The Seer

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In Enlightenment, does duality dissolve? Some spiritual teachings would tell us that the full state of enlightenment is to be beyond the perception of duality completely, that there is only the experience of oneness or ‘unity consciousness’.

In my opinion this is not enlightenment. Although we might realise that multiplicity of form within the relative universe is an illusion and experience oneness, to me, enlightenment is being able hold the apparent duality of being the absolute and a finite expression of the absolute SIMULTANEOUSLY in every moment …

In other words the absolute is expressed uniquely through each of us. We experience the eternal unchanging nature of existence which cannot be effected by the illusionary phenominal world and yet we can be deeply engrossed in all the feelings of being human without attachment:

True enlightenment (as far as Openhand is concerned) is to be able to experience the all of it, pain, pleasure, joy, love, fear etc. etc. and yet be attached or identified with none of it.

Many spiritual teachings speak of none duality between that which is experiencing and that which is experienced. However there is still a sense of duality (even if illusionary) because the absolute is expressed in a unique way through us. So for example we still feel pain even though the pain is an illusion:

Continually seeking the empty clarity of oneness, may cause us to think we have not reached it when there is still thought and feeling of the separated self happening. In truth the two exist side by side. When we stop seeking absoluteness, the witnesser within us dissolves and we truly experience being at one with everything – the duality dissolves.

However this is far from the end of the story. Every master who has reached this state of enlightenment can still be identified by a consistency in their action. The consistent action builds an identity – but not within themselves. Rather others observe their consistent action – this is the action of the true self – a unique and authentic expression of the absolute expressed spontaneously in the moment.

In my truth, experience of the absolute is not possible without the perceived separation of the true self (unique for each of us), for if relativity ceases there can be no experience at all.

Therefore long live the apparent experience of duality!

by Chris Bourne author of Gateways of Light

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“A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep.”

~ by Saul Bellow

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An actual guru sent out the following injuction to his devotees: “Lay on the earth naked and say yes to the earth as if the earth is your Mother — it is; take a Sunbath and say yes — not verbally I mean but existentially. Be in the mood of yes — receive the Sun , welcome the Sun and the sand and the texture of the sand , and the coolness of the wind, welcome all these gifts of God that go on showering on you …”On hearing this, one devotee remarked to her friend, “If I was lying on the earth as if it were my mother, and totally starkers, no matter what I was saying to her, I know she would be saying to me … “What are you lying there like that for? … making a spectacle of yourself, who do you think you are? What will the neighbors say?

And look at you, lying there in the full Sun without a stitch on and no sun-block … haven’t you got any sense … do you want to end up with skin-cancer? Well, I’m tellin’ you, that’s the quickest way to get it, then you’ll come cryin’ to me and what will I be able to do? Not a damn thing! Your stupidity will be the death of me too.

Get inside straight away and put something decent on, and while you’re there, you can do something useful and clean up your room for a change. And don’t give me any back-chat, I don’t care if the Man-in-the-Moon told you to do it, just get inside and put something on, NOW!”

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There are no fates, factors, or forces outside the First Person that I am, working against me. Even the “nastiest” things that happen to me as third person are in reality my profound intention as First Person.So I say YES! to life, and this is the true therapy.

The solution to a problem, no matter what it is, is to see whose it is. Not to understand or feel or think who has the problem, but actually to gaze on that WHO and await what comes of the gazing.

This seeing and this waiting you can always do, whatever your need. The rest is out of your hands. See what happens, and trust it.

Trust Who you are to come up with the right answer at the right time.

From: Open to the Source, by Douglas Harding.

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The dream analogy has always appealed to me as a meaningful explanation of this so-called ‘life’ of mine. Of course, as far as pointing towards one’s true nature, there is nothing like actually pointing and looking, but the dream analogy confirms what I see when I See, and helps break the ties to deeply conditioned beliefs.

It goes something like this : When I dream I experience a world that is ‘real’ to my dream personage. In this dream world there appears a myriad of phenomena – houses, cars, people, animals, mountains, lakes, clouds – in a seemingly infinite variety of scenes, many of them arising randomly, but some involving a dream past and a dream future, not to mention frequent examples of bizarre (but believed !) dream reasoning.

I experience desire and fear, joy and sadness, pride and guilt. I see, hear, small, touch, and taste in a dream as I would in the waking state.

And yet when I awaken I know it was ‘all a dream’ – I know that every object and every event occurred only in my ‘mind’, that somehow during the night I had created an amazingly credible world of space and time containing all manner of phenomena. And I have no idea how I did it.

Perhaps an even better analogy was that proffered by the great Indian sage Ramana Maharshi. When asked to describe the nature of reality, the Maharshi likened it to a motion picture show. The Self (Awareness) is like the screen, he said, ‘life’ is the show.

You watch the show and see it as real, and yet when it ends you know it was ‘just a show’. No matter how many bullets fly, regardless of the dilemmas and tragedies and all the drama of the film, the background on which it appears remains unscathed – there are no bullet holes in the
screen. (continued …)

To read the rest of this article by J C Amberchele, >Click Here

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The objection, that the view held by awakened people — that each of us is in truth the Dreamer, not the dream-character, is fatalistic and erodes the will to initiative is an unfounded one; for the awareness that one’s own consciousness is the divine Consciousness of the universe does nothing to limit initiative.

Indeed, it enables one to act from a clearer and more considered awareness of what is correct action and what is not, what stems from the illusory ego, and what stems from a divine will for the greater good of all.

“Free will” is nothing but the will of God freed of the passions and impulses arising from the false ego. The so-called “free will” of the murderer or thief is not a “free” will at all, but one that is constricted and obscured by the false sense of ego, and its attendant desires.

From: History of Mysticism, by S. Abhayananda (pp201) eBook available as a free download >Here.

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“In the interest of peace, perhaps it is time to take an honest look at what you consider to be “problems” in your life. In order to even reflect on a problem, you will see that first you have to go into memories of the past to generate a story of the supposed problem. This is a moment of choice, and this choice is present in every moment of your life.”

~ by Gangaji

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The professor asked a girl in his physiology class: “What part of the human body expands to ten times its normal size under an emotional impact?”

Blushing, the girl said: “I’d rather not answer that”.

On questioning the boy next to her. He promptly replied: “The pupil of the eye, Sir”.

The professor turned to the girl and said: “Your confusion shows that you are not familiar with your work, that you have a wandering mind and that you will be extremely disappointed.”