"His wheel was stuck in a ditch of light, so to speak, and he felt an
overpowering urge to steer in the direction of darkness. If the earth
needs night as well as day, wouldnÂ’t it follow that the soul requires
endarkenment to balance enlightenment?"

В 

~ Tom Robbins, Jitterbug Perfume

В 

В 

The most recent chapter in the history of human evolution can be seen as a bursting
forth of the Г‚вЂ˜lightwardÂ’ movement of consciousness out of the body and into the
mind.

В 

Our ancestors led us up into the light of greater moral clarity by overcoming
superstitious thinking and the bodyÂ’s dark instinctual forces. Moral action required
the repression of instinct and we accomplished becoming the most rational,
goal-oriented and productive human society that there ever has been. But, having
tilted ourselves toward the light, toward the upward, spirit-focused part of
ourselves, have we come to neglect another part of who we are?

В 

In turning toward spirit, we rejected the material world in all its aspects including
the embodied human one. When our Creation stories painted the body, matter and
sexuality as sinful, a part of our nature was placed into the shadow. Today we
continue to carry forward this split only we don’t know it—and doing so has made
us dangerous.

В 

В 

Along the way on this trip, we have come to see ourselves as the light-bringers.
Certain that our particular brand of philosophy will save the dirty Philistines from
wallowing in their dark unknowing, we funded projects like the Crusades, the
Inquisition and Residential Schools in all their various enlightening forms.

В 

We still have cultures functioning today that produce people who fly planes into
buildings because they know that Г‚вЂ˜up thereÂ’ they will receive a heroÂ’s welcome.

В 

Modern light-bringing has so many forms: our political enlightenment will keep
tyranny from bothering you again (“sorry Г‚вЂ˜bout your house”); our economic
enlightenment will save those lazy people over there; our scientific enlightenment
can prove conclusively that all that spiritual hub-jub is pure gobbledygook (see the
recent TED controversy); our religious enlightenment will lead you up to heaven
(Bodhisattva won’t you take me by the hand!)—and in its latest form if you just do
the magically right combo of mantras, sutras and asanas (and send Swami Googoo Gi
$19.55) up, up, up you will going into the ultimate backstage party—Ascendance!

В 

And when that day comes it will, of course, only be the ones on the unsinful diet of
organic sunshine that get to go in. The So Cal yoga scene does a particularly
attractive job of trotting this out. Pretty-focused, these spiritual fashionistas sell
you the practice/diet/jewelry that ensures that you can feel superior to other
people; here light and positive talk abound, so be sure to avoid becoming a social
outcast in this culture by never saying anything negative. These folks might be
shooting up light, but they are at least talking about trying to grow in
consciousness!

В 

What we donÂ’t get in all this stuff is that itÂ’s possible to embody our
dark side in a guise of light; we donÂ’t understand that reason has a
shadow.

В 

В 

Today we act out the darkness of human evil in forms of rational action: where
thereÂ’s a will thereÂ’s a way has us overcoming all the obstacles between us and
destroying the world we live in; we skate on razor-sharp rational blades
efficiently toward self-inflicted apocalypse with words like Г‚вЂ˜economic necessity;Â’
we act out our hate for those happily embodied others that dare to own their
sexuality in our world, and we do so certain and safe under the protection of our
own higher righteousness.

В 

"The governing dream of the twentieth century appears as a kind of
ultimate manifestation of a deep inner rage of Western society
against its earthly condition."

~ Thomas Berry

В 

В 

Righteousness has so many rational forms in our world, but how many of those
forms are shadow cloaks in which we act out an unconscious psychological split
between spirit and matter—ways in which we express our deep resentment of
having to actually participate in an imperfect, disappointing, potentially dying
world and exist in an aging, flawed and occasionally heart-wrenched physical body?

В 

We identify all goodness with spirit, light and up and all evil with darkness, body
and the down of the worldÂ’s reality. Living too much in up, too much in our heads, in
spirit and in reason and not in our bodies, we resent those who do.

В 

Holding the tension of this split makes us tend to see those around us who have
worked though it as bad and maybe even dangerous—that’s why we hang the mystic
lovers on crosses and burn them on pyres. “Knowing not what we do,” we think that
SpiritÂ’s splendorous light is up there and sexuality is down here, instead of
listening to those wondrous teachers that give voice to a love that is firmly planted
in the world.

В 

We particularly dislike it when those teachers are our neighbors: the person right
beside us whoÂ’s managed to learn to live in their heart just a little bit more than we
have; those who have come to embody their sexuality with less shame than we carry;
those who place the planetÂ’s needs above their own; those we encounter with the
moral courage to live fiercely in the world with their hearts open and present.

В 

Jung said that if we worked at becoming conscious we might barely
make it through the disasters ahead of us.

В 

When we identify goodness with light, right and upward, we fail in that task.

В 

WhatÂ’s required of us is a willingness to drop our inner identification with light
and get down close to the dark—our own and that around us. And then we must feel
what comes of that (horror, rage, wonder, passion?), because there simply is no
change without emotion—if you do not feel through to the healing then it’s all just
an idea in your head.

В 

В 

The split between spirit and matter inside of us is only resolved in one place
folks—in our hearts—in the discomfort and suffering of real pain and the ecstatic
joy of real love.

В 

В 

"Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the
barriers within yourself that you have built against it."

~ Rumi

В 

_______________________________________________

В 

G. S. Bobroff, M.A. has a MasterÂ’s degree in in Jungian-oriented
Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute of Santa Barbara, CA
and is the author of Crop Circles, Jung & the Re-Emergence of the
Archetypal Feminine (available on North Atlantic Books in August
2014). His other articles on elephant journal include: “On
Synchronicity & Romantic Fate” click here.. His website is 
В GSBobroff.com.

В 

В 

http://www.elephantjournal.com/2013/05/why-enlightenment-might-be-bad-for-you-g-s-bobroff/?utm_source=All&utm_campaign=Daily+Moment+of+Awake+in+the+Inbox+of+Your+Mind&utm_medium=email

#4962 - Tuesday, July 2, 2013 - Editor: Jerry Katz

The Nonduality Highlights http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDhighlights/

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John Troy writes...

I just finished editing a little e-booklet called, In Other Words. It is a very short read. Have a look.

http://www.thewizardllc.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/In-Other-Words1.pdf

Excerpt:

Sentience Isn’t a Primate Byproduct

Emerging from unbroken sentience is a beautiful
revelation. Believing one is the I-thought or the body/mind
or primate is just another belief fraught with brittleness. It
is similar to believing one is the character in a dream.
The same function of belief is not applicable in the
recognition of our unbroken sentience. To delineate
empirical knowledge, belief, memory and/or intellect from
immanent tacit intuition is to transcend beliefs. The
residuum is unbroken existence.

From the outlook of unbroken sentience, all is a play of
consciousness unfolding perfectly within our still Self, host
of all forms. Forms are not the host of sentience. Forms
appear, inhere and disappear in seamless sentience.
Biology doesn’t actually create sentience; biology creates
the mortal myth within sentience.


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Experience Conscious Living – Exclusive Interview with Ivan Rados

June 2011
http://www.bestofyoutoday.com

BOYT: Please explain how you define consciousness, this term is often used but also often misunderstood.

Ivan: Consciousness cannot be defined, it has never been defined and it will never be defined. To define something you have to create a distance, you need to stand out of it; you need a space between definer and defined. How can you define yourself? If you are outside of yourself, who is there to define it? Everything else can be defined, watched, observed, experimented, moved, dissected, but not the definer, because everything else is before consciousness. Who will define consciousness? Consciousness is you. It is mystery not to be known, but to be lived. You can know outside, but you can never know inside—because you are already there, melted in oneness with the essence of you.

This is the paradox: those who claim to know the consciousness are unconscious, and those who come to a point where they don’t know the consciousness are conscious. If you say, “I am conscious,” then the question arises, “Conscious about what?” Consciousness has no idea of “I” or “Me”; it has no personality, no ego, no idea of one’s separation from the wholeness. It is one with the existence. It is flowing into the wholeness, and the wholeness is flowing into the one. Consciousness is a process, a flow like breathing—when you breathe in, the whole enters in you, when you breathe out, you enter the whole.

When we think about consciousness we usually think about the mind. The mind is not consciousness. The mind is using consciousness for its own existence. So, the mind cannot exist without consciousness, but consciousness IS the existence. Consciousness without thinking is awareness, or what I like calling it, The Infinite Consciousness. It is awareness that YOU ARE—whole, wholly, present, alive and infinite. It is not a thought; it is alertness without the thought. It is the essence of ALL THAT IS. What is IS at this moment of NOW. So, the moment of NOW is consciousness. Be in the moment and you are with it, you are IT.

~ ~ ~

Read the entire interview here:

http://ivanrados.com/?p=305

#4963 - Wednesday, July 3, 2013 - Editor: Jerry Katz

The Nonduality Highlights http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDhighlights/

---------------------------------------------------

On Labyrinths, Grace and the Via Creativa
by miriam louisa simons

In an essay rich in the heart wisdom of nondual awareness, lifetime artisan Miriam Louisa Simons shares her perspective on the Via Creativa and how it relates to Grace and the Labyrinth of Life. She writes: “As an impersonal energetic continuum, one enters the Labyrinth called Life, again and again, time without end. The journey is always to the Heart, always into remembrance of what one actually is. The process is Life’s exploration of the infinity of ways it can experience itself as form and emptiness, and return to home base . . .”


Do you think I know what I’m doing?

That for one breath or half-breath I belong to myself?

As much as a pen knows what it’s writing,

or the ball can guess where it’s going next. — Rumi



The Labyrinth is a familiar symbol. Its enigmatic presence has left footprints that fade back into the beginning of the human story. Its origins and its purpose have been rich fodder for research and speculation.

I don’t pretend to know the truth of its tale, but see the archetypal labyrinth as apt visual shorthand for the map of a life, and that’s how its symbolism is used in this little essay.

The many lanes of the Labyrinth are in fact only one long path that winds and twists and turns back on itself, as it explores all the territory of a life before arriving at its Heart.

By ‘Heart’ I mean the natural essence of the ‘walker’ of the Labyrinth – beyond both conception and perception – the unknowable and ineffable awareness we nevertheless recognize as our changeless Being.

As an artisan, I call this path the Via Creativa, but please don’t think I refer to any kind of laid-down, mapped-out path.

The path is a process, and the process creates the path. It is the Via Creativa itself that teaches me how to make art and live Life.

I see the Via Creativa like this: As an impersonal energetic continuum, one enters the Labyrinth called Life, again and again, time without end. The journey is always to the Heart, always into remembrance of what one actually is. The process is Life’s exploration of the infinity of ways it can experience itself as form and emptiness, and return to home base.

(Which, paradoxically, it never left!)

We are formed and framed by genetic and environmental factors. These are the ingredients that fuel the process. They are the ‘what-is’ of this life. They will unfold us as we walk the Labyrinth, and like it or not, we will find Heart’s song within them and nowhere else.

As a child, what was the activity that you could have done ‘forever’? That brought joy and wonderment? That you leapt out of bed to get on with? The key to your path will be found in your answer.

The unique, one-off path unlocked by that answer will be juicy and wholesome, will see us rise in the morning eager to meet the day’s work. We may or may not be successful in the eyes of the world, and it may or may not be a direct hit on the Heart of the Labyrinth, but we’ll be conscious of at-one-ment with the Via Creativa – at least for a while.

If the juice dries up, we can be sure a dead-end is looming; we must change course. But which way to go?

Perhaps we explore a dozen scenarios and possibilities but remain confused. The solution is simple, but the last thing we wish to hear: We must stop. Sit down. Breathe in and breathe out. Notice now. Touch this. Be fully here. Return to Life’s pure presence. And wait.

Waiting withers the will. Waiting opens a chink in the armour of the supposed separate ‘self’ with its visions and versions of a glorious personal future. It won’t be happy – be assured it will complain bitterly!

Waiting welcomes Grace. Yet contrary to what we might have been taught, Grace isn’t always sweet-ness and light. Grace is innocent and totally amoral. It does whatever it must do in the service of the compassionate Heart.

~ ~ ~

To read the entire article you will have to subscribe to One The Magazine:

http://www.onethemagazine.com/blog/2013/06/25/on-labyrinths-grace-and-the-via-creativa/#.UdRa2vkWITM

I know, I'm very sneaky.



-------------------------------------------

Pay attention to the alchemy happening in your life

by Jerry Katz

The circles of people to which we belong are vessels. Those in which your deepest nature is most freely and creatively expressed are those within which you must be most responsible. Responsibility means right action. We know what wrong action looks like, often abuse. Consider that lack of action, and under-action, may very well be considered wrong action.

The other thing I want to say is that when aspects of your life find you contracting, resisting, disliking, or withdrawing, that you resort to the vessel or vessels that hold you most truthfully. How to make such resort is something you should already intuitively know or be close to knowing.

If such resort turns nothing up in any kind of timely fashion, then it helps to learn some psychological way to dissolve one's resistances. If resistance remains and a task you hate still has to be done, you're certainly entitled to complain that doing the task sucks.

Meanwhile, you may find that working through resistance somehow purifies the resistance and thereby purifies the vessels.

-------------------------------


Philip posted this in the Nonduality Highlights Facebook group:

Nonduality 101
Nonduality in a Nutshell
By Prem Daas

1. Nonduality means there is no duality. There is only one reality. There is only one life. There is variety and difference in appearance, in name and form, but no separation anywhere. Everything is made up of the same one thing; consciousness, spirit, energy; whatever you want to call it. This realization doesn’t negate duality, it embraces duality. It is seen that everything is appearing and disappearing in this one present awareness, which is always and already here and now.

2. There is no separate self. Seeing that there is no separate self means that when you look within, you don’t find a person inside. Awareness is aware of thoughts, feelings, and sensations, but awareness never comes across a separate little person living inside the body. As Ramana Maharshi said, “If you open a radio, you don’t find anyone in there speaking. The same is with the body; if you open it up, you don’t find someone inside.”

3. There is doing, but no doer. Thoughts appear, but you can’t find a thinker. Feelings arise, but you can’t find a feeler. Doing happens, but you can’t find a doer. You may find a sense of a separate self, but that is only a sense and not an actuality. There is no owner to be found. If you find a thought that says, “I am the owner. I am the doer,” then it must be seen immediately that these are only thoughts as well and you can’t find an owner for these thoughts, either. There is no one behind thought. There is no one behind awareness.

4. Everything is happening all by Itself. Since we can’t find a doer, then it must be recognized that life is simply happening all by itself. You could say that this life shows signs of creativity and intelligence, but again, there is no separate someone who is intelligent and creative behind the scenes doing the doing, it is just part of the fabric and expression of this one life. Sometimes it is said that God is the doer, but do we ever find a God that is separate from our self? As Rumi said, “When you find God, you find your self and when you find your self, you find God.” God and Self are one and the same. This is the end of I and other, of you and me, and then only This remains. This never came and This never left; it is always and already here and now.

5. All there is, is This. Oneness is everything, Oneness does everything. This is the absolute appearing as the relative. This is the impersonal appearing as the personal. This is energy appearing as matter. This is formlessness appearing as form. This is emptiness appearing as fullness. This is spirit appearing as creation. This is the unmanifest appearing as manifestation. You open your eyes in the morning and awareness is aware of only one thing; life. This life could be said to be an appearance which is both real and unreal at the same time. Scientists have looked deeply into matter and ultimately what they find is no-thing. This is no-thing appearing as everything.

6. You are awareness without the you. Awareness is prior to everything. If awareness were not present first, then nothing would be perceived. Awareness is the substratum of every experience. Consciousness is always changing its shape, form, and expression and awareness is the only thing that is aware of that play of being. However, the objects of awareness are not separate from awareness, as they are appearing and disappearing within this vast space-like awareness, which is always and already present. This awareness is impersonal and no self can be found behind awareness. The person is not aware, awareness is aware of the person. The ego is not aware, awareness is aware of the ego. Changeless awareness is aware of changeful consciousness and this seemingly dualistic play make up the two sides of the one coin of Being.

7. These are only thoughts about Nonduality. Thoughts, at best, can only point awareness back to itself, consciousness back to itself, beingness back to itself. Understanding isn’t realization and realization isn’t liberation. The mind is always telling a story about the me; the me-story. But what is aware of the me-story? Only awareness is aware. That is why Nonduality as a belief system or religion isn’t the end of the journey and isn’t enough to exhaust the spiritual seeker. It’s unsatisfactory. Nonduality must become your direct experience and living reality. The sense of separation must truly and authentically end and disappear. Then it is seen by no one that all there is is this; nothing appearing as everything. You are Freedom itself.

#4965 - Friday, July 5, 2013 - Editor: Jerry Katz

The Nonduality Highlights http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDhighlights/

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you live near Auroville in southern India, or are planning to visit, I highly recommend joining a new meetup group based in Auroville, simply called the Auroville Nondual Meetup Group. It is founded by residents Didier Weiss and Anamika. Here is the description of the group:


We have just started and are finding our way around. Please join us in what could become a fun and interesting place to meet and hang out.

Nonduality is about the philosophical, spiritual, scientific but mainly experiential understanding of non-separation and fundamental intrinsic oneness.

We are passionate about the journey, the exploration of the nature of awareness, the essence of Life from which all arises and subsides.

The purpose of the group is to bring together all those drawn towards self-discovery and to make it easy to be in contact with others on the same journey.

Please join us even if you are a casual visitor in our area. It would give a chance for like-minded people to connect with you at your next visit.

Welcome on board!


Join and explore more at http://www.meetup.com/Auroville-Nondual-Meetup-Group/


------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Robert Wolfe

Can you relax somewhere comfortably, with no plan, no agenda, no timetable, and with no trace of desire to be in any other place or to do any other thing? Can you be free entirely of the sense of awaiting anything whatsoever? Can you die peacefully and lastingly into the moment of eternity? That is the moment, the limitless moment, where there is freedom from mortal fear.

You will not find yourself in this relaxed position until there is a natural order in your life. And you will not be open to the unfolding of this order until you perceive unequivocally the implications of your true identity.

The truth of your identity is to be found in solitude…stillness…emptiness. It is to be found in the moment from which nothing is separable.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


What Robert Wolfe says is very much echoed in Vicki Woodyard's new book which is not yet published but which I read and like very much. It consists of conversations between her and Peter. If anything it is perhaps about resting, the kind of resting Robert speaks of in his first paragraph. A beautiful book.

And who is Peter? you ask. Peter started the first nonduality website, sentient.org (use the wayback machine to see past issues:

http://web.archive.org/web/20050208190846/http://www.sentient.org/noscript.html)

He started his site in 1992 as a bulletin board and inspired my own work in making nonduality available to the people. When Peter became seriously ill with strokes he came to see life and spirituality in a new way.

The book is about that way. It's full of humor and a vast simple wisdom that is so refreshing and needed in our current culture of nonduality. Vicki and Peter are a pair for the ages.

You'll be hearing more about Vicki's new book in upcoming issues. Meanwhile, here's her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/vicki.woodyard?fref=ts

#4967 - July 7-9, 2013 - Editor: Jerry Katz

The Nonduality Highlights http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDhighlights/


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GIANT TRIPLE ISSUE!!!!

Three views of reality are featured: that there is one reality, that there are three aspects of the one reality, and that no such realities can be found.

It makes me want to take a couple tylenols and lay down.



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http://www.speakingtree.in/public/spiritual-blogs/seekers/philosophy/selfknowledge-cannot-be-attained-by-study-of-the-vedas-and

Self-knowledge cannot be attained by study of the Vedas

By: Santthoshkumaar Kumaar
on Jul 08, 2013


Self-knowledge or Brahma Gnana or Atma Gnana cannot be attained by study of the Vedas and intellectual understanding or by bookish knowledge. Therefore,there is no use of studying the Vedas and other scriptures in order to acquire the non-dual wisdom. That is why Buddha rejected the scriptures, and even Sri, Sankara indicated that, the ultimate truth lies beyond religion, concept of God and scriptures.

There is only one Reality to be known, the same for all seekers, but the ways to it, are hidden by the religion. Self-discovery is the only way, towards non-dual Absolute without any religious doctrines, which will help the seekers to unfold the mystery of the illusion in which we all are searching the truth of our true existence.

The beliefs of god, religion, yoga are based on the false self, is nothing to do with the mental (inner) journey.

The religious, rituals, worships, prayers god and guru glorification may be useful in the practical life within the practical world, for those who believes in the birth, life, death and the world as reality, but they are not useful tools in realizing the ultimate truth. On the base of consciousness [soul] as self, everything other than the consciousness is a mere mirage. Thus, man and his experience of the world and his belief of god and religion are part and parcel of the mirage created out of consciousness.

When Sri,Sankara says the world is an illusion, it includes birth, life and death, which happens within the world. Thus seekers main aim is to mentally trace the formless substance of the illusion, which is also the witness of the illusion. The formless substance and witness of the illusion [world] is the Ataman, and this Ataman itself is Brahman. This Brahman cannot be attained by indulging in egocentric religious orthodoxies. The knower of Brahman is Brahmin not the Brahmin who indulges in priest craft, which leads one to utter darkness as per Yajur Veda.

Brahmin is the one who has realized the Brahman [ultimate truth] and helps fellow seekers towards inner path. The one who knows Brahman knows his body and his experience of the world are mere illusion and also he knows his body and his experience of the world are also as the soul,which is present in the form of consciousness, which is Brahman. Thus, the religious orthodoxy which crafted the body based theories will lead one to hallucinated Moksha. But real Moksha or freedom is possible only through nondual wisdom.

Thus it is necessary to follow the path of Brahman not the path of the orthodoxy. Only by dropping all the accumulated orthodox crafted baggage, one has to move forward to reach the non-dual destination in lesser time and effort.


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A summary of the teachings of Aziz Kristof

According to Aziz Kristof, that which we refer to by the phrase “I AM” consists of three basic aspects. These three basic aspects are:

1. Consciousness

2. Being

3. The Heart

And that which we refer to by the word “Enlightenment” is the shifting of the center of identity to one of the three basic aspects of I AM.

From the above follows that there are three forms of Enlightenment. These are:

1. Enlightenment to the State of Presence.
– This occurs when the center of identity shifts to consciousness.

2. Enlightenment to the Absolute State.
– This occurs when the center of identity shifts to Being.

3. Enlightenment to the Heart.
– This occurs when the center of identity shifts to the Heart.

Until now, no spiritual tradition has made a clear distinction between these three types of Enlightenment. And so after millennia of spiritual teachings, the spiritual path remains uncharted territory.


Let us now look at the three types of Enlightenment in more detail, beginning with Enlightenment to the State of Presence.

We start out on the spiritual path unaware of our true nature. The ‘image’ we have of ourselves is what we identify with as being ‘Me.’ This identification with the self-concept is a natural and necessary step in the evolution of consciousness. The evolution of consciousness is an evolution which is conscious of itself. The self-concept serves as a bridge between the subconscious animal state and the fully conscious state. First we need to develop self-referring intelligence, which is the ego, before we are able to take the next step. Otherwise we would not want to know, nor be able to appreciate, who we are in a deeper sense.

If an animal would suddenly get an ego, this would be an Enlightenment experience for the animal. That would be the first shift for the animal from its subconscious state to becoming aware of itself. The subconscious state is like a dream state. In a dream, there is no clear self-awareness; the subject’s awareness is completely objectified into the dream story. Humans, in their semi-conscious state, are on the one hand conscious enough to have a sense of self, while on the other hand not conscious enough to realize what is behind this sense of self. This causes us to search for our true identity.

Some spiritual traditions only teach discovering the ‘no-self,’ and therefore portray the ego as something negative. The spiritual path, however, is about self-awareness. So essentially the ego plays a positive role on the spiritual path. However, because we completely identify with this self-concept, we become imprisoned in our egocentric concepts and beliefs.

But there is a way to free ourselves from this prison of the mind. The mind has in its very essence the ability to create a self-conscious impulse. Thanks to this self-conscious impulse we are able to briefly return from being lost in the mind to being aware in the now. We use this ability as a pathway from the mind to pure consciousness.

We have to cultivate these self-conscious impulses so that they become a steady flow of attention. By adhering to our task of continuously maintaining this awareness, we begin the process of crystallizing attention. When attention is crystallized, awareness experiences itself beyond thoughts and concepts. This is why most spiritual traditions work with the cultivation of mindfulness.

In our practice we have to focus on the original point where the self-conscious impulse is not yet experienced as an object outside of ourselves, but is experienced in itself. The most direct and powerful way to practice this is through self-remembrance. We practice self-remembrance by continuously looking inward, turning our attention to the center of attention itself, in the middle of the head, as if we are looking inward with our eyes at the back of the skull. In this way we energetically anchor ourselves in the now.

Once we experience the self-conscious impulse as subject and not object, consciousness becomes awakened. At this point mindfulness experiences itself without any object. Attention which is crystallized becomes self-aware. It becomes one with itself.

Now we have a real center of awareness and we are not lost in the mind anymore. We have (partly) awakened to our true nature; we recognized the essence of consciousness. We experience that every phenomenon appears and disappears in consciousness. And we are consciousness. Everything is recognized as the self.

When the State of Presence is stabilized, it loses its crystallized character. It becomes like a space of awareness. Without holding on to it, one simply remains in this field of pure consciousness.

The State of Presence is referred to by some teachers in Advaita Vedanta by the slogan “Consciousness is all there is and I am THAT.” In Hinduism they call the State of Presence ‘Atman.’ In Zen Buddhism the ox (in the ox herding pictures) symbolizes the State of Presence.

In contemporary Tibetan Buddhism the State of Presence is referred to as ‘Rigpa,’ and they depict it as something that endures after the death of the body. The State of Presence does not endure after death, because consciousness manifests through brain activity; it needs a physical body to manifest. This is the reason why there is no consciousness in the deep sleep state, when there is almost no brain activity. The natural location of the State of Presence is in the middle of the headspace, behind the ‘third eye.’

Every type of Enlightenment normally has three phases; first the shift into the State, then the stabilization of the State and then integration of the State. The first shift is sudden, the other phases are gradual. It very seldom occurs that the first shift is accompanied by sudden stabilization.


Let’s now move on to the second type of Enlightenment: Enlightenment to the Absolute State.

As we have just seen, consciousness plays a key role in the Enlightenment process. But is consciousness truly ‘all there is?’

According to Buddhism, consciousness is one of the five skandhas. These skandhas are supposed to be five (impermanent) aggregates that constitute all individual experience. And suffering arises when one completely identifies with (one of) these skandhas, because clinging to anything impermanent is essentially suffering.

It is true that consciousness is impermanent -- it can vanish. It vanishes every night when we get into the deep sleep state. So what is Nirvana, which is beyond suffering, really about? It cannot only be about consciousness! The Nirvana that the Buddha realized must exist beyond consciousness, according to his own teachings.

When the mind awakens to its true nature, the State of Presence is realized. But when one awakens to the true nature of Presence itself, the Unmanifested is realized. The Unmanifested is also called “Being” or “the Absolute.” Being is the source from which Presence arises and is prior to Presence. In Buddhism the term “Emptiness” is used for Being.

Some teachers call ‘pure consciousness without content’ Emptiness, as if it were equivalent to what is meant by Emptiness in authentic Zen Buddhism. This is another example of the confusion caused by ignorance about the different forms of Enlightenment.

Before consciousness arises, there already is a ‘presence.’ What is present is the absence of consciousness. The term absence does not mean there is nothing present. ‘Nothing’ is just a concept. In truth ‘nothing’ does not exist, because ‘the absence of consciousness’ is always present. What is conceptualized as ‘nothing’ is uncreated energy, which is pure ‘is-ness.’ That’s why we call it ‘Being,’ because it IS beyond ‘is’ or ‘is not.’

The only way to enter the Absolute is through surrendering. Unlike the active-will practice that leads to the State of Presence, realizing the Absolute takes surrendering. One must let go of the center of Presence into the non-Presence of the Absolute, which has no center.

The practice of Shikantaza (sitting meditation), breathing into the belly where one drops Presence to the hara area (lower belly area), serves this purpose. The center of Presence is in the headspace, but the hara is the gateway to the Absolute. One can only really do Shikantaza after having attained the State of Presence, otherwise it would be difficult staying fully present when coming to the precipice of the non-Presence.

After exerting ourselves fully in trying to cast off the will (inherent in Presence), we become ready to receive Grace, which responds to our surrender. Only by way of Grace (because the will cannot transcend itself) can we shift into the Absolute State. Grace which comes in the form of transmission. This transmission can come from an Enlightened teacher who is in the Absolute State or directly from the Beyond.

In the shift to the Absolute, consciousness becomes absorbed into that which is prior to consciousness. This is the realization the Buddha experienced, which he named reaching Nirvana. This experience is like getting into a deep sleep state while staying completely awake. One is completely present and completely absent. There is no movement, only absolute stillness exists in this State. Absolute stillness, which is the presence of Being. And the presence of Being is the absence of consciousness.

Through the conscious letting go of our presence into the Absolute (which is the absence of consciousness) we become absent, in other words, absorbed in reality; One with the Universe. After this shift there is no longer any center; we experience ‘non-abidance.’ In the Absolute State all is finally embraced. Few seekers actually reach the Absolute State, for it is the Ultimate.

Because Advaita Vedanta is the tradition of Grace, some Advaita teachers don’t emphasize or even discourage spiritual practices. This is because their tradition is based on transmission, where a seeker who is ripe for it gets shifted into another State by the energy of a Master who is in that State himself, or receives Grace directly from the Beyond. In an effort after meaning for what happens in their tradition, they conclude that practice is unnecessary and all happens only through Grace.

The theoretical framework behind their extreme, non-dualistic view is formed by applying linear logic to the experience of the dimensions beyond the ego; the “no self” experience. Because they realized “no self,” they believe there is no ‘personal doer’ and so one cannot do anything oneself to reach Enlightenment. Reality itself, however, is beyond linear logic. The multi-dimensional reality of I AM holds the possibility for the reality of the personal within the heart of the universal.


Now we will look at the third form of Enlightenment; Enlightenment to the Heart.

After we have stabilized the Absolute State, the wisdom of the Unmanifested will not let us stay forever in the detached state of disidentification. The Unmanifested has to encounter the reality of its own manifestation. This encounter takes place when the heart opens. Opening the center of the Heart entails energy work into the heart area, placing your hands on your heart and deeply connecting with it. Prayer is also an important part of connecting with the Heart.

When we shift to the Heart, we reach a place beyond identification and disidentification. ‘Heart’ means ‘central point.’ The Heart is the middle point where the two polarities, the manifested (the self) and the Unmanifested (the no-self), meet and we experience true wholeness. This meeting can take place in the Heart, because the Heart rises above these polarities, for the Heart is part of the Ultimate.

The Ultimate, which is God, exists as a union of the Absolute and the Heart. The Being side of God is the Absolute and the Divine side of God is the Heart. The Divine is the heart of Emptiness. The Heart is the dimension of Love and Grace.

Now we come to the final part of our spiritual seeking. That which has been searching for its true self can now be discovered.

The spiritual traditions of the past do not depict all sides of reality accurately. The teaching of no-self is not a dogma. The idea that ‘nobody’ becomes Enlightened is true from one perspective but false from another perspective. Enlightenment is beyond the concept of ‘self’ and ‘no-self.’

What is the true answer to the question: Who am I? Is the answer: the ego? Or consciousness? Or Emptiness? Searching for our true self we come across different dimensions of what we are. But who is the one who is experiencing these dimensions, who is the one searching for its true self? Hidden within all of what we are is the essence of our unique identity. Aziz calls it the Soul. Consciousness and Emptiness are impersonal and universal, but the Soul is personal.

The Soul exists in the Heart, and can only recognize itself in a clear way after the realization of Presence and the Absolute. Some mystics have gone directly to the Heart without first realizing Presence and the Absolute, but although they experienced the Soul, their realization lacked the clarity that one who already realized Presence and the Absolute would have had. Only when water is still can it clearly mirror your true face.

Now that the Heart center is open, we experience that the most direct and personal experience of the self is in the Heart. We become aware of the Soul. Inherent in the Soul is a profound sensitivity which comes from the Heart. The Heart is universal, but extends into an individual expression which we call the Soul. Because of this we are one with I AM but also separate from I AM. The Soul is what experiences oneness and separation. Experiencing oneness is only accessible if one can also experience separation.

The Soul is not the I AM. The Soul is the I AM seeing itself as a Soul. Through this seeing, a separation between the I AM and itself arises. I AM meets itself through seeing itself as a Soul. And every Soul is a unique angle of perception of I AM.

Although each Soul has its own unique destiny in relation to its own (genetic) blueprint, some self-determining energy is inherent in each Soul. The universe creates a human being and the human being responds to the universe; it is a living, interactive process. Quantum physics discovered that when a particle is perceived by us, the particle is changed by that very observation. Perception is an energy which changes the reality of that which is perceived. The perceiver and the perceived both affect each other. In the same way the Soul co-operates with
I AM in the realization of I AM.

This summary is a description of the teachings of Aziz Kristof in my own words.
© Steven van der Hut
http://home.kpn.nl/hut00154/aziz.html


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The following is from Greg Goode's Emptiness group on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/emptinesses


Greetings to all the new members of the Emptiness group!!

You may or may not be familiar with the emptiness teachings. They are a kind of nondual approach that doesn't reduce everything to sameness or any single substance that supports everything.

You can use these teachings with or without Buddhism. The powerful emptiness meditations and realizations can be used with a wide variety of spiritual paths. We define "emptiness" in a very broad way as "essencelessness" or "naturelessness." This happens to allow Buddhist and non-Buddhist approaches. Everything from Theravada Buddhism to literary criticism to modern physics can be a teaching. This variety is represented in the gallery above! (See the About page and the Files section too.)

According to these approaches, emptiness is not the same thing as Consciousness or Awareness or Being or any other underlying global basis for things. In the emptiness approaches, we look for any such underlying support or basis of things, we simply do not find it. There is a wonderful lightness and freedom in this.

Even a simple apple cannot be found apart from pieces, parts, labels, concepts, or relations to other things. An apple simply has no nature. Its "no nature" is its mode of existence.

The emptiness teachings are fond of paradox, irony, humor, and surprising reversals. This is why it's sometimes said that this very lack of nature is the nature of things. This naturelessness cannot be pinned down, yet it has the flavor of openness, love, joy, care, richness, enthusiasm, and engagement with the delightful variety of things and sentient beings.

Here are some links to readings and a few videos. It is a huge field, and variety is one of its great virtues.

So sit back, read, learn, discuss, realize and enjoy!

FROM A BUDDHIST PERSPECTIVE:

Intro to the Emptiness Teachings:
http://emptiness.co/intro

If you are more used to the Awareness teachings:
http://emptiness.co/adv_to_empt

From the Dalai Lama:
http://www.dalailama.com/news/post/762-the-essence-of-emptiness

From the Encyclopedia Britannica:
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/355806/Madhyamika

From Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madhyamaka
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunyata

Five Good Buddhist Books (in our Files section):
https://www.facebook.com/groups/emptinesses/doc/278607918913253/

WESTERN CRITIQUES OF ESSENCE:

Death and Furniture (in our Files section):
https://www.facebook.com/groups/emptinesses/422354651205245/

Five Good Western Books (in our Files section):
https://www.facebook.com/groups/emptinesses/doc/278607178913327/

Pyrrho and Pyrrhonism (from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy):
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pyrrho/

VIDEOS (Buddhist and Western):

Jeffrey Hopkins on Subtle Impermanence:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wJ4dior8js

Richard Rorty on Truth:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzynRPP9XkY

Robert Anton Wilson on "is"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCIqFAdI6eI

Robert Anton Wilson freestyling:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0uImc27Ico

#4968 - Wednesday, July 10, 2013 - Editor: Jerry Katz

The Nonduality Highlights http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDhighlights/


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

The following was the introduction to the previous Highlights issue:

>GIANT TRIPLE ISSUE!!!!
>
> Three views of reality are featured: that there is one reality, that there are three aspects of the one reality, and that no such realities can be found.
>
> It makes me want to take a couple tylenols and lay down.

I received several interesting comments. One of them, posted to Nonduality Salon, follows:

T: JEEZUz !

Jerry my good man!

Fer Kerist's Sake.

I feel for you.

You might even smoke a bowl.

Now I know why they burnt the library in Alexandria all those years ago.

And why Socrates never wanted to write anything down.

Its a effing stinking swamp!

I cut the rest without so much as a by your leave.

Huge Snipperage of ordure!

With respect.

Any time you want a pillow.

:)

Tboni

snip

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Colin Drake revisits Alain de Botton's "10 commandments for virtuous atheists" from the viewpoint of awareness...


Awakening and Ethics

by Colin Drake

‘And He who defines his conduct by ethics imprisons his song-bird in a cage’

--Kahlil Gibran from the chapter on religion in The Prophet.

‘Once The Way is lost then virtue (needs to be cultivated) ,
Virtue lost then compassion, after that morality,
When lost there’s etiquette, the husk of all good faith.’
--Tao Te Ching verse 38.

‘The Way brings forth virtue’ (v.51)
‘Cultivate The Way and your virtue will be genuine’ (v.54)

All religions try to impose a moral code on their followers, some with the aim of preventing them from ‘sinning’ and others as aids to awakening. The religions ‘of the book’ have the ten commandments plus injunctions from the Torah, Jesus and Mohammed. Hinduism has the various rules from the Vedas, plus the Yamas and Niyamas - the ethical precepts set forth in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras as the first and second of the eight limbs of yoga, and various other rules stipulated by the many different sects. Whereas, Buddhism suggests the Noble Eightfold Path as the means to attain Nirvana. Now the writer, philosopher and pillar of the Fourth Estate, Alain de Botton, has just published a set of 10 commandments for virtuous atheists, which are designed to make for a more humane society. His list is as follows:

1. Resilience: Keeping going even when things are looking dark.

2. Empathy: The capacity to connect imaginatively with the sufferings and unique experiences of another person.

3. Patience: We should grow calmer and more forgiving by being more realistic about how things actually happen.

4. Sacrifice: We won't ever manage to raise a family, love someone else or save the planet if we don't keep up with the art of sacrifice.

5. Politeness: Politeness is closely linked to tolerance, -the capacity to live alongside people whom one will never agree with, but at the same time, cannot avoid.

6. Humour: Like anger, humour springs from disappointment, but it is disappointment optimally channelled.

7. Self-awareness: To know oneself is to try not to blame others for one's troubles and moods; to have a sense of what's going on inside oneself, and what actually belongs to the world.

8. Forgiveness: It's recognising that living with others is not possible without excusing errors.

9. Hope: Pessimism is not necessarily deep, nor optimism shallow.

10. Confidence: Confidence is not arrogance - rather, it is based on a constant awareness of how short life is and how little we will ultimately lose from risking everything.1

Whilst this is a very worthy list is it actually possible to develop these attributes by force of will alone? And if one attempts this how does this affect one’s spontaneity and joie de vivre? It seems to me that, while certain rules are obviously necessary to maintain a civilized society, to actually attempt to create the ‘virtuous man’ without some degree of awakening taking place is an impossible task.

This is especially true if one defines oneself as a separate object in a universe of such, for then one tends to treat others as objects (for that is what one thinks they are!), the results of which we can see quite clearly in the world around us. Whereas, if one discovers the constant conscious subjective presence, Pure Awareness, that we all are then this problem vanishes. This is easy to do by directly investigating our moment-to-moment experience, see the appendix, after which we see others as of the same essence as ourselves. This directly leads to treating all alike and greatly enhances our ability to manifest the ‘virtues’:

1. Resilience: Pure Awareness is unaffected by its environment and thus no resilience is required, or you could say resilience comes naturally.

2. Empathy: One can only display true empathy when one sees the other as oneself.

3. Patience: When one is identified with Pure Awareness then there is no separate self to become impatient.

4. Sacrifice: Who is sacrificing what? We are all manifestations of the one Consciousness and thus any thing done for ‘another’ is done for ourselves.

5. Politeness: Politeness is natural as we are not dealing with ‘others’. It is true that most will not share our viewpoint, but this leads to compassion for their unnecessary mental suffering caused by misidentifying themselves as separate objects in a universe of such.

6. Humour: Is natural when the universe is seen to be the play of Consciousness, of which we are expressions acting in the play.

7. Self-awareness: To know that one is Pure Awareness is to be aware of The Self.

8. Forgiveness: Most errors are caused by ignorance (misidentification), or lack of awareness, which is natural as this is the state of the majority of humanity. So when one is identified as Pure Awareness these errors elucidate compassion rather than blaming or judging. In this case no forgiveness is necessary.

9. Hope: When identified with Pure Awareness no hope is required, as This never needs anything to be different…

10. Confidence: When one is identified with The Self then Self-confidence is the outcome, not confidence in the imaginary small limited self but confidence in the true Self – Pure Awareness.

Thus these attributes are the outcomes of awakening, and not the prerequisites for it. This is also true for most of the rules and injunctions that are prescribed by the many different spiritual paths. So I urge you all to awaken, and to remain awake by repeated investigation, when no list of prescribed rules or codes will be necessary. Then your ‘song-bird’ can fly freely for your conduct will not be defined by ethics but by the spontaneity of The Self.

Colin Drake's books are available at http://nonduality.com/colindrake.htm

#4970 - Friday, July 12, 2013 - Editor: Jerry Katz

The Nonduality Highlights http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDhighlights/


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Hiphop and Non Duality

by Ascience Gnown

Hiphop doesn't exist. Show it to me. And please don't point to an album, your iTunes library, a microphone, a website etc. because we don't call that Hiphop. We have names for those things. But what can be named can be identified, it has color, shape, and place in space in reference to another object. So where is the thing that we call Hiphop. Or is it a thing at all? Is it a feeling? An experience? If so what is the experience? What drives us to label things Hiphop or not Hiphop? What is the difference between the two? Afrika Bambaataa says Hiphop is peace, love, unity, and understanding. Well where are those things? Do those qualities exist as tangible objects or are they something more subtle and tacit? All things have a beginning and an end. They have an origin, at least relatively, but did peace, love, unity and understanding have a beginning or have they existed before there was a mind to perceive them? If we entertain the latter then we have to look at what we call Hiphop as something free of coming and going, something that is free of origins and endings, free from conditions, in fact I postulate that Hiphop is freedom from conditions simply because it allows all conditions to exist. It does not fight, it does not reject, it embraces and incorporates. It becomes more whole through allowing whatever arises to arise. It freely samples the world and finds it beautiful.

Out of peace, love, unity and understanding came the elements of Hiphop. The elements are the children of Hiphop. No less Hiphop themselves and not completely Hiphop by themselves they were birthed to teach us about Hiphop and the possibilities of finding peace, love, unity and understanding within, between and as all things. This relationship as nature and manifestation are what give Hiphop the status as nondual. It is the ground out of which the elements arise and it is the end goal for all those that practice it and it is everything in-between no matter how you practice it. Nothing is separate from it no matter how foreign to peace, love, unity and understanding it seems. When Chief Keef and Mos Def create a song they do with the same underlying intention whether they know it or not; to manifest peace, love, unity and understanding. All seeking is seeking the nature of things. The only difference is a matter of knowing, of experiencing Hiphop. When one has experienced Hiphop (and knows it as ones self) then one begins to create with the intention of manifesting the qualities of Hiphop. When one doesn't know it they create with other intentions; money, fame, power, fear, anger. The only difference is in knowing. All spiritual paths know this to be the end goal of all seeking; that they are what they seek and what they fundamentally are is peace, love etc.

So then why do most people associate Hiphop with music and entertainment? Well aside from conditioning, most people don't seek the source of Hiphop when interacting with the elements. They only go deep enough to validate what their ego seeks; to be bigger, to be separate, to be the greatest among all. Some go deeper and utilize the elements to bring about sociopolitical awareness and change. When ones intention becomes focused on these things then the source is missed when the source is the award itself. This is the reason for Hiphop Alive; To begin to see the sacredness of what we call Hiphop and all of its elements so that they can teach us about how we and how all things truly exist. Many believe this line of thinking to be unnecessary, too much, over the top without once questioning their relationship with Hiphop and how deep it could possibly go. You're likely to see comments about this line of thinking that say this is bullshit, that Hiphop began in 1973 with a name. But I urge all that are serious about Hiphop to question the elements and when they began. What were the precursors to the music, art, dance, fashion etc.? These things didn't arise on their own or out of nowhere. They had ancestors and other forms that came before that had the same intention; To awaken self and others to a greater existence that has no origin. They attempted to explain and manifest the unexplainable because it was a nagging sensation. A calling to be more whole and to feel more like a part of the family of things. When we say Hiphop began in the Bronx as a culture birthed from poverty and marginalization what do you think the opposite of those things are? What were they seeking? What is the underlying motivation of someone who is impoverished or doesn't feel like they have a voice? It is to be alive and to proclaim their aliveness to the world. It is to not be silenced. It is to make a noise loud enough that reaches to the depths of self and the universe that says I am here and I am worthy to be here. It is the voice of spirit saying I will not be silenced. I will grow even in the worst of conditions and I will adapt to whatever situation you place me in. The evolution of all things can't be stopped. Spirit cannot be denied because it knows no boundaries. It's sole intention is to know itself through form and to report its findings to the formless in order to find a way to next time manifest even more fully! This is how I experience Hiphop. Every record I dig for is another way of experiencing my own fragmented experience of humanity. Every rhyme I write is another way of working out the kinks of my cognition in order to see more clearly how I and all things exist. Every Graf piece I create is to be free from the lies of conformity to form. Every move of a bboy is to experience space in as many forms as possible. Every element has the goal of freedom through form and is a teacher of the highest of spiritual principles. Ultimately Hiphop leads me to no longer being trapped by knowing. Being a practitioner is a search that helps to me to understand that what I've been taught doesn't withstand the pressure of deep contemplation. Being a practitioner breaks down the barriers between things until I no longer know why I ever thought there were barriers in the first place. When I find no separation, when I find no barriers I find peace because I learn to accept that I am all the things that I have encountered. When I contact Hiphop I contact myself, my truest self. I find that there is no fear because there is nothing threatening my existence. It is too big to be threatened. Hiphop is too big for anything that it encounters to threaten its existence. It eats, digests and metabolizes all experience. There is nothing that can hurt or kill it. I experience this fullness as myself and all things, free from the fear of being eradicated by some outside force that will come and go. When KRS-ONE said "we will be here forever" he was correct. There is nothing that can stop Hiphop because it has always been and will always be here forever. No matter how far from the source those that practice it seems to be Hiphop has remained intact and have never hurt it. They in fact are a part of its evolution, of its self knowing. Without them it would be deceiving itself, lying to prevent knowing that it too evolves and goes through the peaks and valleys of self deception and enlightenment. If it were already fully evolved then there would be no need for growth. Hiphop needs all of the shades of the spectrum of consciousness in order to display all of its facets. To display only those that are close to the source would be to forget that at on point they too were confused about the existence of Hiphop. At some point in time all of us have been confused about what brings us well being, which is fine. We come to know only through trial and error. When we accept that the error is a part of the process and not really an error at all we can begin to appreciate the entire journey and others on it. When we arrogantly dismiss those who are in their process of understanding Hiphop deeply we create self deception and suffering within and between us. This is the fundamental error; not seeing clearly based on assumption and a lack of experience. Not seeing clearly we elevate the under developed to the level of developed and reduce the developed to the underdeveloped. The main practice is to use the elements to see as deeply as possible into how things are, how we truly exist, how others truly exist, how form truly exists, how formless space truly exists, the depth of our values and our interconnectedness. When we utilize the elements in this way there is the hope of manifesting peace, love, unity and understanding. When we use the elements in a neurotic way there is still the hope of manifesting peace, love etc. but the time that it will take, the time that none of us has or is promised is longer. With that way there is only the promise of longer periods of personal, community and global suffering. So practitioners should be urged to utilize the elements as skillful means, to use them as artfully as possible so that in this lifetime there can be benefit to ones self and other beings. No one knows what happens when we die but we do know what happens when love dies in our lives, homes, streets and the world. We know that pain. We see it played out in the entertainment world daily. All of that ongoing suffering is unnecessary. Suffering is a part of the human experience but we do not have to continue to suffer as much. We do not have to live in ignorance of our selves, of our minds, of our neighbors. We can use the elements to awaken to more peaceful and interconnected existence where we support each other on our various paths. This is the way of the bboy bodhisattva, the way of the microphone warrior, the way of the Graf rebel, the way of the DJ dream weaver. This is Hiphop Alive.

- Ascience Gnown

Hiphop Alive: Institute of Consciousness, Education and Integral Art is dedicated to the research and utilization of the elements of Hiphop to foster physical, mental, emotional and spiritual internal and external growth of individuals and the collective. It's underlying mission is for peace, love, unity and understanding to manifest freely among all beings. For more information please contact Ascience Gnown at milesinstitute@...

~ ~ ~

Watch a YouTube video of Jerry Katz rapping a portion of the above text at karaoke:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48aMCMzWdNk

You ask what the crab offers, between its claws of gold,
and I say: The sea will tell you.
You ask what the sea-squirt hopes for in its translucent bell.
What can it hope for?

В 

I say that it waits on its time, as you do.
You question for whom the algal Macrocystis offers its embraces.
Unloose it, unloose it, in a certain ocean, and a certain time, that I know.
Though you turn, for my answer to the NarwhalÂ’s malicious ivory,

В 

I say that you wait for a darker reply,
how the Sea-unicorn suffered the lance.
It may be you question the HalcyonÂ’s plumage, tremoring,
in the pure womb of the southern seas?

В 

Now, on the crystalline house of the polyp you twine
new demands, threshing it to the husk?
You want to know the matter electric, caught on the forks of the deep?
The stalactiteÂ’s armour that extends as crystal?
The spear of the angler-fish, the music stretched-out
in the gulf, like a thread amongst waters?

В 

I say to you that the ocean knows it, the life
of its circlings vast as the sands, pure and innumerable,
and between the red vine-clusters, time has brightened
the stone of the petals, the light of Medusas,
and the branches are threshed in the web of the corals,
from the flowing hornÂ’s infinite nacre.

В 

I am the empty net that hangs,
beyond men, rendered dead by the shadowy waters,
fingers grown used to the triangle, measured
by the shy hemisphere of orange-flowers.

В 

I came, like you, penetrating the interminable starlight,
in the net of the self, in the night, and found naked self,
the sole catch, the fish noosed in the wind.

В 

Alan Larus Photography

poem via Alan Larus

#4973 - Tuesday, July 16, 2013 - Editor: Jerry Katz

The Nonduality Highlights http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDhighlights/


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The Anonymous Life

by Vicki Woodyard

I live what some may think of as an anonymous life. Despite my personal writings, my private life remains just that—private. I don’t do this consciously, though. Forces far bigger than me have this game set up so that if I break the rules, I suffer.

My ego is very concerned about me. It “suggests” that since I have no social life, I should get one. As if it were that simple. But I listen and sure enough, my wee little mind has ideas about how I will die alone in a rented room if I don’t shake a leg and get me a social network.

Breathe with me now. You have to admit that much of your life is arranged by that nefarious little schemer called by your name! I It anoints your head with Italian Dressing so that others can eat it. I jest but you get the picture. We are not in charge of our own lives. I have been going to Tai Chi for a year now. Last summer I spent every Wednesday crying after Tai Chi Tuesday. The chi was so anxious to work itself out of my kinked up system that it threatened to rust my pipes by crying on a weekly basis. But now I am settling down a bit.

I have accepted Wednesday as the day of the week in which I reclaim myself. I wake up with no plans in place. Such a luxury. I may drive to the store but only if the urge overtakes me. What I will probably do is putter. I’ll just wander through the house straightening things like Monk did on the TV show with that name. I like order a lot.

As an introvert I am reclaiming the inner land. I am squatting on Vicki’s territory and she quite likes it. I see to it that she turns off the phone and allows herself lots and lots of time to sit in silence. The ego has had its day. Now that Act III is underway, let’s just hope it gets fewer and fewer parts to play. I am so tired of her emoting from morning till night.

Gentle readers, I hope this rambling rose of an essay offered you no thorny thoughts. And if it did, it’s just the opposites trying to rock the boat a wee bit. Just enough to raise the question, “What feeds me, really?” What is my true mission in life? Mine is unfolding word by word. This is it, folks, as far as I can tell. If I suddenly find myself booking a cruise so I can drink margaritas and sit in the sun, I will send you a postcard saying I was wrong. In the meantime, have some pie. And ask yourself, "What is my true mission?"

~ ~ ~

Vicki Woodyard's book, Life With A Hole In It, can be ordered here.

http://www.amazon.com/LIFE-WITH-HOLE-IN-IT/dp/1609102770/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1348800893&sr=8-1&keywords=life+with+a+hole+in+it


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Dear Friends,

Our retreat in the Sierra's is coming soon! Our Nondual Awareness Community Gathering will now be starting on the evening of September 4th, instead of September 2nd, which is Wednesday, and traveling through Sunday, September 15th. So glad that many of you will be joining us, as we expect many new friends and old friends, returning to another year in the beauty of the Mountain.

All are welcome. This year will be hosting people of all ages, including two small families from abroad, students, musicians, professors and friends from all over the country, travelers, etc....

Please contact Rebecca Smith with your incoming reservations. Thank you everyone who has already completed the reservation process.... and it would be very helpful for anyone else who is still considering attending, to reserve your space a few weeks/month ahead of time with Rebecca. These reservations make life much easier for the Staff and Board of Far Horizons Retreat Center, who will need to aptly prepare for our visit and have proper estimations for the lodging and food accomodations.

Rebecca's number is...... 619-807-9113. You can catch her any day of the week within normal working hours (Pacific Time) up in the Mountain office.

My contact number is.....443-465-0091, if you have any lingering questions about the content of the retreat, or you need information about transportation and directions. I am available on this line.

The lodging availability is here: http://farhorizons.org/reservations/lodging/

The pricing list too is here online: http://farhorizons.org/reservations/prices/

You may also want to check the packing list on the Far Horizons website, which carries some very good advice for life at Seven-Thousand Feet in the Sierra Mountains. Such concerns as sunscreen and hiking boots and all the little knicknacks that you may forget are listed on their website!!!

Erika and I are very excited to share in this communal Un-knowing,

never before as it is.

With love and warmth,
Brendan Smith


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Anamika

Found this quote again, hidden in the book from Leo Hartong, Awakening to the Dream, which i gave to a friend today. It came tumbling down, as if summoned by a thought i had a few days before.... where is this postcard with this beaufitul quote from Kafka....:

Remain sitting at your table and listen.
Do not even listen, simply wait.
Do not even wait, be quite still and solitary.
The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked;
It has no choice;
It will roll in ecstacy at your feet.

Franz Kafka

#4974 - Wednesday, July 17, 2013 - Editor: Jerry Katz

The Nonduality Highlights http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDhighlights/


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Here are some recent postings from Facebook:


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Susan Kahn

I can't even tell you how many times people come into my therapy office feeling dreadful and haven't a clue as to what is really driving their feelings. When the root conditions that create difficult emotions are not understood, they will hold you prisoner.

If you want to say that thought is all an illusion, know that that too is a thought and that one cannot be free by trying to avoid all thinking. Withdrawal and denial are not the answers. Misunderstanding and misconception need to be addressed with such penetrating insight, that one cannot be fooled anymore.


-----------------------------------------


Isaac Shapiro

A friend today mentioned this idea of "You choose your suffering"

Don't know anyone who wakes up in the morning and says lets see how much I can suffer today.

Seems to me that suffering occurs because of automatic unconscious habits and that no one does it consciously.

The idea that You choose it, is a double wammy, which brings up blame, shame and guilt which I have not found useful in exploring and bringing unconscious habits to consciousness


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Laura Caitlin Burke

"People think that by showing anger they are expressing their emotions. But that is not what it means to be emotional. Anger is a defense mechanism that protects the emotional part of us. The sensitive part of us is our emotional realm, the part that feels the truth about what’s around us. But we’ll show anger before we’ll show that true part of ourselves because we have learned to be embarrassed by it. We’ll get angry because that’s accepted. Sadly, some people even think it is respected. But we won’t show our true emotions, our vulnerability and sensitivity, because that is not accepted. So we have learned to replace those things with anger." - Nehiyawak elder Mary Lee


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Jac O' Keeffe

"As soon as you notice you are in the story, look at what attracted your attention into the movie that is 'all about you'. What is the juice that gets you back into story? Recognising that hook is more useful even than pulling back to observer. Find out if the juice is good enough and let it all mature so that the juice is not good enough. Then the only thing left is to go within and find out what was always there - Truth."

#4976 - Friday, July 19, 2013 - Editor: Jerry Katz

The Nonduality Highlights http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDhighlights/


_______________________________________


A thread on the Nonduality Highlights group on Facebook, which all are welcome to join:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/NondualityHighlights/


Jerry Katz

It's beautiful when things fall apart.

Galen Sharp

That reminds me of the name of the excellent biography of Terence
Gray - "Only by Failure." For those of us who know only his books, this is about his life before he wrote his wonderful books.

Greg Allen Morgoglione

The boundless potential resulting from the perfectly incomplete nature of the canvas of life is complete and whole...

Amrita Nadi

It is raining outside of my cave and the hibiscus seems happy.

Jan Barendrecht

What the Bhagavad Gita and the New Testament have in common is
an ambiance of war. No time is a better time for things to fall apart as
wartime, and this time mankind also is involved in a war against the proverbial Gaia. Even those uninitiated in the art of falling apart soon will see signs on the wall, in the sky and on the waters - or where they once were

Anamika Borst

Every appearance is inevitably on the way towards its demise. The newborn baby carries the unavoidable truth that it will die. A mountain is likewise continuously on the way to changing its appearance. Centuries from now
erosion will have carried away large chunks of this seemingly solid and
unchanging appearance in the landscape.

This knowledge of destruction, annihilation and falling apart is something when not resisted and judged carries an incredible beauty. Its a feature from the Source, from Emptiness itself and something which we often prefer to ignore, or avoid.

But when we take in this ravaging characteristic of the infinite, we are able to see the raw, awesome and often exhilarating power. Breath taking after natural disasters. After tsunamis or cyclone when all the world has changed appearance beyond recognition one feels awestruck...

At any moment the process of falling apart of dying, of returning to Source, can evoke feelings of wonder, of tenderness, of sadness and grief. Any emotion might turn up witnessing this natural process of returning to Source.

Just happening..

#4979 - Tuesday, July 22, 2013 - Editor: Jerry Katz

The Nonduality Highlights http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDhighlights/


_______________________________________________________


I found a lot of stuff to post.

_______________________________________________________


Jake Shimabukuro ReImagining Judy Garland's "Somewhere Over The Rainbow"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln8zyW-2-Eo


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http://www.speakingtree.in/public/spiritual-blogs/seekers/wellness/nonduality-buzz

Nonduality Buzz

By: Sally Ross on Jul 22, 2013

Dear Friends,

Last week I was invited to participate as a speaker at an event focused on the subject of "Nonduality."
It turned out to be a very BUSY experience! Lots of talking!!!!!!!! When my time came I spoke about the Size of the Universe, pointed to the importance of Just Sitting meditation as a way of confirming this Immensity and also sat quietly with the group for awhile.

It seems the event organizer wasn't very happy with my contribution to the event. He has already invited me back next year, but only if I can agree to structure the presentation in a different way. Otherwise, he writes, he will have to begin looking for another nondual meditator to fill the spot I held on the program.

(Suddenly, I notice what it must feel like to be a lab rat...)

Then he follows up by telling me I should read Krishnamurti or The Heart Sutra so I can know that "it is all right here right now... meditation is practicing for the future." Hmm, sounds like someone's trying really hard to convince me of something, eh?

Anyhow, I thought my response might be of value to some. Here I offer it.

With love,
Sally

* * *

There is no such thing as a "nondual meditator."
This concept is a lie.

I could never call myself a nondual meditator, nor any other kind of meditator. I just meditate. That is, I simply sit, every day, without labeling myself or others—without saying something about what Reality is. This is what "practice" means. In the end, it's the only thing that matters to me. If I do not meditate, all my talk, philosophies, writings, studies etc. have no intrinsic, authentic value. In that case they are just regurgitated concepts that somebody else invented or wrote down.

The real work is the confirmation, in silence, of what all the great saints and sages have been pointing to. This encouragement is what I share with those whose hearts are open to listening, and I urge them to check it out and see for themselves. In each one of us, ultimately "I" can be the only legitimate authority regarding what "I" actually is.

The most important thing I can ever read is my own Being, and then the infinite size of this reveals its ongoing expansion and availability. Otherwise, I'll never become familiar with the True Nature of what it is that's sitting on my chair or cushion. I'll never recognize the immensity, boundlessness and all-inclusiveness of the Moment exactly the way it is—the way it already always has been, without something added. I'll never just be naturally myself. I'll never truly love what I am.

To learn to be quiet inside, allowing the Entire Cosmos to effortlessly express Itself, takes practice. To stop "interfering" by getting mentally involved in concepts requires perseverance, patience and great humility. This is called Abidance, and through it eventually one intimately accords with the source of all Knowledge. Before anything is said, Self-Knowledge is complete, if one is willing to look in stillness.

The fruits of earnest, committed Practice spill over into every aspect of a person's life.

Those who are not inclined to meditate will not comprehend what I am speaking of.


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God in Relation to the Non Dual Understanding, with Rupert Spira:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha_KFQxvGbQ

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Terry Choyce sends this by way of Mandee, part of the Nova Scotia gang:

MUTUALLY ARISING

By Judith Froemming

"So, when is the leaf not part of the tree?
When are you not a part of me?
...

When is the day not the night?
When is the wrong not the right?
When is my question not my answer?
When is my stillness not my dancer?
When is my end not my beginning?
When is my living not my dying?
The figure and the ground
are inseparable,
interdependent,
mutually arising.
Only when reality is non-dual
can I know the Way."


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Berit Ellingsen http://beritellingsen.com/

Found some New York society web pages and felt like an anthropologist studying a strange and foreign tribe.

Why do we think having more of something, money, fame, or things, makes someone better or more worth listening to. I don't get it at all.

The beliefs and assumptions of the social ape are incomprehensible.


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From the Nonduality Highlights Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/NondualityHighlights/

Jerry Katz

I really feel that -- thanks to Facebook, the length of time that popular nonduality has been around, the advent of in-person get togethers, and the ease with which people are talking about nonduality -- that it's time for a talk radio type of show that people can listen to and be part of, as long as it is fun, informative, open, interesting, and available worldwide over the internet. Wuddayathink?
Like · · Unfollow Post · Share · Sunday at 10:10am
Liesbeth van Woerden, Fernando Rozas, Nancy Hodge Long and 15 others like this.

Yaakov Litman I agree.
Sunday at 10:11am via mobile · Like · 1

Jerry Katz We have a listener!
Sunday at 10:12am · Like · 2

Dunc Marshall Do it! Reminds me of urbanguru cafe. That was amazing and certainly helped my understanding to increase and self-obsession to reduce. I, for one, would tune in!!!
Sunday at 10:15am via mobile · Like · 1

Jerry Katz Urban Guru Cafe was/is classic. My sense is that we are ready for something more live and in the moment. Thanks for you interest.
Sunday at 10:19am · Like · 1

Farski Doodle Make that two listeners!
Sunday at 10:25am · Like · 1

Jerry Katz Thank you. Well I've conducted a number of interviews, over 50, and what interests me now is the live dialogue. Just a matter of setting up the technical infrastructure. I've done a radio show before though much of it was recorded material. However the live shows we did always felt energized.
Sunday at 10:28am · Like · 2

Pete Sierra What a great idea! With you at the helm it will be radioactive. Listeners will lose weight, and their hair. We all will look like Greg Goode.
Sunday at 11:25am · Like · 2

Jerry Katz We already do.
Sunday at 11:29am · Like · 1

Kathleen Bodi I liked the hip-hop you did. Non-dual poetry slam would be pretty sweet.
Sunday at 2:08pm · Unlike · 2

Howard Peck Terrific idea!
Sunday at 4:32pm via mobile · Unlike · 2

Roger Mahaffey I'd listen
Sunday at 5:37pm via mobile · Unlike · 2

Leo Drioli Yes! Please ...
Sunday at 7:43pm · Unlike · 2

Andrew Hall I agree Jerry. Live shows usually have a great energy that taped stuff finds hard to deliver! But good luck finding a time that works for you and the rest of us.
Yesterday at 8:04am via mobile · Like · 1

Nancy Hodge Long Yes, Yes, Yes
Yesterday at 9:50am · Like · 1

Jerry Katz Thank you all for your interest.
12 hours ago · Like · 2

Pete Sierra Our worthless media/Nondual Royal babies wanted. We are afflicted with a media that wastes hundreds
of air hrs in inanities and sadistic news. It covers at nauseam celebrities, royal weddings and babies, high profiles
murders, and disasters. Few things constructive get ever mentioned even in passing.
Jerry is right we need Nonduality radio, TV, and maybe street clowns too. ;))
about an hour ago · Like

Andrew Hall True, ain't much news in the news anymore.. what's that word .. infotainment..fancy way of saying celebrity gossip.
3 minutes ago · Like

Jerry Katz Yes there's room for a new kind of media. It could be made of many small radio and tv stations, not centralized in any way, with the only thing in common being this perspective of nonduality or awareness. The contributors and audience are in place. Here we are. Just a matter of making it worth everyone's while to be part of it.
a few seconds ago · Like