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#4098 -
The Nonduality Highlights - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NDhighlights
The following entry is
from the Welcome to Nonduality Blog of Jeff Keller.
He's from
"In my work life,
I've been an attorney and a self-development author/speaker. In
late 2007, I was bitten by the nonduality bug."
I met Jeff at a recent
nonduality conference and he impressed me with his desire to
disseminate the teaching of nonduality.
So Preposterous
It Has To Be True
by Jeff Keller
http://www.welcometononduality.blogspot.com/
Many of us who are attracted to nonduality messages can't explain
why we became interested in the first place. We may be fed
up with certain aspects of life, or have a nagging realization
that our models of reality are not valid and will never lead to
peace and harmony. Some are introduced to nonduality after
they have gone through a specific crisis that opened them up to
new possibilities.
At the beginning of our exposure to nonduality, what we read and
hear might sound like lunacy. So much of what we took to be
real is now being questioned. As the investigation unfolds,
our beliefs are being demolished, and we are thrown into
"not knowing." All of our apparent foundations are
crumbling, making room for a new way of seeing.
The wild thing about
nonduality is that amidst the chaos that arises initially, there
is something in us that knows we are being introduced to the
truth about ourselves. This doesn't always happen until
there is some openness to investigate our true nature. It
seems possible to "bail out" of nonduality teachings if
you are not open and willing to investigate. But once you
even start to engage in an honest inquiry, you wind up being
hooked.
Once hooked, there are
signs along the way to keep our attention on the nonduality
messages, and that allow us to continue even when confusion and
discomfort arises.
For me, one of the most
important early signs came from reading books by Byron Katie and
Eckhart Tolle. I was led somehow to pick up the book,
Loving What Is (Three Rivers Press) by Byron Katie (often
referred to as "Katie"). Katie, while in her
mid-40s, was in a dark, deep depression and full of rage.
She checked into a halfway house for women.
One morning, she had been
sleeping on the floor and woke up without any concept of who she
was. She said "there was no me." All was
well -- depression gone, rage gone. Something else was
looking through her eyes but it was all joy and peace.
In an instant, and
through no effort on her part, the individual identity had
spontaneously combusted. She no longer saw herself as a
body/mind, but rather as the Awareness or Consciousness in which
this body/mind Katie was appearing. She has remained with
that peace and joy for more than 20 years, and shares her
insights through books and by conducting workshops around the
world.
Then I was drawn to
re-read Eckart Tolle's book, The Power of Now (New World
Library). I read the book when it first came out about ten
years ago, but it didn't mean much to me. I did the usual
underlining throughout, but I wasn't ready to hear what he was
saying.
About three years ago,
when I picked up the book again, I was open to receive his
message. In the Introduction, Tolle talks about a period in
his life in his late 20s when he was suicidally depressed.
One day he woke up early in the morning and felt intense dread
and lost all desire to continue living.
He experienced intense
fear and then it passed. He then found himself in a state
of peace and bliss and the sense of personal identification had
vanished. As he describes it, "what was left then was
my true nature as the ever present I AM:
consciousness in its pure state prior to identification with
form."
Another spontaneous
combustion of the personal identity! And here again, the
individual, having lost the sense of personal identity came to a
realization that what he or she is....is the Consciousness or
Awareness in which all objects are appearing.
This was my
reaction: This is so preposterous it has to be true.
Nobody could make up a
story like this. "I was just minding my own business
(or suffering or whatever) and I woke up to the fact that what I
am is not the personal body/mind -- but rather an impersonal,
intangible, field of Awareness which is peace and joy."
This is so preposterous,
I thought, that it has to be true.
What is even more
startling is that Katie and Eckhart claim that they had no
spiritual teachers and didn't read spiritual books. It's
not that they had been reading and studying about nonduality, Zen
or eastern religious traditions. There were no apparent
reference points in their conditioning to explain this
incredible, sudden shift in their perspective.
Who could make up a story
like this? And now I had read TWO of them. Simply
preposterous.
Now, I could see someone
claiming to be the second coming of Jesus. In fact, I have
seen several people claiming this on the streets of
But how does someone with
no background in nonduality come up with a story where the
personal ego vanishes and there is a realization of the true
nature as Awareness itself? I know I'm repeating
myself, but it is truly mind boggling.
It is so
preposterous.....it has to be true.
After reading the
accounts of Katie and Eckhart, I went on the internet and found
several more accounts (including interviews) with people who had
this same experience. One moment the personal identity was
there -- the next moment it had vanished. Most of the
accounts I saw were from people who were not spiritual seekers
and who had little or no exposure to anything resembling
nonduality.
In most of these cases,
the belief in the personal identity returned for some period of
time. However, eventually, these people settled into a
realization that their true nature is Awareness and not the
personality or ego.
I also want to make it
clear that those who have these realizations do not deny or run
away from the personal identity. If you call these people
by name, they will answer you. Their lives go on much like
before; it's just that they realize their true position or
essence is not the body/mind but rather the Awareness in which
this amazing play is unfolding.
Of course, most people
who are drawn to nonduality don't have a spontaneous combustion
of the personal identity at the outset. The Katie and
Eckhart instances are probably one in a billion, or close to
that. I wouldn't recommend waiting for a spontaneous
combustion of your ego.
On the contrary, most
people who find themselves exposed to nondual teachings go
through what appears to be a process, with a roller coaster of
openings and insights, mixed with lots of frustration and
confusion along the way. In the relative play of
existence, it often takes years for the nondual realization to
mature.
When I first read the
accounts of Katie and Eckhart, what they said sounded
preposterous. Now what they said seems entirely natural and
resonates as truth, even though I haven't fully realized what
they have come to see so clearly.
What now seems
preposterous are the beliefs I held before about being a separate
individual running around in a world of separate objects.
http://www.welcometononduality.blogspot.com/