Click here to go to the next issue.

Jan headlines in this edition. You'll even find a link to
his little known home page. Not included are Petros' reports
on Satsang with Byron Katie. So far they include several
letters with more coming. I'd like to present them in a
special supplemental posting, probably tomorrow.

Very soon you'll be seeing more editors, as we are finding
replacements for Bruce and Melody who are on well-deserved
sabbaticals. If anyone else wants to volunteer one day a
week, write me.

Love,
Jerry
_____________________________________________________________________

JAN AND MIRA: EXPOSING CONCEPTS

Jan:
It wasn't meant to hurt or offend; it is difficult to see
there exists nothing "outside" enlightenment; this is the
nondual sound so at the NDS I used the extremes. But for
practical reasons, from the perspective of multiplicity of
individual bodies, there is "this body" and "other ones"; it
has been usage to consider someone enlightened when the real
nature is recognized and if this recognition doesn't lead to
changes in personality, perspectives, behavior etc., it is
safe to say enlightenment didn't have much of an impact.

Mira:
* If is enlightenment or recognition of real nature is
considered to be an event with certain consequences like a
change of behavior, it is safe to say that this assumption
is just another concept.

Jan:
Enlightenment isn't a safeguard against wackiness or
distorted views, because in principle, recognition always is
possible; Hitler certainly had an agenda for his version of
spirituality.



Mira:
Self nature, Reality, includes the opposites of creation and
destruction. Whether Hitler realized his nature as such, is
too late to ask. If he indeed would have recognized himself
as being all and everything, while being nothing at all,
would he have had the compulsion to identify himself as
'übermensch', being better and superior to the rest?

True wisdom, even in the role of a destroyer, is not
displayed by conveying concepts. It is conveyed by exposing
concepts.



Recognition of Self does not necessarily lead to a typical
kind of behavior. Absorbtion in Self is not interfered with
by physical activities. Absorbtion in Self is not dependend
on the behavior of the body. It may or may not sleep less.
It may or may not eat less. It may or may not sit down on a
chair staring at the floor. Behavior has nothing to do with
that recognition. It may or may not change after
recognition. To say enlightenment 'should' lead to this...
and this... and this..., is always a concept, bound to be
proven wrong by the next recognition of Self.

______________________________________________________________________

JAN: BALANCING AND BEING

There are no fixed rules or regulations; from my experience
it is tempting to conclude that taking everything as it
comes, is an important tool. It is a result of knowing,
there is nowhere to go, nowhere to hide and nowhere to
stay. One cannot run or flee from experiences; getting mad
while caught in a traffic jam doesn't solve anything.
Living as if each moment is the last one, implies among
others one cannot blame so there is nothing to forgive;
meditate on that...



Fear is based on losing and fear of death could be called
the impression of losing body that survives the grave. In
my case, losing the fear of death and giving up the "will to
live and enjoy" was what started the spontaneous sadhana.
More can be read at
http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/umbada/jb.htm

The next discovery was the existence of a fear to enter
nirvikalpa samadhi; in my case, the entering wasn't a skill
but was forced and going into nirvikalpa samadhi in the
presence of "others" felt like having to leave one's house
with all doors and windows wide open :) Of course, the
experiential knowledge of Being without support extinguishes
all fears so this most hidden fear is met just once :)



Techniques, meditation, work, this all is concerning the
mind.
A rather literal translation of the Patanjali sutras (I,1)
and (I,2) is:
1. Now, an exposition of Yoga (is to be made).
2. Yoga is the suppression of the transformations of the
thinking principle.
Part of the commentary on 2.:
"The thinking principle" is a comprehensive expression equal
to the Sanskrit word Antahkarana ("inner instrument") which
is divided into 4 parts: Manas (mind), the principle that
cognizes generally; Chitta (individualizing), the idea which
fixes itself upon a point and makes the object its own by
individualizing it; Ahamkara (egoism, "I-maker"), the
principle which connects the individual with the self; and
Buddhi (reason, sometimes called "higher mind" as opposed to
manas, sometimes called "lower mind").



The antahkarana is said to represent the psyche; this is
what "mind-work" is aimed at.



Ascent and descent are referring to the interpretation of
prana in the nadis; no one will experience the same. Even
when physiologically the experiences would be the same, the
interpretation still could be different.



Without the "I-maker", a notion of separateness, fear,
confinement to a body, can no longer arise. This means that
all words have become irrelevant as "just being" is the most
ordinary thing in life, yet is most fulfilling and words
cannot possibly express that.



Balancing would mean having to juggle with pairs of
opposites, whereas "just being"
implies nothing remains to balance out.



>From a perspective of "unifying the opposites", K. could be
called the "ride that ultimately will unify all opposites".
There are as many perspectives as there are (seemingly)
separate minds; if mind experientially is seen to be one,
all perspectives are known. A free translation of Patanjali
(III,
31) is: Mind without impurity and impediment, attains
infinite knowledge; what is worth knowing in this world
becomes negligible.



_____________________________________________________________________

RAINBO: HANDLING THE FIRE


Alchemy is, yes, a process. It recognizes that *one* peak
experience does not make for total enlightenment. There are
many deaths, not one death. And we die so as so to live, to
awaken. If one has not had this experience then it makes no
sense, then you have just more words and more concepts. So,
it is penetrating more deeply into the nature of this
reality through experience and knowing, not understanding a
concept.



There are many roads to Rome, but there are some experiences
that are road signs to Masters, that are evidence of where
the student is. Now, if you are going to say "one
experience," is sufficient and I am awake, my response is
you have an ego that still needs alot of kundalini fire.
Ego, is one of the stumbling rocks on the road. So, in
alchemy travel then there are words and phrases used which
sound like just more words until they are experienced as
energy and as the whole of life. Words can never convey
these experiences, but what can happen is that someone
writes words, I read them and later I think, "oh, dang,
that's what she was talking about."



So, for example, the "philosopher's stone," has a meaning of
firing a chakra so much that it becomes like a diamond,
these words are used in texts from Tibetan Bhuddism to
Judaic Qabalah and the more one knows the more they are the
same, not different.



I am very lucky in that in my childhood there were people
who did not dismiss these events as being imaginary nor did
they make a big deal of them they just said, "okay, so not a
big deal, just be honest."



Having just spent four years in Tree travel with an
exceptionally advanced Teacher, I just told her last week,
"enough," I have had enough fire I need to just get down to
normal kundalini. We travelled with ten people, and lost
some who couldn't handle the fire along the way. It is not
easy. What looks easy under normal life pressure becomes
much more intense under high kundalini fire and kundalini
like arithmetic to physics has levels.



When Jan said he died, that's exactly what he meant, because
when one has the experience of dying to personality and
surrendering to Soul, then one really, at least, I really
thought, I was dying, it scared the Hell out of me, but I
managed to surrender and then, phew *g*, but this happens
more than once at different stages and it is past the mystic
experiences and so on. (And, if I misunderstood or
misquoted you feel free to correct me.)



So, the beginning the k fires the dross and then it fires
the more subtle energetic realms so, that first the physical
body is effected and cleared, then the emotional body and
then the mental body ... the mental being one of the most
difficult to get past because we are attached to our notions
of "this is it, this is all, now i get it."



There are ever yet more layers, that only in the here and
now is God pervading everywhere and everything. Someone
wrote, "when I write a check this is not God."
Umm, yes, actually this is God too. This past year, I had
to go home because the k fired so hard for several months,
and i said, "God, look, I have a child to take care of and
the house to clean, I can't walk around so fired that I
can't think straight." God's response was that I didn't
trust Him and that it would be okay. And, the money dropped
out of the sky and it was okay.



So, this is Alchemy, to study Cosmic Law and to understand
that arithmetic is not Calculus, that Dr. Suess is not
Plato, most deep thinkers through the centuries have
explored alchemy, simply because after one explores anything
deeply this becomes the last veil to understanding any
subject at all, Einstein, Jung, Goethe, Plato, St. Francis,
Dalai Lama, etc., all ended and some began with studying
alchemy. Please do not make me go hunting for their quotes,
I can do that and use them to support what I say but I
prefer that if it interests you that you study yourself and
find your own path.



Explaining Alchemy in an email is like explaining the entire
field of Chemistry in an email, the TCA cycle is enough with
tiny letters to fill a forty by twenty foot living room with
all the chemical reactions that occur, so, this is not to be
considered a really good explanation, it is merely an
attempt on my part to say this is a field like chemistry is
a field.



The universe is rather large *g* there are many fields to
play in and even Einstein never found the key to his "GUT"
theory in numbers, it is in the experience.



I hope this small explanation is helpful.



______________________________________________________________________

JAN AND DAN: WHOLE AS FRAGMENT, FRAGMENT AS WHOLE


Jan: <snip> Don't forget Hitler, Mussolini, man-eating
emperor Bocassa and Stalin were enlightened too.



Dan: I think you are pointing to enlightenment as including
"all that is."Hitler and Mussolini are "fragments" of all
that is. In fact, so are the personages of Gautama, Ramana,
Jesus, Mohammed or Moses. So to take in "all that is" "all
at once" is not to mistake a fragment for the Whole, but to
see the Whole activated in each and every fragment.



Jan: <<The behavior will testify whether and what the
mortal shell "gets out of it".



Dan: "By their fruits you shall know them." Does the
fragment realize it and all are activations of One, or does
the fragment operate like a finger trying to behave
independently from the hand?



Jan:
Enlightenment is default; in fact very ordinary. So by
itself it won't end the tendency to find pleasures "outside"
like relationships and entertainment; whereas for ones like
Ramana the bliss of Self is all that matters.



Dan: This is why someone like Ramana is used as a symbol of
the Whole as fragment and fragment as Whole. Which is what
Jesus symbolized as well.Such "pointers" suggest that we
"find" what the symbol points to, and not focus attention on
the symbol as an end in itself.




Jan: <snip> it has been usage to consider someone
enlightened when the real nature is recognized and if this
recognition doesn't lead to changes in personality,
perspectives, behavior etc., it is safe to say enlightenment
didn't have much of an impact.



Dan:
For me, you raise a very good point here. Constructive
changes such as you mention are inevitable as the "fragment"
recognizes its inherent nonfragmented being. It then can
only act resonantly with "all that is" -- could a person
such as a Hitler or Mussolini be acting in awareness,
resonantly with all that is? It seems the opposite, that
they are acting resonantly with all that is only
unconsciously, and such resonation leads them to "act out"
the unconscious motives, hatreds, etc. with those around
them. To me, looking at all this shows the value of
awareness as such, and the difficulties for us when we take
unconsciousness for awareness -- as you said, Hitler had a
spiritual agenda" and those who took this as such were
willing to take the encouragement to remain unconscious as
spirituality. I feel what we get at here is the
differentiation between remaining comfortably unaware in an
oceanic feeling of emotion, patriotism, and destruction or
facing the "discomfort" of awakening by dealing clearly with
"all that is"
as Self.



Jan:
Enlightenment isn't a safeguard against wackiness or
distorted views, because in principle, recognition always is
possible; Hitler certainly had an agenda for his version of
spirituality.



Dan: As did Charlie Manson. And he did recognize something
to some extent. However, the rage in him did not quiet, and
he "used" enlightenment for the ends of his rage. The
fragment did not surrender to the Whole, but attempted to
use some awareness of the Whole toward its ends. This is
the general trend associated with imbalanced practice on the
"Left Hand Path" but such imbalance occurs in its own way on
the "Right Hand Path." Only the Middle Way is the
"safeguard" to which you alluded. Only if the fragment
recognizes the Whole as fully Self, and the self as fully in
and from the Self, can the constructive changes you alluded
to be fulfilled.



____________________________________________________________________

JERRY: A GIFT FOR DOLORES

Since there are many cat lovers here, I'd thought I'd send
the following. I received an email yesterday, on the day of
Dolores' (my late wife's) birthday, coincidentally. It's
about cat's and starfish and people and is heartfelt,
genuine and touching. A birthday gift to Dolores. The lady
who wrote it, Mary McCloud-Reid, stayed in our bed and
breakfast. I don't remember her, but I guarantee you
Dolores would have. ("Yes, I remember eXACtly who they
were...").
Here's the letter...



Oh Jerry I am so very sorry to hear that Delores has passed
away. I cannot tell you how often I have thought of both of
you. My husband and I stayed there many years ago when you
had Comere, your cat. I remember the story of how the kitty
got that name because you would just say come here. I wrote
to you both a few years after visiting and learned that
Comere had passed away.



You may remember the time we visited. The fog was so thick
you could not even see 2 feet in front of you. There were 2
travelers on bicycles who asked to stay but you were full so
they set up tents in your front yard. We used to travel
quite a bit and named our cats after favorite places.

You'll be glad to learn that we have a cat named Comere
named for our very fond memories of staying with you at
Dover House. I always remembered the beautiful story of how
you and Delores met, when you were living in California I
believe. It was instant love and you came all the way to
the East coast to be with her. I just looked at your web
page. My tears have finally stopped. I have a few things
to share with you my friend.


There was a man walking on a beautiful beach one afternoon
after the tide had gone out. When he turned round past a
rocky cove he saw millions of starfish that were stranded.
The sun would surely kill them. He began picking them up as
quickly as he could and tossing them back into the ocean.
Another man came by and saw the sad event and said why are
you bothering to do this, there are so so many, you cannot
possibly save them all. The first man said, as he tossed
yet another starfish into the water, but I can save this
one.

I took the word starfish and scrambled it to come up with a
name for one of my cats. We called her Fratishs. My
original tishy died but when we adopted another cat we gave
her the same name. We call her Tishy 2. We currently have
15 beautiful cats that have either been saved from local
animal shelters where I sometimes volunteer or were strays
that found their way to our loving home. Thru the years I
have helped many people to get veterinary care or food for
their cats. I even have a web page at Ebay where I sell
antiques/collectible. I am sending the link, I know Delores
would love this. You probably will too.

http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/mmccloudre@aol.com/

I do not think it is a coincidence that I have located you
on Delores's Birthday. There are many events that happen
for a reason as I know you are sure. My anniversary is June
16th the day she passed away.

JOSEPH

His life was one of hardship,
as if no human cared.
He spent his days in seeking out
a home that could be shared.
'Twas evident he'd felt the sting
of stones and stick and rod.
He cowered when you stepped too close
this tomcat child of God.
One of his lowly common beasts,
his plight soon touched my heart.
Though prone to fights among his peers,
of my life he became a part.
Had I known him sooner
perhaps I could have made
his life so much more gentler
than the price for wounds he paid.
His body shows the signs of strife
but with care and daily food,
he soon began to show the world
someone cared - as well they should.
His eyes shone with love in every look,
their lemon amber gleamed.
he sat with me in sweet repose
he returned my love it seemed.
Fate has a cruel turn sometimes,
so quickly Joseph paled.
Despite the love and best of care,
all earthly efforts failed.
I like to think he had a little time
to know life is not all sad.
That someone had real love for him,
I tried to change to good the bad.
Each animal that I have known
the ones that I've called "mine"
were simply lent for months or years
a gift for a short time.
The lesser children of our God
they look to us each day,
to help them meet the needs they seek
while they walk with us this way.
I'll not forget my Joseph
though his days were short with me.
I pray his soul now rests in peace
his small feline spirit free.

(by Ruth Jenkins, April 3, 1990)


____________________________________________________________________

THE PATHWAY OF NONDUALITY

by Raphael

Chapter 4

Parmenides and His Vision

Q. Which Western Vision can we consider nearest to
Gaudapada's Ajativada?



A. That of Parmenides. For him too the teaching is based
upon the above mentioned postulates. For the Eleatic there
is only one Way which solves the existential enigma, a way
which 'lies far away from the path beaten by men', a pathway
which leads to that doorway which transcends Day and Night
(Duality), and reveals the a-spatial Reality, a way which is
'...devoid of temporal end'. Parmenides' Way is also the
one which Yajnavalkya describes in the Brhadaranyaka
Upanisad (IV, iv, 8):



"A narrow way laid down in ancient times, leading to me, by
me it was discovered. By it the strong, knowers of Brahman,
freed from this one ascend to the high celestial world."



Parmenides' is undoubtedly an initiatory pathway and the
most modern and attentive exegesis seems to be orientated
towards this conclusion.



Jaeger too agrees with this thesis when he writes: "Before
this super-human prelude (speaking of Parmenides' proem)
nobody can believe that the philosopher wished to place
himself in the limelight. The vision of this mysterious
event in the kingdom of light is an authentic religious
experience: the experience of human eyes which turn towards
the hidden truth, so that the whole life is transfigured."
But this kind of religiousness "must be sought in the
religiousness of the Initiations and of the Mysteries.
Parmenides was able to grasp this because in Southern Italy,
in his day, these ideas were widespread."



For the Eleatic there exists, therefore, a sole Way and a
sole Reality; Being in that It 'is'. It is unity, actuality,
permanency, not subject either to birth or death, one and
indivisible. Only that Being which 'is and does not
become', which is complete, ever present, identical to
Itself is necessarily a Reality which fills everything.



"Being ungenerated, it is also imperishable, entire, sole,
still and endless. It never was nor will be because it is
now whole, one, continuous. In fact, what origin can you
wish to seek for It? How and where could It have been born?
Of non-being I shall not allow you to speak or think. In
fact, what is not cannot be uttered or thought of. And even
so, what need could have urged It, which rises from nothing,
to be born, before or after? Therefore it is necessary for
It to be either wholly or not at all. And never shall the
force of true conviction allow that anything different from
It be born of Being."



It can only be known through the mediation of that noetic
(immediate understanding and, according to Stefanini's
exegesis, 'contemplative ecstasy') and epistemological
knowledge that reveals only the supreme intelligible.
Knowledge is that "...upon which Persuasion walks, and
Persuasion is the follower of truth".



For Parmenides too the world of names and forms (the
empirical world) is simple appearance, and is presented (as
in Gaudapada) as a dialectical moment and not as absolute
necessity.



"Therefore they will all be just names, which mortals have
established, convinced that they are true: birth and death,
being and non-being, change of place and mutation of
brilliant color."



Becoming, contingent and change seem, from a false
standpoint, to be and exist.



"But from this way [of opinion, which believes that things
that are not are] of research remove your thought....This
cosmic order, apparent as it is, I shall reveal to you in
detail, so that no opinion of any mortal may overcome you."


``````````````````````````````````

I am learning that Raphael, the author of this book, is a
one-man Nonduality Salon. Visit his site at

http://www.vidya-ashramvidyaorder.org/index.html

_____________________________________________________________________

INVITATION TO A NONDUAL GATHERING

From: "lou Monte" <loumonte@prodigy.net>

dear friends, because of the very unexpected response to my
invitation of an nd gathering at my home on long island on
sunday, october 17 with an emphasis on some douglas harding
experiments, i cannot accept any more participants-------
ok, maybe just one more. thankyou for responding and
thankyou, greg, for suggesting this announcement. best
wishes, lou

______________________________________________________________________

BEN AND JAN: CLEANING THE BOOT

Hi Jan!
Discarding the body is an interesting concept. How does it
happen?



Hi Ben,
When a Jain monk feels to become a burden to society, no
food or drink is taken; death of the body will follow
swiftly.
There is no suffering in this; an article appeared in New
Scientist about it (though not related to Jain monks..). I
know in Holland, people with severe dementia as to forget
eating and drinking, aren't reminded or assisted to do so
and will die (without suffering)
as a result. But the more common reason to discard the body
is escape from suffering ( like euthanasia). The common
reasons always are escape, not knowing there is no escape
from life.



Ben:
As far as personal tradgedies goes, isn't the idea to quit
making personal?



Jan:
All feelings are personal. Recognition of suffering
presupposes "personal" suffering. A young child can only
find out that flames can cause severe pain by burning its
hand; from then on, the pain caused by burns can be
recognized. The human interface has its limitations; when
the "personal" limit of suffering is reached, the wish to
end life will arise.



Ben:
Yes indeed, what is to happen in the case of the dying body?
This inquiring mind wants to know.



Jan:
There isn't a simple answer to that; a few of the
determining factors are fear, identification, beliefs. From
the perspective of identification with mind-body, a loss of
control is taking place; thoughts will be determined by the
fear of losing or the presiding belief. So the number of
variations is huge; some will die with an expression of
torture on the face whereas others will look peaceful as if
in dreamless sleep. If there is no fear, no identification,
no belief, nothing is happening except a "last" smile :)



Ben:
Is reincarnation a verifiable concept?



Jan:
It is quite possible to have many debates on reincarnation.
>From the perspective that no one is born and no one is
dying, reincarnation has two faces:
1. The seeming fragmentation of Being into a multiplicity
of beings, coming into existence and fading away
2. The seeming fragmentation of experiences over a sequence
of bodies coming into existence and fading away, retaining
memory of (part of) the sequence.



Regarding 2., one might say there is circumstantial
evidence.
"Hard" evidence cannot be obtained as there are many
possible explanations, like the assumption of "universal"
memory, containing the record of all events and
"accidentally" tapping it. If one considers life to be a
game, 2. isn't far-fetched; instead of a forced "clean
boot", made impressions will remain, enabling the game to be
finished without "personal"
effort, irrespective of the "length" of the sequence.

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