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#1963 - Thursday, October 28, 2004 - Editor: Jerry
This Highlights is brief as I had to type most of it out. It includes a few words about, and an excerpt from a new book, This Is It: The Nature of Oneness, by Jan Kersschot. I like the author's plain language and the ease of flow of the interviews, and the absence of dressing-up -- maybe even the dressing down -- of modern day nonduality.
This Is It: The Nature of Oneness,
by Jan Kersschot. Interviews with teachers of non-duality. In
simple and clear language, Jan Kersschot explains how to go
beyond the need for concepts and belief systems. Everything you
need to know, you know already. Your true nature is what you are
already, and so it cannot be found.
Words and experiences are useful signposts, but your true
spiritual mirror is “beingness”, the simple fact of
being what you are. Although we are all capable of seeing our
beingness at any moment, most of us overlook this ability most of
the time. Right now, as you are, is “it”. Everything is
exactly how it is supposed to be.
Jan’s book invites you to recognize this simple message. The
directness of this vision became increasingly clear in the
conversations Jan had with the spiritual teachers he met
(including Eckhart Tolle – author of the bestselling Power
of Now). When you recognize the core of this vision while reading
these dialogues, it becomes obvious that you do not have to look
elsewhere; that all your trying to reach enlightenment only
affirms your sense of separation. Forget about your spiritual
ambitions and simply see what is. The preceding text is from
the publisher's website. The following is written or transcribed
by Jerry Katz.
The book can be purchased from Amazon at http://tinyurl.com/66az2.
This Is It consists of one-third
the author's explanation and discussion of Advaita,
enlightenment, and nonduality. Two-thirds of the book consists of
Jan's interviews with several "nondual people,"
including (in the order they appear in the book) Tony Parsons,
Douglas Harding, Mira Pagal, Nathan Gill, Chuck Hillig, Wayne
Liquorman, Francis Lucille, Vijai Shankar, Mark McCloskey,
Eckhart Tolle, U.G. Krishnamurti, and author Jan Kersschot.
Having had lunch with a couple of these guys, I can say that the
interviews are like that; like sitting down with these people and
being with them while they talk about "truth," or
whatever you want to call it: "It." "This."
"Being." I'll submit fragments of interviews in
upcoming Highlights. This is a very readable book for anyone
interested in plain talk about nonduality.
Here is a portion of This Is It which was
written by Kersschot.
Teachers of Nondualism
The teacher you are attracted to is just a reflection of what you
are looking for. If you had a major transcendental experience
while being with a particular guru, you are likely to get hooked
on that teacher, or hooked on such an experience. And if that
teacher is not satisfying anymore, you may go and look for a
stronger or more resonating leader. As long as you are looking
for something, be it bliss, resonance or peace, you will
encounter teachers or masters who will claim that they can give
it to you. As long as this process is going on, it is ok to
follow them. It is also ok to have spiritual experiences, and to
look for more of those until there is the recognition that the
'final it' is not attained yet -- and never will be. Until it is
recognized that blissful experiences are appearing in It but are
not It, it seems that all this seeking and all these special
experiences can bring you closer, but not close enough.
Other teachers may look more ordinary, and focus on the
intellectual approach of the spiritual search. They can challenge
some of your belief systems. Finally, one can encounter someone
who leaves you with nothing whatsoever. No prescriptive measure
is given since it is made clear that there is no such thing as a
spiritual path. There are only a few around who don't compromise
in this matter, who continue to say that there is nothing to
chase because there is no spiritual seeker in the first place.
Here the seeker's mind may be disappointed because there is no
more hope, no more future. Even special experiences are not
considered important any more. Even your most extraordinary
spiritual achievements are not encouraged nor labelled as higher
or more profound than your most ordinary sense of everyday life.
Even comparing yourself with the teacher falls away. This is the
teacher who gives no basis for a maintenance of your personality.
Then all that is left is presence. It becomes clear that
searching for something special or trying to be peaceful and
openhearted doesn't bring you closer to the very natural state
you are always in, no matter how you feel or behave. Beingness is
not something you can acquire as a result of your personal
effort. The actor on the movie screen isn't able to walk up to
the lamp in the back of the theatre. Nobody can bring you closer
to the Light and nothing can take you away from It because Light
is what you are. Beingness is what you are. And this Being is
completely beyond any sense of values.
When all beliefs and expectations are abandoned, all the usual
efforts to improve your life or to achieve a higher level of
consciousness evaporate. When the spiritual search is no longer
important, there may be a resting in the immediacy of what is.
Seeking the extraordinary, you overlook the splendour of the
ordinary in everyday life. You overlook the simplicity of the
open secret, which is available right here and right now.
Enlightenment is not something you can reach and that will you
special, something that will make you stand out in the crowd. It
is just the opposite: you become nobody and everybody at the same
time.
http://tinyurl.com/66az2