The Seer

The Awakened Eye blog is about the eye that perceives without labeling — we could also call it the innocent eye, or the eye of beginner’s mind.

Many artists and artisans have understood that the practice of drawing and engaging in creative encounters in the visual arts can — by making obvious one’s conditioned reactions — open the mind to another way of seeing, a way that transcends habitual dualistic assumptions.

There have been, and are, many wise teachers who speak of this transcendence of duality as one’s original or true state — a state which we seem compelled to seek and reject simultaneously. Their teachings are sometimes referred to as Advaita, which means “one without a second” — or more simply, non-duality. In this context the awakened eye is synonymous with the awakened “I”; this topic forms the wider agenda of this blog.

This blog and the website have been conceived as places where ideas and teachings on this topic put forward by artists, educators, scientists, philosophers, sages and saints, can be accessed. There will also be personal notes from she-who-scribbles, and hopefully plenty of useful links.

The author, Miriam Louisa Simons, says: “As the website and this blog develop, I hope you find inspiration and encouragement there to support your inquiry, and that you realize that your awakened eye — your vast, open, non-dual understanding is here, this very moment, reading these words …”

Also, Matt King has just launched the Non-Duality America blog which is devoted to celebrating the message of nonduality and bringing it to a wider audience. This blog is characterized by openness, inclusion and the diversity of voices that are now speaking about the truth of our beingness.

Not long ago, just east of the Farallon Islands (outside the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco), a female humpback whale became entangled in a spider web of crab traps and lines.

She was weighted down by hundreds of pounds of traps that caused her to struggle to stay afloat. She also had hundreds of yards of line rope wrapped around her body, her tail, her torso, a line tugging in her mouth.

A fisherman spotted her and radioed an environmental group for help. Within a few hours, the rescue team arrived and determined that the whale was so badly off, the only way to save her was to dive in and untangle her.

They worked for hours with curved knives and eventually freed her.

When the whale was free, the divers say she swam in what seemed like joyous circles. She then came back to each and every diver, one at a time, and nudged them, pushed them gently around … she was thanking them. Some said it was the most incredibly beautiful experience of their lives.

The guy who cut the rope out of her mouth said her eyes were following him the whole time, and he will never be the same.

May you, and all those you love, be so blessed and fortunate to be surrounded by people who will help you get untangled from the things that are binding you.

Sent in by Alice Gardner of SF — Thanks Alice

If your life is in a bit of a tangle, Clearsight may be able to help.

Introducing the Hot New Social Network, PhoneBook

Allows User to Call Friends, Speak to Them

Silicon Valley (The Borowitz Report) — A new social network is about to alter the playing field of the social media world, and it’s called PhoneBook.

According to its creators, who invented the network in their dorm room at Berkeley, PhoneBook is the game-changer that will leave Facebook, Twitter and even the much anticipated Google Buzz in a cloud of dust.

“With PhoneBook, you have a book that has a list of all your friends in the city, plus everyone else who lives there,” says Danny Fruber, one of PhoneBook’s creators.

“When you want to chat with a friend, you look them up in PhoneBook, and find their unique PhoneBook number,” Fruber explains. “Then you enter that number into your phone and it connects you directly to them.”

Another breakout utility of PhoneBook allows the user to arrange face-to-face meetings with his or her friends at restaurants, bars, and other “places,” as Fruber calls them.

“You will be sitting right across from your friend and seeing them in 3-D,” he said. “It’s like Skype, only without the headset.”

PhoneBook will enable friends to play many games as well, such as charades, cards, and a game Fruber believes will be a breakout: Farm.

“In Farm, you have an actual farm where you raise real crops and livestock,” he says.”It’s hard work, but it’s more fun than Mafia, where you actually get killed.”

Pearl and I are taking a break over the holidays with our family in Melbourne, so there may not be any further postings on The Seer until early January. Peter’s Pearls, however, will continue without a pause.

We would like to thank again all those who have expressed in various ways throughout the year their appreciation for the blog — it was very encouraging when it was difficult to keep going.

Finally, we would like to wish you and yours the full blessing of Consciousness over the holiday season. Actually, in essence, you are the fount of all blessing YourSelf!

Our dear friend, Catherine Ingram, has reported on the Vancouver Peace Summit, a three-day gathering of luminaries including the Dalai Lama, Eckhart Tolle, Maria Shriver, numerous Nobel laureates, and a couple dozen other presenters.

The Dalai Lama, Catherine said, emphasized again and again the need for women to have greater roles in leadership in all fields because, he said, they are “biologically” more nurturing and have a greater sensitivity to suffering. He feels that our educational system is the domain in which ethics and a connection to the totality of life needs to be taught now that there is a worldwide diminishment of the role of churches and the cohesion of families, arenas which once provided more spiritual and ethical sustenance. He also implored the educators and scientists attending the conference to introduce emotional and social intelligence in schools and for the media to start concentrating more on “good news,” stories that uplift our spirits instead of scaring us to death.

Eckhart Tolle, she said, suggested the introduction of “awareness” training in schools, not just as one of the subjects but as the main subject — “awareness of emotions, awareness of thoughts, of other human beings and their thoughts,” and for young people to learn to not equate their thoughts with who they are so that a child has a sense early on of his or her own nature and of the nature of the other children.

There was a moment I heard about, Catherine said, that I didn’t actually witness. After one of the sessions, the Dalai Lama and Eckhart Tolle held hands as they walked to lunch. It is an image I would have liked to imprint in memory, one that I might call upon in moments of distress. To most of the world, they are probably the two most respected spiritual leaders of East and West. But in these last days and over the many years I have known them both, they have shown themselves to be wise global citizens, beautifully human and simple, doing their part for a gentler world.

Ramesh S. Balsekar was born in Mumbai, India, in 1917, and after a distinguished career in banking, was for several years an interpreter for Nisargadatta Maharaj. Then, after his own awakening, Ramesh became a truth-teacher himself and offered Satsang daily in his home right up to the time of his final illness. Pete & Pearl sat with him there for five memorable days in 1995.

He also authored many books on enlightenment spirituality including: Consciousness Speaks.

Sadly, Ramesh passed away at his home after a short illness on Sept. 27, aged 92.

The author/teacher, Wayne LIquorman, was foremost among those influenced by Ramesh and wrote: “Having met Ramesh was one of the defining moments of my life. His generous spirit, open, loving presence and spiritual understanding combined to make him one of the truly great sages of the 20th century. His spirit will live on in his books and in the hearts of all of us who have known him and loved him.”

If you haven’t visited our Web Site recently, now would be a great time to do so because it’s just been completely redesigned and upgraded. Sam & Navi Blight have done a wonderful job of making all our information, articles, services and products much more accessible.

The new site now features an on-line store so you can more easily find and order books, DVDs and CDs by leading truth-teachers, and a new and better way to receive our free daily inspirational quote service — Peter’s Pearls. We’ve also made it easier for you to find out about the special activities and workshops at Gurukula that may be of benefit to you. There are pages on counselling and spiritual mentoring … and much more.

And if that’s not enough, there’s a treasure-trove of interesting articles on the site to help and encourage you in your understanding of Who or What we really are — the truth that sets us free in every area of life. So click through now to: www.peterspearls.com.au/ and let us know if the upgrade meets with your approval.

Have you noticed our new Twitter site at: >>>twitter.com/PeteSumner? As well as updates from me, this networking site now features regular contributions from Eckhart Tolle and Scott Kiloby. It’s easy to join Twitter and keep in touch with friends living from Awareness.

You may like to know that David (our son) & Vanessa (our lovely daughter-in-law) now have a baby boy. His name is: Hudson Stafford Sumner, and he was born on Mon. July 20th (the birthday of one of his great grandfathers, Willie Welsh) at 10.20am at the Epworth/Freemasons hopital in East Melbourne, Australia. Hudson was 7lb 5oz at birth, with blonde hair and blue eyes — mother and child are doing fine. Vanessa was in labour for only 8 hours, and has recovered remarkably well. My wife, Pearl, is in Melbourne to greet the new arrival … I had to stay in Perth for some eye-treatment etc., but will go to see our latest grandson asap. All because we loved so much.

In recent years the science and practice of psychology has been moving gradually away from the medical approach that focuses on pathology towards an approach that focuses on what makes a healthy, happy and resilient mind. This new approach is known as Positive Psychology. Prof. Martin Seligman, who was the president of the American Psychologists Assoc. is now the leader of this movement and this is how he described the paradigm shift:

“The new century challenges psychology to shift more of its intellectual energy to the study of the positive aspects of human experience — hope, wisdom, creativity, future mindedness, courage, spirituality, responsibility and perseverance. A science of positive subjective experience, of positive individual traits, and of positive institutions promises to improve the quality of life and also to prevent the various pathologies that arise when life is barren and meaningless. … this century will see a science and profession that will come to understand and build those factors that allow individuals, communities, and societies to flourish”.

Positive Psychology (the truth about Who or What we really are) can give us ‘different eyes.’ Eyes that are not shaped by the past but by a fuller appreciation of the present moment and the future with all its possibilities.

As we become more ‘conscious,’ our attention will be shaped less by your conditioned self (biography, culture, social roles, biology) and more by our core BEING, who we truly are. When attention is stemming from BEING, our eyes are as fresh as a child’s eyes, our choices are more authentic: they are right for us and owned by us.

We will see, understand and relate differently to all the parts within us that create the whole sense of who we are. We will experience a greater sense of wholeness, of inner peace, of knowing and accepting Who or What we really are.

As a result, the essence of our ‘BEING’ nature — such as joy, connection, curiosity, gratitude and abundance — will be more expressed.

We will feel more connection and flow with others. Less of our psychic energy will be wasted on regret, shame, self doubts and worry. Returning to NOW will free a lot of energy for optimal functioning.

We will be truer in expressing ourselves (e.g more assertive) and in pursuing our goals. We will be more flexible shifting attention to notice the brighter and funnier aspects of life. We will be inspired to see possibilities in challenges and hardships.

~ From the Web site: Return to BEING, by Hagai Avisar.