#2701 - Tuesday,
January 16, 2007 - Editor: Jerry Katz
Nondual
Highlights
In this issue I give
further information on cee's upcoming retreat.
Also a link to an
excellent site featuring videos.
The term
"nonduality",sporting a pair of dark sunglasses, has
crept out of ashrams and university departments of philosophy,
and into blogs, busses, and dinner parties. Excerpts from blogs
show how "nonduality" is becoming an
established word in the everyday culture of people who are
inclined to question the nature of reality and who they are.
Finally lyrics from Rolling
Stonemagazine's song of the year for
2006, which is radically nondual.
cee writes...
Existence is
singular. As you know “I am” is most important.
It would be wonderful if you could join us for a retreat in Hawaii. Just
a few days exploring “I.” There is no teacher or
student here. Know the “I-less I” that
Ramana Maharshi speaks of. Self Realization is a simple
facing yourself and losing face.--cee
Here's is the schedule,
in part. The retreat runs from Feb. 16-19, 2007:
Feb. 16 - Friday night
7:00pm Orientation
7:30 Snack break
7:45 Instruction on how
to meditate
8:00 Meditation
8:30 Homily:
Enlightenment, States of Mind, and You
Feb. 17 - Saturday
8:00am Meditation
8:45 Breakfast
9:30 Homily "Who am
I?" I Am Not the Body
10:00 Personal
pondering/walking
11:00 Meditation
12:00 Vegetarian
lunch/rest
If you're interested and
want to see the rest of the schedule, continuing through Monday
morning, respond to this email.
You'll find yourself
getting up early in the morning, because of the time difference,
and going for great swims or walks or whatever you do, sometimes
in a warm light rain, in this endlessly green and lush land on
the ocean.
cee, by nature, is not
only a perfect leader of meditation, quietness, and nondual
consideration, but an artist and flower arranger. Thus everything
around her is attended to with simple clean elegance, artfully
and in detail, further heightening the value of this
weekend. (I know, nonduality includes everything, elegant or not,
and one isn't better than another, but still, I'm just telling
you.)
So come on out. The cost
is only $400 for the entire retreat, including shared lodging and
all meals in one of the most beautiful locations in the
world. If, like myself, you prefer private lodging,
there are places available for 100-200 per night, and in that
case the retreat cost is only 250.
You don't exist,
therefore Hawaii.
Contributor and reader Andy
writes from Australia...
I agree. I watched this
video on Hopi philosophy and liked it a
lot: http://snipurl.com/17ozh. There's lots of other good viewing available.
I also watched this
thing which is an interview with Timothy Leary
on youtube: http://snipurl.com/17ozk. You may or may not like it, but if Leary was a guy
who had a vast view of reality, then it is interesting to
see him face to face with those who have a more limited view. In
another viewing sense, it is interesting to see *consciousness
itself play out in the forms of people (*radical nondualists may
stick the word "apparent" wherever they want.)
I love how
"nonduality" is a word creeping into everyday
vocabulary. Here are some blog entries with a little context
included so that we can see how nonduality is fitting into
everyday life.
music: Crazy,
Gnarls Barkley
mood: happy to
be home cuz it's totally freezing out. (-20C)
stuff to do: get
the highlights out, finishing current indexing project, start
indexing new book, trek out to market, do updates on my website,
answer emails.
I think I'd rather get in
touch with my true self and the honesty I can access of the world
in myself, than deny my feelings and operate in a purely abstract
realm. I dunno- it's tricky. But nonduality and the universe is
within me, and I am the universe, and I just ahve to align myself
to its widsom. Cool stuff- sometimes hard to do and certainly
hard to access sometimes for me, but a good sentiment worth
appreciating.
The
Nonduality of Quietude and Disturbance
Current mood: grateful
Seekers who
disdain clamor to seek quietude are as it were throwing
away flour but seeking cake. Cake is originally flour,
which changes according to use.
Afflictions are not other than enlightenment. When there
is no minding, there are no objects. Samsara is not
different from nirvana. Craving and anger are like
flamess, like shadows.
The wise have no mind to seek Buddha. The ignorant cling
to wrong and right. Passing all their lives in wasted
toil, they do not see the sublime peak of realization of
being as is. If you realize the essence of lust is empty,
then even hellfire is cool.
-Pao-chih
1. Enter the
stall. Shower for about 3 minutes, then scream really
loudly, exclaiming, "I didn't know I had one of
THOSE!"
2. Enter the stall, fully clothed.
Do not undress and make sure your clothes get all wet and
soapy. Complain when leaving the bathroom that your shirt
tends to bleed.
3. Ask Scottie to beam you up.
4. Enter the stall, undress and
then re-dress up as Superman. Leap out of the stall,
vengefully vow to stop Lex Luther's evil plot, then run
full force into the wall. Stand up, shake your head, and
proceed to take your shower.
Oneness
162. OK. I was watching Da Ali G show and here’s what
happened. A woman was talking about fur coats and said, in the
defense of animals, that she imagines they would prefer to die a
natural death in the woods and therefore hunting them for fur was
wrong. Fair enough; I’m down with that. But what I noticed
was the reasoning of her decision. The “Why” we
shouldn’t kill animals and I realized – well had known
for quite some time now – that it is for the animals but it
is not just for the animals. It is good for all animals. Good for
all organisms, us included. Good for everything.
This is the interconnectedness of being; and I do not mean it in
a collectivist way. I simply mean to say that Tat Tvam Asi. I saw
it in a way like no other tonight. What is good for one…what
is truly good for one of us is good for another. This is the
intersection of Altruism and Self-Interest. It is the Nonduality
Samkara was talking about. It is the same duality Svetaketu was
told about in the Upanisads. It is the web of interdependence:
the realization that there is not me and other; that I am you and
you are me. Much the same as Nalatie Portman’s character
does at the end of V for Vendetta. Very much what the Greeks
meant when they said agape.
And, it is exactly what is implied in the ancient Sanskrit and
current Nepalese greeting of good will: Namaste, which, so
eloquently means, “the light in me recognizes the light in
you, and if you see me, there are no longer two of us.”
“…And as many traditional structures come
tumbling down, the new ones that have yet to take shape require
skills and capacities not traditionally valued in capitalist
culture – collaboration, empathy, humility, courage,
nonduality, compassion, and reverence.”
Ocean Robbins YES! Founder on the growing people for
change movements “We were born with the possibility beating
in our hearts for a world that is more humane, more in harmony
with the earth, and more aligned with forces of sustainability
and justice. I think we are an immune system that is
responding to the crisis of our time.”
Seane Corn (yoga teacher) “We start by healing
what is within us; then together we can start a global campaign
for compassion.” She emphasizes the Hopi wisdom that
guides her: “We are the ones we’ve been waiting
for.”
…And as many
COOL LINKS --Youth Group and
activist websites Pg 24
Okay, and for more evidence that nonduality is
permeating popular culture and everyday life, check out this
email recently received:
Thought it might be
interesting to mention that RollingStone magazine’s song of
the year for 06’ has some rather curious lyrics, (along with
it’s catchy melody.) I do believe its author has probably
had some kind of taste of awakening. Perhaps, there is a
significance that suggests the penetration/growth of nondual
sensibilities for this song to have had such mass appeal. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crazy
[-contributor kept
anonymous]
artist: Gnarls Barkley
song: Crazy
I remember when
I remember, I remember when I lost my mind
There was something so pleasant about that phase
Even your emotions have an echo
In so much space
Hmm mmmm
And when you're out there
Without care
Yeah I was out of touch
But it wasn't because I didn't know enough
I just knew too much
Mmm
Does that make me crazy (x3)
Possibly
And I hope that you are having the time of your life
But think twice
That’s my only advice
Hmm
Come on now
Who do you, who do you, who do you, who do you think you are
Ha ha ha!
Bless your soul
You really think you're in control
Well
I think you're crazy (x3)
Just like me
My heroes had the heart, to put their lives out on the limb
And all I remember, is thinking I want to be like them
Hmm mmm
Ever since I was little
Ever since I was little it looked like fun
And it's no coincidence I've come
And I can die when I'm done
I close this issue with a quote from Spiritually
Incorrect Enlightenment, by Jed McKenna:
Ahab views his madness as a form of sanity. He finds
it strange that others seem to be in similar circumstances, but
not reacting similarly. When the life-battered blacksmith tells
Ahab, "I am past scorching; not easily can'st thou scorch a
scar," Ahab replies:
"Thy shrunk voice sounds too calmly, sanely
woeful to me. In no Paradise myself, I am impatient of all misery
in others that is not mad. Thou should'st go mad, blacksmith;
say, why dost thou not go mad? How can'st thou endure without
being mad? Do the heavens yet hate thee, that thou can'st not go
mad?"
grateful 
bouncy