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#2764 - Tuesday, March 20, 2007 - Editor: Jerry Katz
Nondual Highlights
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Past
The Pointing Finger
by Gary
Crowley
“Don’t
look at my finger. Look where I’m pointing!” is the
ancient cry of the awakened. It is an attempt to remind us that
language is incapable of being the actual experiencing toward
which it points – the word “water” will never make
you wet. Yet, the pointing continues, for one never knows
which instance of pointing will allow the seeker to finally
“look past his finger” and result in the experiencing
of the indescribable.
All teachings
that use language are conceptual. Thus, the hidden danger
is that the seeker unwittingly measures progress by the
accumulation of concepts, rather than by the understanding toward
which they point.
Those of you who have read From Here To Here: Turning Toward Enlightenment will recognize the following excerpt:
“Sailors understand that a boat’s velocity alone is not
an accurate measure of actual progress. The
wind may allow them to go very fast in a
certain direction, but it may not be the direction they
wish to go. Velocity Made Good (VMG) is what
matters in sailing. It is the actual progress made
toward a destination.
In a similar way, Understanding Made Good (UMG) is what
ultimately matters to the spiritual seeker.
It is the actual progress made in seeing
through the illusion of a separate self…Thus, the true
value of any spiritual teaching is measured
primarily by the degree to which it liberates us from
the illusion of a separate self…”
The question
remains, “What is the clearest way to assess
Understanding Made Good (UMG) for each person, at each moment in
time, for any spiritual teaching they encounter?” The
answer may lie in a delicate dismantling of the fundamental
pointing, “I Am,” the one mutually shared experience of
all human beings.
We can all
confidently claim, “I Am,” but the “I” of
everyday language is different from the “I” in the
pointing “I Am.” The common use of “I”
is entirely conceptual. It is a static, theoretical concept, a
noun that will never be the actual experiencing of life toward
which it points.
Even when “I
Am” is described as an impersonal experiencing of
this-here-now, the word “I” subtly taints this pointing
with the dead weight of a concept. “I” is the finger
and, as such, will never be the nondual experiencing toward which
it points, a verb.
Thus, one scale
upon which Understanding Made Good (UMG) could be measured is the
experiencing of less “I” and more “Am.”
Whenever there is less “I” and more “Am” from
any teaching, a spark of understanding has occurred. “Am”
ignites easily into the active experiencing of this-here-now.
It is a signal that the teaching has come alive!
“Am”
may be the simplest and most powerful pointing of all. The
shining example of this is its famous wordless demonstration. The
entirety of the teaching was the holding up of a flower to convey
that the experiencing of this-here-now is continually what you
are, and forever beyond words.
In the end,
Understanding Made Good (UMG) occurs where the scale tips toward
“Am,” out past the pointing finger of concepts, where
the illusion of separateness disappears. Whatever the concept of
a teaching is, it is intended to be forgotten in the experiencing
of this-here-now.
For a
To read Jerry
Katz’s review of the book from Nonduality Highlight #2711,
please visit http://www.nonduality.com/hl2711.htm