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Nondual Highlights Issue #1433 Editor: Christiana
from Jan Sultan AdvaitaToZen@yahoogroups.com "
Discard every self-seeking motive as soon as it is seen and you need not search for truth; truth will find you."
Nisargadatta
photo: Fred Voetsch
Jim Dreaver www.jimdreaver.com
Whenever I sit down to write, my goal is
to make the writing as clear
and succinct as possible, to convey, insofar as it is possible,
the taste
and feel of what it means to be inwardly awake and free. It is
important
to remember, however, that the path of awakening is not about the
words Rather, it is about the
quality of awareness and of presence you bring
to this moment now. It is about the energy you feel behind the
words,
the energy you feel right now, as you sit here alertly, breathe
consciously—which means slowly and deliberately—and pay
attention
to what you are reading, sensing, feeling. The real
purpose of our
meeting like this, through the medium of these words, coming to
you in
cyberspace, is to open up to the silence out of which words come,
and
back into which they disappear.
For it is in silent awareness, in
presence, that two people really meet.
The proof that enlightenment is becoming real for you is in the
degree
of inner silence you experience. By inner silence, I mean your
mind is
clear, quiet, spacious. Thoughts will come and ago but they
won’t be a
problem. You are in touch with the deeper energy of creation, the
beauty, harmony, and unity that is behind all existence.
<snip>
Notice the sensations and feelings you
experience in your body—the
rise and fall of your breathing, the sound of your breath, any
other
sounds that may enter and then pass out of your awareness. If
there is
some emotional energy you are feeling, be very present with that.
Allow
the energy to flow, to express itself, without judging it,
labeling it,
interpreting it. Without creating a story around it.
As you allow your experience of the
present moment to just be what it
is, see if you can let your awareness expand. See if you can be
aware
of awareness itself. Be aware of yourself as the awareness behind
all
phenomena, all experience.
Coming to this awareness of yourself as
the awareness or
consciousness behind everything, as the consciousness—the
presence—which gives birth to your name, your thoughts, the
whole
idea of "me, myself, and my story," is what leads to
awakening. It is
what frees you from fear, and opens the door to wisdom, to love,
and to
beauty.
© Jim Dreaver 2003
Editor's note: Having read the above, we offer an invitation to become a guest editor
If you are moved to surrender to the empty tableau of a day, and hold space as 'editor' to what shows up as alive in that Now; we invite you to consider editing an issue. We have found that this process of surrender is a practice unto itself, often revealing unexpected currents of Truth to the editor.
If you are a regular reader, you know that we are a very small group of voluntary editors who read and cull from many lists, websites and journals to produce an issue each day of what shows up as alive, whimsical, poignant, informative, and mostly that which points to the nondual Interval. Fresh perspectives are always welcome. Our criteria is that you understand the direction of the publication, and are relatively familiar with formatting. We are available for technical assistance.
We meet in the open pulsating silence. Is It inviting you? NDhighlights-owner@yahoogroups.com
John de Ruiter http://www.johnderuiter.com
Waking up is not necessarily pleasant;
you get to see
why all this time,
you chose to sleep.
When you wake up, 
the first thing you will see is
Reality does not exist for you,
you exist for it.
Shocking as it is,
when you let it in,
there is rest.
You do not have to labor anymore
to hold together a reality
that does not exist;
forcing something to be real
that is not real.
You and this life that you have been living
are not real ...
In letting it in,
even through the shock... pain... shattering,
there is rest.
Reality is when
all you want to know is
what is true ...
just so that you can
let it in
and be true.
Reality is not a safe place for you,
the you that you have created.
It is the only place where
you would die;
where there is no room for
your hopes, your dreams.
Once you have let it in,
once you begin to re-awaken,
to let Reality wake you up -
nothing can get it out.
That is the beginning of your end.
Waking up can be much more painful
than the agony of your dream,
but waking up is real ...
And there will be integration;
a merging of reality and you.
You and reality will become one
in a world that does not
accept nor want one,
but two.
You will become a beloved servant
instead of a controlling master ...
photo: Fred
Voetsch http://www.acclaimstockphotography.com/search_terms/fred_voetsch.html
viorica MillionPaths@yahoogroups.com
What brings understanding is love. When
your heart is full, then you will
listen to the teacher, to the beggar, to the laughter of
children, to the
rainbow, and to the sorrow of man. Under every stone and leaf,
that
which is eternal exists. But we do not know how to look for it.
Our
minds and hearts are filled with other things than understanding
of
"what is". Love and mercy, kindliness and generosity do
not cause
enmity. When you love, you are very near truth. For, love makes
for
sensitivity, for vulnerability. That which is sensitive is
capable of
renewal. Then truth will come into being. It cannot come if your
mind
and heart are burdened, heavy with ignorance and animosity.
J. Krishnamurti
Tim NondualitySalon@yahoogroups.com
It's a bit 'new-agey' but interesting...
David Hodges "wandertheearth" Livejournal.com
Paradox is a great teacher
The thing that would really get me stuck
is that every important problem
had become a problem because it was paradoxical. There was no
clear way out. Sometimes the paradoxes were actually exquisitely
balanced in order to keep my feet to the fire as long as
possible. We
can refer to this process as "cooking". A paradoxical
situation keeps
us roasting over the fires that induce change.
I said once that if your situation in
life isn't paradoxical, then you aren't
looking deeply enough.
Joseph Riley Panhala@yahoogroups.com
The Real Work
It may be that when we no longer know
what to do
we have come to our real work,
and that when we no longer know which
way to go
we have come to our real journey.
The mind that is not baffled is not employed.
The impeded stream is the one that sings.
Wendell Berry
From DC Vision - A personal narrative of love, death, light, companionship, and the mystery of life through awareness... shared, with with our gratitude
We received the phone call very
early in the predawn that the man who
gave me life was beginning the final stage of dying. I went to
him as I
had for every day for nearly two weeks, and sat holding his hand.
I was
the only person that had the courage to be there, because my
father
was well loved, and no one wanted to remember him in that way.
The
room was dimly lit, and the nursing home was silent for the most
part.
Outside the window a single crow landed on a wooden bench seat
and
looked in towards us.
I talked to my father about
doing what I could to get my mother through
the past ten days since he had his major heart attack, and series
of
strokes. I assured him that I would do what I could to see that
she was
safe, and settled into a new home there on the island, where her
family
lived.
I became aware in a moment that
the hand I held was cold, and that the
rythym of his breath had changed to a more laborious intake. I
had
never held the hand of a dying person before, and there I was
holding
my father's. I needed to memorize every little nuance. I looked
out the
window, and saw there were four crows in the courtyard, all
looking our
way, and holding a vigil.
I began to say all the things
that life as fiction had not allowed me to. I
expressed how I wished we hadn't been such strangers to one
another
all those years living under the same roof, and that considering
his
formative years, that I knew he had done the best he could...and
that I
understood. I knew the man loved his son: he had told me for the
first
time the night before his heart attack, which had lifted a
tremendous
weight off of my life.
His breath became very
laborious, and settled into an obvious struggle
of whatever he was at essence, trying to wriggle free of what he
believed he was in form. I looked up through teary eyes and saw
that
there were now several dozen crows in the courtyard, all keeping
their
attention on our little room. As I looked in amazement, in
singles and
pairs several more dozen began to land and take up their presence
in
the mix.
In the background of my
awareness I realized my father's breathing had
become very loud, and his hand was quite cold, and suddenly the
crows let off with a tremendous cacophony. I looked up to see
them
prancing about, flapping their wings, and cawing vociferously.
Suddenly my back became rigid, my head flung back, and everything
turned to light. I cried out to my father to go to the light, and
began to
sob uncontrollably in joy. What was this indescribale lifting
sensation,
and light filling my being. I felt myself feet off the floor, but
couldn't open
my eyes through the tears, and couldn't hear through the crows
screaming their own joyful collaboration.
I reached the zenith of lift,
and light, and let out an orgasmic sigh...then
slumped back into the chair. When my senses came back to human,
there was no breath coming from my father's lifeless body. My
eyes
opened to see an empty courtyard...the crows had left and were
taking
him home. I began to cry and laugh at the same time. The nurse
came
in and mechanically reached for his pulse, found none, wrote down
the
data on his chart, then walked towards the door. She turned at
the door
and said, "now everything is going to be fine, dear, no need
to be so
sad."
"No, not sad...it is
wonderful...beautiful, can't you feel it?" I asked. She
gave me a curious look, and walked out the door. I drove to the
copper
quarry that day, a place that I went to to be alone, and just sat
in
wonder at not only the mystery of life, but the promise of
release at
death. Suddenly the world didn't seem such a terrible place.
from Leo Hartong's newsletter http://www.awakeningtothedream.com
~ Question: I met some one, and from the
second I saw him I recognized
him, I think it must be from another life. The same happened to
him.
Since then , there is this constant presence in my soul of him.
What can
this mean?
Answer: From where this answer comes
there is no past life nor a
future, just presence. Of course, it can mean whatever you want
it to,
but what IS it? It sounds like pure recognition. In this
recognition there
is no you and other, only Self meeting Self. The mind cannot
understand this and looks for a rational explanation. You say
correctly 'I
think' and then comes the apparent rationalization 'it must be
from
another life.' Why explain or question it? Explanations are fine
for
practical matters, but out of place for beauty, love and simple
presence. Just let it be. Enjoy the mystery instead of solving
the riddle.
~ Question to God "What surprises you most about mankind?"
And God answered: "That they lose
their health to make money and
then lose their money to restore their health. That by thinking
anxiously
about the future, they forget the present, such that they live
neither for
the present nor the future. That they live as if they will never
die, and
they die as if they had never lived..."
From his book Awakening to the Dream
If
you could just STOP, you'd realize that you're already there-or
rather HERE. At this ever present still point it is impossible to
distinguish between meditation and simple being. To accept this
is to understand why seeking and working on your self are not
helping at all.
You can become professional at spiritual practice; and you can get stuck in seeking, thereby affirming that this, as it is, is somehow incomplete and in need of your efforts to fix and improve it.
When I say "here and now" I do not mean the fleeting moment between past and future, but the eternal present, which contains the apparent flux of time.