit. As is pointed out in the
introduction of the book “Paradise Found”, if ANYTHING is assumed to be other than ignorant bullshit then the
perspective is simply one of utter ignorance. Ignoring your Emptiness you tell a bullshit story of a me and a Buddha and a
path. THAT is all a load of ignorant crap. Got it?
IF “you” still accept the mind’s lie that there IS a “you” person, then that you is
being a FAKE. ERASE that phony, that mental assumption of a separate “me,” the con man or woman - just ask that
believed believer “you” assume “you” are, "who asks this question?" WHO AM I? WHAT AM I? I AM. But
WHAT?
Give up ALL your other questions and stop believing these stories; dismantle that believer! Drop it all by refusing
to ask anyone else OR yourself any question other than WHAT AM I?" And tale no answer but I AM. What Am I? I Am. Let that
ERASE "you" once and for good!
The idea of paths and the idea of liberation are all just mental noises that are absolutely meaningless. What you
are is empty, naked, meaningless presence awareness -- and even less than THAT!
Ponder these simple pointers:
“Get back to basics with this stuff. Do you know what your true nature is? You obviously exist. So is it clear what you
are? If this is not clear, any amount of other pursuits will only be temporary palliatives that may sooth the symptoms of
seeking, suffering and doubt. But since the resolution is only temporary, those things will return again. The resolution lies
in clear self-knowledge, that is, knowing what you are without any doubts. This has nothing to do with any teaching, path
or practice, but getting down to brass tacks and answering the question, "What am I?", not in terms of concepts or mental
assertions, but in direct experience for yourself. What progress have you made in this essential, core pursuit? Is what you
are clear at this point? Yes or no?" - John Wheeler
"Give up all questions except one: ‘Who am I?’ After all, the only fact you are sure of is that you are.
The ‘I am’ is certain. The ‘I am this’ is not. Struggle to find out what you are in reality. To know
what you are, you must first investigate and know what you are not".
"Refuse all thoughts except one: the thought 'I am'. The mind will rebel in the beginning, but with patience and perseverance
it will yield and keep quiet. Once you are quiet, things will begin to happen spontaneously and quite naturally without any
interference on your part." ~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
"We are That, 'That' meaning the seeming place in awareness where awareness shines out. But in ignorance of the true
nature, That we are, that seeming place in awareness is called me or I". - 'Sailor' Bob Adamson
T.C. says, Listening to the last audio file (A Consultation With
Mike) in the email I received, I realized that I react just like Mike. I feel like I have to respond like he did to a pointer
that I am getting. To show I understand. When you admonished him basically to shut up that did me a great service.
Please thank him for me that he had the guts to sit there and take it.
I know much of the time he was responding because he wanted you to realize he was still there
on the other end of the line. I got a lot (or nothing) out of "you are what you don't know that you don't know."
When that is considered it puts everything to a screeching halt.
Full stop. Game over.
Thank you.
C. That is great to hear!
I have sent your note to Mike, I am sure it will be appreciated.
"FAQ" (Frequently asked questions; all are answered in the books - free samples are available - and on YouTube - which is totally free)
Q: How did this realzation happen for you?
C. Two answers: First, pointers to The Timeless Inconceivable Truth? Nothing happens to no-one:
There IS no “realization” for any “person”.
Or, nothing happened. There was a dream and the dream got seen as a dream by no-person.
Or, it is seen there is and never was or could be a real “personal entity” –
that was a delusive assumption that, when seen through in Timelessness, is seen by no one to have never existed.
This will make no sense to a grasping thought-identity called you or me or mind or yourself myself.
It cannot make sense because what is pointed to is beyond sense, beyond perception, conception, experience, and even beyond
consciousness or being-awake or the space called “beyond”.
A pointer: This is naked-awareness and that is absolutely No Thing.
Second: In the “relative” or the dreamer’s story of happenings in time to apparent
persons: In apparent “time”, upon a dreaming of this charliething meeting the apparent johnwheelerthing ...
and this timeless Presence being pointed to ... and the false assumption of “I am me” being challenged, investigated,
and it was proved absolutely that this “I” does NOT exist, and never did! ... the dream ended in This No Thing
of Emptiness Loving ... (So the story goes … :-) … !!
Q: Another question: I love your pointers. Why don’t you advertise so you can become really
popular like Eckhart Tolle, Wayne Liqourman, the Landmark Forum, Siddha Yoga, and The Sedona Method, to name just a few?
C. This appearance just really LOVES what “another non-entity” name of Sri Ranjit
Maharaj said when asked this one? “I don’t exist!”. So who would advertise to whom? There IS no person here
there any where.
This a dead man talking, nobody thinks or writes yet talking and writing happen. Strange paradox
to the mind but you are NOT that thought-story than began with the thought “I am me” and got added to in ignorance
so just see that right now! Refuse all thoughts expect I AM. Refuse all further questions and only ask “you” “Who
Am I?”.
That’s all there is left for no-one to “do”. If there is still a believed assumed
“identification with a “me” put that fake "me" to the task of finding itself. It can be seen that the search
turns up nothing (and onlythat) and in this timeless seeing the search ends, the “person” falls away and all there
is is This Naked Love – and directly there is the seeing that belongs to no one …That, I Am.
Give this a listening – but not as a person listening to a person; rather as Self sharing
Itself with Itself:
PS: ponder the following from a cohort in this Oneness ... if you dare and ...let the ignorant
identy crumble and die now...
“The Open Secret communication is totally radical and uncompromising. It is a rare and singular
expression of absolute non-dualism. It bypasses the mind and speaks directly to the very core of a wisdom that is inherent
in all of us. When there is a readiness to hear, all seeking and need for personal endeavour falls away, leaving simply the
wonder of what is.
There is no me and no you, no seeker, no enlightenment, no disciple and no guru. There is no better or worse, no
path, and nothing that has to be achieved. All appearance is source. All that apparently manifests – the world, the
life story, the hypnotic dream of separation, the search for home, is the one appearing as two, the nothing appearing as everything,
the absolute appearing as the relative.
There is no separate intelligence weaving a destiny, and no choice functioning at any level. What is sought has never
been lost . . . the abiding, boundless wonder that is beyond measure”.
P.A. Says, Thank (you) thank (you) thank (you) I thought you might enjoy a pointer that I put into
words: What is? Love is. What is love? Love is What. What is. I love you Charlie. I'm grateful for
your showing up.
Watching your YouTube contributions leave me gone and just present. Love, P.
Q: I watched the latest Video on YouTube, and I get that I/we am awareness now,but is it eternal? how do we know? Is awareness aware of itself after the death of
the body? It's possible we are just awareness from the brain. Maybe brain consciousness is all there is and it dies when the
body dies or goes to sleep.....
A. NOTE Charlie will be on vacation through 7 August. Read "Paradise Found". It covers most all such dilemma questions. In essence, you are mistaking
consciousness for eternal awareness. Always the suggestion is to come back to what you know directly: I AM. Be- ing, just
That. ALL else is mental speculation and empty philosophy. BE. Just That. Awareness is PRIOR to consciousness of waking or
dream. The Eternal is UNKNOWABLE yet It is the Ultimate and Only actual Reality...
Ponder this from John Wheeler: "The point of all this is to know yourself. Is your being and its true nature clear
at this point? All the questions and problems arise from this being in doubt. So, rather than deal with questions on a piecemeal
basis, go right to the root issue.
"Who and what are you? You know you are. That cannot be denied. But what is the nature of this that you
are? Tackle that first, and all the rest will stand clarified by that. Until that point, if even if questions are addressed,
there is no real end to them." (www.thenatrualstate.org).
Q: "I am practising the "I am" method for a few months
now. And now I am able to be in awareness some times of the day. Hopefully if I have any questions I hope you will reply to
me. "
C. You do not "go in or out" of
awareness. YOU ARE AWARENESS.
The thought "I am" “and even the "experience
of being "I Am" is NOT Spaceless Timeless Awareness, NOT Being, NOT Eternal, NOT the Ultimate Truth. WHO says "I am practicing"?
WHO claims this doing of any pondering or taking up practice of any method? Who are you assuming you to be? The doer? The
knower? The one who attains or loses Awareness? Who believes this? Where is that one who believes, practices, claims to know
OR not know?
You neither attain nor lose Awareness. Your real nature
IS Awareness. Awareness is SAT, Existingness. Just “I-I” or No Thing, Being And Not-A-Concept. Is IS THAT TRUE?
ASK YOU.
Inquire: What IS “reality”? What IS “Eternal”?
What IS “Time”? What IS “Love”? What is That What Never Changes EVER?
“I AM” is CHIT, Consciousness or Clarity.
Is it true? Ask YOU.
The word THAT in the pointer I AM THAT is pointing
AT ANANDA ... Bliss or Peace. SAT-CHIT-ANANDA - YOU as Awareness-Clarity-Joy. Reality BEYOND assumptions, perceptions, sensations,
emotions, stories, identities, beliefs, beyond all yet permeating all, Ultimate Emptiness, Tat Tvam Asi - THAT THOU ART! These
are NOT three, NOT two, NOT one.
Try to grasp That which NEVER Changes, try to grab
and hold THAT which is Beyond Perception, Beyond Knowing, Beyond Grasping, Beyond both Being and Not-Being.
Look And see, can anything graspable last? It is all
gone the moment it arises. Only Life is Timeless, isn’t it true? look and see.
Nothing you can grasp lasts. Nothing you can grasp
is real. Reality is Not That Not That.
First: A Potent Pointing
from my teacher John Wheeler:
"Pause all thought and look in direct experience.
What is here and now, and what are you? How far are you from non-conceptual presence-awareness, and where is the presumed
person, with his or her need for paths, practices and purifications? Before granting the need for such things, one must first
establish the presence of the defective person. If there is no person, then who are we speaking about? The problem with teachings,
however grand they may be, is that in the end they are collections of concepts. The recorded teachings of the greatest teachers,
such as Shankara, Buddha or whomever it may be, are nothing but words and concepts. What I am talking about is your natural
state, which is here and now and not even touched by the mind. This is the beauty of the direct, non-conceptual truth of things.
All the questions and problems are constructions in thought, for and about an imaginary entity whom we cannot even establish
as present. That is the hitch with approaches that are dualistic and unfold in time or through a process of becoming. These
approaches reaffirm the primacy of the individual, time, processes, attainments, teachers and students and so on (all of which
are purely conceptual), as opposed to the ever-present, non-conceptual reality that you are".
Q: Charlie, you were a long time student of Kashmir Shaivism, yes?
How did these teachings influence you and what is in your sense of that the essence of those teachings?
C. True, I did study the Shiva Sutras (Swami Lakshmanjoo's expression)
and about a thousand other pointers of Shaivism. It finally all boiled down to these two:
1. Chaitanyamatma
The common translation: “Universal Consciousness is one's own nature”.
“Chaityanam” = Consciousness. “Atma” = Self or The Undivided One. This is what we point out over and over here: You Are That ONE, NOT Two.
Yet the paradox inherent in any such translation is, it is not “your” nature; is is, simply, True-nature, impersonal
and self-knowing Being, or Cognizing Emptiness.
A clearer translation might be, “The Independent State of Supreme Consciousness
is The Reality Of Everything”. This is a newer translation which resonates beautifully here (from “Shiva Sutras, The Supreme Awakening” by John Hughes.)
2. Jnanam Bandhah
Again, one most popular translation is: “Knowing the individual consciousness
as one's own nature and not knowing the Universal Consciousness as one's own nature, is bondage”. Again I point out that the words “one’s own nature” tends to mislead owing to the seeming
identity as True nature being somehow personal, which it is absolutely NOT. “IT” is not “an it” at
all. Herein are the limits of language; impersonal consciousness is beyond language yet- again paradoxically – the One Essence of language and all appearance of in and as language or what is usually
called “mind”.
The Sage is saying here, to identify with any “separateness from Consciousness”is bondage. As Nisargadatta repeatedly pointed out, “Knowledge is Ignorance”.
Jnanam = Knowledge and Bandhah = Bondage. But this knowledge is FALSE knowledge; as the Christian metaphor of Adam and Eve losing Paradise owing to their “eating from the tree of knowledge”. This false knowledge is simply,
mistaking the Self which is Universal Consciousness to be a limited entity with paltry powers of will and choice in appearance
but which is, in truth, a powerless concept and nothing more. A phantom, a chimera.
To come to see directly that what we are is Universal Being-Consciousness-Peace and
NOT a person with limitations and problems is the natural happening of what some call “enlightenment”.
This – Perfect Peace – is what is timeless, eternally Real, a non-state
state of Isness prior to concepts of time, space and location. This is the essence of what is called “Kashmir Shaivism”
– and all other “isms” or “spiritual traditions”.
Feel free to write again if any other questions arise; meanwhile simply ponder these
two essential pointers to what is Real and what is false. The Real never changes; the false is always changing. Yet these
are Not Two. As The Buddha said it – form is emptiness, emptiness is form. Not Two.
Now cut through all that; just scroll back to the top and re-read that quote
from John Wheeler. SO simple. SO direct!
Q: Hi, Charlie, I hope this email
finds you well and...dead.
C. Yep still dead.
Q: I've been contemplating my own
death a lot lately, and, strangely, enough, this practice has given me a great deal of peace. I know that, at some point
in the future (nobody knows when), Joe is going to die...all of his hopes, fears, dreams, aspirations, and failures are going
to end... it will all disappear back into the nothingness from which it came. If this is true, and I'm not sure
about the logic of this, I'm dead already!
What difference does it make whether or not it happens this second or 40 years from now...the result will be absolutely the
same. This is my "darkest night", my deepest fear, and yet, paradoxically, this seeing brings me great peace...there's
no hope....and that feels very peaceful.
C. Now strike that "I" and "mine"
and "my" and what is left? Nothing Being That. Any identification, drop it and no there is no you to drop it so it's a horridly
confusing incomprehensibly wonderful paradox.
Q: I don't know what the next step
is...
C. There is NO "next. There is a concept
time that the mind takes to be real. Where IS "time", "next", "now"?
Q: …but I want to abide in this
walking corpse for awhile and see how that works out. Facing the thing I feared the very most has somehow produced a
profound sense of relief...and freedom.
C. Again: Now strike that "I" and
"mine" and "my" and what is left? Nothing Being That.
Q: It's like, "You thought you were gonna
die...well guess what, you're already dead...and loving it! (with apologies to Mel Brooks). It's also like, "Well, every
single thing you thought, hoped for, dreamed of, coveted, believed, etc. is going to disappear at the moment of your death,
why not just get rid of all of that baggage now?" Lay it all down...it just doesn't feel necessary at all
to animate this corpse.
C. Who tells this story? Who believes the lies this story is telling?
It is all imagination, speculation, based on one faulty assumption: There is an I and I am that I. It's a pack of lies.
Q: Your thoughts, reflections, corrections
as always would be greatly appreciated!
Ponder: Now strike that "I" and "mine" and "my" and what is left? Nothing Being That.
PS ...and, in point of fact,
the "I" that I think I am never was born...never existed in the first place! Literally mind-blowing!
N.D. Writes, A question is arising in consciousness to which no answer is arising.
How painful is death?
C. I am on holiday but Love wants to reply
Who would be there in death to care? Death is extinction –
Nirvana – No thing no where! Beyond pain and pleasure. The pointer is, die now … look, who asks this? Seek the
Source of that “that thinks IT IS and can DIE!”
Q: If painful why does consciousness experience this
pain? It must be consciousness that experiences the pain as THAT's the only real thing capable of any experience? What's the
point of experiencing it countless number of times in its countless identifications? Does consciousness see the
organism collapsing? Or Do the lights go off? What does consciousness identify with now?
C. Nothing. Consciousness is an appearance in No Thing and even
THAT is only an Ultimate and not The Absolute. You are Not That Not That. Drop all and look for the Source of that I asker
that wants some “master” to “tell me a story”!
Q: These questions arise in consciousness but no answers
arise. The ever present consciousness has no clue... Warmest Regards…
C. Here is your answer, my friend ...
Ponder, WHO asks? WHO AM I?
The I AM is sure. Seek the SOURCE
of I AM. You do assume you have control!
The one you assume you are must be
challenged!
Seek the Source of that "I" which
asks and doubts. You will find all sorts of assumptions but NONE of these assumptions are real. The final answer is in
Not That Not That Not That!
I Am Not That.
You Are Not That.
All Of This Is Nothing But Not That.
That is all. Not That Not That.
This is Now and Never........
And Now Not That either!
Stop. Drop. Let the I been seen through -- it’s Now or never -- and Not That
either!
Charlie’s Living Expression of
the “Truth that Sets us Free” is, as he himself (or Not Self) is so fond of saying, is of the “Hardball
and/or End Game" variety. With this in mind, one might also say that Charlie Hayes is, quite literally, a perfect expression of
“Tough Love.” As such, “Paradise Found” does not offer to wake “YOU” up to “What
YOU Always Already ARE” softly or gently, but rather (if one has the nerve) to provide a “cold slap
in the face" (and repeatedly hard kick in the "ego’s butt") until “No One gets It"!
However, if you truly are “sick and
tired of being sick and tired" (read: suffering), and are actually serious about “getting out of the way”
(of your Self), this is the last book the “seeker you believe yourself be” will ever think it needs.
And although Charlie's "north end" will repeatedly remind you that anything other than I Am (and even That)
is BS, his Obvious Love for That Which Is Beyond Relative Conception (read: YOU) is Self-Evident and Passionate. (Note:
Though there may yet be other books forthcoming, this one may actually be “Mister
Charlie’s Opus”!)
Friend and Author of “Out of My Mind
and Back to My Senses,” retired Military and Airline Pilot, and 40 year (some of us become true masters of avoiding
the Obvious Truth of Being in favor of “self-delusion and suffering”) seeker of Truth as the Common Thread in
All, Rich Hay, Major, USAF (Retired)
Who do you think you are? Are you the Source of your life? Are
you responsible for controlling the beating of your heart? Are you the Source of that beating heart?
Who do you think you are? Are you the Source of the world of others?
Are you responsible for the war in Iraq? Are
you the Source of the Stock market’s rollercoaster ride? Who do you think you are? Who do you know you are? Are you
the Source of thinking you know who you are? Are you the Source of that energy making the sun burn, the earth turn? Who do
you feel you are? Are you the Source of what you feel? Who do you think woke you up today? Who do you think you are? The One
who woke your body up? Did you make sure not to die in your sleep? Who do you think believes feels knows accepts denies rejects
adores hates loves what IS? Who do you think you are? Are you the Source? Are you responsible for anything? Everything? Nothing?
Are you at all? Are You I Am I you IS there a Source? WHERE IS IT?
Questions Requiring Honests Answers
Who do I think I am? Am I the Source of my life? Am I responsible
for controlling the beating of my heart? Am I the Source of that beating heart? Who do I think I am?
Am I the Source of the world of others? Am I responsible for the
war in Iraq? Am I the Source of the Stock market’s rollercoaster ride?
Who do I think I am? Who do I know I am? Am I the Source of thinking I know who I am? Am I the Source of that energy making
the sun burn, the earth turn? Who do I feel I am? Am I the Source of what I feel?
Who do I think woke I up today? Who do I think I am? The One who
woke my body up?
Did I make sure not to die in my sleep? Who do I think believes
feels knows accepts denies rejects adores hates loves what IS? Who do I think I am? Am I separate from my Source? Am I a thing
at all? Am I Source? Am I responsible for anything? Everything? Nothing? Am I at all? AM I? Am I at all? Are You I Am I you
IS there a Source? WHERE IS IT?
Do I have a Source? Do you? Where is my Root Core Source? Your
Source? Am I Source? Are you Source?
Gilbert shares this today … The radical view IS this natural SEEING, happening right
now, right there. (You wont be able to find a 'point' where it is happening).
In that SEEING, the so-called 'mind' is obviously nothing but appearances,
words, concepts etc.....they do not actually appear as 'something' seen, in the ACTUAL seeing. If you believe they do,
then what color or shape are they?
These points are so obvious (here) I never give it a thought, so
to speak. If I contemplate it, it seems strange that everyone can't see this obviousness...but that thought dissolves
by itself.
The obvious thing is that no one wants to know about this stuff.....they
want to hang onto their beliefs, knock them into shape and continue on.
Many want to play with the non duality jargon and play games of
'getting it' etc. The latest gig is Psychotherapist catching onto the business opportunity ........ “POST AWAKENING”........ those appearances posing as “teachers” 'create' masses of believers
in having to LEARN how to live the Awakened State of Being ......... apparently it is rife in places like Santa Cruz, California ........ [yes, and also
in places like” Ashland, Oregon”].
It is SO TRANSPARENT......no one is released...they just learn
how to pretend to be released from suffering ....... if they knew how transparent the whole thing is, they would cease to
play these silly games .............. Ordinary awareness is totally present in everyone .... it has nothing to do with 'personality
and ego'.
C. Spot on as always, Gilbert.
Can it be seen? Happiness is what you are ... to seek it denies
it ... The wonderful paradox! "You must get rid of you” - can what does not exist get rid of what does not exist? Wherever
you go, HERE, You ARE! Nowhere, Everywhere ... Simply Being. Full Stop!
Many pen lovely poems! Rumi. Hafiz. Kabir. But still these poems are ONLY
conceptual. The Real is NOT a concept, no matter how “flowery”! Some are quite lovely, but still, they
are like “flowers in air” – and try but always must fail to point to That which mind cannot grasp.
What IS, is inexpressible yet Does Exist…
A seeker writes and asks for “guidance, says a teacher is wanted.
The seeker says say "I" a LOT. "I, me, myself" - what are those? What IS that "I"? Dear seeker: What exactly do
you assume you are? Look! Really LOOK and do NOT just "think about it"! Look from Naked Awareness. LOOK.
Who – or what ‘mechanism’ - asks for “guidance”?
Who says “I’m lost”? How can you LOSE the actual indisputable ever present FACT that There IS BEING? Who asks “how”? Who asks “who am I”? WHO!? Where IS the Asker? The Speaker?
The thinker of all this imagination of a “me”? WHO says “I cannot see it now”?
Find out!
What do you assume you ARE? A “knower”? A “self”?
This ‘I’ thought? An “experiencer”? A “me”? Who wants a teacher?
Bad news! I am NOT a "teacher". You can't teach this because
that would assume there is a knower who could teach a non-knower. That is an utterly FALSE construct, a false paradigm, a
set of false assumptions. The "set" is, I assume there IS separateness, an assumed I/other dualism, then added on is
the assumption “I am me” and “there is ‘time’ and nOT Only tis moment of timelessness, therefore
there are others” that are “not me” and some “one of those others” will teach “me”
how to be The One (that I already ANM, The I AM of Awareness Just That) and “then” this "I" will "gain paradise"
but not now, only “someday’. This is ALL BULLSHIT.
You are NONE of those. NOT that “set of assumptions”.
What ARE you then? You are NO Thing. Or Ordinary Awareness, No Thing Else but That. You see, what you ARE is just Plain, Ordinary,
nothing-special, Awareness.
All you are describing is weather in an empty sky - Awareness.
ALL knowledge is ignorance. Imagination. A dream!
You are the Dreamless Awakeness that sees the dream, the sleep,
the birth, the death. YOU WERE NEVER BORN.
The sky is Empty. Untouchable. You ARE that sky of Pure Empty
Awareness. That is not "precious or special. That is NOT a "state" - all "states" come and go ON that Empty Screen of Awareness.
That is unattainable and inescapable. You cannot GET that.
You ARE That!
That Awareness Simply IS, Empty, Meaningless, and THAT registers and allows ALL of it to appear in Timeless
Peace.
Simply KNOW this: YOU ARE.
That is all that is being pointed to: YOU ARE.
This Presence is NOT an object.
You are this Silent Blank Screen we call Being, Consciousness,
Peace.
The Peace you are is the silent observer of all you are describing.
You never left that. You ARE That.
ALL your experiences are imagination. The dream.
ALL paths of looking, meditating, pointing you back to nothing,
etc. lead AWAY from Paradise.
You Find Nothing, Yet Still Assume
You Are A Thing?
B.L. writes, The me sense is seemly strong, yet when I look for the me inside, there is nothing. This is clear, your words and
others such as Tony Parsons and John Wheeler bring such a resonance at the time of hearing or reading it is the end of the
search, there is a sort of knowing. Douglas Harding’s way of getting the looking to turn in to find nothing is great.
Yet, (don’t you just love the “yet’s and but’s”) when emotions run such as anger or fear, the
me feeling is so strong it (the feeling of I am) seems to be really real and is something precious that does exist and can
be lost.
C. How could BEING be “lost”? Doubts are thoughts about a flse entity called me that
now egoicly claims when “I” look for “me” “I” find nothing. Then if you really DO find
nothing what mechanism makes you keep searching for answers? Fin out where you are starting from and the whole thing is seen
as stormy weather in the Empty Sky of this inescapable timeless presence of awareness.
Q: When the excitement passes, I can look for the one that was afraid and find nothing. If someone
else was to tell me this tale, I would spout “What’s the problem, look in right now, can you find the you that
was afraid now? No, nor was there ever a you, so who was there to be afraid or angry, problem fixed. But (there’s that
but again) I know what was felt and don’t want to feel it again.
C. I I I.
WHO?
Q: My question that I am about to ask is daft, as I seemly know the answer, so why ask? I wish
I knew.
C. Again, what or who IS this I? If the question is REALLY seen as “daft” than what
force makes it get asked? The issue here is that you are starting from an assumption of a separate entity called “I”
– the questioner. That is the core mistake. Why not start from the ONLY FACT you KNOW beyond all doubt (reasonable or
otherwise)? YOU ARE. BEINGNESS IS and THAT is absolutely inescapable.
Q: Why can’t there be knowing and fear/anger in the same moment.
C. You ask “why” this
and “why” which will only lead to an embellishment of an already FALSE story of a nonexistent "me"!
What asks? What do you assume you
ARE? A “knower”? A “self”? An “experiencer”?
You are NONE of those. You are NO
Thing. Or Ordinary Awareness, No Thing Else but That.
You see, what you ARE is just Plain,
Ordinary, nothing-special, Awareness.
All you are describing is weather
in an empty sky - Awareness. ALL knowledge is ignorance. Imagination. A dream!
You are the Dreamless Awakeness that
sees the dream, the slpeep, the birth, the death. YOU WERE NEVER BORN.
The sky is Empty. Untouchable. You
ARE that sky of Pure Empty Awareness. That is not "precious or special. That is NOT a "state" - all "states" come and go ON
that Empty Screen of Awareness.
That is unattainable and inescapable.
You cannot GET that. You ARE That!
That Awareness Simply IS, Empty, Meaningless,
and THAT registers and allows ALL of it to appear in Timeless Peace.
Simply KNOW this: YOU ARE.
That is all that is being pointed
to: YOU ARE.
This Presence is NOT an object.
You are this Silent Blank Screen we
call Being, Consciousness, Peace.
The Peace you are is the silent observer
of all you are describing. You never left that. You ARE That.
ALL your experiences are imagination.
The dream.
ALL paths of looking, meditating,
pointing you back to nothing, etc. lead AWAY from Paradise.
Just some words that arise, all great
fun and ultimately MEANINGLESS - LOL -
Q: On a practical level, do you experience
love awareness whilst dreaming or deep sleep? I don't at the moment, I just experience being involved in the dream state,
which seems to goon, and on more intensely much more now than
in the past. The only love awareness I experience is in the so called waking state, but not all the time. I
hope this will become permanent!.Perhaps this needs to be so before I become
aware in the other states of consciousness.
C. You are No Thing.
Who asks these questions?
A phantom.
Love!
Q: Nothing, is there a danger that
is a concept for some?
I remember reading a long long time
ago in a TM book I think, that one can becomes aware that one is dreaming and also aware in deep sleep, when one is FULLY
Self realised . So self realisation gets deeper then in the human form..... Much like now we are aware that
we are awareness and not dreaming as an ego. What
happens after death I don't know, don't mind at all .
C, Again, You ARE No Thing.
As a concept that's totally valueless.
You say "I read" "a long time ago".
That's the DREAM of "I and Time"!
YOU are No Thing.
THAT is not a really big or really small THING!
So: As a pointer it may provoke Seeing Rightly.
Being-Awareness IS No Thing. It's not an "awareness
OF". That "awareness OF" is usually described or pointed to as "Witnessing Consciousness".
Being - Awareness witnesses ALL of it - Birth, death,
sleep, dream, waking dream.
Only difference is Being-Awareness
arises as "witnessING consciousness which is the appearance of Being as Consciousness.
ALL concepts!
Nothing is "true".
ONLY Nothing is True!
The mind cannot grasp it. EVER.
The attempt to grasp This ends in
utter frustration, and there (HERE) and then (NOW) arises Silence. No Thing yet Being Everything.
If you are not suffering then all
this is MOOT.
If you ARE then LOOK where this POINTS
rather than "trying to get it all figured out!" THAT is a fool’s errand.
_________________________
From "Paradise Found":
Q: How do I tell the truth from the
false?
C. That's easy. It's ALL false.
As my dear friend John Greven, author
of “Oneness,” notes: “Here’s a ‘Litmus Test’ - If ANYTHING is assumed to be other than
bullshit – then there is something wrong with the perspective".
What is pointed out here over and
over until it REALLY sinks in is that there is NO authentic"freedom" until the
root has been absolutely severed. Until that happens, the ego’s claim to now “know” “There is no one
in here who can do this investigation”can quite often become its own mental
egoic-justification for refusing to listen and look into what the urge to “investigate” is actuallypointing to - that what we point to is that when "the me" is STILL operating deep down, and driving the
emotions and stories of right and wrong, acceptance and rejection, approval and disapproval, then the search is NOT over.
One way it (the fake) kept its job
in "charlie" for a while after meeting John and Bob was, "I cannot do what you suggest - to investigate, to look, to get at
the SOURCE of all my flip-flops, because there is no one here with control".
THAT is the EGO USING the "truth"
to its own perverted ends.
To enter the Kingdom of Wholeness you start from the FACT that YOU ARE. That YOU ARE
is indisputable! But what the ego assumes you are is totally false.Absolutely inauthentic!
The price of freedom is, all you know and all you believe and all you assume that you ARE.
So you see, as long as you believe
“you are you”, that assumed-to-be entity you CALL “you” MUST get real, get down, and once and for
all root out the cause of thought-identity. When you have NOT done this, you will often claim, usually with a great deal of
frustration, “I CAN'T” Thatis how the EGO maintains its power and
force. WHO makes such a claim?
Find that personal power that claims “I can OR I can’t.
One definition of a cult is, “a religion or religious sect generally considered
to be extremist or false, with its followers often living in an unconventional manner under the guidance of an authoritarian,
charismatic leader”.
You’ll
never have to worry about falling into THAT trap with any true sharing from Oneness to Oneness.
The appearing
patterns of Infinite Energy of Love, seen as organisms with names and forms that speak and write about Nothing-Everything,
those which most effectively express this timeless Non-teaching are definitely NOT “charismatic”!
One of the
most revered, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, would summarily toss out of his meetings anyone who tried to turn him into an “exalted
master” and put him on pedestal. Others that come to mind include such really excellent expressions as Bob Adamson,
John Wheeler and John Greven.And a very austere and potent sharer of this, one
Wayne (Ram Tzu) Liquorman. I have experienced “Ram Tzu’s” fire directly! Burn baby burn! Ram Tzu wrote in
“No Way”, “Ram Tzu loves you so he is out to destroy you”. Pretty NOT charismatic, wouldn’t
you say!?
If you are
looking for the charismatic leader where those guys hang out you are in for a rather rude awakening. Not that they are “rude” – these men and women who share Oneness from Oneness are generally quite kind
and courteous to those who find themselves in their company. Unless you are looking to prove your bullcrap “enlightenment”
to them or seek approval from them. Then you might experience the fire of ruthless love (and if you are so blessed you would
be well advised to TAKE IT and NOT run away with your tail between your legs one more time.)
You see,
it’s just that there is none of the ass kissing approval-seeking forked tongue nicey-nicey speaking to you that often
takes the form of a seeming sincere but really inauthentic “I love You so very much” - whilst the dagger of invalidation
and assertion of unchallengeable authority is concealed in the folds of their holy robes (actual or metaphorical).
Or, behind
their backs and masked by their persona of me holy you stupid nut stick around for another 33 retreats and maybe someday …
all delivered by a master con woman or con man presenting such a smiling kindly face.
They are
easy to recognize: The take a position that they have the answers and you must obey regardless of what your nagging
intuition may tell you. You might sniff out a sense of cult-feeling but you are told that this is only your failing to “surrender”
and that you must NOT object when your own One-Self suspects something is rotten in this fish market, when the stink under
the pretty face and words is sniffed – Oh NO! You must according to these cult leaders keep eating the crap (or as in
the extreme case of this ignorant leader-follower paradigm, swallowing the poison laced Kool-Aid) and never challenge this
postured authority. If I believed that there were evil surely this must fit the concept!
So if you
have been roped in and the “teacher” keeps demanding you do more exercises, practice more and more processes,
and attend another retreat and another retreat and another retreat and more, grab your wallet and run as quick as you can.
Come back
to the simplicity of this sharing (this is NOT a teaching, and there are no “teachers” of this) - what we call
Paradise Found” around here: A) You ARE full stop. No-one can claim I am NOT. That – the impersonal not-a-concept
Beingness that “mind” calls “I AM” IS the natural, eternal Isness that you really are. That is a knowing
that is imbued with Timeless Love. B) IF you still assume you are anything – any thing! – OTHER than that I AM,
see if you can fine a separate actual “thing.” All you find is thoughts arising in Awareness, This Presence of
I AM that you are.
Believe NONE
of this. Neither accept nor reject. This that You are is not a belief nor a believer.
Those bits
of energy forming into words come and go. What You are cannot come and g. IT IS and You Are That. That is all: Paradiseis Found when the search for it is seen to be futile and it drops through the bottom of the empty net and
all there is is all there is. Home. Love.
Love can
be ruthless. Yet in the end, Love is all that really matters. Being loving is the natural way. Being a greedy “charismatic
leader’” is not natural and not ever going to matter. Love is Empty, and Meaningless, yet filled to overflowing
with a timeless courage that appears as an unconditional yet uncompromised Loving Respect for all that is. Baba Muktananda,
John Wheeler, Bob Adamson and John Greven all showed me that in their unique ways, and made me see that only Love really matters
in the end. Let it be so for you. This One Love is all you need. Everything else is dust.
Q: In your experience, how long does it take you to sense that
a person is not ready or ripe for the realization you are offering?"
C. It's NOT "my experience"! That is the error! There is no "person
here" who sees that a "person there" is ripe or not. There is JUST SEEING and this Seeing belongs to NO ONE.
You see? :-))
The sensing of that only arises in Timelessness and is then pointed
to...
But: There IS NO "Realization"! THAT is the "realization".
No one is either ripe or unripe. That is merely a story-like way
of pointing to the apparent ego resistance and a sense of there being a person believed in, who is trying and always failing
to attain some imaginary realization.
Also, "time" is a belief pinned onto the belief in a
"me" that now believes there iS "time" and there IS somewhere other than this as it is and "I" must attain that whatever-it-is
which nobody knows ever...
This is it! Look for a seeker or time and all you find is ideas,
concepts, memories ... all imaginations that arise and disappear in that which never changes ... Timeless Naked Awareness.
You are that Awareness and NOTHING else.
That Awareness is “experiencing itself” as the One
Love That Is no thing arising AS every thing. This Love is the only reality and ALL the rest is just imagination. You cannot
imagine what You are. You ARE what You Are and THAT is One-Not-Two.
J.D. Writes, Hi, Charlie - after about a year of reading and thinking about non duality, I believe
I am beginning to get it. Also, I am understanding the difference between the two camps, neo and traditional.
C. There are no “camps” in This
Timelessness. And all "understanding” is useless. It's the booby prize. This Beingness is the Seeing Nowhere for No
one - just NON-Conceptual "Knowingness" - that is spaceless, empty and belongs to no one. You cannot "OWN" Oneness: You ARE
Oneness. You cannot get it. Give that idea up straight away! What is pointed to is the ABSENCE of a "you" to "get it or NOT
get it" There is NO "it" to "get"!
Q: I see that we are only awareness,
and that which we are aware of is perfect.
C. WHO claims
"I See"? That one does NOT exist. Seeing IS. There is NO se-er (look and see where any "se-er actually is. You find
nothing. You are that No Thing. That is Love.)
Awareness is
NOT “awareness OF.” Awareness is all there IS. Another “name” for Awareness is Being, or Oneness,
or “One-Without-A-Second”.
Q: Does that not also apply
to our awareness of our thoughts and emotions? And if so, from this perspective, are not all our feelings perfect just
as they are?
C. Again this
is pointing to ONE and THAT is NOT “aware of”. Awareness and appearance are one essence, one Loving Spacelike
Beingness. Thoughts, feelings, all object-concepts! Arising in Emptiness. Thou Art The Emptiness, NOT any object!
Q: Taking this to the next
level, all emotions and all thoughts, good and bad, are perfect in that they are reflections of aliveness - right?
C. Neither right
nor wrong. NO concept can be true! Yet it can be said – as a ;pointer ONLY - that ALL "reflections" are in Reality reflections
OF The Timeless Self that you are. There are NO levels in The One You Are. Nothing said or written anywhere is “right”.
There is NO “truth” in words. Words are only pointers to that which always IS and That cannot be languaged, described,
or grasped.
Q: If I am on the right path,
this is astonishing. From the perspective of awareness in the present moment, if everything is perfect, can anything
be wrong?
C. A) There IS NO path! B)
There IS no “perspective. If ANYTHING is assumed to be a “true” perspective, that “perspective”
is totally off base. What you are is perspectiveless, pointless, unlocatable in “spacetime”. And that IS
“astonishing” (a definition: to fill with sudden wonder or amazement) – but only to a person which is never found anywhere anywhen! C) Asked and answered! NOTHING is ever wrong or
right. Those are thoughts that seem to separate what IS and judges some good and some bad. That is an arbitrary and capricious
movement of language, thoughts arising in Timeless Spacelike Being and these thoughts are all absolutely empty and meaningless.
Full Stop!
T.L. asks, 'I' being my mind,
is it possible that the mind is pretending to be I AM, consciousness itself, what do you think?
C. You are dreaming! This "I" is a dream character, yet the Atma (True Self, Existence-Knowingness-Aliveness)
) is REAL as Not-I - not Two - This Self, This empty, spacelike, True I, is Awareness - Only That and THAT is NOT a concept,
NOT a feeling, NOT an experience.
The I is not YOUR mind (or MY mind). There is NO mind. NO I. This is all a dream
and the I-mind thought/thinker dichotomy IS the contracted Consciousness that "sages" describe, and point to as the fake persona
- the great pretender - that false entity which seemingly dreams up an empty world.
Look: It's a "virtual reality"!
And all that this dream-reality is made of is, as some point to this, The Shakti
of Shiva, the Pure Formless Energy of Love .... and so it appears that the I consciousness comes and goes while what You are
- Formless Timeless Being (Existence) is PRIOR to and NEVER changes ever ever.........
Q:I have always believed these words [of sages and gurus] to be true,but I didn't
KNOW they were until I met Ramana Maharshi through sweet Gangaji in my heart.
C. There is NO Gangaji AND you ARE Gangaji. You might like to ponder this until there
is no longer any false sense of me/other. There never was any separation! That was only an assumption, part of the "set" of
the assumed false paradigm of quote reality", the "dream of the jiva" (the apparent but false conceptual "individual".)
Moreover, the words are NOT "True!" There is NO believer. NOTHING is to be "believed."
As always the pointer is do NOT accept, agree or believe, or reject, disagree, or disbelieve! Look for a "believer".
Where IS any such "subject-believer"? Only as imagination or memory in Awareness does a "believer" arise. In other words,
in thoughts and only in thoughts! Can a thought attach anything or grasp or do anything? YOU are NOT a thought! The "believer"
is NOT real; it's your dream!
Words are ONLY “pointers” or descriptions! NOT the ACTUAL. The Reality
is, there is NO conceptual or linguistic "Truth". The words potently POINT to the real but NO word is ever or could ever BE
the Actual. The irrefutable proof in your own experience appears if you write the word "water" on a piece of paper and
then when the body is thirsty, you swallow the paper and see if thirst is quenched!
Q: I feel love is my form.
C. Yes, sure; the energy here says YES, when the language arises to say "I feel Love
is My Form" you are pointing directly to What IS and Prior to Language.... now take the I" out and there is Only the Reality,
Timeless Formless and Time and Forms, NOT TWO. One-Without-A-Second, You ARE....... Ponder:
"That in whom reside all beings and who resides in all beings,
who is the giver of grace to all, the Supreme Soul of the universe, the limitless being -- I am that." - Amritbindu Upanishad
"That which permeates all, which nothing transcends and which,
like the universal space around us, fills everything completely from within and without, that Supreme non-dual Brahman --
that thou art".
– Sri Shankaracharya
C. There is a happiness here that the Reality is being cognized
there and the false is crumbling into The Infinite Love that You are. Paradise Found!
J.M. Writes, Can you write a bit about this 'final goal' bit that I've heard about? The intellect hears "Final goal" and
wants to achieve it. It is no problem to what I really am, obviously. The final goal is described as 'the drop
going into the ocean never to return' or 'the bucket being completely dropped into the well'.
C. Poetic mythology!
Q: From what I can tell, what they are talking about simply doesn't
exist.
C. Quite correct!
Q: What I mean is that there is no "drop" or "bucket" as such to
return to anywhere. It is only thoughts appearing out of the beingness that constantly appears and disappears until
the clinical death of the body. Is this not so?
C. Exactly.
Q: Please elaborate on your own insight.
C. Sure. First off, as you have intuited, there is absolutely NO
“final goal”, “final understanding” or “final” anything whatsoever. Like many, I had the
delusion that there was a final big casino maha-liberation great “enlightenment-awakening-liberation” to arrive
at someday! It’s a very common myth. Just another of what Stephen Wingate likes to call, "The Outrageous Myths of Enlightenment”.
But the bad news is that there IS no such thing!
Of course, that is also the GOOD news. When this is seen (by no
one) the search ends… full stop.
A bit in the new book “Paradise Founds addresses this dilemma
and more. Read and ponder and if any questions remain please feel free to write again!
“And so, the final truth is clear and self-evident:
I AM That I AM. Being, Choiceless Awareness ... Just That and Nothing Else."
In the sage words of Sri Ramana Maharshi:: “There is no dissolution
or creation, no one in bondage, nor anyone pursuing spiritual practices. There is no one desiring liberation nor anyone liberated.
This is the absolute truth”.
D.W. Writes, Charlie, I have been
reorganizing my computer and I ran across something I wrote after returning from India four years ago. There on the
beach one night a crack appeared that scared the crap out of me, took my breath away. Just thought I would share it
with you.
Maury writes, Regarding "Awareness – Sat-Chit-Ananda - is Open And Empty"…
Sometimes I have to laugh when someone writes to you with so much intellectual crap. I laugh because I know what your response
will be -- sniff, sniff.
I laugh to because I used to be caught up in intellectual bullshit.
What can you do when you see through it, but laugh? As always, you stay right on point like a bird dog. There really isn't
much argument left when you just point out that you're not arguing, just look for yourself and see what isn't there. I have
been a premiere intellectual, and I love the simplicity of just looking. Thoughts are thoughts, full stop. Are we still here
without thought? Yep. Full stop!
C. Ha! Yes indeed!
M. Keep up the good fight. Entertaining as ever.
C. Glad to hear it! As many have said, after it is all said and
done, about all that is left is to have a good laugh!
B.C. Writes, also regarding "Awareness – Sat-Chit-Ananda
- is Open And Empty"…
Oh wise one, at last we cut to the chase and understand that…
Q: Please do not be offended by this message. If you are convinced I am wrong then just
delete it or you may choose to reply. I was browsing the internet on Advaita and found your website.
C. Happy to hear from you.
Q: Like you have mentioned in this week's pointers it looks like you have mentally reconciled
to the fact that there is no separate jiva [assumed 'individuality'] or the limited personal self. Permanent and continuous
Self- awareness is known as Self -realisation. Are you consciously aware of this state of Sat Chit Ananda continuously?
C. There is NO awareness OF Being-Wakefulness-Aliveness. Awareness is what you are and
That cannot be “known” - as the “knower” is not real and only a mental movement of an ego assumed
to be real in ignorance.
Q: Otherwise your self limiting tendencies of the personal ego have not ceased to function,
non existent they may be. The personal self may not be real as you say but they do the mischief of one that is real. The effects
of this false ego is almost the same as if it were real.
C. What “false ego” are you referring to? If the ego IS false then how could
a false entity have any power to be the “cause” of any “effects”?
Ponder this from Sri Ramana Maharshi: “How is the ego to be destroyed? This question
is a sure way to cherish the ego and not to kill it. Can the ego ever agree to kill itself? If you seek the ego you find it
does not exist. That is the way to destroy it".
Q: Are you totally and irrevocably free from the innate tendencies or samskaras?
C. WHO is there or here or anywhere to be “free of samskaras” (tendencies of
the organism’s programming, DNA and subsequent apparent ‘conditioning’)?
Q: Unless the root of the samskaras is totally destroyed they will sprout again at
the appropriate occasion, meaning one is not totally free from rebirth. Even after death the jiva with samskaras takes one
a new form. So the jiva has to totally merge with the Source or Self for it to be totally free from rebirth. A tree whose
branches have been cut grows again. So long as the roots of the tree remain unimpaired, the tree will continue to grow. Unless
the samskaras are totally destroyed by Jnana they will automatically attract rebirth at the appropriate time.
C. That is a very popular set of totally FALSE beliefs by a so-called “Enlightened
Believer” (THAT is a real oxymoron!) WHO believes all that stuff? Seek that one. Again as Ramana points out, “Seek
the ego (believe-ER) and you will find it does not exist. Rather than argue concepts and assert some truth to be “right”
look into that for yourself, dear Holy Sir!
Q: The rivers discharged into the ocean lose their individualities. But when the waters
evaporate and return as rain on the hills and plains, they once again flow in the form of rivers and fall into the ocean.
The jivas or apparent individuals lose their separateness at death and yet return as jivas according to their samskaras
or past tendencies. It is so after death, the jiva of the person with samskaras is not lost until and unless it is totally
extinguished in the present life time. This can only happen to one who has realised his Self.
C. There IS NO “one who has realized” The Self. ALL THERE IS IS THE SELF. You
seem to separate yourself from that Universal Self with your very language of dualism. But can language ACTUALLY create separation?
Can an idea do or undo anything? Can the Timeless ever be divided by a concept called “time”? Can the endless
beginningless Unborn Self ever be divided in Reality? Does the dream character in dream of sleep wake itself up? Was the dream
character ever solid, real and separate? The Self that You ARE in Reality is PRIOR to language. All this conceptual nonsense
will apparently keep you suffering as you try to grasp the ungraspable and know the unknowable. Ponder this!
Q: The famous example is as you know of Sri Ramana. Of course there have been many
others. You may be one of them too. I will not be so arrogant to assume you are not.
C. Nor should there be the arrogance of assuming I or any other IS “realized.”
LOOK: There are NO “realized ones.” There was NO Ramana! Ramana Himself said that in many ways. The most potent
is: "There is NO creation, NO dissolution, NO seeker, NO path, NO goal. Nothing ever happened"! In short this is ALL a dream
of being – no more real than flowers in the air. The only pointer that Ramana and many others stressed ultimately was
and IS just THIS: “’I AM THAT I AM’ sums up the Whole NON-conceptual Truth”.
All there IS is Eternal Love and NO one “knows” That. This ancient Mahavakya:
I Am That. Thou Art That. All of This is Nothing But That". FULL STOP. Everyone-everything IS That. All else is imagination.
You imagine a self apart from Love and then imagine all manner of “scriptural truths” to be real and thereby suffer!
Give up ALL your posturing and come home to the one Final Knowingness: I AM THAT I AM. And give up all questions of anyone
OR yourself except one: WHO AM I?
Q: The samskaras which have merely sunk in the heart on death, but have not perished for
that reason, occasion rebirth at the right time. This is how jivas or individuals are reborn. This is the teaching of Guru
Ramana himself (also of Adi Shankara and his Guru's Guru Gaudapada) and not mine.
C. That is NOT what these sages were pointing to. You pervert these teachings and make
them into dogma and that is a huge error of an unexamined mind. With all respect, sir, who is in that form that cannot recognize
this as the utter folly that it is?
Q: If you look in his compiled works it will be there. Guru Ramana had reached the
state of a Jnani having eliminated his personal ego or jiva finally and irrevocably. He was ever in the state of sahaja (natural
and continuous) Nirvikalpa (no differences) samadhi (absorbed in awareness).
C. ALL concepts! There is NO reaching what you are. YOU ARE THAT. To assume you are not
That and then attempt to attain That is the delusion of the “spiritual mind”.
Q: In Bhagavan's case after the boy Ramana went through the death experience at age 16,
he became consciously aware for the first time that his real nature was imperishable and that it was unrelated to the body,
the mind or the personality (jiva). From that time on till his maha samadhi [body death] his consciousness of being an
individual person ceased to exist (never to pop its head again ever) in his entire life time. He was constantly in the
state of Sat Chit Ananda or the Self. Are you also in that stateless state? I concede you are far more intelligent
being than me (reading your messages)
C. Again you assume that there was a person who died but the person was simply never born.
The false sense of a “me” that “died” is only a description of some appearances. The Self is Ever
Unborn and shining here and now as always, in plain view. Can what was never born ever die? This is a story told that entrances
“seekers” and makes MUCH mischief.
I do not imagine you will take kindly to this disruption of your cherished beliefs! But
this expression as always is arising out of nowhere and so it appears here now as an invitation to see far beyond delusive
concepts and imagined “truths” which merely reinforce these false notions of paths, practices, and goals in a
non-reality called “time”. In any case thank you for writing and feel free to stay in touch as The Self of All
moves the arising of that, IF It does.
If you like, do recognize please, Unconditioned Timeless Love is the ONLY Reality. ALL
else is only imagination.
The TRUE "end game" consists NOT in rooting out the ego or
dismissing the "I" thought as "not me." The final stroke comes in simply seeing what you already always ARE. Being IS and
there is no escape from That nor any possibility of attaining That. You ARE.
Can you deny that this Isness IS obviously Present and Aware,
open, empty and clear? It is the most available and undeniable space. IT IS. That was never lost. You are That.
That's all there is to this - Seeing what was never absent
and always completely free.
Listen to this song from John Wheeler as he shares the authentic
pointing that Adi Shankara espoused:
… to have the seeker claim, it 'gets it',
is the dreamer, dreaming it's awake. Yet Presence through conscious awareness sees the happenings arising and falling... revealing
the fact that a dream person never existed.
Q: I was going to go to Sedona Arizona to see [a teacher] this week, but canceled. There just wasn't the drive, the necessity. Although I
would have enjoyed it, the search ended after my phone call to you. It's true that the search can end. Not that I don't
still enjoy reading a good non dual book or blog. And I still very much enjoy [that author], but there is just no drive for
searching. The answer IS.It was so wonderful that you were there to take my
call and end this seeker.
C. Yes, as always, the best news is NO news and the Recognition that there IS no one to be
driven ever again!
Beyond concepts of either power or force, here you are!
Q: I am what you can call a spiritual seeker. But I have a question that I can't
resolve in my mind and that causes a lot of confusion. It has to do with other people. To me it seems almost strange that
there are so many people and different forms. I can't explain it very well but it's like it's not normal to me-like it seems
to be for others- that there can be so many different human forms. For example when I am in a crowded area I am almost overwhelmed
because of all these people. Now I have read in spiritual books and so that all humanity is actually one person and that an
other person is actually you. Can you say something about this? Thank you very much and all the best.
C. First off you say I am … what you can call a spiritual seeker etc. –
that is a false identification! Stop at I AM. The I AM is the only true and certain thing you can know about yourself. All
that FOLLOWS I am is false. Lies!
Secondly we do NOT say there is only one "person"! The apparent persons are certainly
separate and appear AS individual body-mind organisms! What is pointed to is there is only one I AM. This I AM is NOT
a “person” or any “thing” at all. This presence, that is aware there where you are, is the timeless
I Am-ness that is PRIOR to language and has NO separate “identity”.
This is the essence of it: Being IS and there is no escape from That nor any possibility
of attaining That. You ARE.
Can you deny that this Isness IS obviously Present and Aware, open,
empty and clear? It is the most available and undeniable space. IT IS. That was never lost. You are That. That's all there
is to this - Seeing what was never absent and always completely free. That is the universal I AM that I AM and YOU ARE.
The TRUE "end game" consists NOT in rooting out the ego or dismissing the "I" thought
as "not me." The final stroke comes in simply seeing what you already always ARE. Being IS and there is no escape from That
nor any possibility of attaining That. You ARE.
Can you deny that this Isness IS obviously Present and Aware, open, empty and clear?
It is the most available and undeniable space. IT IS. That was never lost. You are That.
That's all there is to this - Seeing what was never absent and always completely
free.
Q: Has anyone ever brought up death or loss of a loved one on a
conference call?
C. Not specifically. Of course you’d be welcome to do so.
In short, though:
In the experiencing of the life appearance, there can be
a shock when an appearance disintegrates, similar to the organism's programming that experiences a shock like a "blue screen
crash" on a PC while you are working. that is just another experience that comes and goes in This Timeless Presence. That
happened here when NBC's "Meet The Press" moderator Tim Russert "died" suddenly.
There is nothing special or significant about any appearance -
even death - in this movie show called "life" -except "thinking makes it so".
But the more salient question is, “what dies”? Only
the “born” can “die”. What got born there where “you” are? Only an insubstantial, essentially
unreal, cloud-like thought of an "I". To take the unreal to be real brings a fear of dying and the assumption there are "others"
called "loved ones" that CAN die. It's all assumed and NOT real in what IS.
See if you can find a “born entity” in the space of
awareness where "you" appear to be, here and now, and as you find it’s absence IN and AS the actuality of what IS –
No Thing – then you can no longer assume a "born entity' that is real, I mean actually real, anywhere in
"anyone" - in any organism-appearance.
Q: Sometimes
there is great stillness with isolated sounds, sensations and thoughts becoming more and more sparse, great fear emerges.
Is this something that has been experienced there?
C. Yes. It is
the terror of the mind facing its own annihilation. It passes in clarity. The thing the mind of a seeker longs for yet is
at the same time terrified of is its own absence.
Once everything
disappearswill it come back?
When we assume
there IS a thing called everything then we imagine it will disappear. What if it never was? Look at it that way: all this
is imagination. And the one who imagines is also imagination. So can what never was either disappear OR come back? Ponder
this.
Then also ponder
this question: what IS “fear”? Is “fear” a real solid thing? An object with properties? Or not? There
IS energy happening. Movements of energetic presence imbued with thoughts about the energy. A thunderstorm or sorts happening
in you. What is it really? Drop the label “fear” and what is the actual experiencing without any label?
I AM appearing
as energy moving and roiling and then collapsed into a story called me afraid of nothing? Look into this….
Q: I was just wondering how do you know what you believe in
is the real truth and nothing but the truth???
A: This is NOT a knowing by a knower. NOT a belief. There is NO
"believer" anywhere! Not here. Not there. Not in this bodymind, nor in that bodymind. That idea of a believer-knower is a
totally false assumption, an idea of a believer that simply was never real - just a ghost, like a cloud in the empty sky.
In This Nonconceptual Beingness there is NO subject knower/object
known splitness.
G. Writes, The weirdest sensation presently arising,
is the delicious emptiness that fills you up completely. It's an odd feeling being empty and full at the same time. No
amount of stuff can fill a person up, yet the emptiness fills one completely. This emptiness is completely indescribable,
yet undeniable. Thank you Charlie…
Yes, Empty-Fullness! Ha! A silent Yes to all of what appears to No-one.
YES, as far as a concept goes, your expression-description (of what cannot be described,
so it is really lovely!) is awesomely pointing to what is Real and it's just BangON.
G. writes, Since the realisation
that there is nobody here, this dream has gone crazy. The hitherto tranquil scenes have virtually on all fronts turned into
angry storms.
C. The weather in that empty space, the sky of Awareness, CAN arise
as very stormy! Ever watch a tornado? This humanness is like that! Emotions and stories all in a furball, or like a tornado…
while the awareness (or sky, space) remains ever untouched.
G: A friend who seemed as interested in the search became very
angry and almost walked out on the friendship as she listened to the consultation. Her words were 'it felt like nails down
a chalk board.'
C. Paradoxically the non-existent ego HATES this message! That
one inauthentically doesn’t REALLY want the search to end because that one would improbably believe it is dying. So
as one wag through whom this message happens puts it, “I hope ‘you’ die soon!” … LOL!
G: Hey, it's not the end of the week yet so there's still time
for more happenings....
C. Verily shit doth happen (to no one) and so what?
G: The real laugh is there's
nobody here who cares. The watching presence, witnesses the scenes unfolding with mild interest. Just to share, how has the
week been unfolding on that side of the dream?
C. That is beautiful! Yes, it is quite correct that NOTHING ever touched that Presence
of Awareness. This can bring a sense of wry amusement!
All happens to no one. The "week" here was sometimes calm sometimes filled with sound
and fury signifying nothing! Breakdowns in the electronic systems, confusion from a service who are saying they might restrict
access due to their having forgot that an issue they are bringing up was already resolved a year ago (!) ... Kind of like,
well THAT sucks ... but not for "me" ... it is just ... sucky ... for no one :-) !
So as is seen (T)Here this appearance is ultimately ... so what? Who is there
to care? Not I said no-one! There is no person to care yet all arises like weather.
You are Un-touch-able and un-disturb-able! This Perfect Peace IS the anchor of Your
Being. Now it's known.
Q: When people are told to investigate and
question their thoughts and to question who is actually doing the thinking - that implies that there is someone separate who
can go about investigating. But from what I understand, who we truly are is the Awareness in which all thoughts just
happen, just come and go.
C: It feels here that this is more hypothetical than something you need to have answered
because you are suffering. If that is so, then enjoy the long reply that came up in response because it is a very common question
that many who ARE suffering have. And it is also so that “clarity” is NOT Liberation from the person. Liberation
is the dissolution of the false belief that there IS a person seeking clarity. Or a “person who is clear”.
So this is quite is a common point of confusion. Especially when the seeker has been
exposed to the more “uncomprising” pointers and messages or websites on Nonduality. What is needed for one who
is on the horns of this dilemma is to recognize that the expression out of Oneness is absolutely paradoxical!
Sure, IT IS ultimately so that all is One. And one might well ponder, where in that
One would there be a "person" to investigate, to self-inquire? Look at it this way:
The First Principle so to say is that when the Self is known to be Awareness and
just That, that knowing does NOT 'belong” to anyone. So to say "I understand" is to reaffirm that this Nondual Being
is still confusing itself to be a conceptual “knower” and not the Unborn Awareness. This is a Knowing that belongs
to NO ONE. And you ARE that No One. It has been said that "There is only Being and not even That".
But so long as there is the assumed believed-to-be real person, an assumption that
the thought “I is solid, separate and real, and taken to be “who I am,”then investigation is called for … as Sri Nisargadatta and many others pointed out - simply because so
long as that belief is operating in deep background there will almost assuredly be suffering happening because the root cause
has not been severed. And if the tendency is to somehow justify that suffering by claiming egoically, "well, it is
ALL just The One", then that is just the ego's perversion of what is pointed to! So many "True Sages" have said suffering
is optional! When it is known that suffering is unnecessary and can be dissolved through competent pointing out of what is
false and what is real suffering dies on the vine of Endless Truth, the Nonconceptual Isness of Life Loving Being.
Basically I say that in regard to this paradox of there being no person to investigate,
to LOOK (if you are still seeking): So long as YOU “think” or “Know”“I AM”, as a thing you own, that YOU take on board as a separate knower that now knows some “truth”
like “there is no person”, it must be looked for and found to be not only absent here and now but found that it
was NEVER real, merely a dream!
The dilemma is, the mind must discover for itself that there is no mind, no person.
And the mind will NEVER grasp this paradox. Yet if “you” (if there is any suffering or seeking) simply sit with
that, BE with that, it may well frustrate the mind into giving up and then what is now and now and now is RE-cognized as the
Unborn Love that is Real.
There is a chapter from the upcoming book “Paradise Found” that you might
find answers the query and DISSOLVES that Paradox: (A copy of that was sent to the correspondent).
C. What possible answer could there be to The Unknowable!? Answers are knowing. This that You
are ... the God Within - IS and yet is Unknowable. You cannot KNOW That. You ARE That!
Q: Some times you refer it as happening to No one, nothing, emptiness etc. I know
they are just words. But then you say it is Oneness which implies there is Someone and only that Someone who is in charge
who is appearing to make things appear. Are these terms not confusing to us who are still suffering from the afflictions of
the idea of a separate person?
C. Who asks these questions? Who has the "desire to know" the UN-Knowable?
WHO claims "I am confused" or "we" are confused? What mechanism claims “We are suffering”?
Where IS this “us”? Unless you think there is us, there IS no us. That "us" is only a thought, an idea.
You take an idea – a thought! - to be solid and real and THAT is the fundamental error of the seeker mind.
But LOOK: Can an IDEA actually know or do anything at all? No. See that one right now!
You assume you are a thought, the idea “I am,” and then try to get some “right
concept” to add to the false, which merely reinforces the false (!) … and that is never going to work because
there ARE no “right concepts”. ALL are words that point to that which is beyond comprehension. What YOU are is
PRIOR to al concepts and all experiences; YOU ARE and prior to language.
And that is not “true” either! IT IS A POINTER and NOT some new thing to believe.
What is missing is investigation: Look in that space of awareness there and see right now …Where
is that assumed solid personal entity? Without assuming you are an idea in mind, where ARE you? LOOK for that “person”
and you find … nothing. You are that nothing, arising as everything.
The mind CANNOT grasp it.
Go beyond thought to what IS - Presence, Awareness, Here Now always and forever timeless spaceless
Isness.
THAT is ungraspable.
Try to grasp This with mind and you must fail. It is like trying to tie Space in a knot.
Q: Or have I not heard you properly?
C. When it’s “you” trying to “hear another” the message
is completely lost in concepts and confusions. So NO there is NOT yet the hearing of I AM hearing I AM. Who is "trying to
hear properly"? WHO!?!
Ask that one you take to be "you", or "us", WHO is this that is attempting to grasp
the ungraspable!?
That is all.
Keep it really really simple: by way of a review of the basics ....
1. YOU are Awareness, simply being. No one can say they do not exist. That existence,
the constant ever-fresh sense of "I" as in "I Am" (NOT the thought!) is undeniable and inescapable. Try
to NOT BE. Cannot be done. So the simple pointer is, what you are is That Presence of Awareness... Being. Just That! This
True You ... BE-ING... is POINTED TO in language with concepts like Impersonal Consciousness; Awareness, Being, God, Love ...
and YOU are THAT, prior to the mind's translation into the thought I Am and I am this or that.
2. You are NOT an "individual." There are NO "individuals" anywhere except in unreal
stories. The idea of a separate person is a fiction, a mind-construction, a house of cards, and it is only a story that tries
to say, “I’m ME! (Unsuccessfully!) This idea of a "me" is ... on investigation ... seen to be a false claim by
a brain - thinking machinery - to its own separate existence. This ever-changing idea of a person is simply
unreal. WHO says "I'm Me?" The mind. To be blunt, it's bullshit. The whole fabricated story of me is pure bullshit: all stories
of “individuals” is actually a fiction. As Shakespeare said, it’s a tale told by an idiot, filled with sound
and fury, signifying … NOTHING.
3. Let all thoughts drop into the Nothing from where they bubbled up, except Who Am I? Do not relent, but do not try or force. Honestly and gently ask. You can't force
this Divine Grace, The Love You are. That (The Real YOU) is more Real than that idea called "you" or "us" is, so allow That
Love to do the job as That will. Relax and ask. No answers only ask. Am I? WHO Am I?
To sell Love out to be right, to win, to dominate, to avoid
domination, to justify “self” and invalidate “other”, is simply the disease of the Mind Of Humanity.
Examples of this are stunningly abundant. Read the news. Watch
a political discussion between two pundits from the extremes of left or right wing viewpoints.
All
perspectives are false. No perspective is real. ONLY No-Perspective is Real. :-) Oneness is what you ARE and That is NOT a
concept OR an experience. NOT a "perspective". All of that comes and goes on the screen of Awareness Itself ... The
One That IS... This Timeless Love that is simply beyond description.
This mechanistic human doingness (doing not being) that we call
“mind” lives in the imaginary infamy of a zealous need to argue and win over what it perceives to be those poor
ignorant ones to ITS point of view, ITS perspective.
This can bring an experience of deep sadness laced with a ruthless compassion that might lash out in what looks to
a mind like anger or outrage (as Sri Nisargadatta often demonstrated! Many a disrespectful seeker got tossed out of that loft
in Bombay; that is well documented.)
To be self-righteous, judgmental and argumentative with the
Love that WILL ultimately burn away that mind-stuff is a rather desperate ploy of the ego’s last stand.
Nisargadatta and those who reaped the benefits of his pointers
and his ruthless Love had no time for fools. The true expression will simply NOT suffer fools who value being right over being
Freedom Itself … not gladly nor otherwise! (I speak from experience, having got kicked out of a fine teacher’s
meetings owing to that kind of ego-ing behavior!)
This authentic expression is quite simply, is Love in action.
If a “you” objects and fights the expression then that organism identified as a “you” is a being lived
in a loss pf paradise, by a false sense of self that was never real and will never win. Love WILL destroy anything unlike
Itself and that happens Just Now.
So the message is, as best “you” can let Love win!
Die now. BE the Infinite Love that you are and don’t give that diamond away for the paltry and dubious gifts of being
RIGHT.
To be right is to be dead to what is possible. Be Love or
be Dead Right. If there is a choice who would NOT choose Infinite LOVE? Good question. Ponder this. Who chooses to
be right rather than be Love-In-Action? Who indeed. Who are you? Are you a thing apart from Love? If you believe so, then
where is that “one apart” from Love?
Look within. Find out what is real and right now, right here,
abandon once and forever the dream of not-love that desires to be right and loses paradise in the bargain. That is a really
bad bargain!
(Excerpted from "Paradise
Found" - 'Recognizing And Living AS The Infinite Love That you Are' - due to be published in late summer 2008) (Copyright
Charles David Hayes 2008)
Q: Lately I encountered a dilemma I which I am almost sure you can
help me with. I got a little closer to the notion that things just happen as they happen, they are not "mine" and that "I",
the person, should not necessarily DO anything, just let them happen until they finish themselves on their own accord. While
I am at this state I have no questions, or at least the questions are more weak and remote and not occupying the center of
my mind, but at the rest of the time, which is most of the time, I start doubting whether I have to deliberately spend energy
and do anything at all (for example, I am a musician; should I spend so much time in making music?, is it important?, anything
just happens so why bother?). But the thing is that my egoic self or whatever it is is attracted to music for example, and
so is the question regarding almost every activity in life.
C. Dear friend, you say all kinds of stuff about some "I" that it seems you are convinced is YOU. There is NO person,
no "you". This must be rediscovered there! It is NOT that “the person should not do anything”; that is NOT the
message. It is just a strikingly common MIS-interpretation of this Timeless message arising from Oneness to Oneness. That
“message” is that there IS NO “person”. And that no-person CANNOT "get closer". There is NO reality
to the seeming "process" and at best it is a distraction and at worst merely reinforces the notion of separateness and propagates
more and more suffering!
The idea of a person is a false assumption, an assumed belief that seems to create a dream of being a separate “entity”
that assumes (falsely!) that IT has some power to create actions, and it also erroneously assumes that it must manage things,
do things to make its life work, and choose from its apparent “options”, or “decide’ what is best
and then try to make it happen. That idea of a “me” is ONLY a thought, an idea that arises as a conceptual label
for the Presence of Awareness that you actually are.
The IDEA of a SOLID AND SEPARATE “I” or “me” or “myself” is NOT there all the time,
is it? Where is that in deep sleep? Gone! Yet the body is breathed, the heart is beaten, hair is grown, all is done by No
One. That - No One - IS what You truly are.
Now LOOK: Can an IDEA - a THOUGHT - actually DO (or not do) ANYTHING?
Q: But preventing from myself doing things I like (like music) is another
kind of doing. So, to do or not to do (and just sit and watch things do themselves)?
C. Who is going to DO that? Or any other doing? Look for the doer and see if you can find anything in this awareness
except nothing, space, emptiness. That emptiness is the true ground of ll being and that emptiness is full with the One Infinite
Love that is the REAL Reality.
That, Being-Aliveness-Lovingness - is NOT a “state” that a “seeker” can attain. You cannot
attain Freedom, or Power, or Love -- simply because you already ARE Freedom, Power and Love. Freedom is not FOR the “person;”
it is freedom from that falsely assumed IDEA that the person is a separate, real, actor-thing. Actions happen but there is
NO actor anywhere to be found of investigation. So we usually do say that as long as you believe in a “separate you”
that must be challenged directly. Look for the I and you find what you always are … No thing.
Q: Thank you very very much.
C. You are very very welcome.
Keep it this simple:
Remove the false cause and the effects (confusion, indecision, dilemmas, and the attendant suffering) cannot remain.
To look within the space, that presence of awareness that is always clear and always present wherever “you” are,
to seek the source of that assumed identity called “me” with “my” body and “my” thoughts,
uproots the assumed cause of all suffering. Simply look for the one you call “me” and see what you find. If anything!
(You will find nothing - which is another label for the Unborn You - Being-Energy-Love.)
F.D. Writes, I read a bit about you on your website and listened to your "do
I exist clip". I am sure I will read to and listen more on your website. I was brought to your site through reading
and surfing the net for Nisargadatta Maharaj. "I am that" has also made its mark on me.
That book has started a lot of seekers onto the path to NO path
:-). But what is this “me” that claims some “other” or “thing” “out there”
has “made its mark on me”?
Currently I appear to
be in a bizarre search/non-search for something or nothing. (How is that for speaking this jargon?)
Ha! Pretty good. Yet that “jargon” DOES POINT to a
reality beyond concepts and experiences, and yes, beyond even itself. Yet that Timeless Spaceless being that appears here
and now as Awareness and what appears here and now as some "content of awareness" is NOT TWO (A-Dvaita). But when there is
mistaking the pointer for the actual, that’s like eating the menu and ignoring the meal.
What has driven me is a depression that has become even worse since
starting this search.
Been there. Have you been checked by a good doctor, for a brain
chemistry imbalance?
I am planning a trip to Maryland at the beginning of July to see Jeff Foster.
Good. I love the way Jeff expresses the Inexpressible.
This whole non-duality thing has taken what was a low grade suffering
in me and created a deep and painful full time suffering that I can't hardly escape.
The attempt to escape IS the suffering. Who is suffering? Where
is that “me” that claims “I am me and I am suffering, depressed”, or anything else?
Again, part of me is really connecting with Maharaj, but I also
feel as if I am going more insane, the deeper I get with this.
You don’t HAVE “parts”. That is the language
of a separate entity which when looked for is found to be utterly non-existent.
I write because it is hard to find people that understand.
It is even harder to figure out if anyone understanding is even needed!
Understanding is the booby prize! Tens of thousands have understood
this but it seems to be that very few are actually liberated from the false beliefs in “me”, “time”
and “separateness" (two-ness). That is stunning! Blessedly, however, there ARE A few who share this - it is NOT a "teaching"
- notably John Wheeler, ‘Sailor’ Bob Adamson, Jeff, and Tony Parsons. These appearances which are unswervingly
expressing the actual Reality that you are - Timelessly Being, Awareness and nothing but that. Yet everything IS that.
This is the paradox: You are what you seek! You were hiding from yourself by being everything. The natural recognition
of this is what I label "Paradise Found".
Give this audio a good listening to as if it is I AM speaking to
I AM (which it IS) rather than assuming it's "person to person." (There is NO person here OR there; that is a false belief
and patently unreal.)
For a mind still stuck in duality, this creates a bizarre way of
being. I don't know what I am wanting from this mail. Maybe just a response. Anyway, thanks for the
website.
There is NO mind. NO stuckness. That story is a bunch of lies.
ALL concepts are LIES. ALL PERSPECTIVES ARE false. ALL POINTS OF VIEW ARE POINTLESS AND NEVER HAPPENED. YOU were never born.
Full Stop.
What you are is the Being-Arising-As-Awareness and PRIOR to concepts,
PRIOR to thoughts, PRIOR to experiences. Don’t buy these lies. This is pointing ultimately to the FACT that all speculations
are false and what is Real cannot be grasped because The One You Are is hiding in plain sight - as EVERYTHING. What You REALLY
ARE IS NOTHING-EVERYTHING, AWARENESS AND CONTENT, DREAM AND WAKING, ALL ARE THE ONE YOU "IS".
So there is NOTHING to get and NO-ONE to get This No Thing Every
Thing.
Give up seeking. you will simply NEVER "get it". You ARE IT. There
is ONLY ONE.
MT writes a follow-up: I
am wondering, is it beneficial for me to do certain activities and avoid others?
WHO is this I “wondering”? Beneficial to whom? Are
you back to assuming that the sense of being an I is a real thing with the ability to plan, control, or do ANYTHING? That
“I” thought is NOT a real entity and has not the slightest trace of any actual control.
It seems it is more beneficial
to be meditating than watching TV, but sometimes the opposite is the case.
Who believes otherwise? Who would choose TV or meditation? What
happens simply happens! Whatever Totality is doing happens with no control by any “entity” – not even a
Great Big Huge “Entity” called “GOD”.
It seems the sun is not shining at night! But that is NOT true.
Nothing -nothing you know or believe or assume or speculate in the mind about
- is true. Only Nothing is True.
There is also this sense
of desperation to 'end the search ASAP.' Then there are ideas of visiting someone like yourself, in order to bask in the presence
of a so-called realized "person."
You will be utterly disappointed. There is NO such thing as a “realized
PERSON”! Come here with such expectations and all you will see an old man talking nonsense. An ancient Hindu proverb
declares, “If a pickpocket meets a saint all he will see is his pockets”. If an individual comes looking for an
enlightened individual all he will see is an individual. Yet if there is seeing, openness, there is an energy of full-on aliveness.
Wherever you go that IS what you really are. Jo need to travel to be – that is always ON, always SO, always HERE and
forever NOW.
The simple question "Who
am I?" reveals that all this speculation is empty of any self, but it just seems difficult and challenging somehow, and quite
painful.
To WHOM? Only to a false belief in a separate “me”.
That is the ego’s defense mechanisms. Stay at it until there is no-one left assuming “I am ME”!
The two year old throwing a tantrum gets louder, and sometimes efforts are made to relieve the suffering,
rather than face it and and go through it. It seems like the simplicity of awareness is starkly obvious sometimes, and other
times missed completely.
That is childish. Don’t be lazy to investigate! Where IS
that “two-year-old” right now? Only in a story, a tale told in ignorance by an assumed entity that takes itself
to be real, separate, and the “do-er” of all apparent “actions”.
There is also a sense
of futility, as though there is nothing I can possibly do to "fix this".
GOOD. Stay put in that – Not Knowing ANY thing. All knowing
is absolute ignorance.But only 100% of it.
Thanks for listening
to another deluded rant. Back to "Who am I?"
Why bother to leave? Only an insecure ego-sense would depart from
that final unanswerable question! Stay put in Who Am I?. Refuse all the mental lies. Full stop.
A friend writes, Here's
a weird thing that started happening about a week ago. Suddenly, people are just talking to me. You don't really know my personality,
but pretty much my conversations tend to stay focused on-task and I don't chit chat (though I like to joke around). Now, I
say hi to some acquaintance or even a stranger, and they're telling me all about themselves. And sometimes the faces of people
I barely know, or don't know at all, will light up when they see me like I'm their best friend or something.
You ARE their Best Friend. You ARE the Same One Self that “they”
are. You are simply radiating that acceptance and love which arises AS the natural and eternal Isness that is always present
- and as the false identity slips away the Self shines and is recognized by so called others - so this is good news,
dear One. You is what you IS and it does seem to “get noticed” as a kind of natural charisma.
That's really weird because
with talking I could be doing something that causes people to respond differently. This is just out of nowhere.
Everything is out of Now Here (Nowhere).
This is either related
to the inquiry, or has something to do with jumping out of an airplane over the weekend. Have you ever skydived?
Once. Fun and scary as hell to the organism.
It's not something this
organism would have done even six months ago. I know that the inquiry is not about changing the personality, but my personality
is changing. Positively, luckily.
It happens. Or it doesn’t. Ya never know!
So, that's my ME story
for the week. Now that I've told you, I hope I can let it go and get back to "who am I?"
There is the trap, thinking I am ME and “hoping I can let
it go”.
There was a short period
in there when that was more interesting than the ME story.
And I must ask, TO WHOM? See that all the assumptions and stories
are only about a false identity that is never there but ONLY assumes itself to be real in innocent ignorance, due to some
laziness to investigate and challenge it -- So come back to seeing, you are aware and there is nothing “wrong”
or “right’ in awareness itself. That is the eternal state, Reality, timeless and space-like love. Refuse to accept
the mind’s false assertions that “you are a thing apart fro Awareness/. It’s that simple.
Thanks for everything,
by the way.
Oh, it’s Nothing! :-) But REALLY. Ha! En-Joy the Now!
You can listen to CDs of “teachings” endlessly. Doing
that will never end the search … rather that "doing" more often than not just reinforces the false notion that
you are NOT already whole and complete, that you are a separate being apart from your own wholeness, and that something is
wrong that you are endlessly trying and failing to fix! You simply cannot EVER fill that empty longing for home with temporal
concepts or experiences, all of which come and go! You’ll never get enough of what is false to make the true appear!
Instead of that why not rest quietly in what IS ... awareness, present and alive, unchanging and serene?
Then regarding a desire for listening to such CDs (anyone’s
including mine for that matter! LOL...) ask your mind- the “i-other” storyteller that plagues you - Who is
listening? Why? To become convinced that what you are is Timeless Being? That's a denial OF That which you are; you give way
to the mind's addiction to "I am ME!" and thereby continue to suffer. I am speaking sharing
direct experience here, NOT theory or “teachings” like most CDs and books, and NOT from spiritual concepts or
jargon!
These CDs seem to give a rush of experience that feels good but
when they stop that feeling goes and whatever your assumed default state is resumes. It's like having a few martinis which
feels great while it's happening but the hangover really sucks, right? This is the same thing! The seeker is an addict in
search of a fix. What we ignore in listening to these endless CDs and whatnot is that we already ARE that which is sought
and the seeking of that DENIES us That. So the seeking IS suffering....
The understanding these various
talkers describe may be seem “accurate" but that is ONLY a description and the description is NOT the Real
No Thing that YOU are!
Just recognize here and now that these elegant-seeming expressed understandings are
not the "end of all ends". Intellectual grasping is the booby prize! It is nothing but mistaking the feeling-thought story
of "me" and "my life" as a "spiritual person" for the actual Endless Being of unconditioned unbounded Love that you really
are. Stop seeking and here you are, whole and complete, awareness without beginning or end. Start seeking again and that seems
to be masked or covered over but IS awareness actually masked? AWARENESS IS. You are That. Can you move out of or away from
awareness? Never. No. Not possible!
Here is the final point: If ANYTHING - including these pointers for "understanding"
- is assumed to be other than ignorance – then that creates a perspective that is absolutely only more ignorance. There
is NO "truth". All "teachings" are bullshit.
What happens here is NOT a "teaching" and not "understanding". If a label is
wanted then it is best called a "sharing" - Of The One with The One. I AM to I AM. In Timeless Love.
Do get this last pointless point, said another rather more direct way by my friend
John Greven, author of “Oneness”: If ANYTHING is assumed to be other than bullshit – then there is something
wrong with the perspective.
"Who am I" is the final solvent that erases the false. leaving what You already ARE
... wholeness, One-Essence, Energy-Being-Aliveness ... just That and no thing else. Refuse all except THAT. Listening to talkers
droning on about this is a distraction and not really helpful in the end!
Q: How will this awakening
or whatever happen? It is so much resistance.... or something? Am I already liberated? I dont know?! How will I know that
I am liberated?
C. When you no longer ask that question. And that “when” will be Just
Now.
Q: It seems too easy!
Like, everything is just happening... It is like I need some checkpoint, or reference that this really is it. I’m skeptical
of what is happening, and looking for something else. You’ve probably heard this a couple of times already... I have
heard it a couple of times already...
C. Who IS that I you keep referring to? Is it anything but a thought
that comes and goes? What NEVER changes? You are That and nothing but That. And That is No Thing!
Q: Is something wrong?
C. For whom??
Q: Really, I don't know
that.
C. That’s another thing that “you” know. But
that “you” is a FAKE.
Q: Everything is spontaneously
and leading into spontaneity.
C. Who believes THAT bullcrap?
Q: I don't know who's
looking!
C. Who knows “I don’t know”?
Q: But it is kinda scary.
C. For whom??
Q: I feel like an ENEMY
to everyone! And everyone feels like an ENEMY to me.
C. Really? Then I hope you die soon! We don’t need any more
enemies of you or me.
Q: Maybe ENEMY is a too
harsh a word?
C. It’s ONLY a word. NOT real, only a passing movement of
energy happening and unhappening all-by-itself in that Awareness which never ever changes.
What is right here right now breathing that body? Where is the
Source of breathing? It is “you”? If YOU are breathing then how come breathing didn’t
stop all those times “you” forgot to “make sure “I” take another breath”!?
So who is breathing? What is making the sun burn? Are YOU that
power which causes the to earth rotate and hurtle around the sun? isn’t
that just a little arrogant?
What is the Ultimate Source? Where is the “control center”?
Who’s making all this HAPPEN? Is there a controller at all? Find out…
Notice that breathing which This Omniverse
effortlessly does for that body you call yourself. That – livingness,
arising here now, as the energy effortlessly breathing “you” -is
immediate and inescapable. Life itself breathes all the bodies. This Life is Impersonal Being-Aliveness. That is REAL. The
idea that “I am breathing is patently false. Challenge all assumptions of doing and making happen and see if you really
have ultimate control over this Omniverse!
Get real what the REAL. All concepts are meaningless. All truths
are false. This pathless path to nowhere is trodden by no-one.
Q: Does doing the inquiry increase the chances of an egoic dissolution?
I've heard it said that the mind may simply grow tired and give up since it can't answer the basic question. There have also
been cases where there was a sudden realization, with no prior "work". It seems by writing this out, there is some clarity.
Who wants to know anyway? I guess there is no real point in endlessly asking these questions, other than seeking some false
security in getting "an enlightened person" to answer.
C. Asked and answered over and over!
Come BACK to this - NOW: Refuse all thoughts and questions except
WHO AM I?Let That One Thought dissolve everything, leaving No Thing - the Gift
of Absolute Freedom.
Now, what part of REFUSE do you not understand? The only “understanding”
you need is that the I that thinks “I AM” is a concept that POINTS to awareness. That
is NOT a concept or a feeling or any sensation. IT IS EMPTY AND MEANINGLESS. You are THAT ... THAT is NO THING. YOU are
NO THING.
What about REFUSE ALL except Who Am I? is NOT clear!? TO WHOM?
Only to an assumed separate thing called I.
I Repeat: Refuse all thoughts and questions except WHO AM I?Let That One Final Thought dissolve everything else and even itself, leaving What
IS (No Thing - the Gift of Absolute Freedom.)
Honestly and gently ask. You can't force Grace, That (The Real
YOU) is more Real than the false idea of a separate I is, so allow That to do the job as That will. Relax and ask. No answers
only ask. Am I? WHO Am I? Am I? What Am I? Am I?
Q: There is desire for a true acceptance and experience of being an organism rather
than a person (the sense of separation) when it comes down to living in this world and still wanting that life to look a certain
way. So many ruminations seem to be "wasted" on that, followed by the thought that they should not take place. When the
question is posed "Whose ruminations?" and "Whose thoughts?" stillness laced with anger and dissatisfaction arises, and those
feelings on some level cannot be accepted.
C. Are you expecting control and to never have some universal energy
arise and get labeled (by you) as anger or dissatisfaction or any other unwanted therefore resisted (by you)?
The exhortation out of Oneness is THIS: Refuse all thoughts except
who am I?. You ANSWER with this surmised thought-feeling story! That is NOT the suggestion. The suggestion is REFUSE all that
and ONLY let the thought “Who Am I?” remain! Any answer and all experiences are stuff to drop, and simply come
back to “Who?”.
That awareness which always IS and never changes has NO “experience
component’ and NO cares about accepting or not accepting. This is NOT “self improvement”! What we point
out here is that what you are is NO THING and that mans NO THING. That pure empty space of ordinary awareness – your
true nature – is that in which all that appears arises, including stories and feelings of “dissatisfaction or
anger. THAT is not “laced with” a damn thing. Ask you who believes these lies? Who tells that story to whom?
Q: I keep hearing that we
are not our thoughts as thoughts come and go and can't see or do anything (and this makes sense to me as well) but, what if
our thoughts and our True Self, the Awareness, are the same? I mean instead of our thoughts arising from us as Awareness,
what if they actually come from Awareness? In other words, what if it's Awareness that is having these thoughts?
C. Thoughts are energy bubbles arising here and now. ALL you can
“do with” awareness is think about it. The idiot mind thinks the thought of awareness is awareness. That’s
like thinking the thought water is the wet stuff. Next time you’re thirsty write the word water on a piece of paper
and swallow it. See if that quenches the body’s thirst!
Awareness is EMPTY and both IS NOTHING and DOES NOTHING.
Thoughts about thoughts about thoughts is suffering. All what if
questions are suffering and ignorance, speculations about what never existed in the first place. So stop with all that and
only abide as silent awareness. What is your real direct knowing? I AM. Stop there. Follow I AM and you suffer. Drop all that
comes after I AM. Just BE.
The “Sages” have asserted, there is no free
will, no choice, no chooser in any organism. There is the assumption of an individual “person” but is an assumption
actually true? Who is the assumer of “I am”? IS there an “assumer of” that assumption? Or is the assumption
a belief assumed by another belief? Where is the I am apart and independent from Awareness, this Presence which is That which
is the natural Knowing that Being is and I exist therefore I cannot say “I am NOT”?
So where does that leave us in this apparent dilemma of
the issue of choice and chooser?
I ask you to ask YOU.
And so we arrive at the paradox: There is NO person with
control even over the thoughts that arise in this space of awareness from a brain imbued apparently with the predisposition
of its DNA and its subsequent environmental influences. This can be seen directly when that “person” is looked
for: gazing into the space of awareness, here and now, where IS any separate willful chooser of choices? Unless there is a
taking on board of a thought of a “me” that must “choose” then where exactly IS such a chooser? Looking,
you find only what you are – No Thing.
That said, we still find ourselves in this dilemma (unless
we don’t). What dilemma? It certainly seems to the dreamer that he or she IS a real and solid chooser of choices and
must somehow decide issues that confront her or him IN this dream of life. Therefore, we can perhaps arrive at a third alternative
in the seeming dilemma:
Consider the possibility of simply letting this seeming
dilemma be. And when a "chooser" seemingly arises (which always arises as a partner with “choice”; haven’t
you noticed?) then go right ahead and exercise that apparent chooser by choosing what leads back to Love, and only
That.
Love is the Home you never left. If there is a momentary
dream that you are a thing apart from love, stop and ponder: AM I? Can I say “I am not”? Of course one can SAY
anything. But to tell oneself a lie is a rather grievous error, is it not!?
Love allows all that appears within Its Space to simply
be and when a belief in a chooser is appearing then put that one to the task of dropping all choice to be right, to win, to
dominate, to control another or the appearing world.
Seem difficult? To whom? Who thinks or believes or “knows”
"I am me" and "I am right"? Ask you.
Shall we keep it simple?
You are. That isness IS and what you are is That and nothing
else. Full Stop. Then if there arises an assumed belief in the myth of separateness
and a sovereign self apart for Totality investigate that assumption. Prove it false for yourself. And abide as the Freedom
and Love that you REALLY are.
And in This Now as there appears a chooser, allow That to
Choose to love What Is as It is. Until in this Eternal Now it is seen by no one that there is ONLY Love and no need to choose
as the "chooser" has evaporated - and all there is is This. This Love. This Freedom. Chouceless Love!
The understanding these various
currently popular living "spiritual teacher-talkers" describe may be seem “accurate" - but it's ONLY a
description - and the description is NOT the Real No-Thing that YOU are! Just recognize here and now that these elegant-seeming expressed "understandings" are not
the "end of all ends". Intellectual grasping - or talking ABOUT what is Real - is the booby prize! Taking that booby
prize as the end of seeking is a BIG mistake. Therein lies suffering. YOU are NOT any concept!
You Cannot "Grasp" What You ARE
This "spiritual talking" is nothing but mistaking the feeling-thought
story of "me" and "my life" as a "spiritual person" for the actual Endless Being of unconditioned unbounded Love that you
really are. Stop seeking and here you are, whole and complete, awareness without beginning or end. Start seeking again and
that seems to be masked or covered over but IS awareness actually masked? AWARENESS IS. You are That. Space-Like. Could Space
grasp Space? No. Can you either grasp, or move out of, this awareness? Never. No. Not possible! Here is the final point: If ANYTHING - including these pointers - is assumed to be
other than utter nonsense – then that creates a perspective that is absolute nonsense.
There
is NO "true" concept OR experience. All "teachings" are nonsense. The Real is a truthless land.
All "knowing" is wrong. Full stop.
Potent Pointers
"The primary illusion is only this knowingness ‘I am’, prior to that there was
no illusion. This very consciousness is the source of illusion. This illusion or consciousness or ‘I amness’ does
not remain as something eternal. It is liberated; this non-eternal consciousness is liberated, when the knowingness is transformed
into non-knowingness, that is liberation". - Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
"Some call it 'non-conceptual awareness; or'“pure
being'. Others called it 'non-duality' or 'your true nature'. However you label it, it is simply what you are, your natural
existence prior to concepts." - John Wheeler
The I is an imaginary character you have assumed is the real you only in innocence. It's like you believe
in Santa Claus. The tooth fairy. The "I" - me. You must give up all childish beliefs. These “entities” including
the so-called “me-entity”, the core misunderstanding which arrived at around age two, are ALL fictional. That
primordial illusion that all the rest depend on, this “I” idea, was the first to come and is nearly always the
last to go.The fictional "me", is always the last illusion to be disillusioned
of!
That “I” simply needs to be seen and understood for what it is … nothing but a thought
with no substantiality … just bubbling energy arising in Timeless Awareness. Yet YOU ARE so that “I” MUST
represent something. It does! The sound “I” POINTS to awareness, which is always so and prior to time and thought.
That is always here now wherever you are and whatever you think. Stop searching and there You are, simple awareness, free
and clear. This is The Eternal Is and all your problems are completely imaginary. All is taken care of. You need not meddle
with Nature. She brings the organism everything it needs when it needs it. It could NOT be otherwise. Trust THAT.
YOU ARE AWARENESS, NOT the “thought-story”, the imaginary waking-dream character which appears
and disappears in thought. All the time you take your actual being to be this thought you try to get that thought back to
wholeness, which just reinforces the sense of being a thing apart from other things and from “God” or The One.
There are NOT "two I Am's" - I AM is universal, singular. That is The Timeless One which YOU know as
your sense of being ... your very Is-ness … the knowing YES I AM … but that sense of Being is neither thought nor feeling. It is simply awareness. Just that! It's
this serene, blank, accepting, empty space of knowing, I AM which encompasses all that appears within it in unconditioned,
Infiite, Impersonal Love. You are Love. Nothing more, nothing less!
Naturally you do know that YOU ARE. That is NO Thing. Know yourself this way: “That, I Am”.
“I Am That”. This is the ancient pointer to what You are, NOW, Here, Eternally. Just This and NO other! This is
“Advaita” – “Not Two.” NON duality.
Without taking a thought, and considering a thought to be what you are, where any is separate "you”
that is not surrendered to a separate “God?" Who would surrender to whom?? A thought? Can a thought do ANYTHING? It's
just a thought that comes and goes in awareness. You are that awareness, NOT that thought. This I-apart from other
- and God - is a story of suffering. Look for the one telling the story. Do you find any separate thing apart from thoughts
about thoughts? A vicious circle of falsehoods? To say it as directly as can be noted in language: There IS No God and YOU
Are God. Sit with that, like you’re letting a pillow rest in your lap.
Look at it this way:
“’I am’ itself is God. The seeking itself is God. In seeking you
discover that you are neither the body nor the mind, and the love of the self in you is for the self in all. The two are one.
The consciousness in you and the consciousness in me, apparently two, really one, seek unity and that is love.” – Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
There was never any separation. You have a concept "I" or "me" and another concept "God". But God, or
“The Absolute”, is already HERE NOW as your own sense of being, I AM. As the truth is told in language, "God"
is defined as "I AM THAT I AM." You cannot separate yourself from what you are.
~~~
21 June 2008
Using The Mind To Transcend The Mind?
Q: I have heard and read that the answer is not in
the mind. If that is the case, then why do we ask 'who am I?' or 'Who is asking this question?' etc. ? Or 'Am I this body?',
'Am I this mind'? Those questions do involve the mind don't they?
C: Yes. But: The paradox in all these pointers is that the mind MUST discover that for
itself. Why? Didn’t that search begin in the mind? The stunning realization is that there is NO answer IN the mind and
that the mind cannot find Source because Source is that present awareness that SEES the mind (the thought I and so on).
To paraphrase Sri Nisargadatta, the mind's realizing that there is no such thing as enlightenment for it is in fact enlightenment.
Q: One of my Psychotherapist friends once mentioned
that the mind still has a use in 'seeing' the truth. I know that even if the mind is 'seeing' the truth, I am still aware
of this.
C: Take the I Am CONCEPT out of it. Awareness that I AM that is NOT the thought “I
am”.That empty cognizing beingness IS seeing all -- including that idea
“I am still aware” presently arising and disappearing. That I – I am – I am still seeing- chain of
thoughts is not always there, is it? WHAT IS always there wherever you go, whatever you think? What is it that silently sees
all the seeing, knowing, thinking, feeling?
As is pointed out on my web site,
Is Awareness Ever Missing?
So long as there is waking, there is Awareness. Try to not be aware. Try hard. Did you
succeed? Maybe you thought 'I AM NOT aware,' or maybe you thought 'I AM aware', but did awareness leave? Did awareness change
when thoughts changed? Even if you shout I AM NOT AWARE! at the top of your voice does awareness move or change? The true
Nondual understanding, the direct understanding-knowing that belongs to no one, is that YOU ARE that awareness and nothing
else. Only in thoughts is there the notion of "something wrong. See this now and end the search: You Are No Thing. Now. Here.
There is nothing wrong with awareness. And THAT is what you are.
You see, the search for the One you are began in the mind, that mind which is nothing substantial,
not really a “thing” at all, but rather a set of believe thoughts which are actually only vibrations of energy,
sounds. The sound Ayeeeee – “I” - assumed to be a solid actual object, while in fact that assumed “identity”
called “I” is nothing but some sound that comes and goes in the awareness that is your true nature. That I
then took on the properties of an object separate from other objects, and assumes IT is real, and therefore NOT whole and
complete. Then the seeking to come back to the original state, wholeness, starts up like a swirl of air starts up and becomes
a tornado. And so Paradise is lost! (Paradise is just a concept I use to point to the timeless freedom, power
and love if Infinite Being.) That “Paradise” is that awareness itself – nothing special or significant!
- that Being from which you (or mind) cannot escape, and when the mind sees that
its true nature is empty, yet the fullness of ALL, Paradise is again re-discovered. What is THAT? This natural ordinary observing
awareness.
That’s a lot of words to say YOU are NO THING. Awareness is No Thing. This is the
direct understanding of nonduality, the clear empty understanding that is owned by no one. That is (as a future book title
points out) “Paradise Found”. And that is already so here and now. You are That.
That is All.
A.D., who has been following a “Guru’s Path”, wrote lots of mental
chatter that ended with, “I thought I heard you say that Gurus or practices to
reach the Infinite of any kind are unnecessary – since we already ARE THAT. Any HELP?
Sure.
You finish with a reminding yourself of the real: “We are already THAT”.
Exactly!
It is SO simple!
Do you exist?
Are you aware?
Is that Awareness a thing that comes
and goes?
What is the nature of awareness?
Do you see Awareness NEVER changes and all the changing appearances arise from That
and disappear back into That?
Does it take any "practice (even the final practice of abiding in the last thought
of ego - who AM I?) to BE? Does Awareness ever waver? Can you escape Awareness? Can you get away from NOW?
Do you see that wherever you are that place is always HERE?
Do you believe that you can "attain" the Awareness that
the thoughts of ego and attaining and some day arise IN OR ON?
The belief “I’m me” is a BELIEF. When you were a kid you believed
in Santa Claus. Then you found out there ain’t no Santa Claus. It was a story made up in the mind of a child. Now you
must grow out of the belief in a “me” by simply gently looking in this Space of Awareness, this naked empty Presence
that you ARE, to see if there really IS a “Santa Claus” … a “me”.
That is all there to this. Simple, obvious, nothing special at all.
All there IS is The One and now that you know that don’t trade The One Unborn
Awareness in for the dust of a false belief.
So gently ask you Who Am I? And let all other thoughts such as the lot you wrote
which I snipped away arose, and simply welcome all these thought with Love without latching onto them and identifying as the
thinker or the thought. Resist nothing, even resistance! Welcome ALL with Unconditional acceptance and love. Welcome every
thought, feeling, sensation, perception and experience with love and simply gently come back to the final question that has
no answer (No Answer IS the “Final Silent Answer) … who AM I?
This is the Return To Paradise. The gateless gate is wide open Here and Now.
Walk right in, dear One. It takes NO “time” or “practice to BE
the Awareness that You are.
Keep it simple and let it BE. “Speakin’ words of wisdom … let
it be. Leeeet it be”.
So long as there is waking, there is Awareness. Try to not be aware.
Try hard. Did you succeed? Maybe you thought 'I AM NOT aware,' or maybe you thought 'I AM aware', but did awareness leave?
Did awareness change when thoughts changed? Even if you shout I AM NOT AWARE! at the top of your voice does awareness move
or change?
The true Nondual understanding, the direct understanding-knowing that belongs to no one,
is that YOU ARE that awareness and nothing else. Only in thoughts is there the notion of "something wrong." See this now and
end the search: You Are No Thing. Now. Here. There is nothing wrong with awareness. And THAT is what you are.
"How can you speak or develop any concept unless
the primary concept ‘I am’ is available? This primary concept begets further concepts, that is all other concepts
occur to it. However, whatever concept occurs to you, including the primary concept ‘I am’, is not the eternal
state". - Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
"You
are the one to whom all appears, including the fact of being conscious and all that subsequently appears within that. - John Wheeler
J.H. shares, Your posted “Keep It Simple!”
email response was so Beautiful and it resonated so clearly that I just had to send you this Right On King Kong, thank you
note. I’ve been experiencing quite a lot of slippin’ and slidin’ on the delusion/illusion ice pond the past
few weeks. But clearly the seed has been sown because even on the hardest days with “personal” bleachers filled
to near capacity with experiences of fear, doubt and insecurity, there are times each day when all of the Stuff just falls
away and there I AM, Here, Now, and Free. Presence Awareness simply Is and That is what I AM.
Yup!
It seems that all of the pain and suffering in this
place we call the World flows from the river of mis-identification with imagined little, separate me’s struggling to
find a safe harbor, that simply does not exist, within the ever hungry fantasy land of I, me, and mine. It is so crazy, just
completely nuts. A vast parade of humans lost in darkness while walking down a sun drenched street with closed eyes.
Nice!
Be Well and Happy dear
friend!
And YOU!
In case you missed it ....
Keep It Simple!
A.D., who has been following a “Guru’s Path”, wrote lots of mental chatter that ended
with, “I thought I heard you say that Gurus or practices to reach the Infinite
of any kind are unnecessary – since we already ARE THAT. Any HELP?
Sure.
You finish with a reminding yourself of the real: “We are already THAT”.
Exactly!
It is SO simple!
Do you exist?
Are you aware?
Is that Awareness a thing that comes and goes?
What is the nature of awareness?
Do you see Awareness NEVER changes and all the changing appearances arise from That and disappear back
into That?
Does it take any "practice (even the final practice of abiding in the last thought of ego - who AM I?)
to BE? Does Awareness ever waver? Can you escape Awareness? Can you get away from NOW?
Do you see that wherever you are that place is always HERE?
Do you believe that you can "attain" the Awareness that the thoughts of ego
and attaining and some day arise IN OR ON?
The belief “I’m me” is a BELIEF. When you were a kid you believed in Santa Claus.
Then you found out there ain’t no Santa Claus. It was a story made up in the mind of a child. Now you must grow out
of the belief in a “me” by simply gently looking in this Space of Awareness, this naked empty Presence that you
ARE, to see if there really IS a “Santa Claus” … a “me”.
That is all there to this. Simple, obvious, nothing special at all.
All there IS is The One and now that you know that don’t trade The One Unborn Awareness in for
the dust of a false belief.
So gently ask you Who Am I? And let all other thoughts such as the lot you wrote which I snipped away
arose, and simply welcome all these thought with Love without latching onto them and identifying as the thinker or the thought.
Resist nothing, even resistance! Welcome ALL with Unconditional acceptance and love. Welcome every thought, feeling, sensation,
perception and experience with love and simply gently come back to the final question that has no answer (No Answer IS the
“Final Silent Answer) … who AM I?
This is the Return To Paradise. The gateless gate is wide open Here and Now.
Walk right in, dear One. It takes NO “time” or “practice to BE the Awareness that
You are.
Keep it simple and let it BE. “Speakin’ words of wisdom … let it be. Leeeet it be”.
~~~
That Gap Is The REAL YOU
E.R. writes a follow-up - Recent conference call posts have been so penetrating for this me thing over here. The huge gaps of silence are so blissful and with the occasional chirping
bird. You've reinforced the work done or "hitting the pavement" between the calls and that's stuck with me too. Thank you
as always...
You did it! Now you know that there ain’t no “you” that did or did not
do or undo – That Gap is The Stillness moving. The Real You has stood up and disappeared the false “you”.
Mazel Tov!! Way to GO (quite literally!) Ha!
So I was cleaning up
and noticed this book I have. A collection of cartoons from Bruce Eric Kaplan called NO ONE YOU KNOW. It seems each word is
could be a pointer...or something like that.
Great cartoons. The New Yorker has always had awesome ones, like Gahan Wilson, Charles
Addams and the like. BEK’s are stunningly funny and wise.
It’s happiness to hear from not you, my friend! Love ya!
~~~
You Were Never Born
H.G. writes, Your book ["From I Am to I Am, With Love"] has been read and as you say period, full stop. There are no questions to ask about
its content. However I would like to comment with you the following, hoping an answer or a guidance may come through. Thoughts
have come and go, problems have come and go, sceneries have changed, the body is getting older, ideas have changed etc etc.,
but the inner sense of me has always been the same, it has never changed, age is not felt, there is this inner sense that
I am the same one always, the same one when I was a kid, the same one when I was at School... always the same one. No age,
it does not get old, it seems ageless.
That is the “sense of being” which is conscious of life as an “entity”.
It’s the assumption that this sense of being is separate from the Whole that is at the root of all human suffering.
The appearance of all that arises, including the sense of being, happens in timeless Awareness. This Awareness is the True
Being, Eternal and absolutely free and clear, standing as The All outside the appearance of Life, Bodies, World.
In short, YOU ARE THAT.
That is NOT a thing or a sense or a feeling … all those come and go IN what NEVER
comes and goes. What NEVER changes? This Here, this Now. Empty yet throbbingly Alive. Life itself.
You were never born; all that is “born” is a thought, a sense-of-being, that
I am Consciousness. That is born on waking and dies in sleep. The LIFE never dies and is never born. LIFE beats your heart
and breathes your lungs while there is no-one home, in deep sleep. That is always so. You are not an entity. You are the I
AM that is The ALL. Full Stop!
Who Are You?
Just THAT. Nothing Else.
~~~
Stay With The Basics
S.G. Writes, Fear comes again. I been doing that inquiry, but seems some notion of
a me still persist. I don’t know, i do that inquiry, but the but but but comes... I don´t know how that comes
again. Seemed over.... Probably are histories in the mind, but still arise that. ...I´m not in control of this. ...Also if
i imagine another conversation with you, some fear is there....How is possible this to come again... probably this mind is
so hard ...it reasserts itself. And want to over the game of becoming. I’m afraid. I want to jump from the boat.
IS hard, because when you have tasted that eternal state... is hard to return to the man. I know all of this are histories,
but want to over the histories ! probably you can help. I been doing that inquiry for so long, and still
there is this mind.....This is ego, but what can i do ... Also when doing the inquiry, i repeat who i am over and over, but
nothing happens.
You ARE that Nothing.
Let that last thought "Who Am I" ERASE you. Stay with The Basics:
1. YOU ARE Awareness, simply being. No one can say they do not exist. That existence,
the sense of "I" as in "I Am," is undeniable and inescapable. Try to NOT BE. Cannot be done. So the simple pointer is, what
you are is That Presence or Awareness pointed at with the concepts "I" and "I Am". That, YOU ARE. Being. Just That! This True
:I" ... BE-ING... is "represented" in language with concepts like Impersonal Consciousness; Awareness, Being ... YOU are just
THAT, prior to the mind's translation into the thought I Am and I am this or that.
2. YOU ARE NOT an "individual." There are NO "individuals" anywhere except in unreal
stories. The idea of a separate person is a fiction, a mind-construction, a house of cards, as the story tries to say,
“I’m ME! (Unsuccessfully!) This idea of a "me" is ... on investigation ... seen to be a false claim by the thinking
machinery to its own separate existence. This ever-changing idea of a person is simply unreal. WHO says "I'm Me?" The mind.
To be blunt, it's bullshit. The whole fabricated story of me is pure bullshit: all stories of “individuals” is
actually a fiction. As Shakespeare said, it’s a tale told by an idiot, filled with sound and fury, signifying …
NOTHING.
3. Drop ALL thoughts except Who Am I? WHO? Who Who Who? Do not relent, but
do not try or force. Honestly and gently ask. You can't force Grace, she (The Real YOU) is more stubborn then you
are, so allow her to do the job as she will. Relax and ask. No answers only ask.
~~~
Nothing
And No One Is Wrong
Any More
J.B. writes a follow-up - It seems like most of the suffering is gone. Yes, it is sweet and surprisingly
undramatic. And at times when suffering does come (and it did when I got up this morning) it's sweet, too—just another
chance for the little gong to go off, gently prodding me to check things out.
Perfect!
I appreciate, Charlie, how much you've stressed the Ramana question. You're a total
one-pointed nut on it— that's been great for me. "Who Am I?" seems to pop up all on it own all over the place. It also
seems to take the juice (maybe hook is a better word) right out of judging, lusting, opinion making, crankiness, future
fears, and that old familiar critter, making John (as well as everybody else in the world) wrong! Love ya, take care.
You did it!
Love ya back. C.
~~~
Invincible You
What never changes
and yet
is That which silently
Yes. watches
And yes permeates… yes
all the changing appearances appearing?
That, indescribable, inescapable, silent
unblemished perfect Eternal Stillness ...
That is what You are. Who is not aware? Who is not Being?
Being Is yet Is Not.
In THAT there IS no 'me', no 'you', and no 'suffering'.
Being That, Unborn, Indestructible
there is no path and no goal.
No true and no false.
No good and no evil.
Just this –
Unborn being.
Not-two Not-One.
That is Nothing, Nowhere.
That is Everything, Everywhere.
That is Unborn, yet That is also birth and death,
Universe Omniverse.
All is One.
Or One is All.
Whichever way, forever now It Is.
Being That, Abiding as That, there is nothing "wrong" any more
(and there never was or will be ever no way
hey?)
Words! Drop all and be That which is Here Now before another thought is.
And who is here to do that? You? What “you” is there in The All?
Present and absent, always changing, you appear.
Absent forever you disappear and so You are You – The One.
There is Only This One. And The One is No One.
That is Also Known By No-One
As YOU.
Note: From a new book coming this summer" ... “Paradise
Found - Recognizing And Living As
The Infinite Love That You Are"
Follow-up from
M.T. - I listened to the audio clip “You Are That" and that resonated very well… the idea that as we are working, playing,
eating or whatever, and are one with that activity, that is the awake state. When there is the idea of "I am working" then
that's where apparent duality starts. The thoughts seem to say, "You have to think in order to do this," but in reality, doing
happens naturally and is more effective without unnecessary thoughts. Thanks so much Charlie.
That is PERFECT.
Happy to hear
it’s all sinking in. Keep going and do stay in touch! Love ya!
A.J.
writes, Charlie, I received this message and I want to know if you agree: “When we say
that God is everything, it means that HE is all that is real. What man creates through his separation-thinking and greed
for power is not real. For example, Hitler created more suffering than many others dictators like him, and yet, it ended
by him committing suicide and seeing how stupid the whole thing was. There was no gain it at all. He ended up
like the people he treated. This doesn't mean that the war didn't happen or that people didn't suffer. It means
that it was created by man's ignorance and need for personal power because they were devoid of love in their past. God
had nothing to do with war and suffering in the world. God is love. Therefore anything created without love is
created by man's ego. God is everything means that even Hitler has a soul that can recognize God and love but he denied
through it his through his unawareness and need for lust and greed and power. God created us in His image but it is
up to us what we do by our choice. God will always forgive us no matter what we do if we turn to him. God is everything
means that everything has that potential of love but we have been given choice -- to choose love or fear. Of course,
this choice is not conscious but unconscious mostly. Do you see that”?
Do you agree?
Absolutely
NOT.
First
off, the idea of a Big Separate God who is LOVE and therefore would never "choose war" is rampaging ignorance. If God is One
and only One where is any separate ego? It’s bullcrap. Look: You cannot have it both ways.
Either God is ALL or God is Nothing. Where is any separate ego that can somehow “thwart” the “Will of this
Loving God”?
Who
chooses? That is what needs to be examined. So, NO I do not agree. There is NO ego! It's a ghost! You scare yourself
telling yourself ghost stories where YOU are the main ghost character, the star in your drama. It's
crap.
Don't
get me in the middle between you and that writer, whom I do not know. If you keep roaming the Internet and writing to other
teachers I will NOT reply to you again. As awise man said, if you are wanting to hit water digging a well, dig in just one
place. Stay with one teaching. If you like that expression what difference will my assessment make? The real question which
you keep avoiding asking yourself is Who Am I”? I say refuse all thoughts except who am I? If you can, just do it. If
not keep looking in all the wrong places, in thoughts and outside yourself. But get real with it, man!
In
any case as I read the post it seems whoever that is IS trying to point to the Universal I AM that we "label" God… but
the idea of choice and chooser is out of ignorance. The assumption of a chooser-entity. Look for such and you simply cannot
find any such thing!
So
the expression is fundamentally flawed. The idea of conscious OR unconscious choice is nonsense, it depends on that ubiquitous
false assumption of an “individual me”, entity that has to choose to love. Who would NOT choose love if there
were any real choice in the matter? The Hitler example is just silly noise.
If
you stick with the final point, to refuse ALL speculations, thoughts, stories etc and come back to JUST "Who Am I"? all the
questions dissolve.
Follow-up: Alright, I see what you mean and I know God and I aren't separate.. I just didn't get
why another advaita vedanta teacher believed in that type of crap.. Sorry, for the questions.. I just want you to be my teacher
Be
your OWN “teacher”. You ARE THAT. Chooserless Choiceless Awareness. YOIU ARE Just THAT. Full Stop!
That
“crap” as you put it and I agree with is the real problem when a “teacher” believes they are a “teacher-person”
that is teaching “another
“
a “student-person”. That is a bankrupt paradigm. This that arises here and through ‘Sailor’ Bob and
John Wheeler is simply, Oneness sharing Oneness with Oneness - sharing rather than teaching. The real teacher doesn’t
claim to know some fancy conceptual “spiritual wisdom” that you don’t know and must learn. While the correct
seeing is that self-ignorance is cured by Self-Knowledge, THAT is the compassionate sharing of what is obvious and clear FOR
YOU. That means, For who you ARE, when you look with a bit of guidance shared through one who has been down the road
and knows the pitfalls and potholes and shares how to steer around them.
Stay with the Bottom Line, that you HAVE seen: You ARE That. Presence Awareness
and NOTHING Else. THAT is Love. Stay PUT now, my friend.
Follow-up from
J.K. - Much gratitude to you and Walter... during your recent consultation, you gave him a very valuable pointer...the notion that the "I" thought must be rooted out...this obviously begs the question (well,
it certainly wasn't obvious to me...who? LOL)...who is doing all of this rooting?
Indeed.
Yet it is essential (so it seems) to have the direct Self-Knowing of what that I Indeed. Yet it is essential (so it seems)
to have the direct Self-Knowing of what that I actually is: The I is That which IS prior to the assumed identity “I-apart-from-other”
or the assumed owner of “I and Mine” that arises as a subtle thought-conviction: the assumed identity "I am me".
In short the one-letter word I is the most perfect POINTER to Timeless being. Seeing the I as Real and the “me”
as false is how it is shared here.
Ultimately
The Timeless Spacelike I of Being-Awareness-Aliveness moving as the One Living Universe - from It’s own Unmoved Eternal
Nature - is ALL there is, That IS the True I and You are That. Not Two. Beyond apparent reality there is the Reality Of I
and That is Love. (Words! The Way is beyond language! - Seng T’san)
It seems to me (you know what I mean) that the "I" thought is like a rattlesnake slithering by.
If you try and pick it up and make it your pet...trouble. If you try and kill it...trouble. Best just to let
it slither harmlessly by.
Yes.
And, how can what never existed in the first place be destroyed. It only seemed so during the dream-like process of
seeker-seeking.
Like the Irish cop says, "Alright, move along people! Nothing to see here!"
Quite
right! What there is to see – Here - IS No Thing. No-one sees no thing yet there is See-ing. The mystery of Being the
Now and only that. Ain’t that some amazing Grace?!
Follow-up: Thanks, Charlie (as always) for your thoughtful reply. It seems to no-one that any
concept born of the illusion of a separate self, the "I" thought, time, space, chocolate...all concepts are...by definition...false. Which,
fortunately, doesn't mean there's not the enjoyment of chocolate! Peace...
Some
make claims like "We must let all possibilities exist in Peace, meaning that we accept whatever comes." Who is there
to "do" this acceptance"?The undeniable FACT of The Eternal State is that all
"possibilities" ARE (Already Always!) existing Here and Now in Perfect Peace.
All
there IS is THAT - What-You-Are ... Nondual Being-Awareness-Love. Loving all that appears
without a separate Love-ER!
What
IS IS and prior to appearances, while permeating the appearances as Essence of All, and This ever-IS abides Beyond
this false "reality" of a "we" described in that assertion.
In
That which IS there IS no "we", no "person" or "persons", to "let all exist." That is arrogant ignorance.
This is a teaching of nice looking ignorance that can keep the seeker stuck in a false identity that continually "tries
to accept and always fails! It is quit a familiar trap. Don't get caught in that. It’s like icing on a cow pie. As Robin
Dale puts it, “If you think you're enlightened, throw it away and begin again. The idea of 'enlightenment' is
like a big ugly monster with a pretty face, inside you. Like the idea of the Abyss is a big warm openhearted angel with an
ugly face”.
C.J. shares, I have been a student of metaphysics/ spiritual studies for awhile now & had practice
various religious faith...always searching, seeking & dissecting...but was somehow unhappy...somehow I knew inside of
me that there must be a more direct approach without the fabrications ... something more unified ...the source of it all.
And I needed to know...that all teachings sprung from the same source. Which I did...when I discovered Shankaracharya Advaita
philosophy but not without confusion, frustrations & pain prior to the discovery....and only recently to the teachings
of Sri Nisargadatta & Sri Ramana Maharshi.....viewing clips of these masters on YouTube I came across yours as well and
I decided I would sent you an email, in hope to have a 'friend' along the path....
Welcome!
Now the search is over...I am only to abide...abide in the present....
Now THAT is VERY
“good news”.
Should any doubts,
questions or suffering ever arise, feel free to write again. Meanwhile … Rest In Peace J.
P.N.
writes, Hello Charlie, a convincing mind game that I’m wondering about is if
I'm still seeking. One month ago I was surfing Youtube for videos of Eckart Tolle and saw one of your videos.
By watching your videos and those of Tony parsons, the seeking ended for this 6'1" meat stick I call P.N.,
haha ;-)
Great!
Yet if the search is over, why am I still coming back to your web site and John Wheeler's?
This is strange.
It
is rather like enjoying a fine wine. Being not-a-seeker - and abiding as The One Beyond Reality - doesn't necessarily preclude
enjoying the Song of Your Self in the "relative"! I also still very much enjoy reading John Wheeler's site.
No
worries! Enjoy whatever arises in the Now and out of Nowhere.
M.S.
writes, Whatever is was that woke me is now downloading more of your audio sessions to take to the gym on my IPOD. From there What will run the legs, lift the weights and reason
that all the sweat is being done for the chocolate smoothie at the imagined end. ha ha ha
What
indeed? Good question. No answer will capture or evoke The Real beyond reality!
Enjoy
the day .... and greet each moment as you...as it is
And
'YOU'!
"I am"... the day… Silence pretending to be M.
Potent
Pointer from Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj:
"This
primary concept, ‘I amness’ is dishonest, because it is still a concept only. Finally one has to transcend that
also and be in the ‘nirvikalpa’ state, which means the concept-free state. Then you have no concept at all, not
even of ‘I am’. In that state one does not know that one is. This state is known as ‘Parabrahman’:
‘Brahman’ transcended. ‘Brahman’ is manifest; ‘Parabrahman’ is beyond that, prior to that;
the Absolute".
Here,
A new book seems to be coming outta nowhere
“Beyond
Reality". (Subtitle - "Beyond ‘I Am,’ Beyond Reality. There is Only One. You Are That".)
Incomprehensible
to the scientist or the philosopher, the human or the so-called mind!
Beyond
Reality You Are - Subjectless Objectless Just One.
Follow-up from R.B. Wow. There's
really nothing more to say. "I" can't help but laugh at how simple the teachings actually are. I'm at a loss of words currently,
haha. Thank you very much for taking the time to reply, it’s highly appreciated.
P.B. writes, Just received
the newsletter. Deepest gratitude for all that is available-audio, video and stuff. Searching stopped after clarity seen through
pointers by Sailor Bob and John Wheeler. It’s totally inspiring and uplifting to hear and read what’s on offer here as in the past I hadn’t encountered
such direct openness in such matters. Your sharing makes all the difference. From the UK - Love and all the best.
That is GREAT news. Thanks
so much for sharing this.
Much Love,
Charlie
13
May 2008
Touching
Home
R.O.
Writes, Hey Charlie, I hope all is well with you. I just had to write to thank you
once again for another outstanding audio clip “Hardball III” with Peter. This one truly touched home. Very beautiful !! Thank you my friend and keep them coming :-)
Happiness
bubbles as this is read! Much Big Love to you dear friend, dear One.
It's
great to see that the "message" is resonating.
Thanks
very much for writing. It seems this expression continues - and who knows how? LOL! All is well all ways. Being Unborn
is the Gift of Timeless Being to all who let It in, so to say... Have an awesome Now.
A.H. Asks, Hi there, I have been watching your videos and was wondering: Is this "Being-Awareness" that you talk about is
the same as "GOD"?
Yes, "God" is
a popular Name for the Nameless Timeless Formless Space-Like Being that You are... All words are just pointers to
the Real - the word is a concept-label for what Is.
S. P. says, Effortless wealth, effortless success and effortless health??
This is what is posted on Mechthild's website which I found on your links page. I got curious about this Sedona Method because
I heard or read that you were saying how wonderful/brilliant the method/teacher, is etc. Did Ramana Maharshi,
or Nisargadatta Maharaj, ever promise such things? WHO would make such claims about attaining and achieving things like wealth
and health, which only satisfy the egotistical desire to be ever-happier and have more or better of something. You
are normally so uncompromising in "your" message of non-duality that I find it surprising that you appear to be endorsing
(to some degree) the Sedona Method, since it is immediately apparent just by [looking at their] web page that this method
reinforces seeking.
Certainly
the final “end game is to ask WHO? Who wants what isn’t? Who offers such carrots on a stick? Who indeed IS there
anywhere? Yet take it back and ask YOU - WHO asks this? Who is caring what a so-called “other” says or thinks
or offers or not!? Who is is asking who would make claims!? WHO? Take your own point back and challenge your own who-ness.
Dear ONE: Consider the possibility that what appears to “you” as “immediately apparent” may
only be the mind’s rejection out of an egoic, mechanical judgmental arrogance of knowing “that’s just wrong!”
Look: I challenged Hale Dwoskin, the CEO and founder of this work, directly, on all these points in a few great
phone conversations. In doing so I found NO "Hale" to defend or protect or justify the Sedona Method. The appearance
called “Hale” is ONLY the Eternal Being arising as Infinite Compassion (the destroyer of Ignorance) and Love (YOUR
Timeless Being). “Hale” is an appearance of Aliveness being lived as this particular expression in the appearing
context of popular ideas of becoming, and self improvement. It was only after both actually listening to the teachings, and
talking with my dear friends Mechthild and Hale, [both are linked on the site] that the endorsement happened and the links
were added..
Here
is the Paradox. It is absolutely true that there is no person. But for one who still believes he or she is a person,
in the relativity of the appearance, that one CAN be met where they are, rather than from the Ultimate, because there are
no ears for hearing when the one seeking itself is deeply enmeshed in its dream. Then perhaps, through a seeming process,
all arguments against Oneness dissolve and the Unborn Reality that shines before and through the mind is no longer missed
out on. If you forget that once YOU were in the space of seeking and that frustration led you to various teachers and teachings
that LOOKED like they were offering something that you wanted, regardless of what that was, spiritual or material,
then you could lose the compassion that is the hallmark of all sincere nondual teachings, no matter HOW they are presented
or disguised!
All
seeking, whether for wealth, health or happiness, OR for so-called “Spiritual Enlightenment”, is the seeking for
Home, for Wholeness - so the brilliance of Hale’s work lives in the embracing of that fact and appearing as a
possibility for what the seeker thinks she or he wants. So it seems! BUT in the view from now, from here, that arises only
“in order to” guide the seeker to the removal of the seeker from the path entirely! Call it guidance to the Gateless
Gate to Paradise! Call it whatever
you like. It’s ALL coming from Oneness. ALL IS ONE. Period. Stop. (That means ALL. IS. One.) J
Look
at it this way: There is no one yet there appears an organism. Seven or so billion such organisms, the vast majority
of which are suffering. So it appears that these are programs for UN-conditioning, DE-programming -an appearance of an organism. For the organism’s health and well being at all apparent “levels”.
There is NO resistance here to any or all such possibilities. And what IS wealth? Being that what there is NOW is enough!
By that definition I am absolutely a rich man! What IS success? Being Whole and Complete and KNOWING that, regardless of apparent
circumstance, YOU ARE THAT Wholeness. What IS health? The natural acceptance of what IS as it IS for the bodymind. And there
can be apparent improvement. That has happened here as in reviewing the materials I found a chronic back problem easing effortlessly.
Hey, I don't care about the assessments. I like the back pain being eased. That is a preference, not attached to, AND there
is NOTHING WRONG with naturally programmed preferences. No attachment no aversion. That is Freedom.
A
good friend who is no longer stuck in the beliefs in me, time and separateness was at one “time” a teacher in
the School of
Metaphysics.
That work is remarkably similar to the Sedona Method! That work now "lives him" in his daily life. I have observed that
this friend, a “person appearing”, is quite effortlessly prosperous! Some would say wealthy. Financial wealth
is useful in this dream! We have talked about all this. He rejects NOTHING! Only the ego rejects out of hand! In fact I have
seen my pal coach his kids in these kinds of ways. Setting goals, for example. Again, nothing is rejected; all is embraced
in The Oneness of Absolute Freedom and Love.
As
'Sailor' Bob Adamson points out in this quote on his website, "There is a principle which is a bar against all information,
which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance--that principle is contempt
prior to investigation". - Herbert Spencer
Look,
It Is All Good. Oneness denies NOTHING, welcomes EVERYTHING AS IT IS with absolute love and respect.
All
is One. My direct experience (non conceptual and not ‘hearsay’) is that Hale Dwoskin, who I know quite well now,
is exactly the same as Nisargadatta. (And so are YOU dear One). Make no-one special or separate and make nothing wrong
-that - wrong-making - is egoing, which IS dividing up The Whole in language,
and THAT is what appears to be maintaining the false separateness. All paths
lead to the Home that was never left. Some take the high road, some take the low road. Every appearance finds its perfect
guide. Reject NO path. We could just watch that we don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater!
There
is a popular belief, among “spiritually correct” egos, that somehow seeking and finding how to have the bodymind's
needs and desires fulfilled is wrong. What is off and causes suffering for most seekers who are after a better or different
life is the self-willedeffort. Ego is effort, struggle. Ego IS resistance to what is. It is the struggle to
get what it wants, but not now! Only for “for a me” that never did exist and a “someday” that
never comes. The experience here of the Sedona Method is that the sharing is constantly, directly and with enormous compassion
and absolute love, pointing to That which effortlessly sources all that happens. That which you ARE and cannot either
attain or lose.
All
you’ve see is the “marketing” and that is only the surface. It’s like looking at a sign that says
“Paradise Inside” – come on in. If you pooh-pooh the sign and out of cynicism reject the possibility, then
that is just foolish! The seeker mind might do well to ask itself, “Can I afford the arrogance of assuming there is
nothing here worth investigating, can we afford the arrogance of assuming that nothing in this possibility could make a difference
in the well-being of the organism I call me, AND all of Humanity, and the Planet”? If you are seeking anything at all
that is not already here now, that you must enter and test, not believe or disbelieve without investigation. No. You must
give up that arrogance and actually open the door, come INSIDE. Then guiding that mechanical seeker of paradise to the nondual
seeing that there is no seeker can happen - and THAT IS The Return to Paradise! Game Over.
But
as Albert Einstein noted, “Great spirits have always encountered violent
opposition from mediocre minds." He knew that in his own direct experience!
You
see, in the actual Sedona Method, as in any true nondual pointing, there is a welcoming by the appearing “outer
guide” of all that appears with no attachment and no aversion. This is exactly how John Wheeler, Bob Adamson, John Greven,
Stephen Wingate and many, many others (see the links page) approach all of this. In this space of loving acceptance sans agenda,
the seeker, through competent guidance, is led back to Source, then the false entity drops away. Then what happens is a totally
natural unfolding of the effortless ease of Being. As it always was is and shall be, and now no longer obscured by false beliefs
in me and time and separation!
The
functioning of the programmed organism then is lived by a life of authentic freedom, natural power, and unconditioned love,
which brings the Nondual Realization that what is IS already perfect in all ways - and maybe there is not financial wealth
or other changes, and sometimes there are – as I said, this body's chronic back pain (from racing crashes and being
overweight) got dramatically reduced as it reviewed the course, which happened because there is NEVER a recommending
anything this bodymind has not directly experienced and tested for bullshit and truth at the core ...so the REAL outcome in
apparent "time" is that "improvement of the dream charcter" may or may not happen but again, there is no-one there
to care one way or the other! There is just In-Love-ness with all and every appearance and no-one does this love, it’s
not a “doing” - there just IS great Love and Acceptance - with no one “doing” the accepting. And THAT
is good shit - no matter what the mind's advaita police say! LOL!!
When
all is welcomed and released back into the Now there arises in This Eternal Now a sense of real palpable love and respect
for everything and everyone. And this appears NOW and NOW. You are that NOW. Here. Forever.
The
signs are meant to attract the seeker who has wants. But once inside that Tiger's Den, the seeker and their wants and attachments
gets dissolved. But NOT as being “destroyed but by being "de-story-ed". There is just effortless dissolving in Infinite
Timeless Love! "Step into my parlor, said the Loving Spider to the Suffering Fly!" When the Divine Spider of Love eats the
egoic fly of a suffering “me” all that is left is the Love. You become the Love that you were never not!
Those
with the addiction to such things as “The Secret” are originally attracted by these apparent carrots on a stick,
but all that is beautifully dealt with in seeing that the assumptions of time, me and someday DO reinforce the sense of separation
and these get taken apart in Hale’s work.
It is always a danger to judge
and evaluate, to consider on appearance right or better, OR wrong or invalid, without investigation. I endorse The Sedona
Method because IT WORKS. I LOVE shit that actually works. It works because of where it comes from (Oneness) and not what
it appears to the judging mind to be. Watch out about rushes to judgment, dearest One!
Here
is a short clip of Hale delivering the message, on pointing out the effortless nature of Truth, and pointing out what EVERY
seeker LONGS to know: https://charliehayes36.tripod.com/hdclip1.mp3This brief bit is only a tiny a taste,
like when there is a new ice cream flavor and they ask if you’d like a taste to see if it appeals. Because once you
taste the flavor you know if it is appealing to you. Get one taste of the Ocean, you know the flavor of the whole ocean! Thewhat remains is to give up ALL assumptions or beliefs in a “me” that is
plagued by lack, limitation, separation and striving to become better on some someday that never comes. But if this is already
known then please accept that this message is NOT preaching to the choir (unless it is! HAHAHA)!
Here
is a quote from John Greven’s book, “:Oneness”:
“So what does the ocean taste like? It tastes like boundless peace that cannot be touched -or there is
nothing to touch it. Peace that cannot be disturbed because it is the only reality. Peace that is beyond knowing. It tastes
like love so whole and complete that there is not a need for anything else - while it allows for all that is. It tastes like
home”.
That
is the direct experience here of The Reality, The Eternal State, this is what IS, always Here, always Now, and before that
“always” there is Being and That is Space. Awareness - Aliveness. The Energy of This. Before
always, after always, during always, the Real One IS and You are That. Timeless Love IS and You Are That! So, that is what
is REALLY on offer from nowhere to no-one. Here, and also through Hale’s work, and also through the apparent others
on the links page.
Anyway,
thanks for a great question and commentary! Acceptance of The All IS Love. That denies nothing. You Are That. That
is All.
With
great Love and great Respect, from Love to Love with Love
A.S. Asks, How does Awareness dissolve the false belief in an individual self?
Consider the
possibility that Everything that appears only appears to YOU in YOUR Beingsphere … your “space”. ALL perceptions,
sensations, your point of view, your perspective, are all arising in YOU. You are space and no thing no where and That is
Here and Now. You are HERE. When or where did HERE begin? In this instant where is Here? Here! In this instant where is NOW?
Here Now. Right NOW where is “time”? Right HERE where did NOW begin? Can you find a beginning to NOW? What appears
as past-future-present appears as a memory NOW. The “I” is a memory. The “other” is a memory. Is a
memory a real happening or did you jsst ASSUME that? WHO assumed that?
Surround all
the stories, feelings, thoughts, sensations, opinions, arguments, agreement, disagreement, the knowing I Am – that WHOLE
PACKAGE that you call “you-and-not-you” with Space. Let that Space surround, and permeate, all these memories.
You simply cannot hold This Instant because YOU ARE This Instant outside and within all that appears. All memories. BE the
Space, ALLOW the memories, And just let them all come and go in The Space as best you can. In This Now there is Nothing and
memories appear and disappear in That.
You are THAT.
If you now think
I got it!, you didn’t. If you now think “I lost it” you didn’t’
Who are YOU?
You ARE. You
just ARE! This Here, this NOW. Nothing but That.
S.N. Follows up: Yes,
I know I have the feeling of being so-and-so, of being a person. So do I just be with that feeling, remain with that
feeling?
That
is one possibility. Refuse all thoughts except I AM - but START from the FACT that Being IS and That is Timeless Space, clear
and empty. YOU ARE THAT.
In
SriRamana's "NanYar?" he says to find out "where in the body the thought "I" rises first....." But this finding
requires effort and will be the work of the mind, the ego.
Yes,
the mind-ego which SEEMS to you to be what you are MUST be "challenged by itself" so to speak. This is the paradox: The you
that you assume yourself to be, that you label mind or ego, must ask itself 'Who am I?'. And what Ramana is asking in the sentence you quote see if you can actually FIND that “I”.
You will never find it! It is NOT in the body at all. It is NOWHERE!
The
realization that you cannot find a separate entity called "I" proves the NONEXISTENCE of that. You see that "you" are a phantom,
a dream, a fond memory. As there is the discovery of NO I that reveals that YOU as You ARE is NOT a thought. You find no "you"
yet here you are, present an aware, with no location and outside of time. Just BEING.
While
the mind is ultimately not the right tool, the answer is NOT in the mind because There Is No Answer! ... for the apparent
seeker it's the only tool we have! Ramana recognized and taught from
this paradox.
So,
are you trying to figure it out?
Stay
with this one thought, Who Am I?, and refuse ALL other thoughts and attempts to figure it all out. NO! JUST DO IT.
I
remind you: Ramana points out, the purest teaching of dissolving your
false self-center:
"The
thought 'who am I?' will destroy all other thoughts, and like the stick used for stirring the burning pyre, it will
itself in the end get destroyed. Then, there will arise Self-realization."
The
Self is already always "realized" but if that is obscured by the apparent I-separateness assumption (I is mind appearing in
Awareness) then this simple method is employed to dissolve the false I leaving this already Eternal NOW that you ARE.
So
JUST DO IT.
If
it remains unclear consider setting consultation. Only so much can be done by e-mail. Go to consultations for details.
Sri Ramana
Maharshi: Actions such as ‘going’ and ‘coming’ belong only to the body. And so, when one says,
‘I went, I came’, it amounts to saying that the body is ‘I’. But, can the body be said to be the consciousness
‘I’, since the body was not before it was born, is made up of the five elements, is nonexistent in the state of
deep sleep, and becomes a corpse when dead? Can this body which is inert like a log of wood be said to shine as ‘I-I’?
Therefore, the ‘I-consciousness’ which at first arises in respect of the body is referred to variously as self-conceit
[self-centered thought] ), egoity (ahamkara) [sense I am separate], nescience (avidya), [ignorance, or false knowledge] maya
[illusion], impurity (mala), and individual soul (jiva).
Can we remain
without enquiring into this? Is it not for our redemption through enquiry that all the scriptures declare that the destruction
of ‘self-conceit’ is release (mukti)? Therefore, making the corpse-body remain as a corpse, and not even uttering
the word ‘I’, one should enquire keenly thus: “Now, what is it that rises as ‘I’?” Then,
there would shine in the Heart a kind of wordless illumination of the form ‘I-I’. That is, there would shine of
its own accord the pure consciousness which is unlimited and one, the limited and the many thoughts having disappeared. If
one remains quiescent without abandoning that (experience), the egoity, the individual sense, of the form ‘I am the
body’ will be totally destroyed, and at the end the final thought, viz., the ‘I-form’ also will be quenched
like the fire that burns camphor [which dies once the fuel is exhausted].
The great sages
and scriptures declare that this alone is release.
[The
means] - The enquiry ‘Who am I?’ is
the principal means to the removal of all misery and the attainment of the supreme bliss.
S.N.
Writes, I have spent many years doing TM and japa and other spiritual practices.
to the extent that I developed immense headaches. but still no progress. doing all this for the last 30 years.
Who
is expecting progress? There is nowhere to go and no-one to go. That assumption that you are a person who is trying to attain
enlightenment IS the ego, the “one suffering” and that is an imaginary phantom that arises in Awareness. Suffering
consists in trying to escape what IS. Ponder this from my teacher, John Wheeler:
“If
you look simply and directly, you will see that here and now you are nothing but undeniable being-awareness itself. Note the
tremendous implications of this statement. If you ARE that, what is the need of attaining, practicing or stabilizing in what
you ALREADY are? Clearly, all those notions and questions arise from the belief in being a separate self apart from THAT.
Until this is understood, the questions will go on. They cannot help but go on. There is only one issue left on the table:
What are you? I will give you a hint: anything that comes and goes is not what you are. Still, you are present, and undeniably
so. What is this presence that is with you right now that is not an experience that comes and goes? This is precisely what
non-duality is pointing to. It is shining in your experience now, and is in fact what you are. Each time you turn to the questions
and doubts in the mind, you are looking away from yourself. Pause the interest in thought for even one instant and your natural
being is here, shining in all of its naked glory. Do not turn this into a task or goal. Is your being, your very presence,
a task to accomplish or a goal to achieve?”
What am I to do? How do I do this practice of "who am I"?
FIRST:
Start with the simple knowing I am Aware.
Then
drop the I AM and what is Here and Never Changing? Being, Presence, Present and Aware.
Prior
to the next thought. Open empty Space.
THAT
THOU ART.
ALL
IS THAT.
SECOND:
Refuse to entertain any thoughts except WHO AM I? WHO asks these questions and tells these stories of “me-myself-and
I”? Who did TM? WHO believes there is a time when or a time someday? Who believes the I thought is who I am?
WHO?
Linked
here is the classic instruction from Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi: Read and ponder. But DO bear in mind that IT TAKES NO PRACTICE
TO BE! Awareness is That which never changes. All appearances that come and go are Temporal. Being-Awareness is The Eternal
State. YOU AR THAT and no practice can give you that because you are already always ONLY THAT. Here and now. DONE!
M.E. Writes, A few days ago I chanced on a segment of yours on YouTube. I found it interesting and articulate. I then checked out a few others and recently even ordered a CD set from your
web site. What you say (along with many others who provide pointers to the truth of advaita), however, tends to down
play one thing. Everyone says, "All things appear in awareness...Awareness has no beginning and no end...You are it. Nothing
new is to be attained...You have always had it and that is what you are...So there is no such thing as enlightenment..., etc."
That
is not what the whole sharing is. We do point out the inescapable Awareness that is always present, right here, right now.
But unlike some who ONLY point to That and affirm You Are That, we recognize here that for many seekers there are seeming
obstacles in the mind that must be addressed, seen, challenged and dissolved. The purpose of our work is to provide BOTH SIDES
of the Nondual Coin, so to speak. A one sided teaching will rarely suffice. There are exceptions but they ARE few and far
between!
Now I can see that everything I perceive appears in awareness. Thoughts and emotions arise
and subside in it, etc. But this is still a far cry from knowing through the immediacy of experience that awareness is everything, that all things are derived and are dependent on awareness. Having an intellectual conviction
of it does not do much for me.
For
WHOM? Is there a "me" assumed, an "I" apart from The All?
I is obviously the experiential realization that the ego
is a false entity that releases me into the freedom that I supposedly am. Instead of harping on the fact
that we are already That, I feel it would be useful if teachers or commentators on nonduality spent more time on how to make that truth the stuff of experience.
I
basically agree! To see that the "I" is a POINTER to Timeless Being and NOT a "thing apart" is realization - for no-person.
But if that isn't seen, then this is why when the seeker is really ready to tackle his or her false assumptions, after
pointing out the brilliant obviousness of being, always present and aware as the silent screen on which all appears, we say
IF you still believe there is separation, an entity apart from the Whole that assumes IT is in charge and must manage its
life and also somehow manage to “get enlightened,” to follow a simple pointer:
I
say refuse all thoughts except "who am I?"!No matter how much it's stressed
it often goes unheeded - as seekers stubbornly want an answer to that rather than simply ask, refuse all answers, and stop
in silence. That Silence IS what all beings ARE and that final unanswered question there is the possibility for realization,
right here right now! And, quoting Sri Ramana Maharshi: “The thought 'who am I?' will destroy all other thoughts, and
like the stick used for stirring the burning pyre, it will itself in the end get destroyed. Then, there will arise Self-realization”.
This
IS repeated over and over until it finally sinks in! I have been taken to task by some who reject this as “merely reinforcing
the egoic sense of a separate self”, but I speak from my direct experience only in sharing what simply works and has
passed the test of time. The pointers on how to investigate - to root out the false core belief in “me”, “time”,
and “ separateness” – which IS what some call “ego” – come from the ancients and were
embraced and taught by REAL Sages whose gifts endure because – THEY WORK! Who cares whether a teaching or one who shares
their experience of being free fits some established dogma? Or some NEW dogma!? Both sides of that silly argument over “neo-advaita”
and traditional-advaita” are simply an ignorance of often unobserved dualism! These sorts of things do propagate suffering.
Far more powerful is to inquire into WHO believes all these lies of mind and ego? WHO AM I? Is the stunningly SIMPLE means.
It is true there is a danger that any practice can be converted into a lifeless
ritual. But absence of any practice also keeps one mired in a life of selfhood. (In fact, it may even make
some very complacent that they are already That and there is nothing left to do.) So more pointers on how to recognize "what
we have always been and are" would be welcome. You might say that sages like Ramana and Nisargadatta have already
dealt with this. True, but then so have they already dealt with the fact that we are That. These things could use repetition---especially
from people who have realized through the techniques espoused by those sages.
Absolutely.
No argument here. In most cases - (including my own, as John Wheeler and Bob Adamson kept after me to get down into
the false to root it out) - there must be a constant prompting to return to the basics of this: 1) You already ARE what you
seek, this Presence, empty and loving all that appears within it, IS your true natural stateless state, and 2) If this
is not clear the investigation into the assumes self center that takes itself to be a “me-apart-from-the-One”
as a habit of mistaken identity, the error of taking a though, “I”, to be real, solid and separate. Rigorous challenging
of that does reveal that the assumed entity with assumed volition or control simply never did exist. It seems to take time
because the habit of thinking deeply in the background “I am me” has been reinforced over years or decades since
about age two. So it would be irresponsible and foolish to expect that it can be dismantled overnight (though as always there
are exceptions but the vast majority of seekers of truth ARE afflicted with the virus-lime paradigm of “me-time-separation"
and it must be dismantled with earnestness and commitment).
Now,
will YOU abandon ALL thoughts, questions, assertions, claims, stories, and simply refuse it all and only abide in the thought-form
Who am I?? Let That erase ‘”you”!
Anyway, just a thought. With best wishes,
So
long as you see that you are not a thought, and that You are Unborn, then all is naturally perfect – just as it is.
Aleays was. Always shall be. Endless Beginningless Peace.
M.T.
writes, The main so called issue, seems to be anxiety lately, which comes up particularly when "I" am expected to do work, or have other responsibilities to attend to. Usually there
is a battle that arises, where the feeling of anxiety comes up, and then a lot of thoughts about so called others, what
they will think of "me", how "I" am doing, and generally a lot of "what if" thoughts. There are also a lot of thoughts about
what "I" should be doing about getting rid of the anxiety, with the underlying idea of "this should not be happening." The
core assumption is in full force at times, the separation seems to be real. It seems difficult to challenge these thoughts
in the moment, and the anxiety can build to the point of a sort of numbing out or mental resignation.
Are
you aware?
Anything
wrong with that awareness?
Put
the attention on the space of awareness that surround all the stories and feelings.
You
are Space. All appears in You.
Take
focus off content of space and come back to that space. Whenever there is a feeling you don't like the not liking is resistance...
yet there is no problem with resistance, it is just another appearance in Space
Return
to Space right now and right now
You
ARE Right Now and That is real. All problems and emotions are imaginary, based on the imagination that you are a separate
thing. And that "me" is just a THOUGHT. Only a thought, an idea, which does and can do nothing. It's an appearance
in This Space, Here Now - as is "anxiety" an appearance of roiling energy, nothing wrong, just energy happening in
You - Aware Space.
Notice
that all you describe arises and subsides in You - The ever present NOW of Aware Space. That's all there is to it.
Looking
at what I just wrote, the solution seems obvious. Who am I? Who is having this anxiety? Is there a self in this inner experience?
It seems that this whole problematic story is a nightmare woven of smoke and mirrors, and there is nothing real that can believe
the story of my anxious self anyway. Just wanted to hear your thoughts on anxiety, I appreciate the help as always. Love always,
M.
“Anxiety” is a concept.
What does the label “anxiety point to or represent (RE Present)? Memory! A memory of roiling energy that arose a moment
ago - that the language of separation calls anxiety and whether you are conscious of it or not also shouts or whispers “I
don’t want this!” It seems to be a law of nature that what you resist persists. Fighting Energy is about as productive
as yelling at the stars to get out of your sky. Notice, as you are starting to, that all this stuff happens IN the Space that
you are and when you look for the “entity-me” that says “I am anxious” you find what you REALLY are
… Nothing. Anxiety is a sign to dig into that and look for the creator of that Energy. See if you can fine the creator.
Toy will find nothing and THAT is what you are deep down existentially scared to death of … Being Nothing! So the false
entity seems to survive only because you feed it by fighting it. Drop all the story about the energy and dive deep into that
energy looking for its Source. Do that until there is no suffering about the happenings of Energy Arising in You. Love you
too!
D.B. Writes,
I don't really know where to start with this message!
Your website and YouTube videos are so inspiring – thank you! The reason for me contacting you is really born out of frustration, and
a wanting to come back home.... but deep down I know this doesn't even compute because I never left 'home' anyway! All
I can say is that I have had a taste of my true nature..... And somehow, the veil came crashing back down.
I
know that feeling well. Happened in 2002. Getting into the wedding feast then getting tossed out into the dark night, much
wailing and weeping and gnashing of teeth as someone said a couple thousand years ago.
I hope u can help. In February this year I suddenly found myself in what I now understand to be that stateless
state. At the time I could not really qualify those wonderful 2 weeks at all.... hence, since that period I have undergone
a rigorous search for answers to what happened.
That
is definitely barking up the wrong tree! All answers are LIES. Mental understanding is the booby prize!
Much reading, web-research, internal questioning has led me to this point now of teetering over the cliff edge. After
reading Nisargadatta, Sailor Bob, et al..... where now? I totally 'get it' on an intellectual level.......
but.... something lacking.
Who
feels lack? What is that based on? Is there the deep assumption that ‘you” are actually separated from Oneness
and must somehow attain that “again”? Oneness is what you ARE and That is NOT an “experience that comes
and goes”. Sometimes these glimpses can be the worst thing for a seeker because these fleeting experiences, wonderful
though they may SEEM to be, are a SHAM, a scam the mind uses to sucker “you” into believing “that was IT
- Big Casino! - And I gotta get THAT BACK"! But THAT is the absence of “you”. How can an ABSENCE
get ABSENCE BACK??
Now,
Here, either there is the apparent “presence of you” or the apparent “absence of you” but this is
irrelevant to what YOU actually ARE – The Presence of Awareness that silently registers both the presence and the absence
of the assumption of an entity that comes and goes like the weather.
I guess I must ask: "WHO, exactly, is getting it?"
Good
question! Ask YOU that one. Accept absolutely NO answer.
All I know is that this being-ness that arose is very very REAL. So real. And so close. Closer than
close. All fear disappeared; in fact, I could clearly see fear for the very hoax that it is - just a phantom!
Love entered. I giggled almost constantly and uncontrollably, and kept telling my closest friends "I am in you as much
as I am in myself". My eyes were glazed over, everything had a very dreamlike feel, nothing was serious, and I felt
like everyone was in on the game and new all about it! I kept telling one of close friends "we're all playing Truman
in the Truman show."!!! I felt that in any minute someone was going to walk in and lift the curtain and say "that's
it, you've got it! Game over".
All
lovely yet NOT what is pointed to! The telltale of the mistake is in this ignorance assuming that "you've got it!"
ALL that happens in this Presence, this Empty obvious Awareness that you REALLY are. And now you describe a memory as
if it actually happened but that is all imagination. A story told by an imaginary entity taking itself to be real and having
real experiences. All a story happening in This Now that you really are. All stories arise “once upon a time”
and come and go on the silent screen of Timeless Being.
You
will never be able to grasp That. You might as well try to put the sky in a bucket!
I definitely felt that the game was over. Looking at faces, on TV, in
papers, looked like myself looking back at me. Every time I read something I seriously felt that I already wrote it
and was just reading it back to myself, as if from far away I had sent this to myself..... And yet I didn't know about it
until I read it. Every moment was being drawn up, all rooms and spaces were being perpetually drafted out of nowhere.......
The
problem is right there in that first sentence: “I” felt the game was over”. That is the evidence that it
is NOT. Again, All lovely yet NOT what is pointed to! ALL that happens in this Presence, this Empty obvious Awareness that
you REALLY are. Wondrous though that experience seemed, it seems so to “you” and “you” do not exist.
There is no “you” in This Being Loving Aliveness, the Peace that is the Real, shining before the next thought
or feeling, Right Here Right Now -- allowing for the appearance of all those happenings, wondrous, horrid, whatever arises
shows up and goes back into That Being which You are.
The overriding theme was love.... and that love doesn't choose or discriminate....
everything was evenly coated and driven by love in equal measure...... everything worked in harmony and I could see
clear relevance within everything, everything was trying to help..... Everything pointing back to itself again and again.
Things worked. No obstacles. Everything felt like a variation on the same one theme. I knew this was it.
Same
response as above!
And then, I fell! I 'lost' it....... even though I know, at least intellectually, it can never be lost.
But still..... I misplaced that presence. So now every second of every day is a yearning for that again......
I remember knowing the moment of downfall.... it was the arrival of fear again, but fear of losing this being-ness, loosing
the dearest of the dear, or loosing this not-knowing)....... what a wicked trick to play on myself!!! And when that
fear set in the beingness started to fade away... awful. I know now that the error is in thinking that "I am"......
as, how can fear exist if there is nobody there claiming ownership of it?!!! Seems so daft. But no matter how
much I convince myself of this fact, I still feel somewhat stuck. But again - WHO exactly is stuck?!!!!
Who
is telling that story that appears in this Now that you are?
So, I wonder if you can help me? Where now? Just to sit and wait? What occurs now?
Nothing.
Nothing happens "next". THIS IS IT. You are This NOW and all that Shows Up Now. NOT TWO.
Every now and again I feel as if a chink in the armour of misidentification
falls away... and some more light, the Bright Light of Awareness breaks through. Just this last 15 minutes I read something
in Sailor Bob's book that really REALLY hit home: “There is nobody here now,
or at any other time, who can negate their beingness. No one can ever say 'I am not'”. This is fairly straight
forward...... what actually hit home was the internal dialogue which followed within me.
Again
the me!? Where IS that “me”? A thought that comes and goes in Present Now Awareness. Nothing substantial. Meaningless!
Utterly meaningless.
And this is what I need clarification with. As a bit of background, I have been working on and looking deeply
into this "I AM" for some time now. Well, after reading the above sentence in Bob's book it suddenly occurred to me
that I no longer even wish to humour the thought "I AM". The reason is simple: even the thought "I AM" is an abstraction
and deviation AWAY from the ONENESS. It is still a MIND translation. It, quite simply, is still not IT !!!!! Sure,
it is as close as the mind can get to describing ONENESS. But still.... surely it is WAY off the map.???? right?
WHO
wants to know? WHO claims “I” this and “I” that!? Right? NO! Wrong? NO! You are trying to parse and
dissect and figure out the un figure outable.
So, surely we could add to Bob's statement, the words ….
Don’t
mess with Bob’s words! LOOK how they point to what is Real. All the rest of what you wrote up trying to “interpret”
Bob is crap, my dear friend.
And, like you said on one of your recent videos, all that can be truly said is: "EXISTENCE IS". FULL STOP. How can we possibly take it any further? I cannot..... So, its time to kick back
and eat some fish and chips....
Excellent
move! Checkmate the false mind. Time for some Sole Food, for the organism … add some Stout and have a nice long nap.
Do NOT trade this Unborn Now for “time” and “separateness”. Do NOT accept the bullshit story of “I
and other”. All there is is all there is. The One and That means The One. Even the appearance pf a flip-flop in an out
is also The One. Enjoy your Fish and Chips and DON’T forget the vinegar and the Stout. (Burp.)
I really hope you can help.... and point me in the right direction......
M.T. writes,
When I first read "The Power of Now," it seemed that by practicing what Eckhart had written, and being more present that I had
found the solution to my problematic life. The idea of inhabiting the body, or feeling the inner energy field was particularly
helpful.
Yes,
that is great! An excellent step into the possibility of authentic Freedom and Love.
However, now it seems that there was still a core delusion operating, the
idea of "me" having to get into "my body," or "me having to be more present. There was still the unchallenged assumption that
kept the suffering going, even if it was minimized by spiritual practices.
Right.
The core delusion is the conviction, "I am Separate from The Whole", stuffed deep and no longer a conscious thought but an
assumption operating as a background of being, like the DOS system underneath Windows Vista and back to the first Graphic
Windows Microsoft put on top of DOS (Disk operating system). Let’s call it HOS (Human Operating System.) In brief, this
is a linguistic declaration from the No Thing of Presence Awareness, starting as I, then I AM, then I AM SEPARATE. The WORD
I is NOT the Pure I of empty witnessing Presence. It is a representation of that Being that is the Real. The belief that I
am not whole and complete is just that … a belief (often cherished in ignorance. It goes I believe in ME! I can
do anything! Yes I can! OR, I am powerless and helpless, I am so sad and lonely, I am depressed. I can't do anything right.
I Can't! That stuff is all added to an assumed identity - I- as the thought I is mistaken to be the Real I of Timeless
Being.
I wonder if this is a case of simple misinterpretation on my part, or is Eckhart
not what he is cracked up to be?
Neither
one. All that appears forwards the action for the seeker. All that is needed shows up right on time (sp to speak.)
wonder if this is a case of simple misinterpretation on my part, or is Eckhart not what he is cracked up to be?
Neither
one. All that Oneness provides to "you" forwards the appearing of useful action for the sincere, earnest seeker. All that
is needed shows up right on time (so to speak.)
Listening to him, there is usually a deep resonance.
Now
THAT is the final arbiter for the effectiveness of a teacher FOR YOU, in my view! He IS That One. But of course so are YOU.
That natural recognition most often arises as a Heart-Resonance that has little or nothing to do with the words used..
Just wanted to hear your thoughts on this. I think the main issue is relying too heavily on the words and ideas of
another person, which always seem to cause problems in the end.
No,
the cause of all problems is you believe there ARE problems. And prior to that you believe you ARE separated from God, or
Love, or Self, or Wholeness, whatever label you like for The Infinite Eternal ISness of This Presence.
Where is any problem in Present Awareness, Here, Now? Only in memory, imagination, pinned onto an imaginary "me". Eckhart
reportedly said what is not in the book that probably should be is, “You ARE The Now”. That is an excellent pointer:
You are the Now, you are the Here, you are NOT an object that can be grasped or held onto. You are that Supreme Being, No
Thing. THAT is Love.
Friday The 13th – Your Lucky Day! (Who believes otherwise?)
Today’s
Book Reviews
***** “Happiness Is Free”
by Hale Dwoskin
This
is a simply brilliant exposition of the Real, from One who abides AS That which he points to ... the eternal timeless Being,
the true nature of which is unalloyed indestructible happiness. As the sage Ramana Maharshi pointed out, "What you ARE is
Happiness itself." Hale Dwoskin expresses from the identical Natural Sate of Oneness -- and only That --which ALL great Sages
and Nonduality authors like John Wheeler share FROM. In short this author IS That of which he speaks, and so his sharing -- and his pointers to rediscovery of this
for yourself -- bear an unmistakable imprint of authenticity.
The
author shares the entire dilemma and points to the solution right out of the gate in Chapter One: "Why is it that most of
us do not have this continuous happiness with no sorrow? There is only one reason: being this infinite Being, we have done
away with this happiness by thinking, `I am an individual, separate from the All,' and thereby we have assumed limitation.
"
He
goes on to point out, "The original thought of, `I am separate from the All" necessarily creates a feeling of lack and loneliness.
I am only satisfied when I am the All. Seeking fulfillment of desire in the world therefore cannot undo the lack, as lack
is not there in the first place; lack is assumed in my mind. Our totality is in our Beingness only, and [yet] we go on and
on trying to satisfy desire externally, and we never, never succeed. If we could succeed, we would be able to satisfy desire,
and, therefore, all desire would disappear!"
Then
he offers the "Bottom Line" - "There is no growing into the natural Being that you are. That Being is whole and perfect, here
and now"
As
one of my teachers, 'Sailor' Bob Adamson, likes to say: Full Stop!
If
there is any trace of unhappiness, dissatisfaction, or a subtle sense that "something's wrong", in you, or a loved one, this
book is quite likely for you, or them. Consider getting it and letting the pointers that Hale generously shares here dissolve
your false assumptions, for it is ONLY _false assumptions_ that create a sense of suffering. This writer had the pleasure
of conversing directly with Hale recently, and the obviousness of the Eternal Love and Joy that IS the All -- that which YOU
truly ARE - - shines brightly and clearly through him. This Presence is a divine Gift. The invitation to the return to Timeless
Being and real lasting happiness is here for all to receive. Here. Now. Highly recommended.
P.T. writes, We seem to be so buffuddled
by this inveterate notion "I". Everything must have a cause and every cause a doer. You can see it in everyday phrases like
"It is raining" What is it that is raining?! Charlie, you recommend here to ask the question, "Do I exist?" Seems a good way
to turn attention inward. Would you recommend this over "Who am I?" Do you think the former is superior? I either ask "Who
am I" or focus on the sense of presence.
Either is fine. The so I exist is followed by how do I know I exist> Ask That.
But I do usually say this: Refuse all thoughts except 'Who Am I?'" (Any "answer" would be a thought to be refused.) Stay with
that and let that One Final thought dismantle the false, leaving only The Real. Love ya!
Refuse all thoughts except 'Who Am I?'" Constantly from
waking to sleep, correct? This is what I try to do anyway. There are these momentary flashes of recognition which are incredibly
familiar yet crazily strange and a tad scary--very hard to hang on to. It's so real and familiar. But I keep getting caught
up in paltry humdrum life, forgetting it for a day or so thus "resetting" it. Am I to persevere along this course and try
with greater earnest? Does it sound right, or am I off base?
Is WHO ‘off base’? Just come back to ‘Who Am I’. Stay
with it best you can, all the while KNOWING that you already ARE That, Spacelike, Empty, yet Full as ALL - Oneness. Earnestness
comes from Oneness Herself. This is how Sri Ramana Maharshi said it. “The thought 'who am I?' will destroy all other
thoughts, and like the stick used for stirring the burning pyre, it will itself in the end get destroyed. Then, there will
arise Self-realization.”
Keep the true
knowing that The Eternal Self IS Already Realized. Starting from THAT dismantle the false as Sri Ramana suggested so strongly.
It has worked for many before you so do give it your all! You can download the entire “Who Am I” book of Sri Ramana’s
teaching at no cost HERE.
Follow-up from
M.T. Thanks a lot Charlie, this bullshit story is only as powerful as I am willing
to make it. As I learned in alcoholics anonymous, I would rather be happy than be right. The suffering implies that "I" am
superior to the "other," or that there is a sense of specialness. The simplicity is truly stunning, and I am grateful to have
shared with you about all this. There is this feeling of "I want to teach and help others" but I tried that already and failed
miserably, feeling very much like those phony satsang teachers you mentioned. Thanks again, I appreciate all you have done,
including the yelling and ass kickery. (Hear it all on Hardball IV.) Love, M.
Excellent! The
sharing with others may well happen when there is no longer "anyone who wants to teach". Great work on your part. As always
the Ultimate Guru is your own Self.
Someone wanting to teach has been very painful, since it entails that "I know something" and need to
educate my friends about. The separation seems to become greater, and the inevitable suffering ensues once again. It seems
the mind wants to take refuge in some sort of fixed identity, but there is none that can be found. Even what seemed stable
at first turned out to be fleeting. Looks like there is no turning back.
Spot on!
Love ya.
(Later, M.T.
shares) It seems I have been taking a sort of refuge in these spiritual concepts, watching
videos, meditating etc. This served to provide a relief of the symptoms, but never got at the root of the problem. "Who is
suffering anyway? Who is the seeker in all of this?" This was never addressed, and so the idea of a tormented and suffering
seeker was given life by the promise of relief in the next "spiritual session."
Very well said;
that IS a key insight.
Thank you once again, I have found the pointer "Who am I?" to do exactly what Ramana described, as
long as I don't wander off into conceptual hell. I will keep asking "Who am I?" until there is no one left to ask it.
Perfect.
If it becomes a repetitive mantra, it is useless, but as an aid to looking it works very well.
Again, well said.
But don’t turn that into a new holy grail either. If it arises as repetition, that’s how it arises. The judgments
the mind assigns to HOW it comes up are just another ego-defense against its being seen as a fake. Refuse ALL except Who Am
I? In whatever way it happens.
The
father of my dear Granddaughter (right) writes,
From a kids' song on Playhouse Disney...
"There's only one everything... There’s only one everything... And if you go
out and count up everything, it all adds up to ONE." ... thought you might like that.
Brilliant!
To
heck with hope ...
Keep
TRUTH alive!
Follow-up: Love it! Here’s the rest.. They Might Be Giants
do most of the Disney music now. They were a popular New Wavish band in the 80's. Their big hit: "Put a Little Birdhouse In
Your Soul" ;-)
______________________________
There's only one everything Remember
these words There's only one everything And if you go out and count up everything It all adds up to one
There's
only one everything The last time I checked There's only one everything It kinda makes sense that there would only
be Just one, not ten, not three
If you get all the stuff together And you have not left something out Then
could there still be anything left over? I'm pretty sure that means there could not
We share the same omniverse Please
clean your room We share the same omniverse And even though you are over here and not there There's just one everywhere
You
got the cars, the trees, the house There are some clouds, some birds, a monster And when it's all too much to count
up You can put it in one pile
What if you drew a giant circle What if it went around all there is Then would
there still be such a thing as an outside And does that question even make any sense?
There's only one everything The
last time I checked There's only one everything It kinda makes sense that there would only be Just one, not ten,
not three Not twelve
There's only one everything Remember these words There's only one everything And if
you go out and count up everything It all adds up to one It all adds up It all adds up It all adds up to one
B.A. Asks, Ihave a question for you ; ) is it true that after realization anxiety disappears... or is it that after realization
anxiety no longer creates a problem (suffering)... or neither of those?
Depends
on what you mean by anxiety. If what you mean is a resistance to what is that creates physical tension and emotions like fear
or panic, then yes, that does disappear (or more accurately it is obvious that “it” never WAS real) …that
stuff was dependent on the false assumption that what is should not be as it is! That is plainly ignorance. What is IS and
when there is an identity (false) that assumes “it knows better than Reality" what should be happening, in the body,
mind or world, then there is suffering. This judging mechanism is what we call ego, which is an anxious insecure phantom of
“your” soap opera. Suffering consist in resisting what is. This resistance, when looked into, dissolves.
The
antidote for this confusion is: Ask you WHO is anxious? WHO resists what is? You fond what? Nothing.
You
are that Freedom of Being - No Thing. AKA Love.
When the false
is recognized to be false there is no suffering – which again I define as the sense that what is ain’t okay as
it is. That whatever shows up, regardless of WHAT that is – stormy emotional weather arising in the space of awareness,
OR calm empty light arising in the space of awareness – is essentially okay as the identity of a separate “me”
has been seen to be false and that what you “know yourself” as is Empty and Meaningless, space-like awareness.
That never-changing Real Being is eternal and untouchable, as some say the sword cannot cut That, fore cannot burn That, water
cannot drown That, and so on.
Just curious...
Why? Are you
suffering from anxiety? If so please write again giving me the details so we can get to the bottom of it for you.
Here's an example of what i am referring to: a few days ago i went to the dentist for a cavity to be
filled. Once i got to the waiting room i got a peculiar feeling in my stomach (butterfly uneasy feeling). I told the dentist
i felt a bit nervous, yet at the same time i was fully aware of my self (the space in which the nervousness
occurred). The experience was uncomfortable, but not a problem... i am not clear whether this is the same anxiety to which
you were referring.
Okay! Now where
is this “i” you claim OWNS tha doing, the actions, the feelings.
You say “i was fully aware of my self (the space …) and THAT is NOT what we are pointing to. Abiding as Timeless
Unborn Bein g there is NO belief in any i that is aware OF. Awareness is NOT an object that the false assumed i can “be
aware of”.
Keep looking
– where IS that i you assume is YOU? That i that CLAIMS “i am aware of xxx?”
Find that i if
you can. Then (now) perhaps the timeless seeing will erase the false “i se-er”.
M.T. writes, It seems that there are "jumpy shifts" from being aware of awareness, and pretending to be "me". The fundamental illusion
seems to be intact, I usually believe I am "me." I don't even know what I want to say, or what the point of asking more questions
is. It seems irrelevant to continue searching, pondering, and speculating. The thought "how do I end my suffering," comes
in a lot, and is often believed in.
BY
WHO? LOOK! Where is that "I"? That comes and goes. That is easy to see! ONLY what NEVER changes EVER is REAL. Stop telling
yourself these bullshit stories, man!
STOP
telling this story!
Even the notion of "I am me, I am me," plays over and over, causing considerable emotional
upset. As you said before, I am a hopeless case, and I can't get it
Do
NOT believe that shit! That is a pointer and NOT some "truth". LOOK! When you REALLY get that you cannot get it, you got it.
It' just an energy of aliveness, appearing as this false sense of "me" that thinks., feels and knows "there is something I
must get."
There
is only what IS and that is NOT a “thing” that you can grasp, attain, own. It is too simple for the mind that
wants to own everything, including Empty Meaningless Awareness. But THAT is NOT a thing! You suffer because you turn words
into things and assume you know they are really REAL. That is ignorance.
You
Are NOT Who You Know Yourself To Be. REALLY … You are NOT!
You
assume you are the thought "me"? Where do thoughts come from? Where do they go? Are they actually "things" or merely "labels"?
And what is That IN which the appearance and dissolution of all thought happens? NOTICE: There is, wherever "you" are, unmistakable
and inescapable Awareness. Being, Awareness, is the Space in which thoughts arise, including the thought of a "me" that says
"this is my being, my awareness". But Awareness is here always, whether the thought of "me" or "mine" is present or not! YOU
are not a thought; YOU are that Space of Awareness wherein thoughts appear.
Abandon
ALL "knowing". Freedom, Love and Peace consist ONLY IN NOT KNOWING.
Ponder
THIS and STOP with the believing that you are a storyteller doing all that story-telling:
"Reality
must always be real. It has no names or forms but is what underlies them. It underlies all limitations, being itself limitless.
It is not bound in any way. It underlies unrealities, being itself Real. It is that which is. It is as it is. It transcends
speech and is beyond description(s) such as being or non-being". - Sri Ramana Maharshi
Let
the stories and the false idea that you are a word justBE. Then they’ll let YOU BE -- as You Are --Being, just That.
Follow-up from
M.L. - I love a good rant as well. I had a strong suspicion that you had come from a background such as you describe. Your
salesmanship is really excellent. When you combine that with integrity, you've got something really special. Nah. Nuthin’
special!
I think that strong sales background had a lot to do with why I called you. There was some sense that
you WOULD give me what I asked for, even if I started to chicken out when I really got into it. Also, I did sense a strong
willingness to help, and that I wouldn't be a bother.
Absolutely. It
is a joy and a privilege to be “used” to empower others to get down to the bottom of suffering and root it out,
leaving only the always present perfect happiness and perfect peace that is the hallmark of the Real.
It's all fair when you're willing to take a hit, as well as dish it out. The only guru/teachers that really get my
goat are the one's who consciously manipulate people to their own ends/gain. Spiritual rape is the worst kind.
Yup. And all
those False Prophets making Real Protifts at the frustrated seeker’s expense. Been there got the empty bank account
to prove it!
I no longer put any head above my own. It's very strange now, how I don't feel like I know anything,
don't really feel like I need to know anything. How different from how I used to feel. At work I get this strange feeling
when someone starts talking about things like singularity, and machines matching man's intelligence. I try and keep a straight
face, but I just can't get caught up in concepts -- like they're going to answer some question for me. I don't have any.
Perfect Perfect
Perfect … The IS Is Perfect As-It-Is (And As It Ain’t!)
D.C Shares, It was a pleasure talking with you today. Some of the points you brought up really
added some clarity after the Landmark [Forum] weekend and I thank you very much. It's neat how people have come into
my life now. I actually moved to this area because I had discovered [a teacher in N. Calif] … at the time I was going to [an L.A. teacher’s]
talks and felt more drawn to the other man. Then he became ill and was out of the picture for awhile … and somehow I
found out about John Wheeler and went to listen to him. Of course from there I followed links to you and others and now so
much has opened up. A beautiful unfolding for no one. I will be in touch, either a conference call or a consult.
I was very moved
by your sharing about the insights that arose for you in the Landmark Forum seminar. Very good news indeed – seems quite
a lot of clarity happened and that is always a potent happening.
I included a picture of my 2 furry little Buddhas.
J.L.
says, Hello Charlie, I found your (since removed) review of Dennis Waite's new book {"Enlightenment - The Path Through
The Jungle"} to be sycophantic to the extreme. Mr. Waite clearly has no time or respect for your type of expression, yet here
you are falling over yourself trying to get some 'traditional' credentials. It really is sad, especially in the light of the
fact that we all know that his real target is Tony Parsons. [For the record, Dennis says that is not true.]
Tony
has had a major influence on your expression and in the past has been helpful to you personally. It would have been constructive
(and more consistent with your recent history) to use this review as an opportunity to express at least some support for the
approach of Tony, Nathan, Leo and Unmani etc. Charlie, can't you see that sucking up to Mr. Waite and suddenly trying orient
your website to appear more 'traditional' in the light of the 'neo' backlash just looks desperate, especially when it's clear
to most of us (and probably yourself) that much of the criticism in that book is exactly aimed at communicators like yourself in the first place. Be well.
I have been reflecting
on your message, and as I consider it deeply, I must say I find much to agree with. Perhaps there has been a tendency
to as you put it be sycophantic. (I had to look that one up!) So my reason for writing you is to thanks you for pointing out
something I clearly needed to hear.
As I think you
know my interest is in helping others avoid the pitfalls that I got caught out by, and sometimes it seems that I do go too
far off message and seem to endorse "means" and "Becoming" and for that I am glad to hear from those whose perspective is
clear ... and I trust I will always be open to honest well founded critical input, as I feel your is.
It was certainly
NOT my intention to dismiss the enormous value Tony, Unmani, Jeff Foster and several others offer. I love them all absolutekly!
It is no doubt true that all have been most helpful (along with Bob and John) in ending the suffering here. So I DO
take your point, and I have removed the review, and asked Dennis to remove it from his site as well (which he readily agreed
to do, to his credit.)
Anyway, thanks
for your open and honest sharing of your view. Hopefully you will find this a sufficient apology for any mis-statements and
if not I would be grateful if you would let me know if further action is needed.
J.L. responds,
Charlie, One of the things that I like about your expression is your enthusiasm and
your ability to see through the bullshit. I remember a couple of years ago when you wrote about how you sometimes felt that
you were not qualified to share this message. I was very impressed with your honesty and your courage to publicly expose yourself
in this way. Your site as been quite a ride that candidly reflects the many ups and downs and comings and goings of this 'journey'
to here. (In fact it wasn't so long ago the you were having a go at a 5000 page (as you put it) book on Advaita. LOL)
Yep!
I think this current 'traditional' vs 'neo' thing is a diverting waste of energy, it's the old 'gradual vs instant enlightenment'
scenario. Both sides have important things to say, but at the end of the day point to the same nondual reality. Let's all just kick back and celebrate 'this' reality in all of it's permutations.
That is BangON.
After I had sent my email to you (on a cold Monday morning with a hangover), I reflected that I may
have come on a bit too strong and I apologize for the parts of it which seemed personal. The real irritation is with the whole
'trad' vs 'neo' argument in the first place. Thank you for having
the balls to write this email.
That's
Funny! The first e-mail was RECEIVED here, on a cold Monday Morning with a bit of a hangover! In any case your input was,
and IS, tremendously valuable, well put and vibrant with the transcendent truth beyond quote reality.
I
am really happy you wrote and appreciate this as well!
Be
well.
I
AM is always Well … abiding as The Unborn. As you well know (that palpable perfume of Infinity permeates your message
There is a new, very powerful
film out now on DVD: “Transformation – The Life and Legacy of Werner Erhard”. This film sets the record
straight once and for good about one of my best friends ever. I had the privilege and joy of working with Werner for several
months and that experience changed my life in unalterable and unimaginable wats. Essentially it altered a course of living
I seemed to be on like on rails. I was for myself and most who knoew me being a
person – an entity – with little or no integrity and a considerable ego-sense of wanting life to go “my
way” and being a world class thrower opf tantrums when the world refused to devote itself to making me happy! The est
training began a process that took over 30 years to be truly complete. That self-center was awfully stubborn.
In any event Werner - who
has been acknowledged as a true humanitarian and an authentic genius by mush better appraisers then me – has now been
shown in this film as he really IS rather than by a clearly biased media and a rabid lot of critics who completely misinterpreted
the man and his work.
M.L.writes,
I enjoy reading your correspondence. You stay right on point, like a bird dog. I don't see you waver.
Like the guy who mentioned choosing, and Hitler didn't choose right. You
came right out called a spade a spade. "Bull crap." It's really simple, like you said, God is either everything
and no thing in particular, or not. He doesn't have one foot in this world and the other in heaven. If someone tries to live
with that split, they might as well spend the rest of their life trying to piss up a rope!
Ha!
Love your metaphor, sire. But of course there simply AIN’T no Great Big HE! LOL!
Ultimately, we don't need to know why there was a Hitler.
As
you are no doubt aware, all “why” questions only lead back into the neverending beginningless story of time. Source
is Outside Of Time. The Real is NOT in “time”. This is That You Are which you very well know. As you have beautifully
said on your Blog! So ... I trust that this sharing will not be taken as “preaching to the choir; it just a clarifying for readers
on my site.
I LOVE what you wrote recently on your blog: “Awareness is absolute freedom. Absolute freedom rejects nothing.
Without judgment, anything is allowed to appear in it. The body/mind you take yourself to be is a manifestation of creation,
appearing in Awareness, as it is. So, the admonition to "be what you are," comes from the understanding that you are Awareness,
and what it is that you are appearing as, is O.K. Be what you are because you, as a focal point in Awareness, have no control
over the appearance”.
YES.
Source allowed it, end of story.
A
pointer I offer here is that Source does not actually “allow” – that phrasing is a only a pointer
we use for the mind, to make a bit of "sense" of the appearance linguistically where the "seeker" believes he or
she lives. No sweat! It’s as good a pointer as any (in other words none are really ultimately true anyway but
here we are with language so… it happens. You know that Source just IS and has no intention to allow or disallow any
appearance that arises in Its Emptiness. Yet all DOES appear and that is Source LovingBeing. SO paradoxical, this.
Not that we shouldn't be compassionate, or do our best not to have another Hitler. It's just that it's part of the
story, and ultimately, of no significance.
Compassion
and good efforts to transform humanity is a happening too. Beyond story there is this Intelligence-Energy of Aliveness constantly
changing in what never changes. It's the only game there is! Let the good times roll!
Keep up the good roar! (:-)
Seems
there is no choice! These here happenings are just …..happening.
I have removed that as it has caused a firestorm of negative opniuons and that simply distracts from the message. I
am only intersted in interaction with seekers who are sincere about ending their search. I shall in future leave the battles
of semantics to those who are addicted to such things. Sorry it didn't work out.
M.T. follows
up: Thanks very much again for your help.
I am always happy
to share what works to end suffering.
Today I have been thinking "Who am I?" Whenever I remember to, and find that it eventually leads to
sense of spaciousness and peace, as long as "I" maintain the practice. However, in practical terms such as at work or when
speaking to somebody it seems more difficult to continue in this way. The so called "me" seems to take over especially during
conversations or when completing complex tasks.
Ponder Who Am
I when life permits. When working just work. When eating just eat. When sitting quietly just sit. When looking with Who Am
just be looking. It is effortless. Use the audio I just sent. You are THAT - Being Itself - and That is That!
Follow-up
note from S.G. - I found the real benefit happened when there was a direct pointing to The Real. What i was missing is
that I needed someone to tell me, “You are THAT, PERIOD. No more inquiry... no more doubt".
What
was missing is the hearing You Are That, and letting the Message pierce the false ego-balloon – that sharp clear
Message that comes out from One to One. Now you know You Are That. STAY PUT! STAY HERE. YES:…You Are THAT.- and THAT
is Pure Non-conceptual Space-LikePresence-Awareness and nothing but THAT.
Enjoy
the Here and Now – THAT, You Are. Now it is known. As it always was and shall be, You are only Eternal Love, without
beginning and without end.
Follow-up from
K.E - I am back in town and had a question. I have been reading a book by Papaji
called Wake Up and Roar. His perspective seems to be aligned with yours, however he suggests that after waking up, what
remains of the organism operates more efficiently and spontaneously as if the awakened awareness is seen and operates through
the eyes of the organism as opposed to simply Being Awareness of the totality of existence. What is your experience
or view?
That’s
an easy one. It’s exactly the same.
Good book, by
the way; I read that a few years ago. Loved it!
Follow-up from
S.G. - I´m listening to the first conversation we had on the phone ( the audio mp3) . How easy is see it now. I like it , it’s not only a remedy for suffering, I really enjoy all that non-duality stuff.
The ease of being. Is emotional to hear it now. So, i suppose you really enjoy pointing to the True Self.
Yes. It so happens
that this sharing is a joyous happening!
At first ... the mind [the assumed ‘me’] can’t know what’s gonna happen in
the dissolution of the unreal. But this is the best: That. Reality is totally stable. Stabilization is the key. So, love you,
thanks, and wow.
Good to hear.
Stay with the simplicity, Reality beyond “assumed reality” IS and That is NOW. You are this Now. Ever-fresh, timeless,
space-like, the Pure I and nothing else. Home! Much Love as always!
M.T. writes,
The question that often comes into mind is "how do I do this?" Referring to the seeing
you speak about. The ego appears as an entity in it's own right, is seen and looked at, and then dissolves for a brief moment.
It produces suffering only when it is't recognized and seen, but at times it feels as though it gains a momentum in 'my'
head, and becomes difficult to see through. Breathing seems to help, but there always seems to be someone there breathing
and trying to control the process.
Where
IS this “someone controlling the process?” Is it actually solid and real? Find out! Meanwhile if yogic breathing
practices help calm you it's fine to do that. I do suggest adding the challenge, "who is breathing? Who am I"? to that. See
how that goes.
How does one go about this process? How do "I" see that "I" don't exist as I think I do?
Who ASKS this? WHO, Or WHAT, Are You? You are NOT what you ASSUME is "you". The I you assume you are does not
actually exist, so it would seem to be an impossible task for the assumed person to discover its own absence! This is a common
impasse. The solution is stunningly simple. Since you DO assume there is an I that exists, to start with, find out exactly
WHAT that I IS. This “I” is the actuality of Timeless Being arising as Self-Knowing Awareness. That is
what The Pure I IS. What the Pure I is NOT is some separate “entity”. The I is REAL, the “entity
is assumed to be separated from the whole by an energy of “believing in me” as an “individual, and
is FALSE. The means for finding this out is two-fold:
1.
REALIZE that YOU ARE. Being, Existingness, IS. No one can intelligently claim “I am Not”. This I –
I AM – is clear, empty, fully here right now. In fact what you ARE is this “NOW-ness” itself. Start with
that.
2.
Investigate. Inquire, ask YOU, WHO am I? And, WHO wants to “know how”? Challenge the assumed entity: Where IS
a separate entity with actual control over the happening of Life? The means I suggest is to refuse all thoughts except “Who
Am I” and that means refuse ALL answers, assumptions, convictions, beliefs, feelings, sensations of being “me”
etc. and return to “Who Am I?”.
Embrace
this paradox FULLY: While it is ultimately true that you do not need to practice to be your True I, the Eternal One Self,
since the habit is to assume there IS a "you" some “practice” IS required in most cases - to committedly investigate
the claims of the mind-appearance, the assumptions of separateness and individuality that arise In the space of your incontrovertible
Awareness that YOU IS. The I IS and You are That. But THAT ain’t a thing or a thought that the assumed “entity-called-me”
arising in The Now that you are can hold, grasp or know. To “know thyself” is to know “I AM” and to
discriminate that this I AM is NOT a thought but that Awareness of Being IN which thoughts appear and disappear like weather
in the clear empty space called sky.
Bottom line:
Refuse all thoughts except Who Am I?. Let that single thought from Oneness erase all other beliefs and assumptions. Ask YOU
until there is no doubt that what you ARE is Being-Awareness arising as Aliveness, Self-Knowing yet empty, Self-Aware and
full with Infinite Loving Acceptance of all that appears in Your Space.
Like the Nike
folks say, JUST DO IT until no doubts or confusions remain to mask the Eternal I, The One That You ARE. That I is Freedom
Itself. Home.
Just keep going.
Stay with it, and stay in touch if you like.I Love You.
A
follow-up from D.A. goes, (Thank you for the dharma slap. So, just keep asking who/what am I and that's all? Still
pretending to be ignorant, D.A. –( PS The pretending stops when the body drops?)
Who
asks that?
The
pretending stops when the pretender stops.
Keep
looking within - refuse all thoughts except who am I?. Ask only YOU, “Who Am I”?
Stay
with it until there is no doubt that what you ARE is Being-Awareness, Self-knowing and Self-Shining, and ONLY That. It is
only a mental habit of assuming there is a "pretender." See that there is NOT. It was only a belief and never real. Break
that habit through this simple Self-inquiry - WHO AM I? Let That reveal the Love That Needs No Answer!
R.M.
writes, I have heard some of your messages and I understand it pretty well intellectually
at best. The reason I am writing you is because even though I have understood the theoretical part of Advaita or Non Duality, I have
not been able to shake off my egotistical me so to speak. It is all theory and no practical leap in my case. My so called
"me" or "separate person" is very much alive and kicking much to my dismay.(sounds like a paradox, I know) My
ego is intact and refusing to disappear. That is, my ego or separate identity is refusing to disappear or die.
You
know! THAT is the core issue. DROP all your knowing. The only true thing the ego-mind can really assert is I DO NOT KNOW.
I had met a Guru in 1997 and he said that without Guru's Grace or Destiny's
hand my case was hopeless and I would have to take many more births and suffer.
Oh
dear God! THAT is a real load of ignorant bullshit! Don’t listen to these fakes! NO true teacher or teaching would lay that trip on you! It is total CRAP.
I am fully aware that I have to lose my personality, individuality, or
my ego-self in order to see MYSELF in my natural state.
Totally
false. You cannot SEE “yourself”. That is ignorance, dualism, the idea of being separate and having to attain
your self. You ARE the Self.
But my thinking machine is over active all the time without a stop.
I have never stopped thinking ever in my life. Even in sleep I dream constantly and even think like I do in the daytime.
I have never had sleep without dreams or deep sleep. But sometimes when I am sleeping and dreaming I know that
I am dreaming but the dreaming continues.
WHOSE
“thinking machine”? What do you take yourself to be? A thought machine? Or “the thinker” called “me”?
Look! You go on telling your self “I am me” and wonder why you suffer! That false identity, which is merely a
thought that comes and goes in Awareness, when taken to be “you” and separated from Awareness (a foolish assumption,
that!) is the root cause of your confusion and your suffering.
But I am and have always been interested in Advaita. I started reading
Sri Ramakrishna, Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta and others at around age 17 onward. But it all seems to no avail. I am
unable to shed my ego, my personality, my separate identity.
WHO
wants to shed WHAT? It’s all your own imagination. All your problems are totally false, imagination only. WHO assumes
you are this thought of me myself I?
Ramana Maharshi says the ego or the "false thinking I" is a mysterious
force that springs forth from the Real I, the SELF or Sat Chit Ananda.
I
don’t think so! This sounds like a perversion of what Ramana actually said, which was: “What is called ‘mind’
is a wondrous power residing in the Self. It causes all thoughts to arise. Apart from thoughts, there is no such thing as
mind”. If you want to study Ramana read it accurately! Here is what he pointed out:
“What
is called ‘mind’ is a wondrous power residing in the Self. It causes all thoughts to arise. Apart from thoughts,
thereis no such thing as mind. Therefore, thought is the nature of mind. Apart
from thoughts, there is no independent entity called the world. In deep sleep there are no thoughts, and there is no world.
In the states of waking and dream, there are thoughts, and there is a world also. Just as the spider emits the thread (of
the web) out of itself and again withdraws it into itself, likewise the mind projects the world out of itself and again resolves
it into itself. When the mind comes out of the Self, the world appears. Therefore, when the world appears (to be real), the
Self does not appear; and when the Self appears (shines) the world does not appear. When one persistently inquires into the
nature of the mind, the mind will end leaving the Self (as the residue). What is referred to as the Self is the Atman. The
mind always exists only in dependence on something gross; it cannot stay alone. It is the mind that is called the subtle body
or the soul (jiva)”.
The solution is stunningly simple: Ramana said, “The thought ‘Who am I?’
will destroy all other thoughts, and like the stick used for stirring the burning pyre, it will itself in the end get destroyed.
Then, there will arise Self-realization”.
THIS is the exhortation: Refuse ALL questions, assumptions and thoughts of me or I and
ONLY maintain that one final thought, “Who Am I?”. DO NOT ANSWER. Come back to the one erasing thought, “Who
Am I?”. Get busy on THAT. The ball as always is in YOUR court. There comes guidance but YOU must take the action to
dissolve the false.
You say it is a non entity, a fiction. But this non entity or fiction is
making me NOT see my true nature which you have said is Sat Chit Ananda.
I
do NOT say to BELIEVE ANY of that! That is a prompt, a pointer, and what is always said is you MUST investigate for yourself!
Believe NOTHING!
But no matter what, my ego does not want to die. Or should I say that I am refusing
to die. Me or my ego continues to play this mischief. It seems useless and I feel sick to my stomach when I see
all the tapes of you and others and I am unable to erase the separate identity and see myself as just the
Real "I am, I am". You may say the ego is simply not there but I feel it is there. I am not a full time seeker like many
others. But I feel just reading Advaita and not living and breathing Advaita is hypocritical. I am fully aware that I
have to lose myself or die in order to see MYSELF. But I am unable to do so.
WHO
claims all these limitations!? Arguing for your limits is an exercise in absolute ignorant futility. Go back to what Ramana
told you to do!
Read the pointers on the website. DO what is pointed out to
take action on. You are NOT a helpless little victim of some imagined destiny! Come back to simply this:
The I AM that You are is certain.
WHAT you are is NOT a thing that can be described, attained, or held onto. Look for a separate entity and you will find nothing.
You are That – No Thing. Follow the pointers and DO what is offered. It is up to you and you alone.
Follow-up
from J.K. - Just wanted to run something past you for some clarity. I was in
the shower (I do my best thinking under water!) and was mulling over an interesting thought. Our whole world is based
on the premise that there exists an objective reality "out there" independent of our observation. Of course, this is
not provable because it is only though our thoughts and mental images that we know something. Since we're not
present to hear the proverbial tree fall in the forest, it can't make a sound...independent of a "hearer."
Yes:
Ultimately the emptiness asks WHAT tree? Your sharing is quite right as a concept that points to the non-conceptual absence
of any hearer of what arises as energy and sounds like stuff heard.
Isn't that true of our self as well?
Of
course.
We assume there is an "I" independent of thought just like the tree. But upon closer
scrutiny, without the "I" thought...there is no "I". When "we" are absorbed in an activity, say for example, building
a model airplane or playing a musical instrument...there is no "I" thought, and consequently, no "I". It's not
until we "wake up" (love the paradox) and say to ourselves, "Oh, I'mbuilding the model" or "I'm playing the musical instrument" that this "I" reappears.
That
ain’t “waking up”. THAT is “going back to sleep”! But ONLY if that I is TAKEN ON BOARD as “me-apart-from-other”.
There is NO problem with the appearance of an I so long as that appearing and subsiding I is seen to be merely a pointer
to what IS – the Wholeness of That which cognizes all that appears and is not actually separate from that appearance.
NOT TWO.
The “I: thought is equally a manifestation of TheOne as is the Silence and Stillness of Emptiness all is That,
arising as Being-Awareness-Lovingness. That Being NEVER changes. That is the TRUEEternalStatelessState.
It seems to me just as plausible an explanation that we (Consciousness)
are creating our own reality as we observe it...millisecond by millisecond...constantly hitting the "refresh" button.
And, of course, that can also be said for the mind-made "I" we also claim is objective reality. Feel free to affirm, dismantle...
Very
accurate pointers, clearly coming form direct experiencing of thae actuality mof no-person. The thought I or me is NO problem
so long as the thought is not believed to be what you are any longer. So in the view from Here your expression is spot on.
Ponder
these pointers from “ Oneness” by John Greven
Why?
Creation, the universe, is because the sense of being arose in the One. You are, for the very same reason. In this book we have talked about beingness - being what you are. There comes a
time when even that pointer, that concept, can be dropped.
Consider
the analogy that in sleep, prior to a dream, there is a void or emptiness – no thing. Then the dream appears. It arises
spontaneously and nothing is actually happening. So it is for the One. In the beginning there was the One, at peace with itself.
In the One, the sense of being arose, and just as the nightly dream spontaneously arises, so creation appears.
The
One knows space, time, and creation to be unreal against the One reality which it is. As the source, the One knows itself
as the sole reality even while loving the appearance ofbeingness. The One is
loving to be, and knowing that, in truth, nothing is really happening.
To
further the analogy, creation is a dream of the One and the dream is not separate from the One just as the nightly dream is
not separate from the organism dreaming. Creation could come to an end at any moment and the One, that is the single reality,
would remain – nothing would be missed.
Because
no one is born and no one dies, just as in a nightly dream, the suffering that appears to take place within creation is not
real. All the events of creation are not real. They are, as we have discussed, just appearances within the One. As Nisargadatta
Maharaj said,
"A man who moves with the earth will necessarily experience days and nights.
He who stays with the sun will know no darkness. My world is not yours. As I see it, you all are on a stage performing. There
is no reality about your comings and goings. And yourproblems are so unreal!"
Nisargadatta
Maharaj was speaking from the perspective of the One, not the mind. If you imagine your nightly dream for a moment, knowing
that it is just a spontaneous creation of the mind, could you not say the same words about the characters in your dream that
Nisargadatta Maharaj said about the appearance of the world and the characters in it?
All
of creation is appearance within the One. The appearance does not touch the One. The One loves to be, and so the appearance
is. There is no further purpose than that. The appearance exists within the peace of the One and does not disturb that peace.
You, as the person, are just an illusion or a dreamed appearance. You, the True Self, That which is present-aware, that which
is the beingness, is likened to the drop in the ocean. Taste the drop and you know the taste of the whole ocean. Know the
Self and you know the One for there is no difference and no separation from That.
The
sense of presence, the sense of beingness arose in what you are and so follows the appearance of the person.
The
peace that is the Source is your peace. The love that is the Source is your love. The timeless, spaceless, presence that is
the One is you. There is nothing that the mind can say about it. There is nothing you need to do to achieve what you already
are, nothing that needs to be acquired to be more of what you already are, and nothing that needs to be improved upon. For
the ocean and the drop, there is nothing else. There is no separation between the drop and the ocean except in the mind.
Consider
again the words from Chapter 12: “Stay with that which lovingly allows for everything to appear in peace that cannot
be disturbed. Allow it to show you the depth of its void and the fullness of its emptiness.”
The
only thing standing in the way of clearly seeing what is being pointed to are the false ideas you have about who you are.
These false ideas are easily dissolved with investigation and all that remains is the reality of the One, just as it has always
been. Nothing new is added – you already are what you seek.
The Origin Of “I Am”
In
the last chapter we discussed how creation came into existence. Prior to that, when in the One, the sense of being arose -
with it arose the sense of “I Am.” This is why your own beingness is such a clear pointer to your ultimate true
nature. The sense of being is the source of the thought “I Am”. The beingness that is sensed by the mind is the
same beingness of the One. Some point by saying that there is only One and not even that. This is pointing to that which is
the One prior to the sense of beingness. The sense of beingness is the very root cause of all appearance. The One, the Source,
or God is so far removed from what the mind can conceive or perceive that even the presence of beingness is superficial and
a mere enjoyment of the One.
The
mind however is confused by this sense of beingness because it cannot grasp it. Because it cannot grasp it the mind chooses
to ignore it or just overlooks it to the best of its ability and settles on the idea that “I Am.” The thought
“I Am” is only a reflection of the One’s experience of itself. The mind, as we have seen, is a part of the
creation that arose from the One. The mind, being dual, senses the beingness and sees the appearance of creation. In that
lies the illusion of separation.
In
order to break the spell of separation one only needs to realize that the concept of “me”, the idea that “I
Am,” is just a thought pointing back to that beingness and to see that without that beingness - nothing would be. To
see that even without that sense of beingness, you are.
In
that presence nothing else is needed, required, wanted, or happening. In that presence, in the beingness that you are, lays
the ultimate peace – you are that.
Beyond
Reality, You are the Infinite Unbounded Love that Creates all Universes
Beyond
Reality, There Is Only You
Beyond
Reality, You Are, Infinity-Loving-To Be-Being This and Only This
Beyond
Reality, Here, You Are Infinitely Being-Presencing-Storying for No Reason and No Purpose
Beyond
Reality, There Is Only This as This, Love as Love - and You Are That
(and No
Thing else)
Beyond
Reality There You Are Shining Bright as Infinite Presencing Light
Beyond
Reality
This Is
This ...........................................................
AmaZinG
~
PS: A Friend comments: "And that is the reality – nothing beyond”.
Exactly!
~
Ponder this:
“Knowledge
and ignorance pertain only to the mind and are in duality, but the Self is beyond them both. It is pure Light. There is no
need for one Self to see another. There are no two selves. What is not the Self is mere non-self and cannot see the Self.
The Self has no sight or hearing; it lies beyond them, all alone, as pure Consciousness.” ~ Sri
Ramana Maharshi
Consider:
The
Appearing Reality, the Grand Show of “Maya”, AND the Love Beyond this “reality” are ALL One. Not Two.
Beyond and not-beyond.
Who
knows this? No One. And You. Not Two. Laughs now …out of NoWHere!
H. R. writes,
Hi Charlie! It is seen I am no thing--pure existence. I never really left home,
there is no separation. "Refuse to be what you are not." These pointers help yet suffering arises when I am asked
to pray for others, counsel, ministerial duties for which donations are accepted. Am I a fake if I continue to do these activities?
The assumption
that "you” are the doer, the one who prays, counsels, accepts donations etc. is the fake. Suffering only arises if that
assumption of being a “thing” that “must do” whatever the appearing doingness is, is the core,
the source, of all suffering!
You As-You-Really-Are
are assuredly NOT a “fake. But THAT is Not a thing that “you” as a false thought-concept, an assumed
self-centered doer, can ever grasp! To the “mind” You are No Thing. Assuming you exist as a separate “becoming
doing thing" is the ONLY error. Ask that one WHO assumes “I AM and I Am Doing” these events that happen naturally?
It is only when
the "I” thought is believed to be a separate actor apart from the arising, appearing actions that there is a misconception
about what you are.
Come back to
this and stay put: Refuse all thoughts except "Who (or "What" or "Where") Am I?". Whichever you
like, JUST DO IT. Who Am I? STOP. Who Am I? STOP
Thanks for the love!
You ARE That
Love. All else is false assumptions. WHO believes “I’m the doer”?
Ask YOU. Ask
YOU. Knowing that NO answer is true.
Thanks a
lot, charlie! i'm baking in the exhortation to stay put in I AM...
E.V. writes,
Reading the correspondence page and thinking myself (because I still think dual)…
WHO thinks “I
think” this or that!? Look for the thinker! What do you find? Where IS this believed-to-be-real thinker?
I see a lot of same questions. Why is it SO hard to know THIS if we ARE. If we just ARE, we should
KNOW. So why don't we just KNOW. It makes me crazy and depressed. I've been searching for a long time already and still don't
KNOW.
WHO
asks these questions? You arrogantly assert you "should know"! That is your "act," your pretense of being someone who
"should know". But that is simply NOT possible because the "one who should know" doesn't exist in Timeless Being that YOU
actually are, beyond your assumptions of being this or that.
WHAT claims to
EITHER “know” or “not know”? Obviously you are not taking the suggestion to look into that. This is
why confusion and suffering continues – you fail to investigate your false mental assumptions.
You will NEVER
“know” with the mind. The mind is an appearance in Ultimate Isness – which is That which contains “mind”
and the false identity of an assumed entity – a “knower-knowing-stuff”.
What about ripeness in this. I know a lot of people searching for years. They still didn't find. I
know we just have to BE. But then arises "What about our social life, work, friends, money, if it doesn't matter all"?
Everything
appears. The assumption of a “me” to whom things appear, happen and are either desirable or undesirable,
and "matter or don't matter", IS the ignorance of an unkempt and unchallenged mind. It’s that simple. You constantly
assert an “I” that knows all these things "you" think and say. What is that I made of? Where is the thoink-ER?
That I thought comes and goes. What does the appearing thought I appear within? That never-changing Awareness! You
do need to simply LOOK for that I, and notice the noticing awareness, consciousness, empty and clear, in which these assumed
I arises and passes back into nothing. You are that No thing of Being-Awareness. That is always here and now, obvious and
clear, yet That can NOT be held or grasped in the mind.
Do I do too much to find IT?
In a word YES.
All attempts to “find” some mystical “IT” are doomed to absolute failure. The discovery that there
is already always Being-Consciousness and THAT is inescapable puts the search to an end. Because there is nothing to get and
no-one to get that nothing. YOU ARE what you seek. Seeking That is the denial of That. As a text once read here pointed out,
the mind’s rule is, “seek and do NOT find”.
If it’s all our own illusion, why does everybody sees the world as round. And 100 of people see
the same plane flying. And 100.000 of people suffer from the same earthquake…If I know this all, it's still ignorance.
Explain
what to who!? The message is that there is NO separate Guru and Disciple. That is absolutely incomprehensible to “one
who wants to know” because that "you" – the assumed “you” that is still believed there to be that
“one who wants to know” DOES NOT EXIST.
The appearance
appears and dances in multifarious ways! Ignorance consists in believing you are a separate entity called “I”.
That is all.
About my Guru … I know he IS, he KNOWS, and yet he cannot explain me.
Explain what
to who!? The message is that there is NO separate Guru and Disciple. That is absolutely incomprehensible to “one who
wants to know” because you – the assumed “you” that is still believed there to be that “one
who wants to know” DOES NOT EXIST.
Why is it so hard if we ARE already That?
Being is obvious
… wherever you go, here you are, Being. Full Stop! You deny That by seeking That. It is not only hard, it is IMPOSSIBLE!
Do get that right now! Full Stop!
S.G. Shares, A Question to Sri Ramana Maharshi: Q: I do not know, but they say that to withdraw from all sense-activity, from all thoughts, all life-experiences,
i.e., to cease to be active, is the highest state.
Bhagavan: If so, what is the difference between this state and
deep sleep? Besides, if it is a state, however exalted it be, that appears and disappears and is, therefore, not natural and
normal to the self, how can that represent eternal presence of the supreme Self, which persists in all states and indeed survives
them? It is true that there is such a state.
Q: Do you mean the Atman (Self) is God?
Bhagavan:
You see the difficulty. The vichara (quest) "to know the self" is different in method from the meditation "Shivoham" or "Soham,"
(I am Shiva [God] or He I am). I rather lay stress upon self-knowledge. For, you are first concerned with yourself before
you proceed to know the world and its Lord. The "Soham" meditation or "I am Braham" meditation is more or less a mental thought.
But the quest for the Self I speak of is a direct method, indeed superior to the other meditation. For, the moment you get
into the quest for the Self, and go deeper and deeper, the real Self is waiting there to take you in; and then, whatever is
done, is done by something else and you have no hand in it. In this process, all doubts and discussions are automatically
given up, just as one who sleeps forgets for the time being all his cares.
M.R. shares,
Just to let you know that things are unfolding beautifully, I felt some huge anger
this morning and out of habit started to use the approaches I normally use to let go of the anger and attachment/ need,
but very quickly realized that that was based on the assumption that there was a me who needed to let the need go,
so I started to ask some Who needs this? and Who am I? questions and some of the other pointers popped
into my mind and it dissolved.
Brilliant!
Thank you so much for all your help, what I especially appreciate is that I now seem to have the trust
that this is all that's necessary, if anything seems necessary, just use the Who am I? or any of the other pointers,
not as a practice but just to investigate the identification that is leading to the suffering.
Exactly –
and SO simple!
Reading John Greven's "Oneness", which is great and had some very helpful pointers, has reminded me to go back to your book Perfect Peace, which I found even more helpful and actually the clearest and most to the point book I've ever read on the subject.
I prefer John’s
book! LOL
Thanks for the update. This is
the best news ever!
R.B.
writes, Hey Charlie, I just had some questions on the teachings that are related to
Nisargadatta Maharaj. I'm a bit stuck and puzzled. Maharaj says that you may verbally understand his teachings,
yet that will only make you pseudo-guru, which is not realization.
Exactly
correct! We point that out here. There are many of these “pseudo-gurus” talking, giving “satsang”,
and writing books presently. It can be extremely difficult to discern which authors are merely parrots spouting learned concepts
and which are the True Ones. Those, like Sri Nisargadatta, John Wheeler, John Greven, and ‘Sailor’ Bob Adamson
(whom you quote below), speak from The Absolute and express out of the authenticity of conviction that there is only
The One Self - and whether a seeker has recognized that or not, he or she IS That and nothing else. The way Bob puts it is
perfect pointer:
I AM not speaking to any 'body'.
I AM not speaking to any 'mind'.
I AM speaking to THAT I AM that I AM,
to that PRESENCE AWARENESS,
that expresses through
the mind as the thought I AM.
Just THIS and NOTHING else.
How
does the seeker tell who is a fake and who is not!? That is a genuine dilemma for many. The dilemma cannot be resolved by
analysis of concepts, since the same concepts a true One offers can be easily copied and repeated by the fake. But the
good news is there is an unmistakable "Resonance" that happens when the seeker meets a Real One. In my own experience of paths
and teachers, books and satsangs, it was not until I happened onto John Wheeler’s website that I FELT the Absolute Conviction
that was and is palpable and self-evident as the silent One Self expressing from One To One. It was SO clear and obvious.
You might say it was obviously One Heart speaking and One Heart listening. One Love arising as the apparent outer “teacher”
– and deep down there was a knowing that THIS is at long last The Real Deal. So let your own One Love, One Heart, inform
your seeming selection of One who guides from without and points you back to that One – The True-Self, Within and all
around.
Bob Adamson says, "See that the search itself is a trap, because the search implies that
there is an entity needing to become something. And becoming implies some future time. It is not being. Becoming can never
be being. What we are talking about is being. We call ourselves 'human beings' and we call God the 'Supreme Being'. Take those
two labels off (human and Supreme) and try to separate the beingness. I might call this being here Bob, and that being there
I might call Joan. The chair we are sitting on we call a chair. But take away all those labels and what's left? The substratum
or the base, the beingness, the pattern and form they are taking the shape of or appearing as. But the pattern and form are
appearance only. Their essence is still that energy (pure being) vibrating into those patterns. So there is really nowhere
to go and there is no one to go there. And there is nothing to get and no one to get it."
Exactly,
perfectly stated, from I AM to I AM. Where is any confusion in that!”
What Bob says is completely understandable, but if I went to Maharaj's words,
that is only a verbal understanding. Can you help me out with this?
The
mistake of “verbal understanding only” is not Bob’s fault! Is the fault of your own listening – which
is that you take “you” to be a entity and Bob (and Nisargadatta) to be “other entities” and moreover
you try to stuff Infinity into the mind which is absolutely futile. If “you” want to “understand”
there is NO way because it is the assumption of a you that can “own” or “attain” some “knowledge”
that is at the core of all confusion and suffering! Look: If “you” now "understand" (own) the pointers you
are doubly screwed because now there is a “person” who has some arcane “spiritual knowledge”. And
what did Sri Nisargadatta point out regarding that? “All knowledge is IGNORANCE”.
Rather
than trying to “figure it out in the mind”, which is quite simply the completely WRONG tool for the job of ending
seeking in Absolute Freedom, LOOK where the pointers POINT. The pointers from BOTH Sri Nisargadatta AND Bob are pointing to
what You are, YOU beyond the assumed identity that you have taken to be yourself, which is at core the assumption that you
are the “I” thought that now you try to add “enlightenment” to …LOOK! Where do the pointers
POINT? NOWHERE. The pointers are pointing to NO THING. YOU are That. No thing no where (now here). That arises as the Knowing
I AM and the mind”.
If
you listen as a “me-myself-I” listening to “another” the point is completely missed as what you listen
with is ONLY a false assumption of an “I” separate from “other”, in this case “other-called-Bob”
and “other-called-Nisargadatta”. There IS NO OTHER. All there IS is The One. And You, Bob, Nisargadatta, and the
chair you sit on are ALL THAT. But look within the space of Being-Awareness here and now, where IS any separate "I"? Apart
from a concept which comes and goes in That Being which NEVER changes where IS any "me-myself-and-I"? Look and what is found?
NOTHING. That - NO Thing - is what is being pointed to. This is NOT the "concept" of "nothing" which the mind hates.
This
NO Thing of Being-Consciousness-Peace is Beyond Reality. YOU are Beyond Reality! This “you” that you take yourself
to be is a phantom, a fake, a pretense only! It's an assumption which when challenged competently, is seen to be non-existent.
Assumptions are NOT FACTS. You say "I exist? Where is your evidence!? Let this pointer pierce:
You Do Not Exist!
Ponder
this and the following deeply and just DO it as long as you assume a nonexistent you, wit free will, USE that to delete that!
DO this
Give up all thoughts and questions except this one: WHAT AM I? (No Answer!) Let That One Thought dissolve everything,
leaving No Thing - the Gift of Absolute Freedom. All is perfectly effortlessly resolved as there is what really is - abiding
as The Unborn Being - Beyond Reality.
(You
may also substitute I AM for WHAT AM I. See which resonates and empties 'you' out. But keep this in mind: This primary concept,
‘I amness’ is dishonest, because it is still a concept only. Finally one has to transcend that also. - Sri Nisargadatta
Maharaj. This means that the I AM is only a concept POINTING to the Pure Emptiness of Being. The concept is NOT the actual.
For example take the concept "rice". You don't assume the concept – the word – “rice” will
feed you! The concept is NEVER the actual. YOU – That One I AM of The Whole - are NOT a concept!)
And
now ponder THIS:
"Can
any of your concepts grasp the total, the Ultimate? Have you understood that knowledge itself is ignorance? If it were real
it would have been there eternally – it would not have had a beginning and an end". - Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
Look
where these pointers POINT. Mere "verbal comprehension" is the booby prize!
You
may also find it powerful to speak with someone whose search has ended One on One to resolve questions, confusions and doubts.
If you feel the resonance I do offer that service; see the consultations page on my website. There are several others who
offer such One on One pointing on my links page. See who resonates Heart to Heart for you and get down to the core of suffering,
and root it out!
All
these pointers are The Song Of The Self. You are That and Nothing Else! Stay in touch if you like. I love you as That - The
One Self of All.
D.A.
writes, I very much enjoyed listening to your videos you had posted on your site. If
there was anything you might comment on for the "story I still seem to be believing I am", it would be to ask you about how
best to let that go. (I know, ask who's letting it go.)
WHERE
is a knower that claims egoically to know “I know, ask who’s letting it
go”? That is EXACTLY what is left to investigate: ASK YOU who assumes I am me and I must let go”? You do NOT
KNOW! Ask YOU Who knows this? Where is any “knower” that says “I know”? One who claims “I know”
knows NOT. Look at this!
I try to ignore anything story related as illusionary, but I still seem to
wonder … [here the writer tells a long long story of experiences and memories of those, and maintains the belief he
is the I-storyteller without stopping to ask WHO?]
What feels sorrow and unfulfillment is a pipe dream, when viewed from Awareness
Itself?
ASK
YOU. What you call “awareness is NOT the unconditional space-like Being prior to awareness, and even that (being) is
an appearing OBJECT. Can you find anything that is NOT an object, a thing? I define an object or thing as an appearing that
has a beginning, middle and end. The “I” begins on the organism’s waking after deep sleep and ends when
that organism goes back into deep sleep some hours later. Now what NEVER changes, even in deep sleep? That is NOT an object
that coems and goes in appearances. What is THAT wchich is Eternally allowing ALL that appears to arise and disappear? WHAT
is it thatyou don’t know that you don’t know? Can a false “knower”
know what it does NOT know? ASK YOU.
So, if one dumps "the story" then the meeting of the Author of all stories
with the Author of all stories happens? How to dump the story in the quickest manner? (Yeah, the story knows,
ask who's doing the dumping.) Love and gratitude, D.
There
is NO “author! And NO reality to the story of “me-other-body-world”. You do NOT exist as what you know you
are. To know is to NOT know. To NOT know is the gateless gate to nowhere. You are nowhere (now here) and even that “now
is an object appearing in the Launguageless Emptiness that is the Absolute Unknowable Isness. Can what is NOT “know”
that it is not?
Ask
YOU.
Give
up all thoughts and questions except this one: WHAT AM I? (No Answer!) Let That dissolve everything leaving No Thing - the
Gift of Absolute Freedom. All is perfectly effortlessly resolved as there is what really is - abiding as The Unborn Being
- Beyond Reality.
A
thought of “I” arises and comes to pass. Deep in the silence there is the assumption “I am that thought
of I apart from All.” But how is the thought “I” and more significant than the thought “flower”?
Ponder and INVESTIGATE that I and see if it exists at all. If what is being pointed to is the Eternally Awake Isness, Being
prior to and beyond reality, that That must be here right now. You ARE that unknowable Presence allowing all that appears
to come and go in invincible untouchable empty Peace that Eternally IS.
Follow-up from
F.M. - It seems as though we can only go so far with this
through knowledge and now it's time to experience what we have learned.
Now
you lapse back into the confusion and ignorance of a mind born and relinquish The Unborn for these paltry little delusions
of me and mine. Yike! Guess the “welcome home” was premature. LOOK: The statement you made is totally false in
the way it is stated. Who is this “we” identity and exactly what makes you think you are that I or we and not
the Infinity of Stillness-Silence Being-Existingness? Subtly it is known by no-entity (Empty Cognizing Being) that this is
false. That comes to the surface as it is said “it seems”. What seems real is NOT real. What seems NOT real is
The One Reality beyond “your” reality. THAT is also beyond experience. Experiences come and go. What is
That which NEVER changes? That which is NOT an object? Find that which is not an object, not an experience, not a concept.
Can “you” find what you don’t know that you don’t know? What IS THAT which YOU DO NOT KNOW that YOU
DO NOT KNOW? Ponder this.
The mind is very dissatisfied with this space this stillness. It says,
"This is it. How can that give me anything".
Damn
betcha the “mind” is dissatisfied. The mind cannot “get this”. You will NEVER “get enlightened”.
LOOK: To the mind it seems to be - when you ask you Who Am I? - that you are nothing. Then the mind makes That – The
One Timeless Spaceless Attributeless Empty Fullness of No Thing - into a "thing called nothing" - and so laments its
despair because it feels lost - and being unwilling to BE (actually BE) no thing, it seeks something more or better than this
simple Absolute Freedom! What YOU are in REAL Reality beyond quote reality IS No Thing Appearing as Every Thing. No-one gets
that. Everyone IS That.
LOOK:
What could give WHO anything!? This is rampant delusion masking as spiritual insight. To burst that bubble and let BE the
utter disappointment that the mind avoids, and look into Naked Awareness for the "one who feels disappointed and coming up
empty and meaningless - is the end game. Usually this bursting of the false ego-assumptions that “I am me”
or "we are we” happens only when there is competent guidance - one to one. This was the happening for this
appearance called charlie - when the direct pointing and correct investigation happened, on meeting John Wheeler (as well
as ‘Sailor’ Bob Adamson and John Greven.)
So it’s time for us to go deeper. We know what we have learned
is the Truth. But we need to have it unshakable.
Can
awareness be deeper? Where does Awareness begin? Where does NOW end? Who is there to "go deeper"? Where IS "time"? Where is
“time” unless there is a false “you” that thinks there is such a thing as "time-space-me-world"??
WHO is this “we” that is assumed to be separate, time-bound, and real? Right here right now there is the unshakable
NON-conceptual IS-Ness - BEING IS. You cannot claim “there is no Being, there is no Existingness”. Can you? Who
claims that they are NOT that unshakable Nonconceptual Beingness Itself? WHO?
Take the Truth of Oneness for instance.
There
IS no “truth of oneness”! There is only the One, Timeless, truthless, spacelessness, truth-less-ness beyond
reality. The mind can only bring the concept of oneness forth and thus this belief by a false believer that
there is such a “thing” as oneness. THERE IS NOT! Oneness – YOU as-You-Are – IS Reality beyond reality
– THIS is NOT a “thing”, NOT an object. You inauthentically objectify the ultimate non-object Absolute –
Beingness Prior To Consciousness. What YOU are is not what you take you to be (me, us, we, I are all assumptions that when
looked for cannot be found anywhere anywhen.)
We know it to be the Truth and yet we often times feel separate. After
all language along with our conditioning has reinforced this concept of separateness. Not Oneness.
Who
claims to “know”? That is the CORE of the ignorant mind’s LIE - where IS this much-ballyhooed “know-ER”?
where is the “knowing entity” that assumes the fixed posture, “I am me and I know”? LOOK:
He
or she or “we” who says “I know or we know” simply knows NOT. It’s pointed out constantly here that
ALL knowledge is ignorance. ALL! Nothing left out! You know you are. He who knows that is a fake, a phantom, unreal assumed
real due to lack of direct challenging investigation.
Refuse
the mind-lies by staying with one thought only: What AM I? Refuse all other thoughts. Any “answer” to that thought
will only be another thought arising in Awareness! Clear Empty Presence-Awareness that cannot be escaped. Refuse all
thoughts except what am I? Or who am i?. This is where earnestness and no-bullshit commitment is essential. As Sri Nisargadatta
commanded, “See your world as it is, not as you imagine it to be. Discrimination will lead to detachment; detachment
will ensure right action; right action will build the inner bridge to your real being. Action is a proof of earnestness. Do
what you are told diligently and faithfully and all obstacles will dissolve”. What are you told to do? From Sri Nisargadatta:
"Refuse all thoughts except one: the thought 'I am'. The mind will rebel in the beginning, but with patience and perseverance
it will yield and keep quiet. Once you are quiet, things will begin to happen spontaneously and quite naturally without any
interference on your part".
I
say refuse all thoughts except "Who (or "What" or "Where") Am I?". Whichever you like, JUST DO IT. Who Am I? STOP. Who Am
I? STOP. Or, I AM. STOP. I AM. STOP. I AM. STOP.
STOP.
LOOK. WHERE is any “conditioning without a “you” to believe there is any such? This is yet another piece
of spiritual crap. Who believes this stuff!? That is what needs to be looked into.
We often times feel that that the "other" is annoying or a jerk or whatever.
We are trying to use language in a more non dualistic way without appearing too weird.
STOP.
LOOK. WHERE is any “conditioning without a “you” to believe there is any such? This is yet another piece
of spiritual crap. Who believes this stuff!? Where IS this assumed "believe-ER"? Nowhere to be found! This is what needs
to be looked into.”.
Part of the reason I went on this spiritual path was to heal my relationship
with the "other" and don't get me wrong, there has been great healing.
There
is an arrogance here that needs to be noticed: You claim “The reason I went on this spiritual path.” The arrogance
is in the assumption that “you” started this search. But if you do not exist, how did this happen? You also assume
a cause and reasons why. Find the Source of what you call “cause”. WHO chooses? There is ONLY Being arising as
choiceless chooserless Awareness. These perhaps innocent but nevertheless ignorant assumptions need to be looked at head on.
Put that “deer into the headlights”! LOOK: Healing for whom? Where is “other”? You assume an identity
as a thought of an “I” that IS real and separated, then assume “others” to be real and separate from
“I”, and then assume “time” and “apartness-location” (here vs. there). These are ALL nothing
substantial, wisps of thought-energy, arising as believed ignorant assumptions of an untested mind-assertion of “me-me-me”.
And in that ignorance what is IGNORED is Being-Existence (WHAT IS) – that No Thing PRIOR to the arrival of the great
LIAR- Language! You as a false entity, up to now not competently investigated and challenged, believe the lying
cheating mind that claims all these unprovable assumptions to be true and so you apparently suffer and when moments of “experiencing
oneness” arise, you take those moments on board and assert “that is what I want”. WHO wants? A fake.
All
desires arise in the assumption that you are a "me apart from other" and seeks to add pleasure to itself and avoid pain and
survive as this ego-me at the cost of REAL Aliveness. Timeless Being arises as a witnessing Presence-Awareness that watches
the movie of "I and world" and idnetifies with that appearing character on the blank screen of Choiceless Being-Awareness.
The "movie" comes and goes; the screen never changes. You are like toe screen, not the movie charcter. WHO does or does not
see THIS? That false entity that has assumed to be a “me in control” yet that controlling entity “me’
(or “we”) cannot be found when a competent investigation (inquiry) is taken on, with a no-bullshit commitment
to end the suffering and delusion once and forever and Right Now.
And as Nisargadatta Maharaj says. Be earnest. I hope with earnestness this
remaining feeling of separateness will dissolve more and more.
WHO
hopes?! “Hope” is icing on a turd. It assumes time and a “future” which NEVER comes that will be “better”
than “the way it is now”. FOR WHOM?
That
pointer that was given by Sri Nisargadatta as “there must be earnestness”. That was dealt with earlier in this
message. The paradox: There is NO person apart from The One yet that assumed “person” MUST challenge its very
existence: “I am me (or we).” IS THAT TRUE? Prove it. Where is your proof for the existence of a separate self?
All your evidence that “you” are a thought-entity with free will only arises as a bunch more thoughts. It is all
self-referential and that is perpetual ignorance, self-reinforced by the same thought machinery that assumed itself to be
a real entity in the first instance.
Therein
is a paradox of infinite proportion! There is no-“one” to “become earnest”. Yet the assumed “me”
also assumes “it” has power to choose, to commit, to be earnest, so USE that seeming entity’s “free
will” to ASK WHO AM I? WHAT AM I? AM I REAL? Where is the PROOF? Refuse all answers. Refuse all thought except Who Am
I? Until there is no false entity left to think that - or choose any thought. The Timeless One is all there is. Dismantle
the false and all that remains is The Real. YOU are beyond reality. In THIS The paradox dissolves and the false is
seen to be false. And the search for the Self that was never NOT already Realized ends in wry amusement or gales of hilarious
laughter!
As
Sri Ramana Maharshi points out: ""Once the false notion ‘I am the body’ or ‘I am not realised’ has
been removed, Supreme Consciousness or the Self alone remains and in people’s present state of knowledge they call this
‘Realisation.’ But the truth is that Realisation is eternal and already exists, here and now".
The
Ultimate Seeing arises here (wherever ‘you’ go you’re HERE. NOW. Nowhere. Parse that! It's Now. Here.).
To assume the existence of being a false entity and then setting out to transcend that false entity through spiritual practice
or the “understanding” of mental comprehension) which is NOT the Understanding that belongs to no-one that Nisargadatta
pointed out). This is the path of ignorance. This pathless path of challenging all assumptions by getting at and rooting out
the CORE assumption – That what I am is the thought of me-myself-I - is the end game – checkmate to the ego-assumption.
Te Real is a concept-free land. The TRUE “no-spin” zone is Nonconceptual Beingness BEYOND reality. Simply put
“you” do NOT exist.
I
recommend two books “Oneness” by John Greven and this author’s “No Way Out”.And it is also strongly
recommend that you get into a dialogue by telephone with one who has ended their own search and is competent to guide you.
My phone meetings with John Wheeler were pivotal in ending the search here. This kind of direct pointing can quickly end the
doubts, misconceptions, and false assumptions that are the core cause of all confusion and the concomitant suffering. (See
the consultations page on the website for info on how to schedule one here). There are others on my links page who also
offer One on One dialogues. Select one you “resonate” with “heart to heart” and end this confusion
and psychological suffering once and forever.
Please
take this on with commitment, enthusiasm, and earnest investigation. In This Presence of Being-Awareness-Aliveness there is
immense compassion – and authentic bold passion – for Being Life Itself.
Beyond
Reality, You Are That ONE.
BE
as You ARE. Don’t pretend to be what you are not – a fearful, insecure, confused entity. Don’t refuse to
BE The One You Are. Much Love to you!
PS:
Ponder this from John Greven's book, "Oneness":
"You
don’t have a presence; you are presence. The thought of it turns what you actually are into a concept to which the mind
can relate. While that is happening, you are the presence/awareness standing in the clear waiting to be discovered. This cannot
be stressed enough, everything is just an appearance within the awareness that you are; without exception, everything.
"Only
the thought of presence/awareness can be brought into the mind for consideration. While you are thinking about presence/awareness
you are present and aware. You can’t objectify what you are. So how do you stay with the presence awareness that you
are? How do you “tune in?” It is effortless because it is always on... you don’t have to try, just see.
If you're trying then you're just not noticing that it is inescapable and functioning all the time; or you're trying to become
something that you already are!
"Presence
is effortless. Awareness is effortless. The fact is you don’t have any choice but to stay with it, because you are it!
Presence does not change. Awareness does not change. It does not move. It does not hide, but be watchful; don’t turn
the obvious presence/awareness into a concept or an idea about yourself.
"Stay
with the livingness of it by not following what the mind thinks about it. Presence - Awareness is in the ever present now.
Presence/Awareness refer to the simple, undeniable beingness that is present and aware. In the same way that we have looked
at presence/awareness – beingness points to that timeless, spaceless self".
R.O. writes a follow-up -
Your response truly touched home. Your response to my email pissed me off and at the
same time woke me up. This pointer you shared said it all: “NO-ONE SEES THEIR TRUE NATURE. No "entity" has a "true
nature"! It is a stunning realization that there is no-one and that there is ONLY True-Nature BEYOND “reality”
– and THAT is not an IS at all! Imposable to express. Impossible for "one" to "know" that there IS no “one”
to “see” that Reality beyond reality”.
As I write this email to you there is such sadness, joy, uneasiness and fear, all at the
same time. I now see that this entity I claim to be is terrified of dying to itself. I now truly know the meaning
when it is said "die before you die". At the moment I have this scared feeling in my stomach as I see clearly what
the truth of who I truly am is. I lived in this so called entity for many years now and there is a great sadness at the moment
because it is now seen that I am not that.
Okay.
But watch out for a claim again if “doneness” for the false entity. Look: WHO lived in “this entity”?
Who claims that story as “my” story? Where is the story-teller? This is what you don’t know that you don’t
know: This “you” that is still appearing as what is taken to be real is a phantom. “You” do not
exist. Existence IS and That is Beyond Reality. That is what you cannot either know OR not know.
Here I am trying to eliminate the belief in the ego self and instead secretly creating
a bigger Ego. HA! This is now seen. I truly do not know and in that not knowing all is known. Wow! Its been a long struggle and
yes, claiming the search has ended numerous times, but the suffering and uneasiness was all still there.
Long struggle for whom? This story of an I who now knows it does not know is
more false addition to a false entity still seeming to be what you take as “you”.
Notice
this. There is the subtle claim creeping back in of an inauthentic assumption, a false belief in, some “knower”
who now finally “knows”. Again, be on guard against the mental claim of “doneness” for the false entity.
I feel now that I can finally relax in the not knowing of who I am. Charlie, there
is such joy and sadness here at the moment. I will rest in that.
Who
will rest in that? Ask YOU Who Am I”? Refuse all thoughts, insights and claims of experiencing sadness or joy and come
back to Who Am I? And ONLY THAT.
Thank you my friend for saying it as it truly is with no bullshit.
Now
stay put in Nonconceptual Being-Existingness - Being Absolutely NO thing either known or NOT known.
Ponder
this: “Only the question – ‘Who am I?’ is necessary. That which continues to exist throughout sleep
and waking is the same being in both; but while waking there is unhappiness and therefore the effort to remove it. When asked
who awakes from sleep, you say ‘I’. Hold fast to this ‘I’. If that is done the Eternal Being reveals
itself. The most important thing is the investigation of the ‘I’”. - Sri
Ramana Maharshi
Stay
in touch. I love you.
R.O. responds:
You said, “This story of an I who now knows it does not know is more of the false additions to a false entity still
seeming to be what you take as “you”. Notice this. There is the subtle claim creeping
back in of an inauthentic assumption of, a false belief in, some “knower” who now finally “knows”.
Again, be on guard against the mental claim of “doneness” for the false entity.”
Bingo
!! This is exactly what is going on over and over again. The noticing and catching of this is now seen .Simply
be and notice, that is all . Don't make it into a story or a truth. Got it! Now before you say 'who' got it, it
is just 'got it' and not 'i' got it. Yes, there is nothing to get, just the seeing of this is enough.
And no-one sees. The is the
seeing, from Naked Awareness, choiceless and chooserless.
A.S.
Writes, I was very pleased to discover your YouTube Channel this evening. I've watched several of your videos and felt compelled to open up a discussion with you I've been fascinated
with the concept of duality for quite some time now. I've been thinking of them as dichotomies.... As I have been pondering:
Our world is obsessed with black/white, good/bad, big/small, right brain/left brain, masculine/feminine, weak/strong, young/old,
republican/democrat, war/peace, rich/poor, educated/drop-out, introvert/extrovert, classical/romantic, et cetera ad nauseum!
The
nature of phenomenality IS dichotomies – the ancient sages call this “the pairs of opposites.” This idea
of “two-ness” is a context, an unnoticed paradigm of false assumptions, beliefs taken to be real only in ignorance.
These beliefs are self-reinforcing: the idea of “I and other” – the essential “dichotomy” –
which is merely a thought that can only be argued to be real with thought itself! All the suffering of humanity stems from
that one core misconception.
Many people feel the need to identify themselves clearly as one or the other
which ultimately poisons their thinking and distracts them from real infinite truth . . . that is just the recurring thought
I've been having. And my whole life until fairly recently I have been blinded by all of the dichotomies myself and have felt
the need to define who I am as this or that... I'm trying to get away from that kind of thinking - but as I feel I am on the
verge of a great sense of clarity in my life, I also feel something is holding me back... I often feel a certain sense of
alienation from the people around me because I'm so consumed with these kinds of thoughts that sometimes the very simple act
of small talk seems so difficult. Can you relate to this and/or do you have any thoughts along these lines? And how does my
description of dichotomy in society compare to non-duality?
What
you are is beyond description, beyond reality, beyond all ideas of one or two or many, beyond this dream of appearance that
arises only on waking out of the sleep of deep dreamless sleep – or the apparent sleep of death - and the assumption
arise out of nothing of being an I am. This I AM is a pointer back to The Eternal Fullness of N nothing, the space-like awareness
that arises out of nowhere (now here) and is misidentified as a real thing. But what you are is not a thing that another thing
– a thought – can grasp or know. Existence IS. “You” do not exist apart and separate from Isness –
Being beyond reality you are prior to time, prior to appearance and disappearance of quote creation, beyond all and even beyond
that. There is Only Being and not even That in The Absolute Unknowing Unknowable Being-Consciousness-Aliveness.
I'm struggling with this concept as well as my identity (or wanting to escape
the need for one), but I'm not sure how all of this holds up in a social setting, in a community. Thank you Charles, I hope
to hear back from you :)
WHO
is struggling? Find the Source of “I Am” and BE as you are – Existence existing, ever fresh, ever Presencing
as the Isness that you don’t know that you don’t know. Indescribable and Eternal. That is what You truly are.
You are Unborn, Undead, Unawake unalive, appearing as Aliveness - just That. That is Home. The placeless place you
never really left.
Now
ask only YOU what AM I? And accept no answer. Refuse all thoughts of being a separate entity. Drop into The Unborn and never
depart into the belief in separation or dichotomy again. Let the Spirit move you out of the house altogether. Then as Now
there is Absolute Freedom. That Freedom is not for the person, it is freedom from the false assumption of being a person at
all. That is what YOU are in Reality beyond reality. Full Stop. I Love You.
F.M.
Writes, Hi Charlie. I woke up this morning at 3 AM. It is this
mind-bodies 54th birthday. I thought if I could have one thing for this so-called birthday what would it be. What came to me was to know who I am without any shadow of a doubt. My wife and I are
what you would call A.S.S.'s I guess. [Advanced Spiritual Seekers J] We have read many books and viewed many teachers on the web and feel
we are on our way but something is missing. Some realization. Went down to the river and started asking Who Am I
(which I've done a million times already) and suddenly I realized that I wanted something through the mind. Wanted.
through the mind. Wanted some teacher to give me something I can really sink my teeth into not the words which cause
so much frustration. We read You Are That and I AM That and have been intrigued with the "I thought". In discussing
this with my wife, we both seemed to realize that what is being pointed to here with Who Am I and I AM is the space which
follows those words. In the waiting for the answer. We've talked about this before but this time it really hit
home. A realization. It's the space. Very unsatisfying to the mind so I think it's quick to discount it. Space, Man. Space in which all things come in and out of!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for being the part of me who has helped this part you realize this. It really is too simple and unsatisfactory
to the mind. Thanks,
I Am
Perfect.
Happy
Unbirthday!
Now
there is seeing, for no-one ... as Sri Nisagadatta says: "Can any of your concepts grasp the total, the Ultimate? Have you
understood that knowledge itself is ignorance? If it were real it would have been there eternally – it would not have
had a beginning and an end".
R.O. Writes, touting a particular weekend “enlightenment seminar” that had apparently been part of the
illusory dream of a “story of the charlie appearance”: In the apparent separate self where most live and may perhaps come to your website, I think it may mislead the reader
in believing that they can skip this important part of the growth to seeing there is no me to be found anywhere.
Herein
is the paradox of there being, in FACT, no personal entity with volition, yet we have ignorantly taken our self to be a conceptual
linguistic “thing” and it SEEMS that this will operate with assumptions about “personal growth” and
“getting enlightened” and “gradual processes”. The false self that wants to get “improved”
or “grow” seems real but ONLY until rigorously and competently challenged. There still can be great confusion
when such teachings lead the seeker to believe there IS that false entity that needs to be given some “important part
of growth".
Growth
for WHOM? This is the core issue that is challenged here... Why not cut to the chase? It’s recognized of course that
some seem to themselves to be “deeply stuck”, because they believe the lies the mind constantly feeds them. But
there is NO assurance that these seminars, or for that matter events, satsangs or practices of any kind, will work to free
that seeker from the false! To the contrary! The point is, rather than add on to a false persona, the seeker who wants growth
or wants power or freedom, to remove the illusory seeker from the path entirely, and emphatically to NOT give the illusory
seeker more food for it’s assumed ego-self-center.
There often is a temporary “high” for, and seemingly attained by, that ego-appearance, that comes after
these “events”. But it is a pyrrhic victory. Is it beneficial to experience such things? In fact it’s been
seen here that there is overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Many go for such events and simply get their false self-sense
reinforced thereby delaying the inevitable dissolution of false beliefs - as the fact of Being-Existence is ignored (this
is ‘ignorance’) and there is endless futzing about by a believed dream-entity trying to improve “its”
dream world of an imaginary me-world. ALL imagination. I have seen it and I have seen many get suicidal. [This appearance
included.] Teachings of “becoming, growing, getting some better, different or more” in the dream, are at best
misleading and at worst downright dangerous to that which believes itself to be the body and then kills the body out of despair.
Much weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth in that assumed - yet false - "guest at the gates of the wedding feast" of One-Marrying-One in the Eternal
- "Paradise". The ego-assumption "wrong garment" gets ya tossed out of Paradise over and over - until the dawn
of the Unknowing Beyond Reality arises.
A competent guide straight away dismisses all such "teachings of becoming" out of hand. No bullshit permitted. No carrots
on a stick are offered . Only NO Bullshit pointers. From One to One by No-One.
I think that in order for someone to see their true nature, they must first see that they are deeply
stuck in their false self and [this seminar] does and play a big and important role in discovering this and then from
there the seeing of their true nature can be found from teachers such as yourself, John Wheeler, Ramana, Nisargadatta, etc...
Who thinks these
things? Where is a “thinker”? You assume there is a thinker who is volitionally think-ing yet on investigation
it's seen to be a wisp of thought arising in Presence-Awareness. Look: NO-ONE SEES THEIR TRUE NATURE. There is ONLY True-Nature
BEYOND “reality” – there IS no “one” to “see”.
This is a perfect demonstration
of the reason I point out the ultimate ineffectiveness of such teachings of “becoming” and “time”
and “process” and “growth”. There is a persistence to the belief there, in an ego-persona, a separate
"one that thinks", It's evident in that paragraph.
Who thinks? Who opines this
way? That ego-assumption that there is “an enlightened me” is the nearly inevitable product of such seminars and
programs.
In the dream of being-bodies-worlds,
there are countless cases on record of the dissolution of the false “seeker” with NO seminar or any other “causative”
event in the experience. Notably, Ramana Maharshi himself, John Wheeler, Bob Adamson, ,, John Greven, Bhagavan Nityananda,
Tony Parsons, Jeff Foster, Unmani Hyde and most likely thousands of others. And Sri Nisargadatta required only direct pointing
from his Guru in the way that Bob, John Wheeler and others point to the Real and point out the non-existence of the self-center.
None needed to attend seminars or engage in practices. As always the exhortation is to ask yourself WHO thinks, asserts
and believes these things?
To summarize, I believe that seekers would benefit greatly from attending {these seminars] before they
see that they truly do not exist. As long as we are in this physical body, its still chop wood, carry water but from no one.
Most are caught in understanding this intellectually and I believe the seminar does a great job in tearing apart this
false self. one takes themselves to be.
And
you as a product of these seminars say "I believe" in spite of the fact that one original inventor of such programs said,
"don't change beliefs, transform the believer". As is pointed out here these are POINTERS to what IS and NOT something to
believe! Where IS this "I that asserts I believe"? That is what is unchallenged there. And so, the invitation One to One is,
ask YOU -WHO “believes”? Who SAYS “most are caught etc”? The assumption that you are an entity is
the source of the assumption that there are “other entities” that are “caught”. This is the ignorance
of the assumed identity that now claims to believe and know that this seminar or that practice is going to “benefit
a seeker that does not exist.
Can
that which does NOT exist “see” that it does not exist? HOW?
You
do not exist. Existence IS. There is no seeker. That is the pointless pointer . Being being overlooked, entities being
assumed. All imaginary and gone in a wink reappearing in a wink. This taking an imaginary “I”- appearance to be
real is the core of ALL suffering. You are NOT a thing, an object that can be “known”. Where IS this believer-knower?
Absent in FACT, merely assumed in ignorance.
So , as you can see, I am a big fan of [these seminars] and if you agree with what I said here, I recommend
you put the link to the seminars on your links page.
Who is a “big
fan”? The Request is noted and declined.
Now if there
is objection to request declined, who raises it?
Let the false
evaporate. Let The One Come back to The Unborn One and relax as That.
S.G.
Writes a follow-up - Today I talked with an ex-girlfriend, and she didn’t like
what I was saying. All is One but this symphony, or cacophony, seems to happen in the One. All is possible, the good, the
bad, the ugly and the beautiful. In the other hand [creation] is a perfect machine, a perfect system. All is functioning
for the good. Without knowing, all is done precisely. It’s very difficult to express this, the best is the practical
direct experience. What i encounter resonate with you, is, really you are the Self, and your expression is direct from Here.
All bodies are connected to That, but some know it, and some ignore it.
As
always we point out that YOU are The One Self. All there is, is The One, and You Are That. There are not “two Selfs”.
Here
is a potent pointer from Sri Ramana Maharshi:
"Once
the false notion ‘I am the body’ or ‘I am not realised’ has been removed, Supreme Consciousness or
the Self alone remains and in people’s present state of knowledge they call this ‘Realisation.’ But the
truth is that Realisation is eternal and already exists, here and now".
And
now “not-you” are Being that natural knowing beyond reality – the know-ING ‘I Am THAT’! And,
'All there IS is THAT'.
So, I’m very happy to have met you - in the moment you appeared in this waking life.
You have done so much for me. Directly or indirectly, a great shaking coming from your expression, and in the book, “No
Way Out”, that you sent me, and our phone conversations. Previously my search was started, but in this stretch, your
company was/is very fruitful.
It
is your own earnestness and commitment that takes you across the ocean of the false and unconceals the Timeless Beingness
beyond reality that You are.
It’s clear and very directly known in my heart, that the search......is over.
That
is the Good News of seeing the false as false. This seeing leaves nothing but the Peace that You are in the Absolute
Truth - beyond knowing, beyond quote reality.
All continues to happen, but the peace is total. Concepts and ideas arise, but the peace,
the fundamental is always here. There is nobody, just the Self playing with Itself. A big family with only one member.
Very
well said!
If someone says to me, ‘you are an egotist’! Or, ‘shut up’!! ...
"I look inside" ... and find nothing. This is not an achievement but just the One No Thing -That Same One I Am that I Am. All this is only a dream, nothing happens. What a miracle, isn’t it
?
Yes,
This is The Ordinary Miracle of Being Unborn. This is the Freedom you cannot attain because that Freedom belongs to no-one
and is in fact all that “everyone-everything” IS in Reality.
A miracle, a mirage, like walking in a dream. Now i understand for example Sri Ranjit,
a very profound crystal clear understanding.
Yes!
In my heart there was a totally desire to i was reading in the books to be real,
to experience it.... now is reality. Nobody can deny my being.
Take
the “my” out of it! There is no “me and mine” – Only Being and in That there is the appearance
of a thought-feeling-sense of I Am before thought and outside of time-space. This is not anyone’s being – Being-Existence
IS and That is not a “personal matter” at all. Just stay simple in this. Drop the my and BE.
So... i enjoy your videos, very profound, Well... you are alive, so, let me express here my gratitude to all realized
beings of all times. If we really were a person... what a calamity. The Self is compassionate with itself and removes the
veil.
All
happens naturally. Yet, as you found out, there is the necessity for the assumed identity to “investigate itself”
to rediscover it’s empty meaninglessness. That is the paradox that is never resolved yet dissolves in clarity as the
identity is discovered by the mind to be non-existent and then the mind's true-nature of Silent Stillness shines with the
transparency of Being-Awareness and Freedom is the Reality beyond the dream. Home. The Home that was never really left at
all.
One thing I’m aware of, is the stability in you, this is greatly appreciated.
It
takes One to know One! J
So deeply we know who I am ... The one Reality that moves all the movements.
Sounds
good! Now: Here is a “final reminder”:
Give
up thoughts and questions all except this one:
WHAT
AM I? (No Answer!) Let That dissolve everything leaving No Thing - the Gift of Absolute Freedom.
All
is perfectly effortlessly resolved as there is what really is - abiding as The Unborn Being - Beyond Reality.
Powerful inquiry. Is that from Ramana? There is no come back ... the light
is all.
That
came through this organism ... certainly inspired by pointers received that pierced through the false idea of a controlling
entity here or anywhere … that came through John Wheeler, Bob Adamson, Ramana and Nisargadatta, but directly from The
One out of nowhere. But look: Who cares? WHO? All comes from The One You Are.
Who ? .... nobody, just thoughts. Blessings…
Perfect!
You are Unborn,
Beyond Reality
All is effortlessly
resolved in the Unborn. Never again sell out the Unborn for paltry little thought-feeling-stories of being a separated
suffering "me"! Love ya S.G.! Welcome Home.
Follow-up from
D.S. - I have been trying to understand Byron Katie's philosophy for almost 2 years
now. In this struggle I came across your YouTube videos.
Rather than try
to understand, ASK YOU WHO wants to understand?
Understanding
Katie will NOT give yo Freedom.
Understanding
is the booby prize.
Do “The
Work” (Katie’s brand of Self-Inquiry)rather than trying to figure
it out. JUST DO IT.
"I Exist. Is
that TRUE?"
WHO asks? WHO
answers?
Refuse all except
WHO AM I? And DO NOT ANSWER.
What is
That which you don't know that you don't know?
ASK ONLY YOU:
WHO ASKS THIS? WHO AM I?
I appreciate your willingness to answer me directly. This is so rare. You are making Advaita much more
accessible and for that I am grateful.
S.L. Writes, I thought your talk with Joan Tollifson was really wonderful. In particular some subtle thought forms that were arising here about the "meaning" of the arising of
depression were seen through clearly as just thoughts arising.
Glad
to hear that. Keep in Presence that nothing means anything… all meaning is attached to appearances by a false assumption,
the belief in a “me-entity” that makes up meaning where there is only what appears – apparent reality. You
are beyond reality. Being is empty and meaningless, yet equally full with infinity, as pure loving embracing aliveness.
Because depression is accompanied by deeply negative messages about "me", "my life" etc there had been
the subtle notion that this was inconsistent with clearly seeing the non-existence of a genuine character here. If there's
no-one, then why would there be a concern for "no-one's" life? Yet both of these seemed to be present / arising here.
Exactly …
“seem” to be arising. That shows that there is a non-conceptual knowingness that it’s ALL appearance arising
on the empty screen of Being-Existence.
Even though there was an understanding that enabled watching the arising as simply energy forms, still that stuff
can get complicated in the psyche's deep recessions. 'Specially at 3AM!!
So there was a relief to hear that you and Joan shared some of "my" experiences as well as "my way" of seeing them. And now
there is the awareness that ALL that I have described was / is just the stuff of creation arising, simply seen by our friend
"no-one".
Yes.
Now see that there is no creation and no creator. "You" do not exist! All there is is being-existence, uncreated and empty,
yet it sure looks like reality! That is the grand illusion and when the mind is mesmerized by appearances and ignores it’s
essential space-like nature, confusion happens. Yet that too is part of the illusion and it all kind of dissolves in a sublime
so-what-ness and there “you” are, here and now wherever you go, here, you are. Timeless Being, beyond this illusory
reality. Nothing but that.
I find your way of conceptualizing "what is" extremely clear and resonant with my own unforgiving view.
Thanks for all that you are sharing through your talks.
Come
back to WHO AM I? Where is “I” and “my view”? Nowhere to be found. This expression, “here" and
“there”, is happening effortlessly, just like breathing.
Happy to hear
these squiggles appearing as words and pointers are resonating. Thanks for Being-In-Touch. Love ya.
D.S. writes,
When you are interacting with the world do you have expectations for the interaction?
When you have put forth much effort and expenditure only to receive a poor outcome what is the ideal response? When a wonderful
outcome is obtained do you experience delight?
When
WHO is "interacting' with WHAT 'world out there'? Experiencing is happening but with NO false assumption that there is a separate
'experience-ER' anywhere.
So:
Your question demonstrates a common but critical mistake: The unchallenged assumption of a false premise. When a question
“comes from” a false premise, then all it can yield is answers that reinforce the false! This premise acts
like a matrix or filter that you don’t know you are looking out from–
it’slike looking out through red tinted glasses and seeing all that appears
not as it is but colored by the red lens filter. Then all that is seen appears as redness and that becomes “the unobserved
norm”. That is what we don't know that we don't know. In this metaphor "redness" is "separateness" - the assumption
of "me and other" as "reality."
We address this fundamental misconception all the time here in correspondence and through the four books that have
happened thus far (a fifth, “Beyond Reality”, is in process.) This premise is an assumption at the root which
gives rise to branches of consistent assumptions that seem to create this filter – then the filter becomes the reality
and not only do you not know you see the quote reality through the filter, the red-colored lens, YOU DON’T KNOW THAT
YOU DON’T KNOW THAT!
I understand that knowing who we are not is important.
To whom?
Spiritual seekers often want enlightenment. Personally, I want to transcend my desires and aversions
in my interactions. When I'm interacting in the world, I run scenarios of likely futures. Those govern my decision making
process & behaviors. These scenarios help me engage intelligently, but they all zap me emotionally. I constantly take
up positions- I want this, I don't want that. Here's what I'm willing to do. Here's what I'm not willing to do.
Personally! Me-me-me! I-I-I! So again the question is coming out of the false premise of separateness,
an I that claims its existence apart from what is and thevociferously asserts
it’s wants, its imagination of being a me with a future, a personal entity controlling and designing some imaginary
future it desires and at the same time ignores the What Is of Being-Awareness, maintains that IT is apart from other, and
asserts points of view which assumes an actual entity ... at an imagined "fixed point" in the organism, from
which “it” has a will and exerts it with “being willing or not being willing.” WHERE is the “being
-me- being willing??
Challenge that fixation, that false premise. Ask yourself, Who is willing or unwilling? WHO
AM I? Take NO answer on board! Let the question erase the false; let that one thought only remove the red-tinted glasses.
As a non person engaging in the world, do you experience the rollercoaster of energy that comes predicting
futures & adapting to manage likely outcomes?
Once
again: What entity “engaging”? "Engagement" is simply happening. There is no doer – everything
happens but to NO ONE. That question again demonstrates your belief in a false premise coloring the appearances of persons
(or “non-persons”) acting out of some imaginary free will.
There
is NO person. What you take to be a "you" OR a "me" simply does NOT exist! It’s a phantom imaginary "me-identity" that
ain’t even there in deep sleep while the organism is Being-Living, breath happening, heartbeat happening, with no "person"
there! And it is exactly the same in what we call the “waking state”. The conceptual entity of a me is totally
unnecessary and redundant to Life Living Itself through “you”.
WHO
does not recognize this? Existence IS and you are That Only. Again there is NO person to be found in this Existingness - Presence
Awareness, Empty yet Full, Self-knowing, Self-Loving, Beingness. Look for the source of this Existingness- Beingness.
What is found? Only what is Real – No Thing, space-like, Being-Awareness-Peace. This is the Real – beyond the
assumed reality which is your false assumption of separateness – the colored lens through which life is viewed. Challenge
the assumptions: WHO assumes “I am me and must manage life and get outcomes I want". Ask ONLY YOU, WHO AM I - taking no
answer! Get to work on that.
Mike writes,
Thought I would pass something interesting over to you. Late yesterday my father passed
away. Since then I have been watching this movie (the mind) attempt to show the family slideshows over and over. Tears come
up, I act on them and then move on. I interestingly see all perspectives taking place, one of my father now as All (very freeing),
another as Mike in pain and then the third watching the other two as this dance. All of these perspectives again being That.
Like currents within the Ocean.
Words seem to be like square wheels trying to describe this. One of your phone conversations put it
so beautifully comparing the sky to experiencing thunder storms.. all One experiencing itself.
Death is
the greatest lesson for another. Here now.. then boom.. gone... but listen for the silent wisdom that was always chiming...
it now chimes loudest pointing perfectly.
This is very
beautiful, and a perfect pointing to the serenity of the NaturalState. It is an amazing gift,
isn't it? If you grant permission I would like to post this. It could be quite helpful to those who still take themselves
to be "entities" and this might just help the crumbling of that false premise! It's your call. I really appreciated the heart
and soul of this expression of "Peace-Appearing-As-Mike". Love ya!
Charlie - yes it is an amazing gift. and i think what you are doing just rocks!! and yes go ahead
and post the email. maybe it will show a new perspective to another. I also write a lot on a blog. Feel free to explore that
too. That woke me last night to I found myself purging and expressing these streams of energy last night on the blog.
Follow-up
from E.R. - That's exactly what "I" needed. Thank you for reinforcing that. I'm printing
it out it's so helpful. Keeping it simple. Thanks so much...:-)
Happy to hear
that! Pay particular attention th “The bottom line”: WHO asks any question? WHAT is the I that "feels a sense
of guilt or any other sensation or thought-feeling story? Ask YOU What Am I until there is no false person left to exercise
any false “free will or control” to ASK WHO AM I? or WHAT AM I?.
S.L. writes, Hi Charlie ... Just a brief note ... There is much resonance here (I wrote "hear" at first!) with your words
... and gratitude ...BTW, the Joan Tollifson Interview link doesn't appear to be referencing a valid file ... anyway, haven't
been able to "hear" it "here" ...much appreciated.
Happy the pointers are resonating!
That link was broken; thanks
for the heads up. Should be okay now! (Go to the audio & video page and scroll down for the interview link.)
H.M. Shares, I was googling through some sites a few nights ago and came to yours. I search
the internet looking for people who can say what coming face to face with the absolute really means and you have done a very
good job of that. Letting everyone know that what they think it is, is not it at all I know myself how hard it is to try and
write, explain, or even interact with the actors of the simulation- that when I find someone who is saying things well I wanted
to acknowledge "that."
Sounds good.
Clearly the pointers have pierced the (hot air) balloon of the false ego-identity there and that’s the best possible
news!
K.E. Writes, I
enjoyed listening and interacting on the call last night. One question occurred to me regarding the information you
were reading from John Wheeler. I wasn't sure I heard correctly but I think you were saying that Awareness is different
than Consciousness, that Consciousness arises out of Awareness.
Correct. Now:
Although these - Awareness and Consciousness - are distinct, ultimately there are the two appearing aspects of the
One Whole Being-Awareness that IS and PRIOR to all that appears IN and AS It. That's the paradox. Ponder that.
Is this just
semantic confusion?
No, that is EXACTLY
what is being pointed out! Now: Ponder the entire piece:
“The state
of being conscious comes and goes within non-conceptual awareness. Being awake or conscious is not the same as non-conceptual
awareness. Consciousness is the first manifestation or experience in duality. All subsequent experiences are time-bound appearances
that depend upon the presence of consciousness. But consciousness too is an experience that comes and goes. You are aware
of being conscious, correct? Parse that out very carefully. YOU are aware OF being conscious. Therefore, you are that which
is aware of the coming and going of consciousness. That awareness is not a state or experience, however glorious or exalted.
It is the basis and ground of all experiencing. It is that which is prior to the arising of consciousness and prior to any
and all subsequent experiences in consciousness. It is the timeless, spaceless, unborn and uncreated, non-conceptual, non-dual
absolute. You are That”. - John Wheeler
(The emphasis
is mine.)
K.E.
follows up: Thanks Charlie. I think in reading the full piece that John is distinguishing
a state we would label as being conscious from the Awareness within which that state has arisen.
EXACTLY
SO.
That pointer is clearer now but in the end all semantic junk!
WHO
thinks this? Challenge the assumption that YOU think. This is what what was pointed out when we talked: The necessity to reject
the false assumption of a separate “thinker-entity” who believes IT is in control and chooses its thoughts, then
judges and evaluates all it reads or hears. Bi=ut as always starting from the undeniable FACT that Existence IS and that cannot
be escaped!
Then, the I-thought
belief in the believer “I” that we call “mind” may want to dismiss the precision of the pointers as
"semantic junk" but that would be a mistake. These are DISTINCTIONS in the great tradition of such pointers, offered by such
as Sri Shankara who said much the same things in the syntax of his time, in his well known and respected "Crest Jewel Of Discrimination".
(Viveka Chudamani in Sanskrit).
Please don't be
too quick to judge such wisdom without deeply pondering the pointers until there is no identity remaining to make these kinds
of dismissive declarations of opinion foisted out of nothing by a false entity called “I” apart from “John”
or anyone else.. Ponder, and really try harder not to judge and reject. Let these bits from Oneness erase that judging mechanism
once and for good! Love ya.Stay with that one final statement that POINTS to
Home: I AM. And the final “solvent” for the mind-ego belief, WHAT AM I.
That is all there
is to this. Freedom is what you are. Don’t reject that!
E.R.
Writes, Hello Charlie, Hope all is well. I've emailed once before and just caught your
latest YouTube offering last night. Thanks a thousand times over. I've come across a few "teachers" that have resonated deeply
in the past and you are definitely one.
Happy
to hear the pointers are resonating for you…
"I've
noticed the shifting of awareness towards presence has been more natural and automatic as of late and it feels like this sweet
percolating goodness underneath me as I slowly sink in like quicksand. But it always seems like a gotta have a life line of
some sort for back up. It used to be this big chain I'd anchor but now it seems more like dental floss."
That
all sounds good so far as it goes; it appears that the pointers ARE "percolating" there. LOOK and see this right here and
now: unarguably, Being-Existence Is. And, a separate actual “you” does NOT exist. Stay with Nonconceptual I AM-ness
(which is the observing emptiness of Being-Consciousness and NOT a separate “I”) and refuse ALL other thoughts
and stories. Drop all questions and come back to “What Am I”. These two pointers, when taken on by the apparent
person with apparent free will, who now uses that apparent free will to actually DO this (and not merely read and understand
the pointers – that’s a bobby prize) frees the Self – Existence Is-Ing – from it’s conceptual
and false phantom of a “self-center” - and what is left is the Real - Thatwhich is Never Changing - No Thing Being
Every Appearing Thing. This is Absolute Freedom PRIOR to “I Am”. You are THAT and nothing else. All there is is
That. THAT is NOT, therefore IT IS.
In the past it's always been a struggle of word play, mind play and god knows
what else play. That battle often leaves me exhausted but I keep coming back for more it seems...or nothing rather. Recently
there's been witnessing of the ups and downs of daily living and I thought back to Nisargadatta's suggestion to "take it all
in stride". Tricky for a mind that wants to fix or battle with regret and guilt so maybe I can bring that up at a meeting.
Thank again Charlie ! I've signed up with your website and look forward to speaking and being with you.
Again
WHO or WHAT is this “I”?
ASK
"you" the One Last Question that dissolves the false belief in a separate "me" - WHAT AM I? Take NO answer on board. Only
come back to I AM. WHAT Am I?
I
AM.
WHAT
Am I?
Being,
and Not Even That.
Really?
NO.
WHAT
AM I? NO Answer!
Feel
free to pose any question you like on the calls. But look now: WHO asks any question? WHAT is the I that "feels a sense of
guilt or any other sensation or thought-feeling story? Ask YOU What Am I until there is no false person left to exercise any
false “free will or control” to ASK WHO AM I? or WHAT AM I?.
J.K.
Writes, Long time, no talk to, my friend. I had a thought while I was mowing
my lawn...not really a thought; it was more of a wonderful sensation of "insubstantiality."
It seems there is being-awareness masquerading as J.K. … becoming aware of itself masquerading as J.K. … and taking
great pleasure in playing the part of J.K. Any comments? Love ya!
That's
a lovely pointer to the Isness of the Nonconceptual Livingness Beyond Reality.
Of course you know that what is cannot be described. But the words you share indicate a certain non-conceptual seeing of the
Living Reality of the One with no opposite that embraces and lovingly holds all that appears within It (although "It" is NOT
an "it" at all! - LOL!) Being IS and you are That. This is obvious yet oblivious of its obviousness.
Peace, only That. Love ya back!
PS:
By the way, it truly is "effortless living." In fact, it's not even that because there's nothing to do the "efforting."
It is just life being lived. As ACIM says, "I need do nothing." I never understood that line until now. Make
sense?
Perfectly!!
Beyond
Reality there is the serene appearance of Effortless Struggle-Free Living. This is Love. Only That. Thou. Art.
Great
news! Welcome to the Home you never left.
I
was going to add that beyond the J.K. was a sublime darkness, emptiness...and oddly...completely irrelevant LOL.
M.F. asks a follow-up
question, It is clear that there is awareness of being consciousness. When does
the awareness of not -consciousness or dreamless sleep occur, and to whom?
This is to misconceive
the pointer-word awareness. This Being, Beyond and Prior to Consciousness, is NOT “aware of.” Aware OF is Consciousness,
the knowing I Am which is the silent observer of the thought I am. These are distinct yet not two. Ponder that; realizing
that this is NOT figure-out-able.
YOU are aware
of being conscious. This, when carefully pondered, reveals the actuality that there is Being (“YOU)” PRIOR to
“being-conscious” but THAT is Not a Thing that either “knows” or “Is known”. This Living
Reality is beyond, before, after, and permeating all that appears including the disappearing of consciousness into deep sleep.
It seems that it is only realized on the return of consciousness, that the other states occurred.
Of course.
Is the simple knowing that one is the "awarer of consciousness" what is being pointed to?
No.
That's still a subtle "two-ness". That twoness is the false assumption taht there is "separateness" and that arises as the
subtle sense of "I and other." What is pointed to cannot be described. And where is this “one” that is the ‘awarer’
of some appearing of a thing that seems separated and apart from the whole? Where? What Am I? NOT an “awarer”
and NOT consciousness of this or that. What IS, PRIOR to Being? That is what YOU really are. Indescribable and NON-conceptual.
The mind appears as moving energy-thought-feeling within that Transcendence. Beyond Reality, You Alone Are.
With looking deep within with Naked Awareness, there is only the strong sensation that "I Exist"
and nothing else. Is the velvety void that this is experienced in”Our Real Identity" or the ground of being? What
then is aware of this void?
If
there is “awareness of the void” then ask yourself this! What is this sense of a being that considers islf
"aware of this void"? Where is the separate one? IS there a separate one? Without a concept where is any such "thing"?
Look
at it. What asks this? Ask YOU and no-one else: What Am I that asks? Where is the asker of any questions? Ask you, “what
am I”?, until there is no-one left to ask. The ego appearance that seems separate and real evaporates and here and now
there is the obviousness of Being-Existence and That is what you are, beyond all appearances and beyond quote reality. You
are looking for a truth that fits what appears as reality but given that quote reality the truth just does NOT fit!
S.V.
writes, I ordered your book "Life after Death" and started reading it. I don’t
know if you remember during our conversation I was telling you, in the context of “I am”, that in deep sleep
and sometimes in meditation, “I” disappear and there is nothing, not awareness, not “I am” just nothing.
You did not seem to relate to this and told me: “You take yourself to be the thought ‘I am not the I-I of present
awareness.” As an aside here, I have never understood what this I-I means.
“I-I”
is ONLY a pointer! All pointers point to what? No Thing. That No Thing that IS when “I disappear.” Where is any
“meaning” in No Thing? Your True Nature is beyond meaning, beyond time, beyond concept, beyond description, beyond
experiences (no matter how sublime). Beyond reality is the I-I of Transcendent Reality ItSelf, unknowable by the seeker. Only
when there is no seeker left is there the direct cognition of No Thing by No One. “You” that takes itself to be
a thing apart from the Whole will quite simply NEVER GET THAT. Why? You as What You Really Are IS THAT.
Sartre
pointed to this Nonconceptual Awareness as "Being & Nothingness." I say THESE - Beng and Nothingness - are NOT TWO.
The point of my writing, however, is that, in reading your book, on p. 69 you describe
exactly what I was talking about: “… No words No Space No Me no Other-Than-Me,” in other words “nothing.”
Could you clarify this for me?
Certainly.
To start with, that bit from “Life After Death” stands on its own: It’s not something that can be figured
out. Just ponder this rather than attempting to grasp it as some “truth”. The truth that can be described, represented,
or “told” in any way at all, is NOT the actual “Truth” any more than the word “water”
is the actual liquid stuff.
So
what is written in the book is:
I am sitting in meditation
and all at once
I disappear!
Gone.
Nothing.
Blank.
In fact not even that
ONLY after “I” came back did “I” realize –
“I” had been completely GONE.
No words No Space No Me No Other-Than-Me
So
that is a description AFTER the fact of an event of what can be called "awakening" but as always these disappearances and
reappearances COME AND GO. While they serve the purpose of shocking the mind out of its apparent "normative functioning" of
dividing the Whole, these experiences are NOT what we are pointing to as the Living Reality behind, beyond, and permeating”
our apparent reality" of persons, places, and things. Living Reality IS YOU as what-you-are are - Being Beyond
Reality - and yet Being ALL of Reality. This is the paradox - where the grasping seeking mind cannot go. This is the Absolute
and PRIOR to Consciousness which is the Knowing-I-Am prior to the "thought I, I am, I am this and that is the not-me world”.
Ponder
this from John Wheeler. Don’t try to “figure it out”. The mind cannot get it. Let the false identity of
"mind" evaporate in the Space pointed to in these words from Oneness:
“The
state of being conscious comes and goes within non-conceptual awareness. Being awake or conscious is not the same as non-conceptual
awareness. Consciousness is the first manifestation or experience in duality. All subsequent experiences are time-bound appearances
that depend upon the presence of consciousness. But consciousness too is an experience that comes and goes. You are aware
of being conscious, correct? Parse that out very carefully. YOU are aware OF being conscious. Therefore, you are that which
is aware of the coming and going of consciousness. That awareness is not a state or experience, however glorious or exalted.
It is the basis and ground of all experiencing. It is that which is prior to the arising of consciousness and prior to any
and all subsequent experiences in consciousness. It is the timeless, spaceless, unborn and uncreated, non-conceptual, non-dual
absolute. You are That.” - (From www.thenaturalstate.org)
You
ARE That – The Empty yet Full IS-ness of What IS, beyond “reality”. The “you” (“the
I”) that you (sometimes it seems somewhat stubbornly!) take to be your self just plain DOES NOT EXIST. Full Stop.
You do not exist. Absolute Non-conceptual Timeless Existence IS. You Are That.
What
we point to here is said best by (once again) John Wheeler, who describes the actuality of what IS here and now, for
Being appearing as an "old man typing": John says, “The ego is a concept, an assumption. It is merely an idea. What
is that idea? It is the notion that you stand apart from the deeper reality of things as an independent and autonomous self,
a limited being. As you look into this matter, you find that this assumption proves to be entirely false. So the ego simply
evaporates due to discovering its non-existence.”
As
Sri Ramana Maharshi repeated, "The thought who am I will destroy all other thoughts and in the end that thought will also
be destroyed, like the stick used to stir the burning fire is itself burned up in the end. Then there will arise Self Realization".
But he also pointed out that The Self Is Already Realized. That Self of All is The One and Only Being. PRIOR to Consciousness
Being IS and You Are That.
So
ASK that of you until there is no you to ask. Drop all else and come back to "What Am I?" (NO Answer!)
A.H.
Follows up with, Thank you Charlie for your responses so far. Self-Inquiry is really
great, but why do I get depressed when I do it sometimes?
Asking,
Who Am I" the mind comes up with nothing, then it takes that on board as "about me". The "I" fees it is empty and meaningless
and then makes that mean something about itself. That is a space most must pass through, like a stage so to say. The antidote
is to keep at it and ask, ask that mind-sense you take to be yourself, WHO feels depressed? The mind repeats I AM. Then ask
it, WHO AM I?
Is it because I'm doing it wrong? How do you know you are doing it right?
Pointers:
Refuse ALL thoughts except I AM. After all YOU are certain that the I AM is real. Look carefully at that statement: YOU "know"
the I AM, YOU are aware, I AM here now. YOU "know" you are - awake and conscious, and that shows that YOU are THAT which
IS, nakedly observing Being-Awareness, That which IS and is NON conceptual, choiceless chooserless Being PRIOR to this Presence
of Awakeness, "consciousness of" being. The fact that Naked Awareness is PRIOR to Consciousness is self-evident when
you look at it this way. I AM.
WHO
AM I?
I
AM.
WHO
AM I?
(No
Answer. Let the WHO AM I thought erase "you"!
Now:
Stay Simple: Refuse any and all thoughts except these two: I AM. And, WHO AM I. To paraphrase Sri Ramana Maharshi: That one
thought, Who Am I?, WILL dismantle and destroy all false beliefs as the core belief - the root cause, a assumption of an I
apart from all that IS - is being dismantled directly by this challenge to the phantom ego. This phantom ego may seem to mount
all kinds of ways to resist being dismantled, as evidenced by the mind's coming back to counterattack with thoughts like,
"am I doing it right?" And as Sri Nisargadatta said over and over, “Stay with I AM” - refuse ALL thoughts except
I AM”. Do understand that the “thought of I” is NOT the True I of Nonconceptual Awareness. That one-letter
word “I” is a linguistic pointer to the Empty Fullness of Being Itself, prior to this presence of Wakefulness
or “Consciousness-I-Am”. This is described as Presence of Awareness or Awareness of Presence but again do realize
that these descriptions are actually only attempting (and failing to) describe NO Thing. THAT IS - The subjectless objectless
NO Thing of Being-Only-That. (Yet not a “the” at all! Words can ONLY point. As Ludwig Wittgenstein pointed out,
“Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must remain silent”.) As some say "There is Only Being, and not even THAT"!
There
is Only Being - the Oneness of Awareness-Consciousness-Loving to be arising as the dream-life of all that is and all
that is not. One Essence appearing as All - like a waking lucid dream of being this-or-that. The Fantastic Fantasy of Being.
Ponder
this from “my” “final teacher” John Wheeler:
“The
state of being conscious comes and goes within non-conceptual awareness. Being awake or conscious is not the same as non-conceptual
awareness. Consciousness is the first manifestation or experience in duality. All subsequent experiences are time-bound appearances
that depend upon the presence of consciousness. But consciousness too is an experience that comes and goes. You are aware
of being conscious, correct? Parse that out very carefully. YOU are aware OF being conscious. Therefore, you are that which
is aware of the coming and going of consciousness. That awareness is not a state or experience, however glorious or exalted.
It is the basis and ground of all experiencing. It is that which is prior to the arising of consciousness and prior to any
and all subsequent experiences in consciousness. It is the timeless, spaceless, unborn and uncreated, non-conceptual, non-dual
absolute. You are That.”
T.L.
writes a follow-up: I appreciate your concern, but I am quite happy to have [guru 1]
as my guru who is God himself in human form.
YOU
are “God Himself in human form"!
Look:
If you are quite happy with that guru then WHY write here??? Let it all go. Be as You are: The word “God” is only
a concept pointing to That Timeless Being that in Reality is what is - your True Self - as ALL true “gurus” have
pointed out since “time” began.
Nothing you say will change my belief in [guru 1].
Did
you overlook the pointer that this is NOT about “changing beliefs” and NOT to believe any of this!?
If
you miss the point when it is pointed out to NOT believe anything anyone says, as is ALWAYS stressed here, then arguing
is ENDLESS. All concepts can be argued except one: I AM. You are and that is known as I AM, Nonconceptual Knowing-Being-Awareness.
So,
the suggestion is NOT to adopt some new or different belief! The suggestion is to investigate WHO is the assumed “believer
entity” who adopts a position and arguers for its so-called conceptual “truth.” The essential question proposed
here is WHO is a believer? Where is this “I” that says “I believe” this or that. Ask YOU, WHO
AM I?
So
again, my friend, the suggestion here is if “you” are happy with your guru, stay with him and don’t go all
over creation arguing for a point of view of a believer. Dig in one spot, where you are, ask you, Who Am I? until there ain’t
no-one left to ask, but DO understand that this enquiry is happening IN that non-conceptual Presence of Awareness (what you
call “God”) that You are in Truth.
Follow-up from R.B. after
yesterday’s “hardball pointers”: Some extremely disturbing circumstances, and a sleepless night, brought
readiness to eat a grizzly bear. Thank you for the words of wisdom, generosity, and understanding.
Maury writes, I enjoyed your response in correspondence to the attachment to certain gurus who cater
to followers and party tricks. I wrote on my blog in response:
“Siddhis”: This is a term for spiritual powers of various sorts, from psychic ability to
being able to levitate, to be present at various places at once, to become as small as an atom, to materialize objects, to
have access to memories from past lives, and more. Miraculous events may occur around certain apparent enlightened ones or
apparent gurus. Keep in mind that these occurrences are not personal and not caused by the so-called enlightened one. These
are impersonal events not directly caused by the apparent being. Who would want to follow a so-called wise person who depended
on slight-of-hand and parlor tricks to attract followers? This is more the sign of a low level charlatan than a guru.
THAT is exactly
the point. Glad to see the expansion from Consciousness ItSelf appearing as “Maury”.
It's a sad scene when a true seeker gets caught up with a circus performer of siddhis. Years can be
wasted. If you are attracted to someone because they can produce ash, make trinkets appear, or produce perfume, you might
be due for a good look inside yourself. What is your motive in this? An honest evaluation might allow you to see that you
are looking for power, not truth. If you are attracted to displays of siddhis, card tricks, etc, you are watching a sideshow.
You are actually delaying finding the truth. Goethe's Faust was the story of man who sold his soul to the devil for power.
Don't sell your soul to a man who entertains you with slight-of hand, and the manifestation of trinkets. Fools gold!
Indeed.
Truth is not an object. It doesn't need magic displays to make itself known. It is far more subtle
than that, and far closer to you than your guru. The true teacher doesn't “need you”. A
visitor to Nisargadatta Maharaj said that the amazing thing about Nisargadatta was that "He wanted nothing from me."
THAT sums it
up precisely. The “one who wants” IS the false appearance of the phantom guru and phantom seeker. Find the source
of that appearance. As John Wheeler popints out, “The ego is a concept, an assumption. It
is merely an idea. What is that idea? It is the notion that you stand apart from the deeper reality of things as an independent
and autonomous self, a limited being. As you look into this matter, you find that this assumption proves to be entirely false.
So the ego simply evaporates due to discovering its non-existence. There is no “ego death” needed or possible,
because there is no ego present to die.”
That
says it all. Inasmuch as the All can be said! Which is the paradox of this sharing. Thanks for your blog and your non-existence!
:-)
R.B. writes, Last night I listened to about an hour of the conference call in which my friend from Canada participated. I have a few questions.
Who
asks all the questions? Seek the thinker, the asker. Can you find a separate entity who asks endless questions?
Language is in the realm of duality. It presumes a subject and an object.
We can avoid the subject and object in language but it sounds like a lot of convoluted horseshit if we do. But it seems as
if there is drifting back and forth from "awareness" to dualistic language. The dualistic language is used all the time, but
now and again it is pointed out that statements are dualistic. Such as, Who said that? I said that. Who is that I? The same
I that did not step in front of the bus. The same I that nibbled on the widow last night.
So
long as you ASSUME yourself to be that “I” there will be confusion, incompletion and all too often, real psychological
suffering! Plus endless questions that arise from the ignorant assumption that you are a separate entity. Ignorance means
you ignore the brute fact that you cannot argue your way out of: YOU IS. There IS Existence and THAT is inescapable. That
is the knowing of I AM wherever you go and whatever the clock says: Here and now you ARE that I AM - Timeless Being.
A talk cannot be given without dualistic language, can it? Why is some talk pointed out as dualistic but not other talk?
And as to “Why?” WHY NOT? WHO CARES? Again, WHO ASKS THIS? You want a story and that story will be
a pack of lies.
Cause and effect: It makes sense, that a myriad of unknown causes lead to
happenings. But, after a day of building, losing several chunks of meat from my hands, dropping my drill from the ladder twice
and breaking it, I wonder. Again, what is it, the realm of duality, cause and effect? If so, some tips on safety
and tool handling are in order.
So
take a building stuff and drill-holding seminar. Nonduality is not some magical cure for incompetence in the relative. Though
once the false “me” that says I did this and that and this happened to “me” is seen to be utterly
nonexistent in fact, and is seen that it was only an ignorant assumption of a thought being believed to be solid and an entity
with control, life is lived through the organism in relative freedom and effortless ease. Read the post from Maury today on
the correspondence page at my website!
By
the way, the Truth will NOT “make sense” to the mind!
One hundred thousand people from Burma were enlightened. Really? If so, statues to the greatest enlighteners
Adolf, Joe, and Mao, are in order. Grandiose statements are thrown out without adequate fine tuning. The listener is more
confused than when he started.
WHAT
listener? WHO claims to be a “listener?” A false entity! There is only a hearing of the Message from I AM toAM when there IS NO “separateness of listener and speaker” which is an
assumed yet patently false dichotomy. You mjust prove this to yourself by LOOKING and investigating your core beliefs and
assumptions rather than arguing, disagreeing, OR agreeing! Do NOT believe ANYTHING. Challenge the existence of a believer!
You have built statues of "me and others" in your mind. Dismantle them!
How do we separate the shit from the tar?
Through
the pointers offered freely. Ignore these pointers at your own risk!
If we piss in the soup, where
is the piss and where is the soup?
In
DISCRIMINATION. Using the mind to challenge the core assumption of a separate "I". Period!
Enlighten me, Charlie.
Impossible!
A “me” cannot “get enlightened!” Why? LOOK for a “me” and you find no such entity. Can
something that is NOT attain some state? You, as you assume yourself to be, will simply never “get” what you are.
You cannot know what you are, only you can know what you are not: Not a thing is you. Only No Thing is Real. That never changes.
All the changing appearance arises IN that empty space of Being-Awareness-Love. THAT Thou art. Don’t refuse to be That
and stop pretending to be a “me-myself-and-I” apart from That.
What am I missing here?
Nothing.
THAT - NO Thing - is what is missed as the mind-bound concept-form I struggles to argue for its limitations. Argue to be an
I and sure enough that will always be what you are for the ego-self with that assumed entity of name form and doer who avoids
the bus.
Look:
ALL there is, is Bullshit. And Nothing. Find the I. Where is it? Where is that I in deep dreamless sleep? You ignore the pointers
to try to find a truth that fits “your’ reality". YOU As-You-Are are BEYOND this assumed “reality".
You
will never “get enlightened” until you die, either at physical disintegration as in Myanmar and now China, OR
at ego-disintegration as you ponder what you are and what you are not and let go of the arrogance of the mind that claims
all this knowing and asks all these questions.
What
part of THIS is not clear: Give up all questions except, “Who AM I?”( which has No Answer in the Real Beingness
that you are.) And refuse ALL thoughts except I AM.
Ponder
again and again from Sri Nisargadatta: “The knowledge ‘I am’ is not a thought but observes thought. The
innermost, subtlest principle is that gnawing principle ‘I am, I am’ without words, by which you know you are.
It has no form or image; it is only beingness, the love to be.”
[A note regarding the disasters
in Myanmar and China: There is IMMENSE compassion here for the appearing 'survivor-victims' of these causeless happenings.
However there is no pity, s the seeing here is that those appearances are Only Divine Timeless Being whether 'they' have the
sense of that or not. There is only celebration for those appearances who were liberated from identity as a form in what the
mind calls 'death' and what is known by I AM as Life Eternal - the Home that was never left.]
Recently, I wrote
to our dear friend Maury, "I read
a bit of your blog.Great stuff. I Love the expression coming out through no-Maury! Keep it coming!
Love ya."
Maury writes
back, I'm glad you like what I've been writing on my blog. My life has changed since
our phone consultation. It's not explainable, but it is evidenced in the day to day of my life. For example, I haven't been
doing as much reading. There's no drive for searching. It leaves so much more time for doing what just needs doing. So, I've
been working in my yard, gardening with my wife, doing repairs that needed doing. I'm spending more time with my wife than
before. Searching is not getting in the way of relationships. There's just more time for other things. So if someone wants
to know the practical side of finding, the changes in my life show this.
Great. Your generosity
is appreciated here!
My mind is essentially very quiet. It is not a forced quiet, not a purposefully guided quietness. It's
just quiet! And when it comes to writing, there just isn't any intention to it. It is much more like writing just starts,
I see what gets written, and I go, "Oh that's what wanted to be written." As much a surprise to me as anyone who would
read it. I have absolutely no thought about it. There isn't even a me to judge it. It just is what it is. So, the fact that
you enjoy it, is fun, because, as I said, I really have no clue. I can't even say I have an answer. It's more like there is
no need for an answer. Even saying it like this seems nonsensical. Yet, it is the way it is.
It's really great
to hear the good news of the practical effects! Much Love, Charlie
A
long and tedious e-mail arrived filled with concepts and much ado about three “famous gurus.” I pointed the seeker
back to the direct teachings of Nonduality and challenged his belief in these “special people” who claim powers
(Siddhis) and some "Godliness", and keep their foolish disciples stuck in concepts of time and someday, and the idea of being
a separate entity who can attain “god realization.
Then
he writes, I have to disagree with you that [guru 1] and [guru 2] are con-men.
if you were to study their lives and work you would understand who they are. I have experienced much bliss and love through their teachings and inner connections.
However the bliss and love is not permanent. Due to my own fault no doubt, not theirs. This is why I am seeking further through
Ramana Maharshi´s teachings. I see God in nature, as Nature but its more than Nature, its something beyond form, I feel myself to be part of nature, I understand the wholeness,
my connection with the seen and unseen.. These lines by William Blake makes complete sense to me and I feel love, and
love is God ,isn't it? "To see a world in a grain of sand, and heaven in a wild flower, to hold infinity in the the palm of
the hand and eternity in an hour". The problem is I can't go around all the time looking or thinking about nature or
what lies behind it to get Self- realisation, that’s not practical. And that’s mind anyway ,but
its the only way I can feel God. So I let thoughts go, which I find quite easy, due to the practise of TM and other forms
of meditation. BUT I do not experience bliss and love in this state. There are definitely no thoughts, just awareness, but
its empty, no joy no bliss, therefore no God. There is existence, yes, but that's all,.....where is God? where is bliss?
awareness of existence doesn't satisfy me. It is said, God is existence consciousness and bliss. I've been watching
[guru 3] on YouTube in which, and on instruction, people dissolve in laughter at having experienced God, the Self, just
by apparently, having no thoughts. Doesn't happen to me, what am I doing wrong?”
A
response happened to arise; here is most of it:
It
all boils down to this one fundamental ignorance. You assert, “Doesn’t
happen to me, what am I doing wrong?" Doesn't happen to WHO!!?? WHO wants to "know bliss"? Attain some magical STATE?
It ain't gonna happen to 'you".
NOT
EVER. NO WAY. Full Stop.
Doesn't
happen to WHO!!?? WHO wants to "know bliss"? Attain some magical STATE? It ain't gonna happen to 'you". NOT EVER. NO WAY. Full Stop.
The
ignorance is this: You take your self to be an I, a "me" a "self-apart-from-others" This false assumption is the root
of all ignorance and suffering! Then you get all self-righteous about all your infinite understanding and ignore the fact
that Being IS and You Are That Timeless Formless Being because in your spiritual greediness you want MORE or BETTER for "ME"
that yon assume is real!
You
might, if you REALLY are committed to getting off your ego-righteousness, ponder these two simple pointers:
1.
Ask no-one else "What am I doing wrong". ASK YOU and ONLY YOU - "WHAT AM I"?
2.
Stay with I AM and refuse ALL other thoughts except I AM.
The
I AM that you are is certain. The I AM this or that, a me-entity that is not whole and complete, a thing apart from God or
Love or Self, is a flat LIE. The con men keep you on the path because that let you assume there is a person called "me myself
I" to get something you are not already being - someday. It's a huge con game! A cosmic joke and YOU are the butt of the joke.
You accept that there IS a “guru’ and there IS a separate little “me” and there is a separation that
is real and that there is “time” and “location” and that this little “you” is not already
being and you deny your Infinite Being by seeking it! This teaching of becoming enlightened and attaining eternal bliss someday
is one hundred percent denial that you are ALREADY what you are seeking. You cannot attain or know Blissfully Being - You
ARE THAT! You cannot attain that for “you” because you as a separate controlling entity are a DREAM. That "you"
is a fake! HOW can a fake, dream character, KNOW that “IT” IS a dream character? WHO believes he is NOT already
the Bliss of Freedom? WHO? Get under the assumptions!
You
assume you are separated then try to attain wholeness but until you REALLY challenge the ASSUMPTION of being an entity that
must attain, you will never find. That is the Law of The Mind: Seek wholeness and NEVER find it. Only get the false temporal
experiences of emptiness and “thought free states” which always come and go all the while IGNORING That Which
Never Changes – Empty Being Awareness, because “you” want MORE. It is utter ego greed, and nothing more
complex than that.
As
long as "you" keep arguing in favor of the Big Con and the validity of the con men you will be stuck in this trap of
the false assumptions of being separate forever. I HAVE studied these men, for over 30 years starting in 1974, until I saw
the con as a con! That big [guru 1], and his so-called eternal 1000 years old "master", merely another dream figure in
this spiritual mythology, and the so-called miracle god-man and his ridiculous ash production ring-making mind-reading
magic power shows, and many many others of that ilk, came under discriminating scrutiny here.
Nisargadatta
was the REAL DEAL, as was Ramana Maharshi. They were pointing out the real and unreal in the same ways John Wheeler, Bob Adamson
and few of John's, and Bob's, friends, those whose search has ended, are now doing.
Take
it or leave it, my friend. The freedom you are could care less whether you remain as an ignorant believer in these outrageous
myths.
Ponder
these things and do not write again until you are ready to listen rather than prove yourself right about the lies of
the ignorant arrogant mind:
1.
Ask no-one else "What am I doing wrong". ASK YOU and ONLY YOU - "WHAT AM I"?
2.
Stay with I AM and refuse ALL other thoughts except I AM.
GET
REAL.
Ponder
these pointers from Sri Ramana Maharshi:
Q:
“Work leaves no time for separate meditation. Is the constant reminder ‘I am’ and trying to feel this while
actually at work enough”?
Sri Ramana: “It
will become constant when the mind is strengthened. Repeated practice [asking that ‘mind’, Who Am I"] strengthens
the mind, and such a mind is capable of holding on to the current. Then, whether you are engaged in work or not, the current
remains unaffected and uninterrupted.”
And,
“...one
should not rest content with any experience that may accrue therefrom, but should harness the controlled mind to the question
‘Who am I?’ till the mind merges in the Self.”
Finally,
please thoroughly ponder this reminder from Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj: “The knowledge ‘I am’ is not a thought
but observes thought. The innermost, subtlest principle is that gnawing principle ‘I am, I am’ without words,
by which you know you are. It has no form or image; it is only beingness, the love to be”.
P.P. Writes,
Hi Charlie, I really appreciate your email newsletters. The pointer sent out on Friday was/is just excellent. Thanks for keeping those cards and letters coming. About the most
important email I ever get! With Love, P.
Glad to hear that…
Love ya back!
(Sign up for the free newsletters
below)
10
May 2008
What ‘We’ Really ARE
J.H.
Shares, Driving down the road on a sunny day and out of nowhere/everywhere up popped: The Awareness that is the Source
of All and Everything is who and what we are. We are like Light shinning through an infinite variety of multi-colored lenses.
The Light is Awareness and the lenses and multi-colored light produced are forms of relative manifestation (all life
forms including human) whose shade, hue and tone are the result of the combined interaction of DNA, interactive conditioning,
and degree of I-dentification or unconsciousness constriction (i.e. Fear). We have mistakenly self identified as lens
and color which are simply magnificent ripples on the pond of life while forgetting that who we really are is the Pure, Infinite,
Ever-Shining Light of Awareness. Light to Light. Love, J.H.
J.J. Writes, I have been reading and looking what you say about awareness and I am grateful
for some of your so direct and inspiring answers about so vital problems. Question: What appears from moment to moment
in (my) consciousness is all there is: words, the world, beings and objects...Nothing out of it. O.K... .Whence my
question about relationships: Am I Alone?
Your
language actually stumbles onto the actual non-conceptual Is-Ness: There is NOTHING and THAT, No Thins, IS “OUT of ‘IT’.”
(Out of “words, the world, beings and objects”). THAT - No thing - is the not—a-concept not-an-experience
Spacelike Beingness ItSelf. Timeless Essence. THAT is the TRUE “I AM” – there is not “two or three
or many” I AMs. This I AM is inconceivable, unimaginable, beyond the mind-brain’s capacity to grasp. Because this
mind-body-world is an appearance IN No Thing and can never grab or hold that No Thing, any more than the empty sky can grasp
and hold a cloud or storm appearing in it. And most important to "get" is that this Consciousness is noy "my" or "your" Consciousness.
This Consciousness, Being-Awareness, is impersonal - Universal. One Only.
Am I the One who thinks about other beings, about you Charlie for example? Alone and All. You, Charlie, who I feel
to be quite a living being among other friends or passers -by are you just an idea in my mind and when I think of any human being
in the world is there but a figure in my conscience: no objects at all, only one Unique Consciousness?
One
who thinks? WHERE is any "thinker"? Who thinks "I think?" Find the think-ER - if you can! All this is just ideas in the One
Mind and merely passing appearances in Timeless Being. That – Being – “knows itself” as I AM. But
this I AM, as we always point out, is not “my” I AM or “your” I AM. There is NOT “Unique Consciousness".
This Consciousness is IMPERSONAL. That is where the last vestiges of confusion lodge: In the concept of “mine”
and “yours”. Repeating a simple pointer: The I AM or “Consciousness” is impersonal and universal,
NOT “unique”. The appearance is of uniqueness; that is because the focus goes onto concepts, objects and what
is overlooked is the Space-Like Awareness IN (or on the “screen” of which) all that appears comes and goes. What
never comes and goes? That I AM – Consciousness itself. Ignoring the actual; never-changing Is-Ness of Being-Awareness
is the trap we fall into in our ignorance. The solution is in language itself (Language, not a particular language like French,
English or Hindi!) as you use the mind-brain to distinguish what never changes from the shifting sands of appearance. In short
there is only ONE I AM and you are THAT. In that way You are Alone – or ALL ONE.
Otherwise expressed: I, J.J., sitting in my room before this computer screen, how can I be at the same time a particular man
among others, thinking, speaking with objective human beings, and feeling in this moment to be the Unique Self,Alone.
Answered above.
The Real You - That Universal I AM - is NOT “particular” at all.
Either I feel Alone as Consciousness or someone of the numerous human beings on earth.
Drop
the “I” - that thought of being "an I apart" is merely a thought - the belief in being a separate person
- and come back to what that word-letter-concept “I” POINTS to: Empty Being, arising as Consciousness I AM
prior to words or ideas, then translated by the mind that ignores Being and translates Emptiness into a THOUGHT form of “I
am” followed by I am this or that and apart from other-than I. That is the false which is a passing show of ideas and
images and appearances arising and disappearing again, moment by moment, in Being Awareness.Come back to the simplicity of it: You ARE and that is certain. That Is-Ness never changes. If there is a concept
you take to be "you", ask you, "WHO assumes “I am me” and separate?" Who Am I? Ask YOU and no-one else.
To paraphrase
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, Refuse all thoughts except I AM and let that show you the Real. The No Thing that IS – Awareness
ItSelf that must BE before the idea I AM can ever appear. And give up all questions except one: Who AM I?. Who AM I? Ask YOU.
Who asks all questions? WHO AM I? Who asks Who Am I?.
Ponder this:
“The knowledge ‘I am’ is not a thought but observes thought. The innermost, subtlest principle is that gnawing
principle ‘I am, I am’ without words, by which you know you are. It has no form or image; it is only beingness,
the love to be”. - Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
D.H.
Writes, First off thanks for sharing your insight like you do.
My
pleasure.
So, identification. Identification with what? What am I? When I ask 'What am I?' or 'Who am I?' what comes back is
an empty mind. Another way to describe it would be that an empty still space becomes more apparent. A common theme throughout
this enlightenment/awakening stuff is the idea of discarding or seeing through identification with the notion of me that arises
as thought. Does this lead to identification with that empty space that becomes apparent when 'What am I' returns no answer?
Or is there no identification whatsoever?
The
latter. This seeing-being is the absence of the sense of ANY identity. Not even “space-like Being-Awareness!" It just
IS - and utterly beyond identity – it is inexpressible and unimaginable IsNess. Words are always insufficient as language
is a tool that the mind uses to divide and distinguish “this from that” while the timeless spaceless Being-Awareness-Peace
remains untouched and empty. Can no thing “know and identify” as no thing? That is patently impossible.
This of course raises the question 'Who would identify and with what’?’
VERY
good question so long as you don’t seek an ANSWER.
At this point I'm not even really sure what, if anything, I take myself to be. I think at some point I identified with
thought, but that's long gone. Now there is this space, this knowing, but no identification with it. It's obviously prior
to anything else. Sometimes it seems like 'I' am the only thing that is not here, everything else is known, but 'I' am not.
It also seems that the only way I know I am present is because everything else is present.
There
IS Presence. It IS - No Thing Appearing To Be Every Thing - That Presence arises as a concept or pointer back to ItSelf as
the knowing, “I Am”. That Nondual I AM is Impersonal Being-Awareness in which all else appears, like the dream
at night appears in a Space-like Being-Awareness though the organism is fast asleep. This appearance is all made of Awaeness-Consciousness
and nothing is actually separated from anything else in this I AM IsNess. That is where the "mind" cannot go!
It seems like the mind is making its last gasps at attempts to grab onto stuff that it realizes are nothing but more
thoughts. It seems that there is nothing to stand on, and just some vague notion of someone needing something to stand on.
Great
insight, that!
So where am I? It seems like the concepts are all falling apart.
Good
news!
The only thing I am seemingly doing now is noticing that still space, in fact the recognition is almost constant. Why
am I writing you? No clue. I can't really formulate a meaningful question.
As
the question-ER dissolves in this clear Nonconceptual seeing, the questions dry up, because questions and questioner arise
together out of nothing and that – No Thing – is what You are in Reality. Unidentified IsNess IS and that thou
art. Unborn, the I of Being – not the concept I, that concept-I is pointing back to Nonconceptual Being, Presencing
ItSelf as raw real Aliveness. It is so simple! It's that seeing directly that this "I" is just a pointer - pointing
to the empty No Thing that You are. These pointers are repeated until there is no one left to receive their piercing into
the false and all that remains The IS as It Is.
None of this is causing a problem. I am not suffering, but I am *not* not suffering either :-) I just am. Empty.
Spot
ON. That's all that is pointed to here. This I-I-AM is neither personal or impersonal. IsNess.
Not
sure what I thought this search would uncover, but it seems to be essentially nothing. It would seem that with the loss of
suffering, so goes its opposite.
Quite
right! It is that the entire paradigm of either “suffering” or "not-suffering” collapses as the I-sense
that was taken on board as the assumed entity, a separate “me-apart-from-other”, is seen to be a phantom appearing
in Being ItSelf.
Thanks for taking the time to read this. If you have any comments or suggestions, they would be appreciated. Or would
they? :) Do you think it might be helpful for me to air out this garbage over the phone with you?
Your
message is very well written and you express the inexpressible seeing quite well. Regarding a consultation, I found it very
helpful to thrash it all out with John Wheeler (as well as with Bob Adamson and John Greven). Essentially that is your call.
I am happy to chat with anyone anytime. Feel free to call if The One You Are moves that to happen. Much love to you!
K.E.
writes, Good Morning Charlie, Thanks so much for the time we spent on the
phone yesterday. It was a great clarifier for me. I will relisten to the audio today. One thing you said
came to mind that I was curious about. You mentioned something along the lines that "Charlie Hayes" continues to do
what he does and now he does his activities even more "efficiently". How can that be? Is there any kind of intentionality
involved? I read two interesting quotes by "Teachers" I am interested in your perspective about them: [A guru]
said: “Christ put it most succinctly: ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.’ A pure heart
is without desire or enmity. Purity comes from sustaining a moral course while pursuing
secular goals.The Sanskrit term is dharma.
The
second is from [a Zen teacher], who said, "The fulfillment of the whole journey of awakening, of realizing what we really
are, is not simply so that we bask in this wonderful realization of freedom. It's
something far beyond that, far beyond any personal idea or concern. It's so that, finally, life can express itself through
us."
It's
a pleasure to BE with You As-You-Are! The pointer is that when there is not the focus on a 'me" trying through it's false
intentional effort to make its life work, life simply goes on without that conceptual overlay of a personal will which creates
effort and struggle to "get my life to work." Life happens THROUGH the organism with no sense of needing to assert any ego
control.
The
Zen teacher says it well. The other guy is still proffering dualistic notions of volitional action by a "me".
The
simple pointer is that the I-I IS and arises as the Nondual seeing of I AM as Life Itself - Livingness-Lovingness. Absolute
Freedom as Being IS and the IMPERSONAL "Realization is "I AM THAT".
Follow-up from S.G. - I
was looking the website of John Greven, the book seems attractive; you suggest I purchase it and read it, or simply rest without
more reading? ... I don’t remember any more instructions from you... the search is over? ... I don’t know really.
There is peace. This is the "ultimate realization”?
Yes. This Peace that transcends
"understanding" is the Absolute Reality. Untouchable Being, just That, nothing else.
Don’t know. I
can’t compare what I read (already) from the books, to what I am, to what is experienced here. Probably this is not
a mathematical issue, or yes? In the start of the search, it was like there is such a thing as spiritual realization;
here are the maps, the knowledge, now you have to reach it. Now I don’t know if all that the books are pointing
is 100 % done here. If this email is arising, probably there are some residual confusion or doubt.
I know you
are seeing correctly. Just a potent reminder:
"The knowledge
‘I am’ is not a thought but observes thought. The innermost, subtlest principle is that gnawing principle ‘I
am, I am’ without words, by which you know you are. It has no form or image; it is only beingness, the love to be".
- SriNisargadattaMaharaj
Yes I do recommend
John Greven’s book, "Oneness". It is a very clear expression. In any event, enjoying a book like that, whether there
is "residual" doubt or confusion or not, could be the last solvent to remove doubts or confusion, likened to enjoying some
fine wine.
:-)
Wow, thanks for the reminder, I love it.
Ok, I’ll try to purchase that book “Oneness.” Love to you.
And YOU.
PS: I do not
believe it's available in Spanish but your English is more than good enough. Enjoy it!!
PPS:You ask, I don’t know really. There is peace.
This is the "ultimate realization”?
The “ultimate”
is when there is no-one to ask this - and then the question and answer are both irrelevant movements of thought-energy appearing
in the Absolute Peace that You are…remember what Nisargadatta said? “Give up all questions except ‘Who Am
I’.” That Final Question with NO answer is the solvent that ends all questions once and for good.
A follow-up from our good friend E.P. arrived today: He writes [A while back] I said: "I mean, knowing who I am, means I have all I
need for the moment. In any condition!!! That's a beautiful realization!" You replied: "Now you know. So stay put, and don't let
the mind-ego story convince you that its lies are true ever again."
Yep! I stand by that – always.
I've been talking about that the other day...it's incredible the ego-storied entity
that comes back to mind every time we're at peace...as you said, it's a very strong energy that makes us see that 'problems'
are real. In fact, only Presence Is, in every animated creature and all over. All there is is Consciousness. What's
wrong with right now unless we think about it...and more, let's recognize deeply the nature of things, this silent presence
awareness that's our nature. With Love ... E.P.
K.E. asks: If there is ultimately only One and therefore no apparent separation actually
exists, then there must not be any conscious free will since there is nobody to have the free will.
The key word in this sentence is, “ultimately”. While it IS ultimately
true that there is no person, when there’s the failure to recognize the paradox inherent in the human idea that while
ultimately there is nobody to exert any free will, so long as the belief (or dream) of the person still remains, there is
NO way this statement will make sense to that assumed person. So we keep looking for a truth that fits our conceived and perceived
reality and given that reality the truth simply does not fit!
Then how do you account for the Yogananda's of the world who express
their view of enlightenment and have extraordinary powers of mind to manifest at will? They seem to have amazing conscious
will and creative power.
That
stuff all appears to happen - in the same way that you as a person appear in your dreams - you seem to be the
entity with control, driving a car or talking to or even making love to another person - you do experience yourself as a being
in free will in the dream at night when the organism is asleep. The waking dream (Maya) is exactly the same. In a dream anything
is possible. In this waking dream anything is possible. That means anything! Yet all that appears is very solid looking, very
real looking, and that is the magic of this amazing dream or fantasy that the sages labeled “Maya”. Dennis Waite
at www.advaita.org.uk shows this translation of the term “Maya”: "Literally 'magic' or 'witchcraft', the 'force'
used to 'explain' how it is that we come to be deceived into believing that there is a creation with separate objects and
living creatures etc".
Now LOOK: where is this dream-character Yogananda NOW? If there was really that power of
"personal will" why would he let the body die?? The Eternal is beyond all names and forms and all appearances of "personal
power" (there's the ultimate oxymoron).
The Secret to “The Secret” (which you mentioned in an earlier e-mail) is that
there IS NO SECRET. There is only what IS (Being) and what APPEARS (phenomenal manifestation). And ultimately (ONLY ultimately)
these are NOT TWO (A Dvaita). My friend Werner Erhard once said. "All that mystical stuff is just what's so. A master is someone
who found out". I love that.
It is so frustrating to hear one party express their form of enlightenment with their attendant powers after this so
called experience occurs and then to read another version where there is not only no person ultimately to be enlightened but
enlightenment is just concept as well and there only pointing to what IS.
No doubt!!! Another friend, Dennis Waite, recently
addressed this and here is his notation and my reply (in salient part):
Dennis wrote, "There is no doubt that many seekers are severely
frustrated (and even occasionally suicidal) as a result of taking on board the non-teaching of neo-advaita and it is to help
them that I wrote the book [‘Enlightenment – The Path Through The Jungle]."
I wrote, “That alone (frustration and suicidal despair) is a damn good reason! Having
suffered exactly that - immense frustration, and suicidal despair, after 2 expensive and fruitless years with (a well
known Neo-Advaita guru) and only finding relief after finally finding, and having many competently guided conversations (at
no cost!), with John Wheeler (sometimes about what was missing in the "Neo" approach), I deeply appreciate what you are
trying to do. I have since seen that the one-sided approach of Neo is at best insufficient and at worst dangerous. I am
happy that you are exposing the dangers while at the same time NOT throwing the whole Neo thing (or those well-meaning
Neo adherents) under the bus!
I
would add here, I also had the huge benefit of being with ‘Sailor’ Bob Adamson (who as you know had his seeking
end in the presence of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj), with whom I was privileged to spend several days in Melbourne, Australia,
sometimes talking about what was missing in the "Neo" approach. But more pointedly, and effective!, Bob stressed the
actuality of Being-Awareness and the false nature of the assumed separate person. This visit, coupled with John’s ongoing
support and also having some help and guidance from others who see correctly, notably John Greven, Annette Nibley, and
Stephen Wingate (all of whom are listed on my Links page), led naturally to the confusion and doubt finally resolved. Or better said, dissolved.
Look: It’s all imagination, Maya.One friend pointed to these kinds
of teachings of personal power and amazing experiences as "spiritual pornography". All very enticing to the ego! Reject this
blatant pandering to the false ego that assumes itself to be real in ignorance. Right here and right now notice the Presence
of Awareness, clear, empty, lucid, IN which all the frustrations and desires for power and the assertions of there being a
person OR no person, enlightenment OR no enlightenment etc. made by others and believed or disbelieved by you as a believed-in
entity with power. Start from the FACT of BEING… "I AM". Then investigate - what IS this "person" that believes he is
real and wants power! OR the person who believes he is unreal and has no power. Choose your poison!
All
is false ultimately yet empirically (in one's apparent experience) there appears to be a frustrated person because that claim
of being a person apart from the whole has not been competently challenged. Usually this requires guidance from one who sees
this rightly, and has the natural skill to teach or point, and listen to where the seeker is coming from - their accepted
false paradigm, if you like. And the one appearing in the role of dreamed teacher to the dreamed student must so to say, speak
to that set of assumptions that are "using" the seeker, that he or she most likely does not know, and doesn’t' KNOW
that he or she doesn't know! It so happens that Bob Adamson and John Wheeler are two who fit the bill perfectly! Had I not
met them I would no doubt also still be frustrated!
Then
the challenge must be mounted by the person who has accepted the concept of a being “me” apart from all that is
and is willing to examine and remove all false knowledge, leaving the ever-fresh ever-present True Self-Knowledge. An excellent
book “Oneness”, that supports this investigation, has been written by John Greven. Get it! Read it! At least three
times. There’s a link for it on my books page.
I trust it's clear by now that as a seeker, it’s essential to find a competent and completely realized
“guide” that you trust, and get down to the job of finding out what is real and what is not. This cannot be avoided
in the vast majority of cases of seekers searching for their true nature. I repeat: This cannot be avoided in the vast
majority of cases of seekers searching for their true nature.
Is there a defendable way to state what is when discussing the subject
with another or does every attempt to define it fail?
The key word here is, “defendable”. ANY concept can be defended with
mountains of conceptual so-called “evidence” (which is most often merely subjective and anecdotal) that claims
to prove the assertions made that are defended or argued against. ALL concepts except "I AM" are arguable. Why? Because NO
concept is “the truth”. So the foolish person accepts these assertions, which are just never ultimately provable.
A lawyer might say, “Objection! Assumes facts NOT in evidence”!
Accepting these false word and picture dog and pony shows, the seeker inevitably gets frustrated
because of the belief that “they” have something “I” don’t have and “I” want THAT
for “me”. Therein lies the root cause of all frustration and suffering: The unexamined acceptance of the false
assertion that “I am a person separate” and now “I want what I don’t have”. That identity must
be challenged, but you need to start from the ONLY FACT YOU KNOW: That YOU ARE. Existence itself - the knowing I AM - cannot
be argued.
This is why the pointers to refuse all other thoughts except one: I AM, and refuse all
other questions except one: WHO AM I? are so very powerful to dispel false knowledge. As this commitment to end the search
gets real and is finally the only thing that really matters, and you have eschewed all desires for power and force of will,
the paradox of there being a me in appearance and no me in Reality dissolves. The mind which is only the assumed thought of
I vs. other-than-I cannot resolve the paradox, yet when pondered and challenged effectively it does dissolve (yet dissolution
is not resolution.) The paradox arises but is seen immediately as the paradoxical nature of Maya and therefore dissolves in
the One-Essence that you are in the immediacy of this moment here and now.
So
the message is,
1:
See that YOU ARE and that fact is beyond argument and needs absolutely NO “defense”.
2.
Find the source of I AM by pondering that one thought and refusing all others.
3:
Ask ONLY Who Am I. Don’t ask others! ASK YOU.
Get on with this and do stay in touch. It may be helpful to have a phone chat. That’s your call. In any case
do understand that while it is ultimately true that there is no teacher, no student, no path and no goal, to merely believe
that WILL result in frustration and confusion. Don’t believe anything anyone says, not me, not anyone else. Use the
pointers to look for yourself and challenge the assumed believe-ER. That’s the key to this.
Ponder this from Sri Ramana Maharshi: “Because you identify yourself with the body you think the Guru, too, to
be some body. But you are not the body, nor is the Guru. You are the Self and so is the Guru”.
And this one from a training (est) that I participated in, in 1978: “Responsibility starts with the willingness
to acknowledge that you are cause in the matter. It starts with the willingness to deal with a situation from and with the
point of view, WHETHER AT THE MOMENT REALIZED OR NOT, that you are the source of what you are, what you do and what you have.
This point of view extends to include even what is done to you and ultimately what another does to another. Responsibility
is not fault, praise, blame, shame or guilt. All these include judgments and evaluations of good and bad, right and wrong,
or better and worse. They are not responsibility as they are all beyond a simple acknowledgement that you are cause in your
own experience.” - Werner Erhard
HUGE Paradox! Embrace the paradox. BE with it.
Thanks for a good question. Stay in touch if you like. I Love You.
These last few days "doubt" arose in my experience, you know
what I mean: "The Doubt" (feeling unfocused, feeling lost, not knowing anything at all, feeling nothing has changed, that
"all that" is just not real, that "I" lost it, etc.).
And all that story and emotion arises where, in what?
This empty space-like Being that you are. Being is NOT a feeling, NOT a thing that mind (which is just thoughts) can grasp
or “get”. And, not knowing is the beginning of wisdom. All that is known is imagination and ignorance...
I wonder how it's been for you before the illusion of separation
was dissolved and after.
For whom? Where is any
“me” – either “here” in this one typing or “there” in that one reading? Where is
any before and after in This Presence? Notice that there is here and here is there and both are only ever HERE? Challenge
assumed facts and see if there is any evidence for these assumed facts! If the assumed fact (premise) is that there is an
entity called you Charlie here and another entity called me R. there then all conclusions drawn from that false premise will
reinforce the false. The only question worth asking is to ask the me that is assumed as a fact there Who Am I? Or WHAT am
I? Or what makes me think I am not Charlie or Charlie is not me? The assumption of separate entities lives on and makes all
sorts of mischief only because it is going unchallenged in the moment and the assumption drives all doubts and imaginary worries
about the person, which is also imagined!
Just if you could comment something on that, I'd appreciate it.
I guess "the doubt" is just like any other thought that gets too much attention and becomes apparently "real"?
Don’t ignore the beingness that knows itself as I AM. That
I AM is the only absolute certainty. All else is imagination. I AM alone is Real, so stay with that and only that.
A.C. writes, I've been
watching you in YouTube. I'm into Sufism and got initiated into Sufi Path in 2002. Few months
ago, I got hold of a book titled Be As You Are - the Teachings of Ramana Maharshi by David Godman. It has opened a new dimension
to what I know about Reality and introduced me into Advaita. About a month ago I bought 'I Am That' by Nisargadatta Maharaj
and have been reading it ever since.
Excellent.
I would like to ask you how to stay in the
sense 'I am' at all time. I get easily 'involved' into things around me that make me forgot of the sense 'I am'.
Ask
you: "Who gets involved"? There will always be a moment of noticing that involvement;
then you can ask yourself who is it that thinks, "I am involved"? The silent self-knowing awareness is That which KNOWS - I
AM - then says the silent words “I am”. Then there is the thought I am, which you can simply stop with.
In other words, to paraphrase Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, you refuse to engage in any thoughts that follow the thought I am.
So noticing yourself thinking I am involved, drop the “involved and come back to “I am” and refuse the follow-on.
He also points out that "It is like cleansing a mirror. The same mirror that shows you the world as it is, will also show
you your own face. The thought 'I am' is the polishing cloth [that can polish the empty mirror of the Self]. Use it."
Ponder these pointers from
Sri Nisargadatta: “Most essential is that knowledge ‘I am’. Claim it, appropriate it as your own. If that
is not. there, nothing is. Knowledge of all stages will be obtained only with the aid of this knowledge ‘I am’.”
And, “The knowledge ‘I am’
is not a thought but observes thought. The innermost, subtlest principle is that gnawing principle ‘I am, I am’
without words, by which you know you are. It has no form or image; it is only beingness, the love to be. The ‘I am’
and the Absolute are not two. In the Absolute the ‘I amness’ comes and then the experience takes place. Whatever
is happening, from the Absolute standpoint, without the knowledge ‘I am’, is very profound, unlimited, and expansive
Investigate that concept ‘I am.’ In the process of trying to find out your identity or this spiritual search,
all will happen in the realm of this consciousness. You finally stumble on, or culminate into the Absolute ‘Parabrahman’
state, which is desireless.
Appreciate tips, pointers
or advice from you.
My pleasure. See how it goes as you ponder the
above and feel free to stay in touch.
K.E. writes, I listened to a few of your videos on the net and read about your life story. What a great story.
A
story is a story. Nothing great or significant about that! Look: It’s ONLY a story and NOT who I am. Nor are YOU as
your True Self the story of “the person - a form of a body with a name - in time”. Both the “person”
and “time” and even "body" are concepts – and conceptions, perceptions, imaginations and memories of the
"person's" picture show are nothing BUT a story arising in the Timeless Indescribable Being that You are as Your Self
– prior to the story of I and I am and In the world there is Only Being. That is paradoxically, prior to, beyond, and
permeating all that IS and is NOT.
And there is no script or scriptwriter, no star, no director, no producer, no cause, no effect anywhere or anywhen
regardless of how it appears to be in the mind and/or brain of the human organism. But do not believe a bit of this! Look
for yourself within the space where you are here and now and see: Ask YOU, "Do I exist?" Ask YOU, "What AM I”? Ask YOU
"Am I a thought? A thing?" I am. That’s all you can know. All else is imagination, speculation, the story in multidimensional
conceptual space-time and on investigation you never can find the storyteller. Have a good look!
I had a low-grade question. If "presence" or "awareness" or whatever word used is
beyond and outside of all possible descriptions, then why do our descriptions of it always suggest it is a source
of aliveness, goodness and love--(positive descriptions)?
That is not what we express here! There is NO "knowable Source". This appearance,
some say, is uncaused and unsourced, but the mind cannot get that, of course. But see if you can look where those words point.
This Self-Knowing Being IS Love and That cannot be described. It is The Only One. The apparent individual must appear to be
separate from Love to experience a self (identity) that possesses some “goodness” or feels it's "my life of aliveness".
Or to be a separate “source OF”.
Always the invitation is to LOOK with the pointers in this way: I AM. That's
certain. What Am I? No answer. Seek the Source of I Am and you always and only come up with what you ARE. Empty Fullness acceptingness
allowingness permeating all that appears to be.
It seems that one could only make those descriptions based on a separate I. It
seems to me if a person in time and space were to truly have an experience in that state, any word used would fail. I don't
have an answer.
Great! There IS no “answer”. THAT’s the “answer”. Describe empty space. You cannot. The
Self is eternal Being-Space and that cannot be held, described or represented by any concept. The words are simply pointing
to the wordless. The conceptual mental label of what is Real and Eternal, such as Being, Awareness, Presence, Nonduality,etc. are ONLY pointing to what is and THAT cannot ever be captured by the mind any
more that you can grasp a pound of space in your hand.
It is certainly better than some form of negative description.
Great! There IS no “answer”. THAT’s the “answer”. Describe
empty space. You cannot. The Self is eternal Being-Space and that cannot be held, described or represented by any concept.
The words are simply pointing to the wordless. The conceptual mental label of what is Real and Eternal, such as Being, Awareness,
Presence, Aliveness, Nonduality, etc. are ONLY pointing to what is and THAT cannot ever be captured by the mind any more that
you can grasp a pound of space in your hand.
Have a great day in your work. Perhaps we can talk some day.
Any time you like (in the story and movie of “time”.)
“Perception Trumps Facts” – Jack McCoy, TV D.A., “Law and Order”
Exactly! At least, SO IT SEEMS... but The FACT that BEING IS, Existence IS, is simply indisputable. The
perception that seems to, BUT cannot ACTUALLY, "trump the fact of Being - I AM-ness - is that a thought is what you are -
the thought "I' distinct from the indisputable BEING or I-I of Existence itself, non-conceptual Being-Awareness-Aliveness.
And what is also obscured by "perception" is the FACT that on investigation, with rigorous discipline
no separate controller, no entity with will or power to affect anything whatsoever, that on looking within we find only a
harmless powerless thought of a “me-person”, is trumped by the unexamined mind’s perception of such an entity
being real. That is akin to believing and accepting the appearance that on looking out at the ocean the earth appears to be
flat! The antidote to suffering is investigating to see what is actually REAL rather than that whoich is perceived and believed
to be real.
L.K. writes,Is something
wrong with me? When will the bliss and serenity come?? I want Moksha [liberation], I want liberation from the
little self. At times I wish for my Ego to die because it not only causes pain and suffering for me, but it causes pain
and suffering to those around me when I am acting in selfish or self-centered ways.
Do you exist?
What is wrong with you unless you think you are a
person with problems and issues? ARE you a separate person? IS there any such thing as ego? Who says so? LOOK for that one.
All you’ll find is a bunch of thoughts all based on the assumption that what you are is a thought-feeling story!
Are you aware right now? Is there anything wrong
with this obvious clear awareness itself? Who do you think you are? The actor? The doer? That needs direct and disciplined
challenging.
All my life I have felt lost or incomplete. It's as if I just can't seem to find
my proper place in life. There never seems to be any real meaning to any of it and I have struggled all my life to find
some kind of identity or meaning and direction.
The question that can begin to confront this belief in being an “incomplete person”
is, WHO feels lost or incomplete? Who are you? Ask YOU “Who AM I?” This is NOT a "practice of self-inquiry”.
It is a direct and simple looking, here and now, into the space where you are, existence itself.
I became aware of Advaita Vedanta through the teachings of Ramana Maharshi
about 4 to 5 years ago. Some thing within me said "this is it, this is the Truth." However, right behind that
something said "and you will never achieve it."
That’s right. You (as an incomplete person” WILL never achieve it. Because
you ARE that which is sought and the seeking of that obscures the obviously empty Presence of that Being-Existence that appears
as this naked aware presence of consciousness. The thought I is NOT the TRUE I of Being-Existence. The means for self-discovery,
and liberation from the assumed identity of “an incomplete person,” is to give up all questions except the one
final inquiry, “Who Am I?” Evidently you overlooked that simple pointer in Ramana Maharshi´s sharing g of what
actually works. Come back to THAT.
I
am still suffering greatly and it seems that the Self-Inquiry intensifies my suffering. I read and hear people talking
about feeling blissful or serene states of consciousness from practicing Self-Inquiry, and I just can't relate to any of that.
It's almost as if my Ego fights me after a good day of holding on to the sense of I am. It's as if my Ego is some kind
of bully that threatens me after I exert a little focus on the I am. Does that make sense??
If self-inquiry increases suffering then it may NOT be right for you. But I repeat, to ask YOU
“Who AM I?” is NOT a "practice of self-inquiry”. It is a direct and simple looking, here and now, into the
space where you are, existence itself. Perhaps medication would be in order. Have you had the bodymind checked by a good physician
for brain chemistry imbalances?
There are also meditations that can help with issues of psychological suffering, notably
“The Ishayas’ Ascension.” Check that out at www.ishaya.org.
Can you help me with this? I have studied innumerable spiritual paths and religions and I am convinced that Self-Inquiry
is the answer. I also feel that my life will never make sense or have any meaning until I exist in this state
of consciousness which is my supposedly natural state. Please help me if you can and I thank you in advance for any assistance you can offer.
Life
is NEVER going to "mean anything." Who wants meaning? What you ARE is absolute Being-Existence, empty and meaningless!
Some
simple points to ponder:
What
is That about you which never changes? What Are You In Deep Sleep? That alone is Real. Seeking The Source of Being-I-Am-Aliveness,
look for the One who Seeks that Source - Who or What drives the seeking of Source? And Where exactly is any Source of "Source"?
Existence IS and Knows Itself as the Consciousness 'I AM'. You are already what you are seeking! You ARE, and this, Being-Existence,
is simply inescapable. Existence IS and "knows itself" as Consciousness, expressing in thought as I AM. But the thought "I
am" is not the actual I AM of Naked Awareness. Where is any person - without a thought story? The self-center, "identity,"
is imaginary, a mental fabrication. And, all "troubles of the person" disappear in sleep - and only re-appear as there is
the appearing of consciousness, "I Am", in the "waking" or "dream" states.
Here
and now you are already The Natural State: Simply BEING. Try to escape and not BE. Can you get out of BEING? There is NO way
out of Being. That IS what you are in Reality. You are NOT a concept, NOT a feeling, NOT a name and form. YOU ARE what you
seek. Stop seeking and only ask WHO SEEKS?
Stop all identifying yourself as this or that and stay with only I AM. Being, Just That and Nothing Else. FULL STOP.
Follow-up from Z.S. - I have been reading your book, 'No way out' on and off. I
noticed that you mention there is no way out and nothing to do.
Not
quite. The pointer is NOT that “there is nothing you can do. The pointer is, when you look directly for the you there
is the obvious clear seeing that there is NO person to do or not do. That is a very common misinterpretation.
I am just curious but how does it differ from the time when you almost
suicided because of a similar saying? In my opinion I think the difference is that you are giving pointers to the truth which
some Neo-Advaita writers don’t. They just say, 'nothing to do' which I found frustrating till I read the pointers in
your book.
It can be very frustrating because it IS a one-sided teaching, in my view.
The past two days I keep realizing that all I am doing is trying to DO
what I already AM. Its like telling the 'horse to be a horse'. In this case, there is truly nothing to DO. Doing will only
lead to making the ego seem more solid and likely. Have you read the book by Leo Hartong, 'Awakening from the Dream'. In this
book he also points out that looking for the ego is futile.
I know and like that book, BUT: That expression as not a "be-all and end-all."
That assertion may be made and often seems to be a strident claim that there is no ego. Yet he says that looking for the ego
happens and offers many pointers to just that. Don't fall for the assertion that there is nothing to do! This is not "some
"Truth" that they know and that you must believe. That is a real trap. So long as you are taking yourself to be an individual,
that entity must be investigated by you and if you merely accept some new belief in there being no person, that can only lead
to confusion and even deep despair, suicidal depression or at least, deep confusion and frustration. Accepting a half-assed
teaching leaves you bereft, no matter which cheek you got left.
Before I ramble on and on, I just want to say that I am starting to see,
or this mind is starting to see, the futility of DOING in order to BE what I already am. :)
Sounds like the pointers are sinking in.
That there is "no way out" is something the ego must discover in its own direct experience. Always we must note the
paradox of the spiritual search: There is the discovery there is no person only when the believed-in person is challenged.
In other words, there is no me AND so long as there is that BELIEF in a "separate me" that me that believes in its free will
and volition in most cases, as I see it, MUST USE that apparent free will to ask itself who am I? And/or stay with the single
thought I AM and refuse all thoughts other than I Am. Simplicity rules!
M.F.
Writes, The Sages can't be wrong! When repeating "Who Am I" with each inhalation and exhalation, and looking "within"
with Naked Awareness, there is a feeling of blissfulness centered in the heart area and a sense of quiet "spaciousness"
for lack of a better term.
Perfect!
There is just a sense of blissful being. The connection to the
body is evident, but there is no one there who is experiencing this. Just this sense of blissful being.
That is the experience of Being-Consciousness-Peace. The pointer is that even THIS
experience is temporal and is NOT that which NEVER changes, which can be said to be the silent still unmoving ground of all
that appears and comes and passes in It’s Silence.
When the mind is called on to deal with "worldly matters", this "space"
remains untouched by them, seemingly accepting of whatever happens. Is this what is being pointed to?
Yes. This is the Good news! That statement is exactly correct as far as pointing in
language can go. Spacelike Being-Consciousness-Aliveness – the natural eternal stateless state! Now you know that this
Unchanging Being is what You are and you as an individual was only an idea that was born in consciousness as “I Am”
and dies in Consciousness as Self-knowing Being. That is the Home that no-one ever left.
V.S. Writes, First of
all much much love and gratitude as you have been untiringly instructing us with
you wonderful talks.
You’re
very welcome. It is always good to hear that the message is resonating.
One small
query please - answer if you do get time. "I AM, but what am I? Not That Not That", but also "I AM everything". How to resolve
"Not That Not That" with "Everything"? Once again heartfelt thanks and love
Good question
and the answer is NOT in the mind. The mind can only dwell in opposites where the Nondual Truth is beyond all such dichotomies.
What this is, is the paradox of NothingEverything, EmptinessFullness, The Absolute Reality and the Appearing Relative being
Not Two (A Dvaita.)
A paradox cannot
be resolved. The mind cannot "get" a paradox; struggle NOT to grasp this but to embrace this. What you overlook is the Space-like
Being-Awareness IN which (or on the silent empty screen of which) this lot of thoughts and the paradox arise. Without Being
can anything appear? That shows that this Absolute and Relative, while appearing as separate, are actually an interrelated
whole: NOT TWO.
Stay with I AM,
the undeniable sense of Being, and let the paradox dissolve. If questions arise, ask the mind who are you? Ask your mind,
who asks the question? Ask the mind, who am I? Drop all other questions and only ask this one: WHO AM I? Drop all other thoughts
and stay with this one thought only: I AM. It’s as simple as that!
J.H. writes, The intention to drop you a note pops up from time to time but each time the active question (of the moment) seems
to turn in on itself and dissolve with a little looking at/for "Who is asking?"... Kind of interesting stuff (in the "personal
story") - constant challenge and more than a tad frustrating much of the time. This character called JH has experienced quite
a few short-lived blips into the realm of "stuff": "How should I handle this?" - "What do I do about that?" - Frustration-Concern-Decisions,
Decisions. Mental wrestling matches jump up and say Gotcha but shortly thereafter the noisy brain noise seems to melt into
nothing and here I am in silent awareness watching/merged into the beauty of it all. Really quite amazing when I "remember"
that in the "past" I would have been adrift in the problem/crisis storm 24/7... Now it’s blips of confusion followed
by Silent Contented even Joyful Presence.
As all that appears, is there
being, awareness, livingness? Is there ever “anything wrong” with that space-like Being-Awareness-Livingness?
Only if there is the mistake made by the appearance taking itself to be the real, actual being-apart-from-the-whole (a totally
false assumption that can be challenged and obliterated by simply coming back to the undeniabliity of Existence ItSelf –
Being I A) can there be any ideas of a me that is frustrated or confused. It looks like this is being seen for the most att.
Maybe all that is remaining is a few scattered clouds of mistaking a concept for the actual here and now as you are already
Freedom ItSelf and that can never be touched or obscured in Reality…meanwhile, quite obviously
we must exercise our apparent free will to make choices and decisions. Why? We have no choice! :-)
Guessing that at least
to some degree the rough seas of "difficult times" are just part of the package of wearing a human costume. Consciousness
seems to be pretty fond of drama filled movies. Juicy stuff, yum, yum. And the only way it can get juicy is to get caught
(at least slightly identified) in the on-screen action.
There is nothing
natural or inevitable about suffering! Seeing the appearance of a multidimensional holographic move AS a moving appearance
arising in Unmoving Being is the pointer here.
The Big Difference these
days is that though the movie rolls on the I that isn't spends very little time "Hooked" on the line of identification. I
mean, how can an I that isn't identify with any-thing? It can't so it doesn't.
That is the
Good News of this “accurate” Seeing of the actuality of there being no person in Being-Awareness. This Self-Knowing
Self-Loving Being-Consciousness-Bliss “unconceals” it’s Self naturally in apparent time. Now, Here, you
are That, and That is this Naturally Knowing Being-Presence-Peace.
The more I write the more
all of the above turns to meaningless mush so I guess I will shut up and Be Quiet.
Sounds good! Happy to hear
all is resolving naturally and effortlessly as The Unborn recognizes Its Non-entity – True Self! Being – the Home
you never left. Love ya!
Follow-up from A.Z. So
can i say something here…. is it safe to say that the life-force that I am, powers up everything and that it powers
up a second life-form, total artificial, totally made up, called the persona or the mind?
Conceptually
fine; but just recognize that what you are cannot be conceptualized or described. Know that what you are is beyond all concepts.
Then, anything can be said so long as the knowing is that there is no person, no “sayer” anywhere in anyone “doing
the saying”. The “life-force IS the Nonconceptual I AM. There is as you know now only ONE I AM. That Thou Art!
That ONE speaks and listens to ItSelf.
The mind, the person, the me, believes itself to be the creator of "my life", but it is totally false, and it
is just an illusion; it's like a computer who believes to be intelligent, smart, alive. When you unplug it, it dies!!!! So
who was giving life to the computer? the electricity that was coming into its circuits. The hard disk, the windows program
running, the memory chase.... they give the illusion that windows is alive and running and in control and independent from
everything, that it is smart and that it thinks and creates this and that, but when i unplug its source, its real source....
it just dies. And we are that electricity.... running and lighting everything, everywhere.
Great.
You got it. Stay with the Nonconceptual I AM. I AM is Real; "i am this or that" is not real. Now you know! If suffering appears,
immediately "pull the plug" - put the mind back into Who Am I? You are That I AM ItSelf and known it is known. Welcome back
to the home you never really left. Love ya!
D.K. asks, What do you
think of awakening, form this point of view: I read in book by another teacher, that awakening may happen in a split second,
and this is moment of clear seeing that there is on one. And in another moment there may again arise the sense of "me", so
the "I" will reassert. This is perspective that awakening is rather a process of clearing.... I also have some experiences
like that - that the process is continual. Do you think that true awakening happen to one forever (one deep experience) or
as a process of more experiences?
What you are calling awakening is the experience
of the seeker that comes and goes. What never changes? You are that Absolute, unchanging Being. As That you are already "awake."
Can you deny your sense of being? This is unattainable because it is already what IS.
Two pointers about this:
1. "When the mind turning
inwards inquires "Who am I?" and reaches the heart, that which is 'I' (the ego) sinks crestfallen, and the One (Self) appears
of its own accord as 'I - I' ... Though it appears thus, it is not the ego; it is the Whole. It is the real Self (Awareness)".
- Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi -
2. "Just keep in mind the
feeling "I am," merge in it, till your mind and feeling become one. By repeated attempts you will stumble on the right balance
of attention and affection and your mind will be firmly established in the thought-feeling 'I am' ." - Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj;
'I Am That', Ch. 16
Only Being is the Real. Discard
the false and the Real is as it is, self-knowing Being-Awareness-Aliveness here and now always. That Thou Art.
Maury shares; I had a hard time listening to what you were saying on that “Bliss Of Freedom” MP3 Audio. The birds were singing and chirping in the background such a joyful unthinking bliss. So I listened to
the birds. And then there were dogs barking, in the background too, big ones and little ones. And then the airplane warming
up. The birds and the dogs weren't thinking, and yet they were. And the birds were very happy, and they didn't let the dogs,
the planes, or anything else disturb their joy. Is that what you were saying?
Love, Maury
Gorgeous! Yes -
Life Is Bliss even the labeling the seeing the hearing happenings happening to no-person
Ummm! What WHO
was saying!? :-))
WHO was listening?
What are birds?
Bubbles of Aliveness playing at Being thisandthat
Everything Being
Registering in Awareness - The Self Alone … without a label, then labels bird plane dogs arise to describe what? And
That Which IS is unlabeled - freedom bubbling into wow
Follow-up from S.G. - The "Bliss of freedom" MP3 is lovely …The mind doesn’t
exist, is just thoughts. What Ramana says about is real !! Only with the power of attention seems to be a
mind. The struggle was at the beginning only. With the practice, that power appearing as "mind" , loses the power to
confuse or obscure. Wow. It is very simple …at first the thoughts fight for attention. Because of that, that time
you said to me, "stop talking or thinking about this!" It’s a tricky game, it’s like mind says, “ahh,
now I am self-realized, so I can stop investigating this false ego!” But that was all just thoughts. Another thing,
about the doer, that is another trick. There is no doer in anyone anyplace. There are no self realized people, or ignorant
people... there is only just the same Reality.
Dennis Waite writes, My view is: The person is real until it is discovered that there is no person. The
snake should be treated with appropriate respect until it is discovered to be a rope!
A. Z. writes, So after much looking here are my findings: like empty space is all around "me", it seems like that empty space energy
is the real "I"... all over the universe.
That Non-Conceptual I-Space
is all there is! “Nothing Being Everything” as a friend puts this…
Also, I thought I was in control I thought I was thinking and then acting but that's not it. Usually beingness acts
and after 1 second the mind claims ownership for that action by creating a story about why I did what I just did. So in essence
I AM BEING LIVED and like a passenger on an airplane who doesn’t know where the pilot is taking the plane, "A.Z." doesn’t
know where beingness is going, doing etc, "A.Z. can just come up with a story that makes sense about "what A.Z. is doing right
now" or it can resist by generating feelings and thoughts of disapproval and resistance towards "A.Z." itself since A.Z. believes
to be the doer and the only pilot on board. So it's totally made up, it's total crap all the time. I am the passenger who
believes to be piloting the 747 and when there's some turbulence I even forsake myself for not being smart enough or I resist
in the mind the 747 flying where it's going, This resistance doesn’t alter the 747 in any way; this resistance is another
made up story that doesn’t have any effect on the 747 and its course. It just stirs up more thoughts and feelings to
the contrary, it just creates more bad moods and more hell on earth; but the 747 just continues to fly towards its destination
unaffected by what the "crazy" passenger is either thinking, feeling or doing from his seat., A.Z. might know what comes next
but that's not it: most of the times those are just either lucky guesses or totally made up stories with no reality or truth
in them. Is this description accurate Charlie? Did I get it right? Is this a lucky guess :)? Thx,
Right on!
This I-I IS what IS and "Universe"
appears on that empty screen. Yet appearance and I-Space are Not Two. Ungraspable and indescribable, yet undeniable, incontrovertible
and inescapable! Pointing to That - This Emptiness is FULL with the throbbing aliveness of that Energy-Presence.
Now drop all descriptions
and stay in the Silence of I AM / I-I / NO Thing / Every Thing. Well Done, Not-A.Z.
After
tonight’s conference call, Rich shares, Thank you, My Friend! When you asked
for a haiku, it took a moment or two to re-engage the mental clutch -- probably not a first, but close. Rich at
a loss for words, amazing! Here's the haiku/hay-ku requested :
Knowing
I Am is
Easy;
Knowing What I Am
Is
Impossible.
Love, Rich
BangON,
Rich! Or should we say Write On… Love ya back, c.
Follow-up from
S.G.- A few short while ago, I was doing that practice of repeating "I Am , I Am, I Am” .... (in Spanish, Yo Soy),
while driving my car... and that rhythm took over... and suddenly stops. That "practice" starts on its own. What I encounter
is, the I Am, without thought, is what I Am, or what Is.
That’s IT!
Now, you know.
Certainly is
like a Screen, unmoved and ever in the same place/moment, without time, concepts, or images (imaginations). What I encounter
without a doubt, is, the imagined person never existed ... is a big big big ease ... all problems are resolved in that.
Exactly. The
Big Easy! Effortless Livingness, the bliss of Freedom.
For example,
when I read your website, all I read seems very real... but is not the same reading it, that being what is pointed....
is a enormous difference reading or think about it, than directly being this. For a while I was even disillusioned, about
that seeking the Self stuff.... even forgetting it. Is inescapable... all you say is real.... probably one cannot understand
it/realize it at will......
It cannot be known
by will, but yet, the mind can and usually must “investigate itself”: “Who Am I” is one means, as
is “staying with I Am” as you now directly experience
This is how the
Sage Sri Ramana Maharshi says this point: "When the mind turning inwards inquires " Who am I?" and reaches the heart, that
which is 'I' (the ego) sinks crestfallen, and the One (Self) appears of its own accord as 'I - I' ... Though it appears thus,
it is not the ego; it is the Whole. It is the real Self (Awareness)".
This is a very
serene presence, what a big enormous difference, from being "a man" ... to being THAT.
That is for certain!
Probably that
realization takes place alone.
Always. And this
is here now. No waiting; one who waits has not looked into the false - who would wait for someday!? Who Am I"?
To me you are
a great master. I appreciate your stuff now a lot more. One cannot judge ignorantly. Probably when you speak with the people,
you know where the ego is in that moment.
To me YOU are
the Great Master. Don’t make me some special separate thing. The I AM that you are in Reality is the exact same undeniable
I AM that everyone and everything. You are Ramana. You are the Christ Consciousness. You are The One. I do spot the ego-tendencies
here so can also spot them in others – but that is nothing that “charlie” does! Don’t put anyone on
any pedestal, not charlie and not yourself. WE ARE ONE and only That is Real. Stay away from dualistic concepts like master
and student. We are all exactly the same One Self. One Being, 7 billion appearances expressing that One. Thanks for sharing
this great news. You are The Self. I Love You!
The reality
is the truth. The world cannot satisfy the seeker. Sometimes the mind seems to extrovert, there is that play... realization...
bondage, but there is nobody in that process. Probably you know better than here when I met you, that I could not realize
the Self with my own efforts alone. There is no return.
Accepting guidance
is a key move, it seems. Been that way since the beginning of the dream of I and Time.
M.K.
Writes, That day of the conference call, through out the day I stayed relatively present, then I went to go sit still
and I reached the single pointedness really quick, maybe two minutes from when effort was put forth, so immediately I started
asking who am I?, played around for a while, did the whole "who am I?...who is asking?.....if I am the one hearing the question.....then
who is the one asking the question?......" and it went on, with different variations of that.
Well done, my friend!
I
was quite surprised, there was a little league game going on across the street, what normally would have been a great interference...didn't
faze me at all, in fact... its hard to describe, almost as if everything, including any thought and emotion that arose came
into one dimension, kind of like you say....watching a TV, but the sense of self was in it and at the same time out of
it, gets very difficult to articulate here, so this went on... asking who am I?, 2-3 hours, don't know, at one point
the inner gaze was so deep....I got excited and I thought "its about to happen" (or something along those lines, the thought
really wasn't constructed of words, but it was form) my heart rate elevated.....but this did not knock me down, I did
have a shock though, stabilized balance and regained single pointedness, and... not for long, it
was soon over, my mouth had been very dehydrated, with an attempt to drink water and stay "In", it was over.
IT TAKES NO EFFORT
TO be. You know the real, that Unchanging Presence of non-conceptual I AM-ness. Only remove the false by the investigation,
keep it simple and easy – just use the thought Who Am I; Stay with that and reject all other thoughts; continually return
the mind that one great thought Who Am I? No need to get fancy about that!
In
one of your latest nowsletters was I think a Nisargadatta thing saying "to remember what needs to be remembered is the secret
of success", I guess I forgot something. Anyway the whole thing seemed very progressive, of course my ego has come back strong
now, maintaining very little "I AM-ness", slowly calming its rampidness...its funny, I laughed when I woke up the next
morning, there was the thought stream of I need to get back at it, and this "I don't like" style of emotion came across,
and it had even strengthened the presence.
Quite a stream of thoughts there!
All temporary
happenings. What never changes? Come back to THAT.
I
know there's nothing I can do, but just "think" that I’m biding my time till the next "apparent" "opportunity" comes.
It’d be cool if you can drop me a few lines to influence renewed advance (I know...advance is even form), it's cool
if you don't.
Point One: Just stay with your own
undeniable sense of being. Now the joke is you cannot NOT stay with being! So it is that simple -ultimately. That is all there
is to "staying with I Am."
Point Two: It is NOT true that there is “nothing
you can do”. So long as there is a mind believing it is real, that needs to be challenged, looked directly into. The
means is the thought “Who am I”? As Sri Ramana Maharshi has so succinctly and powerfully pointed out, “The
thought 'Who am I?' will destroy all other thoughts, and like the stick used for stirring the burning pyre, it will itself
in the end get destroyed. Then, there will arise Self-Realization.” You have already seen the power in that. Don’t
stop now!
Whooo...what
was that all about ? Gratefully, M.K.
Much ado about NothingEverything AKA The
Self. Love ya.
Follow-up from J.B. -
Deeply moved watching “Thank You, John Wheeler” on YouTube. Thanks & love…
For you to be moved (as was
I) by John Wheeler's expression, you must be open, free to actually hear, Heart to Heart. I salute you for the enormous
transformation that you have allowed to happen; the transcending of ego and self-centered convictions of limitation can be
a threatening and unnerving process - as you well know now.
You are The One that was
seeking itself. Staying with I AM and allowing nothing to distract from that Being that You are reveals the True Heart surprisingly
quickly. Now you are experiencing this directly. That is great news indeed!
As Ronald Reagan once said, “Facts are stubborn
things”. What is the ONE indisputable FACT that cannot be argued or denied? You ARE. That Being-Knowing, I AM, is the
absolute and only FACT that you can never dispute! To be as you are is effortless and unavoidable. That I AM here and that
I AM there are NOT “two I Am’s”. So stick with the fact - and only the fact - of your Being. This is the
effortless Living Reality, Living Freedom. I AM and That Is All.
J.B. Writes to follow up: Good
Morning, Charlie; I just wanted to thank you for a few things: 1) The ton of non-dual
bricks that got dropped on my head a week or two ago has been good for me. Things seem to be getting simpler. The thoughts
and feelings—pay them no mind, John. Same goes for the questions. Don't get identified with any of it, return to the
I am, and when the identification amps up, just ask the question (check out the who of it), grace allowing. Just relax, John,
it's out of your hands.
2) The other thing I'm
thankful for is the one-pointed, non-stop thrust that seems to come through you in every direction (books, blogs, YouTube, calls). I can, for example, open up a copy of No Way Out, and turn to any page and any sentence on that page "hits the nail on the head" as my dad used to say. No distractions, no
fluff, no bs. Undiluted, it seems.
No it's not you doing
it and if it's all one – so who am I going to be thankful to? Maybe rather than I'm thankful to, it's —just gratitude
and a sense of love and relief that things are in some way on track— I do keep reading non-dual passages and in
some way the passages seem to confirm what's already percolating. For some reason, there's still seems a need to read the
exact same thing, said a million different ways, so that it gets crystal clear. Maybe that's overkill, left over from the
days of a dad who couldn't stop saying, "You've got to do better"? Take care / /thanks / Love!
Excellent news!
I am happy to hear this.
Your great Heart is clear and present all ways, here and now.
Much Love to I AM called
John from I AM called charlie!
M.F. writes, When looking at the
mind with "everyday" or "naked awareness" there is the noticing that there is no one looking and nothing but dark, emptiness
to "see". It feels natural, but is eventually the space is filled by thoughts. Some still grab away attention, and the
"noticing of noticing" stops. When looking out at the world, there is again the sense that there is someone looking
out, although "he" cannot be found.
If the person
cannot be found is it real? No. So why continue to invest any energy into believing that that there is an actual “someone
looking out”?
The question "do i exist?" is answered with a resounding "emptiness". I am the no-thing that notices that silence,
that is aware of even being conscious... but this too, is clouded over in everyday life by everyday events. Sometimes
there is "me-ing" and other times there is the noticing of things being done effortlessly by the body, with no one
doing it.
Existence is
and knows itself as being awareness. Conscious Presence – I AM - is Real.
And all that you describe including the story of a “someone looking out” arises IN that.
Life is still happening as it did before. There is no longer what you called the "advaita buzz". There is certainly
no constant bliss, but there is much less suffering. Anger and imaginary "slights" don't stick and are quickly forgotten.
That is the fruit
of the clear seeing.
What is troubling (I know, to whom?) is that unless the pointers are frequently reviewed, and the focus changes,
(although this no-thing that I am continues to notice and allow as always), the old ghost of "me" seems to arise, and thinking
that it is in charge, soon steals the show .
Does anyone truly
exist that actually “steals the show”? Is there really a me that needs
to continually review? NO. this residual belief can come and go for “awhile” but so long as you don’t believe the story being told by the mechanistic mind, there is no real issue here.
Is there still, perhaps an "M.F." here trying to be an "Enlightened Person"?
Only in a story that is told by a non-existent entity not fully seen AS non-existent! The
way I see this, there is no real problem with any of the above apart from a sticky belief in an entity with control, that
needs rooting out. Start from the I AM that You are in reality: Empty Being filled with the transcendent Light of Conscious
Presence bubbling out as unavoidable waking aliveness. That is the Real. Then notice all the stories the thought machine tells
and simply refuse to believe that there is any “someone”. There is NO problem with a thought of being someone.
Only do not believe the thought to be who you are! It’s that simple.
Let’s look at what
my teacher, John Wheeler, has to say about this ( I find that his expression clarifies these sorts of residual “issues”
most succinctly and clearly):
Understanding the nature
of suffering is important, but it is not the most important factor. The clear and direct recognition of the truth of your
being as ever-present, non-conceptual awareness here and now is very crucial. It is from that living and direct realization
of the positive truth of who we are that the seeing through and complete freedom from any residual suffering happens naturally,
easily and effortlessly. Innate and natural awareness is always free of suffering and this is what you already are. With this
point clear, a little bit of looking unwinds any residual tendency to believe in any concepts revolving around the imagined
separate self.
~
One of the most powerful
ways to end all possible belief in the separate self, is simply to look for it. Where is this presumed defective person, the
belief in which is driving all suffering, seeking and doubt? In truth, all there is in this and any moment is undeniable awareness
and a few thoughts, feelings and perceptions arising and setting. It is all perfect clarity, ease and peace. The root cause
of suffering is not present and has never existed, except as an assumed presence. One of my favorite pointers is — suffering
has a cause, but when you look for the cause, you find it does not exist. It is this insight which unwinds all the suffering
once and for all. Nothing is gained actually, for you already are what you are seeking. Then you see that what is present
now is what the ancients pointed to so beautifully, "All there is is self-shining, non-conceptual, ever-fresh presence-awareness,
just this and nothing else. There is nothing other than this." And to cross traditions, "You are THAT." Here and now this
non-conceptual awareness is all there is and it is what you are. In truth, no preparation or approach is needed because this
natural presence is already evident and there is no entity here capable of preparing for or approaching this.
~
The end game, so to speak,
is clarifying your real identity, coupled with a penetrating understanding of the falsity of the "I" concept.
Stay with I AM and refuse
all beliefs that follow I AM. Be as You are. You are Only Being, not the story or the storyteller. Don’t sell out to
false beliefs and inauthentic stories of lack and limitation. Stay in touch. I love you.
A friend, J.G., sends this
“instructive joke” along today:
A man is walking by the
Berkley, California Zoo when he sees a little girl leaning into the lion's cage.
Suddenly, the lion grabs her by the cuff of her jacket and tries to pull her inside to devour her right in front the little
girl's screaming parents.
The man runs to the cage,
hits the lion square on the nose with a powerful punch. Whimpering from the pain, the lion jumps back letting go of
the girl, and the man brings her to her terrified parents, who thank him endlessly.
A reporter has seen the
whole scene, and addressing the man, says: “Sir, this was the most gallant and brave thing I saw a man do in my whole
life”.
“Why, it was nothing,
said the man; really, the lion was behind bars and I knew God would protect me just as He did Daniel in the lion's den long,
long ago. I just saw this little kid in danger and acted as I felt was right”.
“I noticed a bible
in your pocket”, said the journalist.
“Yes, I'm a Christian
and was on my way to a bible study”, the man replied.
“Well, I am a journalist,
you know, so tomorrow's paper will have this on the front page”. The journalist leaves.
The following morning
the man buys the paper to see if it indeed brings news of his actions, and reads, on the first page:
”Right Wing Christian
Fundamentalist Assaults African Immigrant and Steals His Lunch”.
What Is Is. The interpretations
are irrelevant to What Is…
Maury writes,
Charlie, I want to thank you for encouraging me to start a blog. It's been so much fun. In fact, I got up this morning
at 4 am because there were writing phrases coming into my head, unasked for, unbidden. So I got up and wrote. Much more fun
than trying to write after a long day of work with a tired mind.
I recall that at the end of our phone consultation,
I said, "I'm done!" I think at the time I thought I was done with the phone conversation. But, I was really done. Finished
with me. It's actually amazing to me how one phone call with you, so easily sent me over the edge. Out of the way.
Funny as it may seem,
when in your videos you've said, "Call if you like. This body is here for you." I never doubted your sincerity. I'm a good
reader of people, and I felt totally welcome to call you.
Thanks again for your
help. I feel so free. Spontaneous expression now seems so easy. I still read this spiritual stuff, but it's not seeking, it's
"Oh, let's see how this one expressed this, or that one." Just fun.
Have a great day!
Love, Maury
That
is very beautiful. Yes, the expressions happen out of nowhere, don't they? Your Blog is very lucid and clear. It's very
happy here that it's all clear there. Living Freedom! Congratulations again and again! Love ya!
A.J. asks, So, if we don't exist why do people have near deaths of heaven/hell..
Also, people have life reviews..
Only in the story of a person,
and there is no story in deep sleep. "You" only "exist” in a waking or dream state. So the you cannot be in existence
all the time - only when there is consciousness, the sense "I am". is there the illusion of separate existence. This is why
we suggest ASKING yourself, do I exist? 100% of the time? Look within for the real and not out here. No one can answer
and satisfy except your inner Self. Inquire within!
So, if there is no hell
I have nothing to worry about ? I mean I know I must still live a righteous life, but there is no punishment right?
Who asks this? Who claims
to know? Where is this I that you claim you are? It's all a story. Investigate. Read the free copy of "Perfect Peace" (Download Here Now.) Look for yourself; stop all seeking outside. Go within; all is within your own consciousness.
J.S.
writes, I have seen you and others in their writings on advaita refer to the ground of being, the one being, the
nondual as "spacelike", or, eg, "the space which allows the all to be". I have seen writers refer to the nondual ground of
being as "empty", or "emptiness". I have seen some use the word "space" as a synonym for "empty" as the ground of nondual
being.
Right.
But - such words are ONLY pointers - and are NOT describing or representing some "thing".
Now
maybe the word "space" is being used metaphorically -
Yes.
See above.
-
But I am confused and would like to ask you: Is not the absolute, nondual, one reality transcendent of all space and all space
dimension, and all space/time?
Yes.
The Absolute is indescribable, transcending all apparent dualities. That is The Timeless Spaceless Unborn Being, arising as
Living Freedom and all that appears within ItSelf. This Living Freedom is the ever-free ever-unknowable unknown - The
Natural State. And That Thou Art!
Is
it true that "space" as is usually understood, three dimensional expanse, is not absolutely real?
Yes.
Or, to point to this in another way (ultimately futile but, well why not!?) - “space-like awareness” is NOT a
thing that can be described, represented, or attained. In fact the concept is never what the concept attempts to point TO.
See this and any confusion os resolved naturally and effortlessly.
I
am not sure I understand. Is the "emptiness" which is nonduality spatial in nature or are time, space (space/time) ultimately
unreal and illusory?
Yes.
What we are always up against in using language, is that language, quite simply, SEEMS to “divide the whole”.
So the word Space is NOT the true Nonconceptual silence and stillness of the Unborn Unmoved Mover, empty meaningless
Spacelike Being. But do realize that all words fail!
One
might well come back to the words (conceptual pointers) of Wittgenstein, who pointed out, “Whereof one cannot speak,
thereof one must remain silent”.
The
word (whatever word is used) is just a pointer to the Indescribable Infinity that You are in Reality. This cannot be
grasped or attained as it is absolutely free and NOT a concept, NOT an experience, NOT a “thing” that can be “known”
by a “knower”.
Drop
all attempts to grasp what is real and the Real is then apparent, to no one.
Follow-up from
L.G. - Thank you for your love of truth and desire for others to know it. It really is for everyone and so foolish
that the mind wants to glorify it.
You own great
heart shines through your words. Thanks for Being-In-Touch.
Abiding as
Awareness ISthe Natural State of Living Freedom. Now you know.
K.H. says, I really enjoy your YouTube segments and absolutely get what you're saying. However I have one problem that I cannot seem to get over. I understand why
to be compassionate, but I don't quite know what to make of evil. How can you be compassionate and still allow "evil" to go
on in the world? If evil is just part of the ying-yang, then what is the point of choosing love and compassion? Wouldn't evil
be just as justifiable? Please share your thoughts!
Justifications
are in the mind-story only. So too is “evil”. There is NO actual evil; that is a label that describes some activity
that appears in the world of forms. And one man’s evil is another’s good! Creation is strewn with examples, from
a radical Islamist's "good" to an American's "evil", and vice versa. So far as I am concerned though, there can be NO justification
for the abominable way some apparent people treat each other! That said, it is ultimately useful and freeing to notice that
all judging and evaluating arises only in thought. There appears a happening, which is just what appears, what IS.
The afterthought of the judgmental mind applies a label, “good”, or “evil”, to that which simply appears
as WHAT IS
There is NO suggestion that
any appearance endorse or allow negative life-damaging activity. What is pointed to is that in actual fact, Space-Like Awareness
is the empty Being-Space that DOES “allow”, BUT there is no "entity" doing that! This is crucial to the Understanding:
There is NO “personal doer” allowing what is to be. This Self of All is devoid of any free will or volition whatsoever.
Investigating WHO thinks or believes these thoughts are “who I am” is the key to seeing that all this manifestation
is an appearance arising in what You really are, this undeniable inescapable Presence of Awareness.
Without a thought, what is
wrong with anything? Without a thought where is an entity apart from the whole to judge or evaluate what appears to be?
As to compassion: Authentic
Compassion as a pure distinction is NOT pity or “feeling sorry for”. Real, authentic Compassion is an aspect of
the Divine Creative Energy-Intelligence that is totally ruthless in its function of being a “destroyer of ignorance”
(the Shiva concept in the Eastern traditions.)
The question I suggest that
you might look into is, WHO, or WHAT, is this "I" that believes it is real and then believes it “has one problem that
I cannot get over?" Without a thought, where is this I? Does it actually exist as a separate entity, is there really a “person”
with “problems and concerns” or is that simply a thought story that you have mistakenly assumed is what you are?
You are, Being, and you know
that you are being. This Being is the non-conceptual clear obviousness of you ordinary knowing “I Am.” The I AM
I of Presence, Being the unavoidable sense of Self prior to the fixation of a “me”, is the eternally real. That
never changes. This that You truly are is freedom ItSelf. Unborn, you ARE. Don’t trade that for thoughts and a small-self-identity
which has no permanent existence or independent actuality apart from the IS of Being-Awareness-Aliveness. Feel free to write
or call again as Spirit moves that to happen. I Love You.
L.G. asks, I'm not sure
exactly what I am looking for, but a dialogue with my self. Are there stages to waking up so to speak? I know the
muted world of silence, but somehow I feel that might be partial, that the mind is awake, what about the heart? Or is that
just a mind concept, that it arises when it arises...
All the words are concepts.
“Awakening” and “stages” are concepts. In Reality there is no awakening, no stages, no one to awaken.
Where is any person to awaken without the core concept of I am?
There is part of me that feels intuitively
that a mind awakening isn't the same as a full awakening. That it becomes Dry when not fully embodied. A masculine
and feminine embodiment combined would be a bit different.
I know you believe you are
a person with parts. And you give credence to “intuition” which is absolutely only conceptual thought assumed
to have some credibility only due to the delusion of the false conviction in “personhood” or an intuitive “entity-me”.
Now challenge that! Where is this “part” or this “me”? Look for the individual person and, apart from
a concept, which is just a thought that is sometimes present and often not, and what is found? NOTHING. Space-like, Being,
That is what is Real. All else is conceptual and false (but it looks real until you get into it with the simple inquiry (where
is this me? Where did the thought of an I apart from all that is come from”)?
Staying with the I Am and
refusing all other thoughts but I Am reveals the always-present Silence that is both nothing AND everything. To know your
Self as Nothing is wisdom (intellect enlightened) and to know your Self as Everything (and Every-One) is Love (heart-enlightened).
But do understand that these are all concepts also and that the concepts only point to what IS and do not represent of describe
what IS. What IS is Real. What appears to be is false. The only thing you can absolutely know is, I AM. Stay with that.
Maybe there are teachers
that address this.
See if this message resonates.
And feel free to stay in touch. You’ll also find several good links on the links page at the website; explore if you
like!
Sometimes when I sit,
the mind becomes very silent. Like now words come, slowly. Some days when I'm interacting it feels like more neurotic
things come up then I ever remember being there. Perhaps Unconsciousness filtering up? Or just conditioning?
This is ALL conceptual storytelling
by a false storyteller. Where is this past that is remembered without a concept of a person remembering? There is movement
of thought arising presently. Drop the false belief in the storyteller and the story becomes like a dream, seen as unreal,
no longer troubling because the false is seen to be false. It’s just that simple.
It becomes how to remain
so in a world that strives for staying and being other then what they are...
Challenge this belief in
a person in time who can remain! And the “reality” or a world that does some striving. Drop it all and BE; stay
with I AM and reject all else! You already ARE steadfastly and only always the Absolute Being bubbling into Presence as I
AM. That is Unborn, Eternally Free, Reality. Don’t sell that Freedom for a story of me and other.
Attack your false assumptions
with commitment. There are many resources on theeternalstate website as well as the others on the links page. Take advantage;
it is all offered freely for your true freedom. I love you.
T.B. writes, I was looking forward to the meeting
and will miss it. Best wishes for a quick recovery.
Thanks. The Body is just resting; it's all effortlessly
clearing itself in The Unborn. Looks as though it’ll be done in a day or two… but of course, who knows? Ha!
V.S. Writes, You had concurred
'that the thought of the I is not the Real I'. Please let me know if there is a difference between genuinelyKNOWING 'that the thought of the I is not the Real I' and the THOUGHT 'that the thought of the I is not
the Real I'. (As you see I am afraid of getting stuck in concept).
Verify this for yourself: Where is the “I”
in deep sleep” The “Real I” (Being) is non-conceptual Awareness and That arises as Consciousness (Knowing-I-Am)
– which Knowing is Awake and PRIOR to the CONCEPT I AM. Look directly from the pointers into the empty Consciousness;
to paraphrase Nietzsche, stare into the Abyss and the Abyss stares back at you. Like your face stares back at you in a mirror
and IS you in Reality. Image and mirror are NOT Two, yet APPEAR to be Two.
Caution! Don’t get
wrapped up in concepts here. The mind cannot grasp this! Give it up. The “knowing” here is NOT a conceptual comprehension,
NOT “understanding” as the mind believes and thinks of that.
Secondly, in your telephonic talks sometimes
you have said that 'that what the seeker is seeking is itself the sought'. Just wanted clarity on this - isn’t 'a seeker'
an imagined being, a phantom?
Yes.
Whereas "the sought" is pure being-awareness?
Yes.
So how are they the same?
Who asks this? Find the Source of the question
and the questioner and the whole matrix falls apart. Image and mirror are NOT Two, yet APPEAR to be Two.
“This primary concept
is the knowledge ‘I am’, it is the mother of all other concepts. In order to get that satisfaction, you must find
the source of this primary concept ‘I am’. You should give attention to the knowledge ‘I am’ and meditate
on that itself. Knowledge is to be got hold of by knowledge only. This will produce the seed, which, through this process
of meditation, slowly grows into a big tree, and that itself will give you all the knowledge. It will not be necessary for
you to ask anyone what is what. These two entities are available to you, the vital force and the knowledge ‘I am’,
the consciousness. They appear without any effort; they are there. Now, in order to be one with ‘Ishwara [The One Self]’,
to understand the non-duality you must worship the vital force. Then that knowledge, which is in seed form, slowly grows.
And the seeker becomes full of knowledge; in the process he transcends that, and the ultimate state is achieved.” –
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
The seeker is The One in
search of ItSelf. It’s impossible to resolve that in the mind. This is the paradox of true nonduality!
J.H.
asks, Awake, asleep, or in deep sleep the organism's experiencing of Presence-Awareness always seems to share the common
ground of "embodiment" i.e. experiencing via the vehicle of a body. If there is no live body
(or lens through and in which the Light shines) could it be that there is no Presence-Awareness? If the answer is something
like: The Light shines with or without the presence of a lens, then the question arises, how would a conscious lens realize
that?
“The
Light shines with or without the presence of a lens”. So it is said! But no-one really “knows” because in That, there is NO “knower.”
The Light is The One. The experience-experiencer is actually a false identity, nothing more. The knowing that registers “deep
sleep” for example or “death of the body” for example IS that Light of Being, AKA Awareness and cannot be
known because it is ONE. The One IS and doesn’t “know.” The knower is the Universal One-I-AM of the
PRESENCE of Awareness. The PRESENCE of Being. Probably a better pointer would be, Timeless and Spaceless, Being (Awareness) IS
and ARISES as “Presence.” This Awareness is NONDUAL and so is NOT any experience of any experiencer.
How is
consciousness conscious of "IT" without a consciousness equipped vehicle?
Nisargadatta says, “Before the idea ‘I am’ sprouted,
you are, but you don’t know you are. Subsequent to that there have been many happenings with which you have started
decorating yourself. You try to derive the meaning of yourself out of subsequent words, happenings, and the meaning of words…that
is not you…give it up. You are prior to the idea ‘I am’. Camp yourself there, prior to the words ‘I
am’.” (Emphasis mine.)
The organism does NOT "experience” Awareness (Being) until there is this Consciousness, “I Am”. The
organism experiences This Presence as I AM, awakeness, and Aliveness, the energy aspect of Being. There is often
a confusion in terminology that your question evidences: The idea that Presence-Awareness is experience. That pointer is indicating
the fact of an empty spacelike naked awareness, which is what is PRIOR to Presence. Diagrammatically,
it goes: Being (Awareness) >> Presence (Consciousness) >> Aliveness (Livingness).
Think
of it as Being-Awareness. Presence-Awareness is a pointer that in some way is backward. Awareness is - again - PRIOR to the
Presence of Consciousness-I-Am.
Or
as Nisargadatta said it, "One is the Absolute, two is consciousness, three is space. Where there was
no knowledge ‘I am’ that is number one [Awareness], later on there is the sense ‘I am’ [Consciousness-Presence]
that is number two, then there is space – number three [Aliveness-Livingness]."
Give
the attached PDF booklet a good thorough read and let the Aliveness in it dispel all remaining movements of thought or question.
Who
is asking this question? No idea it just came up.
J.T. Writes, Haven't said
hi in a while, but have been avidly following your videos and correspondence. I was amused by the recent post that
took you to task for being angry. What you wrote in response rings true: no one controls anger.
If anger could be controlled, most of us would opt to eliminate it, since it isn't really that pleasant to deal with!Anyway, for me (the illusory separate entity), one of your most
useful pieces of advice is to act as if we have control, knowing that, deep down, it is no more than a helpful illusion.
Best wishes and hope to attend one of your meetings one of these days. They sound like a lot of fun!
Great to hear from you. Sounds
like your understanding is quite good!
Nobody gets angry; anger
is a label; energy happens in all manner of manifestations. Blue skies or thunder, all the same.
Nobody gets ill either. And
this body has a deep persistent bronchial cough. So, no meeting Saturday 12 April.
CB writes,
Perfect Peace had indeed dawned and Home was indeed realized. But (and I know this does not jive with your pointers)
permanence in Perfect Peace and Home seems not to have dawned. This is the developing “clarity” that seems
to be taking place. And all of “your” assistance/ hard line pointers/ suggestions are a very big help; thank
you! Much love to you and peace is here for as in the wonderful words of Bankei, “All is resolved in the Unborn.”
And Bankei
followed with, "Don't trade The Unborn for thoughts."!
There is NO
"dawning someday". There is no was, only IS. There is no "then", only NOW.
This Perfect
Peace IS and cannot be escaped from. Nor can "it dawn". It is NOT an "IT" at all. IT IS and Thou Art That.
You are simply
still (apparently) sticking you infinite Self into onto a totally inauthentic belief in a "seeker" in "time".
Just drop it!
Infinite Love
is what You are. Be That and nothing else. "I" love "you".
R.A.
writes, I don’t visit your site often but whenever I do and check your correspondence you are always ranting and
being insulting and banning people. I am thinking of your recent correspondence with GS but I have noticed it so many times
with others. What a squabble, you are both as bad as each other. What is it in you that gets so insulted? What is it in you
that reacts in such a way? Love and regards, R.
Everything is done by no-one.
All is happening in this Presence.
Nobody
acts or reacts. It’s all a show
Follow-up:
I like a show Charlie.
Has
this Presence got any decent shows in the pipeline?
D.B. Writes, When you were searching did you have a relationship, partner or marriage and if so did
this obstruct you in any way? Also if you didn't do you think that being in such a relationship hinders the search or
attainment of the realisation? I know from your perspective none of this is relevant but I would like to know your thoughts
on reflection of before.
The word relationship tells
the tale: that is our ignorance, the assumption of dualism! To “relate” to “another” you must take
your self to be a separate entity that “relates”, usually “in order to” gain wholeness. Listen to
the love songs: “I want to know what love is, I want you to show me” (by Foreigner). The false entity talks about
soul mates as if there were such things as souls and mates. It seeks love while ignoring that what it’s True Self is,
IS LOVE. This can deeply reinforce the idea, the story with a star called “me”, of being a "separated person"
in some "time" at some "fixed location" -- until challenged: Who believes this? Where is the believer? Can I find one?
No. Then what am I? Nothing that mind can perceive or conceive.
The story? Just to be as direct
as possible in reply, as I know you do want the story and I respect that so long as you see truly that ALL stories of "persons"
are not only irrelevant, they are absolutely NOT true! -- But to not sidestep the question, in this tale told by an
idiotthere was during that period a marriage that ended in divorce, and a partnership
that was gloriously fervently infinitely loving, wherein there came a conviction that “she is the One, she completes
me" (and she felt the same) and now the search for God or Wholeness is over”! Which lasted a few weeks and then she
left! I was no longer "the One" for her! LOL! That left a whole new depth of despair! One had become two again. It's pure
ignorance and a common trap. That was a tough lesson that Oneness brought: If you depend on anything g outside your Self you
will fall and there will be, as a biblical parable points to, much weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth! You wear the wrong
garment for the wedding feast! ANY garment (the persona, the mask of ego, any imaginary clothing covering your Naked Awareness)
is the “wrong garment.” All garments are imaginary. You are That Naked Presence in which the dream-show is happening!
Tough love, tough lessons! Call it … Grace.
Did this hinder the search
or attainment? Do see that there are some false assumptions here! WHAT attainment? For whom? There is nothing that a person
can attain, simply because there is NO actual person in the machine (bodymind) --and
this is where a looking into your assumptions may prove helpful: It seesm that you assume the existence of a separate person
who can be “related” to another separate person. But exactly where IS this person? The “person” is
a myth. The “I am the body” idea is an assumption of identity, and this assumption IS the root cause of suffering,
which the seeking-energy seeks to heal through career success, dangerous pursuits, political power, maybe romance, alcohol,
drugs and eventually, when all else fails, spirituality. But if the core false premise, the assumption of a real “me”
with a name and form apart from others and the whole, goes unchallenged, the seeking and never finding goes on until the organism
dies. This bespeaks an addiction to an idea of a seeking and suffering "me" that must “attain” liberation
in “time”. All the while your True Self stands in silent acceptance as the obvious clear empty fullness of Presence
of Awareness that is undeniable, unattainable and the One-Essence of all. In short you ARE The One you seek. Freedom is what
You are. The Self is already always realized. All seeking is a profound and profane denial of this.
It’s like a drop in
the ocean ignores its nature of water-ness and laments that it is separated from and must attain the ocean. But the drop only
appears as separated; it has never lots its essential nature of being water. Like that your assumption of separation and the
ideas of relativity, time, separateness from the One, and fixation as an energetic contraction, are ALL the One. The One seeks
itself so cannot find itself until the seeking is seen to be utterly futile. A fish swims up to a guru-fish and says, I am
suffering, I am seeking Ocean, please help me find Ocean, O great One. The guru-fish says, “you are not separate
from the Ocean! Just drop the false belief and see that you are in and an integral aspect of and not separate from Ocean””
Maybe the seeker-fish says, “I see, but how can I know that and stabilize in that?” And now (only NOW) as
it so happens, that silliness gets seen and that ends the search! The fish swims off as the infinite Ocean.
Make no mistake: The idea
of a “perspective” is delusion. There is no such thing in Reality! There is no authenticity to a belief in that
“I with a perspective”. So the question is coming out of the false premise of separateness, persons apart from
each other, and points of view (which assumes an actual entity at a fixed point in the organism, from which “it”
has a view)! Challenge that false premise. Ask yourself, Who wants to know whose thoughts? There is only love here for the
appearance and the suggestion to look at the fact that YOU ARE the Pure Empty Presence of Being-I-AM, eternally alive as Being-Existence
and That is the Real, I AM THAT I AM, NOT many I am’s, ONLY ONE. That I AM that you ARE, simply IS, and is prior to
mind’s translation into I am me and that out there is not me. Seeing this ends the search as the false cause of separation
is severed. And there is only Life in Freedom and peace. This is what you are. Don’t settle for ANY identity. Be without
identities. That is to BE as You Are. So many words! Drop the concept of separation and see what You are. Love ya!
R.I. writes a follow-up:
I love you so much. You make it so simple and indeed it IS simple when there's no resistance to what IS by the crazy
imaginary "I".
Can an imaginary I resist? Resistance is a happening that no-one causes and no-one can stop. It’s
just energy arising and being labeled as somehow “wrong” but there IS no right or wrong except when thinking is
taken to be what you are and about you. This can be seen directly right now: can a thought actually DO anything? No problem
with the notion of “I”. It’s just a thought!
By your sharing, something
resonates within and there's only rest and peace being experienced.
Sounds good. That energy
is your own innate intelligence, seeing the true nature of what is.
I have a question for
you, Charlie. So, Presence is Aware and observes and witnesses movement, let's say in the form of thought.
Yes.
But Presence-Awareness is NOT “doing this”. It is what is and all the appearance arises in That. There is no witnesser,
only witnessing. The idea of a witnesser is just another thought. Do understand right here and now that your True nature is
NOT a thought, a feeling, a sensation, a knower, a witnesser. All those are dualistic beliefs that depend for their self-delusion
on a single belief: "I am separate and must strive to become whole."
Does awakening happen
when finally the "I" thought is also seen/caught?? Does it happen like a "click" or is it an each moment choice to not identify
with movement??
There is no “awakening”
in so-called “time”. There is only already Being-Awake as this non-conceptual Presence of Awareness, which is
timeless, formless, attributeless, fathomless, unimaginable and unavoidable.
Who is there to “choose”? The idea of choice and chooser is just thoughts. Ideation is
like clouds in the empty spacious sky. Your True Nature is This Presence prior to the ideas of “me myself I” -
and those ideas or even sense-of-me feelings are akin to clouds coming and going in YOU - Being-Awareness. And what needs
to be seen is that what you are is NOT a thought. That doesn’t mean that the “I” thought never arises again.
That sense of being a unique organism allows the organism to function in the world-dream, and know itself from others and
know the difference between the door and the desk.
In my experience thoughts
are observed (rather focusing in the underlying presence beyond thoughts) and there's still like a background sense of an
entity that is actually observing. Is that the "I" thought?? I also would like to share that sometimes I have had thoughts
that pretend to "know better", also thoughts that say I speak from concepts and not from own experience of stillness. SO many
thoughts of being arrogant arise. So, do I treat them like any other thought, letting them go by focusing on the stillness?
WHOSE experience? There is no experiencer in Reality. That one is a phantom, a dream character appearing
in awareness. The sense of an entity is required for the organism’s natural functioning. That is NOT a problem. As we
point out here ONLY that belief that this sense of being as a separated thing is what you are is the core misunderstanding,
the essential mistake. The thought I am, and the sense of being me, is NOT the issue. It is only if you take that sense or
feeling to be what you are that confusion arises, and suffering and frustration happens. It is literally a matter of your
taking yourself to be something (ANY “thing”), which you are NOT. You are not the “experience” of
stillness. That is just another cloud in the Sky of you True Being! Repeating an essential pointer: You are not a thing, not
a concept, not a thought, not a feeling, not any experience. All that stuff comes and goes! What you are is Eternal, never
changing, ever-present, even in deep sleep You Are. The only thing you can say about what you are in Truth is, Not This Not
That Not This Not That.
And thank you again.
In the time I have watched your videos I have experienced much more relaxation. Because I can see that seeking "enlightenment"
is a trap too, like chasing a never-reaching carrot. Who is chasing it? It's tiring, frustrating and at times desperation.
Hahaha
You’re
welcome! Now, LOOK: For whom is it tiring? Frustrating? Meet these thoughts head on with enquiry: Who is frustrated? I am?
Who IS that? Who is thinking? Where is any thinker, practicer, chooser? Find the Source of this thought and you see directly
and always now there is no separate controlling choosing thinking feeling “person”. It was all a tale told by
an idiot signifying nothing. See the false AS false and the bottom drops out and there You are, Self-Knowing Self-Luminous
Presence, Indescribably Real and Loving, allowing all that appears to appear, to come and go; never bound, never lost, never
not already always freedom itself.
So relax, have a cup of
tea and do your practice, right?? :o) Love, R.
Or relax, have a beer and
go to a movie! Look: Who needs to practice? Who thinks there is somewhere to get? What is the source of that idea of necessity
for practice? You cannot practice to reach what you are. YOU ARE THAT which is sought. You are The Self in search of The Self.
That said, if some “practice” arises,
Ishayas’ Ascension, Yoga, Meditation, Enquiry or whatever, understand that YOU will not do it and YOU will attain nothing
from it. Who “meditates”? Who assumes that there is something missing to attain or some such thing as time in
which to get this whatever-it-is? It’s a dream. If there is meditation ask yourself, "WHO is meditating"? If “ascending”
WHO is ascending? If asking yourself “Who Am I”? ask WHO is asking? Seek the separate self-center and you will
find what You already ARE, Presence-Awareness and nothing else. This removes the fixated false believed-to-be-real unlocatable
seeker from the idea of a path and a goal and what IS is seen to be the always-awake Being-Awareness-Aliveness. It is clear,
obvious, inescapable, unknowable, and yet Self-Aware. Realization is simply the seeing that the thought “I am”
is NOT the True Stateless Being-I-AM.
The I of
the phantom still asks questions, but when he looks in the mirror, There's no one there.
To whom
shall the reply come? asks the phantom as he fades away. Home at last. Home at last.
VERY Beautiful. That is a fine pointer!
PS: Please
tell your writer who wants eternal life that he's already got it. He just won't know it until he looks for who's wanting it.
If he really looks, he won't find anyone! Then he can be nothing but Awareness. What's not eternal about "EVER PRESENT AWARENESS?"
Love, Maury
Welcome to the Home you never left. Being-Existence
arising as the beauty of loving presence. A silent wow. The wonder of This! Love ya!
J.B. Follows Up With: Thank
you, Charlie. It meant a lot to me to talk with you about where things seem to be. For now, all there is to do is ask the
question (Who Am I?), even if I'm sick of asking. Who asks questions? Me. Who's me? Who is this me? Don't know! Thanks again.
Love, J.
J.H. writes, A Question
from Nowhere asked by Nobody: The emptiness and non-existence of an "I" is seen almost all of the time. When an old habitual
I based concept does arise it quickly dissolves within the simple one word question "Who?". Poof "it" is gone. However, it
has been noticed that dreams are often more vivid these days with some version of an "I/me" character in the starring role.
Upon awakening from these active night time dream dramas sometimes there is Presence-Awareness but sometimes the "I/me"
tail chasing puzzle that arose at night seems to be creating pipe clogging confusion. Returning to the trusty "Who?" question
regarding the dreamed "I" thought/character works its magic but what do you suppose is going on in the thought/concept imaginary
plumbing?
Moving Energy, Aliveness:
Being-Consciousness-Aliveness happening as that appearance.
Why are the night-time
dreams are still populated by imaginary "me's"?
Why NOT!? Look: All “why”
questions arise from a mind-entity that tells a story and wants more story. The story of why is told in a trillion zillion
ways. Answers are the job of religions. Who asks? That is the only (unanswered and unanswerable) question that reveals the
ever-present reality. Stay with that, with love and affection for the asker and the askee and drop all answers to abide as
Simply Being. This is Freedom. Not for the person but from the false belief in a person with a story and a separate existence.
You know this. Keep it simple and stay with the Unborn Being – I AM. Love ya!
R.L. says, Hello, Charlie,
I’m writing you after having read your very interesting web page and some allusions from others and because, as Jean
Klein said, before completely drowning in a spiritual search (I know “search" is incorrect, but I don’t know how
to express it) you have to erase any trace of doubt about it. Even though I’ve been trying to find myself just for the
last 3 years…
How did you believe you could
LOSE your self? Wherever you go there (here) you are! Isn’t it true?
… I just have four
doubts that stop me and, as I don’t have the chance to receive the help of a master, I have to be bold enough to ask
you for some words that could shed some light on these questions. I would be enormously grateful.
Happy to share whatever I
can.
A: When a master has
awakened he uses to speak in the "language of the awakened", that is, with an abstract style and despising questions that,
however, are the ones that made them take the spiritual way when they were not enlightened.
Ironic, isn’t it!?
So I still haven’t
seen a clear answer about the concept of "eternity".
Eternity is simply That which Never Changes. Being, Only Being, non-conceptual,
prior to being this I AM, is the Eternal State.
In fact there have been as many different interpretations as masters.
Let’s see: I don’t have a doubt about that I am Awareness, Consciousness, not a human being in a world. Many are
starting to agree, as the greatest in the past did, like Schrödinger, Heidegger, Einstein, etc. And the masters always
talk about the eternity of this awareness, in which the bodies are born and die,
leaving that consciousness unaffected (I use consciousness and awareness as synonymous).
First off Consciousness
and Awareness are NOT the same – these are distinct as pointer-word-concepts - Language. (They ARE the same in Essence
– Being ItSelf.) But ... Look at this head on: That collapse of the distinction between these labels is a source
of much confusion and suffering. I distinguish “Awareness” as Timeless Non-conceptual Beingness, or “Self-Knowing
Awareness.” Consciousness, on the other hand, arises as the sense of being I AM, awake in itself to itself. This I AM
then appears in language as a thought or sense or feeling of I am apart from other-than me.” That is the delusion of
mind, the belief in a separate I am. In Truth there is no separation; only a false assumption believed in ignorance; the assumption
of separateness itself. So it goes like this: Being-Awareness >> Arising As I AM Consciousness >> appearing as
belief that there is “Me and world Duality” – but it is ALL Being-Awareness-Peace. NOT Two NOT many. Only
The ONE is Real.
Awareness (Being)
IS ever-unaffected, ever-untouched. Consciousness is the ever-changing appearance of I Am and World. The appearance is always
changing, the screen (empty Being is ever-unchanging. This is a crucial distinction to have in the clarity of This Isness
that you in Reality are.
This is the
hook that at first catches the attention of the unawakened because of the human being’s eternity-wish. OK. But
some of that masters, like Nisargadatta, say that this awareness is NOT aware of itself before the body is born
and after it dies. For me this is just a variation of the materialistic science point of view. What’s the point in
an eternal Awareness that is not aware of itself?
No point whatsoever!
What’s
the difference between this and a scientist that says that the brain creates consciousness, then the body dies and that consciousness
is over?
Both are merely stories appearing
in Being-Awareness and made “real” in ignorance.
Is there really a difference
between being dead, that is, unconscious and being eternal but not conscious of existing? Please, this last question is
my biggest issue. I would be so grateful if you could say some words about it.
Being “dead” and being “alive”
are both what? BEING. Being alone is eternal and appearing as consciousness life and unconsciousness death. You as an entity
die into sleep at night and wake as consciousness-I-am in the morning.
Here is a pointer
to what cannot be known by mind: What You ARE in Truth is Beyond all conceiving and perceiving. This I AM is PRIOR to consciousness.
As such it is the knowing that cannot be known. Self-Cognizing Awareness IS and Prior to time and space. THIS is Impersonally
Being. Neither subject nor object, This, I AM.
What did Sri Ramana say
about it? Had he a Nisargadatta kind of opinion or had he the same opinion as Jean Klein, who said that after the death
of the body we’ll dissolve in consciousness conscious of itself if we can awake to our true nature before our physical
death?
Who asks this? What would “dissolve”?
Where is this “we”? Is it real? Find out! Who wants to know what “another” says? Look into this: What
are you? Are you an entity apart from wholeness that wants to know some conceptual “truth”? There is NO “truth”
in language. Far from Heidegger who said, “Language is the house of being”, in Clarity it is seen that language
is a house divided! To paraphrase Jean Klein’s excellent pointers from the non-dual perspective here, I would say that
both before and after death of the organism, and during the life of an organism, that what is right now – Being-Awareness
– simply is as it is. The idea of merging arises from the false concept, the assumption, that there is a separate entity
now that can merge then. These are the core assumptions of ignorance and bondage: I am separate, I am this body and mind,
and when and ONLY when “I” die “I” will merge. But these assumptions of a separate “me”
and a thing called “time” are the false paradigm the seeker steadfastly clings to out of fear of annihilation.
Who is there to merge with what?
This is ignorance. Been there done that; suffered
like mad in that false set of concepts. Until meeting the Truth coming through the Nisargadatta Lineage of John Wheeler.
That said, Sri Ramana said on this topic, “I am the Spirit transcending the body. The body dies but the spirit that transcends it
cannot be touched by death. That means that I am the deathless Spirit".
And, “As all living beings desire to be happy always, without misery, as in the case of everyone there is observed supreme
love for one's self, and as happiness alone is the cause for love, in order to gain that happiness which is one's nature and
which is experienced in the state of deep sleep where there is no mind, one should know one's self. For that, the path of
knowledge, the inquiry of the form "Who am I?", is the principal means”.
B: Maybe you’ll have heard of (another
writer’s) version of self-inquiry: he calls it "Awareness watching awareness".
Yes,
it’s creating a lot of confusion! The author holds out the unreachable carrot on a stick of “eternal bliss”
and an “easy way” the “seeker” can “attain” that. It is pure spiritual mythology.
And I ask you: is it a
correct interpretation of Sri Ramana Maharshi´s teachings?
NO,
he does NOT “interpret” Sri Ramana correctly. Staying with Sri Ramana’s pointers is a far wiser course than
straying to such inaccurate and deluded dilutions of the pure pointers of Sri Ramana or Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. (However
it may well be that his own seeing happened that way. The fallacy is in assuming that this was a personal happening that will
produce seeing for others. Each appearance, each organism, “walks a unique pathless path”). Besides, in Sri Ramana’s
words, “There is neither creation nor destruction, neither
destiny nor free will, neither path nor achievement; This is the final truth”. So all this is appearance and nothing
substantial apart from Being-Awareness-Aliveness ItSelf!
Is it possible that consciousness
is not aware of anything, just itself? If consciousness or awareness is the void that allows the world to be manifest,
how can a void see itself?
Quite so! How can a non-existent
phantom appearance “know” that it is a non-existent phantom appearance? Can a hologram know the light that makes
it appear? Patently NO.
C: Attention is one of the most recommended
tools when one is engaged in daily tasks, not in meditation. But ones say that attention must be directed to the body movements,
others say that just give attention to the feeling "I am", even in daily duties.
Staying with I AM, the “sense of being-aliveness,”
is an excellent pointer. And it’s effortless! You already always ARE I AM. Simply cease all identification with being
this or that. I AM full stop. Know that I AM is Reality and I am this or that is Non-Reality (Illusion).
D: David Godman says about self-inquiry: "
The classic way of doing this is to start with some experienced feeling or thought. I may be thinking about what I am going
to eat for dinner, for example. So, I ask myself, 'Who is anticipating dinner?' and the answer, whether you express it or
not, is 'I am'. Then you ask yourself, 'Who am I'? Who or what is this ''I'' that is waiting for its next meal?' it is instead
a device for transferring attention from the object of thought - the forthcoming dinner - to the subject, the person who is
having that particular thought. In that moment simply abide as the 'I' itself and try to experience subjectively what it is
when it is shorn of all identifications and associations with things and thoughts. Hold onto that experience of the unassociated
'I' for as long as you can. Watch how it arises, and, more importantly, watch where it subsides to when there are no thoughts
to engage with.
All excellent!
This is the
next stage of the inquiry. If you can isolate the feeling of 'I' from all the things that it habitually attaches itself to,
you will discover that it starts to disappear. As it subsides and becomes more and more attenuated, one begins to experience
the emanations of peace and joy that are, in reality, your own natural state. "
Perfectly expressed.
No disagreement here!
OK. I see 2
possible interpretations here: The first one is that the "I am" who answers the question "'Who is anticipating
dinner" is not the real "I", but an egoic "I", and I have to abide on that false "I" to watch it grow and then disappear,
am I wrong?
You are not “wrong”.
There is no right or wrong apart from a judging mental construct that ignores the Reality of Being, which is BEYOND ALL mind-bound
conceptual judgments and evaluations. But: There IS a missing of the pointless point David is sharing here.
The second
one is that the "I" that answers the question " 'Who is anticipating dinner" is the real "I", the Self, in which I have
to abide.
False.
ALL “interpretation” is FALSE. You are just stuck into concepts and stories that are ultimately invalid and useless.
In the Emptiness of Space-Like Awareness is the NO-ANSWER of True Self. This that IS is beyond and prior to language. And
to “abide” in That you would have to be separate from That and you are NOT - as we have discussed above
this I that could "abide" is merely a false belief! A better pointer might be “You already always eternally DO abide
AS That Self-Of-All which is attributeless, timeless, spaceless, unknowable-yet-Self-knowing IS-NESS.
So which one
is the correct? Staying in the subjective false "I" to watch its falseness as it fades away or the real "I" to stay on it?
Neither one is
either correct, or true or false. The Truth is beyond true/false dualities. Who asks this question?
Thanks
so much for your time. I say again, I would be so grateful if you could answer my 4 questions, even just with a few words,
because it’s a matter of life and death for me and I don’t have the chance to have a physical master. I sent the
same 2 first questions to Dennis Waite.
You
are welcome. Regardless of who says what about this, the job is to investigate what or who believes it is separate and that
for that one it’s a “matter of life or death”. That is a bit overly dramatic! Just challenge all beliefs
and challenge the very existence of a separate being that asks and wants to know. NO answer will satisfy your hunger for liberation;
ONLY that Timeless Being that you are will destroy the false. Stay with THAT and ask the question “What Am I”?
Do I Exist? What is That which never changes? Where is the separate “me” I have ignorantly taken to be who or
what I am? And stay in touch as Spirit moves. Love to you!
About 03 April 2008, J.B.
wrote a request: Do you know of anything that's out on the web (or elsewhere) that has some biographical information
on Sailor Bob? I've seen a bit here and there about how he's a former alcoholic, a onetime sailor, and that at one time
ran a New Age business. Have you run into anything else—I'm writing a book and would like to find out a bit
more, if that info is available.
My response: It was nice
to be with you here. Has the suffering ended? If not let's talk. If so welcome to the Home You Never Left. :-) Re Bob's background
for your book, you can write Bob and ask if he cares to say more about that, and also Gilbert Schultz who knows Bob very well.
John Wheeler also may be able to provide additional info. Addresses are in CC field. The only thing I know other than what
you say is how he got the nickname. He was as you know in AA and there were lots of "Bobs" and AA eschews last names for te
sake of anonymity. So, because he had been a merchant seaman (I heard tell), that's he got the nickname 'Sailor' Bob, to distinguish
him from other Bobs like 'Baker' Bob or 'Plumber' Bob, and it stuck. Love ya, Charlie
Then he received what I found
to be a wonderfully joking e-mail from one of those mentioned. J.B.'s response? He telephoned me and proceeded to dump his
angry ignorant arrogance. I listened silently. Then I observed that as I was witnessing, the organism here erupted and laid
into this arsehole in a ruthless compassion that directly “attacked” the ego-mind of J.B. It was almost like Nisargadatta
took this bodymind over and laid down the law to the ignoramus at the other end of the phone.
After a minute or so the
eruption finished. There was a long silence, then a click of his hanging up. I laughed, went and got coffee, and after a few
minutes of enjoying my DVR of Formula One Motorsports qualifying from Bahrain, I wrote this e-mail:
Your phone call was completely
inappropriate.
Your egoic disrespect for
the pointers and the generous support of those who ONLY care about seeing your suffering end, and ask nothing of you except
that you open up and listen, until you can be respectful and listen, shut the hell up. You are acting out of an idiot mind
that is both ignorant and arrogant. That's a very bad combination.
I do NOT tolerate fools like
you. Your behavior is absolutely unacceptable. You were borderline when you came here, but received the benefit of the doubt.
It appears now you pretended to listen whilst running your own agenda. Enough. NO MORE.
You got the fire of ruthless
compassion on the phone. Use it to wake the bleep up! If you have an issue with my friend’s joking with you, why did
you not take that up with him?
I only gave you courtesy
and respect, which you repaid with vitriolic anger and completely erroneous judgment. Your anger is a problem and you might
want to get some medication or take an anger management course. I will NOT tolerate your bullshit. I trust I made that perfectly
clear in the clearest and loudest way possible! Your assholeness is unwelcome here. Until you are ready to LISTEN and stop
your bullshit stop writing or calling. There is ruthless Love here for you and I hope that the ego-you does die soon!
Sincerely, I AM
Some time later the video
camera leapt into my hand and said talk to me about this. So I did. Finally JB responded with this. Yes, no question about
it. I'm an asshole. And I regret having vented my anger on you.
The response: Go BAKE in
I AM.
Follow-up from J.B. - I
wrote you and said I was an asshole. That conviction remains. I regret what I said. I want to apologize for venting the
garbage in my head. No excuse for that. I am sorry.
Apology accepted.
Meanwhile I'm going to
shut the hell up, hibernate, ask who the hell it is that needs to be so rageful (and reactive), and keep going to
the I am, if that's what happens. Even though I'll do stuff or take some steps, whether I remain an asshole or not is
out of my hands; whatever unfolds will unfold.
Correct.
From what has occurred,
the me I sometimes take myself to be is sad, shaken—neurotic. Yet when I turn to the oneness there's peace and
calm— no me, no worries. As you know, I of course don't turn to the oneness; It turns to itself.
To stop and look is a good
plan. Don't believe that there is no you and that you have no control. While that is certainly true, to believe that is to
completely corrupt the pointers. Advaita is NOT about some new, better, “holier” beliefs! Challenge that believer:
“Who believes I am a believer, who believes ‘I know’ – anything”!?? Drop ALL identities, "nice
guy" or "asshole" are all false! Drop all questions except "who am I"? - and know that the only accurate answer is "not
that not that".
Drop all thoughts that follow
I Am and come back to I AM only. As Nisargadatta points out: "Realisation is but the opposite of ignorance. To take the world
as real and one’s self as unreal is ignorance. The cause of sorrow. To know the self as the only reality and all else
as temporal and transient is freedom, peace and joy. It is all very simple. Instead of seeing things as imagined, learn to
see them as they are. It is like cleansing a mirror. The same mirror that shows you the world as it is, will also show you
your own face. The thought 'I am' is the polishing cloth. Use it."
What You actually are is
not a thing or label or any thought or feeling that mind can grab onto. Discover this for yourself: Stay with I AM, the Inescapable
Unimaginable Silent Sourceless Source of all that appears and disappears in Timeless Spaceless Being. Love, I AM.
Later:
GS butts in uninvited, and
claims, I Am All – (Except For You, Charlie?) Ha!
First GS Writes,It is ALL
in the phenomena, the appearance.........no one there to change anything. It is ALL ONE essence 'out of which' everything
'appears' - all differentiation is only in the appearance.........and nothing can get between the un-manifest and the manifest
in order to change something............. I AM IT ALL............. Who is upset? about what? The 'mind' is nothing but
reflections upon the living waters............ Some drops of rain imagine that they remain a sacred separate individuals..........gurus
and teachers............. that membrane of separations is made of water....and it is only surface tension that gives that
sense of individuality.........the missionaries had what they called compassion and love.....but what they brought was more
like interference - many native cultures appear to be far more worse off because of Christian do gooders......but it is all
in the appearance......... Everything moves upon emptiness.................. I am that............that everything and that
emptiness.....Not two. Warm waves of nothing to you.....- G
I did not respond. Simply, nothing came up to
say. Certainly there was nothing said that was disagreed with here! But then (perhaps because he was ignored?) This missile
arrived:
Charlie,
(Your arshole-ness) - The one who imagines he is awake and then attacks others about their anger has a problem........ The
warning about John is not more necessary than the warning about Charlie......... Charlie's biggest fan is Charlie. It is not
all about you Charlie........who cares? Best read some of your own pointers dear one. Buying into the drama is a sign of non
clarity.......
LOL!
GS, You assert facts not in evidence. WHO thinks, "charlie buys into the drama?" Who is there buying into the drama of a buying
into? It’s pure projection! Come on, G. You can't have it both ways. Either it is ALL The One Self appearing as
ALL of it, or there is an ego claiming imaginary problems. If there is a problem whose is it? Mirror mirror..... DUH. It seems
that when you are saying I AM IT ALL you are excluding some imagined person "over here" that is NOT part of this I AM
IT ALL that you claim you are. Ego is as ego does, G. ALL means-- Well --ALL!
And
ALL THIS TOO Is ALL I AM/YOU ARE/NOT TWO.
Here
is Only Love, From I AM (A.K.A. ALL) to I AM (A.K.A. ALL). Don’t miss the cosmically amusing irony, dear boy.
And
as to all this from an imagined entity to another imagined entity? Nobody asked you! J.B. DID ask here, was looking, then
what happened happened; all to no-one of course! - and yet J.B. is in a seeming process of dialoging here. And there
are breakthroughs for him (read the correspondence with him.) He has acknowledged the falseness of his anger and is looking
into what had that happen.
Not
so you, GS! Nobody asked for your cherished opinions dear boy. No-one REALLY cares what "you" think. Hell, I don't even give
a shit what "I" think!
PS:
"If you can take it take it and be. If not, cheer up an go about other people's business and do or undo unto them till you
drop"! - ee cummings
The flamethrower GS comes
back with, YOU are impossible Charlie. You carry on abusing this guy John for some reason (which you don't pass on) and you
abuse him of the very thing you are 'doing' in the email to him. Non Duality Shuffle is PATHETIC.......... it shows that there
is no understanding...just a 'clever mind' that has gotten so absorbed in the 'teaching' - so much so that it can sprout all
the learned words.........as IF there is a clear understanding......... Yes there is NO ONE here or there - so why not just
point at that fact and stop having these outbursts of RAGE............. Someone told me that TONY P banned you from attending
his meetings (like many other teachers I guess)......but you just hang in there like shit stuck to a blanket.........You are
a loud mouth bully........and you are no one at all....so shut the fuck up. Stop sending your email junk to this address.......
Your suggestion that this John needs medication is highly suspect and just abusive nonsense...... with your background and
history with medication, it looks like you may still need some yourself, you turd. Stop singing yourself as I AM.......it
just looks pathetic...........Who gives a rats arse about some old faggy drop out, living in the remote wilderness, so cut
off from everything and one who just is so addicted to his computer and all his virtual friends and enemies..........? See,
I can be abusive too. But you have to hang it all out there for the world tosee........... the adrenaline rush is the addiction.......driving fast cars is not an option these days for ya.........and
peaceful loving presence is too boring for ya.......... There is NO ONE Charlie.....not anywhere....it is ALL appearances...................I
wont play ping pong with ya any more........ You are such a pathetic player........and the I am THAT crap you go on with is
so transparent.......... Now piss off before you end up in the SPAM folder as an Automatic reject.............. ALL your problems
are SO UNREAL.............. SEE that fact............. stop preaching what you have not realized yourself...........which
leaves you with not much to say....... I removed you link from my website a long time ago......and 'time' has shown that it
was a wise thing to do............ you churn out so mush garbage.... mixed with some 'truth'.....adulterated truth..........who
needs it? One of the ten commandments was addressing this problem........ A concocted teaching is 'dangerous'. Don't know
why you think you belong to the Navanath Sampradaya lineage - the fact is that it is most probable that Nisargadatta would
have dismissed you before you got in the door...because you would have made a scene outside about some drama, with the cab
driver or whatever.........apart from the fact that you would never have been able to get up those stairs............ Dream
on dear Dream Guru – XXX.
Again with your bullshit.
Bob Adamson himself told me, in 2005, that the Lineage stands behind me and so failure was impossible. I know that truth directly
now. And, Tony Parsons and I are quite good friends. NEVER has he “banned me.” NEVER. All salient correspondence,
even that which seems to invalidate the sharing here, is posted here, as there is a real commitment to transparency.
It is NOT about GS or Charlie. This is for those sincere seekers who get confused by these kinds of personal attacks from
self-styled "other teachers". Let the reader decide for himself or herself what works and what doesn’t work, to
support investigation and ultimate freedom from suffering! To see what actually supports honest looking -- and what invalidates
imagined others, in these mad rantings.
It seems that you believe
all kinds of bullshit then make yourself right and others wrong. Enough. Read your messages again and change "charlie" to
"GS." Clear enough why that British publisher wouldn’t touch your book. Kindly leave this now. No more messages, no
more replies. I have already put “you” in the Spam Filter here. I am done with you. You are a freaking self-righteous
egomaniacal fool! Over and OUT.
One of the exquisite blessings of this understanding is knowing we are all
one, and not in any "idealistic" sense. While walking in nature today, "you" entered thoughts, and it is seen that love
holds "us all"-so sweet! There is deep gratitude for the sharing done at "the eternal state"....quiet presence grows,
and delight is taken in the simple joys of this spring.
Very nice! Love to see the pointers sink in. Oneness Recognizing Oneness so
to say (words cannot do justice to this sublime Freedom, can they!?) Love ya!
Maury (M.L.) shares, Charlie, Your video
on "Ignorance and Arrogance" brought a smile to this face. JB certainly stirred up a little fire on your end. All good. I'm not sure you realize
how powerful your videos are. They are perfectly short. You get to the point quickly -- "over-and-out." No matter the
point being made on a particular day, it all comes from the same place. There's power when it always comes from that same
singular placeless place.
The One is re-cognizing ItSelf
here. Good for you – clearly the final recognizing of your True-Nature has arisen. Welcome Home!
I have to tell you, when I told my wife
that you had caught me being arrogant, she had a really good laugh, "Oh he did, did he?" When I told her you called
me "Mr. President," she thought it was wonderfully appropriate. Confirmation Charlie! I recall that before I got married,
I told her one thing I liked was that she wouldn't let me get away with any BS! She doesn't, and neither did you.
Bob and John Wheeler refused
to let me take my self to be anything that could be perceived or conceived. Their pointers result in direct unfettered unbound
freedom from the false ideas of being this or that. There is enormous gratitude to Bob and John, and to Bob’s Guru,
Nisargadatta Maharaj. The relief from suffering is palpable and most welcome, isn’t it!?
Thank you! Be well. Love,
Maury
All is absolutely always
“well” in The Unborn. Once there is no longer ignoring The Unborn nothing is ever “wrong” any more
and it’s absolutely clear that never in Reality was there anything wrong. Being the Unborn, no worries, no issues, nothing
but the fullness or Empty Being. This IS Love. Thanks for sharing your direct seeing-knowing. Love ya!
Earlier, K.A. wrote, I really appreciate
your past emails and have a very practical question, I know I sort of asked a couple weeks ago. I am preparing to go
on anti-depressants as I have been suffering quite badly, unable to work or get a place to live and I just want to make sure
that this doesn't impede the spiritual path/my practices, mainly that enlightenment/awakening can still happen to someone
on meds and that I don't have to be off them to be awake, perhaps once I really get it (the fact that there's no one here
and that there's nothing to get) one naturally drops the need for meds. I am very confused about this and feel badly
as I have been a faithful yogi for so long, but seem to have fallen back into a deep funk, and am struggling to accept going
on meds. That's all hope to hear from you
Go ahead. Bear
in mind that medication is complimentary, it's not "either/or." All conflict is in the mind only and Nonduality embraces EVERYTHING.
ALL is ONE. Including medication. I am glad you are getting on with this. Good job!
On 04 April
2008, K.A. then asks, I was wondering if there are people who are totally awake that take psychiatric medications and do
so for the rest of their organisms life or once they see the absence of self and nature of reality they go off.
Just seems so odd to me, I assumed psychiatric meds were like ways to quiet the mind that prevented one from realizing their
true nature, who'd a thunk?
Anything is
possible. Of course there are some organisms that take meds for life. there is one here. It takes meds for blood pressure,
incontinence, cholesterol, and sometimes Lithium for chemical imbalance that is hard wired in this body's DNA. And food! And
water. Etc! What's wrong with ANY of that unless you think about it?
Just as there
are organisms that take food for life. Medicine is a form of food! Please DO UNDERSTAND THAT!
The thing to
get is all this is happening to no-person. The person is a myth. Everything happens to no-one. no body gets enlightened. There
is only already always nothing BUT enlightenment. This enlightenment is simply this:
Enlightenment
is simply seeing that the I AM is NOT a thought or form. This is final disassociation from the false belief of identification
with the body, mind, or anything else! Life goes on but the false linkage of Being, I AM, to any "thing", has been severed
Now and Forever.
There are no
"awake persons”. There is only Awakeness with the idea of a person appearing temporarily. Don't confuse these - don't
take the false to be real.
D.B.
Asks, I’ve just watched your latest YouTube video and feel a bit confused. I’m sitting here writing this but this is not who or what I am....... I am the nothing
that the me writing this appears in - is that right?
Correct as a pointer. But what you are is not a concept or a feeling. Even the identity
“I am nothing” is false in that it’s another concept! Yet it is ultimately true that you are that
Space-Like Being IN or ON which the concept and the experiencing appears. Like a play on and in empty stage.
But sitting here there appears to be a strong sense of me as the person sitting
here whilstthere is no felt sense of the I am. The thing is, the I am feels
very close and immediate.
The I AM that You are in Reality is closer than your breath! You are NOT a feeling
of I am. That is conceptual and utterly false! The Being-Awareness that You in Reality ARE is NON-conceptual and NON-experiential.
IT IS ad just THAT, yet arising as a “sense of beingness, a “sense of me.” The thin g to notice is that
the idea or concept “me” is a POINTER to the actuality of Timeless Being, which has NO properties or attributes
whatsoever. Don’t mistake the mirage of me to be the real.
As if for a shift to happen where the me is gone there has to be a kind of
pure comprehension or realisation from moment to moment of the things that arise.
Understand this: The "me" is NOT a problem. As long as the organism lives a sense of
being an individual WILL remain. It's a function of the DNA that allows an organism to distinguish the organism from other
things that appear so it can know which aperture to insert the food in and can effortlessly tell the difference between the
toilet and the car. The ONLY problem is that until it is pointed out the this "me" or I"I is a thought and NOT who you are,
there can be suffering. But once you see that you are NOT the thought "me" but that empty meaningless space of Being-Awakeness
that the thought points to, the false is seen as false and can no longer give you any imaginary problems. The waking dream
ends yet life continues, but being lived is effortless and life is seen to be Perfect Peace.
Even then, the things that arise seem so real..... But is that feeling of
realness just the next arising of the I am? And is that why I am everything, because as everything arises, or, for everything
to arise there has to be the I am?
Yes. YOU ARE the Being-Consciousness-Aliveness that arises as nothing being something being
everything, a play which disappears when “you” go to sleep at night and re-appears when “you” awaken
the next morning. Knowing that “you” were asleep and now “you’ are awake. The I AM is Real. The I
am This or That is NOT real. That's is all there is to get.
You are That. That is All.
Don’t
know if this makes any sense but would like your view if possible.
T.T. Writes, My life is
nightmare. I want to commit suicide.
First
off, if there is persistent and deep psychological suffering, please make sure there is not a physical component. If you have
thoughts of suicide there may be a mechanical element ... get a good physician and/or psychiatrist (NOT a psychologist) to
look at the machine and see if it has some chemical imbalance. Non-duality is NOT a substitute for proper medical assessment
and care! It sounds like there may be a chemical imbalance in the brain.
I really don’t understand.
I don’t know how to understand what you all enlightened persons are saying. How to understand? Because I
understand, I understood all you are saying. I understood it so damn well, but nothing happens. I had so many moments when
I was saying 'OK now I Really got it ‘. And on those moments I am ecstatic, I am flying, I feel everything
is so simple. I say ‘ man that was so simple! I can’t believe I really got it.
That is a fleeting experience
and NOT what is being pointed to. So long as there seems to be an “I” that “got it”, it’s not
being seen. The I is only a conceptual pointer to empty presence and NOT a separate entity.
But -- after a while,
something happens; my mind comes and kills everything. Again suffering. And I get discouraged. So if I understand it so well,
where is the problem? ????? There is something I don’t get! Don’t tell me there
isn't. There is something you understood and I don’t. What is that something?
In the Nondual
Understanding, ALL there is to "get" is that WHO YOU ARE IS NOT A THING THAT THE MIND CAN GRASP. Yet, YOU ARE. Undeniably
YOU ARE. This which you know as I AM is your true nature and THAT is NOT a thought, NOT a feeling, NOT a concept. That I AM
is the same I AM "here" and the same I AM "there". - There is ONLY ONE Unicity, One Essence, ONE I AM I AM and THAT is
what you truly are.
It goes, I AM.
Just That and nothing else. I AM THAT I AM. That Is All.
Ask YOU, WHAT
am I? NO answer is valid! NONE! YOU ARE NOT a thing the mind can grasp and own. There is nothing more than that to get.
What AM I? I
TRUTH, I Do Not Know.
Or What AMI?
Not That Not That Not That Not That Not That Not That Not That Not That Not That !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Y.F. Writes, Charlie--If we are not our thoughts and awareness is happening...this
awareness will not change the thought--or does that awareness give peace to the truth and acceptance of what is?
Awareness is not happening. Awareness is the unmoved Presence, stillness, silence, the
existence of I AM – This I AM is NOT a subject NOR an object. The closest in language would be, as a POINTER and not
a description or representation: IT IS. The “happening appearance” of Maya – apparent manifestation of Universe,
happens on the Empty Silence of this screen of Space-Like Awareness. That Thou Art, as the ancient Mahavakya (Great Word)
points out: Tat Tvam Asi. That Thou Art - THAT and Nothing Else. That is All there IS. Appearing-world (Form) and Awareness
(Formlessness) are NOT TWO (A-Dvaita). Om is All – One-Without-A-Second.
In other words, awareness and acceptance quiets the overactive mind -
These are just ignorant assumptions (it's not "personal ignorance," it is the universally
accepted matrix that seems real only until investigated) of some things that appear real but for which there is absolutely
NO evidence, on investigation. Where is time without the concept? Give me four pounds of time, please!? And six pounds of
mind? There is NO problem with chaos or peace in the mind. These all arise in the Natural State of Being-Presence-Aliveness!
But take a thought (I) to be who you are and you’ve trapped yourself in a nonexistent cage of limitations and suffering.
-and does this cause no impact the
quality of the thoughts flowing in?
Thoughts have NO actual existence as ‘objects with properties.” This is mental
confusion that needs looking into because there is a n unchallenged assumption that “thoughts are thongs.” They
are NOT. These movements of energy arising as concepts have absolutely NO existence in the natural timeless state. There is
only Being and in That, there arises an energy that the sages called “Shakti” or Divine Energy, forming into letters
that the sages call Matrika Shakti. That is an ASPECT of Being, not separate and yet appearing separate (the dream of the
Jiva-individuation.)
It goes like this: Being-Awareness>>Consciousness-“I AM”>>Energy-Intelligence-Experiencing>>Conceptualization-Conceiving.
Code Word? One I AM – Aliveness. You are That and nothing else!
Or do we just see thought as doing what is does, and seeing the truth in the thought
with no impact on the quality of the thought?
Truth is a thoughtless land. Or, thought is a truthless land. The spiritual path is a truthless
land; the truth is a pathless land...
Is the thought trying to make us more aware so we will face the truth / reality of
this dream?
Thoughts are dead, inert, merely concepts! They have no power to do or know or describe.
Thoughts are best understood as pointers, some to the Real, some to the False. Look where the pointers POINT, don't focus
on the pointer!
Words are past and dead. Life is Aliveness Here and Now. That is what You are: The Universal
Being IS and IS KNOWN as KNOWING that belongs to NO-ONE ... and This IS, prior to all concepts. This arises
as self-knowing, and devolves into the thought I AM. That thought alone, I AM, is the only truth the mind can grasp. I AM
Full Stop. WHAT you are can only be known by negating: Neti neti. Not That Not That.
Finally self realization is simply seeing-knowing I AM. Just That and nothing else. Another
ancient pointer is “I AM THAT I AM.” Full Stop. Un-figure-outable! I AM is known. ALL else is ignorance.
I guess I'm saying, "what is thought and what determines it's quality or continual
flow?"
Lets start with a question that leads back to Self-Knowing: WHO ASKS THIS QUESTION? See
that right here and now without a question there is no questioner; without a questioner there are no questions. Who is asking?
Find out. It can be seen in a flash right now that there IS NO PERSON -Only Being-Empty-Awareness - until a thought arises,
as question/questioner, glued together by a false assumption in a thinker-person who “wants to know.” But the
answer that comes does not give final freedom simply because the existence of there being a real entity called “me”
that can now “know” goes unchallenged and suffering continues forever.
Thought is infinite sourceless timeless energy, empty and qualityless, and sure as heaven
NOT “continuous!” Look right now: See if in this Presence of Being-Awareness “you” are really there
at all apart from a few discontinuous discrete thoughts that come and go? Can a thought "know” its next thought? What
is the never-changing? THAT on which passing thoughts come and go. Abiding as THIS there is no fixation on any passing thought
to be "what I am". Sever the false at the root and thoughts are seen to be like clouds in an empty sky. Clouds cannot make
the self-shining sun not be the light that allows all that appears to appear. Like that, thoughts can never actually obscure
the Timeless Light that You are. You are Unborn Being, freedom (Moksha) ItSelf. Don’t sell the diamond of Being-Consciousness-Aliveness
(Sat-Chit-Ananda) for the price of spinach (thoughts of me and mine, the dream of the Jiva in the false paradigm called Maya.)
That is all: Stay with I AM as the only thing you know for certain. Let the One great thought
I AM polish the Mirror of the Mind until there is no seeker, no doer, and no thinker left to ask anything or know anything.
Dwell in the Gift Of Unknowing Being.
That in whom reside all beings and who resides in all beings, who is the giver of grace
to all, the Supreme Soul of the universe, the limitless being -- I am that. - Amritbindu Upanishad
The seeker is he who is in search of himself.
Give up all questions except one: ‘Who am I?’ After all, the only fact you
are sure of is that you are. The ‘I am’ is certain. The ‘I am this’ is not. Struggle to find out what
you are in reality.
To know what you are, you must first investigate and know what you are not.
Discover all that you are not -- body, feelings thoughts, time, space, this or that --
nothing, concrete or abstract, which you perceive can be you. The very act of perceiving shows that you are not what you perceive.
The clearer you understand on the level of mind you can be described in negative terms
only, the quicker will you come to the end of your search and realise that you are the limitless being.
Follow-up from ZS: Sometimes
these days, when I meditate (I still meditate in the mornings), I sometimes realize 'who the heck is meditating???' and then
I breakout in laughter. It is so funny :)
Right on!
Here are some pointers that kind of describes this, from Padmasambhava:
*And when you
look inward at your own mind inside yourself, if there exists no projectionist who projects thoughts by thinking them, then
your own subtle mind will become lucidly clear without anything being projected. Since the Clear Light of your own intrinsic
awareness is empty, it is the Reality; and this is like the sun rising in a cloudless illuminated sky. Even though this light
cannot be said to possess a particular shape or form, nevertheless, it can be fully known
*Your own awareness
is inherently knowing, inherently clear, and luminously brilliant. When it arises, it is called"enlightened mind". Being without any activity of meditation, it transcends all objects of knowledge. Being
without any distraction, it is the luminous clarity of the Essence itself. Appearances, being empty in themselves, become
self-liberated; clarity and emptiness (being inseparable) are the Invincible Timeless Spaceless Reality.
*When you look
and observe, seeking the one who is looking and observing, since you search for this observer and do not find one, at that
time your view is exhausted and overthrown. Thus, even though it is the end of your view, this is the beginning with respect
to yourself. The view and the one who is viewing are not found to exist, anywhere.
*When you look
for the meditator who is meditating or not meditating, since you have searched for this meditator and have not found him anywhere,
at that time your meditation is exhausted and overthrown. Thus, even though it is the end of your meditation, this is the
beginning with respect to yourself. The meditation and the meditator are not found to exist anywhere. Without its falling
under the power of delusion, drowsiness, or agitation, your immediate un-fabricated awareness becomes lucidly clear; and this
unmodified state of even contemplation is concentration. Therefore remaining in a calm state or not remaining in it are not
two different things.
H.H. Writes, Re
your video of March 31, 2008 "don't buy the spiritual bullshit" -- I understand your criticism of goal-oriented "enlightenment-tips"
that suggest that there is a person that needs (or even could) go from "here" (i.e. ego-bound misery) to "there" (i.e. enlightenment).
That principal criticism makes complete sense to me and I understand the futility of that way of thinking.
So far so good!
However,
sometimes I get the impression that your criticism is a bit too quick and too harsh.
Only if that
is how it’s interpreted by the mind. But that is not a conscious intention here!
So in the
entry mentioned above, where somebody apparently suggested sitting for an hour daily and focusing on awareness. Maybe whoever
said that is just caught in the inadequacy of human language?
Certainly that
could be the case.
Who knows
whom that person was talking to? Maybe that was what that person needed to hear in that moment?
I’d say
that that was indeed exactly what the person needed to hear in that moment! How could it be otherwise? We know that is so
because that is what happened! Simple.
As the seeker
shared, though, the ultimate futility of trying to “do the doing” of what was (strongly) suggested, brought no
peace, just more frustration and suffering for that person, and fortunately it dawned him (as he was reading “From I
Am To Am, With Love”, as it happened) that there can be looking directly with NO assumption believed of a person looking,
and he began to get beyond all of these teachings of becoming. That is really the only point of what we share here.
That suffering is ended once and for good for all who really hear the message.
I am just
reading ‘Sailor’ Bob Adamson’s fantastic book "just this and nothing else". On page 53 he says, "just come
back to what you really are. Come back to that awareness, which is no thing. Realize that; expand that; and you realize that
it is just like the metaphor of space".
There is an
immense difference here you are not noticing. Focusing on awareness turns the non-conceptual space-like awareness into an
object sought as a point of FOCUS by a false subject, the meditator! Bob’s point (and mine) is that Awareness IS what
we are and there can be a falsely believed separating from that into seeker/sought - dualism. This is clearly impossible
-- wholeness is Whole! - BUT the mind-ego believes it IS possible to be thing apart from another thing called awareness that
IT must now focus on. What gets missed is the mind's "objectification" of the non-object timeless shapeless space of Being-Awareness.
Really get this point: Awareness cannot be “focused on”! Awareness is NOT a thing; "IT" (using a word that points
and is not the actual) just IS and THAT IS what YOU are in Truth. This is directly known as the Space in which I AM arises.
It's inescapable -- AND unimaginable
“Coming
back to the Real" is a markedly different pointer, in this way: There is no suggestion of an entity to focus nor an object
to focus on. Rather this is a "coming back" or "noticing", which NO-ONE does! Which is merely to discontinue focus altogether
and revert to the natural state of being, Naked Presence, prior to concepts, prior to any separateness, prior to words and
prior to the false idea of a focuser and an object of focus. It is a fine - but in my experience crucial - distinction!
It's a paradox! Both aspects MUST be included: I AM, just That. There is no person. Yet if the assumption of a person goes
unchallenged, the I AM of Being-Awareness-Presence WILL be overlooked and then the focus is fixated on a false belief
in separateness. In fact the concept of focuser/focused-on IS separateness. Rather than focus the false on the false, we point
to the non-existence of the false - which unconceals the Real. That Inescapable knowing of I AM as empty and meaningless is
what is suggested to be where to start from. Don't miss that point, otherwise it will leave you analyzing pointers out of
context. So always, what we suggest as the starting point is, I AM. Spacelike Awareness - Full Stop. Then looking into - What
am I? Accepting no false identity whatsoever: I am Not That Not That.
Back to that
particular teaching: There is no evidence that the author was coming from Truth as Bob most assuredly is. In fact what the
seeker who shared that with me (Z.S. on the correspondence page) was ultimately clear (which you can read on the correspondence
page) that his own evidence showed that this was apparently another of the zillions of satsang teacher/authors with a grasp
intellectually but for whom there is still a dualistic belief in "an entity that can focus." But really? We don't know!
So what?
As always I
remind you that this stuff is fraught with paradox. There is no person but simply believing or accepting that turns Nonduality
into another weird and crazy religion! That’s what I ask seekers to guard against. The investigation almost always has
to happen: WHO would “focus”? “Me”? What or who IS this “me”? That is the failing in that
author’s work, in my view; that it seemingly reasserts the assumption of an entity without posing any rigorous challenge
to the false entity's existence!
Ok. This
is not exactly the same as the above cited author suggests, but you could criticize that (in a similar way as you did in your
website posting):"coming back to awareness is dualistic! Awareness is not an object "you" - a totally false subject - could
come back to. Who is there to realize that? Who is there to expand that?" etc. you get my drift.
Of course I
get your drift. And I did answer that earlier in this message. LOOK: It is really a matter of distinction (“viveka”
in Sanskrit, the core of Sri Shankaracharya’s pointing to this), which arises from outside of creation.
Nisargadatta
for example in "I am that" says VERY different - apparently contradictory things - to different questioners to virtually the
same questions. I believe he was just - in his compassion - taking people by the hand wherever they stood. To some he talked
radical non-duality and to some he suggested to go and do good deeds or to meditate - very dualistic and worldly stuff. My understanding of those apparent contradictions
is that he said what the questioner was ready to hear and understand --
That is my
view also. But do understand that is no deciding or choosing to interact in ANY particular way with anyone. The clarity in
Maharaj’s teachings comes from the fact that Maharaj was not there. Oneness spoke through him to whatever was there
in front of him. It is I AM to I AM and that takes any and all forms. There is simply no doer or author in any of it.
-- again:
thank you very much for your "enlightening" and very clarifying postings!
You are most
welcome.
What I
mentioned above is just something I have noticed you (and several other contemporary non-duality "teachers") doing and I don't
quite understand the harshness of the criticism.
Who interprets
this as either criticism or harsh? Only the mind. There's no person here no person there no person anywhere. All happening
out of nowhere and to no-one. There is no do-er anywhere anywhen. This is usually only discovered after some investigation
with a competent Self-Realized guide like Bob or John Wheeler, one to one. "I AM to I AM".
You see, all
that is appearing is a pointing to a concept that is patently false, due to a faulty premise (the assumption of entities and
an objective awareness for an entity to focus on) and inviting the seeker to see that for himself (as Z.S. actually did after
looking into the whole thing with these distinctions and seeing the false premise driving a dualistic expression.)
However,
I also have to say that I personally absolutely value you not deviating from the radical non-duality truth. That is what I
need to hear. Again and again. It always brings me back to that radical truth and I find that VERY helpful.
Glad to hear
that.
Sounds contradictory
to what I say above? Yes and no. I hope you understand what I tried to say... :-) much love to you and greetings from
Switzerland!
There is always
the paradox in language. No worries! I am happy you wrote and I trust this answers the concerns and questions you bring up.
These are good, fair questions. Your e-mail shows that you are doing/have done the investigation required to end the search,
and the suffering, once and forever. Stay in touch if you like. And have a great Unborn Life in The Unborn Being that you
are.
Maury (M.L.) Writes: “My story”: - I fell apart at the age of eighteen. But I didn't let the falling
apart complete itself. Somehow I recovered to be a seeker. I had lost all belief, and there was fear and trembling. There
was a terrible fear of death. There was what felt like insanity. There was no escaping the pain. Deep, deep pain. Slowly,
slowly there was rebuilding of belief. New beliefs, new ways of seeing. Even though these new beliefs gave some relief, they
were not quite good enough. There was something missing.
As
many seekers find out, there is often no one in the immediate environment to talk with about this. Perhaps there is, but one
doesn't know who that might be. So there is this writhing, this squirming, this knowing that there is more. One doesn't know
what is driving this sense of something missing, but it is the one thing that is undeniable. It doesn't matter how many people
tell you that you are driving yourself crazy. You can't stop.
AT twenty-seven I went into therapy, intense gestalt work. The choosing of gestalt was
due to its basis in experience, and that experience being made present now. I didn't want more ideas. I didn't trust my own
mind. I wanted something I couldn't deny. To escape any possibility of avoiding myself, I chose to work only on my dreams.
My position at that time was that my dreams, coming from my unconscious would be pure, pure in the sense that I couldn't chose
what dreams I had. Basically, I couldn't control them. Since I couldn't control them, perhaps there would be truth there.
So I recorded my dreams and brought them to group and acted them out. There is a certain courage needed to bare yourself
in this manner. Especially with a therapist who isn't going to let you escape. Whatever experience the dream symbolized was
brought into present consciousness and allowed to be. Very powerful stuff. There were many ahas! Not the big AHA, because
I still thought I was a person.
Then I read The Primal Scream by Arthur Janov. It affected me deeply. He was saying that we humans are all sitting
on a pile of pain. As I read, I said, to myself, "No. No. No." But I read on. By the end of the book I knew for sure the truth
of the pain. There was one place where I felt that the truth (the pain) would be allowed, and that was group.
Group, or satsang, should be a place where there is trust. And the only way there is trust is that you feel trusting
in your own gut. Well, I went to group and laid down on the floor in front of the couch. Then there was the opening, each
person in the room telling what they needed to say to be present. When it came to me, I started shaking my head in a manner
of saying "No."
The "No" was a way of saying, I can't answer. I certainly couldn't answer in words. Involuntarily my stomach area began
to roll, in waves, from its base to the bottom of my chest and there was wailing. It was a very load, deep throated wailing.
There was no controlling it. It wanted to be expressed.
In the midst of this, I heard the therapist say, "This is the pain the human race is afraid to feel." The wailing continued.
It didn't stop for forty-five minutes. When it stopped there was a terrible headache. The therapist asked if there was anything
I wanted to say? Again, I just shook my head, "No."
After that whenever I had an experience, a smell, a taste, that triggered an association with a painful past experience,
I would begin to get pressure at the base of my skull and I would know that I needed to get home to let it out. At home, I
would lie on my bed and scream, sometimes so loud I thought neighbors would call the police to come take me away. But it felt
so good I didn't care.
I lost my voice, and even my therapist told me I didn't have to go that far with whatever it was that was going on.
But I didn't listen. Whatever it was, it was too late for stopping. This went on for several years, with fewer and fewer episodes
until there was no more pain to be released. But there was still suffering. The seeker was still there.
For many, many years there was heavy reading. And I mean heavy. The stuff that made other people's eyes glaze over.
I felt as if I was cursed. I did not chose the seeking. The seeking chose me. I couldn't help it. Couldn't stop it. Couldn't
do anything but seek. This process convinced me that I was not in charge, that I had no free will. There were many blissful
experiences. There was oneness experienced at times. I thought these experiences were enlightenment. But, they didn't last.
So the me kept looking for that again. Alas, they were but a memory.
When I was in therapy, I realized that the therapist wasn't the only brilliant person. I too was brilliant. Wasn't
I the one that found him? Wasn't I the one that trusted him? Blah, blah, blah. The point here being that I was being
guided, but didn't realize it at that time. I was learning that trust was something developing in me. I still didn't realize
that the trust was deeper than who I thought I was.
There was reading of Nisargadatta, Ramesh, Tony Parsons, Krishnamurti, Franklin Merrell-Wolf, etc. You name it, I read
it. And this was all good to a point. There was cleansing emotionally and intellectually. Finally the cleaning came to the
point that I knew it all, understood it all intellectually. But the seeking continued.
After many years, my mind having been broken, my heart was broken. And then there was what I can only describe as a
"heart chakra" opening. I ended up in the hospital with an apparent heart attack. Tests showed that there was no damage. After
many doctor examinations, and more tests, I was told that "they" didn't know what happened. Couldn't explain it, couldn't
find anything wrong. At the time of this experience, I did think I was going to die. How many dying experiences does one need
before really giving up? For this story, apparently, one wasn't enough.
Then I found YouTube and began watching videos. I came across Charlie's videos and there was great resonance. Then I felt like calling
Charlie because I knew he didn't want anything from me. If there was suffering, he wanted to end it. The crux of the matter
seemed to be that something in me knew the truth of what Charlie was saying. It is what I had heard Nisargadatta saying in
his books. How could I know the truth coming through Charlie, but still not be confident that I knew it? This was the
last straw for me.
It seemed to me that I couldn't have not called Charlie. It was my time. It was inevitable. The truth coming through
Charlie took away any hesitancy, even though there was some fear. I called and we had a conversation. During the conversation
awareness saw itself as primary. Maury was a story in that. Maury was done.
I'll be going back to work tomorrow. I had a wonderful vacation. Didn't go
anywhere. Just got blown away. - Maury
Very Cool ... now you know: What You Are is Beyond Time, Beyond Space, Beyond Description,
Beyond Being, Beyond Not-Being.
You are NOT this story, NOT this storyteller, NOT a thing that you can own, know, grasp
or be. NOT a body NOT a mind NOT That Not That Full Stop.
Okay? Enough preaching to the choir! I am very happy for you having found out what
you are NOT and as you now know that revelation unconceals what you are. You ARE what you were searching for, and now you
know! Don't leave the Unborn for ANY story, no matter how great. Nothing means anything. I Love You.
Celebrate Easter tends to focus often on
the crucifixion - the torture and death of an innocent man who was delivering a message that religionists and dogmatists hated
because it challenged not only their beliefs, but also their very existence as separate "believers" . He challenged the attachmment
to the false idea of a personal "me" and proved over and over to "those who had ears to hear" that this "me" is generally
a self-righteous FOOL.
Let's turn the attention to what Jesus pointed to, and what the metaphor of the Resurrection
points to: "Self-Transcendence."
Freedom consists in the challenge of, and subsequesnt evaporation of, a false belief.
That's is what Jesus tried to point out when He said "I and the Father are ONE." One essence, meaning, not the personal appearance
of a man but the actuality of the I of Being-AS-Awareness that IS and before "man" appears In That.
This non-entity,
the Isness of Being that we label No Thing, or God, or Father, or Consciousness, or Being-Awareness-Aliveness, is THAT WHICH
IS - and That TRANSCENDS yet appears AS the entire manifest appearance. Paradoxically!
The resurrection metaphor points
out that what you are is NOT a thing that was born and can therefore die. NOT. So, this metaphor POINTS to the Truth that
sets you free - That what You are is Life Eternal, appearing as Life manifest, and when the false is seen AS false the game
of apparent separateness ends.
Don’t
get caught out by a slew of concepts trying to “figure out” Nonduality. It will never happen because the one who
tries to figure it out is a phantom appearance in Being-Consciousness-Aliveness. Drop it all and come back to the direct and
simple knowing: YOU ARE (I AM.)
Stay with this:
I AM. FULL STOP.
What Am I? Not
That Not That.
Keep
it simple.
A
few simple tools for investigation:
1)
Where is that “me” in deep dreamless sleep? Gone! Yet Being, your timeless Self, arises as Aliveness or Intelligence-Energy
and beats that heart, breathes those lungs etc. But: BEING IS whether there are organisms appearing and the energy of aliveness
is manifesting or not. But "you" will NEVER "know" that Being. Why? Because you ARE THAT BEING! That "me" arises when there
is Consciousness as the prior-to-the-conceptual-me “Self-Knowing Awareness” which is clear, obvious, closer than
breath, unknowable; the only pointer the mind can conceive that tries (and fails!) to “describe That is – UNKNOWING
BEING. This is a crucial distinction: I AM or ME is NOT a concept; the mind makes it a concept called me-apart-from-other.
It is merely a mental construct with no actual existence: It is ONLY a thought and a label and the label for a thing is NOT
the REAL thing. Try to drink the label-concept water! Yet in ignorance we take a thought ("me") to be the Real Me of Being
appearing as Presence-Awareness. YOU are NOT anything you can "take yourself to be. You are Infinite Being-Awareness mistakenly
identified as a thought.
2)
WHAT does the “label” or concept “me” point to? Does it represent a separate entity? NO. The “me”
is a pointer to the actuality of Consciousness (I AM.) This I AM is NOT “personal” – the mind conceives
of I AM as a personal controlling entity with will and volition. But I AM (or “ME” or My Self) is only POINTING
to the Inconceivable Nonconceptual Isness that mind ”translates” to I AM.So: The I AM "here" and the I AM “there” are NOT two different! I AM is what you are, what all this appearance
IS.
Finally,
3) 2) What is That which Never Changes EVER?
What
are you in deep dreamless sleep? That which is Not-A-Thing yet IS, Timeless Spaceless Unknowable Unknowing Being. Being arises
as Consciousness – Presence - the Impersonal I AM prior to concepts, and “expresses” as Life itself, or
Livingness-Aliveness.
Don’t get wrapped up in the words though. These are NOT “truths.” Only pointers to support your
own investigation. Keep this simple: I AM. FULL STOP.
Z.S. Writes, Hey Charlie,
I found this quote and thought you might like it. Its from Chuck Hillig, author of 'enlightenment for beginners': The mesmerizing
seductiveness of the dream is seen in the long-standing belief that, someday, (if the dreamer only plays his cosmic cards
right), he will, eventually, "awaken." But, in truth, the so-called "Enlightenment Bus" that he's been waiting for will never
show up for him. Why? Well in expecting that some future awakening may occur for him somewhere in time, he's only reinforcing
the belief that the very same Consciousness he is seeking is not fully present for him... right here and now. --- Chuck
Hillig
Quite good. Chuck is a friend
and I have endorsed his books on Amazon. Glad you found that one!
I have read his book
'Enlightenment for Beginners' and also, 'The way it is'. Very good books containing many good pointers. However, I didn’t
really start 'looking' till I read your book, 'From I am to I am' :-). I have a question for you. One author says in his book
that by closing our eyes and focusing on awareness, you start knowing awareness more and more. And to do that one must sit
for an hour or more everyday and just focus on awareness. Do you do this kind of meditation because sometimes I just know
there is nothing to do and everything seems so alive and loving
“Focusing on awareness” is dualistic! This is the teaching of ignorance Awareness is NOT an
“object” that “you” – a totally false “subject” – can focus on!
This is very typical of the false teaching of “someone to focus” and “time in which to
focus”. Where IS this person, this seeming “individual that will DO this?
Where is the “hour” unless you are there as a thinker thinking up the illusion of time? Time
is a concept. You as a person apart from Being are an illusion. Awareness is NON-Conceptual, Ever-Fresh, Beyond Time, Beyond
Space, Beyond all focus and focuser. This teaching will keep you stuck on a path and practice forever.
What is the Unchanging Always-So Reality? Being, I AM, arising as Conscious Presence, Loving Being. Aliveness
and only THAT.
Investigate all such claims of there being a person who can focus. Don’t buy this spiritual bullshit!
Look for the person who would do a meditation and you find … what? NOTHING. That Nothing is what you are: I AM. THAT.
And NOTHING ELSE. The I AM of Being-Consciousness-Aliveness there or here is The One I AM. Stop believing in these myths of
bliss and eternal; enlightened personhood. That whole structure is conceptual and absolutely unverifiable in direct experience.
Being – your True Nature, is obviously Present and Aware. There is no possibility to “focus” on That: YOU
ARE THAT. Clear, obvious, beingness.
What ARE You? I AM. JUST THAT. And nothing else. Reject ALL such dualistic notions. I AM is beyond description,
beyond knowing. All you can say about what you are is, I AM. Any other idea that seems to be what you are, reject out pf hand.
Simply say to the mind, I am Not That Not That Not That.
M.P. Writes, Hi Charlie,
I have called in and participated in your phone conference on two occasions. There is not a "me" as doer. There is witnessing
what is happening, witnessing what thoughts come in, witnessing actions, words and movement.
That is quite wonderful!
Now: Let’s look at this -- Here is how Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj might have addressed this: Q: The witnessing -- is
it not my real nature? M: For witnessing, there must be something else to witness. We are still in duality! Q: What
about witnessing the witness? Awareness of awareness? M: Putting words together will not take you far. Go within and discover
what you are not. Nothing else matters.
So, keep looking.
Ask you, What am I? Am I this witnessing? Not That. Not That!
This witnessing consciousness is what is usually
called “me” or “I am” or “my True Self”. But the LABEL – whichever you like, is
NOT what is contained in the labeled container. Only metaphorically speaking of course; there is no “container. Words
point to nothing! So: Consciousness is another label for the empty timeless Being. Thus, any label for “me” is
ONLY a concept and not the Real Me of I AM. That I Am is universal and unbounded, and is that which IS and PRIOR to Consciousness.
Again,
Sri Nisargadatta helps us here: “Awareness is primordial; it is the original state, beginningless, endless, uncaused,
unsupported, without parts, without change. Consciousness is on contact, a reflection against a surface, a state of duality.
There can be no consciousness without awareness, but there can be awareness without consciousness, as in deep sleep. Awareness
is absolute, consciousness is relative to its content; consciousness is always of something. Consciousness is partial and
changeful, awareness is total, changeless, calm and silent. And it is the common matrix of every experience.” ("I Am
That" Chapter 11).
Consciousness-I-I-Am-Body-World
all arise together along with and as aspects of (so to speak) that witnessing consciousness. Where do these arise FROM?
What is their cause? Their Source? Awareness prior to I Am – but this Awareness is sourceless, timeless, causeless.
Being before knower (witness) and known (objective appearance witnessed.)
Is there also aligning
to Source?
For
whom? All there IS is Awareness, Being. Sourceless, Timeless Causeless. Choiceless and Chooserless. Knowerless and Knownless.
There would have to be “NOT Source” to “align” with Source. That is the mind-language dividing energy
that arises from nowhere and goes nowhere. As Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj points out when the question was posed this way: Questioner:
“Is the witness-consciousness permanent or not”? Maharaj: “It is not permanent. The knower rises and
sets with the known. That in which both the knower and the known arise and set, is beyond time. The words permanent or eternal
do not apply.” (I Am That” Chapter Five).
Beyond
knowing and not knowing, beyond witnessing, beyond presence, beyond memory and imagination, beyond sleep, waking, dream, beyond
mind and time, me and other, I AM. There is only I AM. That I AM “there” and That I AM “here” are
all ONE I AM. THAT is and beyond, within, and prior to all that seems to be. What you are is Infinite Potential arising as
all this that appears. Cannot be grasped and held; what you are is without a foothold in this appearing Being-Body-World.
So there is no merging as there is only already merged mergerless wholeness, non-separate and, in a way of languaging, eternally
free as ItSelf and only that.
That Thou Art and nothing
else. Full Stop.
Stay in touch if The One
you are inspires that to happen. I love you.
A PS from M.L. - "talking with you on the phone was very clarifying.
It's like there was one final hurdle, blocking seeing, and you pushed me over the edge."
Thanks. Now, as you know though, when the fruit is ripe, a little nudge and it falls naturally.
P.N. Offers, Your videos,
on YouTube, reflect what I'm living right now. My beliefs are falling apart, they don't mean anything anymore. Like believing
in god, in me, in love or anything else. Beliefs are just ideas that I identified with, nothing more. They are
fear based, so the mind can cling on to something to not die. My greatest teacher right now is my sister's cat, seriously.
The cat does not care about believing or thanking god, the earth or the universe for his food and his
home, he just is and does not seem to care about it. He is and that is it.
M.L.
Writes, [A book that we had mentioned] doesn't have a very good feel to it. To me, it sounds like a Baptist preacher saying,
"We've strayed from the literal interpretation of the scriptures, so we'd better turn back." The feeling I get from it is
a twinge of spitefulness and resentment, a sense that"Things have strayed beyond
what I'm used to."
Yes,
there are some cherished assumptions that the authentic sharing directly challenges, aren’t there!?
Terms and definitions
are important and useful. Certainly people in this field should be able to discuss this in a friendly manner. Attacks are
pointless. They point back to a person.
Quite
right.
I suspect Charlie, that [the writer]would consider you a "neo Advaita"
teacher. You certainly pointed out to me that I wasn't really there - that there was nothing for me to get.
In
any case it is irrelevant.
There are all
kinds of Advaita teachers, all kinds of satsang. Some are beneficial, some aren't. Some may be harmful. The last thing we
need is an Advaita satsang Board of Directors overseeing the right way to do it. There really is no method. Every realized
teacher is going to explain if from their experience, their understanding. Each will be helpful to some, not for others. Let
the students go where they feel benefit and not go where they don't.
Yes.
Who else needs
to control that?
Indeed
and who COULD? It’s all a bit silly and self-assuming that there is a right or wrong approach from nowhere to nowhere.
I have already
re-thought the thing and removed the link. Good catch!
M.L.
Writes, As you know, when it was seen what you were pointing at, it was just, oh.No bliss, no joy. Just oh, this. What there is now in M.L.'s mind is sadness, but amazingly, the sadness is in peace.
There is no need to struggle with it.
Excatly.
That is the entirety of the Understanding.
So,
realization is here. Does this bring ecstasy or joy to this person. Not at this moment. But this is OK. Why, because this
is what is, and what is, is OK. This body-mind is in what I am. What I am is all that is. So how could this be not OK? If
I am allows sorrow, then sorrow is acceptable. If I am allows joy, then joy is acceptable. Either way is irrelevant. I have
allowed it to be.
Everything
that appears must be in me. If it were not in me, how could I perceive it? Just as the body is in me and perceived, so any
other form, sensation, thought or feeling, is in me. If I allow it, how can it not be OK? If I perceive it, can it be other
than OK? If I am all that is, how can anything that appears not be OK? In this there is freedom.
And This, Freedom,
is your True Self.
This perceiving that all that is, is in me, and mine, brings peace. If it is, I allowed it.
In being this allowing there is greater tolerance in the person for everything that happens. This body will be here as long
as it is allowed. It will have good its good sensations, as well as aches and pains. The mind will have its joys and sorrows.
All is OK as I allowed it. If there is resistance in the body-mind -- this too is allowed. Too allow everything is freedom.
It is peace.
Sounds
good. Here is how I define "Enlightenment" …..
Enlightenment
is simply seeing that the I AM is NOT a thought or form. This is final disassociation from the false belief of identification
with the body, mind, or anything else! Life goes on but the false linkage of Being, I AM, to any "thing", has been severed
Now and Forever. Love ya.
Follow-up from
V.R. – [After re-reading Chapter One of I AM THAT] - I think I am on the right path because everything in
this conversation makes sense in the context from what you told me on the phone. I must have read I AM THAT a million times
but could never get IT. It makes perfect sense to me now and so do all the Koans, especially the one that bothered me all
the time. "What is your original face before you were born?". They were all pointing to this sense of I AM. I also think the
Koan is misleading because they never explain that "born" does not mean birth but the point in time from which I AM arises.
TAT TWAM ASI !
You got it.
As the sages have pointed out from the beginning of "time" - All There Is Is THAT (Brahman.) Atman and Brahman - Self and
Source - are Not Two. You have always been That. Now you know.
Enlightenment
is simply seeing that the I AM is NOT a thought or form. This is final disassociation from the false belief of identification
with the body, mind, or anything else! Life goes on but the false linkage of Being, I AM, to any "thing", has been severed
Now and Forever.
Questioner:
It is a matter of daily experience that on waking up the world suddenly appears. Where does it come from?
Maharaj:
Before anything can come into being there must be somebody to whom it comes. All appearance and disappearance presupposes
a change against some changeless background.
Q:
Before waking up I was unconscious.
M:
In what sense? Having forgotten, or not having experienced? Don’t you experience even when unconscious? Can you exist
without knowing? A lapse in memory: is it a proof of non-existence?
And
can you validly talk about your own non-existence as an actual experience? You cannot even say that your mind did not exist.
Did you not wake up on being called? And on waking up, was it not the sense ‘I am’ that came first? Some seed
consciousness must be existing even during sleep, or swoon. On waking up the experience runs: ‘I am -- the body -- in
the world.’ It may appear to arise in succession but in fact it is all simultaneous, a single idea of having a body
in a world. Can there be the sense of ‘I am’ without being somebody or other?
Q:
I am always somebody with its memories and habits. I know no other ‘I am’.
M:
Maybe something prevents you from knowing? When you do not know something which others know, what do you do?
Q:
I seek the source of their knowledge under their instruction.
M:
Is it not important to you to know whether you are a mere body, or something else? Or, maybe nothing at all? Don’t you
see that all your problems are your body’s problems -- food, clothing, shelter, family, friends, name, fame, security,
survival -- all these lose their meaning the moment you realise that you may not be a mere body.
Q:
What benefit is there in knowing that I am not the body?
M:
Even to say that you are not the body is not quite true. In a way you are all the bodies, hearts and minds and much more.
Go deep into the sense of ‘I am’ and you will find. How do you find a thing you have mislaid or forgotten? You
keep it in your mind until you recall it. The sense of being, of 'I am' is the first to emerge. Ask yourself whence it comes,
or just watch it quietly. When the mind stays in the 'I am' without moving, you enter a state which cannot be verbalised but
can be experienced. All you need to do is try and try again. After all the sense ‘I am’ is always with you, only
you have attached all kinds of things to it -- body, feelings, thoughts, ideas, possessions etc. All these self-identifications
are misleading. Because of them you take yourself to be what you are not.
Q:
Then what am I?
M:
It is enough to know what you are not. You need not know what you are. For as long as knowledge means description in terms
of what is already known, perceptual, or conceptual, there can be no such thing as self-knowledge, for what you are cannot
be described, except as except as total negation. All you can say is: ‘I am not this, I am not that’. You cannot
meaningfully say ‘this is what I am’. It just makes no sense. What you can point out as 'this' or 'that' cannot
be yourself. Surely, you can not be 'something' else. You are nothing perceivable, or imaginable. Yet, without you there can
be neither perception nor imagination. You observe the heart feeling, the mind thinking, the body acting; the very act of
perceiving shows that you are not what you perceive. Can there be perception, experience without you? An experience must ‘belong'.
Somebody must come and declare it as his own. Without an experiencer the experience is not real. It is the experiencer that
imparts reality to experience. An experience which you cannot have, of what value is it to you?
Q:
The sense of being an experiencer, the sense of ‘I am’, is it not also an experience?
M:
Obviously, every thing experienced is an experience. And in every experience there arises the experiencer of it. Memory creates
the illusion of continuity. In reality each experience has its own experiencer and the sense of identity is due to the common
factor at the root of all experiencer-experience relations. Identity and continuity are not the same. Just as each flower
has its own colour, but all colours are caused by the same light, so do many experiences appear in the undivided and indivisible
awareness, each separate in memory, identical in essence. This essence is the root, the foundation, the timeless and spaceless
'possibility' of all experience.
Q:
How do I get at it?
M:
You need not get at it, for you are it. It will get at you, if you give it a chance. Let go your attachment to the unreal
and the real will swiftly and smoothly step into its own. Stop imagining yourself being or doing this or that and the realisation
that you are the source and heart of all will dawn upon you. With this will come great love which is not choice or predilection,
nor attachment, but a power which makes all things love-worthy and lovable.
V.R. writes again:Thank
you so much for showing the way. I have an excellent starting point to inquire into the nature of the mind. I cannot
believe it took me so long for me to find the right way. I told this to my wife and she also got it! Both of us struggled
to understand Nisargadatta’s teaching but suddenly everything is so clear. I could shout for JOY!! My wife started crying
when I explained this to her.
I also understand the point when my Zen teacher said, you cannot really start practice
unless you are enlightened. I can actually start my meditation practice in earnest. It is wonderful! Namaste (Means,
I bow to the Divine in You). Your friend, -V
Sounds good, my friend.
Just keep in mind, it takes no "practice" to BE. You ARE what was sought. Knowing this, you are what
you are - Innate Being-Awareness-Peace. Nothing to get, nothing to find, nothing was lost. Right here right now, This Is It.
There is only One I AM and You are That. Full Stop!
Thank
you for the answer. One last question: "Does the observer exist after enlightenment?" I’m using this in J Krishnamurti sense, that
the observer is separate from the observed. Is there only experience?
Any
perceived or conceived difference between observer and observed are only in thought .. "the mind."
What never
changes? That in which both observer and observed arise ... Being-Existence. This that IS is called Sat>Chit>Ananda
or Being-Existence, Prior to language > Awareness-Consciousness, Observer-Observed>Bliss-Aliveness-Peace or in one word
- ONENESS. There is no enlightened "observer". There is Observing-Experiencing, the Aliveness aspect of Oneness.
The real question
I now have for you is, are you suffering? If so let's look into that. Arcane discussions of this nature, while entertaining
and interesting to the mind, cannot end suffering. If there is no suffering, then I welcome you to the home you never left.
M.L. Writes,
Well. I had no intention of writing this. Just felt an urge, and this came out:
What
do you do with this? Nothing.
Without knowing it, I've always only been nothing (no thing). This is really a surprise
to see! And it's very strange because it doesn't really change anything. Everything I thought I was doing was being
done by no one. All the struggle, all the grief, happened, and yet I am here to say it didn't happen to me.
I see from a billion
perspectives, but none are mine. They appear in me. They disappear in me. A parade of passions. A book of thoughts. A charade
of posses on main street, and back streets. All are equally mine, never owned, never denied. What a grand parade it is!
From the mountains to
the valleys, I scream, I cry, I call, I answer. Yet all is peaceful, ever still. The view from here is always available. All
this cacophony and yet nothing ever happens. A dream going nowhere. Ever full, ever vibrant, teaming, swarming, dancing. A
dream seen by no one.
Once seen, nothing can
be done about it. It is what is prior to any appearance. It is what is after all appearances. It depends on nothing. Doesn't
need anything. Yet it is open to everything. How could every hair on your head not be counted by this? It couldn't appear
without this!
There is knowing and
there is no-ing. There's less ignorance in no-ing. There is knowing appearing in this. So isn't this allowing presence true
knowledge? So isn't true knowledge allowing? The barker takes the stage and announces, "Now this.! Now this ! Now this!" And
now the clown comes on the stage and announces, "Leave anytime you like. This show never ends."
M.L.
Follows up with, Well, Mr. President is still here, thrashing around, mumbling that he never should have looked behind
the curtain - no one was there.
I
just want to thank you for staying after my appearance in our conversation [Click HERE To Listen to The Consultation Call with
M.L.] and NOT letting
me escape the "obvious." It is seen now that everything I knew, I only knew intellectually. There was clarity intellectually
(worthless). As you know, it amounted to nothing, because I had made AWARENESS into an object.
What
needed to happen was for AWARENESS to become aware of itself as Primary, and everything that followed to be seen as appearance.
What you did in our phone conversation, was force the appearance out of the front position, so that AWARENESS recognized itself
as primary.
Since
our conversation I went back to a John Wheeler book I had, "Awakening to the Natural State," just to see what had been missed before. Actually, I had rejected Wheeler's
book because I thought it was too simple. Now it's ALL just too simple. It's amazing how a simple understanding, clarifies
volumes of words and concepts. It is almost ridiculous how much can be said trying to convey this
simple understanding.
In watching your videos, I can see that what was beneficial was the repetition. What is being pointed out is so obvious, and had been overlooked
for so long, the obviousness was completely overlooked. What you did for this appearance was to turn off the light so this
appearance couldn't chase it's tail any more. The difference between an intellectual understanding and AWARENESS noticing
itself is incredible. Reminds one of the statement that "Heaven and Hell are an inch apart."
What
was also helpful, was that somehow this appearance was able to let go of expectations. There were all these conditions, conscious
and unconscious, about, well, if this happened, there would be new suns in the sky, mountains would be piles of diamonds,
you name it. Actually, it was more like, Oh, this, always here, always has been, always will be. Oh. Nothing is different
except nothing is happening to me.
When
Mr. President dies, I will be there watching. No big deal.
So
many "so called teachers" would have been sweet and nice and led me down the path of continued seeking. Thanks for not doing
that.
Thanks
again for being tough with this appearance. Only a fool who wanted to be done with this would have called you. Glad I did.
This is really beautiful and
it may well happen that there will be a "Dead President" website, blog, book, who knows. But you have a real eloquence and
clarity in your sharing of the inexpressible! You got some good chops, at this writing stuff! It's a privilege and pleasure
to share with you, my Eternal Friend! Love ya!
J.M. Asks, Is there a sense of "beingness" over there (the body called charlie)
as described in I AM UNBORN?
Organisms have
a 'sense of beingness' until they disintegrate (die.) It's in the DNA. BUT: The absolute knowing (that belongs to no one)
is that this is NOT who or what I am. What am I? Same as YOU. THAT.
What is THAT?
Non-conceptual, self-knowing AWARENESS. Just That and nothing else. I am That. You are THAT. All there IS Is THAT.
Not Two.
J.
M. Writes again and says, In I AM UNBORN, Maharaj says that sages are without beingness. is this currently without
beingness(while there is still a body)? or that they are, without beingness? as in, the ABSOLUTE IS, (with) or without
beingness? Is there beingness in deep sleep?
There IS ONLY
Being. This Nonduality arises as nothing/everything.
But these kinds
of philosophical discussions, while interesting, seldom do anything to end suffering! Look at this: WHO asks these questions?
WHAT is it taht "wants to know" about these arcane concepts?
What YOU are is
beyond all these concepts and experiences.
Are you suffering?
If so let's get into that.
Read this from
John Wheeler, which says it a lot better than I can:
Question: What
I seem to find is that in the space between thoughts all there is, is a generalized sense of awareness. But when one looks
a little closer at that, or feels one's way into it, there is somewhere in the middle of it all (at least this is how it feels)
a sort of core sense of a ‘me' that feels more like presence, a sort of observer if you like, that seems untouched by
the things it is aware of. But this center is clearly not the D.W. that I always took it for. In fact, it does not seem
to have any qualities at all, apart from this sense of being there and at the core. It does require more attention to notice
it though. Does any of this make any sense?
John: This impersonal
sense of being, presence or consciousness is the space in which thoughts (and all else) appear and disappear. It is also often
spoken of as ‘consciousness' or the ‘witness'. It is not a ‘me' as such, meaning a limited, isolated person
or entity. It is impersonal consciousness. At the level of appearances, this essential conscious presence is what you are.
So in a sense, you could call it the the ‘relatively real' you. Keep in mind that the presence of consciousness is not
a conceptual ‘I', with its sense of limitations, problems, doubts and personal suffering.
The limited, personal
‘me' is born of the identification of this conscious presence with the body, mind and/or personality. This ego sense
is a conceptual construct that arises from the identification of consciousness with objects (body, senses and mind). That
ego notion is a false ‘I' because it is a product of conceptualization (which is itself an appearance in the conscious
presence). So a powerful initial step in recognizing your true identity is to see yourself not as the body-mind-personality,
but as the space of consciousness or the witness of those things.
When you look
finely into this, you will see that consciousness, or the witness, is relative. That is to say, it is an appearance also,
a transient experience. Consciousness, or the witness, is not always present. It comes and goes in what I would call non-conceptual
awareness, or the space that is prior to consciousness. You, as non-conceptual awareness, are aware of the fact of being conscious
or being present. You are the basic space or pure awareness in which consciousness comes and goes. This sounds more complicated
than it actually is, because we are only talking about your natural
state or fundamental being. You recognize not only the coming and going of objects (sensations, perceptions,
thought, feelings and so on) but also the consciousness in which they occur.
When you are not
conscious (deep sleep, under anesthetics and so on), you still are. Later, you say, ‘I was unconsciousness and did not
know anything'. Clearly, you existed and there was some basic cognizance, even of the fact of being unconscious. That in you
now, which I call non-conceptual awareness, is what recognizes what you are calling the ‘core sense of me' or ‘presence'.
Keep in mind that that experience is being recognized by something, which is what you really are in the deepest sense. It
is like looking into a microscope. Anything you can see in the field of vision is not you. What people often miss is that
‘consciousness' or ‘presence' is still an experience in the microscope. It is like the artificial light within
the microscope that is illuminating the objects seen in it. That is why the sense of ‘consciousness' or ‘presence',
still retains a subtle objective quality or sense of personalization. Pure, non-conceptual awareness is utterly outside of
duality, has no qualities and zero ‘me' sense. It cannot be grasped or experienced by the mind at all. It is simply
what you are prior to any experience or conceptualization.
You are aware
of objects, but you are also aware of being conscious. The state of being conscious will certainly pass, so it cannot be your
most essential core reality. When consciousness goes, you will remain as you what you are and always have been. This is non-dual
awareness that is not even aware of itself, since there is no second thing present ‘there' to be aware of. That is one
without a second, or pure non-duality.
V.R. Writes, Thank
you for your excellent video regarding the meaning of Nisargadatta Maharaj's often repeated phrase "Keep the feeling of I
AM Ness". It clarified a lot of things.
Happy to hear
that!
One quick
question for you: Ramana [Maharshi] talks about following the mind to the source
ie the Self. What does he mean?
It's
really all very well spelled out in Sri Ramana's book, "Nan Yar" ("Who Am I"?) You can read the entire text of Nan Yar at
Essentially
it is this: Ask the mind "Who Am I"? But accept NO "answer." All answers are ignorance. The non-conceptual True Nature that
YOU ARE is in the direct seeing that the question Who Am I HAS no answer. In this No-Answer the Timeless Self of all is revealed
as this non-concept non-perception non-experiential Timeless, Always Presencing, ever-fresh, self-shining, Self-Knowing Pure
Awareness. Here and now you are That and nothing else. Short version: Who Am I? I Am, prior to language, prior to
the concept "i am". WHAT or WHO am I? Not That Not That Not That!
As it is pointed
out on the home page of the website,
"Are you aware?
Is there anything wrong with that awareness? This - Empty Awareness arising as Aliveness - is what You are. This Alive Awareness
is not a concept and not an experience. What you are is non-conceptual, always fresh, Presence-Awareness, paradoxically Empty
yet Full, Nothing arising as Everything. Look at the mind and all you find is a few thoughts, feelings, and perceptions coming
and going in this No Thing of Being-Awareness. Do you find a person in the mind? No. Only this space of being - a pure and
empty knowing.
YOU are NOT
a knower or thinker, NOT an experiencer or a separate entity at all. You are this Unchanging Presence, in which there appears
the presence of "being present" in the waking state and the presence of "being absent" in deep sleep. Obviously, in deep sleep
the body is "being lived", as the heart beats, cells are born and others die, the lungs are breathed etc. Not as obviously
perhaps, the exact same being-lived happens in dreaming and waking states. The afterthought of an I that is a doer breathing
or thinking is nothing but a passing fancy. Seeing that a thought of an I is NOT who you are is true Self-Knowledge. That's
all there is to "get".
Right now look
at what IS before the next thought pops up out of nowhere. That IS your Natural Stateless State - Being-Awakeness-Aliveness.
Be that. Reject
all identities in the knowing that whatever thoughts or feelings of a "me" arise, you are NOT That, NOT That, NOT That. I
AM. What Am I? Not That Not That. ASK Who Am I? Accept NO answer. What IS "The Self"? Not That, Not That Full Stop"!
Follow-up from M.L. "Well. All I can say
is it’s just simply obvious.
Indeed so!
Five thousand books can be thrown out. Actually
it’s all pretty funny isn’t it."
Oh hell yes!
Nothing I can do.
And now you know, that
it is not even that there is nothing “you” can do … there IS no doer! There never was a person; that was
imagination of a fictional character. The cosmic joke is seen and the life is free of seeking and suffering.
What is, is.
And That is That. LOL!
Welcome Home!!!
(Later) No perspective.
Isn't going anywhere. Doesn't care. On with the show!
Follow-up from R.I. - Thank
you very much for talking on Surrender, but most of all thank you for always pointing to the Oneness we all are with such
sharpness, never diluting the message, always one-pointedly.
De Nada!
I
guess there is the illusion of having to surrender by this imaginary "I" to focus on the Stillness, beyond all movement, forever
unchanging, forever One, until there's nothing to surrender because identification with movement in the form of thought, feeling,
body, etc disappears and all is left is just That, Consciousness aware of Itself.
I am very glad you said “illusion”. That is
exactly the nature what appears as a person who must surrender: An illusion, a phantom. Look for the person. You find only
Space, Being Awareness. That phantom appears IN the Self-Knowing Being Awareness that you actually ARE. That is simply being
ignored in believing in a person, time, and separation. Investigate the claims of mind right now. There is no substance
to an illusion. It is like a mirage. There is no water in a mirage!
Look:
There is nothing to surrender simply because, as the mind nearly always MUST discover directly for itself, there IS no person,
no separate entity that is either surrendered or not surrendered. Challenge these concepts. There just IS no one who could
surrender. Awareness IS, here and now. There is only Space-Like Self-Knowing Awareness in which there is the arising and subsiding
appearance of both forms and formlessness.
Do
understand that this is NOT a “someday” matter! If you are waiting for “until” you are never going
to "arrive", because there IS no “until”, no “when”, no past future present as separate phenomena
apart from This Space of Being. You cannot get HERE from a false "there". Let's be clear: What you are is NON-conceptual,
ever-fresh, self-shining Presence-Awareness; just THIS and NOTHING else. Full Stop! Realize this right here and now: There
Is No “until”!
Stare
directly with your own naked awareness, into what we call the mind. What do you see? Space and some appearing and disappearing
particles of thought, sensation, feeling, concepts that come, whiz around a bit, and go away again. Look: Find out once
and for good, that "the person" is not there! All you find is a thought-belief of an I and a thought-belief in time plus a
thought-belief in separateness. "Twoness." So simply drop these false beliefs. Where IS a separate "I"? Nowhere will you find
such an entity apart from Pure Empty Awareness. SEE this NOW: YOU are NOT a thing or feeling that mind can grasp. You are
prior-to-consciousness Presence of Awareness, or Awareness of Presence. JUST THAT AND NOTHING ELSE. Right now before the next
thought pops up, there IS Awareness. YOU ARE THAT. You will never “become” That. You are already That.
Tat Tvam Asi: That, Thou Art.
Don’t
refuse to BE That. Stop pretending to be what you are NOT. ONLY what NEVER changes, is Real. This is unbelievably solid
and timeless, beginningless and endless, unknowable and Self-Knowing, absolutely invincible. Seeing this once and for
good the seeking ends as the seeker is seen to ba a phantom appearing in what you are - Timeless Being. Home.
R.I Asks, I
just thought of asking you to talk on "surrender". I've heard my teacher say many times "surrender every thought, feeling
and action to the will of god".
The pointer is,
look for an "entity called me" that could "surrender" to another "entity called God."
There is no such
thing. There are NO "entities" that exist apart from Wholeness. That is the dream of a nonexistent I. That I is only a thought;
"god" is merely another thought. Neither are who you are. You are not a thing from another thing. Before any concept
of I or God is, YOU as Existence-Consciousness-Aliveness ARE. No Escape!
So: Who you
are is NOT a thought, NOT a feeling, NOT a thing apart from The One Essence - Being. Being Nothing Being Everything.
NO separation exists anywhere; that was a false idea believed in ignorance. Seeing that this dream is just that, a dream,
is the realization that there never WAS a person who was bound and there is no person who will 'become free." There is only
already Freedom and That, Thou Art. Full Stop.
Looking presently,
can you deny that you ARE? This I AM is the Real - NOT the "thought I - I am - I am me" but the beingness itself which IS
prior to language, prior to the concepts of time and personhood.
Are you aware?
Is there anything wrong with that awareness? This - Empty Awareness arising as Aliveness - is what You are. This Alive Awareness
is not a concept and not an experience. It is NO thing and only that, paradoxically Empty yet Full, Nothing arising as Everything.
Not Two - the pointer of the concept "Advaita." This Not Two cannot be grasped or known by the false "knower." YOU are NOT
a knower or thinker, NOT an experiencer or a separate entity at all.
Just This and
Nothing Else
You are Awareness
and Only That. Unchanging Presence, in which there appears the presence of "being present" in the waking state and the presence
of "being absent" as in deep sleep. Obviously, in deep sleep the body is being lived by Aliveness as the heart beats, cells
are born and others die, the lungs are breathed etc. Not as obviously perhaps, the exact same being-lived happens in dreaming
and waking states.
The afterthought
of an I that does the breathing or thinking is a false identification and nothing more or less that that. Seeing this I AS
a thought and NOT who you are is true Self-Knowledge. This is all there is to "get".
Right now look
at what IS before the next thought pops up out of nowhere. That IS your Natural Stateless State - Being-Awakeness-Aliveness.
Be that. Reject
all identities in the knowing that whatever thoughts or feelings of a "me" arise, you are NOT That, NOT That, NOT That. I
AM. What Am I? Not That Not That. ASK Who Am I? Accept NO answer. What IS "The Self"? Not That, Not That Full Stop!
There may be
a video on this soon. Stay tuned, and keep in touch as The One You Are moves the happening of that.
V.S. writes, My understanding
is only conceptual, since there seems to be some suffering and "someone suffering".Is it like this - "The 'thought of I' is not
the real I…
Stop right here!
…but we tend to
relativise, everything to this false I thought - whereas it is the absolute which is real and the other thoughts are relative
to that"... Will such thinking help ? Is this conceptual thinking useless and not enquiry?
You didn’t stop! So … understand this: Enquiry
is, looking into the false claims of a mind-story and its storyteller: “WHO is thinking ANY thought?” The automatic
response from the machine we call “mind” is I AM. Then to enquire is to challenge that with the last unanswered
and unanswerable question, “Who Am I”? Or "What SAYS
'I AM'"?
The
ultimate non-conceptual Beingness IS and THAT is not a thing. Not That Not That Not That!
Having said that, the good part is that it seems clear that that all
and everything arises only in awareness, and it is this awareness which allows or 'creates space' in which thoughts
arise.
Awareness
IS . That does NOT "create." IT IS. Empty like sky is empty.
And
that thoughts seem to arise in this nowhere like space, and disappear into nowhere like space, without leaving any trace whatsoever.
Very clear. Stop here now.
This story of a self - a "me"
- appears right here right now IN what You actually always are – Empty Being-Awareness. Clear and lucid, this
Awareness is the screen on which the idea of I as a limited self appears. There is also absolutely NO problem with the appearing self-center. The point here is to REALIZE that this self-center,
the “story of me,” is NOT what you are. YOU are the Awareness and the idea of I appears in That. It’s just
a matter of recognition. To re-cognize that your true identity is that which never changes and never comes and goes is all
there is to this. Don’t complicate this by trying to get rid of a thought (“I”) that you didn’t create
in the first place.
Seeing
this takes no time or effort. IT IS. This is why sages like Ramana Maharshi said “Be as you are.” And as Nisargadatta
Maharaj said, “Don’t refuse to BE what you are and don’t pretend to be what you are not.”
There
is nothing to get, nothing the mind can grasp, no-one anywhere to arrive at the home you never left. Seeing this and NOT refusing
to be as you are is all that there is to this. Be simple and see that you were never born. A thought is born and dies many
times in waking and dreaming. So what? To finally understand that a thought is NOT what you are is the end of seeking and
suffering. This seeing is NOT of the mind. Space, Being, Thriving Emptiness-Aliveness – this is what You are. BE that
and nothing else!
Drop the label "conceptual"
from the understanding. Understanding is the direct prior-to-thought knowing that what you ARE is Unborn Being. Let that Understanding
evaporate all false self-centered thoughts. Who thinks I am suffering”? No one. Seeing this is self-liberation –
liberation from a false belief. Stay simple and BE what you are. Being-Awakeness-Aliveness -just This and nothing else.
C.B. Writes, regarding the
essay “What Is The Final Understanding?” Greetings, Charlie – This is an excellent essay!You have done an admirable job in communicating a concept that does not easily lend itself to intelligent
communication… thank you very much! Your description is totally in sync with the concept I call “mine”.
You’re welcome. But the expression is
impersonal, out of nowhere, there is no doer or writer or author. It is a happening arising in Presence-Awareness. That is
all. No credit no blame!
I have one small question
for you, if you do not mind.In a twenty-four hour day or a 365 day year what
percentage of the “time” would you say you are “experiencing” “Self-Shining Non-Conceptual Presence-Awareness”
and what percent of the time are you not “experiencing” “THAT” and only “experiencing”
“mere verbal (or mental) conviction”?
Awareness is
inescapable. The answer would be 100% but only IF there were an "experiencer!" IT IS. That cannot be attained or lost! It
cannot be experienced at all! You persist as a split-mind in analyzing and storing concepts as truths. There is NO truth that
you can know! Full stop.
That said:
Certainly the Charlie organism has all kinds of experiences. Experiences are like the weather. Storm clouds, puffy white clouds,
the Self-Shining Sun, Tornadoes, Hurricanes, Clear Cloudless skies, all come and go in the untouchable empty space in which it all appears, sticks around for a time, and dissolves
again into the nowhere from which it came. Just exactly like that all sorts of experiences arsie and some like anger or frustration
or depression or happiness may SEEM to “overshadow” awareness. But Awareness cannot ever be overshadowed. It is
NOT a thing that can be blocked. The moon can seem to block the sun during an eclipse. But is the sun actually blocked? Moreover,
the weather-like comings and goings of the mind’s storyline are nothing substantial in themselves and cannot even APPEAR
unless Awareness is here first. Awareness is Primary and invincible and You are That and not the appearances arising and disappearing
IN That.
Drop all questions and look
for the questioner. Or you will remain stuck in the conceptual believer-experiencer and the concept of time, neither of which
are real!!
Really.
ASK Do I Exist? You say Yes?
WHO said so!?
Ponder this. Bake
in the pointing of that essay instead of blindly agreeing and opining and assessing it as excellent. That's the mind's
bullshit, my friend! DROP IT and LOOK. Ponder. Grok. Be with it. Quit figuring this stuff out! And get this, but really
get it … there is NO agreement in this. What you are is beyond relativity. Agreeing or disagreeing is a disease of the
mind.
REALLY! This is IT. No Way
Out.
Let us agree that the
experiencing of Self-Shining Non-Conceptual Presence-Awareness is always/ eternally “there”; it is just a question
of whether it is “on the surface” or “recognized”.When
one has the clarity of “recognition” they “realize” with “a non-conceptual understanding”
that Presence Awareness has always been their natural state, but they have in some mysterious way been “asleep”
to that Reality.So my question is, “What percentage of the “time”
is Charlie awake and what percentage of the “time” is Charlie asleep (to the Self-Shining Non-Conceptual Presence-Awareness
Reality)?
Asked and answered.
You see, this is “my”
dilemma… for me “awakefullness” (on the recognizable surface is some percentage of time greater than zero,
but less than 100.In “my” words, it has not “stabilized”.And these are not just my words, they are the words of many of the greatest “friends/
teachers” that “you” and “I” respect.Even in the
“Ten Bull Zen” from your site, “The 10th stage is a light-hearted representation of the importance of sharing
oneself with the world once one's rebirth/resurrection/enlightenment/awakening has been stabilized and fully entered into.”
There you go again, Mister
Seeker. Once again, you persist in identifying your self as a mind, stuck deeply into endlessly analyzing, collecting, and
storing agreed-with concepts as “truths”.
There is NO truth that you
can know! This wakefulness you seek to be “stabilized in” is already always right here right now. “YOU”
cannot stabilize as that. THAT is ALREADY Infinite and completely stable. This is, I repeat over and over, NOT an attainment
that “you” can gain (OR lose for that matter.) Just realize right now that you are stuck on the concept of a person
who can stabilize and get beyond that through looking in the ways pointed out on the website.
Clearly, all words
and all concepts of the mind, but as you so beautifully point out, “But that must be discovered by the mind”.
So go to it. Put the mind
to work at the questions: Do I Exist? Who says so? Where is the I that claims to know or not know? What am I? WHO AM I? I once told you to give up all questions
except that one; Who Am I. NOW DO IT. Play hardball with that idiot mind! This is LOVE. THIS is what Real Love looks like!
There is just NO food for an ego in This Love, dear friend.
Stay In the direct KNOWING
of I AM….. Full Stop! I Love You.
PS: I didn’t notice
the false concept of “stabilizing” that hooked you, in “Ten Bull Zen” at first. Glad you pointed it
out. It’s misleading, and that text has been removed.
B.E. Writes, I was on the call tonight, but I couldn't get my phone to transmit.
I very much enjoyed the call. Wasn't Melinda delightful? I was going to suggest to Phil that he read Ramana where he talks
about asking who am I, and Nisargadatta where he talks about staying with the I am. A long time ago I would ask who am I and
I would draw a complete blank. Now, beingness becomes immediately apparent and the "separate entity" is seem as a concept
appearing in that being-awareness.
There it is, Being-Awareness-Aliveness! Welcome Home, B!
G.H Writes, Charlie, It was a gas talking to you and the others on the conference
call Wednesday night. ( I ) have been led to ( you ) by the great mystery, and am filled with gratitude.
ONEderful! :-)
01 March 2008
Who!?
E.P. Writes, Recently I read: "Re-call, re-cognize, or re-mind. I am That I am. That
is awareness. To whom could it matter what activity, thought, event, or happening occurs. Knowing That, events and activities
occur like the grass growing by itself, with nothing superior or inferior which could possibly be anything other than That.
Self activated intelligence-energy--just this, nothing else". -Sailor Bob Adamson. - I have a question that maybe you could give me a hint. Bob Adamson
says, 'to whom could it matter what event occurs...events occur like the grass growing by itself ... nothing superior
or inferior, self activated intelligence-energy.' As a fact, I've been lately surrounded by a mental illness, and that
was turning me a bit worried, afraid it could make me insane or something like it. I ask you: what if I went insane really?
how would I deal with something that's very hard to accept? I could give you another example: what if I went blind or
something? Which is the same as how to deal with events we have difficulty accepting? Is it possible to see Love within these
events? I read in the newspaper today an article about war prisoners, who have been treated in sub-human
conditions. How to survive and see Love in that?
Your question assumes
"A fact" for which you have NO evidence: the existence of an entity called I in you and in "others.' Then that
entity hooks itself to more false assumptions: The idea of “Others,” the idea of “We,” the idea of
“Mine”, and the idea of "Time." All just ideas! Unreal in essence! So now we have a total fake called “me”
that embraces a belief in a future that does not exist but is thought to, and then speculates with endless what-if's. This
belief in I and Time is the root cause of all suffering. Only if there is the assumption of a solid separate me can there
come questions like this. These sorts of "What if" questions are a sure-fire way to maintain the illusion of time and the
story of me. Then that I is all about survival.
I have news for you:
You are NOT going to survive! Either you die now, or you die when the body expires. But that now that is when the body dies
is the same as now and now and now. All there IS is now! So root out the false now, and die now. "Die before you die!" -Bankei "Everything is resolved in The Unborn!" -Bankei.
Just observe, my
friend, that you missed the pointer completely in those words from Bob. The meat is in this part: "to whom could it matter...?"
Bob points to the assumption of the false me and demands, investigate, to whom?! Where IS this "one to whom it would matter?
How could a non-existent personal subject-me take it as something that matters? This points out a need to ask the final question,
and NOT to answer: "Who is this I" that is assumed to be fact when it is actually a fiction? Where is the separate entity
called me which assumes itself as real and apart from the Whole, and therefore worries, "what will happen to ME if this or
that." "To whom" ... in other words, WHAT I, what entity? He asks us to challenge that assumption, yet the assumed I, the
ego-idea, ignores the challenge and tries to figure out the un-figure-out-able!
Just see right now
that all this speculation is based on an imaginary character that when looked for is NOT there at all. This I or me thought:
WHAT does it refer to? Nothing, and That, as Bob points out, is Impersonal Self-Cognizing Emptiness arising as Aliveness,
Intelligence-Energy, and nothing else.
Come back to the basics:
I AM. That is certain. WHAT am I? NO ANSWER. Abide in NOT Knowing! YOU are empty and meaningless and THAT is Love without
a lover. No subject lover no object loved. ONLY Love and THAT is the Gift of Unknowing.
Know this now: What
you ARE is LOVE, NOT a LOVER. Love is impersonal Reality; the lover is an illusion.
E.J. Writes, Having recently seen the falseness
of the "me,” when/if self-referential thoughts/feelings come up, I can better disarm them by asking "to what do they
refer?" since I have recently seen they refer to nothing, a me that doesn't exist. What was intriguing on the call was
the thought that occurred of "stepping back" from the separateness, of not being particularly invested in "my body/mind" as
opposed to that of the "other," and further to see that not only is there no "me" but no "others" and be unafraid to be the
Oneness that I am, which, when manifest, manifests as all these various energy patterns which consensus reality labels as
"me," "other," ad infinitum. This sounds like nonduality to me. One teacher I know says "All I ever see is me."
Do you have any input on this?
Yes, the ultimate impersonal
knowing is all I see is me. Though that can be confusing as it implies a person ... but that's the limitations of language.
I would probably say all I see is I AM. Is it nonduality? Yes of course. And this question, “to what do these thoughts
of I or me refer to,” is a fine one!
To paraphrase a friend:
In Reality, (not the appearance of the Hologram-world), all there is is you and you called not you. I like that best as a
pointer.
M.V. Writes, From
one organism to another I want to say thank you for your website and all you write and say. I am so lucky to have found
you otherwise this organism most likely would have been searching for the rest of it's life. Only, 25 trips around the
Sun and the last posts [had the me] being kicked out by no one. It is happening, NOW.
You are very welcome,
yet it is not anything that anyone controls. Not “me” not “you.” ALL IS ONE. No credit no blame. It’s
a happening in the Unknowable Isness of Being-Awareness-Peace and it’s nothing particularly significant or meaningful.
What resonates for you is your own Essence and I am always happy to hear someone share that! All this is nothing happening
to no-one NOW and only always NOW. Nothing special!
The mind of M.V.
was fortunate (or unfortunate?) to have found Anthony De Mello, a Jesuit priest who sounded
like an atheist who made so much sense.
De Mello pointed beautifully!
I like one title of a book about him that I noticed … “Praying Naked.” This is very similar to the pointers
of Padmasambhava (look at the “self liberation through seeing with naked awareness” page on the website.) The pointer is that there is in reality no one doing prayer, or meditation. This is seeing
with naked awareness. Prayer happening. Meditation happening. Self-Inquiry happening! Happening Sans Do-er. No happen-er.
This is self-liberation (liberation FROM the person, not FOR the person.)
Mind also read Eckhart Tolle, and Nisargadatta’s "I am that." Then it saw one of your posts on you tube.
Then heard the MP3 audio of"end game"-- oh thank God! LOL. I laughed and laughed followed by some depression. What is a mind to do where there is nothing
to do?
That “depression”
indicates the re-emergence of the false person who always endures by missing the pointless point! It is NOT that there is
“nothing to do!” The pointer to look within yourself is, THERE IS NO PERSON, NO DOER.” NOT as an assertion
to be proved true or false, but a valid and often rich domain for INQUIRY. This usually needs to happen in direct dialogue
with a living expression, as (most fortunately) happened for me as my doubts and confusions were powerfully addressed by
my number one “spiritual friend,” John Wheeler.
It becomes useless and
should wither and die. I be, the mind a part of I, searches like a frog hopping from lily pad to lily pad until it lands
in the water and dissolves and it is seen there was no frog or lily pads, just water. In essence, the mind couldn't
understand the water or jump across the water because it would mean ending it's stance on the surface of being because it
would mean annihilation and it never existed in the first place!
All that is BANG ON.
Note: Fully seeing
is happening NOW, yes, but the mind still searches for it's footing until it stops and it will at bodily death but
hopefully before then.
Yes, BUT! It is so
common! Look! The mind is a but machine! If you are waiting and hoping, you are being conned by the thoughts that tell you,
“I’m ME” and now I HOPE that SOMEDAY enlightenment will happen TO ME. That is the story that the thinker
tells to avoid being seen as a fake. Very common plight, yet the solution is dead simple: look for the one who says yes, but,
and look for what says and believes, "the mind still searches.” What is saying this stuff? Who is the author? Can you
fine any such thing on direct looking there? See if you can find a mind, a thinker, a doer. This is the two aspects of
seeing all is one: You see that there is nothing and you are that; then the something called me re-emerges and tries to hold
this nothingness and gets depressed because it cannot! How can a thing grasp and hold no thing?
Question:
If ultimately there is no IS...Is there ultimately no awareness? If just awareness and no is...why?
Why
NOT? Anything is possible in The Unborn Being-Awake-Alive space, which allows everything to be out of nothing, out of nowhere.
WHO asks this? What is the source of the question? There must be a questioner to ask a question; they arise together. And
when you look within for a questioner you find no such entity that asks the question – all you see is thoughts of I
and why and a wanting to know, scared of not knowing in most cases. This is ultimately an irrelevant question because it simply
prompts the storyteller to survive and explain rather then be seen to be the phantom of its own soap opera. Awareness IS.
And BEFORE Awareness IS there is IS-NOT. There are no one-sided cons in the appearance. IS and IS NOT arise together. From
WHERE? From NO where. Contemplate this.
Question:
The mind still wants to know or thoughts arise to what happens at bodily death to awareness? There is something rather
than nothing and there is nothing and everything there is no one to say existence without purpose or purposelessness existence.
Thoughts arise about an infinite potentiality and alternate realms where the I can still dream as the story of MV with other
stories. If it is happening in awareness why not continue in awareness? We as, bodies are dreams in awareness,
but I as awareness have infinite potential do I not?
WHO?
There is NO I as Awareness. I is a thought! Nothing more than a movement of energy, a content of awareness arising as an aspect
of awareness. This is a crucial distinction. You are not an I awareness. Awareness is NO thing, not I not other yet is the
ESSENCE or SUBSTANCE, Timeless Awakeness. NOT personal. You cannot make Awareness into an object. The false thinker-mind will
try. Watch that movement and ignore the attempts of the mind to fixate itself. Awareness is all there is. ALL IS ONE.
Are you suffering?
If so let’s look into the cause of that. Discussions of a philosophical nature rarely lead anywhere but back in the
loop of why-because-why-because stories and the root cause of suffering thrives on in that sort of environment because what
is NOT asked, as … WHO asks these questions? Who assumes there is a mind? What IS this mind? Where IS it? Inquire! Just see this: Awareness IS and prior to the idea of IS. That is what is pointed to with the koan, there is no is. Is requires
is NOT so that cannot be the Nondual Awareness. This, Awareness, is NOT an object NOR a subject yet Self-Aware as nothing
being everything. But these are concepts and ultimately – meaningless!
Maybe
this mind/thoughts are dreaming but who knows...no one...Is there a wall in awareness that the organism, while alive, prevents
awareness from being without form?
Form is Formlessness,
Formlessness is Form. NOT TWO – the translation of the word (koan) “Advaita. Advaita translates as Not Two. Vedanta
translates as the end of the Veda (embodied - CONCEPTUAL - language of Self- knowledge; Veda is often translated as “Truth.”)
So "Advaita Vedanta" is Not Two, the end of false knowledge or believed truths. It is thedissolution of the duality
of belief and believer, known and knower; this false distinction evaporates into pure direct know-Ing. Awareness is Self-Knowing,
yet NOT divided in any way, shape or form. But look: don’t try to figure this out; that is barking up the wrong tree.
You are and you know you are. THAT is Self-Knowledge; and that destroys in a manner of speaking, this false knower, the ego-sense
ignorance, as you are being led to see naturally now. This is to destroy or, DE-STORY, the false. Leaving what is always so:
Know-ING, I AM Being, Awareness, Peace, and was never EVER not that. It was a dream! Now I Am Awake. Wherever you are you
ARE, and you ARE HERE NOW. Unborn Being, the True-Nature of all, beyond language. All Is One. So here and now you are that
God-awareness beyond creation and dissolution.
So, in essence,
is that what they say is the Mystery of God?
Who asks? God asks
God, what AM I? And in the no-answer there it is … the absolute freedom in unknowing being, mystery within mystery,
freedom in light, love and joy.
Reading all this as a mind wanting to comprehend
and resolve the paradoxical nature of Advaita Vedanta will result in an argument that this expression is filled with contradictions.
These apparent contradictions may serve to boggle the mind. That will be a blessing should it occur!
Thanks for sharing;
stay in touch as The One moves the happening of that.
E.N. shares,
Great appreciations to the efforts on sharing Ellam Ondre (All Is One.) The immensely simple set of pointers contained in this little jewel is like a band of beneficial viruses. Read once, read
repeatedly, truthfulness of these words enter one’s illusion, infect it and eat away all the doubts of the Mind leaving
nothing behind in everyone homeward bound. One of these days, would like to share with you some things I had watched
being written over a period of time.
I would
appreciate seeing anything you feel moved to share!
Thank you
again for your kindness.
You are most welcome. Thank YOU for sharing the "Anti-Ego viruses!"
Question from
a YouTuber, E.L. -The way you look into the audience reminds me of
Ramana Maharshi. I have a simple question for you and I will be brief. The thing is this. There are 2 types of awareness.
The direct one, which is thoughts, feelings, vibrations in your body. You are aware of them directly. It seems that there
is no choice. In this I understand that I am the awareness.
There are not
“two types of Awareness in Reality. There IS Awareness and THAT is Not Two (This is the pointer – the essence
– of Nonduality - or “Advaita.”) All that describable stuff is NOT Awareness; that’s the content of Awareness. Choiceless Content-less Awareness IS and this is what You are in Ultimate Reality.
THAT never changes. All changing manifesting experiencing arises, as a product of the core human beliefs in time and location
and a separate person we call I, then hangs out a little or a long while, and disappears back into That. While Awareness Plus
Content are Not Two the appear as two or many.
Only in thoughts
– words – is there the idea of parts of the Whole. It’s ALL The Whole. As a friend, Chuck Hillig, puts it,
The (W)hole in One.
There is a second kind of awareness, which
is the indirect type such as being aware of the movement of your hands, blinking of the eyes and breathing.
I call that
the witnessing Consciousness, the natural state of I AM. This I AM of Consciousness is an arising out of I – Awareness
or Beingness itself. And this witnessing Consciousness is a content arising
is Awareness.
There are moments in which I am not aware
of my breath but still someone is doing the breathing.
Is there someone
doing? Or is that an assumption, a belief? Test this assertion that the mind makes, the claim of doing by a doer. FIND that
doer, that someone. Can you? Looking for this is the investigation of the mental assumptions that cause suffering. The core
is, “there is someone” and then that attaches to “me’ and I am breathing is the false claim. Breathing
is happening with NO doer or cause! Ponder that rather than taking it as a belief, though! Look where pointing is pointing,
don’t try to figure it out. The Ultimate Being is BEYOND the mind’s thoughts, feelings, experiences and assumptions.
ONLY in NOT Knowing is there True Seeing. Drop all knowing and BE.
So I try to rephrase my conclusion saying
' I am aware that this person is breathing'. How can I overcome this doubts I keep having with the indirect type of awareness?
All conclusions
are mental and ultimately false. All knowledge is actually ignorance posturing as knowledge. Ignorance is to leave the sanctity
of Not Knowing for the paltry gifts of the mind’s attachments to gaining knowledge to add to a false person. That is
the false persona; the mask over Being that seems to hid your Tue Nature of Emptiness Being Fullness.
Now, what are doubts? Thoughts arising this Timeless Spaceless Awareness that manifests as I AM. Stay at I AM
and refuse all appendages to that simplicity. Look for the I that wants to overcome, that personal entity that sees what is
as a problem. Challenge these mental gyrations of false beliefs and assumptions. Stay with what you know BEYOND all doubt:
YOU ARE. That is all there is to see and be. Being-Awake-Alive as all that is and is not. Right here, right now, YOU ARE.
Be that and add nothing to that. You are already free; just challenge the lies of the head and dwell as Timeless Being. Simple,
as you were never NOT That. Love!
M.F. Says,
It's been a few days since this awareness of what IS happened. It is always present, but easily gives way to day-to-day thoughts
and the "work-stuff" i seem to be doing. Things seem to happen as before, but this clear space that is always here remains
unchanged by them. Unpleasant feelings are still felt, but noticed only as feelings. Although a lot more is being noticed
there is no sense of "oneness". Even though there is noticing that everything appears in this Awareness there is still
a sense of "separation". When the question "who am I" is asked, that too is seen to be "floating" in awareness. The old feeling
of "who cares" which i thought went with non-attachment is replaced with "it's all OK"
Both a sense of Oneness and the absence of a sense
of Oneness ARE Oneness! This is “Unity” and Unity includes all diversity. But it sounds like you are still striving
to be an “enlightened person.” That will simply never happen; what we are pointing to is self-TRANSCENDENCE. Transcendental
consciousness is That stateless state in and on which the relative states of waking, dreaming, and deep sleep, arise. This
“fourth state” is NOT an experience or a concept, as we say all the time here. It cannot be described or held
onto; it is absolutely beyond mind and feeling. Self-knowledge consists in Unknowing, Transcending all. Nothing special! Obvious
and empty.
This Transcendent Awareness is NOT an attainment
and at the same time is never absent. Don’t try to figure this out! “The answer is NOT in the mind.” This,
Transcendence, is UN-figure-out-able.
Bottom line? What IS, Is Unicity. Both “The
Relative” AND “The Absolute” are appearing IN the One AND AS the One.
All Is One.
NOT Two .....
LOVE!
There does not seem to be much
of a "M.F." left. Pain is felt as pain in the body, but not so much as "my pain". Thoughts and all else seem to occur in THIS.
But you are right about this: the mind is still active and there are the old expectations of what "an Enlightened person should
feel like" (oxymoron). There doesn't seem to be anyone to care about it, though.
The me-ing fades and the Be-ing is
clearer.
Yet both are happenings in/of Transcendent
Awareness.
G.H. writes, Over the last few days I have oscillated between a sort of mentally-blank awareness of what is and intense thought
activity. I have also noticed a marked increase in mental suffering... I have been unusually discontented and even a bit angry.
Nothing external changed in my life to bring about this change... I think it might be my ego 'fighting back' or something.
Do you have any ideas on how to deal with this?
Let it be. The false
identity can seem to die hard. You are quite right that this is a seeming ego struggle to avoid the being found to be
only a dream. Like the dream, happy or nightmarish, at night, waking out of happens and the dreamer has no control over
when. Having been through some things like you describe I tell you with confidence, it does pass!
Also notice that everything that happens ... everything!
... arises IN the clear awareness. This, Awareness, is NOT an experience that comes and goes. Put the focus on what never
changes and reject all the changing movements of thought and emotion (it's not forceful; just refuse to give any energy of
belief to these moving changing appearances; they are like changing weather appearing in the empty sky. Your true nature of
Being, obvious and undeniable, is what never changes. Give yourself over to That. Notice the desire to control things. Let
that go (let that be.) Love ya.
Question from YouTuber D.D … If,
say, all humans dies in a nuclear war in a few seconds, meaning, the Noosphere would cease to be -- would Emptiness, The capital
s Self, The Dao, The Absolute, God, Spirit, Brahman, Is-ness, Such-ness, Thus-ness, This-ness, I Am, etc etc, or simply: Consciousness,
still exist? I am of course referring to what these words are "pointing to", not any concepts.
The words are pointing to NOTHING.
If no: Ok, business as usual. If yes: Ok, what
makes you believe that?Is that belief somewhat more real or true than the belief of a religious, dogmatic person,
and if yes, why?
The mind, which endlessly seeks answers to secure
itself, (impossible though that is!), will HATE this reply. (Unless it doesn’t.) It may poke something though. We’ll
have to see if that happens.
The answer is Yes-No. Or if you prefer, No-Yes.
But that is only the interim relative answer. The TRUE answer (True? Speaking oxymoronically now) is …It is neither
yes nor no. THIS is absolutely BEYOND beliefs AND any “believer.” The pointer of Nonduality is that the idea of
a “believing me” is false and if that is operating the investigation is called for. What IS a believer? Who believes
anything and accepts some and rejects others? That is all the ignorance of a mind that believes its own lies, the basic lie
being. I am ME and I believe that or that and I don’t believe this or that. It is all, to be a bit blunt, pure bullshit.
Do you have any evidence to support the
claim of a Consciousness that doesn't just arise because of the brain, but that the brain in fact itself arises independently
within that very Consciousness?
I ask you this: WHO CARES? Are you suffering?
If so we can address that. But speculating and asserting and trying to prove one concept to be true and another to be false
sticks you into the head and there ain’t NO freedom in that dark place. So I decline to engage in that. I am sure you
will find plenty of people who will enjoy arguing opinions and concepts. I am not one of ‘em. Respectfully I suggest
you look at WHO wants to know and what will that knowing do to end suffering? This is really about a huge gift … the
gift of Unknowing. Freedom consists BEYOND knowledge, which is essentially just memory and imagination.
If you say: "Well, what is that is aware
of the question you just asked?" I could say, it is my consciousness which exists only because of my brain and it is only
I as a separate individual (brain) who can be aware of the thoughts which arise within my mind. And you can say: "And what
is aware of THAT?" And I will continue to be boring and say that it is still my awareness which is "produced" by my own brain,
and if the brain dies, along with it goes the awareness or consciousness, so then I wouldn't be aware of anything any longer,
because I would be dead.
You are already dead. LIFE consists in NOT KNOWING
and simply BEING what you are, which is Unchanging Being-Awaring-Living Freedom. If you seek proof for that you will have
to seek it within yourself; no one can give you what you are. There is NO evidence for what you are … evidence is in
the domain of true-false and that IS the mind-stuff that ignores that it is empty and meaningless. And by the way it is pure
ignorant arrogance for anyone to claim that they are enlightened or “know the truth and can prove it” and can
thereby give you that final answer (another oxymoron) about the No Thing which YOU already are in Reality.
Short:
Does consciousness exist outside a person’s brain? And isn't that a belief? And if no, why?
Yes, No, and LOOK for yourself. Find out if there
really IS a believer, an I that knows. When you do this you find what you are … NOTHING. Empty and Meaningless. And
THAT don’t mean a damn thing either! Nonduality is NOT for believers! There are churches, mosques, synagogues, monasteries
and ashrams for that. There is NO food for your ego here. There is however, absolute unconditional Love.
Love! Only That. Out of your mind, off with your
head, BE the Love that You ARE.
J.K
asks, Is it an accurate pointer to say that there are no thoughts, emotions, and experiences?
Rather there is think-ING, feel-ING,
and experience-ING all happening within the limitless
spaciousness of be-ING??
If that pointer resonates,
it resonates. BUT there are NO "accurate pointers." They're all words and meaningless ultimately...
If a pointer resonates FOR YOU it might be judge I rather like that one. It's somewhat
similar to the way Bob Adamson points to this pointless space-ING Being...
in this way it might seem to one organism to be "more accurate" than a different pointer that
does not. Yet that other one that doesn't strike a chord for you, in your heart so to say, may
well resonate in another bodymind and quicken some direct apperception of
what is pointer to.
So ultimately it's
paradoxically (again with the paradoxically!) an "individual matter" as in the appearance
all are unique. No two organisms resonate in exactly the same way; all are unique expressions of The One Energy-Being, as
are no two snowflakes alike yet all are made of water.
If it lights yer fire
it's good. If not toss it out like the useless bathwater but keep the baby, the Essence, Essence-ING.
Follow-up from J.K. - Thanks for your response...your feedback from the vantage point of stillness is very helpful.
From time to time, these pointers pop into my head. With your permission, I'd like to continue sharing them with you
and have you tell "me" from the space of awareness whether or not they point toward or away from truth.
Of course. But there is NO "vantage point of stillness. This Is-ness is pointless.
Stillness both IS and IS NOT and unknowably ungraspably indescribably REAL. Ha! Werdz ...
Last night I was thinking (oops!) about the pointer I AM and my experience in the world. Another important pointer
(I "think")...came to me...WHAT IS, IS. All my life, to this point, has been an effort to "figure it all out."
I've wanted to know the Answer. Thus the futility of my 15 year spiritual seeking. Lately, it's become apparent
to me that my knowing is not only unnecessary, but is actually keeping me on the hamster wheel.
Exactly. Yet, who does this? No-one. Who thinks I? Who owns "my life?" No-one. It happens as a functioning of The
Cosmic Game we call Life (Life, Life-ING.) No owner no doer only Living ING-ing.
There's a great line from A Course In Miracles that came to me (I paraphrase): "Surrender your delusion that
your understanding can make a significant (any) contribution to the truth." "I" don't need to know (as if that were actually
possible) where my thoughts, emotions and experiences come from. "My" task is to stay centered in the I AM and let WHAT
IS, IS (awkward, but you get my point). Thoughts, emotions, and experiences arise in the "I don't know," Linger
for awhile, and return to the space of "I don't know."
Yes, and words are only appearing to be solid, appearing as a tool of mind apparently dividing (only apparently;
can a word ACTUALLY divide the Whole? No but it seems so, until it’s see that words are bubbles of being arising from
nowhere.) As you say: these bubbles of nothing arise as the seeming-something in the “I don’t know.”
I can watch it all go by like a 4th of July parade.
Yes, YOU as the Appearance of Witnessing Consciousness (I AM) which bubbles into beingness out of Just I (I-No-Thing
and not even That!) …THAT I AM watches with zero attachment and zero involvement. Empty loving presence … presence-ING.
Suffering arises when "you" think that there is a you that authored all of this...grabbing one of those thoughts out
of the sky and declaring that it describes something about me. Once that's done, the mind goes about analyzing
and categorizing the thought...what does it mean to ME?...is it good or bad for ME? As long as "I" refrain from
attaching any "personal" significance to what I'll call Life, my "self-making" days are over and I am free...nothing to know
or understand...
That
IS what happens to be happen-ing and notice that you didn’t author THAT either J … there is nothing to do
when there is no-one and all do-ing happens as the happen-ING of Life Life-ING. There
WAS no “Big Bang.” No creation. No creator. Nothing ever happened AND there is THIS, This-ING, Happen-ING. The
Big Bang-ING. WERDZ! What great FUN!
I guess the message is, "you have no control, so just sit back and enjoy the ride."
The message is LOOK and see if there any controller in you or anyone or anywhere controlling!? Sit back, enjoy the
ride? Sounds good. Why wouldn't everyone especially seeker-everyones DO that? What is in charge of that happening or not? Who
is gonna CONTROL that? LOL … Ride-ING happen-ING but only appeare-ING. Apperceive-ING This is the Final No-stepper-St
epp-ING off the Cliff into NoWhere and NoThing WOW Everything ING.
Is this the peace of "not knowing?"
Is IT? Is there any IS? This Is It, IT-ING. Nothing special! (That’s not special either!)
E.J. Writes, At some point listening to you on the conference call, there was an undercutting of the I, following which words
seemed to register on the forehead but not enter the brain and then emerge as concepts (to choose some descriptive words).
Excellent seeing. Give the concepts
no entry and nothing can stick to the empty fullness that You are. As The One removes the false props on which the ego stands,
the person drops into Nowhere and there is only No-person, Everywhere. (to spout some more descriptive words for what IS and
yet IS Indescribable! J
Later
I went to John Sherman's satsang. He was explaining to someone that unhappiness comes, goes, comes; happiness comes, goes,
comes. There was an awareness that unhappiness or happiness implies a me who is unhappy or happy, and this "me" is a fiction;
it does not exist. I started to softly chuckle. As also noted on the call, along with the undercutting of the
I, and the words not rebounding in the skull, there was a gratifying sense of resolution of paradox, e.g., form being emptiness.
Wanted to report and say thanks.
That sounds great. This is the natural
state … Being-Awake-Alive, living from the eternal utterly ordinary peace of being nothing special and just this. That
was never missing, only overlooked. Correct the core mistake of identity, the conviction “I am the body,” and
the life sentence in the prison of the mind is overturned. Lets call that Amnesty! Freedom. Or “early release”
… as the Zen Master Bankei put it, this is to “die before you die.”
Now stay with that natural Unborn
I-before the i and refuse to accept the false assertion of a phantom! Much love to you, E.J. Thank you for sharing this. I
Love You.
J.K.
Writes, Dear Charlie, I don't have to do anything. In fact, there's absolutely nothing I can do. Welcome every nasty, brutish,
or wondrous and beatific thought or feeling equally as an expression of the Divine Intelligence.
Love,
hate, jealousy, passion are all threads in the grand tapestry of Consciousness.
All I have to do...right this moment...is
to BE. Such joy. Such liberation. Freedom at last. Love, J.
Bang ON!
Very well done (fully baked - fully cooked, well
done!)
M.S.
says, Beautiful work Charlie! Your continual pointing and shining the pen light into the eyes for awakening is
incredible, and - very inspiring to me. I look at the struggle here and see the one grasping to find itself, the search and
struggle is wonderful. If there were no desire there would not be that conversation at all. "Words are our longing for
home" - Rumi - keep it up with the whacking stick you swing it well!!!:). Your friend ... M.
I
am, as always, out of control here. It all happens! I watch in wonder! Love, you, M!
P.J.
offers, From one heart to one heart, you're a blessing Charlie! The tender and vulnerable nature of our human
hearts is sometimes forgotten. Seth's concern's serve as pointers, as do all concepts, as we surrender to listening,
and being open to hearing the one voice responding through us, now - Thanks for sharing.
Like
I said, OUTTA control! J
And a double-thanks for sending
me No Way Out. Lovely!
Happy
that it’s resonating
Not
that it "matters", but I’m curious as to why Dennis Waite makes such a big deal about "neo-advaita" vs. the "true
way". Again, it smacks of attempts to turn This into a "thing" to believe, doesn't it? Thankfully, we always have
this most intimate of moments and friends, here/now, and from this sacred place, I wish you well.
Rocks
are hard, water is wet, and Dennis is Dennis! The One expresses in every which way as all of it and every single one IS that
Single One. That’s what’s so. So what? LOL! I love Dennis; he has a great heart and only cares about helping seekers.
And as you know to agree or disagree with a “teaching” is what the mind does automatically and volitionlessly
--AND for me to agree or disagree with ones who agree or disagree would be more
of the same. No hope in this judging mind. What we are is beyond the beyond and both more and less than that so where shall
we plant our mental feet? Beyond both Nowhere and Everywhere.
T.T. adds, First, I would like to congratulate Seth for taking his power back. Congratulations Seth! You are an entity and you
do exist! And you are also always already the Unborn, so do what you will and be happy!
Message
sent...
Second,
I would like to be clear about what a "little" me entity, or "ego" is. It is simply Consciousness illuminating a particular
body-mind organism with a certain genetic/neuro-chemical/ conditioned make-up that has a whole history of memories that refers
back to itself. It is simply a cognitive center. This is the "me" that "we" refer to when we say "I”. This me is actually
not a noun, although it often seems like a noun (that is because its context is unchanging Consciousness), but upon examination,
it is more like a verb, an ever-changing flow of the conditions within awareness experienced from this cognitive center. Without
this cognitive center, there is no healthy functioning here, where we actually are. I know this from the direct experience
of working in in-patient psychiatry for over 13 years with people without cognitive centers and these were not happy, healthy,
functional or enlightened people. They were miserable!
Yep,
that is a common happening. And yet that TOO is The One playing that game with itself. This pointer, however, is often NOT
helpful who still take themselves to be that “I” apart from the Whole striving in convoluted psycho-ways to return
to the Whole.
We are
both individual bodies with cognitive centers and the Unborn simultaneously and the non-dual has no problem with
the dual. Not two. If you like to meditate, chant the names of God, do Sufi dancing, read the Bible/Koran or drink Coors
beer and watch football, go for it. It is all the same thing. The only true evidence of supreme and
absolute Enlightened is a vote for Barack Obama!
I feel strongly that Bud Light is a much better path to Nirvana than Coors! But Beefeater Gin trumps
‘em all! Plus, Formula One, Grand Prix Motor Racing, way trumps feetball Go Lewis Hamilton! The Obama of F-One! And
as for Obama, well, anyone who is about WE instead of ME has my vote. :-). However. What we are pointing to is BEYOND "awakening" or "Nirvana"
or "Liberation" and BEYOND even "The Unborn." This is the finality of The Absolute, Eternally NonBeing Beyond Itself. So, for fun, I want to challenge
your claim if being "both bodies and Unborn." That may seem very true, however it's still NOT what Nisargadatta points to.
Re-read chapter 67 of I Am That: Maharaj makes this point clear this way:
"The seeker is he who is in search of himself. Soon he discovers
that his own body he cannot be. Once the conviction 'I am not the body' becomes so well grounded that he can no longer feel,
think and act for and on behalf of the body, he will easily discover that he is the universal being, knowing, acting, that
in him and through him the entire universe is real, conscious and active. This is the heart of the problem. Either you are
body-conscious and a slave of circumstances, or you are the universal consciousness itself - and in full control of
every event. Yet consciousness, individual or universal, is not my true abode; I am not in it, it is not mine, there is no
'me' in it. I am beyond, though it is not easy to explain how one can be neither conscious, nor unconscious, but just beyond.
I cannot say that I am in God or I am God. God is the universal light and love, the universal witness: I am beyond the universal
even."
And this: "I am what I am, neither with form nor formless, neither conscious nor unconscious. I am beyond
all these categories."
There you have it. Clear and unknowable, all there is, is That.
I swore
to my wife I would never enter into another discussion on non-duality ever again because by its
very truth, it doesn't matter nor exist, but I got hooked by Seth's dilemma. How delusional of me!!! And the
Unborn doesn't have a problem with that, either. It doesn't have a problem with anything!
So much for your control over what happens through the bodymind called T.T.
Love
and kisses to everyone! :-)
Awwwww
that’s soooooo sweet J --Hey, T., Love you too! Sometimes Love is sweet and sometimes Love is a burning Fire that destroys all in its path!
Who cares? It’s all Love in essence. NO WAY OUT.
PS: I’m
sending you a complimentary copy of No Way Out for your grokking in fullness pleasure, T.
S.G. says, Sometimes
there is certain feeling of lacking something. I didn’ttell
you about it before because it’s not always there, it comes and goes. This is an appearance in "I Am" but certainly
is a bit bothering. There is no problem but I feel a "tendency or desire" for this to stop.
The "feeling of lacking"
IS the ego wanting more or different than what is at this moment. This moment and not even that is Real. Being IS. Unknowable.
If there is feeling lack, who feels it? Who is bothered? Botherations happen! So what? Who does that? No-one. Who can stop
that? No-one. It happens until it doesn't ... "this too shall pass." So all this appears and happens in Timeless Being,
Unborn and eternally free. And you know that YOU are THAT, beyond the beyond, nowhere and everywhere and beyond even that
... freedom!
Re the “Hardball”
discussion, Seth writes a follow-up note: Heya Charlie, so I have sat with my recent explosion, our phone conversation,
my letters to you.....And I really need to apologize. I really need to apologize for HOW I said what I said. Not for the content
of what I said, but how I said it, I was very angry, blaming and disrespectful. I'm sorry I couldn't express myself without
attacking you.
That is clear and paradoxically,
I say that no apology is needed; you didn’t do or say or attack, that happened through that organism with the name Seth.
There is no person there who did that and there is no person here to take it personally! That said, as a convention in language,
I do completely accept your apology.
All is well in the
Unborn. It is only when the Unborn is overlooked and the fixation on a “story of me” is taken to be real that
suffering kicks in. It’s really that simple. I believe you know this deep down. I know beyond any doubt that who you
are IS the Unborn Peace of Being and I will always interact with you from that Space of Awareness.
The long and the
short of it is- whether or not Nonduality is true (and my personal experience is that it is), what is also true is that that
without a lot of self-care Seth.... :) screw nondual speak!, I fall apart. While it is true you said meditation is a
way to maintain the ego- I sort of neglected to tell you that I meditation is actually my medication that keeps me out
of deep depression, addictions, a full on lifestyle of addictions to the desire to die, and occasionally (as happened a couple
of times recently- actually moving towards actually killing myself.
Fair enough. Do what
works! Nonduality is not a prescription for what ails the bodymind mechanism. And I think you know that there is NOTHING to
believe here. If a practice brings you peace, I would say, do it. If the pointers don't bring you peace, drop 'em straight
away, and go with what does give you that peace. You deserve nothing less.
Our conversation
didn't throw me off balance, me stopping my self-care did. I know this about me- self-care is essential yet, I tried to take
the simple path of "Oh I don't need to do it, since I am forever free awareness."
I warn against that
all the time! Thank you for sharing this, it’s an important point. This confusion, and subsequent abandonment of what
works, is a product of BELIEVING the pointers, and that turns Nonduality into another new cult-like religion. I definitely
do NOT endorse believing in nonduality! What an oxymoron that is. I don’t suggest anyone believe my pointers, or take
on any other belief. That simply never really gets it done. Chains of gold or chains of iron are still chains.
What happens here is,
when I share this there is often a challenging of the existence of a separate controlling entity, a believer, if you
like. The dissolution of that false believer is a happening that ends suffering once and for all. But no-one controls that
and no one can teach that. That is why I repeat that there are no enlightened masters who can make you enlightened…
that is a total fiction, a con job. Those who share this are simply sharing out of an appreciation for the pointers from real
friends, that helped end the suffering for them. That’s my only interest in talking about this… that others see
the possibility of living in freedom and being without psychological suffering. That’s all I really care about.
So
I am back on taking really good care of me...and I am thriving. I have finally accepted the fact that I fall apart 4-6 times
a day- and that without responding well, by taking my time for meditation (which for me is counting 108 things I am
grateful for) I fall apart and my life sucks, bad.
I am very very happy
to hear that you are committed to your own well-being, and you have my absolute support for your practice as that seems to
be working for you. It’s great to hear from you that you are taking care of business. Always, it is finally up to each
of us to see for ourselves what works and take practical steps to have our physical and mental well-being taken care of. I
love that you are taking care and wish you only the best. As Nisargadatta said, the True Guru is YOU, your own True Self.
Trust THAT, my very dear friend!
Once I am grounded
in this, I'll take another look at nonduality, from my more street-smart, common sense place.
Sounds
like a great plan. And as you know I went through a similar phase. All this gets resolved naturally in The Unborn, BY The
Unborn. Your Real Self. There's light there, it shines through all you have said. So, let it all be as best you can, and in
the meantime, just keep doing what works to be cared for and well!
B.F. follows up with,Thank you for your last (and fast) response - much appreciated! I just finished listening to your consultation
with J.H. a few days ago and one part struck me very much that when he 'didn’t get it' that there is no knowing of 'it'
but just -being-.....transcended. That's a crucial point, there is no knowing or owning - that's part of the story, yet -
I, "the smart one" likes to fall into this trap........
You are seeing that clearly … and yet …
the story about that is NOT that as you are noticing here. And at the same time, that very story arises in this Transparent
Being-Awakeness that You are in Reality… by the way there is some follow-up from J.H. that you cane read on the correspondence
page; he actually did see it… as the One-Essence boiled away some of the false.
You mentioned that you had suicidal thoughts
and I had them too between the age of about 16 and my early thirties (I am 48) - they were actually quite comforting during
these times of suffering (as a way out of suffering).... I still have depressions (mild ones) occasionally but I see them
simply as passing clouds and they are quickly gone.
Yep. That was always the case! It
was just an ignoring of the Space of your Being that had us ever take such thoughts to be “me” and/or “about
me.” Suffering? Then suicidal thoughts? Stormy weather! Comfort? Eye of the storm! Nothing special, just weather. Appearing
in the empty unborn space of Awareness.
I wonder sometimes how you distinguish between
experiences and 'it'?
You can see the distinctness in
your direct experience, first thing on waking in the morning, there is immediate Awareness; then the thought I arises
as I, I Am, I am me, I must get up, make coffee etc. This is the Absolute Being-Awareness arising out of Nowhere into Being-Awakeness
and that is the relative appearing IN the Absolute. Then identification as an entity happens, the overlay of a me on what
is. "Disturbing the peace," apparently (but ONLY apparently). So as far as that goes there is a distinction ... Being
is Emptiness and arises as Awakeness. Check it out after the next session of deep sleep. Now: WHO “distinguishes?
To distinguish there much be a distinction-maker, and the suggestion is to LOOK for that controller of thought, that "maker
of distinction", and see if you can locate such an entity anywhere.
In 1984, I was sitting in a car on the
passenger seat, it was quiet and then sunrise came and I was watching the outside landscape when I suddenly felt in peace
with no thoughts for I don't know how long but it was very powerful and subtle at the same time (it had a strong impact on
me and might be the cause for my search). Looking back now (the knowledge of memory - LOL) I must have just 'been' - something
what I subtly would like to have and probably unconsciously believe that is it what to look for.
That happened IN what you are and
was NOT the “goal.” It was, simply, a happening, like the weather is a happening. So that was like a warm sunny
day where other days are stormy and thunderous. And you are quite right to question if that fleeting experience is the actual
Natural, Eternal Statelessness that the seeker seeks, OR simply another weather pattern that comes and goes IN The Eternal
State that we are.
I know, I know, it's a trap - looking for a
result in the future what is there right here right now.... Hard to let go though since this is something I like to cling
to (subtly), so you must play hardball with me too - permission granted :-)
You say I know. WHO knows? There is only knowing;
the knower is an illusion, a story of an ignorant mind-entity that is unreal and yet asserts its reality and is believed by
the idiot mind itself. All self-referential! A tautology.
And … If you are “trying
to let go” of some attachment to a preference, fond memory, unwanted thoughts or emotions, or anything else, you are
ignoring the real and sticking yourself into time and meaning and separateness. You can no more “let go” than
you could make that lovely experience happen to begin with! Everything happens, and the false me-identity says, I did it!
Or, it happened to ME! That is the ignorance; mind is focused on a mistake, an entity that believes IT is the doer and knower
… and ignores the space that this mind-identity occurs in; that space of your True-Nature of Being, the unbounded
pure non-conceptual awake awareness, which is utterly clear, empty, transparent, and both unattainable and unavoidable.
It's NOT a thing and yet, IT IS. Ungraspable unknowable Isness. One-Essence of Being, Consciousness, Peace.
I had another experience which is easier to
see as unrealistic and that's when on a walk I suddenly was bathed in powerful unconditional love, everything including me
was that love - wow. Of course that was over quickly and now only a faint memory......... But quiet often I feel that subtle
bubbly joy within me (caused by nothing) and it feels more like something real than an experience since it seems to be there
all the time. I just don't notice it when I am involved with something but it is there under the surface - just a mirage,
perhaps?
Yes, a mirage you might out of force
of a bad habit still believe will yield water to quench your thirst … someday! All ignoring the truth of simply being,
empty and spacelike. Beginningless and endless, UNBORN.
I still identify with my body, I tend to breath
shallow and then when the thought appears "I breath shallow - better breath more deeply", I do so - feel better, and that
re-enforces my belief that I control the well being of my body. Or, I had arrhythmia which was fixed with surgery, however
I still have benign heart beat hiccups which are caused by stress (according to my cardiologist) and when they occur I believe
that I could decrease these events with certain 'actions' - like calming myself etc. But that's all crap - however it has
a grip on me.
Okay, take that assumption that
there is an “I” with a name and it is the controller. Now USE that control to NOT have the shallow breath happen
in the first place! You’ll quickly see in your own experience that control is absolutely an illusion. Test it for yourself
and the proof is in the direct seeing that our attempts to control always ultimately fail! Moreover, it is only when something
unwanted has ALREADY arisen that the attempt to be responsible and take charge, to take over control, happens. Also what gets
IGNORED in this is that there IS a Power that makes it all appear; makes the Sun burn, beats the heart, creates air for all the
bodies to breathe. Where IS that Source? WHAT is That? ARE you controlling that Source? Or is this me idea just a thought
appearing and being animated BY that Source, like a toaster is animated by electricity? Think on these pointers. Look deep
within the space and see if you can find a “me that is the driver” of that car called you. Knowing “it’s
all crap” is NOT going to set you free. Find out what this “knower” actually IS. Does it exist? Does it
REALLY control anything? All you can do is watch. This watching-seeing awareness is arising as the awake-witnessing-consciousness
and That is incontrovertibly real. Stay with I AM; that I AM is undeniable. YOU ARE and that I that I AM, and that I that
You are, ARE the Nondual One I of Being, awake and alive, happening forever as the Energy driving everything. All that is
and all that is not is only That...
B.F.
shares, After reading the response of the “Hardball”
discussion I want to let you know how much I appreciate what “you” do.
Thanks! It seems quite
a few have benefited from that series. It was a wild affair yet all simply appearing in Space-Like Naked Awareness …
the Self Of All.
I AM …
Stop right here! :-)
I Am … a seeker
of over 20 years with meditation practices and living in a spiritual community (for about 4 years) and ending up with
non-duality.
Familiar story!
It is exhilarating
and very frustrating for me at the same time and even the teachers like Ramesh, Gangaji, Wayne Liquorman, John Wheeler, Tony
Parsons, etc. are sometimes contradicting themselves.
The mind sees contradiction
where what is actually arising is PARADOX. The essence of the paradox of nonduality is that a) there is no person and b) so
long as there is the assumption, the belief, that you are a person inquiry is advised. While in truth there is no person,
until that is the Being-Actuality and NOT merely a belief in being no-one, some intervention so advised by those who have
seen the Real and discarded the false and are encouraging you to do the same in various ways unique to the particular organism’s
expression of the inexpressible. In my view all those you name are in this category. SIT with the paradox. Be with this paradox.
Don't try to resolve it; let it sit there like a brick in your lap. See what crumbles as this is sat with so to speak.
It is an old pointer that the guardians at the gateless gate of Truth are Paradox and Confusion. Confusion is NOT KNOWING.
Be in Not Knowing. Be with the Paradox.
John Wheeler’s
books (and others) just always bring it back to our true nature, beyond the mind and time and any concepts. Back to the basics,
“WHO AM I?”
Who am I? Who are you? I AM.
That is Consciousness, Knowing-Aliveness. Look with the question, WHAT am I? What is it that I take myself to be? Who do you consider your self to be? The truth is you are not this, not that, not any object, not a knower, not an
object known. You as Awareness are Naked Natural Knowing. Life, LIFE-ING. Moving Energy-Aliveness. This is everything out
of nothing. Nothing Being Everything. NOT TWO.
You recommended
Tony Parsons book “nothing being everything” which is great but also deflated ‘my’ notion that ‘I’
really could do something about it – who is saying “Who Am I” when there is only an appearance which is
simply outplaying some genetic programming? There is no volition but simply happenings with no or a result – and that
result is a Fata Morgana collapsing – lol.
It’s all done with mirrors.
What you see “out there” is an image in the mirror that is paradoxically (again!) an image OF the mirror …
an image (imagination) of The Self (Being-Awareness-Aliveness.) And to "know" or believe that there is no-one and to
BE that there is no-one are as is said over and over here, night and day apart!
What is the difference
between inquiring “Who Am I” and to just go on with life and if the curtain falls – fine, if not –
just as fine?
The question is, where IS any
“controlling personal entity” with the volition or will to choose or decide to do either!? Can you find one in
direct actual experience? Only when you take a thought to be what you are is there this false notion of the doer. All happens
by itself. Realization that what is, is and what is not, is not, and ... so what!? is a natural happening like breathing.
T paraphrase The Buddha, actions happen, deeds are done, and in truth there is no individual
doer, not in you nor in anyone else. Life Happening! Wonderful! Onederful!
This mind is, of
course, freaked out by the notion that our true nature is not me, Bernard, but some ‘strange’ no-thing –
yikes!
The mind, which is nothing
but a false assumption that there is an “I” or “me” apart from Totality, is terrified to be faced
with it’s insignificance, its emptiness and meaninglessness. That IS its inauthenticity. And fearing the emptiness is
another flip strategy the false ego employs to keep emptiness at bay by turning it on itself and making up the meaning that
emptiness is about “me” and “I” do NOT want to be empty and meaningless, because that seeing in a
way invalidates “my whole life” (and especially “my” noble search for God!) It IS … YOU ARE
… Empty and Meaningless, and it’s empty and meaningless that it’s empty and meaningless. This is known by
no-one and cannot be either attained OR lost.
WHO does all that? Do YOU control
that happening? If this is YOU why don’t you just call a halt to this being freaked out? Seeing that you are powerless
to change anything (because by the time “you” show up as a thought the happening is already over and all that
is left is a memory and you might well be taking this memory of a self that acted to be who you are.)
This morning, in
the process of waking up, there was the – how do I put it – knowledge of that there is only space, emptiness and
anything else faded away, and then of course the mind cheerfully chimed in “to make sense of it” – lol.
That is what happens.
This is the seeing and then the attempt by the false “knower” to gain and grasp and own. No worries. Just witness
it. You ARE the Witnessing Consciousness that is seeing and knowing. Being that suffering dries up and you remain as you always
are, the Unborn Naked Being-Awareness of Aliveness, LIFE living itself through that organism.
Consider a quote from
“Sailor” Bob:
"It's
an illusion that 'you' exist--the entity 'you' is imagined.
The
imagination that 'you' exist as something or someone
separate
is the cause of acceptance or rejection of something
known.
It is illusion telling the story of its own deception.
The
knower and the known are just concepts seemingly dividing
natural
non-conceptual knowing. Believing in the
thought
'I am' gives seeming reality to the objective world
which
is constantly changing, yet everything in essence is
that
changeless natural knowing--nothing else."
– 'Sailor' Bob Adamson
BEING, Your Real Being, is
an empty mind and a full heart.
Enjoying your website and
talks.
I’m happy to hear that.
Be in touch as much or as little as The Heart moves you to.
Avoid "I," beyond body be, Swim in the Lord's flowing stream. One who has lost "I" and "me," Mingles
easy in His sea. Akha, have insight this way, Space is in the center every which way
Second Follow-up from G.H. Earlier
yesterday morning I had a sort of 'awakening' experience... different from my previous experiences in that I can only think
of it as an increased purity of consciousness. Previously I would characterize my experiences as movements of energy within
my body which brought me temporary peace but ultimately had no effect on the issue of the ego. I have been contemplating the
question of 'Who am I?' for every waking moment that I've not been focused on something else... and I notice that when I get
in touch with that deeper sense of 'I am' all anger, anxiety, worry, etc seem to disappear, and I feel a sort of pleasant
calmness.
This calmness, this Perfect Peace, IS
what You are.
I'm slowly realizing that my mind constructs everything around me... and that most moments of my life
have been spent deeply absorbed in the mind, "asleep" to the greater reality around me. I feel like I'm moving closer towards
that state of unobstructed awakeness. Thanks :)
This sounds good. Now: Just see
that in actuality that "unobstructed awakeness" is already always here now, just overlooked. This Being-Awakeness-Peace NEVER
comes and goes. All that we call me and world appears, changes, and disappears on the screen of Being-Awakeness-Peace. YOU
ARE THAT. There is no attaining That nor can you ever LOSE That. The investigation, looking into who am i? is a divine
energy of the True Self that is simply removing the false, that seeming "obstruction," which is what overlooks or ignores
the real. It will not happen someday. It is what is right NOW. There is no time unless you think and believe there is a separateness
in the whole. This is the matrix of thought ... time-space-location-twoness, me and other. You are this inescapable I
AM, and that is the real. Stay with that simple I AM and look, being I AM as you are looking with the final unanswerable question
who am I? ... just that. Simple. This is Love. Stay in touch ... I love you as The Self of All Beings.
Follow-up from J.H. - A 3 part mini-note.
Loved your warm, gentle & wise response in "How Do I Do the Investigation?" Sometimes a gentle bell & sometimes
a giant gong. Both useful tools.
That is how it worked for me. Slammed up-against-the-ego-wall
by some, lovingly embraced and guided by some. And they all had only the freedom of a friend at stake. (Before I get attacked
by The Advaita Police, yes there is no I and no other AND as long as it seems that there are me and other, then… it
seems that there’s me and others! So what? No problem with that unless a judging ego thinks there is. Ha!) Anyway …
Trying to track the empty i's through the streets
of my imagination. Who Am I/ Who is j.h.? It seems like something has flipped over or reversed. Realization of Presence
Awareness (I don't know how else to try to communicate the "experience") as both Who I truly Am and the constant Background/Source
of It All is with "me" much of the time. The background music shape shifts into All and Everything. Ah Yes.
You express this really eloquently!
Part 3 is just to say Hi. It feels good to
stay in contact. ( I know, "to who") Sometimes its like picking a path through a mine field and sometimes its joyful relief
and peace. Comin’ Home.
Yes, and THAT is all that matters. Not the opinion
of “fundamentalist non-dualists,” not the naysayers that it’s all hopeless (though of course it IS a hope
for a better more powerful ‘me’ that keeps the appearance of bondage happening! This is so paradoxical!) As you
see now, there is what IS and That is beyond describing, beyond sentience, beyond perceiving, like a camera lens that registers
all that appears in it’s field of vision with no evaluation, no labels, and no emotional attachment. All is as it is
and allowed by the no-one that we are in Truth … and now you have come to see that this Home is the abode you never
actually left. Awake in the dream, this, to paraphrase a friend, Leo Hartong, is Being Awake to the fact of the dream-nature
of what appears. Being, Awake AS What Is … Changeless Being, Choiceless Awareness. So, welcome HOME! And clearly all is well in The Unborn Being we are. The gift of Unknowing is as Leo says,
“The Gift Of Lucid Living.”
According to legend, a seeker asked The Buddha,
“Who are you?” The Buddha answered, “I am awake.” Now you are the Buddha … but of course you
always were. Everyone is Already Awake. Cool! Many thanks for sharing the Good News! Love ya ... c.
Quite a few have asked, essentially, “HOW do I DO this investigation? Do I just ask who am I over and over? I have tried that, it seems to reveal
a sense of space and openness but soon I am right back into the pain of being me, and I am still suffering. This goes on in
spite of years of commitment to being earnest and taking up practices and meditations etc. I am tired of flopping back
into being a little complaining me and I want to end this search for real. What to do? How to see that the I is a phantom
as is pointed out by these nondual teachings?”
The "pat answer" in Nonduality circles is to ask,
WHO wants to know? That is a great pointer for some but for many it just increases the frustration and is often dismissed
as "fundamentalism” or "Advaita-speak" and is certainly NOT helpful in those cases. It's almost kind of condescending...
I can share that the two things that helped the
most for me were the seeing that this that I am is not a concept or experience but a silent open background of space-like
awareness that is always here before anything else and that I am that awareness. As Bob Adamson and John Wheeler reminded
me, we START from that simple undeniable fact that, undeniably, I exist, I AM.
That led to a clear seeing that I AM what I was
seeking. Then there came a dropping back into self-identification, self-centered (selfish) thoughts, and the space of simply
being appeared to be lost again. That was painful! Then the need for a real down and dirty investigation challenging the mind
and its false concepts and assumptions became evident as the suffering … painful emotions and unwanted intense experiences
of feeling sad, contracted, angry, frustrated etc. happened again and again.
Something I found very helpful was listening to
Stephen Wingate talk about his own experience of this, and how our mutual friend John Wheeler had guided him to make the investigation
personal and real in his own experience. In Stephen’s case, as he shares, he began asking himself new questions, along
the lines of what exactly IS “Stephen?” He was looking into his own experience of being alive instead of applying
a “one size fits all” generic pointer. This did the trick for Stephen (you can hear him discuss in detail how
specifically this happened on his excellent audio CDs.)
So I started looking in these more direct personal
ways, with support from many friends, including Bob, John, John Greven, Stephen, and Annette Nibley. It is GREAT to have friends
like these along the seeking path!
I started looking more deeply at what or who IS
this “Charlie” person, what is it that I really believe I am? Several things, identities if you like, came
up, and were tested for “truth.” What I found is that the mind makes endless assertions about what I am and when
I fail to seek evidence for its assertions I leave the false unchallenged … and that leaves the cause of suffering in
place and it continues to create havoc for this boy’s life!
For example: I am “Charles in charge.”
I am “the boss.” I am "the actor, the doer, the decider.” I am “me” and you are “not me.”
"I am me and the way things work around here is we do things MY way.” It’s “My way or the highway.”
And so on. The I am as an identity that Charlie is, is bossy, arrogant and knows everything about everything. “I Am
what I think and I am right” was another one. A know-it-all. But all these fail the truth test. I am always finding
out I don't know about something. There is always a clear failure to "make life go my way" ... over and over! Wanting
things to go my way is as effective as telling the weather not to rain. Or trying to herd cats.
But that was all a sort of “array of branches”
and the root still had not been gotten down to. So the looking into this space of being I show up in for some root cause went
on for a while. Then it became clear that “I am the one who is looking for what I am." “I must find out what I
am.” This arises as a sense of frustration as there seems to be a power to think, I can choose what thoughts to focus
my attention on, however, while I CAN choose a created thought like "Who Am I?" what I have NO control over is that power
that causes thinking itself to arise!It happens! Thoughts happen, whether I
want them to or not! In other words I can select from a menu of thoughts so to say, BUT I cannot choose to have NO
thoughts come up. And I saw that experience follows concept, that a thought of me that thinks leads to the idea that I can
choose and decide and have it my way, and the frustration of trying to practice choice and having my choices be thwarted is
really painful. The mind intends for example to never get upset again because I know that when I get upset it hurts, and it’s
unhealthy etc. BUT the next time I am triggered by some happening that is not in accordance with what I intend, bang! I am
in a tantrum, like a bratty kid, cussing at myself for (again) overeating and getting fat, or (again) dropping something and
berating myself for being clumsy, etc.
So what this showed me is that for me, who I am
is “a stupid idiot who STILL can’t do anything right. Despite all these years of experience and practice, I am
still at the effect of some mechanism that runs me and makes me still believe 'I am me' and that 'me' is an old, clumsy, stupid,
angry person."
So I came back to what Stephen was pointing out
and looked into this more deeply than ever: What IS Charlie? What actually IS Charles? What IS "this person, here?" This me
is subtler than a thought, finer than an experience, less evident than the surface stuff described above. What IS Charles?
Finally the seeing arose, “I don’t
know!”
Abiding as this “I don’t Know”
brought the mind to a full stop and there was and is what was sought … Perfect Peace, Absolute Freedom. Timeless Choiceless
Awareness, like a blank clear transparent screen on which apparent choices and chooser arise together; on which the apparent
opposites of I and other arise together. THAT, I AM.
THAT, THOU ART.
This is inquiry: the key as far as I can tell
is the "making it real for me.”
Making it about my own experience instead of someone else’s, because no Guru or Friend can be alive for me,
no one else experiences life a I experience it, so it really HAD to become directly and personally MY looking. The guidance
from friends like John and Stephen that were complete in their search was invaluable, yet in the final analysis it was
up to me.
And so, the final truth is clear and self-evident:
I AM That I AM. Being, Choiceless Awareness ... Just That and Nothing Else.
Finding your own path into this inquiry make take
some new and fresh personal ways to look into yourself for yourself. This site and my books are here to support that looking
for yourself, by yourself, as are the friends listed on my links page.
Be in touch if you like. I am available at non.duality@yahoo.com or by phone at +1 580-366-4083. You can also leave a message on Skype for charlesdavidhayes,
if you like.
I love you all as my own Self, and of course I
wish you the very best. Thanks for taking time to read this. I hope it helps, if you are still suffering.
A Friend writes, Hi Charlie, I thought this excerpt from Mooji.org would be a nice addition to the current string of pointers
in your correspondence page. He also has some wonderful videos on youtube. How delightful to hear oneness pointers through
a lilting Jamaican accent!
Roger
that! Here is the post …
No thought, no matter! Where is this consciousness? What is it? Is it male or female? If you took
everything away, what is left that you can evaluate? What can you find to point to as something which remains? Who will be
doing the pointing even?This kind of exploration is automatically and spontaneously
leading the mind into meditation, into emptiness. Why? Because the mind has nothing to hold onto except itself. One knows
simply: 'I am.' I know that I am, but I cannot find what I am. If I could find what I am, it could not be me, because I'm
the one who is finding it. I cannot be any finding.
For the mind, this is baffling! So, perhaps fear comes, or sometimes, mind fakes sleep as an avoidance.
Because what happens is that as you're exploring, you're going behind the surface of the matter, behind the thought of matter
itself. And without the thought of matter, where or what is matter? Nothing! So, no thought, no matter. Matter doesn't matter!
[Laughter] … Okay... What now? What else? Thoughts? Who are you who thinks? If you contemplate this question seriously,
your mind will automatically go into samadhi. In India
they use this word to mean that you go behind manifestation, you're back in being. You're in your natural
state. Also in India they
refer to Sahaja Samadhi, which means that you're totally in your pure nature, but you're still aware of the world through
your mind and the senses. Senses are still functioning, intellect still functioning, a job to do, family, children to look
after, a class to teach, shopping, cooking... But it doesn't interfere with this underlying peace. All is happening in this
emptiness.
This is a clear pointing from
Dennis Waite, who shares on his website www.advaita.org.uk …
Q: It is said that the "true goal of a man's life is to discover
one's true nature i.e Atman which is Brahman". If Man's true nature is divine, how did he become ignorant in the first place?
How did we get ignorant of our true nature? Being truly a divine and perfect soul, should we not have remained that way? What
happened to our divine nature?
A: This is one of those questions that is ultimately unanswerable. Ignorance is
said by advaita to be anAdi – beginningless. And who is it who is ignorant? Clearly the jIva – but then the jIva
does not exist as an entity separate from brahman so that this means that brahman is ignorant – which is clearly nonsensical.
Swami Paramarthananda tells a story about a game he used to play as a child. They
would take a child into a room that was entirely empty and then would place pillows about the room and stand the child up
against one wall. He was told to memorize the positions of the pillows and then they blindfolded him. He was then told that
he had to cross the room to the other wall without touching any of the pillows. The other children then watched as he very
carefully edged his way forward. Whenever they laughed, he would retreat and move sideways before trying again. Eventually
he reached the other wall and was allowed to remove the blindfold. He then discovered, of course that all of the pillows had
been removed before he began and that he had been moving across an empty floor trying to avoid non-existent objects.
And he says that mokSha [Liberation]
is like this. As seekers, we make our way through life trying to avoid all the pitfalls of self-ignorance and arrive at the
other wall of self-knowledge and enlightenment. But when we attain enlightenment, we realize that there never were any obstacles
to begin with. In a sense, the ignorance was non-existent – tat tvam asi *already*.
This is
a perfectly beautiful metaphor! Thanks, Dennis…
I have been what one might call a serious
“seeker” for approximately the last thirty-five years. After much “exploration” I gravitated
toward non-duality/ Advaita Vedanta and have studied most of the biggies within this area, both old and new. This “realization”
has been much more than intellectual/ conceptual but stabilization has not taken place. I am attaching a short description
below that I wrote not long after one “moment” of clarity followed by months of what I might call “enlightened
living” to give you a flavor of what was “experienced”… yet stabilization has not occurred.
There is no such thing as “stabilization.
This notion is a product in the belief in a myth, the myth of stasis or endless experiential bliss or peace. Perfect Peace
IS what you are and all experiences arise from, last a while if they do, and disappear back into that fathomless emptiness
that You actually are. There is NO hanging on to Awareness ... it's NO Thing! How can Nothing hang on to Itself? It is NOT
“much MORE than” … it is MUCH LESS than!
I have one tiny question that has been pricking
at me. I would be very interested to know your “opinion”, if you have one.
Let me respond regarding “my opinion,”
with a quote from The Hsin Hsin Ming: “If you wish to know the truth, then hold to no opinions for or against anything.”
And, “Do not seek for the truth; only cease to cherish opinions. Do not remain in a dualistic state; avoid such easy
habits carefully.” These point to the brute fact that Being, Awareness, Aliveness Itself, are BEYOND opinions and such
concepts serve only to reinforce the erroneous belief that there is a believer and an opiner.” There is NOT and investigation
proves that beyond any doubt. The classic pointer is to inquire, to ASK the mind-opinion-maker, What ARE YOU? Directly, asking
“Who Am I” or “What Am I” is a working investigation into the false; when the false is revealed as
false only the Real can remain. And what IS the Real? That Space of Being-Prior-To-Consciousness that NEVER changes.
Specifically, if one “believes”
that who/ what they truly are in essence is Pure Awareness/ Presence Awareness/ Unlimited Consciousness/ etc. then eventually
the “me” or the “I” will be seen for what it is (not) and though it may not completely “go away”
it will certainly take a back seat. Now this “recognition/ realization” of who/ what I AM generally begins
as a mental construct/ concept and opens into a deep apperception (non-mental). My question is, “Might
not any ‘liberating’ mental construct ultimately produce the same or similar result?” “As you
believe in your heart, so you are.”
In a word, NO. There are NO “liberating
concepts.” Concepts are dry inherently empty meaningless words, and while words can POINT, they CANNOT “liberate.”
A good question for you might be, "What IS the Source of ‘apperception’?” No answer, ONLY the inquiry! The
Inquest (investigation of the facts of a situation).
It needs to be understood that this seeing-knowing
is NOT a matter of belief. What is pointed to is that the Reality that you are is BEYOND beliefs and believer, known and knower.
This what the term “apperception” points to … in This there is NO perceiver! No believer! All the believer
can do is agree or disagree, and the empty Awareness that You are simply sees and registers all the appearing pairs of opposites
… THIS is BEYOND description, BEYOND belief or disbelief, BEYOND all concepts and all experiences.
The only thing the mind can say to what the True
nature of This is, is Not That Not This Not That Not This. In the remaining Not-Knowing what IS, is the bliss of true Freedom.
THIS IS LITERALLY NO Thing! The thought-story called “believer-me” can NEVER grasp This. It is simply OPEN, EMPTY,
OBVIOUS, and can neither be attained or lost.
Here are a few of the “concepts”
to which I am alluding… This is all a dream, therefore none of it is real and “I” and “other”
are not and are therefore not good, bad, innocent, guilty, right, wrong, etc.
Yes, when it is seen that “you” are
a dream-character, a phantom taken as real only in ignoring the Emptiness of The Real.
There is no “doer”, therefore
I and other never did anything and are therefore blameless and pure.
Yes and NOT as a “belief.”
Really “we” are just thoughts,
and as such non-existent, and therefore perfect no-thing.
Seeing this is a step. Now drop THIS knowing,
drop AL knowing. Knowing No Thing, is Being Everything.
I was born under a “special” star
and am therefore blessed and perfect with infinite awareness.
Bullshit. You were NEVER born. J
My Father and I are One; therefore “I”
am free/ freedom. No-thing is, therefore, since “I” seem to be experiencing, it is True that I AM That I AM.AM perfect awareness now and as such I am perfectly aware now. My “teacher”
tells me that “I AM That” and he’s a pretty smart fellow, so he must be right and I must be That. My concept
is that I am everything/ nothing, therefore I will awaken to that “reality"ETC,
etc., etc.
See the utter
falseness in this statement? I am that I am, I am awareness … (BUT!) when will “I” awaken? You will never
“awaken to this.” You are already This and seeking that reinforces the tail-chasing seeker. It’s utter ignorance
(ignoring the Real and adopting a stance of being a separate “I-person entity that wants to get somewhere someday.)
It’s all a pattern of ignorant mind-belief. This is delusion and suffering. The cure is investigation … starting
from the FACT that YOU ARE THIS I AM and that is inescapable; then looking for a separate controller called “me”
that wants to attain emptiness … ! Where IS that I?
It’s not “your” father. I and
That (called “father” by an insecure ego seeking a “big daddy”) ARE One. That One is known in mind
as I AM THAT I AM and nothing else. IT AIN’T Personal! Freedom IS but not for a “you” or an “I.”
You cannot attain Freedom; You ARE Freedom (Liberation.)
Look: WHO is
thinking-believing-typing-knowing all that? What ARE You in Reality? NO concept or experience can describe That. You are Unborn,
Being arising as Awareness expressing as impersonal absolute Aliveness.
The point is that there are thousands upon
thousands of mental “concepts” (perhaps all “true” or all “false”) that can help bring
about favorable conditions in one’s psychology to assist in an awaking, but they are all only and just concepts/ thoughts. And perhaps we simply
shape our experience of “reality” based on our points of view. As consciousness, we shape our dream, which
is only consciousness.
Lovely words, but NO concept is either true or
false. NONE. Period. Full Stop! The “point of view” is the ignorance of mind that conceives itself as separate
from the whole. Investigate this! There IS NO separate “we!” All Is The One. Witnessing, Seeing, Being-As-Consciousness.
EMPTY.
The essence of this question may be lost
in the words, so please excuse any muddled expression. I’m confident that if “clarity” were consciously
present (with “me”) the question simply might not arise, but since that is not the current “state”
consciously, the question surfaces.
Who is asking the questions? What makes the mind
think, the fingers type, the brain erupt in thoughts if “me myself and I? What makes you wake up as Consciousness? Where’s
this “me” that thinks it is real and lacks some clarity!?
There is The One, NO Thing, and then out of One
NoThing NoWhere comes a Being-Awareness “I AM.” ASK YOU:What is
the source of that I AM?
Stay with the only thing that IS and beyond doubt?
YOU ARE. This IS of Being-Awareness arises as a direct, real, authentic and inexhaustible I AM and this is absolute freedom.
All else is bondage and unreal. Stay with the REAL of Being, Just That.
Many thanks… and I’m hoping
to be back to you for an hour-long consultation soon.
That’ll be fun! It's really
“all done with mirrors!” J
Follow-up from G.H. - I mentally register what
you are saying and am open to the idea of non-existence... I have had many moments of 'mental blankness' in which thought-activity
is clear and I feel a sense of peace and contentment. Yet I do not feel what may be characterized as a deep, eternal peace
and unity with all existence. It is rather frustrating. Should I meditate? Look harder/deeper for the sense of 'I am?' Train
myself to be more focused?
Just keep looking for the separate person. Asking
WHO AM I? - do not take any answer! Apart from a thought or feeling, that comes and goes, is it there? What you REALLY are
IS EMPTY - beyond description. All you as an entity are is memory and imagination. Stay with this. Other than a natural sense
of curiosity, asking that me who are you? there is really nothing needed. just be as you are. -EMPTY-
Read and CONTEMPLATE the basics page and read and CONTEMPLATE the page on the website.
[later]
Follow-up # 2 - Thank you so much. I'm beginning
to understand. There is the ego, and there is awareness. The ego clouds awareness yet is also a part of awareness. Within
awareness there is joy and aliveness and life beyond description... it reminds me of when i go skydiving. I glimpsed it today.
Now it is just a matter of deepening. Thank you thank you thank you :)…
You are very welcome. If you like, contemplate
this pointer: Something says “I AM.” What IS that? Something knows, “I AM.” What IS that? LOOK directly
at the thought “I”. What is that? What is the SOURCE of that thought? LOOK directly into the sense of being, being
alive, being awake. What IS that? What is the SOURCE of that? Do you know? WHAT knows? What is the SOURCE of knowing? Do you
know that you do NOT know? What is the SOURCE of that NOT knowing? What is the Source of SOURCE? What are you? Challenge the
thinker-mind, what ARE you? LOOK out at “the world.” ASK that world WHAT ARE YOU? What ARE You!? WHERE did you
come from? WHERE are you going?
Watch the mind answer. Ask that thinker-storyteller,
WHAT ARE YOU? WHERE did you come form? WHERE are you going? WHAT makes you happen? WHAT is the SOURCE of you? Are you REAL?
WHAT says yes? What says NO? What ARE You!? WHERE did you come from? WHERE are you going?
Follow-up from M.F. - Sunday, this body-mind took a bath after listening
on-line to one of the conference calls you so graciously linked to in your newsletter. After doing some
progressive relaxation exercises, i began asking the question: "What Am I, Really?" There was a noticing in the
space that opened up between the questions, of a sense of ever deepening peacefulness and serenity, the likes
of which i had never known. It reminded one of the calm surface of a pool of water but with an unspoken sense of awareness
and deep knowing. Passing thoughts could not cause so much as a ripple on it's surface.The thoughts and mental noise came
and went, but this deep serenity persisted unscathed. There was the awareness that it has always been present, just
obscured by all the rantings and ravings of the ego-mind. It felt like "home".
This was very different from the "everyday
awareness" that is usually experienced, but it seemed hidden in the background, under everything (for lack of a better description.)
It definitely was not a "state", and seemed quite genuine and real. The mood for the rest of the day was elated, although
this deep knowing and serenity seemed to slip to the background once more.
Is that some of what is being pointed
to, or just an artifact of deep relaxation upon awareness?
Yes, That IS what is being pointed to (not "some"; but the WHOLE.) . IT ... as the false slips away the
fullness of the ever-present Reality .... "opens Itself to Itself." Beautiful!
J.H. Writes, Listened to our "Hardball II"
conversation and your "Chat with Sergio" today. Question: Awareness of I AM seems to be the key that unlocks the door that
isn't really there. Staying with the Awareness I AM seems to be so simple, pure and natural. But then along comes an identification
with some event or aspect of "the story" and whoosh a trap door seems to open into the jungle of thought and confusion.
No light in that jungle. A complete "forgetting." Round and round I go trying to see and sort it out (suffering) until
finally I give up (Surrender). That Surrender seems to lead back into the light.
And ALL
of that happens in this Presence of Awareness. This Awareness is NOT a “thing” that comes and goes. IT IS.And this Isness registers all the comings and goings of thoughts, sensations, identifications
with a story, feelings, sensations … sentience appears in That and THAT is what NEVER changes. You cannot escape That.
IT IS, Being-Awareness-Aliveness, present and clear prior to and during and after all movements of thoughts feelings etc.
Surrender? Who is there to do that? Dissolution of the false happens when there arises an investigation into the nature of
the I or me we have mistakenly taken our self to be.
How
to stay in the Awareness of I AM and let the story flow?
You cannot
escape that. Wanting to “stay in That is happening IN that. It is like water to the fish: So clear and obvious that
it is overlooked (but the analogy falls short because Awareness, unlike water, is NOT a thing you can grasp or know. Awareness
is the Silence of Stillness knowing; the knower and known are illusions arising IN that Being-Awake-And-Aware Aliveness that
is the Real. THAT is non-conceptual and therefore cannot be grasped by the “I” which is itself only another concept.
That I can never “know Oneness.” You are NOT that I-thought which tries to stay with I AM. Being IS and that you
are. Attempting to stay in That is a flip strategy for avoiding That.
Follow-up:
Thank you for your reply, Charlie. I too agree that there are no teachers of this, but it sure does seem that way! Maybe
that is the paradox I suppose! I think it's my mind telling stories again!!
Exactly!
Yes,
only awakeness,
and it's not personal, I like the way you say that. Haha, and you didn't use too many "quotation marks", well done! :-) But still Charlie I would say that you
DO seem to be becoming more and more of a teacher. I don’t mean that as a criticism, more of a worrying observation! Is there any desire for you to be teaching
this stuff? Surely that desire disappears when this is seen? Anyway, thanks for listening. That "quote unquote" stuff is really
unnecessary though, but then again, if it makes you happy! Do what you do my friend, it's all okay here! :-) Love you too.
There is
absolutely NO desire here to teach or share. All desire to teach died when I died. This sharing HAPPENS. No-one teaches.
Some are moved by Energy-Aliveness to share ... Tony Parsons, for example. Bob Adamson. John Wheeler.
A few others. This just happens! Like breathing happens. There is no chooser or doer here or anywhere; that is a false belief.
What dies is the belief in separation and choice. If I had a choice I would most likely just sleep, meditate,
eat, watch TV, eat, chase women, eat, get drunk, eat, sleep. I could give a shit if no-one ever writes or calls again.
When there is asking there is sharing. All happens by itself. When no-one writes there is no sharing. So far there's
sharing. It could stop today and never happen again! Who pretends to know? Not I.
My question
for you is, who CARES what happens through this charlie thing? What makes you "be concerned?" What's driving you to think,
to write, to breathe? Find THAT and all questions die as there can only be a question like this when there is questioner …
a belief in individuals with choice and volition. This IS the paradox: There is no person and the
appearing person shares. Not Two. I don't "take it as criticism." There is no person to do that, not here and not there.
Nothing "makes me happy." There is happiness here, as well as sadness, grief, joy... all happening in the Bliss of the I AM
that I AM and YOU ARE! I Love You as That I Am. Stay with THAT. I AM... that is all.
Q: I have recently been watching your Youtube videos and looking at your
website. There is some nice stuff on there, but please, one thing bothers me. Could you stop saying "quote unquote" all the
time, and putting quotation marks "around" "every" "single" "word" "you" "use"? It seems you are trying so hard to be properly
"nondualistic". Charlie, you really don't need to try so hard!! And I know "you" (see how annoying it is?) will say that "you"
are not doing it. But really Charlie, you can just write normally if you want to. Stop trying to be a teacher, you used to
be so much better and more authentic months ago when you admitted that you were not enlightened and were just a normal person.
These days you are trying so hard (and it shows!) to teach. There are no teachers of THIS!
Thanks for writing! The expression that comes out here happens in response to
e-mails and phone calls that come here and it seems to me that there needs to be these kinds of emphasis. If it appears there
is someone trying to teach, then that's how you see it. I don't experience it that way. And I feel strongly that I am NOT
"an enlightened person;" there is NO such thing in Reality. Not Ramana not Bob not Tony not any "meat." There is only already
awakeness and that ain't personal. So ... It's all a wondrous dream and that includes ... well, everything. Even this. So
anyway thanks again for sharing your view! For the record [ :-) ] ... I completely agree that there
are NO teachers of This ... ALL There IS, IS This as-it-is, and That is That.
H.R. Writes, I was in tears hearing your conversation with Paul... his laughter is bursting with love and joy, innocence, aliveness itself!!! Did
you know [my name] means freedom? Your love is so freeing! "I" love the fact that you are in my life...
This is beautiful! Love frees the seeker from its false assumptions and does
that effortlessly! And there is NO doer, only Love is Real and you ARE That... You are not "your name" ... as the Real
You knows and IS ... always. You ARE Freedom. You are love. Love IS Freeing no-one. I AM is ever-fresh and Already FREE!
I AM is Freedom. Be that and Nothing Else, dear One. I AM Life. Now it's known in [that-name]-Freedom: I AM LIFE ItSelf.... and it takes One to "know" I AM ... One.
Love from I AM to I AM! (Apologies if this is preaching at the choir!)
G.H. writes, Hello! I enjoy your YouTube videos,
and have actually had a few moments of 'present-ness' and freedom from mind while watching them, one which occurred several
minutes ago but disappeared just as a wave recedes from the shore of a beach.
That's what some call "free samples." Yet they
are NOT what is being pointed to. These experiences ALWAYS come to pass and not to stay. What is it that registers the arising
and passing of that experience? What never changes?
For about 9 months now I have been practicing
'looking within' at the 'doer' by trying to become as aware as possible of the physical sensations within my body. When I
do this, however, I feel a sort of emotional pressure in my solar plexus region which intensifies as I stay aware of it. If
I focus on it enough, my body literally starts to shake and convulse.
Where exactly IS this “I” –
“I” – “I” you refer to? What do you assume your self to be? This “I” thought: does
it have any power to create, change or fix WHAT IS? Practices can and usually do obscure the obviousness of Being-Awakeness-Alveness
that You, in essence, are.
My neck becomes tense and my shoulders involuntarily
shrug up. After these convulsions, however, I experience a sort of clear-headedness and lightness of mind which goes away
as I return to my daily activities and routines. Have you heard of anyone experiencing this on their journey to becoming awakened?
If so, what's the best way to deal with it? Thanks.
Yes. Anything can happen. Many seekers who practice
“kundalini” or have had some “initiation” or “shaktipat diksha” experience such things.
But they mean absolutely NOTHING. ALL experiences simply come and go in Awareness. YOU are AWARENESS and NOT a concept or
an experience … those are things and You are No Thing. Being, just THAT. I AM.
This stuff all happens all by itself… to
NO-one. Then the mind (which is an assumed entity made up of the belief in an “I” and “time”) makes
up meaning where none actually exists. To ask how to “deal with it” ASSUMES, incorrectly, that there IS a person,
a controlling “me-entity called ‘I’” that could exert some force of will or control. Look in the space
where you are. There is I AM … Being-Awareness … and that is all. Seek the actual solid personal will that could
change what appears in the Space of Being and you always always always come up empty-handed. But only ALWAYS!
You are the Pure I AM of Being-Awakeness, witnessing
presence … Consciousness IS and you are THAT. And your TRUE Empty nature is That which IS and Prior to Consciousness
… like Deep Sleep as a metaphor … Being IS and before Awakeness. "Darkness within darkness, the gateway to all
mystery" as Lao Tzu put it. Ultimately you are this blank emptiness which paradoxically also
appears and loves to be appearing as ALL THAT IS.
This is what you are: Unborn, loving, spacelike
Being. Don’t believe this! Look for the “I" that seems or feels separate from The Whole and it is clear that
seeing is, and there is no “person” doing that. There never was; it was only a dream!
S.G. Follows
up with, J I see, all what happens is apparent.
always was and is that way. And the "I Am" is the only secure, the only unchangeable. What a simplicity. No one to save, yes,
this is freedom. :) When you have the mp3 of our telephone conversation, if you can send me please... many thanks for the
aclarations. I admire that solvency, that stability to Remain as Your Self. And in your case be capable of point it directly.
Many thanks Master … You say you are a friend, yes, the Master is that I Am ;-) that is the only I Am …
After our phone chat … What a silence, a tangible silence ....................... is so fantastic. Really. Wow.
Thanks.
Excellent … stay put in That! Your MP3 link
is attached here.
There is NO student NO Master. Only THIS: I AM.
De Nada!
It’s
like I don’t sleep..... and nothings happens really. Like stay in the same "place" "all the time" and nothing happens
there. Wonderful.
D.R. checks in: For months I have been walking around
just stupefied and mystified that there is no psychological suffering happening any more. And it was just seen today that
very subtly, there's been an underlying sense of wondering all this time if the suffering will re-appear. Not worrying, just
wondering. But it hasn't. And now it is also seen today that this very subtle sense of wondering has evaporated. Not due to
any conviction that the suffering will not re-appear, but apparently due to the sense of no longer caring if it appears again
or not. I thought this all rather interesting. And rather meaningless at the same time. I really do love you.
This is a beautiful sharing of the natural Seeing.
No effort is needed; all is done by The One and now it's clear to no-one-called-D.R. that all there is, is That.
Recognize … “The Tao that can be told
is not the eternal Tao The name that can be named is not the eternal name The nameless is the beginning of heaven and
earth...” –Lao Tzu
16 February 2008
What Shoud Happen?
I can find a blankness, a space between the thoughts. And this space is
this "no-one looking", right? But to stay there, in that space between those thoughts, is for me impossible...
Of course it is impossible "for me." Because this "me" is an appearance IN blank
empty no-thing. Space IS and that is what You are. Not the "you" that tries and fails to "stay there" - the YOU of Blank Empty
Space-Like Meaninglessness! All of this seeing, asking questions, wanting to know "how" - who is doing that? What is making
"you" think and write and do anything? What is in charge? What wakes you up, makes you BE? That blankness between thoughts
is NOT the Empty Being-Awareness that is Real. That blankness is an appearance IN the Real Absolute No Thing which is paradoxically
also Everything. Sit still with this. If questions arise, ask, who asks this? If doubts arise, ask, who doubts?
Who is this me? Where is this "I"- asker? You True nature is Empty Meaningless Space,.
and That is the Fullness of Absolute Freedom, Absolute Acceptance, Absolutely NOTHING but Unconditional Non-conceptual LOVE.
Sit with all this.
M.L. writes, I'd like to tell
you what's been happening here the last couple of months. First off, I had a profound experience when I was asleep. I suddenly
became fully conscious and could hear myself snoring - or rather just a body snoring, like it wasn't even my body, could've
been anyone’s. It was blissfully peaceful, but came and went.
It’s not an uncommon "spiritual
experience." Meditators generally make a big deal out of these, as the experience of “witnessing sleep” is thought
to be a signpost that the seeker is “close to final enlightenment.” That is of course merely another “spiritual
myth.” There a zillion of them, and this one is pretty popular. The same thing was experienced here, a few years ago;
“I” found “myself” watching the body sleep and heaing it snore. The bad news is, this means absolutely
nothing! It’s just another experience (though not a relatively common one for most folks) that … guess what …
comes and goes! As you realized. The focus on experiences and blissful moods is a real distraction from the core essence of
Nonduality, which points out that what you actually are is NOT an experience, NOT an experiencer, NOT a "personal witnesser”…
what you are never changes, not ever. That Awareness- Consciousness is the witnessing Awaring unknowable knowing and THAT
is beyond knower and known. Prior to all concepts and all experiences Awareness IS … this observing-consciousness is
ALWAYS what’s so and who you are; it is simply ignored because it is utterly ordinary and WAY too simple and obvious!
This is NOT a thing that the mind-thought or ego-sense of the separate “personal me” can grasp or gain. THE I-Concept
POINTS to PURE AWARENESS. That is Unbounded, empty, self-luminous. THAT
THOU ART. Unborn Being.
The ULTIMATE paradox is this: You
are Nothing … and That is Everything!
This can never be found and never
be held onto, AND This can never be lost! It is the Being that you are. And there is NO way out of Being.Kill the body, Being is still present and absolutely unmoved and untouched! You cannot kill your Self.
No shit. You cannot kill space. How could you annihilate No Thing?
A couple of weeks later I felt
like I was visited by the devil. It happened when I was asleep again, although I didn't know I was asleep because in the dream
I was lying awake in my bed. Suddenly there was a hurricane in my bedroom and a wind pinning me down on my bed. It was really
intense and scary and went on for ages. A few weeks after that, I had an 'episode' where I felt an intense joy bubbling up
in me, and couldn't stop giggling. This too came and went.
A waking dream… or nightmare?
Daymare? All hallucination. Not all hallucinations are drug induced. Anything can appear. ANYTHING. Question is, what does
that all appear IN? Were you NOT Being, was Awareness gone? Awareness is the only constant unchanging featureless empty space
… like the cinema screen. That said, there may be a chemical element here. Have you seen a physician? There might be
a cellular imbalance that can be corrected with medications. It sounds a bit like bipolar disorder the way you describe it.
By the way suicidal thoughts are
often a byproduct of this kind of “mechanistic’ disorder. If the car isn’t running right take it to a good
mechanic. In my view, that is what doctors are … mechanics for the car, the bodymind apparatus.
In any event, this is all a bunch
of waking dreams. Some “preferable” to others perhaps. BUT ALL THAT IS WHAT APPEARS AND NOT WHAT IS ULTIMATELY
REAL. YOU ARE UNBORN. Only an idea of a me gets born and dreams and giggles maniacally, or shits its britches in fear.
I know that 'I' am not in control
of any of these things that happen or will happen. I know that I don't think my own thoughts any more than I digest my own
food.
Those pointers are accurate in a
way BUT: When that is something “you know” that is the bullshit false knowledge of an identity. When
you say “I know,” what is revealed is that youbelieve all this crap rather than asking that believer,
who are you? Where is the believer? What is making thoughts arise that say “I know,” OR “I don’t know?”
Infinite Energetic alive beingness is this livingness arising as all that appears and the knower ends up a suffering fool
due to his belief in separateness and ‘’owned knowing.” ALL you say “”I know” about other
than I AM is complete ignorance. The only thing worth knowing is, I DON’T KNOW. There is a huge gift in Unknowing, inconceivable
to the mind.
What I can't say is that I'm
not suffering. For a couple of years now, I have had an almost permanent tension headache.
You may also need medical help for
that. Pain medication, chiropractic, I do not know … but I suggest you get some medical advice about that one too. Pain
is a happening that goes with the living organism and can be dealt with by doctors. What I point to as suffering is different
from pain; suffering is the ego’s conviction that PAIN SHOULD NOT BE. It is a concept-overlay, a story that judges happenings
as good or bad, right or wrong, should or should not. Pain is not really a spiritual problem. Suffering is another matter
and is dealt with through investigation, but starting from the BRUTE FACT that Bare Space-Like Naked Being-Existence IS and
you are THAT. Stay with this. Stay with the Know-ING, I AM. Existence IS and I Am That. Nothing but That.
It often feels like something
is about to give way (Eckhart Tolle described being 'sucked into a void') but it never does.
That’s what happened for Eckhart
Tolle and who knows what will happen next in “you” or any other appearance! Nobody knows. And the description
is NOT a prescription! If you think that has to happen you’ll wait forever. There is NO way to control or predict ANYTHING.
That’s the big secret that nobody tells ya: Nobody knows anything. All that is appearing has already happened by the
“time” it’s perceived. We show up as observer-players of an ever-changing movie and fail to notice that
we are merely characters in the movie and no more able to control the movie than and ant or a tree could control the appearing
show. The perspectiveless seeing here is that all we see and know is memory and imagination.
Don’t believe this: LOOK.
See if you can find ANYTHING that is not either memory arising and appearing presently or imagination arising and appearing
presently.
There seems there are a number
of people who have contacted you who have talked about suicide. I often long for death and as you say, I really hope that
I do die soon.
Again: You cannot kill your Self.
No shit. You cannot kill space. How could you annihilate No Thing? Dying happens every second, every instant … every
split second time appears and disappears as the still-yet-changing frame-by-frame. Self-Awareness is that screen on which
these images appear and disappear … the appearing happening so fast we don’t notice that there is space between
each frame. Sometimes the film speed slows down and you get a glimpse of Nothing, that Space between thought-image-memory-appearance-frames.
But even THAT is just another “happening” arising in Aware Presence. Your True Self.
So if “you” re “waiting
to die,” you will stay around forever or at least until the body dies, and then, who knows? Nobody knows. And many do
pretend to know. I am not one of them.
I don't know if anyone else would
agree, but the message 'there is no-one' often leads to a feeling of depersonalisation and depression. Obviously this truth
has to be seen by no-one to be liberating, otherwise there's just a permanent 'I'm fucked' feeling.
That is NOT NOT NOT a “TRUTH!”
It is a pointer and when the ego-mind takes that to BE a “truth” that resignation and despair is damn near inevitable.
While it is ultimately so that there is no person, when “the person” BELIEVES that then suicidal depression can
damn well happen! This is a perversion of the pointing, because when the expression is ONLY “that there is no-one”
what is denied in that is the obvious presence of a sense-feeling-knowing that I AM, I am here, there so seems to be a me
that suffers, that when told the me does not exist as an “asserted truth”rather than only as a pojnter NOT to
be believed, it is just really bullshit because it fails to embrace the ABSOLUTE PARADOX that so long as it SEEMS that there
is a person, rather than resign oneself to an “I am fucked” identity or even to "I am a no-one" which is just
another damned identity wanting to die because it KNOWS deep down that it is being inauthentic (!) then the paradoxically
dissolutioning of the non-existent ego becomes impossible owing to the fact that the investigation, the looking for the separate
self-center, is refused because of this BELIEF in “there being no-one.”
It really SEEMS that there IS someone
there as long as it seems there is someone there! Investigation MUST happen in those cases where there is still identification
as a separate entity. The root cause of suffering ultimately consists in ignoring the pointer to LOOK and ASK, ask what IS
this I? Where IS this “me?” Etc. I’d suggest get real about all this. Suffering continues as a call to investigate,
NOT resign oneself to a life of quiet (or loud) desperation! As far as the “feeling of depersonalization, it’s
only when you make the emptiness of Aware Being mean something about “you” that its depressing. Depressing to
WHOM? That’s the question you need to ask yourself.
I'd appreciate any thoughts you
have. Hope you're well, and keep the YouTube videos coming, I always enjoy them.
All is effortlessly resolved in
The Unborn. Don’t sell out on Aliveness. Selling The Unborn for thoughts and stories of a phantom “I” is
like selling a diamond for the price of spinach! Just keep going and stay in touch. Much Love and Respect to you, my friend.
I.M. Writes,
Long time no write! I finally got around to listening the Hardball recording and some of the messages you received and I just
had to write to you. ABSOLUTELY BLOODY SPOT ON!!!!
I feel so sorry for all of those people
locked into the "spiritual practice" dream who seriously believe that it is making them peaceful or on their way to "enlightenment"
or whatever crap they have been led to believe. And then when they still feel like shit, decide that suicide is the only option
left!!! How sad!! The absolute peace and clarity they seek is already present, the open secret, but they either can't see
it or just can't accept that it is their belief that they really do exist as somebody that is standing right in the way of
seeing the absolute absence of their REAL presence!! Your message that you can't kill "you" by committing suicide is just
brilliant. Pure wisdom!! If it is really understood. I think that the problem may be in the use or meaning of some of thewords you used - "life", "death", "you" etc. because you aren't using those words
to mean what most people think they mean!!! The "you" that thinks and wants to commit suicide is not the "you" that you are
talking about and the "you" that you are referring to is not what they take themselves to be!!!
It is hardly surprising however that this
is difficult to hear because it is the complete negation of everything we have come to believe in and hold onto. But rather
than let the blast wave blow all that away and leave them seeing the total simplicity of complete absent presence, they get
angry and criticise you for playing hardball!! Amazing!!
Yes, it IS amazing. All the Wonder of This Dream!
Like a roller-coaster…It is great to hear from you again ... glad
you appreciate the space that "hardball" came out of. You are expressing beautifully here, clear and authentic, from that
exact same Nondual Space, as always. I appreciate the "friendship!" Love ya...
The I that says "I exist." Never finding
any separate I, you see directly that the one-letter word “I” is a label, a word pointing. Pointing to what? NO
THING. This No Thing is the Existing-Knowing. Pure and simple, blank and empty. In that, abiding as that, there is no possibility
for any suffering.
That said, I must
add that there's no awareness of being everything or nothing or love or life or anything like that.
And that story arises IN the Blank Luminous
Awareness you ARE, the Space-like Essence of all, which silently witnesses all that arises and subsides, deep sleep, dream,
waking dream … all happens or appears IN Space-Like Awareness. This Awareness is the Silent Seer. Beyond knower and
known is This Knowing Alive Presence. You Are THAT...
Stay with what IS the only unchanging actuality
in your own direct experiencing: I AM and NOT the THOUGHT I Am. If there is an expectation of some experience-state of love
or nothing or everything, then that story IS also what is arising in awareness ... and, that expectation will NOT be met.
Why? Any expectation depends on “becoming” and “someday.” Both those concepts are stories or assumed
beliefs, along with the assumption of a false “me” that hopes and wishes for some better “future.”
The Matrix.
This keeps the seeker in chains presently,
so to speak … yet, that too is an appearing-to-happen in empty meaningless space-like Being (code names, I AM or True-Nature.)
There is just a
seeing that a search is pointless and a there’s a lot more acceptance of what is. It's very hard to talk about because
it's like I'm channel surfing. Channel 1: M.L. seeking (and writing emails). Channel 2: There's nothing to say because
it's ok. Sometimes it's like having both channels on at the same time, superimposed.
So this is the appearance,
and that all arises in this Presence, The I AM-Being, The Naked Presence. Words point to NOTHING. You are that Nothing.
This started yesterday
after a big energy shift happened. My mind was like, "something's different, something's different," but couldn't see what.
That’s the happening of the energetic
contraction into a seeming “entity” which is a ghost-like appearance imagined to be solid and real dissolving
naturally and effortlessly as Oneness Herself burns away the false … that is of course merely a story about a happening
and ultimately irrelevant. And that too shows up as an appearance to what you actually are … Unchanging Being.
The seeking hasn't
stopped. I know that I exist, but I don't know what I am (or am not, as the case may be). Channel 1 is frustrated by this.
Channel 2 doesn't care. I always like talking to you, even when I'm worried you're going to play hardball with me (sometimes
you do, sometimes you don't).
Not to “hardball you” but, so what?
What’s appearing is what’s appearing. What’s so. Also so what!?
Stay with what you know. What is undeniable?
You are. That I AM is Consciousness, Awareness IS and “I AM” is the pointer concept pointing at that. This Consciousness
is Awareness itself, it is universal, everyone IS this and the test for this is in seeing you cannot get away from being-consciousness-awareness.
Awareness is NOT an “object that can be experienced!” It's not YOUR awareness. It's Empty Universal Meaninglessness.
That point is being overlooked in what you share as what’s so for you… seeing this, it is seen that Consciousness
is not personal. All experiencers are different, all experiences are different. All these bodyminds labeled with names, you
or me, these forms, are always changing. All the experiences are ever-changing. Change is the only constant in the dream.
Look now: What NEVER changes?
Formless Being. Empty Meaningless Witnessing
Consciousness (a label for the Pure Being … “I AM”…
This is NO Thing and the mind-feeling story can never grasp that. Trying to grasp this IS frustration. There is no control
anywhere over any of this appearance, it happens and the idea of a person as an experiencer called “me” shows
up after the fact as an overlay. This is how investigating works: When you look for a controlling personal willing entity
you come up empty. This, Being Empty, IS your True Nature.
Stop here at I AM. Stay with that and refuse
to entertain the story that follows the simple pointer, I AM. That’s all there is to this seeing-knowing. The
search ends as it started … all by itself. Meanwhile stay with this pure I AM, witnessing all that is. Be what you are,
and refuse all identification as anything else bu that. I Love You.
M.F. writes a Follow-up: Thanks for the many replies [see below, scroll
down to late Jan. posts] to my ego-based ramblings. After reading them all, and sitting with the pointers, and trying
to "just be" this was seen: Presence-Awareness is what is illuminating everything. The deepest, most "egoic"
moments of suffering are only known through this Awareness. Everything exists within it. Although "i" believed that
distracting thoughts blocked "my" awareness, they were actually illuminated
by it, and could not have existed outside of it. The "me who i thought i was" also exists in the same Awareness. It has all
along. Everything is simply allowed; even false identification and stupidity. There is no being
aware...You simplyare aware!
YES. Awesome! Just one little "tweak" bubbles up here ... It is not actually
that "you" are aware ... it is that there is Awareness, and "you" are an appearance IN that. It's not "my" awareness or "your"
awareness.... it is unbounded impersonal emptiness filled with loving to be...
Anyway that is obviously preaching at the choir! As you noted, Although
"i" believed that distracting thoughts blocked "my" awareness, they were actually illuminated
by it, and could not have existed outside of it.
J.H. shares, Good Morning Charlie, The other evening while viewing one of your You-tube conversations filling up my monitor with your talking head as I gazed into your eyes, I experienced Truth. Consciousness
was communicating directly to Consciousness for there was no Charlie and there was no Jeff listening and viewing Charlie.
The experience in the limited communication of words was pure Oneness, just pure Oneness. Smiles!!
Welcome to the Home
You never left! Now, stay Present to the fact that the "experience of Oneness' arises and subsides in what You are ... Bare
Naked Awareness. THAT never changes. THAT thou art. Nothing else. Nothing that comes and goes passes the test of Ultimate
Reality. Not to preach to the choir; just a "cautionary" pointer. Love ya!
Dipping into a favorite book of "nondual poetry," the little volume "No Way"
by Ram Tzu (pen name of Wayne Liquorman), there was a rush of wanting-to-share. Here is a selection from the book; it's highly recommended and can be had
thru the link in this post.
You demand to know,
How can Ram Tzu laugh
As you are being tortured?
Can't he see you
being stretched
on a rack
of your own thoughts?
Can'e he see your pain
As your ego
Relentlessly turns the wheel?
Ram Tzu sees ...
You clutch the ropes
That appear to bind you
There are no knots.
Nothing else holds you down.
~ ~ ~
Ram Tzu knows this...
You may obliterate your body
But you will never kill your self.
When egos destroy their habitat
It is a monumental display of conceit
An infant throwing all its toys
Out of its playpen,
Pitiful as the chest pounding
Of a gorilla in a zoo.
Who is fooled by your posturing?
You are powerless
Devoid of substance
As free to choose as
Characters in a play.
What makes you believe
In your own reality?
Find the answer to this
And meet God.
~ ~ ~
Buy this book at Amazon through the link on our books page.
Hello charlie, just wanted to share. We
don’t know all is god because all is god. LOL. If all is movement, how would we even know all is movement without some
still "point" at which to judge from. If all is noise, how would we even know noise without a "point" at which to judge from.
If we were all thoughts, we wouldn’t even know thoughts unless there was "a part of us" that was not. We are bassackwards
:) Only god can see god. If all was blue, some wise guy might come along and speak about this "something" that is called blue,
and everyone would be looking for it or something. But all they see is blue, then they ask the question, what is blue. to
no avail... anywho, just a childs thoughts... a reply would be greatly appreciated.
There is NO
GOD … and… YOU ARE GOD.
This is Nothing
arising as Everything, appearing separate and seeming personal until it isn’t. God, how wild is that!? Thanks you for
Your Silence, I AM.
There is absolutely
NOTHING TO GET.
Got it?
Thanks for
sharing! Thanks for BEING. Thanks for nothing … that’s the supreme unknowable aliveness that you are in reality.
Wow. Love. Being.
My old friend Werner Erhard once noted, "In Zen, they say there's the high road to enlightenment and the low road. I took the low road.
On the low road, you do everything that doesn't work."
"Me" too. And, SO WHAT? :-)) "My" gory story is in the book "Life After Death." A brief bio is here.)
He also said in a seminar in Dublin a few years ago, "I try to treat people with ruthless
compassion because I don't see them as frail or weak. I have no love for suffering and don't want to elevate it to any glory."
A Last Follow-up
from A.S.R.: Hello Charlie, I've arrived at home, the home I never left. It's all been seen, is being seen. It's
seen that it's always been this way. Thank you, you dear piece of oneness for your audio asking your callers "What wakes you
up in the morning?". As soon as I heard that question, "I don't know" filled the mind and left these lips. And in a crazy
moment there was a knowing that I didn't KNOW anything. What wakes me in the morning, where my feelings come from, where
my thoughts come from.... There wasn't a clue.
The mind gave up.
And "I" (LOL, gotta use the word for convenience)
clearly saw and (the seeing goes on) that pain, jealousy, anger, embarrassment, joy, bliss, elation: these all arise for no
reason whatsoever and they always did, for absolutely NO ONE. And the doubt, that kept coming back and back (and still does)
is arising for NO ONE. The frustration at "not getting something" had nothing to do with a "me". It was simply a feeling arising
in tandem with an arising thought. And frustration still arises, but it is clearly seen: It arises for absolutely NO ONE.
And "my" life goes on exactly as before. A freakin' paradox! Love, A
A.G. Says, Thank you for sending the Nowsletter and the latest meeting audio. Hope
you are well and still playing hardball. Speaking from here, it [the earlier Nowsletter, "Let's Play Hardball] was
a breath of fresh air that "cuts through the bull and down to the bone." That was the type of sharing that was needed here.
Happy to hear ... love is sometimes "ruthless."
Note: Many others have shared that the impact of the "Hardball" MP3 dialogue has been entirely
welcome and extremely helpful to them, and they've seen their own ignorance in stark relief, which allows the seeing that
what they are is no thing that mind can grasp or experience can feel. And in this Unknowing Being, there is the Freedom of
the Natural and Eternal IS-ness, awaring as I AM.
A few have been offended by "Hardball." Others write "enlightened prose" and claim that
their being offended is "simply what is arising." Such posts have been ignored or deleted. The message stands alone.
To paraphrase the poet ee cummings, "If you can take it, take it and BE. If NOT, cheer up,
go about other people's business, and do or undo till you drop!"
Q: (Follow-up) There is still no sense
or "shift" to the being or noticing of the "space" as the reality. I know you either is
or you ain't in regards to dropping of this sense of separation and
clear seeing. My deep feeling is "who cares" as it's only the ego that wants this (funny, the ego wanting it's own demise).
Is this simple awareness there is the sensing of something aware of "me" being aware, the knowing that
there is acceptance happening without an acceptor. When looking inward
for a "me", empty space is all that is perceived, yet no cigar!
What is missing? Awareness still seems to be felt within the
space in my skull, although it is known to encompass it and everything else, including these thoughts. It still feels like
winning the "booby prize" but with bits of clear seeing or knowing here and there.
You are
the man who knew too much, my friend. You say, "There is still no sense or "shift" to the being or noticing of
the "space." YOU CANNOT GET AWAY FROM Being-Space. And if you are waiting for a "shift" you are gonna wait FOREVER. That
is not a person’sReality … not anyone’s Reality. That
IS Unaware-Of-Itself Reality... for no one and everyone. All else is a bullshit story the mind tells itself. It is all self-reinforcing
... tautological! The perceiver you still take yourself to be that “perceives” empty space is the false
sense of being separate and that asserts itself due to lack of deep investigation. WHO or WHAT IS that “perceiver?”
LOOK ... RIGHT NOW
… Who is writing all that? Who types, who thinks, who are you to yourself and for yourself? What do you take your
self to be? Everything appears and unappears IN Awareness. That is NEVER absent. These " bits
of clear seeing or knowing here and there" arise and subside IN what You are. This what you are is NOT an object you
can grasp or know. You are chasing your own tail. LOOK: There is noticing or seeing or knowing that or not, arising IN that.
This Being IS and cannot be denied or attained by thought. IT IS. So what? Who cares?
All that is happening
is you take a thought, a story and a storyteller, which is a temporary appearance in what You are, to be the actual ...
there is no person, only a thought of a "me." LOOK for this me rather than buying the false assertion of thought reinforcing
itself in an endless suffering tautology.
There is nowhere to
go and nothing to get!
That's all there is
to get.
Little “me”
or little “you” are waves denying their essence as ocean. It’s ignorance coupled with arrogance… divine
perfect being arising as ignorance and arrogance. It’s LOVELY!
DROP IT ALL AND DWELL IN AND AS NOT KNOWING, CLUELESS
TIMELESS BEING. Perfect Peace. This is the Real You... The Unborn Presence of Being. Here and now you are THAT and THAT Alone
(All One.) Do not trade the Unborn Aliveness of NON-conceptual Awakeness for the paltry little thoughts of a "me" that is
but a phantom. You take a ghost to be real. Correcting that error is what Nonduality points to.
When looking inward
for a "me", empty space is all that is perceived, yet no cigar! what is missing?
That empty Space IS
your True Self. THAT is never missing. It is not that there is anything missing ... it's that there is a still a false
sense of "me" wanting more or better or different than the Emptiness of Being-Awareness-Peace.
There are no cigars on offer here. No kidding
... there is NOTHING to get.
Got that? :-)
Finally,
LOOK ... Realize ... NOW ... if you had a choice, you would NEVER give up the ghost; NEVER let go of the illusion of "being
a person." So: While there IS no chice, if you believe you are real as you seem to do, then INVESTIGATE. Who IS this "me?"
WHAT IS IT? WHERE IS IT?
Find out
right now.
PONDER ..."It's an illusion that 'you' exist--the entity
'you' is imagined. The imagination that 'you' exist as something or someone separate is the cause of acceptance or rejection
of something known. It is illusion telling the story of its own deception. The knower and the known are just concepts seemingly
dividing natural non-conceptual knowing. Believing in the thought 'I am' gives seeming reality to the objective world which
is constantly changing, yet everything in essence is that changeless natural knowing--nothing else."- 'Sailor' Bob Adamson
A.G. Says, Thank you for sending the Nowsletter and the latest meeting audio. Hope
you are well and still playing hardball. Speaking from here, it [the erlier Nowsletter, "Let's Play Hardball"] was a
breath of fresh air that "cuts through the bull and down to the bone." That was the type of sharing that was needed here.
Happy to hear ... love is sometimes ... "ruthless."
The mind sees contradiction where what is actually
arising is PARADOX. The essence of the paradox of nonduality is that a) there is no person and b) so long as there is the
assumption, the belief, that you are a person inquiry is advised. While in truth there is no person, until that is the Being-Actuality
and NOT merely a belief in being no-one, some intervention so advised by those who have seen the Real and discarded the false
and are encouraging you to do the same in various ways unique to the particular organism’s expression of the inexpressible.
In my view all those you name are in this category. SIT with the paradox. Be with this paradox. Don't try to resolve it; let
it sit there like a brick in your lap. See what crumbles as this is sat with so to speak. It is an old pointer that
the guardians at the gateless gate of Truth are Paradox and Confusion. Confusion is NOT KNOWING. Be in Not Knowing. Be with
the Paradox.
More feedback from “Hardball:” N.S.
writes, Loved the audio. As usual you cut through the bullshit and pull no punches. There is so much shit out there. I
spent some time with the teachings from a guy in California who talks about past lives and how we can "heal" ourselves. I
tuned into a live conference of his on the internet a while ago and left after half an hour after hearing enough bullshit.
These guys keep stringing people along promising enlightenment and paradise. Just keep paying and someday you'll get it!
Yep, that’s the Great Con game of “conceptual enlightenment” ... the myth of "someday."
B.C. Offers the perspective of one "in the trenches:" It is nice to hear
someone apply some non-duality to suicide. Aint no one here to kill. Never was. It is nice to remember after a long week
of work and stress that all of this is just a three dimensional movie that doesn't mean anything. It comes, it goes. It isn't
important. Nothing is important, so just enjoy the ride. He was going to kill himself in 2009? Most of the people "I" deal
with as a 911 operator want to kill themself right now. Then police, fire department and ambulance rush out there to help
keep that person alive so he can suffer a little while longer....hahaha... People who aren't ready to "die" call someone to
say they want to kill theirself. People who WERE ready to die are found by their relatives. But "you" know that. And none
of this is important. This whole existence is just an illusion and there is no me sending an email to a you
and this whole exercise is a waste of fucking time because "I" could have been playing World of Warcraft for the last hour...hahaha.
Have a good day!
Seth says, regarding the "Hardball" conversation: I picked my '09 date
for finally doing the deed [suicide] after listening to your youtube videos and stopping my practices. I have been seriously
on the verge of doing it 6 or 7 times, four of those times happened right after my consultation with you! What
kept me from doing it? A wise and gentle person said- if you're feeling worse after heading Charlie's advice, then his advice
is not for you. I'm done with nonduality... and you're a joke if you see that consultation as a success or leading to an opening.
Yes, my pointers are clearly NOT right for you. I sensed an opening, as you
said you felt a sense of peace. But obviously I was mistaken. I am sorry to hear that.
I am refunding your consultation donation.
GET MEDICAL HELP!
On my website home page, I clearly state, " NOTE If there is persistent
and deep psychological suffering, please make sure there is not a physical component. If you have thoughts of suicide there
may be a mechanical element ... get a good physician and/or psychiatrist (NOT a psychologist) to look at the machine and see
if it has some chemical imbalance. Non-duality is NOT a substitute for proper medical assessment and care!"
As someone who
has often contemplated suicide himself ... I thought the "hardball" diatribe was very powerful. I wonder how many
"others" listening discovered that "you" were directly addressing "them".
I am very glad to hear that it resonates...
as "someone" who also seriously contemplated suicide, there is a compassionate ruthlessness out of The Unborn that can arise
and free one from that story; that happened here and so the expression arises when "others" seem stuck into ttaht ide of self-destruction
as a way to escape what is.
Ultimately: All is resolved in The
Unborn. Effortlessly and un-caused.
Thanks for sharing this... I Love
You Absolutely! Be well!
P.J. Writes, also in
response to the Nowsletter "Lets Play hardball":
Hi Charlie, Every
time one of those delicious raindrops called "emails from Charlie" show up in my inbox it feels like Christmas-thanks!
Really loving this post today ("Hardball"), and am thrilled to have the opportunity to get to know another of your friends
- Werner. As with many contemporaries, his a name that has always been "around", and
even though we did not "do" EST, its' fragrance has shown up at the most unanticipated times, and looking at it in the context
of non-duality will be cool. And to see there's a racing connection-something to keep me attuned waiting for the Australian Grand Prix!
Also, thanks to your mentions,
I've had the singularly wonderful experience of reading and feeling Sailor Bob's thoughts and pointers. Just finished
James Braha's book, and it points to one of the most "real" and satisfying fruits of meeting these 'nondual friends'-this
sense of meeting real people, and knowing them as eternal friends, as I also feel from your words. Have to check out
your book soon.
Hi Peter, Yes Werner
IS an awesome Presence and many pointers that came out of that organism have found their way into the lexicon of this sharing.
I love him absolutely!!
You can check out the
book right now! I am attaching a copy of the e-book version at no charge.
A seeker
writes a response to the Nowsletter, "Lets Play Hardball:" Referring to the
open conversation shared in the last Nowsletter (MP3, "Hardball"), the seeker writes, "Charlie, I can't imagine John Wheeler
treating anyone the way you did that man. A suicidal person needs psychiatric help, not abuse. I can't support your
work anymore if this is how you treat people."
I do thank you for honestly sharing your assessment. Please understand that the
ruthlessly compassionate attempt from no-one nowhere was a happening appearing, to wake that false "seth-entity" up to seek
psychiatric help. Nonduality is NOT a substitute for that and I believe that Seth knows that. I hesitated to send that dialogue
out as I speculated that some egos would be offended, but it so happened that it got sent. No-one does any of this! That is
a key pointer in all this sharing, which comes on and happens.
I don't know if there will ever be another meeting or consultation. Nobody knows,
nobody does anything. When that point is missed the ego gets knotted up in right-wrong ideas and that also happens with no
doer. Seth had a huge opening and if you didn't hear that you might want to notice what "your" ego focused on!
There are many others who have shared that this dialogue helped them see their
own mind-lies. It opened up a seeing for them. So it is.
I am not a John Wheeler or Bob or Tony or anyone else appearing to share
their expression of this inexpressible Being and I abide by NO rules. Nisargadatta's expression was similar when it was needed.
And I ain't him either. I AM NO-ONE.
In any case, there is no work to support and yet, again, I do thank you for honestly
sharing your assessment. I Love You.
A.R. Logs In and Says, So, darling, how's your new Shtick working
for you? Just don't get too entrenched in it Charlie.
Or you just might think you're real.
no-one here, no-one there
no-one being every-where
Only Love is Real. No-one knows That.
Best to you, as always,
Charlie
;-) i c all is well in O klah *om* a.E T called home.Love ya, A.
A few days after our talk, after
I stated I felt like "plain oatmeal and was just exhausted.” You suggested just sit with that. All I did was sit with
it. In fact that's all I COULD do. No choice involved. I was just there sitting with all the exhaustion. Then I sat with other
things that begin to arise. Emotions, thoughts. I would get up and just be with it. Again, that's all I COULD do. Then one
night while driving, I was just sitting with thoughts that were arising. And there was the sense that I was sitting with not
only sitting with thoughts and observing them but there was the sense of sitting with the "I" sense and presence. Just as
if there is this "person" and it was the real "me'' that was sitting with everything was open, wide peaceful nothingness observing
the little invented "I' Very hard to describe this. Anyway, the openness and peaceful nothing that was observing this "I"
energy is what has remained. And whenever the thoughts come up or a worry about "me" comes up it seems to have as much validity
as thinking something like...."I wonder if Santa Claus is cold." I don't feel like "I've got it". If I were pressed to say
anything... about "spiritual path progress" I would have to say, "I've lost
it."
BINGO!
There is just nothing that seems
as serious or important as it use to. There are times of course the thoughts cause an emotion but it quickly passes through
as it is sat with. OK. I guess, you're thinking "Gee I just asked "How you were?" "It wasn't an essay question girl." LOL
-But I wanted to share. :) Thanks for listening,
This is all very, very
beautiful. The conclusion, "I lost it all." As has been pointed out, until the idea that it's "my" life has been lost there
is always doubt, confusion, seeking and suffering. You are Life Itself. Now, that's known by no-one and that is absolute freedom.
Well done. Love ya.
Follow-up from S.G. - Ahhhhh, sweet home. The effort is to stay "out" of
the Real. To be OneSelf .... nothing is required. I don´t find the words to express that .... awaking from a dream is the
LIVE . And if the dream is a nightmare............. awaking [to that dream] is [seemingly] needed. Thank you for your help,
because i think the help is really more inside than a book. And you send me the book but send me too a lot of more. If
there is no one, the imaginated boundaries it´s no a problem.
Very well stated. Welcome to the Home you never left ... your Real Self, infinite,
unbounded and supremely FREE. I Love You.
The question arises
when the understanding is incomplete, “What about these things in my life that are not working, like addictions, or
irresponsible behavior by my spouse, am I to simply ignore those things because after all there is no me that can do anything
about it? Am I simply to accept it allbecause
it’sreally not happening to anyone?”
This is in my view
a perversion of the pointers, wherein a conceptual pointer is taken on by the identity, the “I” –sense,
to be some new “gospel truth.” While it is ultimately true that there is no one, the belief in that is just another
manifestation of ignorance. To know that there is no person and to BE that there is no person are night and day apart. The
first is a false belief that is still dualistic; the second is the actuality of Noumenal “Being Lived” as some
say.
A while back I recorded
many hours of the Indian Advaita teacher-guru Ramesh Balsekar’s talks to digitize and make into MP3s for The Advaita
Fellowship as a service to the guru Wayne Liquorman. I found many profound pointers and as I listened many insights happened.
One of those was his notion of “acting as if” you have free will to choose and take action against those things
that do not work in the life. Acting as if you have volition, knowing full well you do not, is a powerful way to deal with
these kinds of issues. And it is easy because all your life since the idea of a “me” arrived, you have been doing
just that. Self-knowledge ultimately shows you that you ARE infinite freedom, power and love, and along the way to that finality
there may be delusions of powerfulness or powerlessness of the ego-I but there is no problem with that unless you are believing
concepts and taking the false to be true and the true to be false.
Robert DeRopp wrote:
“Follow the example of the French existentialists and flourish a banner bearing the word, ‘engagement.’
Though nothing means anything and all roads are marked ‘no exit,’ yet move as if your movements had some purpose.
If life does not seem to offer a game worth playing, then invent one. For it must be clear, even to the most clouded intelligence,
that any game is better than no game.” – from “The Master Game”
Now, consider this
from Ramesh:
"Knowing that he cannot live according to his will or volition,
that he is in fact 'being lived' (as an instrument of the Totality), he also knows the futility of 'intentions'. By abstaining
from volition the man of wisdom is free of anxiety and misery, because then he transcends conceptualization which is the basis
of volition and intention. Knowing that he is being lived, the man of wisdom transcends both volitional action and its counterpart,
volitional non-action: volitional non-doing is also doing. It is for this reason that the man of wisdom goes about his business
in the ordinary way without any intentions, without any lime of doership.
"It is only the 'me'-concept that can have intentions because
'will' and 'ego' are synonymous terms. Thus the absence of volition in the case of the man of wisdom does not mean phenomenal
inaction but the absence of volitional action (positive or negative). The absence of volitional phenomenal action can only
mean the presence of noumenal action. In other words, the non-volitional action of the man of wisdom (whether perceptive,
conceptive, or somatic) is noumenal action, the non-action of the sage (because the 'me' and his intention are totally absent).*
"It is when the mind gets involved that a problem becomes a problem. Otherwise
it is just a thought. And if that thought is merely witnessed, it disappears."
*Noumenal
refers to noumenon which is what IS (no thing) where phenomenal refers to that wihich only appears to be. Noumenon is real,
phenomenon is not-real appearing real.
Follow-up: [Is it a matter of] staying in a place of non-judgment awareness,
being lived, so that one can hear the quiet instructions from the Creator, being then, aligned with His/Her will to be done?
As I said, yes that can happen but the false persona cannot "do this. Now hear
this. There IS no creator, no Big Dude issuing commands. That is a story the ego tells to avoid the brute fact that the insecure
little ego-mind "thinker" is absolutely powerless. This idea of a "creator" is pure dualism and is coming out of the ignorant
paradigm of separateness ... "I and Other-Than-I." It's wanting mommy or daddy to take care of "me" and support "me." Impossible!
The me is false and so is this story of a "creator." See that now and stop telling yourself lies ... be what you are, consciousness,
witnessing all this. Full Stop.
Read and ponder the pointers on the "Basics" page, let those resonate and settle in, and write again in a few days if you like. I Love You.
Q: Let's say, for instance, that a person is married to someone who has
an active addiction. Now, are the things that are going on behind that person's back supposed to be ignored because they're
really not happening to anyone? I mean, if you notice that all the money's gone out of the account, or something like that,
do you just say, "hmmm, that's interesting" and just Be?
Rather than posing hypotheticals: Is this you? Are you going through having
the money disappear etc? We need to keep it real, YOUR life is the only thing you can deal with; your questions, your
doubts, your confusion, we can address. Ask a personal question and let's see what arises.
Q: It dawned on me this morning that maybe it
is the I that believes it is seeing I am nothing, rather than nothing seeing it is nothing.
That is what's happening. This is "knowing I am nothing" and is a step into
Being and back into "me." There is nothing that needs to be "done about that." Realization of Being Nothing comes about naturally
just like breathing. This "stage" is one where it's still "means something" that life and you are empty and meaningless. No
worries, all is ultimately resolved (dissolved) in The Unborn. Nothing cannot see itself as nothing! Space cannot divide itself
to "know itself." All the tail chasing the seeker is caught up in happens all by itself and the end happens all by itself.
Hearing and seeing this there may be a relaxing about it all. In the final seeing no-one sees. In the ultimate knowing no-one
knows. THIS is the open secret that nobody knows. You are I. I is you. You are all. All is not therefore it is. Words!
It is empty and meaningless that it's empty and meaningless.
... and then there was word :-) ..........yours
have such authenticity, thank you for sharing......
Q: This body-mind's conscious field is filled with thoughts like suicide.
Willing to disidentify with this thought is impossible.Can you give me your thoughts on the topic
of suicide? Has Nisargadatta, Ramesh, Tony, or any of these non-duality guys touched on this topic?
Were they able to shed some light on this?
This is ALL mistaken identity. All thoughts come and go including "suicide" ones. What never comes and goes? Being. The
idea that one could kill The Self is an arrogant ego-mind that resists being empty and meaningless. This makes the emptiness
that you are mean something about you. All that is simply the movement of life-energy happening. Believing it is happening
"to me" is the root of suffering. Where IS this me? Do you find one? Seek the self you believe you can kill by offing the
body. Find that if you can.
Forget what anyone else says about this. Look into this for yourself. Have another look at the "Basics" page on the website for more on the process you find yourself in and do stay in touch. And if suicidal thoughts persist
seek psychiatric help; non-duality is not a substitute for proper diagnosis of what may simply be a brain chemistry issue.
Meds like anti-depressants MAY help with that.
Read this text from Adi Shankara also:
WHO AM I?
“Manobudhyahamkara chitani naham,
Na cha stotra jihve, na cha grahnganethre
Na cha vyoma bhumir na thejo na vayu:
Chit ananda rupam shivoham shivoham”
I am not mind, intellect, thought or ego.
I am not the ears that hear not the eyes that see.
I am not the five elements that make this world,
nor am I this earth or the air.
I am Pure Bliss embodied
I am Shiva! I Am Shiva!
“Na cha prana samjno na vai pancha vayu:
Na va saptha dhatur na va pancha koshah
Na vakpani padam na chopastapayu:
Chidananda rupam shivoham shivoham”
I am not the prana or the 5 vital airs
I am neither the material of the body nor the five sheaths
Neither am I organs of action, nor the object of sense
I am pure Bliss embodied
I am Shiva! I Am Shiva!
“Na me dvesha ragau, na me lobha mohau
Mado naiva me naiva matsarya bhavah
Na dharmo na cha artho na kamo na moksha:
Chidananda rupam shivoham shivoham”
I have neither aversion, nor attachment, neither greed nor delusion
Neither egotism nor envy, neither dharma nor moksha
I am neither desire nor the object of desire.
I am pure embodied Bliss
I am Shiva! I Am Shiva!
Na punyam na papam na soukhyam na dhukam
Na mantro na thirdo na veda na yagnya
Aham bhojanam naiva bhoktam cha bhokta
Chidananda rupam shivoham shivoham”
I am neither sin nor virtue, neither pleasure nor pain
Nor temple nor worship, nor pilgrimage nor scriptures
I am neither the act of enjoying, the enjoyable nor the enjoyer
Q: I like your
videos and your website very much! I do everything that you recommend to do... but now I think I am not ready yet.
Hi, thanks very much
for writing and sharing your apparent process. Now let's LOOK: Who thinks these thoughts? Do you control thoughts or
do they simply bubble into the space of awareness? This one-letter word-thought “I” … is that what you are?
Is that a doer at all? That "I" thought comes and goes. What never comes or goes? See this right now: Awareness is what
is unchanging, the silent still backdrop, and thoughts that come and go do not ever touch or alter That. Thinking IS happening.
Doing IS happening. Apparently! But WHO (or WHAT) does this thinking or doing? Can that thought-word “I”
ACTUALLY do or not do anything at all? Look into this.
The most "awakened"
say you can absolutely do nothing to see the truth and I think they are right, because I tried so much.
Again who thinks? There
are NO “most awakened." That’s a story the thoughts in the Awareness tell. There are NO awake persons.”
Those who share this are clear about that and never claim to be “awakened NOR do the claim anyone else is NOT ”awakened.”
Embrace the PARADOX: While it is true that there is no person, so long as there SEEMS to be a person you call "I", committedly
look for that entity and see where it is, see if it is real at all.
I know that I exist;
beingness is the only constant.
FULL STOP! However
when that is only an intellectual "understanding," "knowing” that is the booby prize. What is the unchanging Awareness
in which that story of knowing arises? That’s what’s being overlooked!
But there is no
realisation of that and I get involved in emotions and thoughts every day.
There will never
BE "realization" for "you!" Look again: WHO gets involved? Involvement happens. That’s LIFE! The false overlay of an
“owner-manager-doer” called “I” that assumes IT is "involved" is simply not being seen for what
it is … a story arising and subsiding again in Awareness. Your real natural state of Being IS that Awareness and NOT
the “content” – the I thought – that is mistakenly taken to be who you are. It’s simple: YOU
IS. Everything … all the stories, emotions, thoughts, identifications as a thought, a name, a form arises and disappears
IN that Is-ness, like storms in an ever-empty untouchable space of clear shining sky.
There is the feeling of getting insane; sometimes I have headaches from all the thoughts in my head.
That can be a signal
that something profound is happening. Many others have shared similar happenings as the end of the false ego drew near. It
happened to "me" also.
I am living a total
introverted life. Is consciousness playing that mad game with me?
What makes you think
YOU "think" and YOU "have" this or that, and YOU "do" living? Who believes there is a "thing" called "consciousness"
"playing" with "me?" WHO and WHERE IS this "me?" Find the source of these thoughts and feelings.
Can I do anything
that reduces the psychological pain or does it stop naturally in some years, or maybe never!? Do I have any choice?
Who asks these questions?
Look for that asker, that thinker, until there is no doubt that your natural Awareness of being is the only Reality and all
else is a dream-appearance happening to no-one. Read the “basics” page a few times and read the book “No Way Out” (I am attaching a free copy of the e-book version herewith.) And stay in touch. Keep going! I Love You.
Follow-up: thank you very very much! There is the beginning of seeing this (clearer), your pointers are very helpful
:-)They remind. And thank you for the book.
S.G. Writes this Follow-up: Hello Charlie. Wow, it’s like all is
a movement of call it "Grace”. I’m fascinated. All happens at the right moment, no before, no after.
Your presence is tangible. Yes. Many thanks. It’s wonderful to remove the cataracts
of ignorance. You can spend all your existence rejoicing in the embrace of God. Why
i should doubt , than I’m other tan God ? Why doubt that He is the Only and the One ever? In all forms, without a form,
embracing, swinging, breastfeeding, birthing, dying , and yet, remaining THE SAME. Much Love, Yours in One…
This is HOME! Only
Love is Real and You are That ...
S.G.
says, I´m reading the book “No Way Out.” Yes, it’s true. For the moment it’s ok, althoughthere is something mind stuff, like resisting or disbelieve. I encounter this is
mind stuff because when i´m reading it it´s all good, all peace, bu´t after the mind continues "his work", his terror work.
Any hint ?
Don’t
take the mind to be real. Look into this “mind:” What is it? What powers the thought process? What makes you believe
you are “you?” Ponder these things. And always "for the moment it is okay! Only when we take a thought of some
past or future ... which is energy arising as thoughts and taken to be "your" self and "your" thoughts about some memory of
a past and imagination of a future ... just see that all that energy-thought-feeling stuff is nothing but IMAGINATION. Only
imaginary identification and belief is separateness makes for suffering. Root that out with looking, inquiring. Use the book's
pointers as a guide to your own self-investigation and free yourself from these false concepts. You are Freedom. You are Living
aliveness. Don't refuse to BE that.
I
already read, Nisargadatta, Ranjit, Ramana, and etc etc, but for me the reading of this is something to trust, and as I encounter
your book it seems really more direct. It’s a surprise, really. I think all the books are pointing to the same, the
One, but for some reason, your book hits me more direct now.
Good
to hear. Just keep looking into this “I” thought. Is it a real separate thing? Or simply a thought that we took
to be who we are in innocent ignorance? Ponder this. Your suffering is the key to home, strangely enough, because suffering
prompts you to find your Source and be free of the false identification that is making suffering appear. So, just keep going!
Follow-up from M.F. - I think
you have hit on some important points that I was missing. Every time I re-read your reply, more is understood and some resonance
is struck. When searching before with naked awareness, no "me" was seen. I guess that the ego was only playing hide and
seek and was thought to be banished!
Accepting things as they
appear in the moment, without judgment by the mind is also understood, but as you said, there is apparently quite a bit of
"me" left to resist it, and cause suffering. In truth, there may be only intellectual agreement that "Awareness" is
my true nature, although it is seen so bright and clear. You are right.
That all happened here as well. It was very much
the same … it’s apparently pretty common. It was immediately clear when John Wheeler pointed it out in my first
phone consultation with him (prompted by the crystal clarity of his writings.) But then the reassertion of the me, unnoticed
but still in play, showed up as suffering. It was frustrating as hell because the clear seeing HAD happened and so the suffering
coming back was a bit of a bear. Subsequent conversations with John and Bob Adamson cleared it up.
The apparent ego was so stubborn that (unlike
you) I stopped listening for a while. But after going to Melbourne to visit with Bob Adamson, gradually the subtle remnants
of the false self-center were seen trough and there was less and less fixation.
The pointer regarding this from Nisargadatta is,
“suffering is a call for investigation.” To me the fact of suffering still happening is the proof that the fixation
on an entity called “myself” is still in play, as you are now seeing. So the antidote is investigation! Exploring
this with someone who no longer has that false belief can often be the final step. That was the case for me as I discussed
these things with the true Friend, the One appearing as (primarily) John Wheeler, Bob Adamson, and John Greven.
However lets be clear: This is ultimately a function
of Oneness Recognizing ItSelf!
In the words of John Wheeler, "The first expression of the unconditioned is the sense of being that is conscious of itself. This self-shining consciousness,
or pure sense of "I am", knows all else and also knows itself. It is the self-knowing light in which manifestation appears.
The light of consciousness emerges from a source that cannot be described or named. Nothing at all can be predicated of that
primordial reality. It cannot even be said to be or be conscious. It is the ultimate subjectivity, which cognizes even the
sense of being, consciousness and peace."
Being, Consciounsness, Peace or Exisiingness-Awareness-Aliveness... As in the Sanskrit, Sat-Chit-Ananda.
Not three not two not one. THIS is what You are. Start with That ... and Stop with That.
M.F. writes, If
there was a "me" it would be a devotee of Advaita. Through reading and phone conversations with many Teachers, most recently
John Wheeler, some resonance and seeing has occurred, and the "me" cannot be found, except in an occasional reflexive recollection.
Life is much more peaceful.
Sounds right on so
far.
Although there is
no one left to search, some seeking still seems to happen. It is clear that my True Nature is Awareness, but there is
still Awareness of thoughts wondering "is this really it"?
Being clear on this
is NOT necessarily the "final liberation." Let's look. These thoughts … do they get fixated on as being a thing happening
that should NOT be happening? Nothing is wrong with thoughts! These movements of thought can come and go and will, so long
as the organism lives on. The only problem that can arise when thoughts happen is when they are taken to be “my”
thoughts, and when these “thoughts of mine” are unwanted, resisted, and there comes an attempt to alter or correct
the thinking. If that happens suffering usually follows.
As far as wondering
“is this really it?” … Two responses. 1: YES, and 2: What or who is asking and wondering? There is no entity
controlling that or anything else and when there is still a remaining subtle identity as a thought-thinker or an object (body)
then there can still be some confusion and doubt because that entity has not REALLY been fully seen to be false.
John Wheeler talks
about Reality being prior to consciousness. The ground of being. What consciousness appears on.
Yes…. But keep
in presence the knowing that the words are pointers ONLY and NOT some cast-iron “truth.” As John would no doubt
remind you. You must recognize that this "ground of being" is NOT a thing that can be grasped or known...
All that is experienced
here is consciousness and everyday awareness and the seeing that "me" doesn't exist/never existed. Thoughts are seen as thoughts,
and allowed most of the time.
Your next sentence
belies this. It may be that this is only an “intellectual understanding.” THAT is the booby prize. This knowing
cannot be attained or retained. That may be the underlying issue here for you. We can look into this if you like.
Suffering still
occurs, although the mind can no longer find a "me" who is suffering. My body reflected in a mirror
still seems to be "me".
Suffering can only
be happening if there is still identification as a false "subject-me" who owns what is arising and more to the point, wants
what IS to be different, or better, and thereby suffering arises. ALL suffering indicates a subtle false identification as
a “me” arising in deep cover, deep background. So though you may believe the investigation is complete, this suffering
shows us that it is NOT. That core identity as "I am the body" is clearly still in play! ARE you the body? Who thinks yes?
Who tells and believes this story "I am the body in the mirror?" Experience follows deeply believed concepts. They are perfectly
correlated. "As a man thinketh ..."
Who is the identifier
that sees an image in the mirror and is convinced (wrongly) that the image is "me?" Keep looking... ultimately all this is
is a matter of taking yourself to be a false subject or an appearing object. Right now, look for what is NOT an object appearing
in space. Find what is NOT any "object" NOR any "subject." The pointer here is, what you are is neither an object nor a subject.
Discovering this is the end of seeking for real, not as a believed-in concept nor as a passing experience. This non-subject
non-object Being is what is eternally Real and is both unavoidable, and inconceivable to the grasping mind. Can space
see itself?
Any Pointers?
See how these do. And,
quite often we find the these subtle “end game”issues are best addressed
in a One to One … feel free to call if you’d like to explore and root out the final causes of this suffering.
There is NO “state of enlightenment.”
“States” are experiences in awareness that come and go. The classic example is of the “sage” who asked
for a bowl of rice to be brought to him. Then while waiting he meditated and entered a “state of samadhi” (so-called
transcendental union or oneness) … then he came out a week later, in an empty room, and looked around and shouted, where’s
my rice? That state passed as all states must. What is it about "you” that NEVER changes? Look at that one.
What we call enlightenment here (for
want of any accurate term!) is the simple seeing that only what never changes … your inescapable Being-Awareness-Aliveness
… is Real. ALL that comes and goes is a dream-like appearance arising out of nowhere in the Absolute Being-Prior-To-Awareness
… and THat is the ONLY unchanging Reality … the so-called Eternal
State. (The use of the word “state” here is poetic. It is really more accurate poetically pointed to as “The
Stateless State.” Words divide the whole, but only apparently!)
You are dreaming that you are awake,
dreaming that you are asleep, dreaming that you are dreaming. All three “relative” states of Consciousness are
dream states arising, as already said, IN or ON the Absolute Unknowing Being that you truly are (the idea of you appears in
THAT … the Timeless Spaceless Unborn Absolute You…) words seem to make That an object known by a subject so do
recognize that all words only point to That which is ultimately totally BEYOND describing or representation and CANNOT be
grasped! In short do NOT believe or accept a word of this or any other pointer as some “truth.”
Now a dream character tyeps and a dream charcter
reads. Being, Being This and That, Being Itself and nothing but That is Real.
Being Is all there ever was is will be and not
a thing or even no thiong exists that is NOT Being. Being divine, being mundane. Being bondage, Being Liberation, Being Ignorance
and Being Wisdom. All there is, is Being. Who says they are not Being? What claims to be separate from being? Only Being.
No Way
Out, No Way In, No Way
Through.
This too is Being, Being One, Being Many, Being
the nothing of empty meaningless Space, Being Time, Being yesterday tomorrow today.
There is ONLY Being. You are both That and Not
That.
This is IT and that’s That. Love hate War
Peace Nothing Everything.
"I remember you had mentioned that "I" comes into play at the age of 2.
I want your opinion on what would be a good way to raise a kid. A cousin of mine has a 2 year old kid. What advice would you
give to raise a kid so that the kid lives a life of free of suffering?"
The assumption here is that there is some ability to control what happens.
There is not.
There is NO person.
When that is recognized fully all ideas of advising and opining become what
they are ... nonsense.
I suggest that you look at who asked this question? Who would give advice and
to whom?
All questions based on that core false premise, the erroneous assumption of
"personhood," will only always yield bullshit answers! :-)
Q: Logically, I cannot be anything
I can think. If I can think it, I cannot be it. Even the mind can see this. So thinking about this blows my mind for awhile,
then I have to get back to work and in a jiffy am back to (the habit of) believing I'm these thoughts! Amazing.
Believing "I am these thoughts?"
Is that true? The real test as far as I can tell is, are you suffering with these beliefs in thoughts? Or is there
just a naturally functioning brain that is able to do its work without a concern like "am I doing it right?" In the absence
of these me-myself worry-overlays the brain thinks and acts naturally, perfectly well, as Consciousness operates through
it and all is well as work is done by no doer. Get what I am pointing to? No problem with thoughts and beliefs so long as
there's no suffering! The "me" of a natural functioning organism is not a problem, not at all.
But then who or what IS this
"I" you say you are several times? And "my?" Who owns the thoughts? Who owns the work? IS there an owner?? Seeing through
the I and seeing that what you are is the Aware-Presence that the one-letter label "I" points to is what we offer
here...
D.S. Writes, I awakened to the nondual a little
over 2 years ago while in India.
Life is much simpler when there is know one that takes it seriously anymore. I joke with people saying that the meditative
God seeker named D. went to India
but never came back; he is probably still there seeking. I wanted to share with you a thought that came to me a couple
of weeks ago...it has to do with original sin, most Christians have the concept that everyone is sinner when born. I feel
what Jesus met by that was some thing totally different. To me the one sin if you even want to call it that but i will in
this context, is overlooking the Self that we truly are. Karma can only affect you when you identified with body or even the
soul. Suffering only hurts when there is a someone to suffer…
"My view" on this is that "original sin" (which
many translate as "mistake" or "to miss the mark") is simply, as you say, erroneously overlooking the natural ever-present
Being-Awareness which alone is what is Real. I would add that taking the thought "I am" to be "me" - seemingly displacing
the nondual Space-Like I AM of Non-conceptual Being - to be the key mistake in this illusory world-appearance... believing
"I am" a thought, a name, a form, a body, IS the mistake and when that is what we take the self to be, suffering is inevitable.
Seeing that the belief is false ends the confusion and leaves what already always IS ... Being-Awareness-Peace.
Anyway, all sounds right on. No D.S., no
suffering! This is Being, Home in the Heart Land. Thanks for sharing that!
Q: I am in great pain that medications no longer ease. What do I really
need to understand to see that I am not responsible for this pain - that I am not the feeler or the experiencer of this pain?
The understanding is less valuable than your actual experience. Did you create
the pain? Did you create the body that is enduring pain? Did you create your parents? Look in actual experience, NOT some
"spiritual story" or seminar leader assertion that "you are responsible, you cause your own pain. THAT is some truly evil
bullshit.
As to correctly understanding this happening: All stories are bullshit. Experience
alone is real in your own case. Do not buy any bullshit story of being responsible! If YOU are responsible for making the
pain happen, and you do not want this pain., HOW could you ever believe you are the cause of something you clearly do NOT
want? It's absolutely illogical to assume that the thought of a "me" can do or cause a damn thing!
What are you in Truth? Who is the "person" who you assume you are that owns
pain? Keep investigating that as best you can. This pain may just be your "personal invitation" to Paradise. Look at it as
such as best you can....
Just as a suggestion (we don't really know WHAT will "work") - Read and really
DO what Ramana Maharshi's Teachings on the Basics Page.
Nisargadatta Maharaj said,
Krishnamurti talks about the total manifestation, while I point out that which brought the manifest into existence. Whatever
is being done, if you think you are the doer, it’s the vanity in you. Krishnamurti is not a person; he is in that state
which I describe. The Supreme being is in everyone, a Jnani accepts this, only one in a million will realize it. Intellectual
experiences apart, most people only want some benefit through the body. Instead of only deriving benefit through the body,
stabilize in yourself, if your true identify is not realized, you will die with the body identity and name.
The knowledge ‘I am’
is at the very centre. From where do you experience the manifest world and body? Is it not because of the centre? If the centre
‘I am’ did not exist, would you experience the body? Give up the identity that you are a woman [or a man]; attachment
to male or female forms is itself an illusion.
Visitor: Intellectually I know
that femininity is an illusion but the predicament is that I am separate and yet…
M: Once you understand, then you
are not caught up in the predicament, you are liberated.
J.O. Writes, I'm beginning to think that either I'm not smart enough to understand this or
too afraid to put out the effort required to understand. What little understanding I have of the basics, that I am Awareness,
does not seem to go any deeper than, I am Aware of the world right now. There are moments, very brief moments, of some insight,
but no understanding as to how that could be what or where my freedom is. Maybe my understanding of what it means to be free,
awake, enlightened, etc. is still that flash of illuminating wisdom that takes away all problems, fears, confusion and leaves
one in state of ceaseless rapture, (which I know is false). Whatever it is or isn't I cannot find it here.
WHO thinks these things? Have you noticed that thoughts
just “show up” unbidden? If it is you thinking, why do “you” think these negative thoughts about yourself?
And what is the point of these self-damning sentences? Why would you want to limit your true Self? What is thinking? What
is moving the thoughts to arise? They are not there in deep sleep. In sleep there is no you and the body lives just fine without
your control or thought. So, WHO is the thinker here? You? If so, stop thinking and be. If not, have a look.
Stay with the basics as best you can: You know you ARE. That is
all there is to get, that Being IS and you are that. Inescapable and yet the mind cannot grasp that. If that is not accepted,
who disagrees? Who do you take yourself to be? A thing apart from All That Is? Who does that? You are what you seek. Full
Stop.
I enjoy your site and am hoping to take part in the call-in service that you have.
Q: I was reading your site and I like it
a lot. This Advaita approach is beautiful, simple and direct. and it cuts through a lot of crap! :) However, sometimes
I get the feeling that Advaita goes a bit too far and throws the baby out with the bath water. The baby, what is
the baby? Maybe you could call it the "inner me" or the "soul". What I mean is, I feel an inner richness now that I, as far
as I remember, didn't feel when I was much younger, in my early twenties, let's say. Concrete memories fade but something
remains, their essence. And this essence is 'me', the 'soul' that I am. I am indeed not the 'person', the main character
in the movie of this life. But on the other hand, I'm also not only an empty mirror, pure awareness, tabula rasa or whatever.
Sure, I am that, but I am also more, 'me' is more. I'm not only spirit, so to speak, I'm also soul, this soul. And this soul,
unlike the person, is real, it has substance. Or so it seems! :). My question is, I guess, is there any place for this 'inner
me' in your approach?
Thanks for
Being-In-Touch. :-) As Nisargadatta said, and is the expeirnec of this here, when I know I am nothing that is wisdom; when
I know I am everything that is Love. And this Life moves between these two. Life, not "my life.")
To me, the
"I Am Everything" is what you're trying to say is the "soul." That is IM-personal, Universal, Eternally bright and clear.
I like to change the spelling to point to how it's seen "here:" SOLE.
One. Sole.
That is what is pointed to with these words. Nothing, Being Everything.
So we basically
agree. The recognition of True-Nature Isness ... call it Soul or Sole ... is Being-Awareness-Aliveness, easy and peaceful
in itself as itself. One-Without-A-Second.
Thank you for answering! :) Yes, what Nisargadatta
said, I encountered that same quote a few weeks ago and, well, yes, yes ... See, I'm running out of words again, and not only
because English is not my first language. Can't say it, can you? Yes, we agree. :) Thank you, love you!
My friend John Wheeler writes,"Consciousness is a tool. It allows you to be
aware and investigate your own true nature. As long consciousness is available, it may be worthwhile to see who is the one
who has it!"
This points to the inescapable fact that Being IS and IN that Being, there is the appearance
of Consciousness, or "Wakefulness." What You are is Eternally Free and PRIOR to Wakefulness. Recognizing this is the final
step off the cliff, so to speak.
John's writings are highly recommended. Go HERE for more...
Follow-up
from S.M. ... Okay, so how can "I" know certainly that impermanence is absolute?
How can I even know that unknowing is absolute. "I" guess if all this speculation ends in this, that everything is unknowing
and that this is also unknowing, it isn't very useful to continue speculating. But how can "I" wisely act on compassion and
help "others" if everything concerning "others" is unknowing, how do "I" know that what "I" think is helping them is hurting
them. If all is unknowing what can "I" do wisely.
It is not that there is something OR nothing that you can do. There is no "you!" NO "I". So all concern about
that I and what it can or cannot do is based on the false assumption that there is an I with some ability to control ... to
do or not do anything.
So what can "you" do? Where is this doer? Answer the second question and you'll laugh at the first question.
How can it be known certainly that there is no I?
By looking.
It seems that clearing seeing
or hearing isn't a self, and everything "I" do seems to be from desires, and it has become normal for "me" to act on desire,
and desires seem to be impersonal, very separate from a "self." But in any case, what is compassion, is it just another desire.
When "I" begin to realize intuitively how all desire is from ignorance, will there be compassion. How can compassion be acted
upon if one is completely uncertain of how to help?
Who asks this? Find out.
Well, there is no self that thinks, thinking is separate from this "self," so if this self is not awareness, and
can't be separate from awareness, there is no self. So ultimately, no one asks the question, there is no question, everything
is dependent on everything, So what "I" think, or what is experienced as thinking may or may not be indicative of anything
real. "I" don't know who asks. Even this thought of compete unknowing is unknown, so I don't know if don't know... if I don't
know. It goes on and on. Complete unknown.
What are you up to here? Do you simply want to engage in a debate? If so go join a "spiritual group" that loves
to do that. There are plenty of those places. This place is NOT one of them. I have NO interest in that. I have answered
your questions with offers of ways of looking that end doubt, confusion, and psychological suffering. If you are suffering
and want to sincerely explore that in ways that can END that suffering, I am here for you. But I have NO interest in debating
concepts.
Listen to the madness of your ego. “I want to know how I can KNOW there no I!”
My sense of you is that you are
merely debating esoteric concepts and not really hearing the Message. IF you are sincere, and want to end your search for
Wholeness, than have a look into this site ... perhaps you'll find it ... illuminating: http://www.thenaturalstate.org/ If NOT? Well, that's what is, and so be it. Over and OUT.
With Only Love for The Real You I say, good luck, my friend. ___________________________________________________________________________________________
28 January
2008
Knowing
Without A "Knower"
S.M. asks, -
I've been thinking about the "cloud of the unknown," and I really don't understand how one could know something certainly,
without doubt, something that is definitely true. Thus, nothing can be known at all, everything is complete unknowing because
I can't say with certainty that one thing is more certain than another, everything is completely unknown.
Do you mean
“The Cloud Of Unknowing,” the old Christian mystical book? I will assume so for the response here…but first.
WHAT is this “I” “thinking”? Where IS that “I”? Is it real, solid, eternal? Or merely
a thought that comes and goes? What NEVER changes? Only what does NOT come and go is Real. What is THAT?
Keep it simple.
While essentially your understanding of not knowing is correct, there IS one thing that IS known beyond any doubt! The Self.
This Self-Knowledge is the dispeller of self-ignorance. Then, as NOW, there is ONLY Being and all else IS unknowable. As to
know a thing requires a false separation into a knower, a thing known. Know-ING IS the Real … that’s is what is
referred to by the great word-pointer, I AM THAT. So: You DO absolutely know that you exist! No one can assert, “I am
not.” I AM MUST be here first. Seeing this, that cloud of unknowing is dispelled. Clear seeing is knowing I AM BUT not
knowing I am this thing called “me” or that thing called “the body” or the other thing called “my
thought my feeling etc.” To repeat a core pointer, this knowing is devoid of knower/known. That is the tru stateless
state … the experiencing, living, aliveness itself. This is what You are.
Q: At
first I thought that many concepts could come out of this. "I don't know what I desire, I don't know who I am, I don't know
what is best for me." I thought a lot of accepted Buddhists concepts could come out of this, but then I thought that, because
there is complete unknowing, one could never know how to implement any of this, and that one couldn't know how to help another.
Killing someone may or may not be better than saving them. Then on top of that, can this unknowing be known? And if it can't
does that mean I ignore this concept altogether. Any pointers? (no pun intended)
See how the response above does. Everything happens and the idea of an I that thinks and a me that
does (killing or saving) IS the false identity asserting itself as a real personal do-er of actions. Who IS that one? What
drives that happening of thoughts and stories? Where is that I that is taken to be what you are? This is where the Great Question
that you never answer is of huge power: WHO AM I? WHERE IS this “ME?”
You ARE and that is Real. What you are is THIS … Only Being, Oneness. What is UNREAL is the “separation”
of knower and known. Seeing this once and for good ends the search forever.
M.P. Writes, Joan and Charlie, I've really
enjoyed the Interview. I found a link to this article http://www.heartofnow.com/files/other.writings.html#friend in Joan's website that describes a shift in our culture from dependence on gurus to friends communicating to one another.
That shift is reflected in your talk, two ordinary people sharing with other ordinary people in a real down to earth way.
If I've had a real spiritual discipline
in my life it would be working as a special ed teacher in public schools. Schools aren't particularly happy places anyway
and special ed kids, who are taught from the get go that they can't meet expectations, have a really hard time.
A lot of them have some things they can do really well but finding those for each kid is kind of a subsidiary task to the
main job of pounding these round pegs into the square hole. At age 5 they get plopped in a situation
where the skills that are the most frustrating and difficult are the skills they have to practice every day.
Most of the days in a special ed class are pretty hard days- even slightly hellish. In the beginning another teacher
asked me why I was wanting to do it- still don't know its just what life did with me wish like hell it had made
me a rich guy- and told me to expect some days to be nightmares. She was right.
Lately, I find myself talking to the kids
about how spaced out I was as a kid which is what I think prompted me into taking up this particular line of work. And
they want to give up and quit. They yell and lay there head down on their desk and I talk to them about how the thoughts
that "I" can't do this, just beats them and stops everything. I tell them that I get to thinking that teaching
them is too hard for me and when I believe that it makes the job way too hard. And, by god, they turn their heads
and pause, maybe for just a bit before they go back to raving again.
In the discussion of medication Joan mentioned
that we consider a beaver dam as natural and a skyscraper not. Richard Dawkins describes
a lake as an extended phenotype of a beaver. Skyscrapers and jet planes- all of it are extended phenotypes of humans.
This life is such a fascinating thing.
Beautifully articulated.
Thanks so much for sharing all of this. And thanks for permission to post this on line. Love you!
Follow-up #2 from Thailand:
As is known, it is tough to express oneself when dealing with the subject of Advaita because
nothing is happening, andthere is no you. That being said, I would like you
to know how much the conference call was appreciated. That was the first time that I had direct verbal contact with a teacher.
That is important because, as I have read (over and over) and as stated by yourself: Direct contact seems to be of more
value than books. I got off the phone feeling, for lack of a better term, lighter, and with the feeling of things resonating.
Sounds good, my friend.
Stay with the simplicity of this Aliveness, let it erase the false, leaving what already IS ... YOU: Being-Awareness, filling
the space that is with Aliveness.
J.B. Writes,
Great to hear you, to talk with you a couple of days ago... Like to bounce off something with you... Little incidents come
up. Reactivity. I talk on the phone with (a close friend)and get irritated
by something picayune. Who's pissed off? Me. Who am I? Who am I before I was born? But I "shouldn't" be reactive anymore!
Who shouldn't be reactive? Who should be perfectly unattached? Me. Who am I? Question: Is this about how the investigation
goes?
Get to the bottom. DROP all thoughts except one:
Who Am I? In other words, rather than deal with individual “issues” (reactivity, shoulds, shouldn’t’s,
before birth etc.) ... STOP … justSTAY WITH Who Am I?!
Now do understand that there is no “you”
who can self-inquire … or not! It happens. Everything happens and then we said, “I did it.” But as long
as there’s a sense of being a person, once the nondual bug has bit and your head goes in the tigers mouth (to mix a
few metaphors) than the investigation and some guidance for that from outside of creation can and quite often does arise all
by itself and then there’s the happening of seeing clearly and the dropping away of the false. It happens or not; you
can neither cause or prevent … why? In Reality you are a dreamed character and what can a dreamed character do or not
do to awaken or not awaken? Nothing!
Question: Ramana seems to hint you should
investigate every thought. Unless I'm on a hike around the lake I feel like I'm catching about 1% of the critters.
Around the lake the percentage maybe goes up to 10! What to do?
Answered above.
Who's the doer? Me. Who am I? Who hikes? Me...
Just who am I?... Where am I?... Who am I before I'm born?
Follow-up from Thailand:
Thank you so much for taking the time for me. P.S. I have read "Oneness" by John Greven, many times.
This points out what
John Wheeler reminded me of as he was helping me in working this out; you can’t “get it” from a book, no
matter how clear or direct it seems. I don’t make that a “rule,” but it points to the fact that most books
are necessarily for the intellect, the mind, and some like poetry more for the “feeling nature” or “emotions.
Consider e.e. cummings, who wrote, “…who pays any
attention to the syntax of things will never wholly kiss you”. I was very well read, having studied various teachings,
most of which were non-dual, for the better part of thirty years. When I met John and began direct phone and e-mail dialogues
with him, something different began to happen. You could call it, “Heart to Heart” (the ONE Heart appearing as
Two yet never divided).
And ultimately what
John had discovered, which he shared with me, and what I discovered as a result, is that there seems to be a necessity to
get into the doubts and confusions directly “one to one” with someone whose search has ended and can guide you,
so to say, from "outside of creation". Being to Being, in a manner of speaking. Not two beings in communication, but One Being
Communing … in and with Its Self.
All that notwithstanding,
I really like your original question, and want to offer another “take” from the Absolute Unknowable:
Question: “If
I am not the doer....How can "I" do anything to bring about "Realization"? How can "I" do self inquiry? If I ask (enquire) "Who
Am I" isn't that coming from the character in the play that is being lived, and if so, isn't that just
another part of the story?”
Simple answer? YES.
Now ask yourself these questions. See what arises, for no one. Bottom line is, all there is, IS Being appearing as Everything.
Code name: YOU.
Tat Tvam Asi. That,
Thou Art. This is the secret that nobody knows. This, is Love. Full Stop.
My (dream) take on
this: is that possibly ("I", obviously, do not know for sure). "GRACE" has brought me to the river's edge...within the story ... which is still
and can only be the "ONE". All Sages/Gurus appear in all aspirant's stories… Perhaps that is how it is for everyone,
for there is NO doing ... NO EXCEPTIONS. My "dream" question is: Will the penny ever drop????????.... NO GUARANTEES!?
What “penny?” If
there is no you where is anyone for a penny to drop for? That is all a story of the myth of “someday.”
I am, truly tired of
living in my head.
You put a comma after “I
am.” Put a PERIOD after I AM. In other words,Just STOP at I AM. That is
the only thing you can know and confirm in direct experience; all else is speculation, imagination, the “story of me.”
You are quite right that “you” cannot “cause” the dissolution of the false. Yet it can happen but
only right NOW as the I AM is taken to be your Self and all that follows I AM is denied or discarded. Paradox! Be with that.
Awareness is. Can you escape
That? No. That is whjat you are. Stop believing a story the mind delivers out of nowhere that tells you otherwise. It is that
simple. BE what you are … simple, as you already IS what you are. What is That?I AM. Only That. Full Stop.
Thanks again ... I loved
"Perfect Peace." JUST A MENTION: One of the things that keeps me going, telling me this might very well be a dream, is seeing
the illogical inconsistencies and contradictions that appear in "my" world. It is like being in a dream and saying "wait
a minute, there are no two headed giraffes (although in another dream, 3 headed giraffes might be my acceptable norm).
You are most welcome. Just keep this simple. You ARE … Life IS and appears
as that organism, the story it tells, the appearing world, and both the waking dream and the sleep dream. It’s all ONE.
You are That One. Don’t believe it … all words are 100% off the mark. Let go if you can and just be with what
is as it is. The unfolding of the real is beyond “your” control so you may as well relax about it. Do you see
that “you” will never see? That’s about all that can be shared… stay with this and let it hppen as
best “you” can. I love you.
Question from Thailand: If
I am not the doer.... How can "I" do anything to bring about "Realization”? How can "I" doself-inquiry? This is one of the concepts that puzzles me most.
This is
an excellent question! Now hear the response from Oneness to Oneness, True-Self to True-Self: Listen from Naked Awareness
and not the individualized mind called “you…”
This is
the paradox of duality and nonduality. Duality as concept says how can I do? Nonduality as concept says there is no-one to
do. So how do we resolve this paradox that appears utterly irreconcilable and unresolveable?
This is
paradox! We do not try to resolve it. We allow it to be as it is … irresolvable. Real Advaita Nonduality
means NOT TWO. That is NOT a concept or belief!
So LOOK:
Who wants to know how? Who claims, “I am not the do-er?” WHO? You! That is, the “you” you take your
self to be, the self-concept that you have lived as who-you-are-for-yourself since around the age of two. Knowing that
this “you” is non-existent in ultimate truth is of no real help unless the false is investigated and seen to BE
false.
How you
do Self-Inquiry is, the false "you" just DOES it. Just as long as that belief that a character called "you" exists apart from
wholeness is in play. Simple! But not to a mind that wants to resolve the unresolveable paradox.
To paraphrase
an old Zen saying, the guardians at the gateless gate at the end of the pathless path to Paradise are … “confusion,
and paradox.” In seeing that this paradox of oneness appearing as twoness is irreconcilable, the paradox simply dissolves
into nothing, perhaps (often) leaving “confusion.” Being with the mind’s confusion, the seeing arises that
this pointing is interimly about NOT knowing. Not knowing means not knowing ANYTHING. Even “I AM” dissolves, leaving
your True Nature of the fullness of the emptiness and the magnificence of NothingEverything ... Just THIS appearance and THIS
character "you" and the Nothing and the All and and and nothing else… everything else.
Don't try to figure this out!
BE with this communication, I AM to I AM. Let this message "blow the mind."
If I ask (enquire)
"Who Am I" isn't that coming from the character in the play that is being lived, and if so, isn't that just another part
of the story?
Yes. So
what? See above. So long as there seems that there IS a (false) “you” ask that false you, who are you? Asking
the one final question, Who Am I?, destroys all other questions, doubts, confusions and paradoxes, leaving You as What You
Are … Unchanging Ever-Present Being and nothing but That.
I live in Thailand and look
forward to joining your conference calls, which I will do in a few days.
You are
always welcome to join in, or write or call. Stay in touch, and let me know how these pointers affect the seeing there.
PS: I repeat
here the very fine pointer offered by John Greven in his book “Oneness, The Destination You Never Left" (reprinted by
permission):
"If you
are ready to end your search, then drop the expectations and opinions of the mind and just ask the questions. If it is true
that there is no person in the machine, then there is nothing that you can do anyway, so ask the questions to remove the false
ideas. What you are stands in the clear and waiting to be seen. What you are is nothing less than that which allows for everything
to be. All appearance whether it be a thought, a thing, or creation itself is contained in and upon what you are. As with
the Tao, you are "the source from which all appearance derives, the un-produced producer of all that is..."
The questions
John and I suggest asking “yourself” are,
“Am
I the body?”
“Am
I a thought?”
“Am
I IN the body?”
“Who
Am I?”
Read and
ponder the Basics Page and keep at it, with Love for your True Self! I love you.
B.J. says, Being
there and being with everybody (at the Retreat) .....it appears there is two aspects to "seeing" this. One the one hand "I" must see what "I" am and on the other,
"I" must see what "I" am not.
That is exactly correct
as far as “languaging” it goes. Now, drop the I and what is left? Nothing. Which is only another pointer. As is
“freedom.” That’s all there is and so when the “person” finds out there is no such “thing”
as a “person” in Ultimate Reality, the whole false paradigm of separateness falls apart and much laughter ensues.
Thereafter life is happening and all is ordinary and perfect, as the Unborn has re-emerged from the background naturally and
the seeker drops free and clear leaving nothing/everything.
Most everyone I
know who is seeing this sees (or has memorized) that they are "presence-awareness", but on some level still believes that
they are a person, and they feel like they don't get it. Question!-----Is it a matter of their investigation
is incomplete? Or do you see it differently?
Yes, incomplete investigation leaves
a believer in place and that is the fabled "enlightened ego" ... look around, there's a zillion "satsang teachers" that offer
perfect concepts yet they are still taking themselves and their students as "individuals" and merely reinforcing the paradigm
of separateness (the FALSE stays in place because the CONTEXT is what I call "Two-ness.") Looking right here right now prior
to language, seeing in/from Naked Awareness, where is a "you" or a me" or a "they?" Ha! Gotcha! :-)
From Love to love, I say, the pointless
pointer is that NO-ONE SEES. So again we have an assumption that there is a thing called charlie that "sees differently. That's
fine, that what happens, that's the Energy of Being-Awareness that is appearing as ALL of it. Nothing AND Everything, seeming
two but not two and not one. Yet so long as there is a belief in an individual who has now memorized like a mantra, "I am
Presence-Awareness", then there absolutely has NOT been the collapse of the false and the revelation of the Real. As you correctly
point out! (Note, that happened here early on, when the pointers were "believed" prior to deconstruction of "the believer.")
But only ... apparently! Nothing
to get no-one to get nothing and that is all we point to here. This IS Paradoxical. It's hell being heaven! Paradise found
is the shift out of apparent contraction of a "little me" in here dealing with a "big universe out there." No-one does the
shift yet the shift happens. Paradox! I often say to seekers, just BE with these paradoxes, these pointers. trying to figure
this out is a mind game with no payoff except frustration and often resignation and despair.
J.B. Follows Up with, Have a
couple of basic questions I'd appreciate your feedback on. They're not terribly philosophical but they keep coming up.
1. Ramana's
"Who Am I?" Up until now I've investigated the me-sense half-heartedly. Since last Sunday
I spent with you, I've felt the need to go into it more deeply.
Here's a bit on how it's going
as I hike around the lake. (Who hikes around the lake?)
"Who looks on all the people I
run into as separate, different, apart human beings?
"Who thinks they're over there
and I'm here—clearly separate?
"Who is it that thinks I'm entitled
to a cheerful 'hello' from every human being on the planet?
"Who is this I that's entitled
to a polite greeting?
"Who feels slightly pissed off
when the greeting doesn't come?"
"Just who is it that's pissed,
who, who, who,?"
"Who was I before I was born?"
"Forget about Pop's sperm as a worded answer to who I was before I was born—forget about words—who was
I before I was born"
"Stay with that voidness, confusion, the not knowing anything, or whatever it is...
Don't know what it is. Don't give
a shit. Stick with the not knowing."
"Who hates the question,
"Who were you before you were born? Who thinks it's an assholishnondual
question for bookish, ethereal types?"
"Who think all the talk about God
forgetting who he is and playing this maya game is the worst sort of made-up bullshit
with no proof offered?"
"Just what is this who?" "What
is the who made out of?"
I'd like to get your comments on
the above process...
WAY too complicated. The mind complicates
the simple to avoid its own demise!
One question ONLY:
WHO AM I?
And if there is a chattering mind
follow the advice of the Teaching: Cut it off at the root; “WHO AM I?”
Also, this question comes up...
There's a clear instinct to apply
this investigation to every time the me is triggered. But it seems easier when there's a blatant feeling, such as anger or
fear. Do you suggest also applying the investigation to picayune stuff, too, like "Who is this that's looking up at the squirrel"
or "Who is this that's going into the Target store and check out the iPodboomboxes?" Or "Who is it that's swallowing this pink Prilosec
pill at this very moment?
Asked and answered above. Same advice
… for no one. So long as there is the faintest idea or feeling that there is a “you” apart from “the
world” or “other-than-you” STOP, DROP and ASK. WHO AM I? Or WHERE AM I?
Read this a few thousand times: (Who
reads? Right! Now read the damn thing anyway!)
"If you are ready to end your search,
then drop the expectations and opinions of the mind and just ask the questions. If it is true that there is no person in the
machine, then there is nothing that you can do anyway, so ask the questions to remove the false ideas. What you are stands
in the clear and waiting to be seen. What you are is nothing less than that which allows for everything to be. All appearance
whether it be a thought, a thing, or creation itself is contained in and upon what you are. As with the Tao, you are "the
source from which all appearance derives, the un-produced producer of all that is..."
-John Greven, "Oneness, The Destination you Never Left"
The questions are,
“Am I the body?”
“Am, I a thought?”
“Am I IN the body?”
“Who Am I?”
Keep at ‘em, with Love for your
True Self!
The last and only “important”
question which is NOT to be answered! Is, WHO AM I?
I ordered the green Nisargadatta book from Lulu and in the meantime downloaded a few pages to look over. I read # 17. Kick
the Thoughts Out and was struck by the following sentence on page 35: "With practice it is possible to be free of thoughts;
your own thoughts become an obstacle in your spiritual progress."
The practice he suggests is, “giving
up all questions except one: WHO AM I?…
Everything I've run into so far
seems to say that as long as we inhabit these bodies the thoughts will be around—they're just not what's real when you
investigate them. The only way to go around thoughtless (I thought) is to get yourself a lobotomy.
It is your identification with the
“I” thought that creates suffering. That false identity gets burned away by the simple thought, Who Am I? …
so follow that pathless path until the path, you, the question, and the questioner are all seen to what they are … ephemeral
appearances in Presence-Awareness which is never absent and never limited by thought. Then thoughts arise, that is how the
organism knows which aperture to out food into etc. and there is no more suffering. That is all there is to that.
Q: Hi, I read the Nan Yar [Ramana Maharshi's Teachings] the night we spoke … and just WAS (no-one?) ...can you give me any reassurance I am not
the antichrist? I know I am not anti Christ.
First off, thank you
for your courage! Now: Of course You are NOT an “antichrist”! You are not any identity, any thing.
You (little ego-you) glimpsed that True You … that is glimpsed via that looking into “yourself” with the
thought “Who Am I?” … it was seen there, right? But rather than ask for assurances from “others”
find this out once and for all, right there where “you” are.
Yes I know I’m
sending this to the non.duality email address, I feel like I’m one step away and I know how to take it, but I’m
yielding/cautious? Scared? I don't know, hehe, who cares … you probably know what I’m talking about.
What is scared is a
false identity! WHO is that? Where is that "thing that's scared?"
Who says you are or
are not ANYTHING? YOU ARE and that is clear, obvious, knowingness itself. Before the "idea” of you as an entity (either
antichrist OR Christ) arises, YOU EXIST as Awareness and ARE That. You believe a false story and so you suffer. That is all
there is to see now. Ultimately you are the same as The Christ, that is, the Infinite I-Consciousness... as in, "I and The
Father Are The One". (That “I” is the TRUE I of Being-Consciousness) … or "I Am That I Am." Inescapable.
There IS no antichrist, no "satan," no "evil," no "power" apart from Impersonal Absolute Energy-Intelligence that seems to
create the entire manifestation, right before your eyes.
See this right now,
that the “I” thought you take to be your actual self is totally powerless. Why? There is NO separate self in Reality.
So of course, a thought cannot own power or do a damn thing!
Or am I sicker then I know, help? Can this
ego be so cunning and develop skill to graciously go in and out of "it" taking advantage of powers and fool
others, I don't want to attempt the inquiry, using "who am I?" before knowing, I think I’m going to be great!!
And that makes me think I am arrogant!!
Where is this "I" you go on and on about!?
Who Are You? Look: You are NOT going to be a “great ego-person, a great “me.” !! Who YOU really ARE IS are
already great, inasmuch as you ARE Infinite Being-Awareness-Energy and That makes the sun shine and forms all that appears
to Itself so to say … including that bodymind there reading and this one here typing. YOUR TRUE-NATURE … THAT
ABSOLUTE GREATNESS … AIN’T PERSONAL! The arrogance is that you assume there is a person … a mind-ego-me
called by the name label you wear … who might get and misuse some “power.” There is NOT … as you MUST
prove to the mind.
And that makes me think
I am the bad "one".....[and I might]do more worse [evil] than good!!....Now.... if it appears as "the bad" for the good I
understand. Or not even that? Let me know if I’m still ill though.....thanks
Right here right now,
just drop all the psychobabbling and commit to, and ask, the question, “Who Am I?” until you DROP! The idea that
"you" create or have any will to exert evil powers is a common yet absolutely FALSE story that may be believed only because
so many idiots tell it. And watch and believe TV shows like “Charmed.” You believe that nonsense at your peril.
It’s entertaining but only drama! When you believe the false dramas you are suffering from the illness of the belief
in separation and so suffering happens. You ask, am I sick? YES. You have the disease of believing in being separated from
all that is, separated from what we label "God." Or Christ. You And Christ are One Essence, Being-Awareness, livingness here
and now, inescapable and Real. You ARE what some call “God” or “Christ.” That One is NOT aword, NOT a thing, NOT a concept. And don’t make THIS a new religion, for God’s sake! J
My friend, you worry
over nothing but a fairy tale, a story. The question - "Who Am I?" - is utterly benign, YET it does destroy ...
destory ...the limited little “you” that keeps the suffering going!
That is it will undo the story of a suffering false sense of that ego-me you tell yourself you are. That is why the mind,
ego HATES this message and avoids that one simple thought, the question "Who Am I?" like the black plague. You are not "the
antichrist. You are NOTHING but until YOU get real and get with the program, you believe in a you that thinks and therefore
suffers. The ego-I thought has absolutely NO "powers" and NO amount of manipulation will ever make it "powerful." Why? Because
it is a phantom! It is self-delusion.
Consider this, from
the book "Oneness" ...
If you are ready to
end your search, then drop the expectations and opinions of the mind and just ask the questions. If it is true that there
is no person in the machine, then there is nothing that you can do anyway, so ask the questions to remove the false ideas.
What you are stands in the clear and waiting to be seen. What you are is nothing less than that which allows for everything
to be. All appearance whether it be a thought, a thing, or creation itself is contained in and upon what you are. As with
the Tao, you are "the source from which all appearance derives, the un-produced producer of all that is... - John Greven ...
The questions are,
“Am I the body?”
“Am, I a thought?”
“Am I IN the
body?”
“Who Am I?”
Keep at ‘em!
Keep looking into all this and finish it! Stay in touch and call again if you like.
T. Writes on YouTube: Just some thoughts
about how people, and I have too, used the word "consciousness" to describe our true Self. The translation of sat-chit-ananda
even describes truth-consciousness-bliss to be our true Self.... But, but , but.... Consciousness is the opposite of unconsciousness...
into duality... And, even if "I" am in a STATE of consciousness, this is temporary, as "I" also enter unconsciousness at in
sleep... (or sometimes while awake ....) People even use the word Awareness... But awareness(like Ramana) is not always
happening... it has an opposite of unawareness... back to duality, which is again not describing true Self.... I AM beyond
consciousness or awareness, and the opposite of these... What do you think about these descriptive words ? Are they accurate
enough?...
NO word is accurate; what IS is n=beyond description.
That said, your words indicate a clear seeing. Sounds good!
E.W.writes, I Love your videos on YouTube and your
web page is also excellent. I followed a guru for 20 yrs, and gave him up. Have devoured Nisargadatta and love him immensely,
along with Ramana, and listen to [another teacher] quite a lot. The pointers really work for me and I have had many, many
spiritual experiences, including experiencing myself as Pure Consciousness, and experiencing Oneness. I had an experience
of disappearing while at work the other day, which was something new for me.
Thanks
for writing. Here is the response that came out of nowhere :-) …that experience
happens IN and UPON your Original Stateless State … AKA Ordinary Being-Awareness. YOU are prior to all experiences,
YOU are The Absolute Non-conceptual Is-ness and all that “experiencing of Oneness’ or "experience of disappearing"
comes and goes, like ALL experiences in temporality ("time.") What you ARE is NOT an experience owned by an experiencer.
What you ARE is the unknowable Beingness, arising AS experience-ing (without the false idea of experience-er.)
The experiencing is actual; the experiencer is NOT.
As Nisargadatta
Maharaj pointed out, “Who are you? Don't go by formulas. The answer
is not in words. The nearest you can say in words is: I am what makes perception possible, the life beyond the experiencer
and his experience.”
My question to you
is this: If there is no seeker or seeking in truth and only "That", which I know is true, will "That" bring on the experience
of enlightenment spontaneously… or does one still need to meditate, in order to reach Nirvikalpa samadhi, or Sahaj Samadhi.
1. This is totally paradoxical!
Simply put, there is no person, yet so long as there is a belief in a you, a person you call “myself, the knower, the
experiencer", that can and usually must be investigated. The classic method is to look with the thought, a question: WHO AM
I? Drop ALL practices and just ask that of the mind until there is no-one left to ask. Take NO answer; only ask the mind,
Who Are You? Ask inside, Who Am I?
2. What is that which says it "knows?"
Who are you? NO answer!
3.. Re "enlightenment"? There is
NO such thing! Nor any "someday" when "you" will "reach" some nonexistent "state."
4.. Consider this, part of a dialogue from
the book No Way Out” ...
In Chapter 27: O.J. asks, Because
Ramana talked about that Nirvikalpa Samadhi, I have this ("demon"?) inside that keeps seeking for that state of not being
aware of form/movement, only the absolute, only purity. If you feel like it and have time, please, can you help me by commenting
on this?
THIS IS-Ness is NOT a “state!”
THIS is beyond ALL “states.” Being-Awareness IS and That is Timeless, Spaceless, Unknowable, Unknowing IS-NESS.
Now look: WHO “has this demon?” What? Look: Terms of art like Nirvikalpa Samadhi and Sahaj Samadhi are descriptions
of what actually already IS, NOT "prescriptions" nor "attainments.”
Ramana Maharshi was actually dismissive
of Nirvikalpa Samadhi as unnecessary to “realization”… Ramana said, “… there is no good in trance
[samadhi].” To a questioner who continued to ask about the importance of such “states,” Ramana replied,
“If you are so anxious for trance any narcotic will bring it about. Drug-habit will be the result and not liberation."
"I" is merely an appearance, like
water in a mirage. Seekers who get an experience of "trance" in activity ... an EXPERIENCE ... become addicted to that experience;
it's no different than drug addiction. And the brutal FACT is that NO "experience" is "the final state" or the sought-after
"enlightenment." The brutal fact is THERE IS no such "state" or "thing" as "enlightenment". ALL "states” come
and go and ONLY That which NEVER changes, THAT which does NOT come and go, is the Real. And you are already That so all seeking
to "become" or "attain" or "disappear into samadhi" (of any "sort") is what keeps the ignorance up front and seems to obscure
the fact that You are already That ... Being-Awareness-Aliveness. You cannot "become" what you already ARE.
Existence IS. Is there a separate
"little you" apart from the Whole? That is simply ignorance, a false belief, an assumption that is only a speculation of language
by a false entity that asserts its reality but cannot supply a shred of evidence for its solid separate existence as a “thing”
apart from Everything. Being IS and THAT is appearing as everything. Even the idea of a “thing” apart! Paradoxically!
So that's all that is seen ... by
no-one ... and all notions of some samadhi or "special state" disappear as this is seen by no-one --Naked, Raw Aliveness Itself.
Where is any notion of any state
in deep sleep? The sleep state where "you" are NOT is the closest relative state that points to what is Real and Eternally
So ... Nothing … appearing As Everything. Don't trade That for beliefs!
While I'm driving
to and from work, I listen to spiritual talks, like [another teacher’s]stuff,
and I'll have different experiences, like expanded awareness and such. While meditating there is more experiences of the meditator
trying to meditate, although I have had many, many spiritual experiences while meditating, I find the talks really do it for
me.
Good to hear. Just
keep challenging any thought of a "me" or "I" "experience-er" with the One Final Question: Who Am I? And stay in touch as
The One You Are moves that organism called E.W. to do that! I love you.
Thanks for listening
and sharing. Your Own Self, E.
P. Writes, Thanx a lot for the video you made, yesterday i had a very interesting
realization not directly related to the video but it led me to it. I'll explain.. I did a search on you and the keyword racing(i
had read something about u being a pilot) and ended up with an interview to you, and i was reading and i totally identified
with it like the part u thought u were someone else and you could know what that person was gonna say before he actually did.
Then i started searching about those persons u talked about and i ended up watching tony parsons' videos and it struck
me... the simplicity in which he talked about things. So i noticed that the mind just happens... as seeing or breathing does
... and it's kind of nonsense trying to be it and control it. I've heard about this many times but only now i understand
it and it's liberating. I wanted to share this, because i'm really happy to find this and somehow i owe it to you, so thanx
for your kindness in replying my emails and even making a video. Charlie you rule.
Good work. But YOU did it! YOU, listening from One to One (your True Self),
have seen this truth that sets us free of the false identification with the "me" mind-story.
Welcome back, to the home you never left! I Love You.
J.B. Checks in: I had a great time Sunday at
the retreat with you and the others. About all I can say - since I didn't understand much of anything (have no idea what happened)
- it was a helluva lot of fun.
Perfect! Understanding, as you have heard from
many sources, is "the booby prize”.
I haven't felt a need to go back to the "spiritual
books" since I got back, yet. They’ve been an addiction for years; I hope I don't have to get a "fix" soon but right
now I don't need the "needle." There seems to be some instinct to stay clear of Nondual pointers (sort of a distaste is the
best way I can describe it.
You may see that reading or thinking ABOUT this
stuff is the function of a seeker-mind that is always trying to go somewhere, someday … and that usually (always?)reinforces the false identity and leaves a (suffering) someone in place. The law of
the mind is, “Seek and do NOT find”!
When this “anti-virus” of nonduality
really sinks in and cures the disease of "being separate, 'being me', there is (often) a kind of distaste for reading
the stuff, as it is clearly that it's all really about nothing. This ever-present nothing is Absolute Freedom,
as you are discovering now, quite naturally! And anyway, nothing written or spoken is "true", and even THAT set of
words is not true either! :-) ...
I did get a kick out of reading [in the book "Life After Death"] about your racing days, and the night you spent in jail!
THAT was a crazy dream! Both the racing AND jail!
Ever think about what racing is? Spending a fortune and risking one’s neck to get from point A to point A! (They call
it the Start/FINISH line!)
I would love to have a picture of the #25 car
on the cover of "Life After death". In some way it sums up a marvelous incongruity. With love and thanks, J.B.
Glad you could make it! The picture is in an e-mail
to you; there is also a link to it HERE. Good to be with you. Love ya, stay in touch... as Oneness Moves that to arise... Meanwhile
if the mind gives you any trouble stop and ask that thing, WHO ARE YOU? That'll bring you back to You.
S.R. asks, Nisargadatta uses the
words,’ witness, Beingness, and I am.' Do they refer to the same state of manifestation or consciousness, which Maharaj
calls the only capital available? Further, Maharaj advocates to remain in the state of witness, called by the other two names.
Is this the first step of ascent from the present identified state of the ego, identifying itself with a particular of the
totality, which he calls vyakti, which is individuality or ego, translated into English?
There is no “ascent” from
ego. In TRUTH There IS no “ego!” So how can there be any “ascent”? This is a story told bythoughts that are happening in your head. You take the story to be both you (“the “I”
that thinks it thinks, that is believed as being the do-er of thinking) and “about you” – “my”
life, “my” ego (or “the ego.”
Where outside of thought IS this “ego”?
Look for it. Where is it? Can you ever actually FIND such a thing? Ask that “thinker”, WHO ARE YOU? Where did
you come from?
Maharaj says that on attention
being given to the witness or Beingness, the consciousness which is time-bound disappears for want of a prop.
Yet who would do that? Where is “the
one” – a self – that can or could ever DO that? The seeker is the thought “I am” – I seek
therefore I am” is the trap of the conceptual wheel of time-identity chasing its own tail.
In empirical language he calls
this the food body, the consciousness for want of food dying and merging in Awareness which is not aware of itself as against
the consciousness of duality aware of something external. Even here at the stage of Beingness, I think, there is no duality
of knower and the known, which exists only at a lower level of the individual ego.
WHO says, “I think!?”
WHO wants to parse some poetry spoken in a past story (dead words of dead guru and dead seeker!) ??… you are NOT that
seeker-mind present in a loft in Mumbai decades ago, are you? So … WHO wants to understand and “get it right?”
The seeker you believe yourself to BE! And the seeker is nothing but a thought of a "me" that wants to get and hold
and own some intellectual understanding. There is NO “correct" understanding or interpretation! ALL interpretations
are false. And more to the pointless point, ALL so-called “teachings” are at best pointers only to That which
IS and Beyond Description.
Would somebody expatiate on this
confirming the correctness of my understanding of the teachings of Maharaj?
All utterances out of the mouth of
both the ignorant “seeker” and the realized “sage” are utterly ultimately false! So your understanding
is neither correct nor incorrect. It is irrelevant to what is pointed at … Being, naked Awareness, One-Without-A-Second.
This is NON-Duality, beyond all ideas and concepts and ultimately, understanding IS “the booby prize!”
Stop trying to figure this out and
just ask that thought-story, “Who are you that wants to know?” Who are you? WHO? (No answer is true!)
Consider this excerpt from "No Way
Out":
Chapter 5. I Have Destroyed Your
Ego!
Once upon a time there
was a Great Master who had a few students who lived in an ashram with him. One day, a student who had been “In search
of The Self” and seeking final enlightenment and liberation came to the Master and bowed, and said, “Master, my
ego is driving me crazy with desires and suffering. Please help me destroy this horrid ego!”
The Master (who knew
there was no Master, no Teaching, no Path, and no Goal,) smiled and said, “Go and sit in your room and hunt very carefully
and thoroughly for your ego. As soon as you find it, bring it here and I will happily destroy it for you.”
Delighted that at last
“The goal is near,” the student retired to his quarters and began the process of seeking the ego.
Some time passed, and
one evening the student again approached the Master, a look of deep disappointment and despair on his face, tears in his eyes,
and said, "Oh master, I have searched and searched and I cannot fulfill your command, I have failed you, my master. I cannot
find the ego anywhere!”
The Master smiled, gazed
into the students eyes and said loudly, “You SEE! I have destroyed your ego!”
Stunned, the student
fell back on his heels, then it dawned on him. He shouted, “There never WAS any 'ego'. It does not exist! How could
I have believed in a ghost?!” And with that he burst out laughing, and laughed and laughed and laughed. The Master simply
smiled and said, “So It Is. Welcome Home, dear boy. All
is resolved in the Unborn. Never trade the Unborn for false beliefs and empty meaningless thoughts!”
(More from "No Way Out" is here.) ____________________________________________________________________________________________
07 January 2008
Listening And Resonance
K. writes to follow up, I was listening to John Sherman. I understand and
actually can experience what he says. I can sense the space/or background stillness in which things happen. Is this what you
were pointing to. I feel it better when I am looking at a still object.
Sounds good, K. Yes, John Sherman's style is easy to be with. I am happy to hear you are resonating with the Message of One :-) ... Keep at it and know that you are the Love you seek. Keep me posted... _________________________________________________________________________________________
07 January
2008
Clear Seeing / Perfect Peace
B. Writes,
Thank you very much for holding the retreat. I really enjoyed it and got a lot out of it. I had a very clear seeing that my
mind was continuing to bring questions up and that I don't need to believe it or take it seriously or let it keep control
of this organism, with the mind's habits. I was left in a deep peace without needing to know things.
Once upon a time, there lived a Sage who, in fording
a river with an apprentice, saw a tarantula that was struggling in the current, nearly drowned to death. The Sage rescued
the spider, and placed her in his hand and all three, Sage, apprentice and Tarantula, completed their mission to reach dry
land. Whereupon the tarantula, having recovered her strength, promptly bit the hand of her saviour and, jumped down to the
ground and swiftly ran off.
“Oh!" Cried the apprentice ... "how ungrateful
of that wretch, to bite you!" "Not at all," replied the Sage calmly. "It is the nature of that organism to bite." "Then why
pick the thing up and save it from drowning?" the apprentice asked. "It is the nature of THIS organism to help living things,"
replied the Sage. "All happens naturally, to no-one. No-one decides to save and no-one decides to bite. There is n person
in any organism, whether human or arachnid."
"I remind you, dear boy, of the pointer from Buddha-ji:
Actions happen, deeds are done, but there is NO individual do-er thereof, not in 'i', not in 'you,' not in 'her.'"
Q: I listened to your talk with two people yesterday where you said over and
over you don't exist. Its rather perplexing that one day you advocate you know that you exist and next day you say there
is nothing you can do cause you don't exist. ??????? Not clear.
Not clear to WHO? :-) That may be annoying to hear if you are seeking wholeness
and don't want to hear "the same old Advaita pointer"! But WHO, WHAT, is seeking wholeness??
The pointless point is, this is the paradox of Nonduality. This
is NON-DUALITY. Prior to ALL there is NO Thing. NOT Existence, the Absolute. Sat. Arising IN and AS That is Chit -
Pure Unbounded Awareness, THIS, Existence IS. E\Then is I AM arising as the Knowing I Exist. Paradoxically all IS and IS NOT
and YOU are THAT ... You and the apparent "Not You", are all YOU, The unknowable Absolute Sat-Chit... and therein
is the Ananda, The Ecstasy of Being! So what is "true? Do you exist? Do you NOT exist? Neither is "true!" That's the unknowable
yet palpable Livingness of the Ecstasy Of YOU, Being Just THAT. Go here and DIG it.
K writes again,
The point I don't understand is suffering has physiological effects too. I mean an unawakened person suffers. SO there is
this energy spend on this activity. So who or what is suffering if 'I' is just a thought. I mean when one suffers there are
negative thoughts coming about. Like the fear of future etc. In an enlightened state these thoughts don't come. So isn't there
some kind of control over the mind which causes it to think more negative thoughts? No freewill: So what you are saying is
a Terrorist (be he awakened or not) had to be that. I mean if a suicide bomber is going fully determined to blow
himself up and suddenly he awakens as he is walking, he will continue to go and explode himself? And lastly how can we know
that awakening or state of no-control is not another delusion of the mind like the thought "I".
I have no answers for
the speculations of the mind. You ask the same questions over and over in repeated e-mails but don't listen and look.
I only ask that YOU
ask the questions and discover the freedom that you are.
If you do not listen
and follow the advice then you will continue to ask questions from a wrong premise. Your background assumptions are false.
You must do the work! No one has the answers you seek because there is no answer that makes a difference. Only the self-investigation
counts. As long as you avoid the enquiry you will keep asking unanswerable and irrelevant questions!
Just see that you are
not listening, not taking up the sword of self-discrimination, YOU must do this; no other can give you what you seek.
You must find for yourself. Ask the questions already given! Do not continue to be stupid about this.
Questions .... to ask
the mind ('you'): Am I a body? Am I a thought? Am I in the body? Where is a "me?" Where IS this "I" i take myself to
be?
Q: I’ve been watching some of your videos
and come away confused, but having enjoyed them at the same time. As far as I can tell so far I see it like this.
1) The Ego, personality, the
"I”, the front of stage are constructs which are not the true nature of what we are.
2) The attachment to Number 1
basically causes us all sorts of problems.
3) If what we truly are has always
been there (hidden by number 1), how can we experience directly - and not by theory, or intellectual thesis - what the truth
is?
The truth IS and that cannot be grasped or experienced
by the false entity, I or “mind.” This Presence of Awareness, empty and meaningless, that which IS prior to thought
and experience, is the Eternal Stateless State … Being, just That. You ARE That and cannot “know” that as
“you” would have to be separated from That to know It.
I observed something about my
mind. I sometimes have thoughts which I do not want - horrible thoughts about other people. I say to myself - "Wait, that’s
not what I want to think?", "I'm not that person!"
Where is the thinker? Where IS this “I”
that thinks I think? You don’t think! Thoughts arise in Empty Awareness that You actually are.
Are you a thought? Find out.
It leads me to conclude somewhat
childishly perhaps that there was something behind the thoughts. Perhaps what that was, was a kind of idealized construct
of me, but still not the awareness you talk about.
There is nothing behind thoughts. That nothing
is empty awareness and That is what you are. Who does not see this?
Being IS and you as an identity (a phantom of
your soap opera!) arise IN that. You were never a thought or experience; you are That Unborn Being-Aliveness before and beyond
all appearances, so to speak. Timeless Spaceless Oneness… this is what you are in Reality. Don’t trade the Infinite
Reality for false beliefs.
Q: Things are well at this end. Of course there's nothing to say, no one
to say it and no one to say it to, but damn, what a ride! Hope all is well with Charlie's story. I do have a question.
While hanging out (samadi?) a symbol popped up. A pyramid (at night or dusk) with a ring -like saturn's rings -around it at
about a 30 degree angle. Tried to find some reference to it on the net but to no avail. Any ideas??
While I was hanging out, a symbol appeared ... a pretty young woman, a stone
fox, naked as a jaybird, grinning and beckoning me to bed. This means EXACTLY the same thing that "your" vision means....
NOTHING.
The appearing manifest multiplicity - you and me and world - are in Reality,
One Being, Unicity, and there IS nothing but That....
There is only One. This One is an Empty Aware Presence that never ends and never begins. You ARE this Awareness,
Presence ... IN and AS which the Universe and all possibilities arise. All that IS appears and disappears in That. All there
is is This One. That is the Indescribable Invincible Reality. You are That.
J.T. Writes, Your last piece of correspondence about the nonreality of the
"me" definitely struck a chord. Many seekers attempt to emulate a teacher's behavior. "If so-and-so is a vegetarian,
I'll be one too," etc., forgetting that these behaviors are intrinsic to that particular organism. If you look at the
various sages of nonduality, you will find a wide spectrum of habits. Sure, some habits may change over time, but this has
nothing to do with a conscious decision made by a "separate" entity.
Yep! That is a very good insight ... have a great Now and stay in touch as Oneness
Moves it to happen.
J.S. Asks, I have read numerous books and none
seem to really get at what this Advaita thing is all about. Can you recommend two or three booksthat you feel really get to the heart of this?
Any Nisargadatta book is worthwhile reading (especially
"I Am That", and "I Am Unborn"). But you can't e-mail or call Nisargadatta up and talk directly about what confusions remain
for you. So, lets stick with living teachings. The living expressions are pretty much available to answer your questions "One
on One" and that makes a huge difference, at least that was the experience here and for most I know whose "search" has ended.
So:
Obviously I would recommend the new book "No Way Out!" :-). But as to "two or three others" that I reckon are the simplest,
clearest and most "heart-resonant," I'd suggest 'Sailor' Bob Adamson's "What's Wrong with Right Now", John Wheeler's "You
Were Never Born", John Greven's "Oneness", and Tony Parsons' "Nothing Being Everything."
So: Obviously I would recommend the new book “No
Way Out!” :-) But as to "two or three others" that I reckon are the simplest, clearest and most “heart-resonant,”
I’d suggest ‘Sailor’ Bob Adamson’s “What’s Wrong with Right Now”, John Wheeler’s
“You Were Never Born”, John Greven’s “Oneness”, and Tony Parsons’ “Nothing Being
Everything.” Okay yeah I know that’s four! But these are the best I have seen and wouldn’t skip any of the
four … if reading is enjoyed these are all just great.
Just understand
as we always point out here, that what you seek is not in ANY book. You ARE what you long for … Timeless being, arising
as nothing and everything - Consciousness and The Absolute, "all that appears everywhere". Being IS and You (the Real
Self, Eternally Free and Clear) ARE That Being. That is all there is for no-one to get. But if that organism enjoys reading,
then give these a go.
All of these expressions share a commonality that
I like to point to by paraphrasing and turning around a song lyric most of us are familiar with: “The legend burned
out long before the candle ever did.” For clarity, the candle is the bodymind organism that is being lived as Aliveness
Itself. The legend is the overlay of “a story of a nonexistent ‘me’.”
Follow-up from K:
One more question: If ‘I’ dissolves in the awakened state, then who takes the decisions?
1. There is NO “awakened
state.” That is a description of the indescribable ABSENCE of belief in a false entity. THAT seeing is of NO state,
and That is absolutely Impersonal.
2. There is NO "separate
reality" to the “I” right NOW, so there is no "dissolution" necessary; all that happens in this is seeing the
false AS false. That’s all there is to this. Simple.
Who decides what
path/ direction the life should take? How does life move forward? Who decides I want to party or I want to get a PhD or I
want to smoke?
No one. Decisions arise:
A thought arises, I think I will have coffee. Another thought arises, No, I’ll have Chai instead. Another thought arises,
okay, I’m going out to get Chai. Another thought arises as the organism walks into Starbucks, and the eyes go toward
the menu, Ah, that Cappuccino sounds good. Another thought arises “out loud,” saying, I’ll have a Grande
Cappuccino, please. Etc Etc.
ALL these thoughts
arise from out of nowhere! And the ego-self, the misidentified “entity” called “me,” CLAIMS all these
movements of energy arising as letters-words-concepts as MINE and says falsely, I DECIDED to have Cappuccino. And so it goes…
before “enlightenment” there are decisions made by a false “me” and after “enlightenment”
these same patterns of thoughts can arise but the difference is, you no longer take them to be YOUR thoughts. You no longer
misconstrue any thought, from the core thought of an “I” apart from the Whole on up through the entire litany
of programmed mechanistic “decisions and “choices”, to be “your” doing. And marriage? You cannot
“make yourself” fall in love and marry. It happens, or not, without “your” decision.” I speak
here from actual experience, NOT theory!
Another example? There
is a pack of cigarettes on the table. Without thinking about it a hand reaches out and taps a smoke out. A lighter appears
and a flame ignites the end and the hand moves the cigarette to the mouth and there is an in-breath of air and smoke. This
is a function of habit, programming. NO ONE IS SMOKING. Smoking is Oneness appearing as an organism inhaling air and smoke.
This is What Is, now,
and that will not change, unless it does. Anything can happen, changes can occur, but when the false is seen to be false,
then there is no longer the ignorant belief that “you” are the controller. Everything is happening … to
no one. Now, and always. There is no way out.
“You” are
OUT of control all the time already. It’s only an ignorant mind that believes IT is in charge and must manage its life
and make the “right” decisions and “choose correctly.” That is the believed-in bullshit story of individuality,
and that story is rife with suffering. Look around! To honest eyes, there is in the appearing manifestation a clear seeing
of the immense suffering of these organisms misconstruing themselves as “individuals” and believing the self to
be a tiny little thought called “I”. Root out the belief in separation! Oneness leads “you” to “do”
this for yourself in this seeming out-of-control process; and this IS living in freedom, the natural stateless state.
This is so simple,
in essence: Seeing through that false phantom of your opera, when the investigation happens and you find there IS no controller
in the organism, “you” as a thought of a “me” that “decides”, is simply no longer taken
to be “the do-er.” There is a dropping of all claim of “doer-ship.” As The Buddha rightly said, “Actions
happen, deeds are done, but there is NO individual do-er thereof.” No doer in you, no do-er in anyone! Life happening
to no-one. Freedom!
Are you saying that
life just goes on, on some predetermined path, and 'awareness' just follows?
Awareness already IS.
Awareness is not a “thing” that “follows." That idea is out of a false belief in “time”
and afalse "subject/object" dichotomy. Try to escape being-awareness! There
is no way. And, there is no “path and no “predestiny”, that is a popular myth, like the myth believed to
be "True", in the year 1200, that “the earth is flat.” There is NEITHER a "predetermined destiny" NOR any “free
will.”
This, as it is,
IS all there is. What IS, IS. This is NOT Two.
Drop the belief in
the storyteller and all these bullshit stories and myths will give you a good laugh! And you will look back in wonder that
any of that could ever have been taken on board as "true". What is true is, YOU ARE LIFE ITSELF. All else is a bunch
of lies and illusions propagated out of the false core belief that the thought “I” is “who I am.”
The root core, the
cause, of suffering is the belief in individuality. Cut off the energy of belief in that root cause, and the effects
cannot continue. This happens when investigation into this idea of a person apart from the Whole arises: Where is a "me?"
Can "I" find that "person" anywhere in here? You find nothing! Then, as NOW, there is effortless living and absolute freedom
in The Self that You are … unbounded, free and dancing in the light of your own Home … Being, just that and nothing
else.
Thank you, thank
you, thank you and Happy new year!
K. writes, I am very much interested in living a life without suffering.
Good! You are in the right place. It IS possible, in fact suffering
is unnatural! What you TRULY are can never suffer: YOU as the Real are Unborn Being and absolutely beyond all psychological
suffering.
But I am concerned. If I awaken to my real self, or I enlighten or No-Mind,
will I lose interest in my career, my family, my friends, sex and parties. Will I be tempted to roam around the world taking
no responsibilities?
Very common question.
The simple, straightforward answer, is, NO. But lets look into WHY that is so: As usual, this question is coming from
a wrong premise … the deep unnoticed "backstory," which consists in the assumption that there IS an “I”
to lose interest, a me that claims ownership of“my” family etc.
When this looking into what is real happens and begins to “take hold of you,” it will be discovered that there
is NO “person” in the organism ... there is no such separate ”entity” ... not right NOW, nor
will there be such in a “future” …there is NO "personal entity"
that is “deciding” to party or not, be responsible or not, be “interested” or not. There never was.
Therefore “you”
will never “awaken” or “enlighten” or “become No-Mind” NOR will “you” run
around being irresponsible. There IS no “you” to “do or not do” anything. All there is, is
Livingness Happening … Aliveness, with no separate “you” “being alive.” Freedom is Unborn Being
and you are That.
But that is NOT something to be “believed!”
The insight happens out of Oneness Itself, the “Silent Timeless Source” of this e-mail question and the answer
bubbling up; ultimately the happening of this arises as you are so to say “led by Source” to investigate
the nature of life and Living. In an ultimate sense, waking out of the dream of separation happens in spite of "us!" It may
happen that an interest in so-called “awakening” or “enlightenment” happens, but “you”
will not and did not choose the thoughts that arrived and made this e-mail question appear here now.
As a precocious five-year-old
girl in India once noted, “We are all dreaming and we shall wake up when we die.” The point of Nonduality is to
die before you die.
Understand this: Looking
for the “person” you think of as “me,” you will, as we say repeatedly here, always come up
empty-handed. This seeing that there IS no “me” is a description of the happening called die before you die. The
organism lives on and ‘does” whatever it is programmed for, from its DNA and its stored brain impressions. C3PO
could never “become” R2D2.
I am actually doing
good in my life. I am not very unhappy.
Then why are you writing?
There must be some fundamental disquiet to make you start investigating these things.
But my Mind limits
me i.e fears. I want to live a life were anything is possible for me to do. And I believe a Mind under control
is what I need.
Aha. NOW we get to
it! “You” are afraid because a false “you” wants to control things and mange life to avoid pain and
gain pleasure. And sooner or later it is discovered that there IS no “you” to control life! This fake person IS
fundamentally insecure,and the fears arise as a signal that there is a false
belief operating. And fear is definitely NOT a happy occurrence for most “organisms”! So: Welcome to the dream
(sometimes the nightmare!) of being separated from others and the world. This separation, which occurs around the age of two,
is ONLY a false belief and yet seems to have great power to make “you” believe that “you” ARE separated
from everything else. And as the saints and sages have pointed out since “time” began, this belief in "I and other"
ALWAYS generates fears. But LOOK INTO THIS. It is only a totally false belief that you have taken in innocence and ignorance
to be "TRUE" ... that "I" am a thought (me" and that me is separated from All That Is.
In Truth YOU are whole
and complete and beyond all ideas of separateness. You are Life Itself! Only the false belief that you are separate from That
Wholeness brings these fears.
You might see, that
is how the overwhelming majority think. But WHO thinks these thoughts? You are ‘driving you car from the back seat.”
Thoughts arrive in the brain from out of nowhere and then the thought of “me’ being “the one who thinks”
and “who” wants and wants and always wants more, something better or different from what is right now. Where is
this “thinker?” Look for that and it may be discovered that there IS no “thinker.” After all, “me’
or “I” or “myself” are ALL simply thoughts, subtle speech, bubbling up. Those are not even there at
all when you are engaged fully in a task, or at night in deep sleep.
So again please
tell me will I lose interest in my career, my family, my friends, sex and parties?
Two answers. 1: The
TRUTH is, No-One Knows! Not “you” or “me” or anyone else! 2: Nothing changes in the clear seeing that
there is no person. This is a “transformation,” a shift OUT of separateness back into Wholeness, that happens
… not because of any actions or ideas the “person” may have but as a part of the natural functioning of
the entirety of all the appearing creation. For most “organisms” through which the dissolution of the false belief
in an “I” apart from The Whole happens, nothing really changes. Smokers keep on smoking. Partyers keep on partying.
Etc etc. Everything goes on as it does. As it is NOW. But what is totally GONE is the self-centered thinking that createspsychological suffering.
You are not creating
that interest in living and life happenings! Its not “your” life! Losing interest can happen, or not, but that
has NOTHING to do with “awakening” or seeing what’s true and what’s not true. So relax. Read the website,
and explore the others on the Links page, and relax about it all. You are being lived by Life Itself. All is unfolding exactly
as it IS and only a totally false identification that a thought, the one-letter-word “I,” is “you,”
brings suffering in its wake. That ignorant thought of “being a separate controlling responsible entity,” brings
fears. That “emperor” has no clothes. What you ARE is naked Empty Endless Beingness, free and whole, loving to
BE. Find out that there is no person and all these unnatural psychological fears are ended once and for good!
Read this message over a few times, and ponder
these pointers. None of this is to be believed; there is NO truth in words.” But the words can and do POINT to That,
The Unborn YOU beyond the words. So, ponder this, and let the seeing happen, and the false fear and suffering end, right now.
Follow-up from K: Thank
you very much for your email. I wonder if awakening is for me.
It is not “for
you.” You are not hearing this message. There IS no “you!” Already-Awakeness IS the True-Nature of all that
is, and That is not "personal."
I was reading through
your email and read the word "organism". Then I thought to myself this organism (me) is reading the email. And for a
moment I had fear, I was kind of losing my identity, I stopped that thought immediately. I cannot explain this.
WHO stops? WHO looks
in a mirror? WHO cannot explain this? How can you “lose” an identity which is false? You cannot lose that which
you never had. How will “you” lose what “you” haven’t got!? WHO would “do” that!?
Where IS this "I" you take yourself to be in ignorance - ignoring Being-Awareness-Aliveness and taking on a false persona,
the phantom's mask of a totally false "me"
Do you think
I am too young to lead a life of awakening (I am 27)? I mean should I keep this task for when I am done with my career and
life? I mean it is scary to lose ones identity. It’s like looking at a stranger in the mirror. Thank you again!
What the "seeker" longs
for and is terrified of is its own absence! Where is this "I" you keep taking to be your self?
Now: That fear is suffering
... and it appears that you keep the suffering in place by "stopping looking." You will suffer until you get real about
what you are and what you are NOT! Ultimately, where IS a "you" with ANY control over any of this? Find that one if you can.
You will find that this limited self does not actually exist and yet Absolute Being IS and That, Thou Art!
The image in the mirror
is NOT you, NOR is that piece of meat that casts that mirror appearance actually YOU. Ask the quantum physicists: That collection
of cells that came from a single sperm cell is made of NOTHING!
What you long for with
all your heart, and what that false “personal identity" as absolutely terrified of, is the freedom of the Real,
Eternal, Unbounded Self … The Absolute. You are Existence Itself! You take yourself to be a separate "person," then
are afraid that your inauthenticity will be found out. Well guess what? It has been found out. That "you" is a fake, a phony,
and only if and when you buy the mind's con job is there this fear and suffering..
LOOK: There is NO "you"
who COULD "decide to wait until... etc." An unexamined "one who waits," waits forever. And suffers forever! Yet
it can be seen, right NOW and ONLY right now, that the "person" you take yourself to be is a PHANTOM. The imagination of being
separate IS what is making you suffer, dear friend. You are the Light of Sat-Chit-Ananda ... Existence (undeniable and inescapable)
arising as Awareness (The Knowing of I AM prior to thoughts) and The Aliveness of Timeless Peace, the Peace that IS and ON
the screen of which all that appears happens.
Life is what you are.
Don't trade Aliveness, Unborn Existence-Awareness-Peace, for the thought stories of being separated from the Totality of Existence.
That is like selling a diamond for the price of spinach! Or eating the menu instead of the meal!
You ARE Existence Itself
... That Existence IS, and there IS no actual separate “you.” That was simply a mistake .. just see this
now! And stop that “stopping,” … that false fake “you” refusing to see that all your
stories and feelings are imaginary appearances arising IN Ordinary Non-Conceptual Existence-Awareness-Aliveness ...
this Aliveness IS what you are! Full Stop.
Stay in touch. Keep
looking! Don’t sell out Aliveness for the crap the mind feeds you. Don’t eat the menu, get the meal!
A Viewer of the message that “There is NO "Eternal State" on YouTube shares, So is physical pain and suffering
happening to no one on Earth? Does no one feel chemicals forced into their stomachs or into their eyes? (all kinds of animals
in labs) Does no one feel their legs broken, bound together and their bodies strung up in the market to be bought alive? (dog
meat market in China) What about all the torture, physical suffering?
Who sees ‘others … “human
others” or “animal others?” The moment there is the ideas of “me” … an “I”
APART form Wholeness … is “installed” in a human brain, there arises the false paradigm of two-ness. “I”
and “other-than-I” is a belief and creates a false dream-like paradigm of separation. There is NO person and that
is a pointer and NOT some “dogma” to take in as yet another false belief. Investigate: Where IS this “I”
apart from “other” … animal OR human? Looking into this from nowhere into nothing is a possible happening,
but owing to the brute fact that on investigation there is no person and no-one to be separated from all-that-is, “you
cannot ‘do’ this ultimately, yet it CAN “happen.” This was the experience here and in that direct
wordless timeless seeing there is the happening of the end of all suffering bang! Right now!
So long as there is a false context, an assumption
of a “me” asa person, these questions go on endlessly and never
produce a sense of completion or satisfaction. “I can’t get no satisfaction” was a favorite rock song …
that one is right on … this “you” can never “get satisfaction” because it simply does NOT exist!
As the poet Wei Wu Wei put it so elegantly, from
out of nowhere, “Why are you unhappy? Because 99.9 per cent Of everything you think, and of everything you do, is for
yourself - and there isn't one.“
And for those who mount arguments against the
intellectual expression (known in the East as “Jnana” - or “Self-Knowledge), consider this, also fro Wei
Wu Wei: “Even the intellectual understanding of the inexistence of our 'selves' is a rare and bitter attainment which
few even attempt. And that is only the elimination round which qualifies us for access to Reality... Intellectual understanding
should be not indispensable to a 'simple' mind, but, with our conditioning, it would seem to be an almost inevitable preliminary.”
And so it seems to happen this way in many cases.
So don’t throw out the baby with the bath water! There IS “No Way Out” of Being; Wholeness IS and is absolutely
inescapable AND Unimaginable! Paradoxically, You are as Being-Wholeness and THAT is Full-on Aliveness, One-Not-Two …
and “you” can never “know” this … and so, THIS is The Gift of Absolute Freedom.
But not for “you.” There IS Freedom
… but for no “person,” no “mind,” no “I.”
A YouTube
viewer of this message writes, The waking gross state, the suble dream state, and causal empty
state of consciousness are the three realms of experience. Charles I value your videos but you may need to make more distinctions
in your messages. Your speaking from a very high state of awareness, but the gross realm still has its truth, its place in
the ordered heirachy of existence. I recommend you read the works of the philosopher Ken Wilber especially the book " A brief
history of everything "
This message is without
those kinds of compromising ideas. THIS is "the end game..."
Follow-up from D.R. – I
have heard this so-called "phenomenon" referred to as "non-dualistic wobbling" (as in "wobbling" between what appears
to be duality and non-duality) in some "metaphysical" circles, which apparently does not in any manner "diminish" the "realization"
of the "realized one."..... not that this one really gives a crap about said "phenomenon!!" ....What a load of
FUN crap....
Fun indeed! Being everything ... what a wild ride.
D.L. Writes a Follow-up: Thanks for your previous
responses. I understand all words are lies - instant duality. The paradox of explaining the true through the conceived.
Paradox? No… impossibility! And it’s
being seen there, by no-one. Great!
Whatever we are has to be prior to
object. What I am is impersonal. Not of this world
Yes, in a way… yet there is no “we”
(or, “we” are No Thing Being All There Is.)
When there was recognition of no control over
body and the mind has the same source, which is not a me, an appreciation of no-doer has existence. It is that knowing
that represents the awareness.
Everything appears to happen spontaneously.
If there is no doer, then there is no causation. No sequence.
Well said.
Anytime a sense of separation develops it
should be accepted by no one as wholly appropriate because it appeared.
Drop the “should.” IT IS. What IS
is Being - Being Nothing and Everything!
Thanks for your videos. Objects can't express
anything, reality does. And all that is an illusion.
Happy Now!
Your message is right on. Thanks.
De Nada!
It’s happiness here to note that this is all striking home
“over there,” welcome Home!
K.S.
Asks, How do we know that thoughts don't come from the tissue and the muscle in the mind?
IF they do, how do we know that we aren't something from inside the mind?
I think you are confusing
the concept "mind" with the physical BRAIN. The collection of cells, fluids, the "grey stuff," of the human brain, is like
the hard disk of your computer: It stores stuff. "Mind" is a conceptual pointer that indicates a "personal entity" and
at the core is nothing but a single thought, the thought "I", which arises out of NOWHERE and gets stored in the brain as
a "sense of me."
Look at it this way:
A sense of "me" arrives and is "embedded" in the brain as a memory and then falsely taken to be "what I am." Everything goes
downhill from there ... the root of all suffering is that one false belief!
Now ... WHO asks the
question? WHO wants to "know?" NO answer will satisfy the so-called mind and NOanswer is going to free you
from that false sense of a self apart from the whole.
Ask your “self”
(the “I” or the “mind”) these three questions:
1. Do I Exist? (You
cannot say, "I am NOT.")
2. What AM I? (Am I
a thought? NO. There is NO thought in deep sleep and yet I STILL AM. "I" the person just am not AWARE that I AM.)
3. Where is this ME?
(Can I find any such thing? NO. Then the identification with the thought of a separate "me" MUST be FALSE.)
Finally:
Give up all your questions and all your "knowing"
and stay on One Final Question that can NEVER be answered: WHO AM I?
ASK until there is NO ONE LEFT to ask
and no one to care about "self realization" or ANY other myth of a personal attainment! Ask YOU until YOU are GONE FOR GOOD! Then (NOW) after the "mind" is finally erased by the Final Question, there arises the direct and immediate NON-thought
... NON-CONCEPTUAL SILENCE KNOWING... I AM THAT! I AM EVERYTHING! I AM THAT.
Of course in the ultimate Final Truth
there is NO you who can "do" that or NOT "do that." However, paradoxically, IF there is the dream of a "me-individual" ...
a core belief still operating as a false premise ... then that "individual" can be examined to see it is is actually real,
then no-one discovers you are not a thing at all, yet Being IS and That is Nothing and Empty yet Everything in Fullness! Don't
try to figure this out! Just BE and look into that Being Itself. Find out there is no person. Ultimately you find that there
is NO WAY OUT of Being ... and THAT is The Gift Of Absolute Freedom. _______________________________________________________________________
22 December 2007
Don’t
Be Lazy To Investigate
M.H. Writes, Do
you know, it's really frustrating to hear you and others speak words of truth; to be reminded of a very dear friend who said
much the same 20 odd years ago and still to be sat here holding onto the belief that I am what I am not and to know there
is not a damn thing "I" can do about it.
That's not actually true. What that "you" CAN
do is LOOK into this story of "me" with a direct challenge to the assumption that there "Is a Me" and That Thought of I is
what I am. That assumption is false as you can easily prove by actually looking into the space with a couple of simple questions.
But first, can you NOT be? You ARE and THAT is inescapable. Start from that certitude.
Then if suffering or
frustration is there, for whom? Where is the "self center" - the "me" - that keeps reasserting that "I hold onto that
belief in a separate entity?" Ask YOU, WHO AM I? Where is this "me?" You look and see in the immediacy that there is
only a temporary thought than is not always there and is completely gone in deep sleep where in the body is lived by
Being-Awareness-Aliveness just fine!
Do NOT be lazy to investigate
and root out that core false assumption! Read the other correspondence on my site, and stay with I AM … Being-Aliveness
… and let THAT show you the infinity of Love and the emptiness of the Self. You were never born. Being The Unborn is
Freedom and You Are THAT. Do not refuse that and do not pretend to be a little separate thing apart from That. I Love you.
From a Dear Friend ... dear
charlie thank you for these heart felt teachings allways. i love your continueous service to all. thank you yours
as awareness... Jay
ZSH Writes, "I think
I am going nuts trying to look through this ME SENSE. It keeps coming up. While there is an understanding that the I
thought is not ME, the ME sense is still there. Any pointers?"
There can be a functional
sense of "me" as part of the natural operation of an organism. That is NOT a "problem." When there is suffering, THAT is based
on the assumption that a thought of I or a "sense of me" IS what I AM and then there is a sense of being SEPARATE from the
Wholeness of Life and that brings suffering as that false self-center seeks pleasure and avoids pain ... because there is
a "me" who desires what is NOT and resits what IS. You say, "I
think I am going nuts." ... THAT is suffering! But WHO is "going
nuts?"!?
Keep asking "Who Am I?"
"the ME sense is still
there"
Who IS this Me?"
EXACTLY WHERE IS ‘IT”
STILL THERE?
"the ME
sense is still there"
EXACTLY WHERE
IS "IT” "STILL THERE"?
ANY "sense" or "feeling" or "idea"
of "location” will ONLY be MORE THOUGHTS
Who THINKS?
"Any pointers?"
WHO "wants pointers?"
WHO asks THIS question??
WHO AM I??
WHO AM I??
WHO AM I??
WHO?
Who is asking ‘Who Am
I?”
Read and Re-Read THIS:
"The thought 'who am I?'
will destroy all other thoughts, and like the stick used for stirring the burning pyre, it will itself in the end get destroyed.
Then, there will arise Self-realization."
Q: "What
is the means for constantly holding on to the thought 'Who am I?'"
R: "When other thoughts arise,
one should not pursue them, but should inquire: 'To whom do they arise?' It does not matter how many thoughts arise. As each
thought arises, one should inquire with diligence, "To whom has this thought arisen?". The answer that would emerge would
be "To me". Thereupon if one inquires "Who am I?", the mind will go back to its source; and the thought that arose will become
quiescent. With repeated practice in this manner, the mind will develop the skill to stay in its source."
M.L. Writes, Felt the urge to connect, but
don't know what to say. Maybe it's just time to have the ego be completely disregarded again. The pointers are going okay
I suppose. Like "I" could tell. It seems like a bad idea to try to talk about what's going on because it just reinforces the
seeker identity.
That
urge comes from Oneness ... the Truth wants only Itself. And as John Wheeler quips, "The Path Is A Truthless Land." ALL paths
lead "somewhere" ... the Truth of Being Awareness Aliveness is Right here Right Now and That is THAT. Ha! "Time to have the ego completely disregarded?"
That is just another story of an uninvestigated storyteller … does that “I” telling the story actually exist?
Where is this infamous ego that needs disregarding!? Is there any such thing? Or is there just Space-Like Awareness and a
thought taken to be “who or what you are?” That is simply the Case Of Mistaken Identity! NOW quite possibly there
will be a seeing from nowhere by no-one that even THAT is (inevitably and always) yet another aspect of what YOU really are,
which is … Ta Da… EVERYTHING! That does NOT mean that there is everything and then apart from everything there
is an “I.” Seeing this is the final understanding (not a mental comprehension … this is direct know-ing
without a know-er.
A
reminder from Maharaj: "One in a million will listen, understand and abide by the advice of the Guru, that ‘you
are everything.’ He or she accepts with conviction ... [but] in most cases, the beingness assumes
that it is a body that has taken shape, so one believes that he or she is born and will die. ... there is no death and
no birth; one can never be born and die." The pointer is, BE that "One In A Million!"
Thinking about
it and making up stories about it and trying to understand it are all not very helpful. Like the end of that [Bob Adamson] clip you sent, just ideas chasing
ideas.
Yep. So simply
STOP the habit in its tracks: As long as there is ANY vestige of belief in a “you” put that “you”
to the task of Self-Discovery through Absolute Unswerving Commitment and Intention! Refuse to buy the con man mind’s
game of separateness and suffering. Refuse all ideas of separateness and entity. Watch the thoughts as they come and go in
Presence-Awareness and don’t latch on to any thought as being you or meaning something about you… that is all.
Break that habit right now!
I do have a question on the pointers. You
wouldn't think something so simple could be done incorrectly, but I've discovered there are a few ways to do "who am I". One
way, which I think you were saying in the conference call, is after asking "do I exist" you look for the "I" in that place
where you see directly that you exist.
What is this
asking? Where is the ask-er? What says “I” over and over and over? WHAT is THAT? Where does that arise from and
subside back into?
Ask the self-concept,
the “I,” … Do I Exist? There is ONLY the QUESTION.
If you look
for an answer you are sticking yourself back into ignorance.
Ask
“you,” Do I Exist? No Answer. Ask with NO expectation or agenda to “get somewhere.” You are already
HERE NOW. You ALREADY ARE what the mind seeks.
Do I Exist?
Do I Exist?
Do I Exist?
Do I Exist?
Do I Exist?
STOP!!!
Like just asking "do I exist" sort of throws
you back into "that" and obviously there is no "I" there. Another way is looking in the mind and seeing the "I" come up and
seeing it is just a thought. Does it matter which way you do it or are both effective? Or am I way off track and need to be
pointed back to the pointers?
I
-I- I- I- STOP! What “throws" who into what? You are already THAT.
Anyhow, it's been back to basics here. Pondering
the fact of my existence, which really is quite amazing. Also, after the mind exploded last week, things have been subtly
different.
Once the seeing has happened there may “seem
to be a ”flip-flopping” into identity but you can never again take it as seriously as you did before the mind
collapsed in the First Instant of Timeless being.
I thought about you on your birthday and I
hope you had a good time.
No-one was born. Yet a good “time”
was had … by no-one!
I'm going into a meeting now. Don't blow
my mind while I'm in there, okay? ;-)
WHAT “mind?” Show “me”
a “mind” and “I” “won’t blow it!” LOL.
Ponder this…
which was written today to another “seeker” … all you are facing is habits of the brain that is accustomed
to thoughts of me myself and i. That was gone through in the charlie thing... it came to pass ... the investigation happened
and all the story was seen as false, as is the story-teller... Break the habit. It takes your intention. It takes your
commitment. Self-Knowledge is NOT a trivial matter! It takes all you can muster ... paradoxically for when you look
there is No “you" but as is said over and over so long as there is that belief in a "person with will and volition"
put that "person to the task of questioning its very existence! To repeat what Nisargadatta said:
"One in a million will listen, understand and abide by the advice of the Guru, that ‘you are everything.’
He or she accepts with conviction ... [but] in most cases, the beingness assumes that
it is a body that has taken shape, so one believes that he or she is born and will die. ... there is no death and no
birth; one can never be born and die."
BE that "one in a million!
You are much closer to "the end" than “you" think.
Follow-up from D.L. - Thanks for your response
to last weeks email. Questions: 1. What exactly happened for you to allow the shift in perception?
There must be a single moment when you heard a word(s) and the mind gave up. You mentioned earlier it was talking to
[John] Wheeler, but at what point in what Wheeler was saying were you able to see that "I am unborn"? 2. everything
that arises does not last and therefore it is agreed to be unreal. and, nothing can threaten the awareness that we are.
so, what ( and i appreciate the language issue) allowed the human organism to apparently associate with awareness? Why not
the rabbit or the dinosaur? 3. Do you see that, as [Tony] Parsons says, its all a game? Just as life apparently
evolves, so must the evolution away from thought - Huang Po discusses this - the source of all apparent evil is conceptual
thought. if you give this up ( interesting in none of his lectures does he discuss how) and see that the senses connect
one to nothing, realization can occur.
This is tail chasing. The story of what apparently
happened to "another" is absolutely irrelevant. Are YOU suffering? That we can address. But there is no interest here in conceptual
explanations or stories. The mind ("I") will ask endless questions ... WHO is asking THIS? Where is this "ask-er?"
DO YOU EXIST? Who says so? A self concept that
reinforces itself in ignorance! IT says, IAMIAIAMIAMIAM. It's
conceptual BULLSHIT!
As to Tony's pointers, you will have to ask Tony.
Do you have a question about YOUR suffering? If
not, I respectfully disengage.
S.P. Writes, Came across your
postings on the net accidentally/ spontaneously as everything happens. It is indeed a joy to see the clarity of the pointers
from your talks. There is clear seeing of your message right here and now. There is really no "me". Hence, no questions or
doubts arise. The seeing became clear recently for this pseudo-entity without any effort at all. Even the clarity of the Truth
happens and not because some false entity called "me" wants it. Everything happens and all one can do is to have an earnest
desire to know the Truth ( like Nisargadatta Maharaj said). Till then it is only an intellectual battle for the mind; the
mind that does not want to lose itself. This email writing is happening like everything else. One can only point out the Truth
as you are doing repeatedly but only a few will be able to clearly SEE the message ( and not just understand it intellectually!).
This email is coming to you from another pseudo-entity who resides in the Midwest. There is no distance that can really separate
us. There is really no "you" or "me". I am your own Self. Salutations and hopefully more will be able to SEE what you point
to.
Z.S.H. Writes: Q: I am not new to
spirituality and have read books by John Greven and Leo Hartong and others. I know that the 'ME, MYSELF, or I' thought is
not who I am...however when I wake up in the morning, I feel like I am my body. It is like the body is anchoring me (a sense
or gripping in my throat). There is a kind of ME sense which I find hard to look past.
And
where IS all that? In thoughts. Where IS “a body” apart from a THOUGHT OF ‘a body?’ What says "I know?"
"I feel?" WHOSE throat? Where is the author or doer of that "sense?" What in you keeps saying "I-I-I-I-I?" Where IS this "me
sense?" Apart from a concept, a thought that is driving experience, there is no actual entity in there. Try your mightiest
to find that entity. You cannot! It is the phantom storyteller of the sad sad story of seeking and never finding.
Where in the body are
“you?” Where in thoughts are “you?” Where is "you?" What IS “you”? Where IS this "you"
you call "me?" What is it “you” take “yourself” to BE? Is it real? Or only a thought? Appearing and
disappearing in Awareness Itself?
ONLY when you “take yourself to be a thought” ... as in the erroneous belief “I
feel like I am my body” ... is there any suffering or confusion. Where IS this “I?” Investigate that!
Also during moments
when I am having intense emotions and my mind is running away with thoughts (jealousy, anger, frustration), I find it hard
to see myself as the One behind it all.
Listen
to yourself! You say “I” “I” “I” and THAT is what needs to be investigated. Where IS this
“I” you take yourself to be? THERE ARE APPEARING AND DISAPPEARING MOMENTARY MOVEMENTS OF ENERGY HAPPENING AND
THEY GET LABELED AS "FEAR ANGER ETC" AND THEY GET TAKEN ON AS "MINE" IN IGNORANCE. Where IS "the owner?" You falsely identify
as a single thought, “I,” and then endlessly add to that in ignorance (ignoring the Space-Like Awareness IN which
all that arises.) Now you try to add “understanding” or “awakening” or “enlightenment”
to that FALSE self … the thought “I” is NOT the True I of inconceivable Being-Awareness. Thought looks for
no thought! That is absolutely an impossible task; the answer is NOT in more or better or different thoughts! What you ARE
is NOT a thought!
LOOK
RIGHT NOW: Can you say you are NOT? You ARE and that is known before the thought of knowing. Before the subject “I”
and the object” other” (including “other called body”) YOU ARE. Absolutely 100% Unknowable…
and yet IT IS. That is what is Real. ALL else is the fake, the con man called “”me myself I.” See that right
now… you are and that is the knowing Presence of Awareness.
Any advice? I
am not completely done with your book ["From I Am To I Am, With Love"] because I am reading it carefully :)
NO advice. Only a pointing
out what is real and the suggestion that you see if you can actually find this alleged "i" - person. Read the pointers on
this website, there are many pages of pointers here! Keep looking from Naked Presence into these thought-emotion movements
and see if you can find ANY separate controlling thinking feeling "entity." You are gonna come up Empty! That ... Emptiness,
suffused with the Presence of Knowing, is Real. The identity is NOT real.
Thought cannot find
its absence.
Thank you Charlie
:) If I may ask, who is moving my fingers when I type? Who is moving my legs and feet when I walk? Is it just an illusion?
Who asks this question?
Where is the questioner? Is there such a separate
"entity? Where is it?
You are and that is known. Being-Awareness-Aliveness
IS and YOU are THAT.
Nothing else is real.
I am starting to realize more and more that
everything which we tend to own (our emotions, our thoughts, our body) comes right back to the phantom I. If there is no I
to begin with, then who can possibly own all those??? Am 'I' right? :)
Excellent seeing from nowhere to nothing:-))
yet ....Not right Not wrong
Not "I" Not "other"
there is only Being Arising as Presence-Awareness
and not even That
thought arises and disappears and That is Never-changing
Ever-fresh prior to thought.
NO thing. That Is What Is.
Thanks Charlie :) I have a lot of homework
to do :)
WHO has "homework?"
There's NO homework, no time, and no person to
do or not do anything.
See RIGHT NOW. YOU ARE and you KNOW you ARE.
That is all there is to see.
There is NO other than I AM.
You are That I AM.
So the SEER and the SEEN are both one? No difference between the perceiver
and the perceived? Like between the wall and the one perceiving the wall?
Thanks for sharing your videos. They seeem unusually crisp and precise.
De Nada! :-)
Would you be able to do one on the subject of physical
pain, especially chronic pain. I have found this to be an impossible thing to reconcile. There is always 'me' and 'my pain'.
If 'what is' includes chronic pain possibly until death, how do you stop the incessant and pointless mental battle to separate
yourself from it? I think you may have touched on this before in other videos, but I'd appreciate any other thoughts you may
have.
It would be best to discuss this directly
by telephone. Where are you located? I may be able to call you as I have a Vonage phone and can call many places with no extra
LD costs. If that is not workable the next best would be an e-mail discussion direct and personal, not on YouTube. Write to
non.duality@yahoo.com and repeat the question there; include your phone number and if you are in the US, Canada, Mexico, or
the UK I will arrange to call you ... just tell me good times to reach you. (Note that donations for consultations are optional,
NOT required.)
That said, I will post a video on
this topic shortly; tune in to my YouTube site after 3 PM USA - CST for updates, and thanks for a good question, I imagine
many have a similar issue.
D. L. Writes,
"There is a curiosity about the experience of this awakening process - how it is perceived by the biological support unit
(so-called person). i have read a small collection of them and they are as varied as the organisms themselves.
all are of the greatest beauty, for it is beauty (a la Keats) expressing itself through form. If you care to share "yours",
it would be most welcome."
In the
life of this ‘charliething” John Wheeler, Bob Adamson, and a few others, kept pointing out the obviousness of
Being Itself ... and also pointed out that the "self-centered idea of the person labeled 'me'" is no more substantial
than a cloud of smoke appearing as a word-image from a skywriting airplane.
Investigating
this idea of a person reveals its absolute absence, in that absence there is what always is ... the Presence of Awareness,
Awareness, just That... the recognition dawned (dawns only always NOW) that inescapably, there IS Being-Existence, and That
is appearing as Everything ... from Nothing.
This is
NOT an "experience of an experiencer," rather it is the direct experience-ING of Life-Aliveness ... Living ItSelf through
all that appears. This Self-Aware Presence is akin to the empty beauty of a Mirror in which all experiences arise as reflections,
a play of shape and form with no substance in Reality. All there is is Nothing Being Everything. This is seen (so to say) or closer in language this is see-ing ... for no-one by no-one.
Words cannot but divide this into
dualism. THIS See-ing Be-ing Love-ING Is ... Only One-Not-Two.
Totality
moves an organism to self-knowledge, seeing the Real and discarding the false, then Nothing happens to No One.
All that
is merely a story arising presently in Being-Awareness. "You" asking “you” … "who is curious?" may bear
fruitless seeing.
The false
only stands in lack of investigation and when looked at head on from indiscoverable undisputable Naked Being-Awareness, the
false is seen as the phantom it actually is. That’s it in a nutshell.
The
entire gory story is here. But it IS truly IRRELEVANT AND IMMATERIAL! :-)
D.L. Writes, I enjoy your videos …Karl Renz says that humans are only ideas, and people don't write books- reality does. when this is seen,
there has to be a smile. Thank you for sharing, but then you have no choice!
You’re welcome.
Question: why do you experience any
emotion when you get response from a viewer? you said a lady made you feel a certain way based upon her comments. she
has no choice in the manner of her response - she is "apparently" acting in the only way she can - if she could respond another
way she would. all life has to act in its own best interest at every moment any response you get is perfect. anything
else is an argument with reality and that's the source of all suffering… conceptual thought got man out of the trees
and now the tool known as the mind continues to run the show.
Everything arises in presence-awareness. Nothing
and no one is taken seriously or personally; that sharing is kind of like a "weather report." The pointless point is that
taht particular apparent 'seeker' got some insight from that video; read correspondence with "D.R."
Now, not to be an advaita-jerk, but really,
DL, WHO says all this? To merely 'believe 'he or she has no choice' is not what is being pointed to. In imagination "we" (the
mind-story I thought, a storyteller of amazing proportion) make the pointers into some truth; there is no sch thiong as a
true pointer!
But no one was born anywhere, not her not you
not me. All is as it is... appearing as this and that. No worries.
Q: I found you
on YOUTUBE. I enjoy your teachings so much.
I woke up for one day after listening to your 'I AM, STOP!" But next morning I was back in LAH-LAH Land. But being in the NOW for the short period was awesome. It felt so natural, so
ordinary...I was home."
Where is this “I”
that "woke one day?" Seek the source of that “I.” You will end up only with what IS … No Thing. That is
what You are, so to speak. THAT is Emptiness, Being-Aliveness, beyond language, the unknowable Knower of the states of sleep,
dream, and waking-dream of the “I.”
You are never NOT home.
There are just false expectations that some "state" that inevitably passes will be "permanent." There will be no such thing;
it's a myth propagated by teachers and books that seem to promise some such. The experience you describe happened in being-Awareness
and THAT, Being-Awareness, is simply NEVER actually missing, just overlooked. It is what you are RIGHT NOW ... wherever
you go here you are, whatever the clock says it's only now. There is NO "Power of Now." ALL there IS is NOW. Here. No Where/Everywhere.
Just see that what's being pointed to is indescribable AND unavoidable. Nuff said :-))
Q:
Every night I just kind of fall into seeing that I am not, and what is, is seen. Yet every morning, even though I try
really hard to maintain it (silly I know) I wake stupid and stay stupid for the rest of the day, until about 1 AM or
so when the seeing phase comes. During the day I will try my hardest. I will sometimes stop what I am doing and lock
myself in my closet, determined to see this, and of course, nothing is seen. "I" am carried away by thought. Then
at night it seems to happen by itself. Why would this be? Seeing and not seeing, truth or not, are just more bullshit
states, aren't they?
Where is
the "I" emanating from?
What is
all this story appearing IN?
Who is
asking this? Where is the thinker telling a story of “I” this and “I” that?
Where IS
this person you take yourself to be?
You are
THAT Emptiness which IS and KNOWS.
There is
nothing to find, nothing to "stay with." The pointer is YOU ARE THAT. THAT is Being, inescapable.
Emptiness.
Just That.
No thing.
You cannot "find" no thing. You ARE emptiness ... No Thing.
Read this
one over: A FEW times...
"Through conversations with “Sailor” Bob Adamson and the pointers he shared, I came to see that I was not the person I took myself to be. In fact,
the person I assumed that I was did not even exist, except as an assumption. The entity at the center of my world, the very
self around which my mind and all of its problems, questions, doubts and issues revolved, was not and never had been present.
All of those conceptual difficulties simply evaporated due to having no central point of reference any longer. One of the
first recognitions was a very clear knowing that the spiritual search that had lasted several decades was over. This was not
because any particular goal had been attained, but because the seeker had disappeared. With the dissolution of the “I
am” as a valid concept, any other concept which I habitually attached to that concept, such as “I am this”
or “I am that” was rendered null and void. “I” no longer existed as the person I assumed I was. This
did not mean that I disappeared. Relatively speaking, nothing changed at all. Perceiving, thinking, feeling, experiencing
— all of these things went on as before. The difference was that things were no longer referred to a self-center, because
there was no self-center. This made all the difference, for as “Sailor” Bob Adamson once told me, suffering is
nothing more than self-centered thinking. Suffering is a result of the belief in the reality of the separate self. And without
the cause, can you have the effects? With the self-center out of the picture, what was left? What was I? Clearly I was still
there, but not as anything I had previously taken myself to be. I existed, but not as some “thing”. A better statement
would be that I was no thing, meaning nothing in particular. I was aware, yet not confined to any particular state of consciousness.
In this non-conceptual recognition, my being was vast, empty, clear, present, aware, utterly untouched by appearances, yet
intimately connected to them all, naturally and effortlessly present, inescapable, beyond doubt, fearless and free. The personal
suffering that had gripped my mind for years, even during the years of being a spiritual “person”, simply could
not reformulate any longer. And, most incredibly, this turned out to be the natural state that had been present from the start,
only unrecognized until Bob Adamson pointed this out and encouraged me to see the obvious."-John Wheeler
It is exactly the same "here" ... I exist but NOT
as some "Thing."
You
are that EXACT Same No Thing ... that Existing-ness that IS.
Don't
believe it! It's NOT a mental assertion! Keep looking.
Then what isn't? Isn't that what we're trying to see here?
WHO is
“trying to see? This is still uninvestigated!There is NOTHING to see and
NO-ONE to see that!
If you
believe in a false person, keep looking for some such. You always come up with nothing. That is the THAT in the phrase I AM
THAT. YOU ARE THAT. No thing appearing as some thing and all that needs to happen is to hunt down the who that talks and wants
and see that you can NOT find such a "one." Full Stop.
This is a lie: There IS Existence ... Being Itself.
This Beingness gets translated in language as "I Am." That "says" "I am afraid." All that is false.
Even this "I Am" is false; it's merely a belief
in or assumption of a separate "me" ... and that "one" that cannot be found.
Discovering THIS ... RE-Cognizing this directly
... ends the fear and the suffering right now.
Follow-up: Well
Charlie, you sure don't beat around the bush! I really appreciated your direct, no-nonsense, reply.
You are welcome. All
that interests me is that your suffering be ended post haste!
Could you just
go a little further on this quote: "Actually that’s a descriptive kind
of “poetry.” But it’s absolutely NOT “the truth.” How can a non-thing that never really existed
in the first place die or be dissolved? It seems to appear as such in the waking dream as a seeker’s sense of separation
fades … either gradually or suddenly." What happens when the seeker's sense of separation fades?
Just that. It’s
a pointer. Fading happens, like clouds fade as the light of the sun evaporates the moisture that makes a cloud appear and
look solid, the Light of The Self burns away the false leaving only Itself, self-luminous, ever-fresh, Unknowing Being.
And what will accelerate
this "process"?
Direct Looking in the
ways outlined in the message: Apperceiving or insight happens as what is false is examined directly. You are NOT a concept.
All concepts are cloud-like thought forms arising in Unborn Being-Awareness-Aliveness. See this by looking, NOT “thinking
about.” Where is the me you take your self to be? Where is any separate subjective entity? Do you exist? Obviously YES.
What is this me? Only a false identification; you take yourself to be a thought in inadvertence and ignorance. Examine this
and find out for yourself: where IS this so-called “ego” or “I” that considers itself as an thing
apart from Totality? Where is it? Settle this once and for all and the seeker fades simply as it is seen to be merely a phantom,
a ghost. You dream that you are you and apart. Stay with what is REAL: Being. Being IS! Try to not be! You cannot escape from
what you REALLY are … Being, arising as Awareness, and Aliveness.
Second point.
You are right that Dzogchen is "The Great Perfection". You probably know the "Tibetan book of the Dead". It talks
about the "Bardo", the in-between state in the after-life, where the next incarnation is "prepared". Buddha spoke about the
six realms, lower (hell worlds) and higher realms. Basically it is this. When "you" die (ego) you are still in the dream,
the illusion, and just like a leaf in the wind you are blown towards your next incarnation, based on your karma, without
"you" having any say in this.
That is all a STORY
and has NO basis in direct experience. All these conceptual stories merely keep you distracted ... but when the investigation
into what or who is telling the story (in YOU) happens, all the stories fall apart and drop like the sack of bullshit
that they are. Again, notice that the ego is taken to be a “fact” where it is only an assumption of a belief in
something unreal. This so-called “ego” is a fantasy, and that is NOT real to begin with! And the only “Bardo”
that interests me is Brigitte Bardot!
But if you
are awakened, enlightened, you will be out of the reincarnation wheel.
What wheel? See above.
What “you?” NO “you” will ever “get awakened, enlightened." I think most of what was reported
as the Buddha’s words was a misinterpretation of pointers ... ignorant minds turned the direct sharing into dogmatic
crap. Sorry,but in direct experience where IS any Buddha? Drop all the hearsay
and look into this for yourself. Do NOT “believe” … rather, LOOK. As Padmasambhava said (more hearsay!)
what is pointed to is self-liberation through seeing (looking) with Naked Awareness. What Nisargadatta calls “staying
with I Am and only that.” Use the pointers, not as “truths,” but as signposts showing where to put your
attention.
I searched on Amazon for your books and
found you wrote one on this subject: "Life After Death". Is it on this topic?
Yes and no. The no
is that it’s mainly a “spiritual autobiography” written in answer to requests to know “charlie’s
story.” The Yes is that it also POINTS to That which never changes, mainly in dialogs with seekers; what is POINTED
to is the Unborn which IS ...always ItSelf before during and after appearances of a “person and a world.” Only
after the apparent death of the false (ego-me) is there True Aliveness, effortless living and authentic freedom. In any event,
of my books I recommend (for you) “From I Am to I Am with Love.” It’s filled with direct
pointing and has far less “story!”
Regarding the following corresepondence: Consider and ponder .....
"My propositions are elucidatory in this way: he who understands me finally
recognizes them as nonsensical, when he has climbed out through them, on them, over them... he must so to speak
throw away the ladder, after he has climbed up on it. He must surmount these propositions; then he sees the world rightly.
Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must remain silent." - Ludvig Wittgenstein
04 December 2007
This
Is Being-Awareness-ALIVENESS
Q: Thanks for your
newsletter, I found theses words by John Wheeler particularly intriguing: "What is often missed is that consciousness itself, the basis of the appearance, is also time-bound.
You only know 'I am' while the body is present. You are that which was present BEFORE consciousness appeared on you. Before
consciousness appeared, you were, but you did not know yourself or have any sense of existence. That is the absolute, non-dual
or perfect state."
Upon reading this,
it immediately hit me: This "non-dual perfect state" must be DEATH! Or at least a 'metaphor' for death. This seems horrible. What I really am is unknowable, and forever unsensible?
Then I must say, I would rather be SOMETHING, at least some kind of consciousness, than some non-existing, mute, uncaring,
numb and deadhearted emptiness!
As long as there is
a desire to be "something" there will be suffering. Once this is seen to be ignorance it is no longer the primary
focus and the "return to the home you never left" happens just like everything else happens ... spontaneously and causelessly.
To the mind this Absolute Infinity LOOKS dead. But in fact it is Life Itself, throbbing with raw pulsating Aliveness. I call
this Being-Awareness-Aliveness (as in Sat-Chit-Ananda.)
In the words of Bankei,
“Die before you die!” There must be the happening of this. It WILL happen, at death of the body, and it
CAN happen before that, when the false is seen as false and the true Being is directly apperceived … Absolute
Nonconceptual Being, nothing being everything.
And most important:
Suffering can never and. We are nothing at all, so nobody can ever influence anything in the world of appearance, which is
the world of suffering...
That is a complete
perversion of the message! Suffering consists in falsely identifying the Unbounded Self, Being-Awareness-Aliveness,
as a name and form, a body or emotional self-center, in other words as a concept or experience. In this appearance all sorts
of ways to look into the nature of this are offered and among these are investigation as outlined in the Teachings of John Wheeler, Bob Adamson,Sri Ramana Maharshi, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj and others. There are many such respected and valuable Teachings on my website and on those sites listed on my links page. Find the pointers that resonate for you and dig within. The diamond of Truth is within and all around. You ... the authentic
YOU ... ARE The Absolute and YOU DO Exist ... NO-Where … AND Every-Where. Being-Awareness-Aliveness IS and YOU are THAT.
That is Life Itself.
Read the 04 December 2007 correspondence,
“ This Makes No Sense To
a ‘Me’" ... it addresses this
precise issue more fully.
Q: This
appears in your newsletter: "You
only know "I am" while the body is present. You are that which was present BEFORE consciousness appeared on you." This makes no sense to me at all. I only
know "I am" because I have consciousness. Before consciousness appeared in my body/mind I was, for all intents and purposes,
dead! (Note: the
entire text referred to is available here.)
Exactly. When "you" are dead YOU are Life Itself. That little "I" or "me"
is what the Absolute Knower calls "death." The death of "you" is Life Everlasting. in deep sleep you ARE the Absolute and
NOTHING else! That is Life Itself. Before "you" are THIS IS. Eternally Free...
So "you" will NEVER "make sense" of it. Because that "you" is only a thought
trying to get or make sense of The Absolute which is totally BEYOND thoughts and even consciousness itself! Until “your”
life is lost “you” will try to attain and strive endlessly looking in all the wrong places (especially in 'understanding')
for that Wholeness of Absolute No Thing Ness. That’s sad … and it is what IS. Being is EVERYTHING ...
and NO Thing. Unthinkable! Yet ...It Is.
Without consciousness my body is a lump of cold dead meat; no awareness,
no existence, no heart pumping or cells dividing, no life. Just food for worms.
“My” body? This identity with that dead meat is the entire issue!
I
accept that there is "I am" without knowing and without awareness (like deepsleep
or coma) but not without consciousness.
You
are NOT being asked to “accept” or “believe" or "agree with" ANYTHING! Quite the contrary! Believe nothing!
Look! You are invited to look within your own Self, so to speak, using the pointers ... if you like. If you object or want
to understand, or "argue" rather than LOOK, you HAVE missed the pointless pointer!
Unless
we're talking in the medical sense of the word, as in: "He was knocked unconscious" Which seems too obvious to be the message
here. Yes, unconscious people are alive, but knowing that is pointless if you can't experience it. A virus is an organism
that's "alive", but I'll bet it doesn't have much fun! So without consciousness I can't 'know' anything, so who cares.
I can't smell as well as a dog can or see like an eagle, but it doesn't worry me. Have I misunderstood somewhere?
YES … because you are trying to understand what you are …
the Absolute … which is BEYOND relativity, beyond understanding, and utterly indescribable. Bondage consists in your
identifying your Infinite Self as a concept (as in 'I am this consciousness and this body') and/or an experience … “knowing,
smelling, 'having fun,' caring, experiencing.” You are upright and dead so long as that identification is happening.
Life itself lives through that bodymind and could care less about “you” living or dying, understanding or not.
So yes … the message IS that ALL your knowing is actually rank ignorance and your freedom is lost in the conceptual
misunderstanding that you take yourself to be a “person” with consciousness. The person is an idea appearing IN
consciousness and consciousness is an appearing dualistic sense of being-apart from the Absolute Wholeness ... which
is Being, Reality before time and space and forms and awareness. Being IS and THAT is Everything. You are in a word,
missing the Everything of the Absolute that is pointed to in the essay.
Give up trying to know and understand and read that whole essay over a few times ... and see what opens out into That Beyond the Word.
It's funny that you would send out this
John Wheeler pointer, as I had the idea in mind to forward it to you for your take.
Good, we are
on the same “wavelength.” (Note the text the questioner refers to is HERE.)
So recognizing this sense of being, and
"staying with it" (you know what I mean) is still a subtle identification?
Yes, and that
goes in the end. As John points out it is an interim “step.” Don’t get too caught out trying to parse and
compare pointers though; keep it a simple as knowing Being IS and you are That. In his words, “This is only an initial pointer that is useful to free you from a grosser
identification with the body, mind and personality. But to stop there and identify yourself as consciousness, presence or
stillness is an error.”
I recognize this sense of being, so I guess
I can't even be that. Even the fact of being (which isn't really an object but can be recognized to be present) is not WHAT
I AM?
Correct. You are the Unborn Absolute, unknowable,
indescribable, inexpressible, un-point-outable! That is UNBORN and appears to the mind (the I) as Absolutely No Thing. And
Everything. But these are NOT two: it is NothingEverything in language. Now let that one drop too!
Q: I found your
site just a few days ago, and every time I go back I see/hear exactly what I need right then. I also like your style. I'm
hoping you can help me to see through the story of my life.
To say this indicates
that you already see the story AS a story! That’s a great start in my view. To say this indicates that you already see
the story AS a story! That’s a great start in my view. Now see that "my" is part OF the story! It is LIFE happening,
not "my" life.
The biggest things
that anchor my belief in me right now are the physical sensation of tightness in my body that I interpret as fear/anxiety
(and that feels like the seat of ME), and the identification of myself as a seeker.
Yes, that is the insecure
vulnerable sense of a separate self. It’s inevitably at the core insecure! Why? It suspects it is a fake; an inauthentic
identity that has been believed in innocence from around the age of two or three, but is now thanks to “Grace”
or whatever you like to call the Energy of Truth that arises from out of nowhere, the belief is crumbling. And that fake feels
threatened!
The “seeker”
is born of pain and insecurity and dies in the fire of being, the Absolute, which arises as an Energy I call Aliveness. All
is happening IN the Absolute Being … that is what is Real and It arrives as Raw Aliveness -- and THAT removes the false,
so to say. No one is doing that. It happens as everything happens … all by itself! That said, there are
ways to look into all this that appear to be helpful along the way.
Today, for instance, the thought "I'm a
bad person" came up, and I saw it arise out of nothing and saw that it was nothing, and it occurred to me that I could be
saying I was a piece of cheese and it would have exactly as much validity.
Exactly. ANY word that
follows “I AM” IS false. And ultimately it is seen that the “I Am” itself must go (and does …
just as naturally as a sunrise.)
This made me laugh
and cry and within a minute (I had a brief respite) my mind was asking, "Is this It?" (because laughing/crying often accompany
"realization") and then, "Oh no, I screwed it up!" accompanied by that strong physical sensation of anxiety/fear, and then,
"what a great story [about me]!" (which I have now told). Ultimately, I got pulled back into believing in me again. That's
a pretty typical series of events.
WHO says? Who “got
pulled?” Did your Being disappear? Did Awareness and Aliveness become any less Aware and Alive??
Intellectually,
I understand the teaching (and that it isn't really a teaching), and that ultimately I have no control whatsoever over whether
this so-called waking up will even occur here.
Drop the understanding
in favor of direct looking and experiencing what you ARE... simply BEING. And, emphatically it is NOT that “you”
have no control. It is ultimately that there IS no “you” or “I” anywhere! But that, when only believed,
can cause tremendous suffering in and of itself. This is a point we should talk directly about. Clearing this is a crucial
“step.”
But I still want
to arrange a consultation with you (except that I'm not doing that either). How do I go about it?
The details are on the consultations page:
essentially, just tell me where and when you are available and I’ll call you (if in North America or the UK.) Otherwise
you can call me at any time and if I’m not available we can arrange a time when we both are. USA +1 580 366-4083. I
am in the Central Time Zone.
Please NOTE that "donations" are absolutely never required. Let your situation and your own Heart guide you in this.
If donating doesn’t work for you DO NOT fail to ask for a consult ... NO one is ever turned aside over a
money issue.
Z.S. Writes more - Charlie, you say "There
seems to be for many a “final stage” where all that is needed to be understood is known and the “persona”
has been seen through, and is now clearly no longer deeply believed in." Are you implying that this is what is happening for
"Z"?
Not implying. Stating it as a brute FACT!
Isn't that bringing hope into this?
Only if a “you” believes that and
even that is crumbling right now. You are being eaten alive by time and life itself!
Right now, and lately, it seems like nothing
is exposed. Nothing is in it's death throes. Certainly not the ego. In fact there is no thought of ego or not.
There is just jealousy, anger, confusion and all of the other fun experiences that seem to be here to stay again.
So what? WHO cares? YOU care. YET you do not LOOK.
Isn’t that interesting??
What you describe there in the first paragraph
doesn't seem to be happening here. It's just the same old shit.
WHO SAYS SO? The grass does not seem to be growing.
It is. You just can’t see it. You cannot see the crumblijg but I assure you it IS happening. And the fina proof is that
you WILL die. Maybe not until age 90 but that IS a process happening always already and you cannot stop that!
Don’t turn pointers into beliefs.
Charlie, you wrote "...There is merely a now-crumbling
belief that “you” are not liberated..."Again, that would not seem to be the case. It's not crumbling.
It seemed to be, a week or two ago, and now it's back in full force. This is what always happens, every couple months.
There is a breaking, a seeing, whatever. Then the return to an illusory hell for months and months, until a stopping
happens once again, and it goes on like that and has been going on like that all of "my" life. I'm tired of the cycle.
If you were REALLY tired of it you’d be
looking into yourself rather than fighting and arguing against your own freedom.
And I apologize for being so stupid
and insufferable.
Rather than apologize to some figment of your imagination
called charlie why do you not LOOK using the pointers? Arrogant ignorance CAN be seen through, deconstructed. These non-persons
(see the links page) that you reach out to show you how to LOOK WITHIN YOURSELF.
Again, use the pointers! You do not need to believe.
You ened not believe in a computer … you USE the think g as a tool. These are the tools of investigation:
A
Friend Writes, Really enjoyed your conference call. I have lately been asking myself
the question on the I Am That dvd where Maharaj says. The knowing that you are, on what does it depend?........... (Its
really mind boggling.) ....... Nobody investigates on this, ..... Beyond the body mind, no one investigates...........
?????? Without depending on anything, find out, what are. .....
Yes.
I KNOW "I AM." But
I can never know HOW I know I am.
In my experience, I
must find out that I Am in order to discover that before I Am, I Am NOT. Then I must see that the I is merekly a thought
arising out of nowhere and going back to that same nowhere and that only that nowhere is the actuality ... that lets me see
that I am NOT. Therefore the mind must conclude, I am ONLY because I Am Not.
So: I am NOT, therefore I
AM.
Bang! Yer Dead.
Me Two.
Then (NOW!) No-One
SEES: I AM Everything. You are Everything. Everything IS and that includes "ideas of separation" and "ideas of Oneness." Both
ARE and Are NOT at one same Timeless Being Everything wow. Enough said. This IS the Bottom Bottom Line: You Are Everything Full STOP.
A question from
a reader of the book, “From I Am to I Am, With Love," arrives today: Personality traits still come up but there is a knowing that this
is not me, my true nature is awareness, peace silence. This is in the background of all that appears.
This Awareness-Peace
is not “in” the background. IT IS the silent still ever-free background. And THAT is what You really are. All
else is imagination based on a self-concept … an “I” apart from Wholeness. The “background”
of Being-Awareness AND the “content” of Being Awareness are NOT TWO (that is why the ancients called This “Advaita
… which translates in English as “Not Two.”) This Emptiness is also FULLNESS; these are Not Two…
And there
is nothing for me to do for in reality i do no t exist; the recognition of awareness comes up more and more but i feel like
i am waiting for the final penny to drop.
Then “you”
will “wait” FOREVER. Where is this “me” … this “one you call you?” Who is writing,
thinking, wanting? There is NO “penny to drop!” That is another “myth of liberation!” You are and
you know you are. That is IT … the “big “it” the seeker seeks is already here now and the seeking
of that separates “you” (in thought only!) FROM That. YOU ARE. Do you exist? That Existence IS and is Inescapably
YOU as-you-are.
Askingthe mind “Who Am I?” INSIDE that natural knowing that “I AM THAT” the Eternal Self,
Naked Awareness Just THAT, is “recognized,” by no-one. Being-Awareness IS and does not ever fade or disappear;
all that appears arises in That, yet That True Self is ever-present and remains as it is, untouched and free.
Any pointers
for me?
ASK “YOU:”
Do I Exist?
Who Am I?
I AM THAT.
THAT is Being-Awareness-Peace
and
Peace and
love to you, and the whole universe!
That Peace and
That Love ARE YOUR TRUE NATURE ... and The Universe! ... Not Two!! And THAT is what is REAL. All else is imagination,
dream-like, appearing and dissolving in Being-Awareness as Aliveness. Life Itself IS and You Are That. Full Stop.
Follow-up from
D.R. - It has been several weeks since the so-called "awakening." There appears to be a interesting phenomenon
happening: there is an ever present sense of NOT caring one way or the other any more about whether there is this going
back and forth between so-called "bondage/duality" and so-called "liberation/oneness." This appearance of movement between
me-ing and be-ing appears to be happening always and may never appear to stop. Or it may. Who the hell cares. There is
no desire to seek a way out of this sense of back and forth. One might say, there is just acceptance of what is.
Allowing for what is.
Like the empty sky, Awareness is always ever-fresh
and allowing anything g and everything to appear and dissolve while remaining untouched and eternally free…
Well then must have slipped into the "being"
phase again while writing that last bit there (!)
That is all beautifully articulated.
Steady wisdom ... accept-ance with no accept-er. __________________________________________________________________________
22 December 2007
"Official Smackdown?" De Nada
Follow-up from M.M. - WOW!! Thanks for the official Charlie SMACKDOWN!!
That was wesome. You are so right!! LOL ... Love ya, M
M.M. Writes,
A conversation with a friend has gotten our mind streams stuck on a thought. I’m not quite sure how to word it
so forgive me while I ramble. You know the old saying that" what you don’t like in another is really something that
you don’t like about yourself, etc.”? Well, we began to talk about how since everything is occurring in
MY consciousness, so to speak, then everything is a reflection of me and since that is true then the things that I don’t
resonate with or the people that I don’t resonate with are aspects of me that I haven't accepted?
The unnoticed and uninvestigated
focus in all this story is coming out of a single false assumption: That there is an “I” that resonates or not
with “others” (when there is the delusion of an I then “other” comes with that … I/other are
the delusion of mind.) The delusion of a “me” that has or has not”accepted”
etc. is the storyteller hard at work and continuing to make up stuff about “itself an others” … all this
stays going like a hamster on the wheel owing ONLY to your lack of investigation into the false assumption. Where IS this
"person' that “you” take “yourself” to be? Who are you? Are you a thought? If you believe you are
a thought (the thought of “I, me, myself,” taken to be “me” … this body with a name…)
then you will suffer and ramble.
Part of that feels
true but another part doesn't.
It’s ALL bullshit,
dear One.
These body mind
organisms are under the control of the laws of nature and physics. In the molecular world, there are positive and negative
charges which cause molecules, particles, etc. to be attracted and repelled naturally. Couldn't it be that our inborn
frequency is going to either match, repel or attract other energies having nothing to do with a "personality"? I can
understand being the space that all things happen in and therefore it is OK for anything to show up in it. But that
doesn't necessarily mean that I want to hang out in certain energies or with certain body minds.
That is all a story.
It's UTTERLY irrelevant and immaterial! Look for the storyteller! ASK that mind-storm, wait! WHO AM I? Where is
this “I?” Where is the “me?”
Am I making any
sense?
NO.
What brought this
whole conversation up in the first place was an event at a satsang that my friend and I attend every
Wednesday night here in Northern California.
What satsang? Who hosts
or “teaches?” I need a context …
Starting
about 5 weeks ago, a woman showed up that was new to the satsang group. She has been coming every week. She has turned
the satsang into a personal therapy session where the whole time is spent listening to her stories over and over again. When
she doesn't like an answer that is given, she gets a little angry and belligerent. The same answers are given to her
over and over but she doesn't really want to look for herself.
You can lead
the horse to water but you cannot make it drink.
Several people
have stopped coming because of her and my friend and I are rowing weary of it too. There is no time for anyone else to ask
questions. I am trying to figure out why she is grating on me even though "I" get there is no one here to be annoyed!!
You can NOT “get"
that there is ‘no one here…’ that is the ignorance of a mind that BELIEVES this nonduality teachings and
turns it into something IT owns! If you say "I got it," then you damn well do NOT! Sorry. The Truth is NOT gettable or ownable.
YOU ARE The One and that One cannot "get" that "it is one!" If it could it would NOT be ONE.
"... if
the Self, Who is himself pure Consciousness, Thinks, 'Iam conscious of myself -- I am He!' Such knowledge
would be bondage."
- Jnaneshwar Maharaj
The (false) person
who claims this as his or her knowing is doubly deluded! ANYONE who declares he or she has “reached the goal”
is absolutely deluded and often ones like that try to be “teachers” and “give satsang.” It is the
most egregious brand of bullshit ever! Look: If someone bothers you tell her to shut up or leave (or ask the leader to do
that.) I have sat with some truly great expressions of this, and I will assure you that this sort of thing is NOT tolerated.
One who takes over like that is in the wrong place and a teacher who lets that shit happen is no better (but that is only
an opinion.) It is no service to the one who carries on like that to put up with it; there have been some like that here and
they are asked to leave, to go and find a teaching or sharing that they can listen to and respect. Disrespect is NOT
tolerated here. The point is that it doesn’t work. Not for the one NOT listening and not for the sincere others there
who are looking and earnest to get to the heart of things. But YOU can do nothing about anyone else. Only look to see WHAT
in YOU is bothered. Who Am I is the final question. Deny the mind its addiction to all these stories of “me-me-me-me”
… not “out there in an imaginary “other” but IN YOU!
Do you know what
I mean? The one thing that I do see that is alike is that I am holding onto my story about her like she is holding on
to her stories. But there are lots of people holding onto their stories that don't seem to evoke this response in me.
Where is this I you
keep on reinforcing at every step? ASK YOU! WHO AM I?
You are, Being-Awareness-Aliveness,
and that is ABSOLUTELY known, outside concepts, beyond identity, thoughtless timeless spaceless YOU ARE and THAT cannot be,
held, grasped, owned. Can Space know itself? YOU as WHAT-YOU-REALLY-ARE are NOT a concept OR a feeling. YOU ARE THAT called
“I AM” in language. But THAT is PRIOR TO AND BEYOND language. Seeing this is immediate and direct and requires
NO belief or effort.
You ARE so simply BE
and DROP the stories by seeing once and for good that the “I” is a nonexistent phantom that is not even there
in deep sleep (wherein the body lives and breathes just fine.)
Drop it all like the
sack of crap it is and investigate that stupid false assumption that you are a separate “thing” apart from Wholeness
Itself.
J.S. Writes, Thank you for the many greetings, wishes and "sharings" we've
had over the past two years since we'd first met(although it's actually only been this timeless nowness of existence). BEING,
stillness in which everything appears or arises. Life as this dream character appears in being/nothing/peace/stillness. Family,
friends, others, LOVE.
Happy Holidays from no one to no one in nothing appearing as everything.
(After a phone call where A.C. shared that “nothing
happened to no one!”) …
Follow-up: Since I'm sharing celebration day
with you. I wanted to share something else. Remember how the big "me" said to you before we got off the phone .."I'm going
to go spend the day hanging out and reading on your website". And then you said well "maybe you will or maybe you won't."
Now "I really KNEW "I" was going to hang out and read your website and do nothing else. That was "my" plan. So I got
up to do as "I" had planned and sat down at the computer for all of about 3 seconds...THEN without thought the body
got up, put clothes in the washer, took clothes out of the dryer. Took a bag of garbage out to the garbage can. Then just
as the body was putting hamburger meat on the stove for spaghetti, I cracked up seeing it all. The big "I" had sincerely made
plans to do absolutely nothing but hang out and read on your website. The "I" had not changed it's mind... all of it was just
happening without plans or thoughts. It's always been this way but it was so funny to be aware of it all. Who is aware,
who "cracked up"? More importantly who made those plans and did not follow through??? That person should be fired. No
wait, that person does not exist. Problem solved and so grateful that "person" is not running the show. With much love, A.C.
A.C. Writes, There is way more peace now.
Still back and forth. But more "back" than "forth". Last night after reading the quote below ...
"Most people's activities are valueless, if not
outright destructive. Dominated by desire and fear, they can do nothing good. Ceasing to do evil precedes beginning to do
good. Hence the need for stopping all activities for a time, to investigate one's urges and their motives,
see all that is false in one's life, purge the mind of all evil and then only restart work, beginning with one's obvious duties".
– Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
With no desire or fear, there seems to me nothing
that can be done. If the business website is updated or anything for business is done it is from a desire to make the business
better. Without fear there seems to be no desire. Without the desire to give a gift, no gift would be bought. Without desire
there seems to be no fear. Good and Evil. Without the "I" there seems to be no "good" or "evil". Any word that could be shared
would be appreciated for I feel the hamster wheel beginning to turn.
Be careful NOT to take the pointers or words of
any "sage" or "book" as some truth to be believed! Where is any believer? Where is a person who is attached to or avoiding
any desire or fear?
You wrote "It seems to me that there is
nothing to be done." Where is this "me?" Does it exist? Do you take a momentary appearing then disappearing movement
of energy arising as letters m and e forming into a word "me" to be what you are? That is the only error. The ONLY mistake
is to take your Eternal Self to be a temporary thought!
And ... It is NOT that
there is "nothing to be done." There is NO-ONE. Then all "doing happens as always, with no do-er and no effort of thought
or emotion... This no-desire no-fear is YOU as What-You-Really-Are and ALL the rest starting from "me" is a dream-like appearance
on the Screen of Presence-Awareness and THAT THOU ART.
Given THAT ... what
there is in so-called "life" is... ACT as if "you" have free will. Act as if you have control knowing full well that all ideas
of a "me" with control or free will are the dream of Being Itself.
Acting as if you have
free will is simple... "you" have been doing that your whole life. Knowing yourself as Presence-Awareness and even before
That the Absolute is NOT a belief and is NOT a "personal matter." As long as there is a seeming person let that person act
in its own self-interest... just do what is next as if you can decide or do...
Who Is This "me?"
No-one no-where and
that is the Real.
Let ‘er rip!
Follow-up:
That has helped. Even when reading "Spiritual masters" quotes. They are still only words and words can only point
and is not the absolute. Hence the saying the tao that can be spoken is not the tao and why the truest answer
to any question about this is ...Who is asking. That is the answer to all of the questions that have arisen during
this. "I" see now why you use it so much and why it is so frustrating to the mind. This time it was not frustrating at all.
Just relief. Thank you!
Q: My friend was SO disturbed when we talked
on a phone call this morning. They went on and on about the their world and how someone bashing their son she and they
are losing their cool over all this. Then my comment that it’s all an illusion got them even more upset! What to do?
I want to help…
This is clearly seen
here ... that a pointer cannot "reach” a believed-in-person …one not open to this …and in any event NO onecan "teach" this! Once your own search
ends "other seekers" may or may not ask you to share. Until then keep quiet. End YOUR search first. You cannot
help anyone unless you are beyond need for help and beyond belief in so-called “others.” The belief that there
are “others” is rooted in the belief that you are a person, an “I.” Where IS the person in you? Root
out all YOUR faklse assumptions before you try to tell others your infinite wisdom.
Just don't waste your
energy trying to force your views on people who have no understanding of this. Just listen and do not
interfere or try to be a “coach”... just listen lovingly, listen only as I AM hearing I AM... let the Grace Of
That enter if it does. Trying to tell someone they are an illusion or believing an illusion when there is no request for your
“knowledge” and no readiness is a sure fire way to alienate, as you found out! For one who is stuck in ignorance
AND has not yet been urged by Oneness to question what is false and what is real there is no opening
for the pointers.
An intellectual knowledge
of "nonduality is NOT The True NONCONCEPTUAL Nonduality. Mental knowledge
is utterly devoid of The Real, The Truth. "The Way is beyond language!" Stay with the Being-I-AM an "being with others."
DON'T for gods sake try to fix them!!! They are NOT a "broken object!" Everyone IS That … THAT is EVERYTHING. What needs
fixing in THAT? Noting and no-one. Drop it all and BE what you are. Love and nothing but That. Full stop.
Follow-up: Yes i figured this is what went
down... spot on thanks again Charlie.. true blue.
Some last
Notes from “O.J.” - Q: Thank you. Finally, now there is knowing.
That was exactly what was needed, at the right moment. These words hit a spot, these words something recognizes as truth.
trust happened. you must have understood this body-mind pretty well from these e-mails! Infinite gratitude for your generosity
my dear mysterious internet friend. You have helped a lot in realizing that no mind means no mind and somehow this current
of I-amness is seen now. I owe you one man! And thanks for the hit in the head last time too! No questions left! peace
and Love, O.J.
Excellent news! Welcome
to the Home You never Left...
No one owes anyone.
There IS no one. And That is That!
Followup from O.J. - First, thank you.
It's seen now that the I is not a solid object, truly, honestly. You say I am a space, a nothing. This might be so, but so
what? nothing really changes, even though the I-thought isn't believed to be my true self, it still comes up, it doesn't die.
All of "creation" is one and it looks from where I sit here that all that can be pointed to in the world, is that emptiness
masquerading as form, the universe is one consciousness in a sense. But since there's no "I" to do anything - how does
everything happen? Is this body just reacting to the rest and the pure emptiness is witnessing? No will anywhere? How come
this miracle happen?
1. Don't believe what
I say!! Looking for yourself is what this is about, NOT believing any pointer or any so-called "other."
2. NOTHING happens.
All this is about is seeing the false as false and the real as real. Nothing will happen! That's the spiritual bullshit ...
"waiting for some big enlightenment thing to happen." You wrote, It's seen now that the I is not a solid object,
truly, honestly. STOP HERE!
3. You sill want to
know how and why! Asked and answered already. Re-read the previous e-mails.
....and don’t think i don’t know
what you're going to say: "Who's asking the questions? Find the source of this "I". There's nothing there." Yes I get it.But
nothing really changes, it won't disappear forever.
The mind is way too arrogant, claiming "I KNOW"
what YOU are going to say! Just notice that ... here is what actually is here to say:
The "I" as a thought of sense of being a person
need not disappear and most likely will NOT until the physical body dies! All that is being pointed to is a false IDENTIFICATION
with the "I" thought. Seeing the false AS false is what this is all about. Then suffering abates and is finally gone
forever as there is no sense that life is happening "to me." There is Life Itself and you are that, including ALL thoughts.
Waiting for the "I" to "disappear" will have that "I" around still "believed in" and looking for its own absence (!)
and that can bring suffering. One who waits waits forever. See right now that YOU ARE and THAT is KNOWN beyond doubt.
Everything else is a story and just let the story be without attaching yourself as a person telling a story ... being
a story and a storyteller. Let it BE. No resistance no problems! As to saying "I got it," that's just another thought story.
Drop it and BE.
Q: Even though deep spriritual insights
happen almost every day in meditation, ultimate peace is not found. I am starting to believe that some how I am creating this
whole experience, including the so called matter all around me. Is the world - I mean all of material
- just my thoughts? I see this "I am" as a very good pointer, and your video on YouTube
called "all questions dissolve in I am" is really everything that needs to be said. But questions such as "how come there
is eyes and ears and nose?" "how come there is life and death and what will happen after?" It doesn't seem like there's any
free will at all, the law of cause and effect is a LAW! But why all of this then? why does God want to suffer? Why cant
"I" disappear into nothingness? Why do I feel I'm beeing guided? ... if
you find the time, drop me a word of wisdom or just punch me in the head with something big and verbal. Love and gratefullness...
O.J.
What is it that is asking all the 'why' questions?
Seek the source of that which asks for a story within a story within a
story You are Emptiness. Be what you are ... and stop pretending to be the story and the storyteller, and the star
of the never-ending story!.
Before god is Emptiness is You ... and You Eternally ARE. Be as you
are. Empty and storyless.
Hi Charles, a friend suggested visiting
your videos - good stuff. Question: was there an aha! that came upon you and under what circumstances?
Yes, when I met John
Wheeler. John pointed out the inescapable fact of Being-Existence … I AM. He asked, do you exist? The aha was that obviously
I AM before the thought of being I Am or a being “a person” ever arises. Then he also pointed out that only a
false belief in a self-center, as “me,” seems (only seems! Like clouds only seem to obscure the
sun!) to obscure the ever-present Being-Awareness, and that by looking into this belief and finding that it is only a false
assumption, the whole paradigm of seeker-seeking-something fades and there is what is Always So … Being-Awareness-Aliveness…
just That and there is NO separation of doer in That.
The subsequent investigation seemed to take
some "time" but this was actually really "done" in the instant of direct apperception. This happens only always NOW; this
is a direct immediate seeing by no-one that what IS is No thing ... and That is appearing AS Every thing.
All that happens is
(in a way of pointing) a clear seeing of the “story of me” IS ONLY a story and NOT the Real. All the “mind
“ can be used for is to uncover what is false. The Real is Unborn, Unchanging, ever fresh and not only obvious and inescapable
right now but also inconceivable and unknowable. That is what IS Prior To Awareness, and allows for the arising of Awareness
and the pulsating of Aliveness … Intelligence-Energy, the Unmoved Mover of all that is. In short Nothing Appearing as
everything; Pure Wisdom and Pure love.
Seeing this directly
from and as Naked Being ends the search once and for good.
Q: I've just been told about
you, this morning. I have read Sailor Bob Adamson, Tony Parson, Ramana, Nisargadatta and very recently Jean Klein.
That’s VERY good company you
are keeping! You’ll hear nothing really different here than what they are pointing you to look at and the essence
of the Message is that YOU ARE what you seek. Just noticing that is a fundamental starting point in this.
My stumbling block is on Enlightenment.
Since we have to use words to exchange, with their limited conceptual interpretation, I will use the word "State".
There is NO “state of enlightenment.”
“States” are experiences in awareness that come and go. The classic example is of the “sage” who asked
for a bowl of rice to be brought to him. Then while waiting he meditated and entered a “state of samadhi” (so-called
transcendental union or oneness) … then he came out a week later, in an empty room, and looked around and shouted, where’s
my rice? That state passed as all states must. What is it about "you” that NEVER changes? Look at that one.
What we call enlightenment here is
the simple seeing that only what never changes … your inescapable Being-Awareness-Aliveness … is Real.
ALL that comes and goes is a dream-like appearance arising out of nowhere in the Absolute Being-Prior-To-Awareness …
and THat is the ONLY unchanging Reality … the so-called Eternal State.
(The use of the word “state” here is poetic. It is really more accurate poetically pointed to as “The Stateless
State.” Words divide the whole, but only apparently!)
You are dreaming that you are awake,
dreaming that you are asleep, dreaming that you are dreaming. All three “relative” states of Consciousness are
dream states arising, as already said, IN or ON the Absolute Unknowing Being that you truly are (the idea of you appears in
THAT … the Timeless Spaceless Unborn Absolute You…) words seem to make That an object known by a subject so do
recognize that all words only point to That which is ultimately totally BEYOND describing or representation and CANNOT be
grasped! In short do NOT believe or accept a word of this or any other pointer as some “truth.”
I understand what you and the others
are saying.
WHO understands? Where IS this “understander?”
This is NOT a matter of mentally comprehending. When a false “you” listens as “an individual” hearing
another “individual” say this stuff, the message is completely missed! All you willread or hear here and from the others you mention is I AM speaking to I AM. The ONE I Am of Being Itself.
But I am looking for that state
where the illusion, the dream is "really" seen through. The state that Robert Adams, Bernadette
Roberts, Jean Klein, Ramana etc. experienced.
Again: There is NO permanent “state”
to be “experienced.” What is being pointed to is as stated many times NOT an “experience!” That cannot
be stresses too strongly. NOT an experience. YOU are NOT a concept NOR are you an “experience." You are NO THING and
until that is fully understood there is no end of seeking states and blissful experiences and all that crap! It is, to be
straight about it, BULLSHIT.
See, I have the knowledge that
you are talking about
This is the mental comprehension and
that is the booby prize. You must go a LOT deeper. This “knowing” or “owning knowledge” is superficial
and cannot dispel suffering. WHO says “I know? Where is the "me" that asserts, “I have it?” What is it that
wants a “state” that this false “I” can own? Where IS this I, this "self-centered entity" called you
or me, with a name, and desires, who wants, and wants what is not already here?
… but then this doesn't come
with the state of these individuals, of Buddha...In Tibetan Dzogchen, they give the example
of the clouds obscuring the sun. The clouds being the obscuration of the mind, the ego.
That is a POINTER. But this obscuration
is UNREAL. We make it real then try to dispel it! That is tail chasing!
They give many, numerous methods,
techniques, mantras etc...etc. to enable one to reach this state. They called this state "Rigpa".
All that is in my view a corruption
of the simplicity of this. The word Dzogchen translates as “The Great Perfection.” Then that is defined as Non-Conceptual
Presence-Awareness.” THAT is ALL!
Notice that the ego is taken to be
a “fact” where it is only an assumption of a belief in something unreal. This so-called “ego” is a
fantasy, and that is NOT real to begin with! Then all manner of practices are “prescribed” to annihilate this
fantasy of a false ego. But since the practices assume the fact of an ego and thereby only reinforce the illusion, how could
they take the ego beyond itself? It’s a totally false assumption, a faulty premise, operating unnoticed in the background
of all that story of practices leading to perfection “someday!” Where IS this ego? Can you find one anywhere?
Apart from a simple one-letter thought … “I” … which is merely a cloud-like appearance assumed in
ignorance to be a thing apart from the whole, there is NO ego, and NO separation, only an IDEA of such. Can an idea, a thought,
separate itself from the aliveness, awareness, in which it arises? And what is at work here that is driving the appearing
thoughts of “me and the universe?” Where is a me apart from that infinite Energy that drives totality to appear
as manifestation and seeming (ONLY seeming!) separate objects and separate pseudo subjects? Subject/Object … “I/Other”
… IS the core delusion.
The ego is then dissolved, what
Ramana experienced as the death of the ego.
Actually that’s a descriptive
kind of “poetry.” But it’s absolutely NOT “the truth.” How can a non-thing that never really
existed in the first place die or be dissolved? It seems to appear as such in the waking dream as a seeker’s sense of
separation fades … either gradually or suddenly. But when the premise or assumption driving the question or statement
is wrong the answer or conclusion will also be wrong: If there is no such thing as a separate “person” how could
that nonentity die?
Does just "abiding in this "knowledge"
lead to the "blissful" fully Realized state?
Abide as what you ARE … No Thing.
You were never born! That Absolute Being-Awareness-Aliveness IS all there is. All there is already is fully Realized. You
are Nothing … appearing Nowhere … and Everywhere … as … Everything. There is NO path, NO goal, no
knowledge, nothing to get and no-one to get it. Full Stop.
