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Nondual Highlights Issue #2102 Sunday, April 3, 2005
Ram
Tzu is a madman!
He rants and raves
Spits, shouts
Waves his arms and
Talks gibberish.
All to get the attention
Of phantoms.
The authorities take
A dim view
Of such behavior-
Ask Jesus.
If Ram Tzu were clever
He would lay low.
No one likes
Their existence questioned-
It's disturbing.
If you don't like
Ram Tzu's ravings
Take heart
His disciples will eventually
Render him palatable.
- Ram Tzu, posted to JustThis
No escape
Most people enter into this spiritual affair to try to escape the
human condition. Once they realize how horrible the human
condition is, what an aggressive species we are, and once they
see within themselves how much negativity there is, how much
pushing and shoving and climbing over and disregarding and
hating, they are disgusted with it. They hate it. And so they
want to get rid of it. They want to escape. Right? Is this
familiar?
This is very deep seated then. It is disgusting, it is horrible.
And it is a natural response when you see it, to want to get out
of it, to want to be above it, to transcend it. And then the
search begins, so that you can learn how to do that: to escape
through the techniques, the practices, the altered states, the
glimpses, the trying and the falling back. But humanity keeps
reasserting itself, in all of its messiness. And a kind of
disillusionment can set in at that point. It can turn into a
cynicism, which is not useful at all. Or it can turn into
surrender: "I don't know what to do. I have tried
everything, and still this mess keeps appearing."
Someone said up here yesterday, "I just want to kill it. Not
the sweet, wonderful me, but this habit that keeps
appearing." But the habit is just the other side of the
sweet, wonderful you - this humanness. And so then we look to our
teachers. You quoted Ramana as saying: "Why are these people
upset about a cancer growing on me? It is the nature of cancer to
grow." This is then used as a whip: "They don't get
upset about things, so I shouldn't get upset. Why am I
upset?" Or, "Buddha was totally detached, so that is
what I should be, and that way I will escape all the mess. So why
am I not detached?" Or, "Christ was totally
open-hearted and loving and giving, so why am I not like that?
How can I be like that? How can I transcend to that?" And
that is part of this spin - the spin of self-hatred. This is the
hatred of the animal. There is a recognition of the mess of the
animal, the hatred of that mess, and a desire to transcend that
mess, to perfect it, or to get rid of it. And of course, animals
can be trained, and training is good. Animals are usually happy
if they are trained somewhat. Discipline is good, but still there
is an animal nature. I remember Papaji saying once, "You
know, you can clean the dog's bed, but it's going to get dirty
again." And he wasn't saying don't clean the dog's bed. Just
don't expect it to not get dirty again.
So this disillusionment is a crossroads. It allows one to
recognize the arrogance of thinking that you can change the
animal, escape the animal so that you will be happy. I was
exactly at that point when I met my teacher. I knew I wanted
freedom, but I didn't even know if it existed, except maybe as a
story to make me feel better. I wanted truth, and I prayed for a
teacher. And when he appeared in my life (or rather, I appeared
in his life, quite miraculously), he told me to stop all my
searching. Essentially he told me to stop trying to escape, to
stop trying to change, to stop trying to do anything. He said
just stop and be where you are and meet what is here.
So I have been traveling around speaking to people for some time
now, inviting them to stop the search. And it has been quite
enlightening to see how wily the mind is, in its desire to
transcend and to escape. It will use everything, including the
great examples of saints and sages as a hope of escape. Or it
uses them as a club when you see that you have failed to escape.
It takes all the teachings as something to learn, and memorize
and understand, in order to escape. And so I repeat here today;
the invitation to true inquiry is to stop all of your searching,
for this moment. You can pick up the search later if you like,
but then it will be by choice. But first, meet what is here. Stop
trying to escape. Discover who you are and then speak of that
discovery.
And here at this meeting, I invite us all to listen very
attentively, to see how everything that is said reflects either
some way that our minds try to escape, or some deeper revelation
of the truth that is discovered when we stop. We have this
precious time together, we have the opportunity, and we have the
gift of each other to inquire in the deepest way. But this is
only possible if you stop trying to get anything, including
enlightenment, transcendence, understanding, or happiness. And
stop trying to get rid of anything including your sorrow, your
life, your ego, and your past. Just stop and be here. Then we can
meet, individually and collectively. If this meeting is unknown,
it is fresh and it is alive. But if what is brought to it is a
concept of what the meeting is or should be then it is dead, it
is flat. It is not a true meeting then, but an imitation of a
meeting. So in order to listen carefully to what is said, just
stop following any thought of what you will get or how it proves
you haven't gotten, or how it proves you have gotten. Just stop.
To listen is really to receive. And to receive is to meet.
- Gangaji, Public Meeting - October 17, 2004, Los Angeles,
California
Seeing or not seeing: All there is is this. Oneness is being this
. . . whatever is apparently happening . . . reading these words,
breathing, blood coursing through the body, sounds being heard,
thoughts coming and going and feelings in the body - the sense of
sitting on a seat maybe. Here is oneness being aliveness as this.
No effort is needed for that aliveness to be. Nobody is doing
aliveness. Is anybody doing sitting on a chair? Thinking is
oneness thinking "I don't get where this is going", or
"this is too simple". All is simply aliveness, oneness,
being. It cannot be taught or achieved. Who is apart from being
to achieve being? Who can lose or gain this when this is all
there is? Resisting oneness is oneness resisting. Seeking oneness
is oneness seeking itself.
Aliveness is oneness apparently happening. Aliveness is being
alive. There is only being and the nature of that being is
emptiness and fullness, nothing and everything, movement and
repose.
In that wholeness arises the idea "I am a separate
individual". This seems to be the beginning of a dream
called "me being someone in a world with which I have to
negotiate".
Here in this separation is the root of all fear and feeling of
disquiet coming out of a sense of loss. Again it is the
appearance of oneness, and in that appearance we embark on a
journey in which we meet parents, teachers, maybe priests, bosses
and lovers, and learn how to get what we think we want seemingly
through personal choice and effort. The pursuit of pleasure and
the avoidance of pain generates transient experiences of
gratification and disappointment. The whole manifestation that we
call life is simply the drama of oneness looking for itself, for
all desire is the longing for oneness.
For some the idea of enlightenment seems to offer the promise of
fulfilment. However, the separate individual can only dream
individuality. That is its function. Inevitably in the search for
enlightenment, the dream seeker is attracted to a dream teaching
that promotes and reinforces the idea of individual choice and
effort, which, through discipline and sacrifice, can lead to the
promised ultimate experience of enlightenment. But this teaching
reinforces the illusion that there is such a thing as an
individual who has free will and the choice to become. What is
inseparable from the dream of individuality is the idea of
ownership. "What is happening is happening to me. I have a
life called me and I can, or even should, do something with my
life in the time allotted; I have to succeed; I am an individual
and personal endeavour can bring me what I need." This
misconception promotes the continuation of the dream of personal
enlightenment.
But there is no person that becomes enlightened. No-one awakens.
Awakening is the absence of the illusion of individuality.
Already there is only awakeness, oneness, timeless being, radical
aliveness. When the dream seeker is no more it is seen (by
no-one) that there is nothing to seek and no-one to become
liberated.
Here is oneness, the realisation of wholeness that cannot be
attained or owned. This is the awakening in which the awareness
of what is arises together with the dreaming of that which cannot
be known. There can be a dance between dreaming and being, and in
that dance there can be a return to the fascination of personal
ownership.
However, the realisation that the dream seeker is also oneness is
liberation, the uncaused, impersonal, silent stillness which is
the celebration of unconditional love. This is all there is.
- Tony Parsons
Distracted as we are by various thoughts, if we would continually
contemplate the Self, which is Itself God, this single thought
would in due course replace all distraction and would itself
ultimately vanish;. The pure Consciousness that alone finally
remains is God. This is Liberation. To be constantly centered on
one's own all- perfect pure Self is the acme of yoga, wisdom, and
all other forms of spiritual practice. Even though the mind
wanders restlessly, involved in external matters, and so is
forgetful of its own Self, one should remain alert and remember:
'The body is not I.'
- Ramana Maharshi, posted to MillionPaths