Dustin LindenSmith and Jerry Katz converse about a
multitude of things for an hour, including conducting a fundraiser
for the CKDU radio station. Lots of interesting topics and we do
get into nonduality!
We announced that co-host Mandee has departed NNTR
in order to pursue other projects which require her priority.
However, Mandee will appear as an occasional guest and as an
ongoing inspiration and a model radio host I'll try to emulate
best I can. Much gratitude to Mandee for inspiring and initiating
this show and for momentum to keep it going. You can keep up with
Mandee via her websitehttp://yogaheart.ca
All my life I have been described as aloof, quiet,
reserved, etc. You get the idea. And my writing is often rowdy and
rough. All of us are strange complex creatures of the cosmos,
beautiful and frightening, dangerous and deluded. We swim in a
metaphoric sea alone and together at one and the same time.
We know each other on a subconscious level. We know
what foods we must eat in order to survive. In that we are like
any other species. We are energy-emitting thingies that come in
all shapes and sizes. Some of us like to be alone more than with
others and vice versa.
We can all be scared shitless on hearing dire
diagnoses. We can all strike out in anger when attacked. We all
wear masks and scuba gear and carry oxygen talks when we climb the
heights. We post on Facebook and snub our enemies instead of love
them. Everyone is transgressing all the time and no one will cop
to it unless forced to do so.
We think once we get things figured out, get our
acts together, than there will be world peace and something good
to watch on TV. We all think that the government is insane and the
wrong people are running the show. No one brushes their teeth
quite long enough and no one feels like they can’t wait to get
their teeth cleaned because it is so much fun. I shall skip over
mammograms, rectal probes and UFOs.
Okay, now that you have read this essay, I am
issuing a Brown Alert. No, not for your underwear. Just eat some
chocolate. And don’t say I didn’t warn you. I don’t wish to
receive any mail about how fruits and vegetables are good for you
and that YOU brush your teeth for two minutes and 30 seconds. I
might have to stop you from posting on Facebook....
At ease, soldiers. Smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em. (That’s
a joke, too.)
discovering truth without all the dogma radical freedom, peace, and happiness
Why That Isn’t It
People make such a big deal about experience. Good
experience. Bad experience. Ecstatic experience. Horrific
experience. And we seek out the good and the ecstatic while trying
to avoid the bad and the horrific.
But this is the mistake. Because there’s something
much closer than experience that you can seemingly (thought not
truly) miss out on when you’re seeking to get and get rid of
certain types of experience.
The reason that this has been on my mind lately is
that I’ve been reading more than usual about so-called “spiritual
awakenings.” (I’ve been researching to find good places to publish
some of my writing, and I’ve read bits and pieces of what appears
in these publications.) And frankly, I think that many of these
accounts, are still deluded. Any time there is an emphasis on the
experience of oneness or the experience of peace or the experience
of wholeness – complete with the dissolving of boundaries and the
flow of love and the profound sense of stillness and all the
fireworks then at the very least these sorts of stories are
misleading.
They are misleading because they speak of
extraordinary experiences. The sorts of experiences that we are
conditioned to seek out. This is why LSD or MDMA is so great –
because they can provide these types of experiences. But if you’ve
ever come down off of LSD or MDMA then you know that there’s an
end to the trip. It’s an experience.
There’s nothing wrong with experience. It’s
happening all the time. And I sure as hell would rather pleasant
psychedelic grooviness to, say, a fork in the eyeball. So we
naturally have preference for what we perceive to be pleasant or
at least neutral experience instead of what we perceive to be
unpleasant experience. If you have followed this blog long enough
then you already know that I’ve had my share of unpleasant
experience. And by no means do I actively seek out those
unpleasant experiences.
But the idea that experience is “it” – the answer,
the solution, the thing to end all suffering – is deluded. The end
to suffering is not about experience. It’s about what is closer
than experience.
And that is why so many of these so-called
“spiritual awakening” stories are just rubbish. It sets up the
“spiritual teachers” as someone special who has attained something
you want. But what you most want isn’t a thing. It’s not something
that anyone has. It’s not about being special. It’s about the
utter lack of specialness. It is completely ordinary. It is this.
Already this.
If you want to see visions and be blissed out then
there are plenty of ways to do that. A good strain of cannabis
perhaps? Bhagavan Das kirtans that last all night? An ayahuasca
ceremony?
But just because something produces visions and
feelings of bliss doesn’t mean it has anything to do with
recognizing the simplicity of what is – which is the end of
suffering. It doesn’t even mean that it’s good for you!
So the question is: what do you most truly want? Do
you want blissed out feelings and visions and extraordinary
experience? Or do you want true peace and freedom.
Because they’re not the same thing.
Then again, they are. Because all that is is true
peace and freedom.
But as long as you are seeking some extraordinary
experience, something other than this, something for a special you
to experience, then you’re overlooking what is closer.
What is it that is here regardless of experience?
What is it that is here regardless of whether you are feeling
special or not? What is here regardless of whether you are even
aware of yourself or not?
This. This is always here. Not this that you can
give a name to. Not this special experience. Not this idea of who
you are. Not this place. Not this vision.
Just this.
It’s so simple. Whatever is, is it. High as a kite
or bored out of your mind. This.
My upper back and neck feel like shit. My hands and
fingers ache. Sounds. Kids crying. Dog wants to be fed. Feel of
air on the nostrils. Saliva. Eyes blinking.
This.
Whatever this is.
It’s never what we call it or imagine it to be. It’s
not upper back and neck feel like shit as an idea. It’s the
direct, immediate meeting of whatever it is that then gets called
something.
It’s not a thing.
It’s this.
This is not special. There is nothing other than
this. You cannot compare it to anything else. All comparisons are
just this.
You still want something special. You want something
other than this. You want psychedelic grooviness. You want great
orgasms all the time. You want to never be constipated or get
hemorrhoids. You want to never get cancer. Just endless bliss and
goodness.
You’ll keep searching. Until you stop. And then
there is just this. And it is clear that this is all that ever is.
And this is true peace and freedom.
What a relief.
~ ~ ~
About himself, Joey writes...
So here on this site you’ll find information about
all of my varied interests. Much of my interests are shaped by my
so-called past, which includes anorexia, obsessive-compulsive
disorder (OCD,) anxiety, stress, fixation, obsessive thinking,
fear, worry, anger, rage, Lyme disease, spirituality, seeking,
stupid restrictive diets (vegan, paleo, primal, low carbohydrate,
sugar free, salt free, etc.,) diet recovery, satsang, multiple
chemical sensitivity, meditation, chanting, prayer, gynecomastia,
weight loss, weight gain, overcoming eating disorders, letting go,
Law of Attraction, New Thought, and more. But my interests are
certainly not limited to any of that!
My passion is sharing the possibility of discovering
true peace and freedom, which is available to each of us in every
moment when only we know where to look! Or, perhaps, more
importantly, how to cease looking so much. Because it turns out
that the search for something better is the source of suffering.
And the end of suffering is the recognition that this is it.