The Seer

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There is what I call “an essential experience”, a moment in which there is a shift in consciousness. And it is essential because until that moment, all talk of being “true” or “vigilant” or “telling the truth” is abstract — like something you would learn in class. None of this can have concrete meaning in your life until you have had this experience.

With this shift in consciousness, what was not known is suddenly seen. And this recognition is the luck of a lifetime. It is a blessing of a lifetime. It is grace coming out. The grace that was covered comes out in that moment.

That recognition is the beginning. It may be the end of misidentification. It can be the end. But with most ordinary human beings, it is the beginning. We are so addicted to the powers of mind, that what usually occurs right after that experience is a thought: “How do I keep it?” or “It couldn’t be that simple” or “I will never lose that”.

Whatever the thought, it is followed by another thought. And eventually, the thoughts lead to: “Well, what happened? Did it happen? Was it real?” Then there is the sense of being “lost”. And the searching begins again — the outward search. Or, there is the thought, “I remember what I did. I faced my emotion. I went into my fear. I’ll do that now and get it back. I’ll get it back again.”

This is the same search, but now you are using an inward motion to go outward. It becomes an exercise, a process, something to do to get what you are. And maybe it seems to work half a dozen times. But it gets stale because it is based on a lie: you are still attempting to get what you are. You can’t “get” what you are. Is that clear?

You cannot get what you are. To get something, there has to be “you” and “it”. And you reach and you “get” it. How do you get what you are? Where are you going to reach? And you can’t “understand” who you are. You can read the words “I am Truth, I am consciousness” and that can feel good. You can vibrate with that. You can chant that. It feels good. You can pray for it. You can read about great saints and sages. It feels good, it is helpful, and there is nothing wrong with any of it.

But finally, there has to be a willingness to be who you are. And for most people, that is absolutely terrifying. Because what most people suspect they are is the worst thing imaginable: a creature of imperfection and lack and ugliness and stupidity. Even if there is a cover of superior knowledge or accomplishment, under that is the belief that you are this gnarled, ugly, irredeemable, lost soul separate from God. Right? You have to know this.

~ spoken by Gangaji, at a public meeting in Sydney, Australia, Nov. 2005. To read the rest of this transcript, >nonlinear distortionClick Here

To find Gangaji DVD groups in Australia, >Click Here

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If you sit quietly noticing that awareness is always present it is very easy to see that for this to be the case there is absolutely nothing that the mind needs to do. Similarly there is no problem that the mind needs to solve to recognize this deeper level of awareness, as this very awareness is never absent being the constant conscious presence in which all thoughts and sensations appear. For without this presence we would not be aware of any thought or sensation.

Now the mind is basically a problem solving device, so when it realizes that there is nothing it needs to do, and no problem that it needs to solve, it naturally quietens leaving the cloudless sky of awareness in its full glory. Provided one has the intent of identifying with this deeper level of awareness, then thoughts and sensations appear as clouds in this sky, which come and go leaving the sky unaffected. In this context the mind will not follow, or identify with, these clouds as the task it has set itself to perform is to identify with awareness itself.

The mind is akin to an ‘onboard computer’ which is a wonderful tool for problem-solving, information storing retrieval and processing, and evaluating the data provided by our senses. However when it is not ‘engaged’ it tends to search for other problems to solve, and if these are not available in the present moment it tends to speculate in the future, wallow in the past, or imagine in the present, creating non-existent problems which it then tries to solve!

Whereas a computer will just sit idle until it is given a task to perform, so to put the mind into this same ‘idle’ state one has to ‘engage’ it in a task thus disabling its ‘search’ tendency. If it turns out that this task entails no problem to solve the mind will not resume searching as long as it remains totally engaged in the task it has been set, and if this entails ‘nothing to do’ then the mind will ‘do nothing’!

In this mode thoughts and sensations come and go effortlessly without luring the mind to follow, or identifying with, them. This is why committing, or having the intent, to identifying with the deeper level of our being, pure awareness, is so important; for this sets the ‘milieu’ in which the mind is to operate.

This in turn leads to the realization that for this identification there is truly nothing the mind has to do, or problem to solve, as awareness is obviously already here and is a constant presence (the perceiver) whilst thoughts and sensations are just ephemeral objects (the perceived).

At this moment you can totally relax letting go of all striving, seeking, desiring and longing; in fact of all effort. As this relaxation deepens, and the mind quietens, one becomes totally open to further revelations stemming from the recognition that one is pure awareness.

For this reason the intent to identify with the deepest level of our being, pure awareness, and the realization that for this there is truly nothing the mind needs to do, or problem it has to solve, is of great value in going totally beyond identification with the surface level of thoughts and sensations.

This total relaxation and letting go then effortlessly leads to merging with awareness itself, with all the peace and bliss that this entails. For in this state there is truly ‘no mind’, as the mind is still due to the fact that it has nothing to do, and no problem to solve; and thoughts and sensations are merely witnessed as they spontaneously arise and subside, without re-activating the mind.

~ by Colin Drake, in the May NOWletter Ed. Alan Mann

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“The dusky darkness spread like the network of a great tree. In an elm the thrush was singing. He was so hidden and one with the bushy twigs that I could only see him by his tail which twitched when his song altered. Everything else was motionless except a broken twig which stirred and swung by a strip of bark. As I went along I made an effort to climb out and get into these things — into the mysterious darkening and sealing of the earth, the quietening that is as the loveliest psalm of rest. And at last I did. I stood leaning on a gate. I was behind the sky. I was in the ground. I was in the space between the trees. My meaning grew in the earth and the firmament — I in the Nothing in which all is related.”

~ From: The Autobiography of Margiad Evans, (The Winter Journal, p39), Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 1943

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O Wondrous Self! O Sphere of Light,
O Sphere of Joy most fair;
O Act, O Power infinite;
O Subtle, and unbounded Air!
O Living Orb of Sight!
Thou which within me art, yet Me! Thou Ey,
And Temple of his Whole Infinitie!
O what a World art Thou! a World within!

All Things appear,
All Objects are
Alive in thee! Supersubstancial, Rare,
Abov them selvs, and nigh of Kin
To those pure Things we find In his Great Mind
Who made the World! tho now Ecclypsed by Sin.
There they are Useful and Divine,
Exalted there they ought to Shine.

~ From: My Spirit, by Thomas Traherne

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Chuck Hillig is a modern spiritual teacher, author and licensed psychotherapist whose clarity of expression has earned him the admiration and praise of many notable writers and lecturers in this area.

Chuck writes personally and directly about the essence of non-dual spirituality and presents its astonishing truths to the average reader in ways that are totally unique, completely accessible and absolutely life-changing.

If you’d like to see a creative little video on non-duality, the producers of the Leap! movie have put up an animated video of Chuck’s first book, Enlightenment for Beginners, on youtube. It’s called The Meaning of Life in 13 Minutes.

It’s well worth checking itt, but be SURE to see both parts. Part 1: is HERE and Part 2: is HERE

BTW, Chuck also recommends the … Science and Nonduality Conference, coming up in October 23-25, 2009, at the Marin Convention Center, San Rafael, California. More info from the Conference Web Site

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Home-based Awareness gatherings can help us to discover new ways to live an awakened life in the 21st century in the light of “Who” or “What” we really are beyond our outward appearances. Susan Easton Burns writes:

“I realize that I have been addicted to everything. I feel like my ego is very smart and tricky, and can change its obsession and addiction at any time. I have gone from being addicted to people, work, situations, food, feelings, to power etc. After reading and learning about the present moment, my life has slowed down a lot. I think I have been looking for a way to get back into my body, and always looked for the answers outside of me. My body always tells the truth. There is more time in my day now for meditation and breathing. There seems to be a big open space inside of me now, and my temptation is to fill that space with doing or feeling or anything, because the big open space is a little scary.

This is the most connected I have ever felt to absolutely everything. At any given moment in time, I can feel connected to anyone or anything, but not obsessed with these people, things or situations. I have noticed that I am a much better listener. In that big open space, I am more connected to all of the things I was obsessed with, but there is no more panic in my relationship with those things or situations. I still, from time to time, have anxious feelings but now I use the anxiety as a reminder for me to come back into my body and be present. What a positive difference today!”

There is a very very good except from one of Eckhart’s talks about Enlightenment on YouTube >HERE

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A leading banker had an urgent need to speak to his wife. He rang home and the maid answered. “Get me my wife — it’s important!”

“I’m sorry sir, she can’t come to the phone.” “Get her; I must speak to her.” “I’m sorry, she’s unavailable.”

“It’s urgent. Why can’t she come to the phone?”

“She’s upstairs, sir, in bed with … well, I assumed it was you, sir.”

“That does it.” The banker exploded, “Go to my study, in the top right-hand drawer of my desk is a loaded gun. Shoot them both dead!”

“I can’t do that sir!” “If you change your mind, there’s a $300,000 penthouse for you at Surfers’ Paradise and a $100,000 cash bonus.”

Pause.

“Will you hold on sir?”

Three minutes’ silence, then two shots.

“Are you there sir?”

“Are they both dead?”

“Well, you’re wife is definitely dead, sir, and I think that the gentleman would have expired by now. He was bleeding profusely as he stumbled downstairs, crashed through the French-windows, staggered out onto the patio and fell face-down in the swimming pool.”

“FRENCH-WINDOWS? PATIO? SWIMMING POOL? IS THAT 9889 0678?”

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The idea that there is something more that needs to be seen or known in the future before you can be free or enlightened is fuel for the spiritual search. The search is not the answer. It’s the problem. The search arises from a misperception that you are not already there.

But where is ‘there’? What is it? The most the mind can do is come up with a concept to put in place of the word ‘there.’ It believes that it must reach something called freedom, enlightenment, presence, love, awareness, Oneness, contentment or ‘the end of the search.’ Each of those is merely a concept.

Like a hamster on a wheel, the mind is chasing its own concepts. The search is perpetuated when concepts are taken to be real and are not seen for what they really are — tempoorary forms arising and falling in the space of now. What is being pointed to here is not conceptual. It is the recognition that who you are is inseparable from this space. You are, at the deepest level, the space in which everything arises and falls.

Confirming that you are this space reveals what is being pointed to with words like ‘enlightenment,’ and ‘presence.’ Realize that what you have been seeking is what you already are. No matter what idea you have of yourself in the future, see that it is only an image arising in the space of now.

~ by Scott Kiloby

To hear Scott talking about ‘concepts’ on YouTube, >Click Here

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As I was watching the Eckhart Tolle and Oprah “A New Earth” Webinar last year, a tip that Eckhart gave really caught my attention. The tip was: when the phone rings, before picking it up take one conscious breath.

Remember, one conscious breath is a meditation.

This tip really resonated with me because I was answering the phone several times per day for my business, on both land lines and my cell phone. It made such great sense to use the ringing phone as a tool for triggering a conscious breath, so I really put energy into creating a habit out of this.

I had a lot of conditioning around answering the phone, so the start of this particular practice was a little tough going.

The first obstacle I faced was the fact that I have been conditioned for many years to pick up the phone immediately. When I was working in the corporate world, the customer service mandate was to answer the phone by the second ring. I actually answered the phone 95% of the time on the first ring. Occasionally, people would ask if the phone rang on my side of the line because on their side my line had not begun to ring.

The other obstacle was the conditioning at home and with my cell. The first thing I would do is look at the caller ID feature and quickly decide whether or not I was going to answer.

It was tough to break the habit of unconsciously picking up the phone. It really took concentrated effort to penetrate the conditioning of my habit and take that one conscious breath. I stuck with it though because I knew that I would have the phone ring many times throughout the day and this would work as a trigger for “waking” up.

After stumbling a bit for the first week, I did get pretty good at taking that one breath. Even if I only waited for the second ring before picking up, I still found I had time to take one breath before the third ring sounded.

If you’re not required to pick up the phone by the second ring, then you should have plenty of time to take a breath or two before picking up on the fourth or fifth ring.

If you are planning to use the ring of the phone as a practice here are a few tips:

1. If you decide to try this technique, then really commit to the practice. I can almost guarantee that you will experience some difficulty when you first get going. You do have a conditioned way of answering the phone right now and it will take conscious effort to break through that conditioning. If you commit to this practice, you will have a better shot at generating some consistent results

2. If you experience difficulty mastering this practice, then be on the lookout for critical thoughts about your failures. The ego loves to complain about your failures, even though it may be the very cause, and letting the ego feed on a second helping of negative energy will not help your intention to take one conscious breath. This practice will be a great opportunity to practice acceptance, the first step of awakened doing that we discussed in our recent podcast.

3. Have fun. Laugh at yourself when you become aware of how silly you must look running through the house to catch the phone before that last ring. Not only will you be missing an opportunity to take a conscious breath, but you probably look a little funny with your frantic pace.

Oh, I have to go. The phone is ringing!

~ by Greg Larsen

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“I am not suggesting that light is God, but that light may be the first manifestation of the underlying ground of all existence, the subtlest level of creation, the closest we can come to that which lies beyond all form. In the realm of conscious experience, the pure self — the inner light that lies behind the countless forms arising in the mind — is where we touch the divine. This explains why many of those who have explored deep within and discovered their true nature have made one of the most contentious and confusing of all mystical claims — the assertion that ‘I am God.’”

~ From: From Science to God, by Peter Russell