Neti Neti

2009-11-29T23:25:00.004-06:00

"The real you is timeless and beyond birth and death. The body will survive as long as it is needed. It is not important that it should live long".

Nisargadatta Maharaj

Read this statement from Nisargadatta again. Ponder it's meaning and feel the mind resist the implications of non resistance to the death of the body. Isn't everything in your mind resisting and ultimately fearing death? Can you see that at the core of this statement lies liberation? Can you find a place in yourself that was never born and will never die?

Realize this and you will be free.

Namaste

2009-10-04T00:14:00.007-05:00

The great masters, teachers, seers and saints, the enlightened ones, those beings who found the way to realisation of their True Nature, have spoken with one voice and one message.

The simple and yet profound truth to "love one another" was their call.

What then does this mean, to love one another, and why after 10,000 years of civilization do we experience so much suffering?

Have "we" failed to understand and integrate the wisdom of our hearts?

You might want to ponder how in your own life you love, and more importantly find the courage to admit that you only "love" when you are "getting" what you want from your object of love or from the situation you find yourself in. Notice how you abandon love and what or who you love when you don't get what you want.

Feel the suffering caused when we objectify ourselves and others for "love".

You might want to consider the possibility that you are too afraid to love, or filled with so much desire for love that love has become a thing to you.

So then, what is love?

Is love something you do, or feel or give?

Is it something you share?

Is it something you experience?

You might say yes to all of those "aspects" of love, but in actuality the answer to those questions cannot be answered from our conventional understanding of love.

Our indoctrinated beliefs about love gives you ownership of love but in truth there is no "you" that loves.

There is no object of love.

There is only love.

Love is a word we use that really describes what wasn't born and what cannot die.

Love is the essence of all existence, the field of being.

Love is the space that holds everything, and even that which holds space is love.

Love is prior to our consciousness and love is after our consciousness leaves.

Before you "knew" who you were, you were love.

After you forget who you are, you will still be love.

You then might want to ask the simple question, "who am I" or better yet "what am I" ?

Seeking the answer from stillness and from within you might find the answer that you're not a person, nor a body, or a mind. No longer identified with the mind and body you can experience the realization that you are not your thoughts or your feelings.

Understanding that you were not born nor will you die you may see that you are not your past, nor do you have a future and that you're not your personality. Nor are you your failures or your accomplishments and you're not what you own or what you do.

How you love, or not, has nothing to do with you, nor who you love, or who loves you back.

Because what love is has nothing to do with "you" or "them" or "her" or "him".

You see that's the problem with love.

As long as we believe that we are the "doer" of love we will create only suffering.

To "love one another" might be better understood as "to experience one another as your true self", which of course is love.

However, this has nothing to do with "other" as form.

There can be no separation, when form is understood as just the dance and play of our creation.

There can be no attachment, or fear, or withholding with the realization that separateness is only an illusion. Desire for love, appreciation and approval vanishes when one realises that there is no other to love, because the other is simply love manifesting in form. Other is actually a result of our imagination. It's just a mental construct, a projection of our own identification with our body and mind.

Granted, finding someone to love is a pursuit and belief that we have all agreed to, but I ask you, has that EVER really worked for you? What is our common bond? What are we really looking for?

"Finding" someone to love is an interesting concept. Sometimes there is an appearance of happiness here, but does this last? Can this idea that we need each other in this way be more than just a concept. Look around you, look at the world, look at yourself, the answer is no.

I'm not suggesting that form is not to be enjoyed, but it will never fully satisfy because to identify with form can only create possession or rejection of form which always results in suffering.

Find the willingness to see what you really are.

Go beyond gender, race and age.

Go beyond form and identification and fascination with the body.

Go beyond form and reside as the Source of all that is.

From here love is experienced as freedom, spaciousness, kindness, peace, compassion, acceptance.

From here, there is no story. there is only love.

And this is our True Nature.

The truth about Love is that Love wants nothing, because it already is everything and being everything this includes "you" as love.

You are this and from this awareness one can finally be love and find a peace that is beyond understanding.

namaste

2009-07-28T22:01:00.005-05:00

"Until humankind can free itself from false identifications, from pretense and delusions of various kinds, it cannot come face to face with the eternal verity that is latent within its own self."

Jean Dunn

I have a friend who is a spiritual guide and teacher. During one of her recent courses she was confronted by a student. The incident enraged her and left her in tears. She felt rejected and judged, she felt attacked. Her experience reminded me of my own difficulties with others and I shared with her those moments when I have felt unappreciated and unloved by those "I" was trying to "help", and I remembered the intense feelings connected to not getting what I want.

Here is a part of our conversation.

Dear Linda,

I know how that goes, having an expectation of appreciation and getting rejection instead can be a real wake up call. I remember feeling the same way when that has happened for me. I've felt enraged and then hurt when I perceived or experienced rejection, especially when I felt like I should have something better. I was shocked when I noticed what came up for me when I didn't get what I wanted. I noticed that somehow I believed I deserved to be loved and appreciated, and when that love didn't come the way I wanted it, or if it didn't come at all, that it really pissed me off. I found myself actually punishing those "I loved" or "had helped" for not giving me their love and appreciation the way I wanted them to.

How strange. This has to be the farthest thing from love.

I really believed I was a person who loved, who knew what love is, it wasn't until later that I realized how conditional my love for others was. It was humbling to realize I wasn't loving them at all and that "getting what I wanted" was my agenda and my version of love.

It was hard for me to grasp at first that loving others had nothing to do with me. That loving someone isn't about "me" at all. It took a great deal of suffering and resistance on my part to finally get that loving is simply just being with a person, and sharing a space with them in a kind of open acceptance of what is.

I wasn't loved like this. I learned what love is from what I observed around me. I was taught that you go out and get what you want. I think most, if not all of us are taught that being proactive and getting what you want is the path to happiness.

"The pursuit of happiness" is written in our Constitution. It appears to be a part of our culture, but if you really feel into the pursuit part of this language one begins to experience this kind of behavior as just pure narcissism.

It was a relief to finally admit I was not capable of loving others while I was holding conditions and only thinking of myself, and it was hard to accept that I had always been like this, and that I had never loved people without expectations. It was humbling, really quite humbling to feel the loss of my Self in this way.

It took quite a beating from this conditioned part of my mind that insisted on having its own way, for my viewpoint to finally shift towards real love. There were many people who tried to love me, and one in particular who became one of my greatest teachers, but I couldn't let go, and I couldn't love without fear and the need to control.

This part of me finally crashed and I found myself shattered and lost until I finally surrendered. This surrender took the form of acceptance and a willingness to love what is, without question or resistance. From this place came a deep knowing that everything is happening in this moment, now, to wake me up to my True Nature, which is unconditional love.

So if you want, may I suggest you go (in silence) to that person who "rejected" you and thank her as your most divine Guru, consider this incident as a lesson in humility and move forward.

From here you can choose to go a little deeper and from a different viewpoint see how we have created EVERYTHING in order to experience Love with consciousness as form.

From this place nothing is wrong or broken or lost...our experience is simply seen and felt as the play of Self Remembrance. One can appreciate from a different perspective that people and situations arise to give us exactly what we need to let go of everything, and I mean everything, that we attach to.

So welcome them, they are here to liberate us from our confusion about love.

I know there is no cultural context for this, and I know how hard it is to believe that we know little or nothing of love, but there are great traditions that can lead us out of our conditioning.

The path of Advaita as it is expressed through Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj is a great place to start.

Look into the great classic, " I Am That" "Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj" for guidance.

It is great to know you are out there embracing the great Reality. I am grateful to call you my friend. I'm looking forward to seeing you when I'm in Chicago this September.

love always

Scott

2009-06-15T19:10:00.017-05:00

Please take a moment to ponder the nature of love.

Your True Nature.

Below is a short excerpt from a dialogue with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Questioner:

"What is the Real?"

Maharaj:

"There is no great mystery."

"The Real is simple, open, clear and kind, beautiful and joyous. it is completely free of contradictions. It is ever new, ever fresh, endlessly creative. Being and non-being, life and death, all distinctions merge in it."

Questioner:

"What then, in all the universe is there one single thing of value?"

Maharaj

"Yes, it is the power of love. "

I love how the great teachers cut through our confusion like a laser, like a mirror they reflect the Real.

But how can this appear real to us in our day to day lives?

The power of Love....what is that exactly?

How does that apply to us, here, now?

I had a friend recently experience an unexpected layoff from a large insurance company just weeks after she was assured during her annual review that her job was secure.

The following was my correspondence concerning her layoff, and with her permission she has asked me to share it. After the unexpected layoff, Lisa decided to tie one on, and after a night of drinking with her girlfriends, she e mailed me in despair. She was feeling ashamed that she had turned to alcohol and fearful that I would judge her as weak and broken.

I hear you and feel you, sweetheart.

Getting drunk and teary eyed and expressing your love is beautifully human, you know, Lisa, everything is ok.

I personally believe that we all need to practice being okay with ourselves no matter what may be happening at any given moment. There are no rules, no shoulds or shouldn'ts. Life is very short, it is meant to be lived, it is meant to be experienced. So be Lisa, with full on permission from yourself to be a human being with all that it encompasses. Being aware that our human self is pretty much a mess most of the time, is a great gift, being okay with ones own messiness is even a greater gift, letting the world be a mess, because it is a mess, is compassion not only for the world, but for your own world.

You see, sweetheart, that's the big joke. Everyone is a mess and trying not to act like it, and we spend a lot of energy hiding that messiness from others or trying to fix it. I love it when people get real, but unfortunately it only seems to happen when there is a crisis. If we could all just be more vulnerable and out of control and okay and accepting with what's happening inside of ourselves, I feel it would be a better world.

It is messy to be human, it is the mind, it is it's nature.

There is another perspective, however, from the ultimate viewpoint of Pure Awareness, there is nothing wrong, ever, and everything is working towards our evolution. This is our True Nature, this is the viewpoint of the Self and the nature of the Self is Love.

So can you see it is quite impossible to scare me off?

I love it when we allow ourselves to be real, even if it takes getting drunk to get there, sometimes that's the path we choose to be close to ourselves and others and it's no wonder then, why we use alcohol. So don't worry about a thing when it comes to my impression of you, because I'm human, too, and it's my messiness that makes me human, and you can't fix that, because it's not broken, it's not a broken thing to be confused. It is, however very human.

Okay then, so let's celebrate being human and confused, because we all are, until we're not. It's built in and if you want to take the high ground and start the process of integrating this body and mind with your True Nature, I can't think of a better place to start than with Eckhart Tolle or Byron Katie or Joan Tollifson or Nisargadatta Maharaj. Seek out these teachers of what's Real. I have found them most helpful.

I'm sure that our current human story about life and the fears and insecurities and doubt and self loathing and all that comes with being confused is just a part of our current evolution. There are ways out of this confusion, but remember, it's okay right now just the way it is, unless, you believe it's not.

Examine, observe and ask, who's in charge of your life right now?

What's in the moment right now?

Who are you? What are you?

Can you really, only be, your suffering? Your mind? Your body?

I believe from this viewpoint you can see the perfection of what is and move forward with compassion and with love.

Enjoy the ride.

namaste

2009-06-04T17:49:00.002-05:00

Come, come, whoever you are.

Wanderer, worshipper, lover of leaving.

It doesn't matter.

Ours is not a caravan of despair.

Come, even if you have broken your vow

a thousand times.

Come, yet again, come, come.

Rumi

2009-06-01T18:49:00.003-05:00

"Love one another as I have loved you". Jesus of Nazareth

2009-05-31T10:17:00.007-05:00

I share a back yard with a neighbor named Howard and Lulu. Lulu is Howard's nine year old Jack Russell Terrier and every morning before I'm off to work Lulu greets me with an explosion of terrier energy that can only be described as "Let's Play!" So here's the ritual, every morning as I walk down the stairs to the back yard on my way to the driveway I can hear LuLu barking in Howard's house and I can see her jumping vertically straight up about twenty inches to clear the window sill so that for about two seconds she can see me through the window as I descend the stairs. She's making it clear to Howard it's time to go outside, and like clockwork Howard opens the back door and out she comes. I throw a ball or a toy for about 15 minutes as Lulu performs amazing acrobatic catches and even more amazingly at age 9 (63 years in human years) returns the ball to me by throwing it back! I don't know how she does it but she stops in front of me with the ball and bobs her head three times (and it's always three times) and then releases the ball with uncanny accuracy into my out stretched hand. Every morning it's the same. Last Friday Lulu came to greet me as usual and Howard's assistant who was house sitting at the time informed me that Howard was out of town and wouldn't be returning until weeks end. The next day, Saturday, as I came down the stairs there was no Lulu. No barking, no joyful vertical jumping to catch a glimpse of me from the window, just silence in the house. I thought about it for a second and remembered that Howard was out of town and thought nothing more of it. It wasn't until Howard's return that I realized something was missing, and yes it was Lulu. Howard had decided to kennel her while he was gone, and Lulu had suddenly fell ill while at the kennel and had died. I was shocked and sad at first because even at age nine Lulu was so full of life, joy and vitality. I realized I was grieving for my loss because I would never see her again. But soon, I found gratitude for her and for what she had taught me. Lulu showed me that even until death, that if we can stay in the moment and live with open hearts, joy and playfulness we can deeply enjoy life and bring joy and connection to others. She reminded me that our bodies, our forms are temporal, and that it isn't the body we remember when a loved one passes but it's the LOVE we shared with them that matters. I loved Lulu and she loved me. She was a bundle of unconditional non contained loving Presence expressing our True Nature in the form of a wiry little white haired smiley faced Jack Russell Terrier. She helped me remember who and what we truly are, and that, is Love.

namaste Lulu....namaste.

2009-04-19T21:24:00.005-05:00

In this lifetime I have been given many opportunities to experience my True Nature. I can't tell you why but from a very early age I have been confronted by death. Over and over again I found myself staring into the ultimate unknown and finding the false self standing naked before the ultimate reality, which is we are not the body and we are not the mind, and that none of "us" are getting out of here alive.

When I was sixteen I was a Boy Scout attending a Boy Scout camp in Colorado. I was in a group of older more experienced Scouts and in this summer camp a competition was held to determine the top ten Scouts in the camp. This competition involved a timed ascent of a 600 foot vertical climb of a butte near the camp. We did not know why or what we were competing for but we were told the fist ten climbers reaching the top would receive a prize.

So we lined up at the base of the butte a Scout leader was already at the top and a whistle was blown and up we went. I was the first to reach the top. I and nine others were gathered together at the summit and asked to meet at the camp cafeteria at 5am for an early breakfast the next morning at which time we would be given instructions concerning our "prize".

The next morning we all gathered in the predawn chill to eat our breakfast and afterwards a senior camp counselor walked in and announced we were all loading up to drive to set up a base camp at Longs Peak. We were going to climb the highest peak in the Colorado National Park, elevation 14,259 ft.

None of us were experienced climbers but our senior counselors were so off we went on our grand adventure.

Upon arriving we were told to make camp, and at 4 am we were to set off towards the summit. The first part of the climb was relatively flat, we had flashlights and the path was well worn and easy to traverse.

But at first light we saw the mountain. It was formidable. The counselors impressed upon us to press on because it was our goal to reach the summit by early afternoon so that we could descend in time to be at base camp by dark.

All went well during the ascent. We were young, experienced scouts and enjoying the challenge.

As we neared the summit we noticed a snow field running down the face of the mountain, we were at 13,000 ft and still climbing.

We reached the summit around 2pm. When one reaches the summit of a mountain there is usually a book or record left behind by other climbers. It is customary to sign in and leave a comment. We were doing just that, eating a bit of lunch and milling about the summit, (which was an area of bare rock about the size of a basketball court) when suddenly without warning all hell broke loose.

In the Rockies, in the summer it is common to experience sudden and sometimes violent thunderstorms, and as luck would have it, while we were on top of this barren rocky place a thunderstorm rolled up from below and over the top of the mountain. It got dark, very dark and suddenly without warning we found ourselves surrounded by howling winds, blinding rain and lightning. Lots of lightning. The lightning was striking the top of the mountain, blinding flash after blinding flash. We were trapped inside of a thunderstorm. Rock shrapnel was whistling about our heads as lightning exploded against the stone. Deafening thunder with every lightning strike made it impossible to hear each other as we huddled together against the storm. Something smelled like burning iron. It was surreal.

Suddenly, during a lightning flash, I saw our lead scout waving his arms for us to follow him. He was running towards the snow field. We all ran. We followed him to the edge of the snow and watched him pull off his parka, place it on the snow, sit on it and disappear into the storm.

His parka had become a sled, and his quick thinking had showed us a way off the summit.

What was happening for me, in me, was this amazing moment. This moment was familiar to me, I was calm, alert, present unafraid. I felt a Presence that was witnessing the storm, the lightening, the chaos. There was just stillness and the mind doing it's job, and it's job was take off the parka, sit on it and get the hell out of there.

That is what I did. One at a time we shot down the snow field into the storm on a blind track to somewhere below. I was the 4th one down, the three Scout Leaders had gone before. They had instructed us to go down single file in 60 second intervals. As I blasted down the 45 degree slope I used my heals to correct my track, I could see the groove cut in the icy snow by the counselors who went before me. This was all happening in seconds, but time had stood still, just like before when I had faced death in the past, nothing mattered, there was no past, no future, no fear, just NOW.

As I continued to descend I realized I was getting below the storm, I saw light ahead and suddenly there were the three counselors standing with arms locked on their knees acting like a human net to catch me. I hit the brakes and dug my heals into the ice and rolled into their arms.

One after another we locked arms to catch the next sledder, and miraculously we all made it to the bottom.

Slowly one by one we stood up dusted off the ice and snow and looked up at the raging storm pounding the top of the mountain with a bombardment of lightning strikes, thunder and howling winds.

No one spoke a word, and after a few moments one of the counselors gasped, we all looked at him as he gazed towards the edge of the snowfield. We all realized at once we were standing 5 feet from a cliff edge that plummeted a thousand feet to the rocks below.

There wasn't much talking going on the rest of the day. We all descended the mountain in silence.

That night in base camp I remembered that morning with my little brother, and the gun, and the neighbor boy. I remember the sense of Presence, the Stillness, the fearlessness. I felt the truth of myself. My True Nature. I knew that if my body had gone off that cliff, that what and who I really am would not have. I felt extreme gratitude.

We are taught practically from birth to identify with the body.

We are given a name and told by our parents and family that this is who you are.

This named person with a body is in relationship with other named bodies and in time we develop a complex personality that is adept at negotiating this rather odd world of separate bodies with separate names.

Soon we are indoctrinated into a world of separateness and we are left to our own devices that hopefully prove to be successful in the unrelenting quest for love, attention and approval. Not to mention being successful with and as the prime directive of the now fully formed ego, which has one primary objective, to survive.

Most of us float along like this, trying to fit in, make the grade, get the right job, find the right partner make the right decisions and so on.

If we're lucky however we encounter an alternative reality that is typically revealed to us through some form of crisis or loss or excruciating emotional or physical pain. Sometimes it is a near death experience or sometimes the loss of a loved one. But these opportunities come, and when they do we are given a glimpse into The Real.

You are not your body.

You are not your mind.

namaste.

2009-04-15T08:16:00.005-05:00

When we are children, before we are fully socialized, the mind is in a more fluid, open and receptive state.

The Absolute, our True Nature is still present and intact.

We are still connected to our source, and less concerned with the body, the past or the future.

Most of us as children, remain more fully in the now and live as spontaneous expression of the moment.

My first "conscious experience" of my True Nature occurred during an incident when I was six years old.

My mother had asked me to "take care" of my little brother while we were playing in an open common area behind our apartment. My little brother was four and I was holding his hand while we walked together in the play area. My mother had stepped into the apartment for a few minutes and left me alone with my brother Neal.

This was 1959 in rural Texas, back in the days when we lived with a sense of relative safety. No one locked their doors, everyone knew each other and each others kids. Kids were left alone in the yard to play.

A new family had moved into a nearby apartment. The father was a cop and he had a son who was around ten years old. That particular morning this neighbor, the ten year old son of the cop decided to take his fathers revolver from it's holster and walk outside with it. When he saw Neal and I in the play area he walked up to us holding the gun behind his back. As he approached us, "I" sensed that something was wrong. The boy stopped about two feet from us and leveled the gun at my head and said "I'm going to shoot you!" At this point the most curious thing happened. "I" became incredibly calm. My mind stopped, my breath became steady. I stepped in front of my little brother with absolutely no fear and told the boy from some place in me that I had never experienced in consciousness before, " You are not going to shoot us", and then I said " That isn't even a real gun," even though I knew that it was a real gun. I could clearly see the bullets in the revolver's chamber.

The boy seemed confused. He didn't say a word. Time had stopped and from a very present and focused place I just stood there, standing in front of my little brother. I was in complete stillness and fearlessness, there was nothing in me but presence. The boy lowered the gun and walked away.

This was my first experience in consciousness of Presence. This was the first time "I" witnessed the moment from my True Nature. This was my first experience in the body with a mind as Stillness, present in the moment as Now.

I never forgot that moment. That experience remained in my consciousness. It was my first conscious realization of the Absolute as it expresses in form.

As I matured and had more experiences, I realized this Presence as our natural state.

Our True Nature.

This state was never born, and it cannot die.

This is the Absolute as it animates form in all existence.

There is nothing to fear.

namaste.

2009-04-14T16:43:00.002-05:00

Ego

Simply it is the False Self.

Obsessed with the past or the future it's main purpose is to survive.

This movement of ego is the seeker.

It seeks love, attention and approval.

It competes with, or attacks, and destroys anything that threatens it's prime objective.

This is the root cause of all suffering.

The construct of the False Self is based on the illusion of separation.

The dismantling of identification with the False Self as who you are is the most important task you can undertake.

Be earnest about this.

Be still and ask yourself... "How could this be me?"

The irony is the prime objective of the False Self ultimately ALWAYS results in "failure".

We all know this.

You can free yourself from this wheel of suffering if you are earnest.

Remember your True Nature and realize you are not your mind.

2009-04-13T10:34:00.003-05:00

Realization of ones true nature delivers you from the collective and individual identified mind that is the cause of all suffering.

Finding your true nature as The Absolute which is prior to form and consciousness is the path that leads to Realization.

When Realization is accomplished one has found Enlightenment.

From Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.

"When I see I am nothing, that is wisdom. When I see I am everything that is love, and between those two my life moves."

When one understands that one cannot be the body or mind (form) that is wisdom and yet when one understands that prior to form The Absolute (formlessness) animates all existence as form then one is not separate, one is Love.

From this place the illusion of duality dissolves and one is free to be That which moves as formlessness and form without identifying with form.

I am nothing and I am everything and between these two my life moves.

namaste

2009-04-12T19:01:00.002-05:00

Jesus of Nazareth was once asked by a seeker to show him the way to The Kingdom Of Heaven.

The seeker was sure that the way to this place lay within the master.

Jesus of Nazareth replied,

"Behold, the Kingdom of Heaven lies within you".

Something to ponder.

Yes indeed.

The Kingdom of Heaven is the Absolute.

You are also That.

The Absolute cannot be confined as a body, or a mind, or some mythical place that you arrive at if you live a good life.

No, the Kingdom of Heaven is here and now.

It is within you.

Where else could it be?

namaste

2009-04-11T18:54:00.003-05:00

There is nothing else but this.

You are not your body.

You are not your mind.

You were never born.

You will never die.

Know your true nature as "I AM".

You are the essence of all creation.

Be still and experience all that is as One.

namaste

2009-04-10T08:34:00.002-05:00

In the world of form you are a person with a body and a mind.

You were taught by your parents, relatives, friends, the institutions and schools you attended, TV, and the culture you live in, to accept the story of you and everything else as reality.

But have you ever considered that you are not that story?

Have you ever considered that what you are is what animates all existence?

Observe the world of form and all the stories of this world as the minds attempt to gain control over it's surroundings and "others".

Realize that time, the past and the future, "other" and all your concepts and beliefs were created by those who preceded you.

Realize we just made it all up.

Wake up from the dream of your story.

Be in the NOW without attachment.

Embrace the NOW and everything in it, including form, time, past and future, the story of the world, yourself and other with compassion.

Breathe into the dream and release yourself from the limitation of the story of now and just experience now as a free being, as the essence of all that is.

This essence was never born and will never die.

This is your true nature.

This is reality.

namaste

2009-04-08T19:22:00.002-05:00

The most important thing you can do is to be present to the incessant thinking that occurs in the mind.

From Awareness, which is your true nature, observe the mind.

From this place of deep centered peace it is apparent that something is just thinking...and that some thing is just a mind.

A mind, the voice in your head.

So ask yourself, if that thinking mind can be observed, or witnessed if you will, how could that possibly be you?

Eventually if you practice witnessing this biological thinking machine called "your mind" or "my mind", the mind chatter begins to fade away and yes it can and does eventually stop.

You might want to ponder that if it's "your mind" or "my mind" then who's saying that? Who does your mind belong to? Is there something already observing the mind saying to it "my mind"?

Of course there is.

This observer, this witness, this simply being in stillness, is the place of no mind.

This no mind is the space of Essence occupying Now.

This is enlightenment.

There is no suffering in this place, only peace and stillness and attention in Now.

This is who and what you really are.

It always has been, it always will be.

Most of us have just forgotten what we really are.

Self Remembering is the way to return to the source of being.

Wake up to your true nature.

Remember what you really are.

namaste

2009-04-07T21:13:00.003-05:00

One of the last things we give up is our attachment to thinking.

There is no greater freedom than to realize your true nature.

You are not your thoughts.

You are not a body.

You are not a mind.

namaste

2009-04-06T08:02:00.002-05:00

Religion, organizations, countries, civilizations, actually groups of any kind, require a shared need for their existence.

We form and are attracted to groups because of a need for support, comfort and community.

Often with groups we are seeking answers and an identity.

And yet, notice how there is always a certain diminishment of Self associated with groups.

It's as if what we seek by "joining" a group, aligns our attention with the group instead of with our own Essence in this moment now.

Groups are necessary for many, I would say most of us, until the notion of seeking subsides.

When one fully realizes that he or she is already THAT which is sought, the identity associated with the body and mind weakens it's hold.

Until this happens the ego is always looking for an opportunity to seek love, attention and approval from others.

This pseudo approval from the group will only last as long as you remain willing to align with the group identity. Threaten the group identity and see how long you are allowed to remain.

Of course it is impossible to expect love, approval, attention, security, etc. from others, much less consistently experience it.

But until Awareness is centered in the moment and witnesses the body mind as a temporal aspect of NOW, there will be a tendency for ego to create a structure (group) where it can be fed.

Groups of human beings banding together have accomplished amazing and positive things. But notice why did you join them? Was it to "serve" the World in some way. Was it for the greater good? Was it for money? Or was it for the love, attention and approval from "others" in the group?

It was probably a combination of all of those aspects.

Group identities are still working at the level duality. "Us and them". "The world needs us". "I need the world to be a better place", "We have the answer". etc.

This is ultimately why all groups and eventually movements fail.

They are based on the thought that we are separate, on duality and this is unreal.

2009-04-05T00:20:00.002-05:00

Honor existence as form without identifying with it.

Witness thought and form and experience essence from stillness.

Stillness permeates this moment as your true nature.

Be with the mind and body and all form as merely a manifestation of the story of now.

You are not this and you are this.

Experience the space that holds everything and nothing and know the power of simply accepting What Is.

Non acceptance of now is like arguing with reality and results in suffering.

Accepting and loving what is allows you to be fully present to the here and now without judgement or attachment.

This relationship with now allows clarity and presence to be engaged in the moment.

This is a good definition of sanity.

This is the correct use of mind.

2009-04-04T08:21:00.002-05:00

A friend recently express concern that if one follows the path of non duality that "they would disappear". ...that there might be nothing left of the person...that they would lose themselves and become ineffectual and insignificant. So to answer the question about the disappearing (wo)man...and what might he/she choose...ponder this dear friend.

For one to imagine creation one must hold the belief that he or she is a person.

In reality you are indescribable being animating existence in form as now.

If you want to believe that you need to create love, compassion, forgiveness, friends, money, comfort, etc...then there needs to be a person identified with its body and mind operating with beliefs.

This is just a mind thinking it needs something...why not consider you already are everything you seek. From this place there is no "person" no doer operating with concepts and beliefs. It is only the mind that tells us we are separate from love, money, friends, forgiveness, compassion, etc. and that we NEED these people, things or states in order to be happy.

This is an illusion created by beliefs (mind) that we are separate individuals with wants and needs. Granted there is a body and a mind but ask yourself, how could I be that? Simply know that what you ARE survives the body and the mind and be present to THAT in this moment now.

All else is illusion.

Since when has anything that you have ever created been enough? Playing creator in the world of form is fine, but Form is only temporal. Ultimately, being whatever you want to be just becomes more ego.

Indeed become the disappearing wo(man)...free yourself from the belief that you are your thoughts, your body and your mind.

What you "need" will come, what you don't "need" will leave. Let go of doership and just BE.

Namaste.

2009-04-03T18:41:00.002-05:00

There is nothing wrong.

There never was.

There never has been.

There never will be.

The body occupies space and the mind imagines that we are the body in time and space and that we are separate from one another.

This is just an illusion.

The body is born and the body dies.

What you really are was never born and will never die.

What you are is indescribable and yet THAT is what animates all existence.

Breathe into this limitless space and experience now as all there is, and know that the dance of life and death are only happening in the mind and to the body.

Have fun out there.

namaste

2009-04-02T20:53:00.002-05:00

The indoctrinated mind or ego creates the world as separate from itself.

The personality which is merely a construct of the ego is always wanting something from this world as it is perceived as separate from itself.

The personality is constantly seeking love, attention and approval.

This is the task of the false self and this "seeking for" is futile.

You already are the love you seek.

You are presence with attention.

In this moment now approval of what is, is your natural state of non resistance.

2009-04-01T14:30:00.002-05:00

There can be no lasting peace, joy or love until you free yourself from the dominance of mind.

You are not your thoughts.

You are presence being in the moment now.

Notice how thinking is just an activity of the mind.

Witness this.

Let the ego/mind topple.

What will emerge is peace.

2009-03-31T07:29:00.003-05:00

You already are what you seek.

The most important that thing you can do is to free yourself from the tyranny of the mind.

Create a relationship with mind from the Witness state.

Observe that thinking is just happening.

Know that you are far greater than this incessant noise.

Let your mind off the hook.

It's good at a lot of things.

But not so good at being wise.

Understand that it is just some very complicated biological software trying to do it's job.

It's programming is fear based, it's task is to survive at all cost.

Reboot and give it a break.

You are not this software, this indoctrinated self.

When faced with unpleasant thoughts or emotions, simply observe them.

Soon this addiction to thinking will subside.

What will be left?

Presence, clarity, free attention, awareness, joy, peace.

All of this is already there, it's just masked by the noise of the False Self.

Turn down the volume and relax into the moment.

Just breathe and remember to be here now.

Just breathe and remember that you are not separate from anything.

You are the knowing presence within which says "I AM".

Repeat this "I AM" to yourself often.

Soon you will experience the subtle Reality of all existence as Oneness in the moment Now.

2009-03-30T07:32:00.002-05:00

You are far greater than what your mind tells you.

It is simply a case of mistaken identity.

You need not be a slave to your thoughts.

You are not the body mind.

Be earnest in this effort to remember your Self.

It's not that you deny your bodies existence, or need of care or care of others.

It's not that you stop thinking or having thoughts.

It's merely the simple abidance in the realization that what you really are is far greater than a physical form or thoughts.

Open your heart and mind to the possibility that you are far greater than anything you could possibly imagine.

Understand this and know freedom.

2009-03-29T12:28:00.006-05:00

Quantum Physics has proven that everything is a bundle of atoms, electrons and neutrons and other sub atomic particles swirling about in space.

Even light which appears formless has particles that can be measured.

Electromagnetic fields permeate the entire physical universe and everything in it.

There is no doubt that at the physical level everything is made of the same stuff.

Within the physical laws of form, there is nothing that does not share this basic relationship as form.

This great cosmic soup is our physical home.

It is all connected, indeed it is all the same thing.

How then does the appearance of separation within this form occur?

It occurs in the mind.

Our minds trick us into believing that you and I are separate from one another. That we are separate from everything.

At the physical level there is a body, there "appears" to be a body in space and time.

The mind identifies with the body, and with it's thoughts and says "This is I".

We are all indoctrinated from birth to be body mind identified.

But is this who and what you really are?

What is it that "leaves" the body at death? What is it that animates this form and all form?

Observe the physical world and ask the question. "Who Am I? What Am I?"

"Who" is asking this question?

You may find that the answer is simply "I AM".

You may realize that you are everything and nothing occurring simultaneously and experiencing existence in form as Now.

Self Realization is this.

From Self Realization the mind is witnessed as consciousness and understood as merely an aspect of human form.

That which is prior to consciousness, which is simply non identified Awareness, is what "you" are.

And THAT which is prior to consciousness, and even prior to Awareness, which was never born and will never die is your true nature, the "I Am", which is free from time, free from death and free from identification with form.

Realize this and experience Now as what you really are.

namaste

2009-03-28T09:18:00.002-05:00

Ego (mind) is constantly seeking the unreal.

The mind reacts to "yes" or "no" with desire or resistance.

Witness this dance from awareness.

Seeking love, attention or approval merely reinforces the false belief that you are separate from yourself, that you are not enough, incomplete.

This is futile.

This is false.

Find the real source of love.

Place your attention there.

When attention is in the now as simply "I Am" notice the breath, and relax into the moment.

There is nothing out there for you but this.

And this is everything.

All seeking ends here.

2009-03-27T16:07:00.002-05:00

Your true nature is free, playful and without attachment.

Your indoctrinated self, which we call the personality is not the true self.

The personality wants something.

It wants (desires) love, attention and approval.

There is nothing to want or get that will bring us lasting happiness.

There is only the Awareness that one is free to love what is, right now without attachment to outcomes.

This is unconditional love, in the moment, Now.

This is who and what we really are.

This is all we ever have been and this is all we need.

Cultivate this.

Remember yourself.

Realize your true nature.

2009-03-27T09:10:00.003-05:00

Watch the minds incessant need to seek love, acceptance and approval.

Feel this as desire.

Watch how convincing the mental story that "other" exists and without love, acceptance and approval from others you tell yourself you are flawed, unhappy and unworthy.

Now ask yourself if you are even capable of experiencing love from this place of attachment to others.

Watch how you punish when you don't get what you want.

Watch the resistance to hearing "no".

This is the mind thinking about love. This is the cultural story about love. The mind's creation.

This is not love.

Love is unconditional, free of desire and resistance. Love is freedom. Love is accepting now exactly the way it is.

Awareness is love.

You are the Aware Self. The Witness. The I AM.

You are THAT.

2009-03-26T08:13:00.002-05:00

Beliefs lead to judgements and desire or resistance.

Learn how to manage "your" beliefs because it can only be a belief that leads us to the conclusion that we are separate from one another, that we are separate from anything.

This conclusion, this belief that we are separate, is not true.

The belief that we are separate is the root of all suffering.

You are not your mind.

You are not your thoughts.

You are not your body.

Let go.

2009-03-25T08:21:00.002-05:00

Change is the one constant in the Universe.

Resistance to change creates suffering.

It's a choice.

Consider that everything is happening as it should, simply because it is.

From awareness, notice if the mind creates a preference and then...

ask why?

2009-03-24T20:29:00.000-05:00

Resistance?

Desire?

Why not just Be With?

It works a lot better that way.

2009-03-23T21:15:00.002-05:00

Who are you?

Who are you trying to protect?

What are you trying to protect yourself from?

What happens when "you" feel threatened?

What's threatened?

Can you see there is nothing to protect. That resistance is protecting and there is nothing to do but accept What Is as your next opportunity to wake up to Reality.

Watch yourself when you believe that you are threatened. Feel the fear and the resistance.

Now is perfect, everything about it, everything in it.

When change comes express Gratitude and let yourself just BE.

Everything changes.

Everything.

2009-03-04T02:00:00.001-06:00

from the beginning

there was no body

and there is nobody still,

never ending,

experiencing

nothing,

and everything,

in this moment

now.

2009-03-03T13:10:00.004-06:00

When one is considering that there is something to find, that seeking is the way to understanding, might it not be more worthwhile to stop, and fully experience now without any demands, remembering that this now contains everything you need to experience your true Self.

Nothing can be lost. There is nothing to seek. There is nothing to understand.

"The ultimate point of view is that there is nothing to understand, so when we try to understand, we are indulging in acrobatics of the mind. Whatever spiritual things you aspire to know are all happening in this objective world, in the illusion; all your activities, material and spiritual, are an illusion. All this is happening in the objective world, all is dishonesty, there is no truth to this fraud."

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

2009-03-02T13:00:00.003-06:00

The current religions of this age.....Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, Pagan, Islam, Scientologist,

Atheist, and the list is long.....are all just beliefs and concepts fabricated by mind.

There have been countless thousands of religions, all created by mind, all proclaiming the truth. All illusion, it becomes projection, ultimately separating into, "us" and "them", me and God.

The Self is prior to consciousness, everything else is a creation of mind.

Religion, methods, Gurus are all just concepts, given birth by mind, to form a "spiritual" identity.

All false identities struggling with ambiguity and springing from a need to explain it's existence can never fully succeed.

The true guru is formless essence ...the Self.

The teaching is from within.

There is nothing out there.

We have created religions to give us comfort, an identity. These identities are time bound, rule bound and merely fabrications of the imagination.

Stop seeking!

Be still, listen to the Self.

It will tell you the truth.

You are no body and you are not your mind.

The truth of the realized Self is...

"I AM".

2009-02-28T15:40:00.004-06:00

Experiencing life from mind as a body is body mind identification which results in suffering, struggle and fear based behavior.

This is the way of the dream.

If one is in the dream and claims ownership of the dream as one's life, then there is no hope for escape into reality.

A person who thinks that it is "somebody" is a machine. A biological machine indoctrinated with concepts and beliefs which came from previous indoctrinated biological machinery.

Without a witness state preceding consciousness there is nothing happening but a mind thinking and a body feeling in identified reaction to it's thoughts.

True freedom can only exist from the realized Self as witness of this now without attachment to a body or a mind that thinks thoughts.

You are not a body. You are not a mind.

You are THAT which precedes consciousness and which survives the physical transformation of all form.

2009-02-21T14:09:00.002-06:00

Ultimately it really doesn't matter.

Even if you're thrown under the bus.

Earnestly move towards recognition of this Now as the I AM in manifestation.

All form is That.

Everything seen and unseen is That.

The rest is for your enjoyment, or not, and that really doesn't matter either.

2009-02-17T23:37:00.009-06:00

Identifying with form, with gender, with emotions with anything, results in the belief that you are some body.

That somebody that you think you are is the source of all confusion.

Experiencing form and gender, thoughts and feelings merely as occurrences in this moment is like holding a stick and witnessing the stick.

Holding a stick, you see the stick. You observe the stick. You say there is a stick and you witness that a hand is holding it.

You don't say "I am the stick". You say "there is a stick". You say this because there is no attachment to the stick as "I", there is no story, no ownership, it just appears as a thing.

This is the same with the body. Just witness this body, this gender, this feeling, this thought. It is just like the stick.

Is the stick any different than the body? Isn't the body, like the stick, a biological form, organic in nature subject to constant change, decay and death? Doesn't the stick, like the body, contain an essence that can be witnessed as one in the moment with everything in the moment.

Isn't it true that this body, is subject to the same nature as the stick yet there is consciousness that "it" is holding a stick and a feeling and experiencing thought?

How could you be this consciousness or this body with feelings and thoughts if you are capable of witnessing it?

If you want to get caught up in the story about "your body" then be ready for the body mind to separate from now, for surely when you identify with form you will relocate from now to the past or the future.

If, however, you experience now as the witness, a remarkable thing will happen and that will be acceptance of this now without a story, without identification. That is integrity and oneness with what is. This is non duality.

You are not the perceiver. You are not consciousness. You are the witness that is prior to consciousness which experiences this now as the essence of all existence in this now.

Experience now as the witness of now and this is all.

2009-02-16T22:25:00.004-06:00

Self inquiry is simply asking the question, Who Am I?

The answer is, I Am.

By merely repeating the statement, "I Am", in response to the voice of the misidentified false self and it's attachment to form, the Self will emerge as that which is prior to consciousness.

Remembering the Self as "I AM" is all there is to do.

Be earnest in this endeavor and all else will follow.

2009-02-15T09:40:00.003-06:00

Negating form does not mean denying it. It is quite the opposite of denial. Negating form means not identifying with anything as outside of you, or separate from you. It is the deepest form of intimacy.

The experience that one dwells within all form as formlessness is the very nature of non duality. How could we be just one tiny separate part of this vast experience? Really try and experience everything as the same in this moment now. Tell me where the end of "you" begins? How can there be a beginning and end of you? Of anything?

There is only a beginning and end of form. Form is constantly changing. Form is impermanent. The essence of form is formlessness and it is this essence that is indwelling all existence.

2009-02-14T21:37:00.004-06:00

When you are in the midst of despair, or sadness or loss, illness and addiction, even in the darkest, most separate place, there is That which witnesses the suffering mind and broken heart with complete acceptance and absolute compassion and love.

And yet, it is very human to experience and identify with everything, often with no clarity about "why" these painful states are upon us. We judge and resist painful states or deny them which often only prolongs them.

Just be with whatever comes. Feel it, embrace it, stay with these painful moments. Even if these painful moments become hours, days or even years. There is a body and a mind. Claiming ownership of form is what "being human" is all about.

We are taught to believe we are this body mind, and while we are conscious that "we" are in the body with a mind, it is the purpose of this discourse to remind us all what we really are, what we are, that is prior to consciousness.

Often we are lost in the dance of mind and form because we are "searching" for meaning and love in a world that holds no real solace. I'm not suggesting that it is impossible to experience love in the phenomenal world, quite the contrary, it is the only place it can be experienced. It is why we have manifested in form, to experience anything there must be consciousness and form.

There is a body. There is a mind that creates a story. This is what the mind does. This is the minds job. It thinks. The body feels.

When the mind and body create pain or when you are experiencing pain just feel it, it is all good even when it hurts. What else can you do?

Negative and painful states, like positive and joyful states come and go. It is natural to want to cling to joyful states and resist painful ones, but when thoughts and feelings come and everything hurts, welcome this, be with yourself and remember this too shall pass.

It is common to believe that "enlightenment" means we have transcended painful states and only experience joyful ones. This is not enlightenment. Enlightenment simply means that everything is experienced fully without ownership. To exist in form in the full range of human experience is why we are in bodies with a mind.

To fully experience everything from the viewpoint that is prior to consciousness, with a body and a mind, is why we are here, it is what this dance is all about.

The Guest House

This being human is a guest house

every moment a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,

some momentary awareness comes

as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!

Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,

who violently sweep your house

empty of it's furniture,

still, treat each guest honorably.

He may be clearing you out

for some new delight.

The dark though, the shame, the malice,

meet them at the door laughing,

and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,

because each has been sent

as a guide from beyond.

Rumi

2009-02-14T13:59:00.003-06:00

Be not so concerned with "your" life and "your" body. Follow the essence that animates the body and every form. Without consciousness there cannot be an experience of a body or a life and prior to consciousness is essence.

This essence is.

It animates all existence. It is prior to form and consciousness. It is what you are. It is what everything is. Essence is form and formlessness. There is no separation, there is no duality.

Who and what you are in the phenomenal world can only be described and experienced from consciousness. Witness the world of form from consciousness as essence.

There is no greater knowledge than this.

2009-02-13T09:51:00.006-06:00

Being fully present without judgement to here, now, is the only way to fully experience "reality" as it is expressed as this moment.

Being fully present with whatever is occurring as this now, and this now, and so on, is all there is to "do". Being fully present is witnessing this now as your creation, while realizing, that you cannot be separate from now.

Become the witness of the mind and body. Whatever thoughts occur in this now, be with them, whatever feelings occur, be with them. Fully be with this moment, and everything about it. This is all there is. This is all there ever was.

Remember that this moment isn't happening to you, this moment is you.

The more fully you can experience this moment, without judgement, the more peace and acceptance you will experience in this moment, as this moment.

And if there isn't an experience of peace in the moment right now, the resistance can only be coming from your own judgement of not getting or experiencing what "you" want. Not getting what "you" want is an opportunity to fully experience your judgements and resistance to what is.

If you are suffering, it is still your mind's interpretation of now. This is why it is important to remember that your mind just thinks. It "thinks" it knows something about now, but it doesn't. It is just interpreting now from beliefs and concepts that it carries from the past. Bringing the past forward into now is an act of imagination and it contaminates right now with the past, preventing presence in the now from being fully experienced as this moment.

Experiencing now without judgement is very different than thinking about now. When you think about now you separate from now, and believing that you are separate from now, is an illusion.

When we create a negative impression of now, "who" is believing that you are a victim of now? Feeling frustration with what is, merely points back to "you" not getting what you want. Aren't you choosing this? If you're not getting the now you want who is responsible? What are you choosing to believe about now?

As soon as the resistance to what is, is fully experienced as your own creation, then your judgement of non peace will drop into What Is. This is simply loving what is and accepting this moment as fully yours.

Accepting and loving What Is will lead you to the freedom to just be here now.

2009-02-12T14:30:00.007-06:00

There comes a time for all of us to experience the death of someone, or something we love, especially the form that is our body and our story about who and what we think we are. We naturally grieve the loss of form fearing this means the end of our existence.

The tenuousness of life in physical form as well as our make believe stories about ourselves and others and this world and our place in it exists only in our imagination and yet it appears and feels very real. This is our story , the story that was created for us by our parents and our institutions and our culture. It is the story that we created to give meaning and shape to form and these forms are sustained by our mutually held agreements, concepts and beliefs. But eventually our story ends, our bodies die, our loved ones die, all of it passes away.

So who would you be without your story? Is it possible to live outside your story as an observer? Is it possible to die to one's body, mind and story before one's physical death?

Something to ponder.

Consider that consciousness appears in the body at birth and your physical body and mind and the physical universe and everything about it is merely an appearance in consciousness. Consider that without consciousness this story of ourselves and the physical world simply disappears, much like it does when you are sleeping.

Are "you" aware of your body and the physical world when you are asleep? Does it exist, do you exist without consciousness?

How could you be such a tenuous thing?

Enjoy the body, enjoy the world, experience it fully in the now, but remember, you are not this, you are not this.

2009-02-11T10:42:00.004-06:00

You are not your personality. Personality wants something, it is the seeker. Most always the personality seeks love, attention and approval. Tell me has that ever really worked, and if so for how long did it satisfy you? Notice how personality seduces you and others to get what it wants. Notice how personality attacks you and others when it doesn't get what it wants. How could this be you? How could this ever bring you peace?

Have you ever opened to love with no conditions? Have you ever remained in love when you didn't get what you wanted? The personality is the face of the indoctrinated self. Full of concepts and beliefs. There is nothing real there, there is no comfort there. In the false self, everything is illusion.

2009-02-10T13:38:00.004-06:00

There is nothing to seek. Nothing is wrong. There is nothing happening that you can really know anything about. It's all mind until it isn't, and when it isn't mind anymore, there is nothing to seek, there is nothing wrong and there is nothing happening that you need to know anything about. I Am is what you seek and you will never find it outside of yourself, because what you seek was never lost. I Am is the realized Self.

2009-02-09T00:27:00.004-06:00

You are prior to words and feelings. There is nothing to do except be with this moment now, fully experiencing what is. There is nothing to protect, there is no way to control now, there is just this now happening as it is. All states and conditions in this now pass as clouds pass in the sky, stay with them, observe them for what they are, witness them. They have come to show you who and what you really are. We have been taught to believe that we are our thoughts, that we are our feelings, that we are a body. We have all been indoctrinated with concepts about who we are and what is real. This indoctrinated identity, passed from one generation to the next, is the dream.

Thinking happens, feelings happen, there is a body, but what is identified with this body mind?

What is the origin of this identity?

We are not separate from this moment. The mind is creating it and interpreting it, the body is experiencing it. This moment, right now is a body, with a mind manifesting in consciousness, experiencing and defining itself as a body with a mind. Who are we, what are we, when we begin to witness this body mind identification?

Honor all of it and experience the dance but it is good to remember who thinks? what feels?

Be like the sky, clear, spacious, open. Experience the thoughts and feelings like clouds passing by. What we want, what we don't want, it all passes. It's not personal. Be with the feelings of getting what you want, be with the feelings of not getting what you want. Notice there is no control over this getting and not getting. Experience the illusion of control.

There is only this left to question? What is your identity, where did it come from and what is your conviction about what you are?

2009-02-08T00:09:00.002-06:00

We are all moving forward to the ultimate realization that we are so much more than our bodies and minds, indeed we are not that at all. I am always amazed at how this deep hunger for freedom results in an earnestness, when surrendered to, shows us the way home to our true Self.

2009-02-07T01:09:00.004-06:00

Body mind identification is the root of all suffering resulting in the illusion of separation.

Ponder this.

How could I really be my body?

How could I really be my mind?

Who am I?

What am I?

Be still and listen for your answer.

2009-02-06T00:08:00.002-06:00

When one realizes that it is not the body or the mind freedom is at hand.