Click here to go to the next issue
Highlights Home Page | Receive the Nonduality Highlights each day
How to submit material to the Highlights
Nonduality Highlights: Issue #3772, Sunday, January 10, 2010, Editor: Mark
To any conceptual problem there cannot be any valid answer except
to see the problem in perspective as an empty thought. There is
no such thing as a "problem" which is other than merely
conceptual.
- Ramesh Balsekar, posted to ANetofJewels
Mind is interested in what happens, while awareness is interested
in the mind itself. The child is after the toy, but the mother
watches the child, not the toy.
- Nisargadatta Maharaj, posted to ANetofJewels
When you truly penetrate to see the present, with its arisings
and ceasings, it's really no great affair at all. Whatever one
thinks about will naturally come to a close. But if you can't
foresee its cessation, then whatever comes up will be grasped and
held, plunging you into turmoil and continuing thought
proliferations. You must stop this stream of conceivings and
imaginings. Cut it off! Secure mindfulness and fix your total
attention on the mind, and the chain of thought and fantasy -
which had become an obsession - can be broken and stopped. You
can do this at any time and the mind will always release its hold
and become still and free. This must then be guarded as the
normal state of mind by repeatedly keeping the thought
proliferations in check. Whenever they run out of control you
must be aware of the situation and stop them. You should practice
like this until you become skilled, until the mind is no longer
stuck in its obsessions.
- Upasika Kee Nanayon, posted to DailyDharma
Is Self Realization a Lottery?
Is Self realization really a lottery? Are we struck awake? Is
nondual awakening difficult? Or is it simply another thought
arising, appearing as a seperate "me", setting itself
apart from the present recognition of that which is aware of that
point of view?
Here is the Question we fielded for Scott Kiloby, yesterday:
As I understand it, Satyam Nadeen says it's a lottery as to
whether one becomes realised, indeed there's a balancing process
at work to ensure the ratio of awake to unawake stays the same.
Also, the act of seeking itself only intensifies the perception
of separation, a fact I can attest to. I find it hard to rest as
awareness, not do or surrender but is there any point anyway,
since it's all up to God?
What approach would you suggest?
Scott Answers:
Hi! When we emphasize a point of view about the difficulty of
recognizing awareness (i.e., becoming realized), it can--in
my experience--become a subtle belief. These kinds of beliefs are
like a conceptual lens through which we are looking at life,
reality, awakening, the self, etc.
If there is an emphasis on the thought, "awakening is
difficult and like a lottery," that is the reality I see. It
is one way the sense of "me" continues to appear to set
itself apart from the present recognition of that which is awake
TO the point of view, "awakening is difficult and like a
lottery." In not seeing that this viewpoint is merely an
appearance of awareness, it can easily be believed. And then it
becomes like reality.
As you sit here reading this email right now, let that thought
arise: "Becoming realized is difficult and like a
lottery." Just look from a "place" that is farther
back, so to speak. Notice that there is "something"
that is looking at that thought. This is miraculous because it
can give an immediate sense of what the word
"awareness" is pointing to. Immediately we see that,
far from being something that is realized by some guru living
somewhere else who was fortunate, the word awareness is pointing
to what is looking right here. It's what is looking at that
thought about the "lottery." And now it is what is
reading this sentence. For now, go ahead and locate that
awareness in the body and mind at first if that is helpful. We
can point out of that body/mind container later.
But there is something right here, right now that sees the
thought, "Awakening is difficult and like a lottery."
Feel into the simple sense of this non-conceptual awareness that
is awake to that concept. See that the point of view (when it
isn't manipulated and when other stories aren't added to it to
make it more believable) just dissolves away or resolves itself
very gently back into awareness. It is seen to be just a passing
point of view rather than reality. It just fades very sweetly
back into its source. And what is left is STILL this that is
looking. Perhaps a new thought appears or nothing appears for a
moment or two. In any event, the one, changelessly present aspect
of your experience is this simple awakeness. It is the same
awakeness that sees these words and allows each one of them to
just fall away very naturally.
The only thing that can be directly known to be happening is that
there is this awareness and whatever viewpoint is appearing in it
right here and now (or whatever is appearing in it now including
feeling, sensation). To say that anything else is happening is
speculation, is it not? Even if the thought appears, "There
is a party in my neighbors backyard right now," that thought
appears to present awareness, right here and now. Even if the
thought "awakening is difficult," reappears while
reading this post, it appears in this present space. We cannot
know that it is pointing to anything beyond what is being
experienced right here and now. The thought that tries to prove
that awakening really IS difficult and then gives other examples
of other fortunate people "out there," is actually
happening right here and now in this present awakeness. There is
no way to touch or experience "other fortunate people who
have become realized" except as a presently appearing
thought, which always appears within this present space of
looking.
If heard, this can suck the life out of the notion that there is
something else, besides your present experience, that is supposed
to be known, experienced, or that you must attain, get, move to,
or understand. This sucks the life out of the notion that there
are correct experiences, thoughts, emotions, and states to have
and that others are having them and you are not. What is
appearing is all here is.
The falling away of every point of view is quite beautiful.
Here is a nice little experiment. Don't go back and re-read what
I've said. Notice that every word that is being read right now
just falls away on its own when it isn't emphasized and when you
aren't moving to add more thoughts into the first thought, in
some attempt to prove that the first thought is right OR wrong.
For example, this sentence is now being read. Now the previous
sentence is gone and this sentence is now being read. Each of
these sentences is presenting a point of view. If any of them are
emphasized over the simple recognition of what is looking, any of
them can become a subtle belief system. Our greatest viewpoints
about awakening, as well as our scariest or worst, are all equal
appearances of this space that is looking. We can attain a good
conceptual understanding of non-duality. That can be helpful. And
then we can see that it fades like your last breath just faded.
In the death of that viewpoint, there is awareness, again, and
again, and again. It's this space that never leaves.
We don't want to turn away from thought, but rather to see that
thought comes and goes in what is changelessly present and awake.
To be clear about this allows us to stop emphasizing viewpoints
and to recognize the great space in which those viewpoints
appear.
This is really about the possibility of allowing all these
viewpoints to do what they want to do quite naturally and to be
as they are. They want to appear and disappear. They have an
energy of their own. They are dynamic and alive. But the
viewpoints are the energy of awareness itself. They have no
separate existence from the space that looks at them. This which
is awake (this space) and that is looking at every sentence that
appears here really has no agenda to grasp onto anything said
here. To believe that awareness has an agenda to do something
with what appears within awareness is to treat them as separate
things, as if one is acting on another. It's as if there is
really a "me" there that has to get rid of, neutralize,
go back and understand, or do anything with what appears. The
"me" itself is one of the appearances.
And so as this sentence fades, it's gone. Gone like yesterday's
lunch. There is nothing to really revisit even in this post.
Whatever meaning is being conveyed in each sentence conveys
itself immediately and then disappears. There is a tendency to
"go back" to what is said in order to hold onto
meaning, as if meaning is only in the words. That is fine if that
is what appears. But there is another possibility. When we look
from and as awareness itself, as each thought comes and goes, we
stop looking exclusively through these beliefs and points of
view.
In sitting for one moment without the thought, "Awakening is
difficult, like a lottery," we see that whatever that
sentence was trying to convey, the meaning or conveyance is NOT
there when the thought is not there. This calls into question
whether the thought itself was conveying any reality at all. So
when that thought is not being emphasized, there is no awakening.
No difficulty. No lottery. They are thoughts that just aren't
there anymore so whatever "reality" they were bringing
leaves when the thoughts leave. So were they conveying reality at
all????
What is left is what is always left... simple presence and
whatever new thought appears (or maybe no thought). The new
thought could just as easily be its opposite, "Awakening is
easy. It's available to me and everyone else right now." Yet
I'm not even asking you to believe that thought. That thought too
passes like a breeze...
You can revisit what is said in this post. But even the
revisiting appears and disappears. And yet the one constant is
this present awareness that has no agenda to grasp onto any
sentence. It simply looks. That is really all that it does. It
doesn't have an agenda to hold onto any of these points of view.
These viewpoints are inseparable appearances of awareness, but
they are not the awareness itself. They are different
"realities" appearing within and as the present space.
So all these viewpoints, contained in each sentence, just fade
very naturally.
Just as a thought appears, it is already on its way out... it's
already in the process of disappearing. And we are left with the
direct evidence, as each sentence leaves, that what is left is a
simple, pure seeing. It's like everyday awareness. It's like
every moment wants to reveal that our most precious viewpoints
are like lightning bugs or shooting stars. They appear and then
disappear. Nothing is held onto, everything just goes...
In this way, you never again have to believe what any spiritual
teacher tells you including anything I say. It's all information.
Certain pointers can be helpful and language is a tool of
communiction which is really beautiful. It can communicate about
this very natural way of being. But we no longer have to look to
it for bedrock truth. We no longer have to emphasize thoughts
like,"Becoming realized is difficult, like a lottery."
That thought comes and goes, leaving no trace. When it's
emphasized, it becomes a belief. It becomes the "me"
that is setting itself apart from present awareness. But when
investigating, there is no way to actually set oneself apart from
awareness. The "lottery" viewpoint is appearing within
present awareness.
I can't imagine that every post will be this long, but who knows?
:) Perhaps you get a taste of how I point.
Hope that helps,
- Scott Kiloby, from StillnessSpeaks, which you can join here:
http://stillnessspeaks.com/newsletter_signup