Right here and now, your true essence is wholeness. There is nothing lacking, nothing to get, nothing to gain. You are perfect before the next seeking thought, before the next book is read, before the next meditation.
Wholeness is your true nature. Reality is one without the possibility of a second, and you are THAT. The very essence of all appearance is that Oneness. Yet there is a sticking point - "I must find the answers."
It is believed that if you don't find the answers, then you are lacking something. This situation requires the existence of some separate entity who may or may not find answers. This situation suggests that this separate entity is not presently whole and can find wholeness through spirituality.
Yet the Nondual Traditions state that you are ALREADY WHOLE. So seeking wholeness is ABSOLUTELY a sign of missing the point.
Therefore find out where is the assumption that you are NOT whole. Find out what concept or assumption is hanging around and constantly projects the idea that you are NOT Wholeness.
Instead of waiting for some experience to come, some validating flash of wisdom and lights - find out HOW this Wholeness is mistaken for separateness. Look right now at the necessary assumptions which insert themselves at every turn, at the tail end of every "pointer".
It is the belief that YOU are a separate entity, born and later to die.
So examine this belief. Find out it's nature. Find out what exactly this separate entity is supposed to be. See that it's a mixture.
It's a mixture of the CERTAINTY of existence - what the mind calls "I AM" - and the objective content called "body-mind".
SEE that the difficulty in seeing through this false separate entity is there BECAUSE that "I AM-ness" is so strong and certain.
Vedanta says we must discriminate between reality and assumption. Reality is this unspoken or non-conceptual "I AM-ness" - the pure and certain knowledge that you ARE. THAT is tied up with the closest objects - the mind believes that this certainty of I AM MUST BE some "thing". So the most convenient "thing" is body-mind.
And AS a body-mind, you must have an opposite. AS a body-mind, your opposite is the world. AS a body-mind, you must have a limited duration and distance - space and time.
But you NEVER WERE limited in this way. It is only due to the mistaken mixture of this certainty of existence with objective content that this supposed "separate entity" is believed in.
Recognize that you ARE - find out why you are so certain. It isn't because you see a body and thoughts. It is because you are ALWAYS HERE and ALWAYS AWARE. That simple, obvious and ever-present being/knowing is IT. THAT survives the coming and going of Consciousness. THAT is the very essence of all appearance - no appearance has ever BEEN without that knowing presence.
Recognize this certain and intimate knowledge of existence - it IS before the next thought comes, taking this immediacy as some "thing", some separate and limited "thing".
The wholeness which is being sought after is always what you ARE. Seeking it requires that wholeness to be conceptualized into some "thing" - the very assumption obscures what is being sought.
Writings on Nonduality and Vedanta from Randall Friend
19 comments:
This is wholeness...a great pointer...love "your" stuff, Randall, marvelously clear.
i'm always here and always aware because i have a body. anything else is just conjecture on my part.
T,
That you have a body is conjecture. That you are always here and aware is obvious.
How do you know it's even a body? Where did you get that concept? How do you know of the body? It's purely sensation which is then labeled "body" and then "my body".
What you call "body" is simply uninvestigated. The body is objective content to THAT which is ever unchanging and limitless. It is only the idea that you are a separate and limited body which apparently binds.
love
randall
no body, dead body..no awareness. where's the awareness for a dead body?
T,
Your question assumes awareness was previously contained IN a body, the function OF a body.
The body is known IN awareness. How can you speak of a body unless this is so?
The body, dead or not, appears in awareness. Your question absolutely personalizes awareness, which is not the case.
This is an invitation to question the concrete beliefs. Separation or the idea of a separate person abiding in a body is only due to mental translation. That mental translation is subject to question.
Standing upon the assumption of awareness as a function of a body, a personal function, is remaining within the mental translation. If the desire or openness comes, then this assumption WILL be questioned.
Either way, it is irrelevant, because you already ARE the wholeness which is being sought after, even if there is a false mental translation. It makes no difference.
love
randall
so what will you be aware of when randall physically dies?
T,
There is no randall to physically die. What is randall or "t"? Isn't it a concept? Just a name given to something which there is no real clarity on?
Investigate the body - find out how you know of it. What is it? Automatically spitting out assumptions is itself the very bondage being sought freedom from.
"Body" is a concept. There is no such thing in reality. Body is only known due to a bundle of passing sensations which are later labeled "body" and then "my body", and only then can we speak of a "me" bound within that limited and temporary shell.
These passing sensations are known to you - you objectify these sensations. What you are is the subjectivity to the sensation called "body".
There is no separate person abiding in a body, possessing awareness which comes and goes.
Awareness remains unchanged, unmodified, uncorrected while the so-called body comes and goes. This is quite obvious if the concrete assumptions are laid aside and reality is directly investigated.
Hanging on to these assumptions and then seeking freedom is called "ignorance" in Vedanta. It is ignoring reality - reality isn't obscured in any way. It's glossed over in grasping onto the illusory concepts of body and mind.
love
randall
i've tried over and over to follow the pointings but the ignorance never leaves. i don't know who is to lay these concrete assumptions aside and sure don't have the ability to do so. some of 'us' are just not meant to see.
T,
"some of us are just not meant to see" is false. There are not separate individuals, some who see this and some who do not or cannot. Seeing is happening, and within the seeing appear the idea of "T" or "randall" along with the idea of "seeing this".
The accumulation of knowledge or concepts is the basis from which the search is being conducted. There is the absolute concept of "Me" and that "Me" is doing the searching, trying to find the answers, following the pointings. All activity is based absolutely on that primary concept of the separate individual. But it is the separate individual itself which IS the illusion or ignorance.
The exact point of inquiry is - how do you know of this separate individual? How EXACTLY do you know of yourself as separate? Prove to yourself your own separate existence. See if you can.
All you can absolutely know is that you ARE, you are present - you are always HERE - and you are aware - always knowing, always experiencing - always the aware-ness.
This presence of awareness is NOT a "thing". It is the basis for all "things". It does not appear. It is the subjectivity which objectifies EVERYTHING, including the sensations called "body and sensations called "thought."
This pure subjectivity is always here at the "center" of all experience - the necessary component no matter what the experience is.
This subjectivity is absolutely and intimately known right now even before any search, before any pointers. This subjectivity is the actual nonconceptual reference in the word "I". It's what "I" actually means.
The mind can only work dualistically - it can only think in terms of "things" - and all "things" have opposites. So the mind translates this certainty of being or presence of awareness or subjectivity as "I AM".
So "I AM" is absolutely known as true but translated as a thing - body-mind. The bundle of sensations (objects) are taken to be that I AM-ness, that certainty of being. And that is then captured in a concept called "Me" - some "thing" which must, as all things do, have a beginning and an end, which must, as all things do, have an opposite - the opposite of I AM is "world".
So it is this misidentification or translation of that pure being or "I AM" or subjectivity as a "thing" which creates the idea of "ME".
But that "I AM" never was an object, never was a separate "ME". That "I AM" is always the pure subjectivity which is the very principle by which the world, body and mind appear.
That I AM-ness is the Self. And the Self is formless knowing, present right now, known intimately. You are already THAT. There is no separate "me" who needs to find the answers or cannot find the answers while others do. There is only the Self - one Self.
And that is YOU.
love
randall
When you see that you are not the doer,not the controler of this life,life goes on as if you were in control,as if you were the doer...the "me" is free to be there!
that's the complete freedom,to still be "as if" there is a me with its judgments ,opinions,pissed off states,angers...to completly be pissed off,to completly be sad or bored!if there is a sense of non okaness,that's ok! that's freedom!
of course there could be also the complete disappearance of the sense of me and everything is experienced differently,and so what? what would be gained by that?
when there is a deep understanding that you are not in control of this life,so the sense of being in control can fully be experienced...there is no guaranty that this sense of doership will fall away...so be completly as you are,be judgmental,critical,selfish,joyful,sad,pissed off...you are both all of that and none of that...who cares if what i said is pseudo or neo advaita?? :-)
Dear Randall,
Pointing happens, seemingly from appearances including those labeled Randall/Gilbert/Nisargadatta. Assumptions, of course.
The questions remain:
Who is causing the pointing to happen, or how is the pointing being caused to happen?
Why does it happen?
Kent
Hi Kent,
there really are no questions that remain. There are 'answers' you have that remain. (thanks to UG for this, he pointed out that all questions are based on answers/beliefs/assumptions). All your 'questions" come from assumptions and beliefs/answers - In essence, your "answer/belief" is that everything requires a cause/impetus. Your questions are premised on that answer that you take to be absolutely true. If you can even for a moment accept a-causal occurrences (and there are a million happening right NOW, in fact all occurrences are a-causal but some can be seen to be obviously so) then everything is just happening. No Cause. Its here to see if you can drop all the preconceptions.
Hi Randall - you often say THIS is IT. Whatever THIS is.
So during the conscious state, THIS includes "Shiva" and "Randall". So, in truth, one cannot claim that the "ego" or whatever label is given...is 'false' or illusion - it IS part and parcel of THIS. Illusion cannot exist without an underlying reality and in fact then there is ONLY REALITY - illusion requires reality and therefore IS a part of it. The only ignorance is in then association - i Am 'Shiva" or i AM Randall - when in fact both are equally appearances, parts of the Whole. And even that ignorance does not change the reality or diminish it in anyway - so any so called realization/awakening doesn't mean squat.
If you have any response i'd be greateful to hear it...
thank you again for all of this
S
Randall,
Its clear that whatever you respond - "yes you are right" or "no that is ignorance" - is irrelevant! I might as well go watch the seagulls on the lake as its the first sunny day in weeks here.. :)
I am greateful for Randall Friend.
love to you
S
Kent,
"Why" is always mind. Why is the mind utilizing it's platforms of belief to construct another story.
The answer might be - who knows? Another answer might be - no pointing is actually happening. The most practical answer is - I have no idea. What is, is.
love
randall
Anonymous,
Yes. Illusion and realization are both within the relative perspective, only applicable to an individual, which never actually existed apart from the totality.
Therefore ignorance and enlightenment are false. There is only the Self.
love
randall
Shiva,
Yes. Absolutely irrelevant. Nothing is to change, to gain. THIS remains as it is, no matter the translation.
love
randall
Randall,
This is seen & understood. Thank you.
Kent
Anonymous/Shiva,
Thanks for pointing; it is understood.
The questions posed are now seen as being reliant on a belief/assumption of causality, and belief/assumption itself is illusion. For that matter any/all questions, regardless of their 'source' and content and 'where' they appear are illusory in essence, also being reliant on belief/assumption.
The act of posing a question, as with pointing, is a-causal; the question/pointing just 'appears'. What is, is - illusion notwithstanding.
Kent
nope, not seen at all. if 'someone' is meant to see they will, if not they won't.
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