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#3293 -
The Nonduality Highlights - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDhighlights
Charlie Hayes
puts out a very good weekly letter called Nowsletter.
It is very new. I'm posting excerpts from his issue #3, the most
recent one. You may register to receive the Nowsletter by
visiting http://visitor.constantcontact.com/email.jsp?m=1101419473464.
Each issue is beautifully
designed and formatted as well as colorful. I'm posting bare
bones text rather than the full formatting, which is what we tend
to do in the Highlights.
What's the
"Answer"??
Q: When the question is
asked, "who am I?" the answer is felt to be "the
one who is listening to that question". Is that correct? It
seems that logically the answer should be "the one who is
asking the question".
C: Absolutely NOT. When
that question is "answered" the inquiry is stopped. The
deeper insight cannot come through the mind which is what
answers. That is a tail-chasing loop of ignorance! THERE IS NO
ANSWER. THAT IS "the answer". When THAT is seen - by
no-one - the search ends, usually in gales of laughter!
"You are bringing up questions which you alone can
answer." - Sri Nisargadatta
"There is no answer
to life because life is its own answer. It's happening already.
It's this. You never lost it. That's the amazing thing about
liberation. When liberation apparently happens people say,
"It's amazing because the thing I was looking for has never
left me. It's the one thing that never comes and never goes - the
one constant that can't be known or held onto." And the one
constant is being". - Tony Parsons
~ ~ ~
What Is THAT
Which IS and Prior To Words?
Pointers from
John Wheeler
"The point to all
this is simple. Everything simply appears and disappears in
consciousness. This consciousness is sometimes called the
"witness" or the "I am". But consciousness
itself is impermanent. It is just another appearance. If the
consciousness or "I am" itself comes and goes, then
what am I in the most fundamental sense? I must be that in which
consciousness appears. That is the pure awareness that knows the
coming and going of consciousness. That is the unconditioned,
unmanifest, uncreated, unborn, prior-to-consciousness reality
from which consciousness arises and into which it sets. That is
your original nature prior to birth, meaning prior to the birth
of "I am". That is not a state to be reached but the
ever-present space in which consciousness manifests. Within
physical space there may be light or darkness, but the space is
neither light nor dark. Just so, consciousness (waking, dreaming,
sensing, thinking, etc.) and non-consciousness (sleep, etc.)
appear in a basic space of non-conceptual awareness that contains
them both. What you are in the deepest sense remains regardless
of the presence or absence of consciousness".
~ ~ ~
On The Pathless
Path:
All Appears IN
and AS Blissful Being-Aliveness
Q: I'm in and out of the
story, sometimes; simultaneously in and out, usually more in than
out, but I pride myself at how good I can be at non-conceptual
awareness.
C: Wow. Pride! Which
definitely 'goeth before' a bigass FALL! And exactly who is going
to EVER "be good at conceptual awareness"? You must see
the infinite arrogance of that belief!
Q: Re: this "stay
with the sense I am" [as pointed to by Sri Nisargadatta
Maharaj] in the interest of hastening my death. If I think
"nonconceptual awareness" or "bare-naked
awareness" I can instantly do that and it feels detached and
sometimes blissful, but if I think, "stay with I am" I
feel like I'm stuck in the ego or that it's a thought loop that's
getting in the way of non-conceptual awareness.
C: Whose death? What is
that which was "born"? Only A thought! "I".
And can a thought actually get in the way of Awareness? NO.
Thoughts APPEAR IN Awareness. Like a cloud cannot affect the
empty space of sky, a thought cannot actually touch or obscure
Awareness. Now look: WHO "feels" or "thinks"
these stories of a "me stuck"? You complain of ego.
Show that ego to me! Look for an "ego". What is found?
Does this "self
center" or "discrete point of view" actually
exist? What is the so-called self center or point of view made
of? And who views what from such a point of view? Where is this
viewing point located - exactly? Does it have any actual
substance apart from a sometimes thought or sensation or
perception? Is there seeing there right now? What sees? What
hears? What is the space IN which all that story of a "poor
me" who is seeking some resolution to a problem that does
not even exist apart from imagination appears? What ARE
"you"? Are you a thing apart from this Seamless
Timeless Whole? If so what is it made up of? Who says and thinks
"I am separated and want to become whole"? The
"assumed person ' you'" - are a fictional character
pretending mightily against all evidence that you are real and
apart and this is pure imagination. You take a thought of I or ME
on board and ASSUME you are that separate entity and that you
have some power apart from the Universal Isness that is the
Causeless Source of all that is and so "you" suffer.
But it's all imagination; you are dreaming.
Ponder these words of Sri
Nisargadatta's:
"Watch yourself
closely and you will see that whatever be the content of
consciousness, the witnessing of it does not depend on the
content. Awareness is itself and does not change with the event.
The event may be pleasant or unpleasant, minor or important,
awareness is the same. Take note of the peculiar nature of pure
awareness, its natural self-identity, without the least trace of
self-consciousness, and go to the root of it and you will soon
realize that awareness is your true nature, and nothing you may
be aware of, you can call your own. When the content is viewed
without likes and dislikes, the consciousness of it is awareness.
But still there is a difference between awareness as reflected in
consciousness and pure awareness beyond consciousness. Reflected
awareness, the sense "I am aware" is the witness, while
pure awareness is the essence of reality. Reflection of the sun
in a drop of water is a reflection of the sun, no doubt, but not
the sun itself. Between awareness reflected in consciousness as
the witness and pure awareness there is a gap, which the mind
cannot cross".
Q: Also, you had a John
Wheeler, so why can't I have a John Wheeler.
C: First off WHO is that
"I" that wants ANYTHING other than what is right here
right now? Investigate! Secondly: Look, if you want to have a
John Wheeler point out what is real and what is not, why not
write to John Wheeler and not Charlie Hayes? Go see him. Set up a
consultation call with him!
Q: Will you be my John
Wheeler?
C: NO. (You're joking,
right!?) LOOK: I am happy to point out what is real and what is
not. Which is precisely what John Wheeler will more than likely
do if you meet or speak with him! In his own unique fashion.
LOOK: Find the expression that resonates vibrantly for that
"entity you assume is you" and stick with his or her
pointers until there is no false assumed personal entity believed
in any more, never, ever, and the search is done once and
forever.
Q: I know that in
non-conceptual awareness I'm already awake to some degree, but
I'm definitely not dead, even though I could honestly say,
"well, I'm not a
seeker. I get it.
C: What is the nature of
that "I" that claims "I'm already awake to some
degree"? Can't you see the bullshit in that "entity
claiming some attainment" and declares it has happened
"to me" and "to some extent" all of which
reinforces the belief in a me and time? Moreover, the assumption
"I get it" very simply proves that you do NOT "get
it". THERE IS NOTHING TO GET AND NO ONE TO GET NOTHING.
Q: This is all there is
the one life happening only now, both dream and reality, the
dream known, the reality unknown except that I am that reality
and I allow that reality to run my life, beingness makes all my
decisions, pretty much. Still, I'm definitely not dead. nyway,
thank you for your YouTube videos.
C: These
"enlightened concepts" you spout and the actual Being
This are noight and : These "enlightened concepts" you
spout and actually Being This are night and day different. KEEP
GOING. In Sri Nisargadatta's words, "The real exists and is
of the nature of witness-consciousness. Of course it is beyond
the witness, but to enter it one must first realize the state of
pure witnessing. The awareness of conditions brings one to the
unconditioned. We can talk only of the unreal, the illusory, the
transient, the conditioned. To go beyond, we must pass through
total negation of everything as having independent existence. All
things depend on consciousness. And consciousness depends on the
witness". Awareness of Being is Timeless Bliss, Perfect
Peace -- now looking within your own Consciousness, ask YOU - WHO
is aware of Being?
And WHO or WHAT is this
"I" you claim to be yourself that "assumes"
this or that? You see, that I ITSELF is a mere assumption made in
ignorance; that "I" thought has no actual substance,
and zero independent power, and in Truth that "seperate
I" does NOT exist. Yte EXISTENCE IS. Thie conceptual
"I" POINTS to Timeless Being and when that concept is
taken to be me there is much suffering. The cure os see that
phantom I as a phantom! YOU as what you "know yourself
as" are a nonexistent phantom, a ghost of wispy thought with
no capacity to do or not do, to be ort not be, a damn thing.
Q: So I practice
"Who am I? And keep thinking "maybe the next video or
rewatching the last one will tell me more about how to ask this
question". I know I'm everything and nothing and not a
person, yet I'm completely ignorant as
the experience. Who am I? I assume if I ask this question in
silence
something is going to pop up some day and that will be that.
C: This is NOT an
"experience"! Awareness is NOT a thought or a feeling,
not a perception or a sensation! As to "your doing",
you will do the next thing. The immeasurable forces that comprise
Being, Consciousness, Aliveness - Life Itself, Totality, will
push that organism and the assumed entity to the next thing with
no struggle or effort. If the assumption remains operational
under the covers, like DOS code under the Windows graphical
appearance, that "you" must "figure this out"
and "get some attainment someday" then ask WHO believes
this? WHO AM I?
The question "who am I" is NOT asked to get any answer
or any attainment. In Sri Ramana Maharshi´s words, "The
thought 'who am I' will destroy all other thoughts and in that
thought itself will also be destroyed, like a stick used to stir
a fire is also burnt up in the end -- " to dissolve the
false belief in being a separate entity that must manage and
create and exert some will or intention and try (and ALWAYS fail)
to make it's life work - and the fact is that belief in being a
"me" IS the root cause of all suffering. Remove the
cause (that false belief in 'me') and can the effects remain? No.
that final question asked relentlessly is a simple means that
many have found just flat works.
If that doesn't work keep
looking. This pathless path is made in the walking which NO ONE
does. Everything is One Essence appearing as nothing and
everything and the whole show between.
Stay simple and be in
touch is spirit so moves that happening in This Awareness that is
Real. Good luck and much love!
Follow-Up:
Q: Thank you for the
fantastic stuff. Here's an update: [It is seen that] awareness
sees the repeated question "who am I?' rattle around in the
brain, betraying the brain as a limited tool devoid of
self-identity.
Any sense of needing to
talk to the teacher is part of the dream, an imaginary teacher
teaches an imaginary student neither are real. any sense of
needing a future is false, (part of the dream), any sense of
desire or fear is false. utterly full and complete
present-awareness is the only reality. It is who I am, immutable,
eternal, now, one without a second, infinite love, generosity and
peace. What unfolds from here? More here!
C: ALL very well said. Welcome to the Home You Never Left! :-)
Much Love!
~ ~ ~
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Hayes' Nowsletter: http://visitor.constantcontact.com/email.jsp?m=1101419473464
Visit Charlie's website: http://theeternalstate.org