Thursday, January 1, 2009

You cannot NOT be what you are

What you are seeking is already here and now.

Yet it cannot be pointed out as a "thing". Any "thing" is a relative appearance.

The sense of ME isn't it. That is another "thing" appearing, another speck of knowledge, assumption, abstraction.

The body-mind isn't it. That is also another "thing" appearing, a bundle of concepts with no real or absolute separate existence.

What you are seeking is already fully present, yet it isn't any of these "things" you've identified with. It isn't a "thing" as such, because any "thing" has no real existence apart from what you are seeking.

What you are seeking, is the totality of whatever is appearing, whatever it is, whatever the "content" of this moment is.

You are this very moment, itself.

Yet "within" this moment, everything changes. All "things" are only as such because of conceptualization, assumption, abstraction, inferences, beliefs. There is only an "outside world" and separation because of this thought-process going on IN this very moment.

You are not the appearances or the thoughts. You are this moment, this "container", this Presence IN WHICH these "things" seem to happen, come and go.

Whether or not they are conceptualized, whether or not there is a belief formed in thought or not, whether or not there is a belief in a separate ME and a WORLD, makes absolutely no difference. "Self-realization" isn't "necessary" because whether there is "understanding" or not, you are still already only ever THIS.

THIS is it. THIS is all there ever is. YOU are THIS.

So the beliefs created in thoughts fall away and leave this no-thing-ness or they don't - it makes absolutely no difference. There is no "you", no separate individual, to do anything to "get it", to "make it happen", to "find out what you are".

You ARE. That's it. There is nothing to do to "get it". It is already unavoidable. You cannot NOT be what you are.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi there,
Just read your blog entry.

You say I'm not the "sense of ME" but I am the "presence". According to you, the "sense of me" is a "thing"... but the "presence" isn't!

Show me how you make that distinction? Why isn't "presence" a thing too? A sense of presence will also show up as brain activity.

Please provide proof that this "presence" isn't contingent upon the actual existence of the organic creature that creates consciousness as a 'field" of mentation due to electrical/chemical interaction in the brain.

When I look to see if there is a "me" there, I can't locate it directly, but just like invisible radio waves for example, it can't be 'found' except as an effect (like music from a radio or paintings by Picasso).

Brain surgery or onset of Alzhiemers should show you that the brain is the location of consciousness which can be altered by damage, disease, etc. The background "awareness" is also a product of brain and when the brain dies, so does the so-called awareness or "presence", unless you have some evidence to the contary, which I doubt.

Everything you are saying is a 'belief' about reality, but you're immersed in the Advaita belief bubble, so the belief is that it isn't a belief!

Thanks for listening,
Patrick

Randall Friend said...

Patrick,

Thanks for writing, my friend.

"Presence" is just another word, just like "consciousness." Neither has any reality - they are pointing to something beyond words.

Presence isn't a "thing" as such - it is the "condition" or "context" in which all things come and go.

Belief is always used as a replacement for experience - yet it may become clear that all experience is only appearance, only temporary and relative to an "individual" perspective. Even this "body-mind" is just an experience.

Pure experienc-ing has no object experienced and subject experiencer. This is very simple really, if the desire is there to lay aside pre-conceived notions and just look.

Once clear, the ideas of "brain" and "personalized awareness" are seen with every other concept as nonsense. Even the concepts of Advaita are nonsense - only pointing to something that isn't describable with words yet is undeniable if the openness is there to look.

If there is a desire to know what you are, rest with the pointers of Advaita or Zen or really any spiritual tradition - allow them to be without resistance - just accept the possibility without sacrificing your currently existing belief-system about the body and brain. This is enough.

There is no need to justify what is written in this blog - there is no one from this perspective writing it. The insights shared belong to no one. If it resonates, that's ok - if not, that's ok too.

"patrick" and "randall" do not exist as separate entities - Life is all - life at root is One in all the apparent forms - living itself, looking at itself. Life is writing this blog and also asking for proof.


love to you
randall

Anonymous said...

Hallo Randall,
Oh boy, trying to discuss anything with a paid up member of the "non-duality" club is very similar to attempting a rational conversation with a Jehovah's Witness! It's just round and round on a closed loop...

You've convinced yourself that the background "presence" or "awareness" that is experienced right now is NOT a transient effect, and there is an belief (which you would call that a "direct knowing" or something) that it is eternal or outside of time etc. You have no way of proving any of what you are claiming and it is purely a religious belief (that you must deny as being religious, due to the requirements of the heavily policed Advaita 'cult' to which you belong.)

And yes, I know, "proof" is just a demand of the mind. Personally, I wouldn't get in an airplane built by Advaitans, without some concrete "proof" that it flew!

The great thing about Eastern religions like Vedanta, is that they show us that the personal self is not the locus of being, it's just a kind of 'psychic coral' that grows in mindspace. Sole identification with it is what creates much psychological suffering.

And what is great about the western spirituality of Christianity for example, is that it confronts us with moral action and demands that how we live in the 'manifest' world is of consequence.

Hence, the Advaitan has no interest in whether you starve to death in front of him (unless some compassionate action "arises spontaneously" from THAT, blah blah... ) because it's all a kinda dream anyway. The Christian is compelled to moral action (if you see a starving man, give him your food etc), in that the manifest form of the world is considered to be as "spiritual" as the void.

The whole point is that "word has been made flesh", ie Void is form, and both are equally the same. The 'denial of form' in Advaita is an absurd mistake.

The subtle problem with your position ( and all the other grumpy post- Nisargadattan "non-dualists"), is that you have it half-right. You're not fully there yet. I have recently been looking at a book on 'undercooked partial enlightenment' being mistaken for the real thing. A very interesting read!

I'll leave it at that Randall...
All the best to "you",
Patrick

Randall Friend said...

Patrick,

Thank you for your additional comment. Your writing is very intelligent and you make very good points. I agree with everything you wrote.

You're not the first and certainly not the last to try to slice and dice the "advaita" thing - it seems your motivation is to "correct" the "misguided" advaita teachings.

Good for you! When you're done correcting all the false "teachings" in advaita, move on to Buddhism or any other "religion" with which you disagree.

But if you're looking for argument or a display of strict "advaita" or holding tight to a certain viewpoint, you've simply come to the wrong place. There are many online groups and other sites that enjoy that type of thing. I'm sure you've made the rounds already. But you won't get any of that here.

I'll simply agree with everything you said - that's because it is all ultimately true or false, depending on your perspective. Love might be defined as the ability to accept any viewpoint, the ability to reflect an absolute viewpoint.

That's the point itself. Setting up as "your view" against "mine" or "your view" against "advaita" is really quite ignorant and typifies the current "state of the world." No "individual" relative perspective can be true - yet the absolute perspective contains all relative perspectives.

I'll simply offer you love and openness to express yourself. Ultimately it's all bullshit, both yours and mine. Neither has any real value. It's just a lot of hot air...

Truth simply cannot be expressed in any viewpoint. The moment the mouth opens in an attempt to express, it's already false. And that includes every single bit of this particular blog.

Thank you for pointing out the complete bullshit present in these writings... Once you see the bullshit in your own, we'll be on the same page!

Much love to you, my friend.

randall

su said...

It is all bullshit is it not Randall.
I love your closing line.
Patrick come play in our village where we have a weekly argument in the old mill under the huge ancient water wheel.
A small donation is needed to maintenance but otherwise just appear at a certain time, willing to argue.
Should I put your name down?

Anonymous said...

Susana,
Were you kidding about the argument because I have to be a part of that.
Peaple have to know that I'm right...right? I have a really good friend who is a Christian Scholar (why is that capitalized?) He began to look into advaita and after a few months, told me that he was convinced that Christ was an Advaitan (more capitalization) Whatever that means~
It's Just THIS~~
Thanks Randall~!~!!~!

Anonymous said...

Hallo Randall,
I will keep this brief, as I can see this is a pretty preposterous correspondence:

That's a fair amount of 'passive-aggression' coming from your patronising 'superior understanding' position... Presumably, it's "you" and not "That" having a snit! Still, I know you've got to keep up the "wise one" posture.

Just a thought: 2+2=4 is true. 2+2=5 is false. Not everything is "truth".

I'll leave the last word to you - after all, it is your blog!
Adios, amigo.
Patrick

abraxas23 said...

Hi there,

I have been a student of Sri Nisargadatta for some years now, and some interesting things have been said here.

First, what do we consider as a proof? Proofs are a thing of the mind and that's OK, because it is the mind, that doubts everything, and therefore the mind has to be silenced by proofs. The mind can simply stop asking and fade away, but the western mind is not quite wiling to do this. The non-awareness of a problem is not considered to be its solution by the western mind.

What is a proof? There are certain beliefs we have accepted, but on analyzing these beliefs, we discover that they were based on assumptions and habits, that were never proved in the first place. That we are the body, that we are a person, that we are bound to time and space, all of these beliefs are the fundamental principles of western philosophy and later western science, and they are all completely wrong. Philosophers believe, that truth can be found in words, scientists believe, that truth can be found in mathematics.

What can the theory of everything TOE in physics lead to? It is a mathematical reductionism, a simplification with numbers, and even scientists agree, that all has emerged from the big bang, and that before that big bang, before time was, all was one. If there is nothing that can be described, then mathematics simply don't work, only the number one exists then, that's all.

So we have to start with this one, with this nothingness. Whether you express it with words or with numbers makes no difference. Writing a lot of formulas on a piece of paper and worshipping it as the ultimate truth is simply a magical ritual, pure superstition and thus science has become a dogma, has become a religion. Scientists defend their dogmas the same way monks and priests in the middle ages had defended theirs.

The ultimate question is this: What is nothingness? Could everything we have ever experienced have come out of nothingness? Meher Baba states, that this is exactly the case. But what is nothingness and what existed prior to nothingness? Can nothingness exist without the awareness of nothingness? This is something the western mind cannot grasp, that even nothingness is based on something.

Nothingness comes out of the potential of potentialities, and a potential cannot be described, cannot be defined by an attribute, whose existence is based on that potential. So here thinking and mathematics comes to an end.

Whatever the truth behind nothingness is, talking about it, describing it mathematically makes no sense, for it is beyond information. A concept cannot describe that which makes concepts possible. Like a property in a field cannot make any statement about the nature of that field, it can only state that it exists in it. An object in space can never explain what space is, it can only hint at the existence of an underlying principle, at space itself.

What is space? Space is our soul, and then we transcend this, and what comes next?

Obviously the Supreme Knower cannot be known, and there is more than one soul, there is the soul that is aware of all souls. This and only this can be the proof we have been looking for, we have to become the proof, for it is beyond any personal form of knowledge.

We have to become the supreme knowledge we are looking for. We have to become everything, we have to become what we have always been, but were no longer aware of. Awareness of being everything is the proof. What else could be the proof? To reach the supreme proof we have to become the supreme knower. A proof can never be more valid than our own validity allows us to. As long as we aren't aware of ourselves as the supreme knower, how supreme can our proofs be? And then even this supreme knowledge is a dream only.

god bless

Randall Friend said...

abraxas,

Very nicely said... Thanks for your comment.


love to you
randall

Anonymous said...

No matter true/false.
No matter form/emptiness.
No matter this/that.
No matter awareness, presence/brain.
No matter Nothingness/prior to Nothingness.

"In the First Instant —
Pure Intelligence IS Knowing!!! IT also ‘appears’ as everything.It IS what you are. The one who finds it is THAT."-Quote Gilbert Shultz.

Everything is the proof of THAT.