Click here to go to the next issue.

11/11/01 Sunday


****************

NETSUFI

True prayer and love are learned in the hour when prayer becomes
impossible and the heart is turned to stone.

Thomas Merton
~~~~~~~

My teacher, Achaan Chah used to wander around the monastery at times and
talk to people and just say, "Are you suffering much today?" And if you
said, "Yes," he said, "Oh, you must be quite attached," and kind of giggle
and go along. There wasn't much more to say. You come to see that you
don't own this body because it changes by itself, that you rent this house;
you get it for a little while, and you can honor it and feed it and walk
it, and jog it if you want, but it's not yours to possess. You can begin to
see, in fact, that none of these things are possessible because the nature
of life is nonpossession. You're an accountant in the firm -- you get to
count it for awhile and that's all.

Jack Kornfield

___________________________________
All religious and spiritual differences
melt away the nearer you get to God.
Net Sufi
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

RASHMI MOORJANI

1.The self is beyond all concept, all projection. It is why we cannot
steer ourselves to it under our own steam and must wait for it to
solicit us. But when it invites us, we must say yes joyfully, without
hesitation. The decision belongs to us, the only decision in which we
truly have a free choice.- Francis Lucille

2.Ramana Maharshi told a questioner that all actions are determined
except the ability to inquire into one's true nature.-Greg Goode

3.For a nondualist, who sustains that everything appears in
Consciousness, and that there is only that One Consciousness, there
is no such thing as free will, because all individual body-minds are
not real entities, but mere appearances without substance. Where
there is no real doer, there cannot be a free will.- Miguel-Angel
Carrasco

The first two statements contradict the third to my understanding.
So, really do we have a free choice on that one decision but if there
is no doer how is that so?

Love
Rashmi


JERRY KATZ


Ramana and Lucille are saying that the only real relationship is with the
Absolute. Any relationship short of that is not real, so how can there be
free will?

Miguel-Angel's One Consciousness is not the same as Lucille's or Ramana's
Absolute. In other words, Miguel-Angel is coming from a different level of
understanding. There's no contradiction. The two kinds of statements are
consistent to the points of view taken.

By the way, I'm not criticizing Miguel-Angel, and I don't know if he said
those words or whether he quoted them, and I don't know their context. I'm
simply responding to what you've delivered.

Your question: "So, really do we have a free choice on that one decision but
if there is no doer how is that so?"

The relationship with the Absolute, or with Grace, is free. The decision is
always to accept the invitation. That is done in freedom. The invitation is
your acceptance. That is done in freedom. Lucille says we must accept
joyfully and without hesitation.

This takes us back to what Nisargadatta said, that I quoted the other day:
"The very meeting a Guru is the assurance of liberation."

The Guru is Grace. The relationship with a Guru is a free one. You have free
will only in your relationship with the Guru or Grace. In that relationship
there is always acceptance. Now here there appears to be a real
contradiction. Does free will mean the freedom to choose one direction or
another? Or does it mean to be aligned with nondual reality in which there
are no directions from which to choose?


JAMES

Hi Rashmi,

When there is joy, harmony, peace, Love... the question of
Free Choice does not arise.
So if the question arises - the question is the answer - in
other words, the question is the ego, the I-entity, which is the
seperation/barrier.
The I-entity is solely interested in its own survival and one
of its favorite ruses is to ask noble sounding questions that ensure
its continuity.

Love,
james


RON WHITAKER

There is something about woodworking that draws the soul to the surface.
Not being enlightened, I can be of may thoughts and moods. Upon spending
just a few minutes in my woodworking shop I enter a meditative state of
peace and focused awareness. It is lovely.

Beginner Woodworker,
Ron



JAMES


Hi Ron,

Yes. I express this in the following way (thanks to Jean Klein).

Words cannot describe the ultimate. Words are symbols to point us
to what in reality cannot be talked about. I feel that it is
tremendously important to hear words in this way. To not hang onto the
language, to not try to fix it in the frame of knowledge.

If one allows what is behind the words to flower; then you come to
the understanding, and in this understanding there is a glimpse of
'being' the understanding.

The poetic use of words is only to come to the understanding with
the right representation, the right geometric pattern. It is here that
there is a glimpse of reality. And then this representation, this
understanding which is still a formulation (the witness), completely
dissolves in 'being the understanding', and there is nothing more to
understand.

Then there is listening, non-intentional listening, listening
where there is no listener and nothing to listen to, no anticipation
and free from all expectation - innocent attention, innocent listening
- then there is a transmission which is beyond words.

In Being Listening, intelligent action comes from the situation
itself. There is no doer and everything gets done - harmoniously.

Love,
james


JAN B.

The witness isn't involved - untouched, unmovable, passive.
Involvement like in arts implies forgetfulness - only the
'act of art' remains. And of course there is no boundary -
the witness is always "behind the scene" as indicated by the
recursion, witnessing the witnessing of witnessing (ad infinitum)...
Such recursion always indicates "something ungraspable"
for the mind. When there is equanimity, peace, what remains to
witness?

Peace,
Jan


Dear Jan and James

I am crying.

Ron


JERRY KATZ

Hello,

I've added three new definitions of nonduality to my growing collection,
which began when I couldn't find a definition of nonduality in any
dictionary in the reference section of the city library.

Two of the definitions are challenging. They are from David R. Hawkins
and Adi Da. A third is from Justin Stone, a renowned teacher of Tai Chi
Chih. I first heard about him from one of his students in the early
70's.

Please go to the home page where you will see the links.
<http://nonduality.com>

Thank you. You may also submit your own definition of nonduality. I'm
always looking to add to the collection.

Jerry Katz

top of page