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#3174 - Thursday, May 22, 2008 - Editor: Jerry Katz
Nonduality Highlights - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDhighlights
Vicki Woodyard
A Life Lesson
There is only one life lesson and that is to let go. Everything
arises
from that. The miracle of this lesson is that it leads to new
life on
every possible level. It is to be turned inside out. As the third
Chinese patriarch said, “Cling nowhere.” I am reminded
of static cling.
When we cling, we get static.
I was born clinging, but then, aren’t we all? We are pushed
into the
world wet and screaming. Maybe that is why we gravitate to water
slides.
Or want to go to spas and be wrapped in seaweed and other clingy
stuff.
We are taught to acquire and share at the same time. Sweet.
Once we take to the spiritual path, things don’t change that
much. If
you are lucky, you will find a teacher who is smart enough to cut
the
cord between you and your attachments. By this time, most of us
can’t
fly very far because we don’t travel light enough. We have
suitcases
full of fear and compromise. Only a wise man or woman will
jettison them
in favor of freedom.
Let go by seeing that you can’t let go. That is enough to
start with.
Insight is non-attachment, believe it or not. Be aware of how you
are
clinging to your suffering. That alleviates it. Practice the
medicine of
surrender and something else will let go for you.
~ ~ ~
Listen to Vicki's audios. I enjoyed The True Path. In that tape, Vicki has a simple and direct way of getting you to sit down and be honest with yourself. Very effective without compromising. Listen here: http://www.bobwoodyard.com/Audio.html
Soul's Code is a developing website, a mainstream spiritual alternative which is nonduality-friendly. The following article has been abridged. Read the full article and explore Soul's Code at http://www.soulscode.com/?p=541
by SMADAR DE LANGE
Think of your experience of separateness like the settings on your phone or TV remote. Loneliness and abandonment are content loaded by an arbitrary set of inputs, the biography of our senses and psychological inputs.
Having said that, the true grit of our daily perceptions does not make them less real — one might even say that the opposite is true.
But in the consensual reality we share in our day-to-day office space, our perception is partial. The whole of what you can perceive is constantly streaming into you through a wider spectrum. This is what spiritual teachers call, “non-duality”.
Byron Katie explains the phrase at book-length in a practically-unknown title called, Losing the Moon.
The premise of non-duality is that there is no need to strive towards achievement of reaching a place which is different from where one already is.
In fact, “achievement” takes one further away from being at one with one’s birth-right, the experiencing of the realm of non-duality.
The biggest obstacle that stands between one’s experience of separateness and interconnectedness is one’s own mind — an instrument designed mostly for survival tasks.
That’s the main reason there is such a huge marketplace of techniques, magazines, videos — and let it be said, sites — applied to working with the mind.
Read the full article: http://www.soulscode.com/?p=541
Eirini Press is a new publisher of nonduality books, filling the niche of Western contribution: http://eirinipress.com/index.html. I'm currently reading Sciousness, the nondual teachings of William James. These are rare teachings now made public. Those who have enjoyed James' The Varieties of Religious Experience will discover what James could not say in that series of lectures, the truth of "pure experience" or nondual awareness.
Sciousness is the only book from Eirini Press at this time. (If sciousness sounds like suchness, that's the point. The "Con-" is dropped since James recognized that there is no "with-suchness.")
The following, taken from the Eirini Press website, tells about forthcoming books:
Optimism— The Lesson of Ages, by Benjamin Blood. First published in 1860, this is one of the first American treatises on nonduality.
"I have
always held the opinion that one of the first duties of a good
reader is to summon other readers to the enjoyment of any unknown
author of
rare quality whom he may discover in his explorations. Now for
years my
own taste, literary as well as philosophic, has been exquisitely
titllated
by...Benjamin Paul Blood." — William James
American Mystics of 19th-century - an anthology. A selection of the writings by Benjamin Paul Blood, Richard Bucke, Louis Michel Eilshemius, Fitz Hugh Ludlow, John Ballou Newbrough, Florence Nightingale, Henry Thomas Butterworth, and Andrew Jacskon Davies.
From Masters to Mortals — Following the Taiji Path to Nonduality, by Denise Meyer
The ancient martial art of taijichuan is often a mystery to its practitioners. Manifestations of qi reveal themselves through startling insights and experiences blurring the distinctions between the physical and the spiritual. Based on interviews with 45 practitioners, including master teachers Maggie Newman, William Chen, Ken Van Sickle, Don Ethan Miller, Rick Barrett, and Stephen Watson; striking stories and patterns emerge, demonstrating how eastern metaphysical principles can be realized through a universally accessible physical practice. These accounts include weird and wondrous tales of responsive bodies, shifts in consciousness, and spontaneous spiritual experiences.
Eirini Press: http://eirinipress.com/index.html
