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#3172 - Tuesday, May 20, 2008 - Editor: Jerry Katz
Nonduality Highlights - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDhighlights
INVITATION TO AWAKEN: Embracing Our
Natural State of Presence
by Tony Parsons
Reviewed by Rodney Stevens
Invitation to Awaken is a penetrating summons to recognize
that we are nothing less than "divine expressions" of
awareness. This Second Revised edition contains new dialogues
from talks recorded when Tony (who lives in Cornwall, England)
visited Southern California in 2001 and in 2004. There are five
in-depth discussions, along with a gracious yet no-holds-barred
Preface by the author, who makes it clear that the focus here is
pure Advaita, i.e., "all and everything is already
oneness."
But Tony isn't adverse to clarifying things. Note this excellent
distinction between awareness and consciousness: "Awareness
is the source of it all...It is completely still, silent, and
impersonal. It has no relationship with anything; it's the
singularity from which everything else emanates. Consciousness,
for me, is the soup, which contains anything that apparently
happens...Awareness simply is and requires nothing; consciousness
can only arise in awareness."
There are scores of topics covered. They include karma, emotions,
meditation ("Truly, there is no formula for awakening.
Meditation or its lack will not bring about anything at
all"), reincarnation, falling in love, and Tony's idiomatic
preferences (he uses the word awakening, but he definitely
is not a fan of the term enlightenment).
The author's good humor is also evident here. When a questioner
remarks that he thought that Tony had once written that
self-realization is like "being infused with loving
kindness," the esteemed teacher replies: "Are you sure
you're reading my book?...The mind creates some sort of picture
of what it's like to be enlightened--you know the loving,
beautiful, slow-moving, slow-talking wise person who is simple
and who listens to vegetarian music."
Some nondual purists may be put-off by Tony occasionally refering
to awareness as "the beloved," as well as his
statements about awakening having masculine and feminine aspects
to it. (In the former, he says we see presence's "beautiful,
exquisite clarity"; and in the latter, its "love, deep
intimacy, and groundedness.") But this is merely his mode of
expression. Everyone who comes to this understanding speaks and
writes about it in a unique manner. And this, generally, is to be
celebrated.
Matthew and Joan Greenblatt at Inner Directions have produced a
truly attractive volume. The printing, layout, cover design, and
non-glossy recycled paper are all top-drawer.
Top-drawer, too, is Tony Parsons, and this book is not to be
missed.
INVITATION TO AWAKEN can be ordered directly from the
publisher (http://www.innerdirections.org/miva_cat/catalog.mv?iaction=details&misbn=1-878019-21-X&type=Book ) or at the following Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Invitation-Awaken-Embracing-Natural-Presence/dp/187801921X
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rodney Stevens -- who lives in South Carolina
and who awakened through the books of John Wheeler -- can be
contacted for talks and workshops at: writerguy@fastmail.fm
Dear friend
"My" real nature (Self) is so evident and
"near" that any time I try to describe it I go far away
from it. It is so near to me that even the "me" is more
distant. It is so evident that is impossible to describe. Do you
feel the same?
Thank you
Marko
Larry Epston, poet,
teacher, artist, singer/songwriter, musician,
peace activist, and most of all, my Beloved friend. 3-28-40 to
5-16-07
I miss you.
From www.epston.com
To Call It One
To call it One is
One to many,
To call it nothing,
Minimizes its importance,
To say it is in me,
Implies it is not outside,
To say it comes from somewhere,
Says it is not here,
To say it has a beginning,
Makes it appear to have an ending,
To think it will come,
Implies it has not arrived,
To search for it,
Implies it is hidden,
To wait for it,
Implies it exists in time.
To try to describe it is futile,
It has no edges,
You cannot catch it,
You cannot find it,
You cannot see it,
You can only
Be It.
Larry Epston
(Contributed to Nonduality Salon by Anna)
http://www.imdb.co.uk/title/tt0113992/
I saw a movie last night that was a
non-dual gem and I wanted to bring
it to the attention of your readers on Highlights. It is "Don't
Die
Without telling Me Where You're Going" - a 1995
release from Argentina
by director Eliseo Subliela. The storyline is about a film
projectionist who invents a machine to record his dreams - so he
believes. The machine brings his unconscious in the form of
movies onto
a screen and he commences to experience an awakening to the side
of
life we are all struggling to get to - the fourth dimension.
A spirit of his eternal love in the form of
a woman appears in his
waking life and the dialogue between the two of them is
enchanting.
They confide to each other those deeper knowings concerning the
real
nature of Life-ness that most of us (even the acknowledged
seekers) are
reluctant to say.
In one scene the spirit companion says to
him: "You were a
projectionist - you died to that and became an inventor - now you
will
become..... this is the real nature of Life-ness - a constant
dying and
becoming - a constant destruction and creation.
And in another scene he says to her:
"You are unwilling to be born
again because you don't want to endure the pain of living again
and I
can't die because I don't know how".
How great to see art showing us instead of
mental conditioning
continuing to insist we will only get there through
intellectualization. The future scenero appears to be that mental
will
disappear and that understanding will appear silently using
feeling,
color and sound. The "projectionist" appears to be the
i within- which
slowly occurs to the protagonist in the movie. And, the wonderful
message is: "Life will bring it to you - what you seek - if
you will
stop seeking long enough to allow it in".
Jenny Munday
When the mind thinks it becomes the thought and then insists on taking you along with it. When your thinking you've just removed yourself from your natural place of simple participation in being. From June of 1997 to Feb. 2008 I lived in total solitude in the high desert wilderness where I live. I discovered that dualistic separation is in the mind but not in the heart. To be totaly free of dualistic perception is not possible unless you enter the mystical abstraction and never come out; there are mystical hermits living in extremely isolated places who are doing this. There is only one duality that exists and that's between the mind and the heart; when the mind is in the heart all dualistic matters are concluded. Try spending more time alone and in your heart if you are sincerely wanting to achieve the profound union. Spiritual wayfaring envolves no effort; effort corrupts. Don't bind your mind stream it blocks the natural flow into your heart. This is my last post. I'm going back to wander in these hills, aimlessly following the empty continuum of intuitive mind/heart.
Mike Campbell
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
(Posted to Nonduality Salon)
Consume This
I, the space in me, assures you that
the space in you,
is same silence vastness oneness,
you can rest here and you might come to enjoy
losing your identity
you may enjoy the lack of drama
you may find lack of passion
the perfect food for the soul
as you realize you are the one holding the spoon
you are the one tasting
and you are what is being tasted
all at the same time
Now how boring is that?
-Shannon