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#3968 - Friday, July 30, 2010 - Editor: Jerry Katz 

The Nonduality Highlights - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDhighlights

 


 

 

Ordinary Freedom

by Jon Bernie 

Order here:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0956309194?ie=UTF8&tag=nondualitysal-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0956309194 

 This wonderful collection of Jon’s teachings really captures his ability to point us back to our own innate freedom. What makes Jon’s teachings so powerful and relevant, though, is that no part of the human experience is denied. Indeed, there is an open encouragement for all of our human experience to be included and embraced as a means of discovering the infinite ground of being within which all of our experience unfolds.
   ~ Adyashanti, from the foreword

 

Here is a chapter I typed out for readers of the Nonduality Highlights: 

Allowing the Truth to Unfold 

How is it possible to be free of suffering, free of the struggle? By direct perception. That's all that's required. Nothing more, nothing less. Freedom from suffering simply means not being identified anymore, which means not being separate anymore. We only suffer when we're identified, and we're only identified when we're separate. 

When we perceive directly, there is no separation. There is only perception. What we perceive may be pleasant, unpleasant or neutral; but it is the truth of this moment, whatever qualities it happens to possess. And so we allow, we trust and allow the deepening of our awakening to the truth of this moment, the truth of our being, to unfold in its completely unknowable, unpredictable way. 

Our egos want predecitability; they want insurance. That's the survival mind, the organism instinctively wanting to survive. And of course there's nothing wrong with that -- the survival instinct obviously has its place. But it doesn't cultivate freedom. It cultivates, at best, comfort and safety. And that's okay, actually. Safety doesn't have to be abandoned for you to be free. You can be comfortable and safe. In fact it's probably required, in some sense, for the body-mind to feel secure and safe, so it can be, relax and allow letting go to happen. 

So we sit down, we're quiet for a while. And gradually the unwinding happens -- of the mind, and the body, and the heart. And then maybe we get a glimpse, or a taste, of freedom; and if we do, then we give our attention to that. We surrender to that presence. Dropping out of our heads and surrendering to stillness, one-pointed presence, effortless vastness. We let it take us, completely. That's what surrender is. 

On the one hand it gets easier and easier. On the other, it gets more and more difficult, more intense. It's paradoxical, actually. As the water gets calmer, the fire gets hotter. I'm saying a lot of words here, but it's actually nothing very complicated. In fact it's profoundly simple, so simple it really doesn't even require words. The words can be interesting and hopefully useful, and if the words are useful then let's talk. But really, it's like we're just hanging out and having a conversation. Even though you're sitting over there and I'm sitting over here, we can dismantle some of the formality. 

If what I'm saying is not making sense to you, or is causing some reaction in your mind or your body or your heart, or something's getting activated and you want to look at it more closely, then feel free to bring it up and we can explore it. 

That's not required though. We can just sit here. The presence in our being together is really the fire of transformation. If you feel that presence, just allow it to happen. But if it's bringing up unfinished energies in you, then feel free to engage, and we'll do our little dialog. Because as you face your truth, whatever that is in the moment, and you're really able to express it, that process contributes to everyone's letting go. That's why it's fun to do this in a group. It's the mutual freeing of everyone. When you're here you can feel it happen. 

Presence always activates that which is still unfree. The truth always activates the untrue. Our mind may be convinced things are one way, when the reality is something else entirely. So question your mind, by all means, question what you believe. Question it right out of existence! Because what you believe isn't true -- it's only belief. 

Truth is not believable; truth is, period. It has nothing to do with belief. It doesn't matter whether you believe the sun's going to come up or not. It's absolutely irrelevant. Beliefs can be useful for some things, of course. But that's all beliefs are: useful or not useful, functional or not functional. But they're not true. To the extent that you believe your beliefs, you suffer, and other people suffer too. Just read the news. 

People are sometimes afraid they're not going to be able to function if they don't hold on to their beliefs. They worry that they're going to fall apart, and all chaos is going to break loose. But actually, when you really let go of all belief, what breaks loose is profound equanimity. 

Ordinary Freedom

by Jon Bernie 

Order here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0956309194?ie=UTF8&tag=nondualitysal-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0956309194

 Or here: 

http://www.non-dualitypress.com/product.aspx?p=b7d4f237-6f5c-48b9-a5fd-bbdbf1a43410

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