The Seer

Healing wounds is appropriate. There is treatment for all wounds, and wounds that can be tended are to be tended.

The problem only arises when truth itself is sought through healing. While the emotional, physical, or mental wounding is addressed, that which by its nature is whole, pure, free, and at peace goes overlooked.

Truth is already here, regardless of the state of your body, your emotions, your mind, or your circumstances.

I invite you for just this moment to stop searching for relief from suffering. The invitation is neither to become oblivious to suffering, nor to give up in despair. It is an invitation to stop searching for something to rescue you from yourself.

From: The Diamond In Your Pocket, by Gangaji

The real issue here is how to win over anya. Anya in Sanskrit means the tendency of proliferating otherness. We are disturbed only because of this anya, this otherness. Wherever otherness comes it interacts (reacts) with the ‘I’ in us, affecting our balance. If the ‘other’ is not there, our ‘I’ has nothing to fight with. The cancellation of the ‘other’ and the ego brings peace.

And how can we cancel out the effect of the ‘other’? The ‘I’ and the ‘other’ must be unified. By knowing that what constitutes the ‘I’ is the same reality as that which constitutes the ‘other’ brings unification. We can also know that this ‘I’ is a fantasized modification of consciousness and the ‘other’ is a fantasized projection of consciousness. Both are false. Once we know (or see) that neither the ‘I’ nor the ‘other’ exist, there is no trouble. But it is not as easy as it sounds.

The ultimate thing is to become saumya, which means finding the quietness within you. It is by attaining sama, sameness, that you become quiet inside. This is to be cultivated throughout. Each day begins a new series of encounters. Each encounter is to be taken as a challenge to reestablish your inner serenity, inner quietness, inner sense of sameness through an act of adoration, an attitude of worship and a sense of the sublime.

There is no need for you to win all the time. Your greater victory lies in your acceptance of defeat, allowing the other to win. You may be in an argument. What does it matter if you win or not? Give the other person the chance to win. Even if he uses some falsehood, when you allow him to win he rethinks the situation. In his heart of hearts he knows he did not deserve the victory. He knows the truth of your silence. You do not become egoistic and you don’t make the other person egoistic either. It will chastise him as well as purify him.

Thus, through the cultivation of silence, sameness and serenity, you come to a unitive understanding from within. This brings peace and harmony. Where there is peace and harmony, love spontaneously comes. When you give yourself into the hands of grace, the hands of the Divine, things which are difficult to attain become abundantly possible. Then you can say you have attained the discrimination of the unbroken, by which every ‘this’ is brought under the spell of the universal sameness.

From Atmopadesa Satakam Vs 37, by Narayana & Nitya Chaitanya Yati, in Gurukulam magazine, Spring 2009.

“Spiritual awakening is akin to unraveling a ball of yarn. The steadfast seeker unwinds layer upon layer, down to the inner core. Where substance was once contained, Nothing remains when the ball is completely unwound. Does not Nothing exist without the yarn?”

~ Richard Rose

Timothy Freke has just given a fantastic interview about oneness, gnosticism and lucid living on the fab Urban Guru Cafe site, which you can listen to for free by >>>Clicking Here

Gnosticism, as such, is only a few years older than Christianity but its origins, or the origins of its material, are lost in time. No one knows the exact origins of Gnosticism – Yet what it is all about is just that knowing that is present with you right now.

Tim is the international best selling co-author of The Jesus Mysteries. He gives his views on non-duality and integrating the sense of separation. The interview is presented in three parts. It’s really very good!

Check out Tim’s quirky website: HERE.

Ana Paula: I live in Mexico City, I am married and have a 5 month-old baby boy. I came across the book “On Having No Head” about 2 weeks ago at a local bookstore. Although the book was originally published in the 60’s or 70’s, I figured I might find further information on the Internet and I did in fact. I found your website and found it very interesting. Ever since I was a small child I’ve been looking for God, if I may put it that way. And that seach became even more urgent since my son was born; in fact I want to set a good example for him, I wouldn’t want him to squander his life pursuing things which eventually prove to be empty and worthless.

Actually, I wouldn’t want that to happen to me either. I started mediatating a few years ago and as someone wrote on one of the articles on your site, enlightenment seemed to me like a very distant, most likely impossible to reach goal, to be found only at the end of a lifelong seach. That’s why I found the content of Douglas Harding’s book so compelling. I’ve tried some of the experiments, particularly the one where one points at the empty space that one usually calls “my head”.

What I felt was something I had never experienced before, I felt everything to be closer than usual, like all the outside world was inside me, and most importantly, I started to feel like maybe this “being” that is looking at the world through this endless window is not Ana Paula, this particular woman, with a particular life story, but something else, something deeper and quieter. I guess I can’t explain it very well. But, as different as that experience was from anything I had ever felt, I still have questions as to whether I’m on the right path.

For, as compelling as it was, it wasn’t as wonderful as the descriptions I’ve read both by Douglas Harding and you. So does this mean, I’ve “botched” the experiments? Am I missing something? Are these findings something that grow stronger and deeper with practice? I apologize if my questions seem a little inept, it’s just that sometimes I get so eager… eager to reach that goal I mentioned before. I don’t think it’s a solely ego-based thing, I really want to “find God” for lack of a better expression, and sometimes I’m afraid I’ll miss my chance in this lifetime. I would really appreciate it if you could shed some light on all the doubts I’ve been having.

Richard Lang: You have not “botched” the experiments. You have got it perfectly right. Like you, when I point at the place where others see my face, I find this endless “space”. And everything is in this space. As you say, this feels as though everything is closer, as if the outside world is inside. Exactly. And what is looking isn’t a person, but as you say, “something” deeper and quieter.

This is the experience. It’s essentially a non-verbal, non-emotional experience. Different people react in different ways to it, at different times, but the experience is the same. In itself it’s not a “high”, it’s a kind of a “low”. The silence in which all sounds are happening. So if someone else, me or Douglas or anyone, responds in a different way from you to this “space”, it doesn’t mean your response is wrong. It’s just different. And be assured, the other person’s response will change anyway. The heart of the matter is “what is true?”, not how to feel good. Feelings come and go, but the truth of who you really are is always present, always available. If it was a feeling, a high, then it wouldn’t always be available, and wouldn’t be the same in everyone.

One way to think about it is that there are many views out from this one “space” or consciousness. You experience your own view out directly, and hear about the views out of others. We are one in the “space” or source – call it what you like – and we are different in our views out from the space – our different lives that flow from the one source.

With ongoing practice, or awareness of your no-face, the no-face itself doesn’t change. How could it? It’s “nothing”. But this nothing is always full, and what it is full of changes all the time, including one’s responses. I’m sure that with ongoing awareness, your responses will change, and deepen. This of course takes time, and each person’s experience is slightly different. Stay with the “low”, your no-face, and find out what it brings you!

I hope my thoughts help. Let me know how you get on, and if I can be of further help.

Ana Paulast: Thanks for your prompt reply. It made me feel more confident and that confidence helped me to keep on doing the experiments and earlier today, while I was meditating, something which I consider nothing short of wonderful happened to me. Even though my eyes were closed I tried to focus on the empty space, as I would do if I were pointing my finger at my “no-head”. And as I did, I found mself in this place where, as you wrote, there were neither words nor feelings; there was just this sense of not moving, but also and especially, of not wanting to move, of not wanting or needing to be anywhere else. It was a kind of silent, stable, quiet sense of joy. And it made me reflect on many things. The feeling I have is that I’ve been shown a shortcut, a way of being “there” instead of endlessly searching for a way to “get there”.

From the headless perspective, it seems to me that other meditation techniques take the long and very painful way towards enlightenment. it’s as if they started right at the outer edge of our being, a place full of turmoil, where one has to fight the anger, the fear, the self-doubt in what seems to be a never ending battle. The headless way instead, puts you right in the center of the hurricane, in that place, where conflict seems much less stronger, and also much less interesting.

Before, when I meditated, even in my quietest moments, I used to hear this nagging voice in the back of my mind, telling me:”OK, now you’re doing it right”, or “Now you’re not focusing on the here and now”. Even though I tried my best, I couldn’t help it from being always about me, an eternal contest with myself. And today, while I was meditating, it was so wonderful because, it was like it didn’t really matter anymore whether I was doing it right or not, actually, there wasn’t any right or wrong anymore … It was like it wasn’t even about me anymore.

Before, I would try to focus on the here and now, throughout the day, and it was kind of sad to see that, most of the time, even though I really tried to stay focused on the present, I would much rather be anywhere else: worrying about the next day, planning the menu for the next time we would have guests over, having some imaginary conversation with somebody from the past … But today it felt different, I was working (I’m a private french tutor) and instead of a burden, it seemed like a privilege, just to be there with my two students, trying to teach them a little french, and simply looking at them in wonder, feeling lucky just to be in their presence.

And the best thing is, like you wrote, it doesn’t feel like a “high”, or like I’ve been brainwashed, or like I’m in a false state of mind created by my ego. It just feels right, it feels solid. And I still can’t get over the fact that this was brought on by simply pointing my finger towards my face. And even more astonishing is the fact that this technique was devised by an English architect, not even a guru, or swami!!!!

Some time ago, I read in a book about spirituality something that really conforted and still conforts me in troubled times: it said that if one’s heart was determined to find a way toward God, or our inner self, one would be given everything we might possibly need to successfully carry out that quest. And after experiencing what I just wrote about I realized how true those words were.

Shared by Richard Lang

A couple had been married for more than 60 years. They had shared almost everything together. They had talked about almost everything together. It seemed they had kept no secrets from each other, except that the woman had a shoebox in the top of her closet that she had cautioned her husband never to open nor ask her about.

All their married life, the man had never concerned himself over the shoebox, but finally, his wife became very ill and the doctor said she would not recover. Then he thought of the box and took it to his wife’s bedside. She agreed that it was time that he should know what was in the box. When he opened it, he found two crocheted dolls and a bundle of banknotes totalling $95,000! Naturally, he asked her about the contents.

‘When we were to be married,’ she said, ‘my grandmother told me the secret of a happy marriage was to never argue. She told me that if I ever got angry with you, I should just keep quiet and crochet a doll.’

Her husband was quite moved — only two dolls were in the box. She had only been angry with him twice, he concluded, in all those years of living and loving. This was at least some consolation.

‘My love,’ he said, ‘that explains the dolls, but what about all of this money? Where did that come from?’

‘Oh,’ she said, ‘that’s the money I made from selling the dolls.’

Tami Simon: Let’s return to your metaphor of awakening being compared to a rocket ship achieving lift-off. How do people know if their rocket ship of being has actually taken off? I could imagine some people being deluded about this. Maybe they have read lots of books about spiritual awakening, so they make the leap in their mind that awakening has occurred, but perhaps in reality they are simply sputtering on the ground. How do we know for sure that we have attained liftoff?

Adyashanti: It’s not an easy question to answer. The only way I can answer it is to reiterate what the nature of awakening is.

The moment of awakening is very similar to when you wake up from a dream at night. You feel that you have awakened from one world to another, from one context to a totally different context. On a feeling level, that is the feeling of awakening. This whole separate self that you thought was real, and even the world that you thought was objective, or other, all of a sudden seems as if it’s not as real as you thought.

I’m not saying it is or isn’t a dream; I’m saying that it’s almost like a dream. Upon awakening, the experience is that life is like a dream that’s happening within what you are — within vast, infinite space. Awakening is not experiencing vast, infinite space, feeling spacious or expanded or blissful or whatever. These feelings may be by-products of awakening, but they are not the awakening itself.

Awakening, quite apart from its by-products, is a change of perspective. Everything we thought was real is seen to not be real at all; it’s more like a dream that’s happening within the infinite expanse of emptiness. What is actually real is the infinite expanse of emptiness. It’s the same way that, when you dream at night, your dream does not have reality; it’s your mind, dreaming your dream, which actually has the reality — relatively speaking.

To read the rest of the interview: >>>Click Here

From the book and CD, The End of Your World, by Adyashanti

On the surface of the world right now there is war and violence and things seem dark
But calmly and quietly, at the same time, something else is happening underground
An inner revolution is taking place and certain individuals are being called to a higher light
It’s a silent revolution
From the inside out
From the ground up

It’s time for me to reveal myself
I am an embedded agent of an secret, undercover, clandestine, global operation
A spiritual conspiracy
We have sleeper cells in every nation on the planet

You won’t see us on the T.V.
You won’t read about us in the newspaper
You won’t hear about us on the radio

We don’t seek any glory
We don’t wear any uniform
We come in all shapes and sizes, colors and styles

Most of us work anonymously
We are quietly working behind the scenes in every country and culture of the world
Cities big and small, mountains and valleys, in farms and villages, tribes and remote islands

You could pass by one of us on the street and not even notice
We go undercover
We remain behind the scenes
It’s of no concern to us who takes the final credit
But simply that the work gets done

Occasionally we spot each other in the street
We give a quiet nod and continue on our way so no one will notice

During the day many of us pretend we have normal jobs
But behind the false storefront at night is where the real work takes a place

Some call us the ‘Conscious Army’
We are slowly creating a new world with the power of our minds and hearts
We follow, with passion and joy
Our orders from the Central Command
The Spiritual Intelligence Agency

Love is the new religion of the 21st century
We are dropping soft, secret love bombs when no ones is looking
Poems, hugs, music, smiles, movies, meditation and prayer, dance, books, social activism, Web sites, blogs, random acts of kindness.
We each express ourselves in our own unique ways with our own unique gifts and talents

‘Be the change you want to see in the world’
That is the motto that fills our hearts
We know it’s the only way real transformation takes place
We know that quietly and humbly we have the power of all the oceans combined
‘The wave may break in failure, but the tide is sure to win’

You don’t have to be a highly educated person
Or have any exceptional knowledge to understand it

We are now recruiting
Perhaps you will join us
Or already have
All are welcome
The door is open

From the book The Big Glow, by Brian Piergrossi

“Some of you will remember that in that very basic Mahayana Buddhist scripture, the Diamond Sutra, it says that if you can look into your emptiness and not be somewhat scared, congratulations! Because it is a very uncommon thing. We have a great fear of looking this way because it is a kind of death. If you are scared of it I congratulate you because it means you have got it. I say, go on with it and you will come out at the other end. Beyond the fear is the experience of death, what I call the Present Death Experience. And then Bang! the resurrection. So you die as one tiny little lump of stuff and you explode to become the lot, you are resurrected to become the lot. So if you feel a little bit scared I would say that is absolutely great. Stay with it and it will come right.”

~ Douglas Harding – 1991 Sydney workshop

Often, for me, when I feel worried, fearful, anxious, I back up and look again. I return to The Source. I look for the one thing that always brings me peace. The one thing that I cannot deny; I cannot deny that I am aware. That is a fact. Then, with the return to that insight, it becomes clear to me that everything is within this awareness, and not the other way around;there is no thing, and nothing outside of this awareness. That is a soothing note.

The fact that everything is within awareness, that, right there, is a big relief. This one little insight alone brings me peace. I can rest in this small glimmer of Truth; that nothing is ever outside of awareness — and furthermore, this awareness belongs to Godhead, Divine Light, All Knowing, All Loving Living Presence. Realizing that I am not outside of awareness and no one else is either, I let go of my fears. I am back with The Grace of God’s Light that is being All That Is. I rest in this fact of Life.

If all things are within awareness then time and space are not outside of awareness, therefore all our loved ones, past present and future, all things that ever were or will be, must be here in awareness, in and as This Living Truth I Am. Life Eternal Am I since I am this awareness which is the awareness of God’s and not ‘mine’. This Awareness encompasses, includes and Is being all those I love and all things I love. Nothing is lost or gone from This Awareness, ever.

Or as William Samuel writes: “Are you not aware of being right now? Of course you are. You are aware of these words. Is not this very Awareness all inclusive to you? Have you ever been outside it? Have you ever seen a sight that did not come to you as this very Awareness? Certainly not. Does not this Awareness include the mountains, the oceans, the microcosm and the macrocosm, the Pleiades and all the galaxies? This Awareness really is alone and all to you, is it not? Honesty, total honesty, will not allow you to answer otherwise.

“The Awareness that reads these words is infinite. It is alone. It is all. It is the Divine Awareness of Existence. It is God’s knowledge of Himself. It is God’s knowledge of being God. It does not belong to ‘another’. It is not contained nor possessed by ‘another’. It is not beholden to ‘another’ called Bill or Mary or John. This Awareness, this very Awareness, that is aware right here, right now, is God’s Awareness of being all that God is. The ‘responsibility’ is God’s. The ‘burden’ is God’s.

“This Awareness is free. Awareness has never really been bound to a body called Bill, Mary of John, nor judged by any of their judgments, nor limited by these limitations. Awareness says to those who are weary and heavy laden, “Leave the separate sense of self and return to me and I will give you rest.”

I know that acknowledging and then living this Absolute Fact, in some strange and mystical way, makes all things new and creates perfect outcomes. The heart and mind at peace seems to manifest Itself in a tangible way. You will literally see that what you were concerned or worried about, will turn out just fine. Knowing this is true, sometimes it is even helpful to say “Thank You Father” before you see the manifestation of This Goodness and Light done. Watch and see.

The peace you find and the claming rest in your heart will manifest in miraculous and joyfully wonderful and positive results. Understanding ‘who you are’ and clearly knowing the Facts of Life, the Truth of God’s Allness and Grace; the realization of Truth and Its Knowing does indeed bring you the actual proof that All Is Well. I have witnessed this well being and Its tangible evidence every time I ‘Let go and let God’ in my life — I have seen the Living Power of Love and Grace work in my life.

Sandy Jones