The Seer

The way we relate to change is how we relate to life itself, because life is nothing but a constant flow of change. The Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, said, “Life is like a river where you cannot step in the same water twice.”

In the few seconcs since you started reading this article, for instance, thousands of your brain cells have undergone changes. Now your brain isn’t quite the same as it was before. And all the cells in your body were not there several years ago. Look at nature and that’s all you’ll see – endless movement and change. Some changes are hardly noticeable because they occur over millions of years, while other changes are noticed instantly.

Modern life exposes us to ever-increasing rates of change. The book “Future Shock” argued that rapid change raises our anxiety levels to a state of shock. Uncertainty has become most certain. We are less able than in the past to control and predict how things are going to turn out. This is reflected by the speed in which our feelings and thoughts are changing. To our ego identity that desires the known and certainty it feels at times chaotic, confusing even scary.

Evolution created for us the thinking mind, by which we use language to gain some certainty in a threatening world. At the age of eighteen months we started to use words to organize and control a world in which we felt entirely powerless. The one word that gave us the greatest sense of control was the word “No.”

For some people this “No” becomes so ingrained as a source of power that they adopt avoidance and resistance as a way of survival – “no” to new ideas, to new experiences, to new people. They may survive but sadly they are unaware of how much they miss out in their lives. Their “No” actually stops their learning and growth. It is “NO” to life itself.

That little ego with the big NO will keep us in the fortress, deluded by the illusion of safety, as long as we believe this is who we are – an identity made up of stories. To identify with the story is like being under the influence of a hypnotist, or like being in a horror movie and not realizing that it’s a movie. Once we see the reality of the movie we don’t change the content much but at least we have a bit more fun!

Fear of change could stop altogether once we realize that our unbounded awareness is the essence of who we are. This is a paradigm shift that leads us to experience being the unchanging observer.

The “I” as the observer is the constant in the process of infinite changes. Observer is always there to notice changes, moment by moment in thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations. The act of noticing is the very act that sets us free from the reactive and mechanistic mind. Seeing things as they are is the language of awareness. Once you recognize the self as awareness, as the space for all body and mind appearances, you have freed your true nature from the stories that have chained your spirit to the ground.

~ by Hagai Avisar. Hagai will return to Gurukula to offer several wonderful workshops in late July. More info >>>HERE

Growth — whether physical, intellectual, or spiritual — is an unconscious process outside the realm of our own doing.

Our own birth and life was not of our own doing. We are given life – a physical body, a mind and a heart – and each of these grow in a mysterious way. As children we grow bigger and taller with each next year. We don’t know how or even when it is happening. It just happens. We don’t control the process. But we do influence it greatly.

Some children grow more strong and healthy than others. This is in part due to genetic inheritance. But it is also a measure of the quality of nourishment and care the child receives. Growth is influenced by the emotional environment in which the child is raised.

Medical researchers are discovering that growth is influenced by how much a child values himself or herself – or not. Children are capable of developing such a low sense of their own value that they do not care about their own welfare, health or happiness. These children will suffer from many internal mechanisms that limit or stunt their physical, emotional, mental and later their spiritual growth. The same is true for any person at any time in their life.

Growth is an act of grace bestowed by the evolutionary impulse that animates and enlivens all of life. The evolutionary impulse is an optimizing force. We attract this grace by creating favorable conditions to our growth. Another way of saying this is that we align ourselves with the evolutionary impulse.

Growth is what happens if you don’t do that which will hinder growth. You actually have to work against the evolutionary impulse in order not to grow. Unfortunately, many of us do. What are some of the hindrances to our growth?

* Negativity of any kind
* Negative friends
* Negative thoughts
* Negative actions
* Criticizing yourself or others
* Blaming yourself or others
* Indifference toward the well-being of yourself or others
* Laziness
* Feelings of worthlessness
* Incessant thinking, doubt or worry
* Fear of stillness and silence
* Medicating with alcohol, drugs or other addictive behaviors

Be honest with yourself as you re-read this list. There is at least one that will apply to you. The truth is, there will be more. But choose one, and for the next week, observe this barrier to growth with an interested curiosity. Look for it in your daily activity and in your inner mental activity. Don’t try to make it go away. Just allow it to be as you watch it and learn how it influences your life.

For the next week, give yourself the gift of practicing this exercise.

~ by Eckhart Tolle

It’s easy to say that you want to discover the Truth, but when you understand that the Truth is not just the experience of love and peace, you may not be so sure that you want it any more. Recognising who You really are will rob you of your deepest held ideas, beliefs, hopes, and dreams. It will turn your view of yourself and your life upside down. You will either hear this and find it unimaginably liberating, or you will find this extremely challenging indeed.

This message is very radical. Perhaps, although you say that you want to discover the truth, you really enjoy the ‘search’ far too much to actually find what you are searching for. What would you do without the ‘spiritual search’? What else could provide such addictive emotional highs and lows? Do you really want to know the truth of who you are? Or do you still want to hide behind who you think you are or who you would like to be?

I’m pointing to the true nature of who you are, beyond who you would like to be, or who you believe yourself to be. This is not always what you want to hear. This is not a pep talk to make you feel better. This is simply pointing to the reality. Do you want to know the way it actually is? For better or for worse? Or do you want to go on living in a dream, hoping that one day things will change?

Who are you right now? You have a name. But are you just a label? Who are you really? It seems to take some courage to really see who you are beyond labels and appearances. Are you a bunch of memories and a story of who you have been or who you would like to become?

Are you limited to what you think or what others have told you? Are you really someone who has problems, needs, and desires? Or have you always known that somehow, no matter what happens in life, that things are really ok? Somehow you always know that life is not as complicated as we often make it out to be. That no matter how hard life appears to be at times, that actually it is all really so easy.

Beyond all labels and ideas, what You are is Awareness itself. Aware of what ever is happening. Presence itself. Only ever present with no future or past. Timeless. Without reason or meaning. Meaninglessness beyond any idea of that being a depressing thought.

Freedom beyond any idea or imagination. Freedom which is right now, which never needs to ‘break free’ from any bonds. Absolute fulfilment which has always been fulfilled even when you were searching for fulfilment. Absolute wholeness even when you believe that there is something missing.

~ by Unmani, who is at Gurukula this week.

You can now get Unmani’s CD Weekend in Findhorn from Clearsight at a discount price.

Q: Non-duality seems to be a repudiation of free will. I am not doing anything. The divine acts through me. But what of the man who murders a child, or starts genocidal wars? It seems the world would often be better if people acted differently. Can you help me understand this?

A: Thanks for your question. It’s one of the most common concerns raised about the teachings of non-duality.

While there is just one reality or one Being here, the manifestations and movements of that one Being are as diverse as can be. Oneness seems to love to appear and dance as many. And there are also many levels of truth that operate within this amazing dance of life.

So your question about murder and war can be answered at different levels, and all of the answers would have some relevance. At the most relative level, there is the definite appearance of free will. It’s important what we do, and if people made better choices, this would be wonderful for the world.

If we shift to a more absolute perspective, we can see that all action is purely an illusion created by our consciousness. No action has ever harmed consciousness, and so the appearances of murder and war are just that: an appearance.

But to be complete, we also can experience how both of these perspectives are true, and also experience a perspective that is in between these two extremes. It turns out that when someone directly experiences their true nature as empty spacious presence, this doesn’t necessarily lead to a disinterest in the appearances and illusions of this world. In fact, the recognition that there’s no one here and no individual doing anything most often leads to the experience and expression of a deep love for this world and all of the illusions in it.

If it’s just an illusion, then why bother with murder or war? If you and your actions are just an illusion, then the pain and fears of the illusory ego simply do not matter anymore. If we see through the illusions of our personal story, then there are no longer any motivations that would lead to murder or war.

In the absence of a personal self, we are not left with nothing. There are many deeper qualities of true nature that are revealed as the ego loosens it’s grip on us. And it is perhaps a surprise to find out that they are all positive qualities like love, joy, peace, clarity, strength, and wisdom. I say it is perhaps a surprise because of the psychological view that our unconscious is filled with all kinds of repressed negative emotions that must be contained.

And while there is also some truth to this perspective, the missing piece in much of psychology is that underneath even our darkest unconscious emotions are these essential qualities of our Being. It turns out that at the core, we are loving, joyful and divine. This is not something that you can grasp intellectually, but it is something that you can experience as your sense of self is weakened or dissolved by direct inquiry.

It’s possible to have a purely intellectual grasp of the concept that there is no individual doer, and that the world is just an illusion. And like any belief or concept, it can just be believed and identified with and lead to all kinds of distortions and justifications for terrible actions.

For examples, just examine the history of religious fundamentalism where teachings about peace and love have been used to justify hatred, murder and war. Even a belief in there being no doer can lead to this kind of fundamentalism if it is just a belief. But in the actual experience of the dissolving of an egoic sense of self, there is an opening to the deeper realities of our essential Being, and beyond that to the mystery at the core of Being which can not be described or defined.

The positive qualities at the core of our Being are strangely found to be nondual also. At that depth of experience, it is seen that there is only goodness and that there is no opposite thing called badness. This is the important discovery that counterbalances any tendency of the ego to form a belief about nonduality that denies the importance or value of the world and its beautiful illusions.

It’s this essential core of goodness that loves the world and everything in it, and so makes it extremely unlikely that someone resting in their deepest essence would ever act to harm another. In fact there is a natural arising of a compassion and appreciation for all of life.

The concept of nonduality is just that: a concept. As such it can be distorted and co-opted by the ego and the mind to justify anything. But the reality of our nondual nature is not a concept, and the direct experience of it is filled with peace, love and joy beyond anything we could have imagined.

But don’t take my word for any of this. See what you find when you inquire deeply into this question of who it is that acts in this world. Do you find a complete lack of any love and concern for the world when you experience a more open and complete sense of your true nature, or do you find that there is no limit to the love and compassion that can be found within the empty spaces of your soul?

~ by Nirmala

“You must constantly ask yourself these questions: Who am I around? What are they doing to me? What have they got me reading? What have they got me saying? Where do they have me going? What do they have me thinking? And most important, what do they have me becoming? Then ask yourself the big question: Is that okay?”

~ E James Rohn

Kirk: “what kind of chips do you recommend?” (See above)

Pete: I recommend your favorite kind … and as you enjoy them, be very present with what is happening. This is not as easy to do as it sounds. Usually, when we are eating etc. we are not fully savoring the chips but thinking of something else … like somebody’s ideas about enlightenment, or what was said or done in the past, or, what might or might not happen in the future.

If you can be deeply present with the chip-eating experience (or any other experience for that matter) it can be a portal into your conscious oneness with the alive awareness that is your essential, infinite and eternal nature/beingness (sorry, words are inadequate here.)

First, you focus on (notice, be aware of etc.) the taste and texture of the chips, the movement of your hand etc. between bag and mouth etc. and even the thoughts that come into your head at this time and any feelings they inspire.

Then, turn your attention back to what is aware of all these sensations, thoughts and feelings. Notice that this silent witness to your interior and exterior world is not a ‘thing’, that it has no form, no age, no limitations etc. This still silent ‘field’ or ‘background’ is the real You … the eternally awake and aware You … it has always been so. To actually see this, as all the sages attest, is ‘enlightenment’.

This aware Self is pure and wholly innocent no matter what you have done as a form nor what has been done to your form by other forms.

Once this is seen, it is realized that it is not the finite, temporary ‘Kirk’ person who sees ’something’ but rather it is the alive awareness that recognizes ItSelf, as though it had been asleep and was waking from a (bad) dream.

Then One is aware that you are just playing the role of a person sitting in a chair eating chips, or not doing so, and you can go on playing the game and not get taken in by it as before. You also realize that everyone else is also an expression of the One, as you are, and that they are part of the game too.

So, become aware of the self-shining awareness within, Kirk, and if you stay with it, it will become a Light that reveals many rare treasures.

Question: Does the feeling and expression of gratitude help to raise consciousness?

Eckhart Tolle: We are talking about a deeper gratitude. There are more superficial forms of gratitude, and that is not what we are talking about. By that I mean, to be grateful that someone else is worse off than you are … sometimes that is a source of gratitude. People say, “Oh I really should be grateful, because look at this person – they are worse off than I am, so I should be grateful.” That’s not the true gratitude, that’s the gratitude that is arrived at through thinking, where you compare yourself to others.

The deeper gratitude is not arrived at through some conceptual process, where you explain to yourself why you should be grateful. That’s a superficial form of gratitude, that’s not really what it is, that’s ultimately to do with ego. More fundamental than the true form of gratitude is the deep sense of appreciation. It’s not to do with what you are telling yourself in your head, it’s something that you sense in the present moment, it’s an appreciation of the ‘is-ness’ of this moment.

We are using words as pointers. When I say ‘appreciation’, some people might ask, “What do you mean by appreciation?” It’s to feel that the world around you is alive, and you share in the aliveness of the world that surrounds you. There’s the outer aliveness, in other human beings, even in your surroundings – whether it’s nature, or even in a room, you sense the aliveness of what’s around you at this moment, through your own aliveness.

And with that comes the feeling, “it’s good to be alive.” You appreciate the many forms of life that are arising at this moment. You don’t impose judgment on the form that life takes at this moment, because the form that life takes changes continuously around you – one moment you’re here, the next moment you’re somewhere else. It’s a deep sense of Being-ness, or aliveness, and through that you appreciate what is, in your life.

And by saying ‘in your life’, it always means in the present moment, because apart from the present moment, there is no such thing as ‘your life’. If there’s something else there that’s not the present moment that you call ‘your life’, it’s a mental construct. You have formed an image of “me” and “my life”, it’s a story, and you mistake that for your life.

Fundamentally your life is whatever form this moment takes. Your life is always what is now. That’s your life. Not some story you’re telling yourself in your head. Through that appreciation, you are sensing a sense of Oneness with what’s outside and what’s inside. There is no longer a separation that is created by excessive conceptual thinking between other people and the self, the separation is created by judgment. There is a sense of allowing the present moment to be as it is.

All these are fundamental aspects of gratitude. It’s that openness to the ‘is-ness’ of this moment. With that openness, comes an appreciation for the ‘is-ness’ of this moment. There is no longer a denial or a rejection of what is, because you have some story in your mind that clashes with what is around you at this moment. And that’s how many people live, so they go through life continuously, there’s a clash between their ideas of what should be now, and what is ‘now’.

The greatest form of suffering and frustration and non-fulfillment is the clash between the mental story of what ’should’ be and what is. That’s really the root of the madness. There cannot be gratitude when that operates in your life. When something seemingly negative happens, people may find it very hard to say, “Okay, I should be grateful, even for this.”

I’m not saying you should do that, because even that is an idea in your head. It’s better to forget about trying to be grateful when something seemingly negative happens, and simply let go of the mental judgment of it, and say, “This is what is, this is what happened, and this is the situation now.”

If you can be free of mental judgment and denial or projection, complaining, and so on … just allow what is, and then something deeper emerges, even in a seemingly negative situation. By coming into this place of acceptance, of the inevitable ‘is-ness’ of now, your inner state is no longer ultimately dependant on what is happening or not happening outside. That is a vital transformation of consciousness, where the external world no longer determines your state of consciousness.

So when something seemingly bad happens, say, “this is.” Whether it is a small thing or a large thing, be open to that. If you’re open to the ‘is-ness’ of what is, something within you which we could call ‘peace’ arises. Sometimes it’s very subtle, and you can’t notice it at first. You’re not grateful for the seemingly bad thing, but you’re grateful that you can still be at peace, even in this situation.

Internally you feel that by accepting, peace arises. Even in seemingly bad circumstances. And what is that peace? It’s an inner sense of aliveness, being-ness, presence. It’s the source of all gratitude. There can be gratitude even when something bad happens. Not for the bad, but for the fact that even in the face of something seemingly negative, there is still peace in the background. But you won’t find that until you first accept what is.

Gratitude is very important. It transforms your whole life, if you can remember the importance of being grateful for life. As you go through your day, every day, you can even have little reminders — of the importance of being appreciative of life. Every person has to verify for themselves, what can I be grateful for at this moment? Sense the being that you are — not just the physical, but the sense of your own presence. That’s a great source of joy, to feel your own presence, it cannot really be defined. That’s the ultimate gratitude.