Whatever is going on right now, whatever has gone on, and whatever may go on, is perfect.
If you "aren't there yet", that's perfect.
If you just have an "intellectual understanding", that's perfect.
For it to not be perfect is to suffer.
To suffer is to have a condition - a condition on whatever is going on.
For it to be ok is to not suffer. To resist is to suffer. To argue with reality is to suffer.
So in the midst of the spiritual search, we must somehow be ok with our present level of "achievement" or understanding. We must know deep down that it will work itself out. As long as we are determined to inquire into the nature of reality, we cannot fail. As long as we are willing to question our dearest beliefs, we cannot fail. The false cannot stand up to that spotlight.
But if we go about it as a way to make life suck less, then we are missing the point. If we just want to see through the illusion because the world sucks so bad, then we are only making suffering worse. Because our life may suck and we want enlightenment to save us - when it doesn't then we add onto our suffering.
Whatever it is that brought the spiritual search, let that resolve it. Let that drive come and do what it may do. Don't judge, don't want it to be otherwise, don't argue with your current level of understanding.
If we are resisting, we are suffering. That's just a fact. To resist resistance is still resistance. To see the futility and insanity of resistance is the end of suffering.
Writings on Nonduality and Vedanta from Randall Friend
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
You Never Change
What is real never was born nor dies, never changes, does not come and go.
What is real can never be negated or denied.
What is unreal does not exist.
What changes, what was born and dies, what comes and goes, is unreal.
The world, the body, the thoughts - all these change, come and go, are born and die. All these can be negated, even the knowledge of them is subject to change.
What is the only thing that can never be negated? What is the only thing in a lifetime of experience that has never changed?
It is YOU. Your Self. You have never changed, you have never come and gone. You are the Reality while the world, body and thoughts come and go as appearance.
You are that to which appearance comes and goes. You are that reality which IS while the world, body and thoughts are only appearance.
Your relationship to the world, body and thoughts is that of awareness of them. They come and go because you are PRESENT and AWARE.
Therefore the world, body and mind are nothing BUT the EXPERIENCING of them. The experiencing of the world, body and mind IS what we "call" awareness. They are not separate things that you are aware OF. The very experience itself IS Awareness.
There is no experience vs. experiencing. These are one and the same reality, always.
Therefore the world, body and thoughts are apparent comings and goings OF your Self. Before you called it "world, body, and thoughts", it had no label of separate-ness. Before you called it "experience" it had no separate-ness.
It is only the habitual concept which seems to bind. Therefore the only liberation is seeing the concept as unreal, as learned, as not actual.
How do you come to see or realize this? Allow that, maybe for the first time, to be the subject of inquiry. Don't assume it's already true and then use it as a platform from which to inquiry. Inquire into the nature of the foundation itself.
What comes and goes is not real. You are the only thing that never comes and goes, throughout a lifetime of experience. Find out what it is that never changes.
What is real can never be negated or denied.
What is unreal does not exist.
What changes, what was born and dies, what comes and goes, is unreal.
The world, the body, the thoughts - all these change, come and go, are born and die. All these can be negated, even the knowledge of them is subject to change.
What is the only thing that can never be negated? What is the only thing in a lifetime of experience that has never changed?
It is YOU. Your Self. You have never changed, you have never come and gone. You are the Reality while the world, body and thoughts come and go as appearance.
You are that to which appearance comes and goes. You are that reality which IS while the world, body and thoughts are only appearance.
Your relationship to the world, body and thoughts is that of awareness of them. They come and go because you are PRESENT and AWARE.
Therefore the world, body and mind are nothing BUT the EXPERIENCING of them. The experiencing of the world, body and mind IS what we "call" awareness. They are not separate things that you are aware OF. The very experience itself IS Awareness.
There is no experience vs. experiencing. These are one and the same reality, always.
Therefore the world, body and thoughts are apparent comings and goings OF your Self. Before you called it "world, body, and thoughts", it had no label of separate-ness. Before you called it "experience" it had no separate-ness.
It is only the habitual concept which seems to bind. Therefore the only liberation is seeing the concept as unreal, as learned, as not actual.
How do you come to see or realize this? Allow that, maybe for the first time, to be the subject of inquiry. Don't assume it's already true and then use it as a platform from which to inquiry. Inquire into the nature of the foundation itself.
What comes and goes is not real. You are the only thing that never comes and goes, throughout a lifetime of experience. Find out what it is that never changes.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Am I a Limited Thing or NOT?
As long as you take yourself to be something finite, your search for wholeness will continue. To sit and read spirituality and hope for some experiential change is bullshit. This is about what you take yourself to be. It is about Self-Knowledge. Knowing what you are.
Right now you settle for identification with the finite and limited. AS that you naturally seek to be free of that limitation. But what is finite and limited cannot, by any means, become limitless and whole. You seek freedom because you believe yourself to be bound.
No resolution can come of this through any means except knowing what you are, finding out IF you are this limited entity or not. If you are in fact limited then the search is over. If you are NOT limited then the search is also over.
To sit identified WITH the finite and limited and then wait for some spiritual revelation is bullshit. Dive deep into this idea you have about yourself, this idea that you are actually limited and then see if it's true. See if the identification is true.
We often say - I have read such and such for many years, done this and that practice, yet I am still not there yet. This is still ignorance of your true nature or Self. WHO is it that has done this? WHO? There has been no actual investigation into the root idea of what you are.
"I have done this or that, yet I am still suffering." WHO is being referred here? WHO has done this and that - WHO is suffering? THAT is the identification in action. THAT is taking yourself to BE the limited - the body, the mind. So this statement is saying that I AM that limited body-mind and that body-mind is still suffering. That body-mind is not YET FREE. This is absolutely a fantasy. The so-called body-mind, as we take it to be, IS limited. IF you are that, then you will always be limited. SEE if this identification is true before accepting the limits of BEING that.
There is only one question of concern - AM I a limited entity or NOT? IF I am a limited entity then I can quit searching right now, seeing that spirituality is just the mind's fantasy of BECOMING something. That has never worked in any other pursuit in life and it won't work in spirituality.
IF I am NOT limited then the search is over also. I discover that the idea of myself as limited was only ever an assumption, only identified with the finite and limited, taking myself as a form, an appearance, a thing-among-things.
Don't fall for any spiritual bullshit. Don't think this is about just reading a few books and then sit back and wait for enlightenment to come. You must LOOK for yourself at the root idea you have about what you are. You must LOOK at the identifications which are there and see if they are true or not.
This isn't about someone telling you the truth and then you have to come to believe it also, to pick up a new belief. It will NEVER be resolved until you come to that truth for yourself. When you SEE that you were never limited then the search is over, seeking ends naturally, the false falls away naturally.
The suggestion is to stop waiting for some golden nugget to set you free. Dive into the root idea you have about yourself and see if it's true or not. If it's true, the search is over. If it's not, the search is over.
But the false cannot stand up to investigation. IF you truly do dig into it, poke around that idea, the false disappears like darkness when the light is turned on. The only freedom is freedom from the IDEA of bondage. In other words, you only BELIEVE yourself to be bound, to be limited.
Find out if that's true or not.
Right now you settle for identification with the finite and limited. AS that you naturally seek to be free of that limitation. But what is finite and limited cannot, by any means, become limitless and whole. You seek freedom because you believe yourself to be bound.
No resolution can come of this through any means except knowing what you are, finding out IF you are this limited entity or not. If you are in fact limited then the search is over. If you are NOT limited then the search is also over.
To sit identified WITH the finite and limited and then wait for some spiritual revelation is bullshit. Dive deep into this idea you have about yourself, this idea that you are actually limited and then see if it's true. See if the identification is true.
We often say - I have read such and such for many years, done this and that practice, yet I am still not there yet. This is still ignorance of your true nature or Self. WHO is it that has done this? WHO? There has been no actual investigation into the root idea of what you are.
"I have done this or that, yet I am still suffering." WHO is being referred here? WHO has done this and that - WHO is suffering? THAT is the identification in action. THAT is taking yourself to BE the limited - the body, the mind. So this statement is saying that I AM that limited body-mind and that body-mind is still suffering. That body-mind is not YET FREE. This is absolutely a fantasy. The so-called body-mind, as we take it to be, IS limited. IF you are that, then you will always be limited. SEE if this identification is true before accepting the limits of BEING that.
There is only one question of concern - AM I a limited entity or NOT? IF I am a limited entity then I can quit searching right now, seeing that spirituality is just the mind's fantasy of BECOMING something. That has never worked in any other pursuit in life and it won't work in spirituality.
IF I am NOT limited then the search is over also. I discover that the idea of myself as limited was only ever an assumption, only identified with the finite and limited, taking myself as a form, an appearance, a thing-among-things.
Don't fall for any spiritual bullshit. Don't think this is about just reading a few books and then sit back and wait for enlightenment to come. You must LOOK for yourself at the root idea you have about what you are. You must LOOK at the identifications which are there and see if they are true or not.
This isn't about someone telling you the truth and then you have to come to believe it also, to pick up a new belief. It will NEVER be resolved until you come to that truth for yourself. When you SEE that you were never limited then the search is over, seeking ends naturally, the false falls away naturally.
The suggestion is to stop waiting for some golden nugget to set you free. Dive into the root idea you have about yourself and see if it's true or not. If it's true, the search is over. If it's not, the search is over.
But the false cannot stand up to investigation. IF you truly do dig into it, poke around that idea, the false disappears like darkness when the light is turned on. The only freedom is freedom from the IDEA of bondage. In other words, you only BELIEVE yourself to be bound, to be limited.
Find out if that's true or not.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Know Yourself
This, right here and now, before anything else happens, before any new insights, is IT. THIS is IT. Right now. This. Sitting at the computer, the feeling of hunger, the subtle desire to "get it", the intellectual acrobatics - whatever is appearing, whatever is felt, whatever THIS IS at this moment, is IT.
You are not an individual person who will someday get something. You are the whole itself, the totality, the Absolute, Brahman, fullness, limitless, Oneness - whatever word is used - you are THAT now, already.
As it seems you are sitting here, inside the head, looking out at an outside world, a world which is separate of you, THIS is IT. That arrangement doesn't need to change. That appearance doesn't need to change. That feeling doesn't need to change.
There is no good feeling waiting to be achieved. All feelings are IT, good or bad. There is no better situation waiting to be achieved. All situations, good or bad, are IT.
This is only about the truth of what you are, about what you actually are and not what you take yourself to be. This has nothing to do with getting some new feelings or states.
You presently take yourself to be an individual, born into a world, a finite existence which will end. This is already false. This was never true. Taking it to be true, you feel you must seek some fantasy of spirituality, trying to BECOME whole. This is an impossibility. If you are this limited individual, no effort or spiritual method can MAKE you whole.
You are ALREADY whole. It is only the idea you have about yourself which is called bondage. You miss that you are the whole then assert yourself as a limited individual, then try to get out of that limitation. It is an impossibility.
Your true nature is the whole itself, the one essence, the Absolute nothingness which appears as the universe, the reality which is simultaneously emptiness and form. You were never born, only a form appeared. It is in identification with this form that you assert yourself as limited.
The only solution is to find out why you falsely assume you are limited. Watch the mind, watch the stories play out, watch how the whole thing is woven. Watch the individual as it's constructed. Notice that it always arises in a thought-story. Notice that this individual you take yourself to be is always objective, it is always an appearance in the form of thought or feeling.
There is one intelligence, one essence appearing as everything. No "thing" has any independent existence. No "thing" stands on it's own. Everything IS that essence, that intelligence.
When that capacity we call "Consciousness" comes, this essence "appears" - it appears as the computer, the hunger, the desire, the body, thoughts, stories. When Consciousness is not there, this essence does not "appear".
You are that essence, that intelligence. The wholeness itself. No special state is going to come to an individual due to "proper seeking". The only resolution is to come to know yourself as you truly are, and stop taking yourself falsely.
Ask - how am I, that intelligent essence, wholeness itself, taking myself as limited? How am I, Oneness itself, identifying with a particular form? How am I, Brahman itself, mistaking myself for an individual separate from a world? How does this happen? Where does it happen? By what mechanism do I mistake myself as this body-mind? What is the world? What is it "made of"? What is the essence of existence? Does existence arrive with the form? Is it existence which is limited or only forms or manifestations?
There are two ways to go about it - either detach yourself completely from the world or dive headfirst into it - take no prisoners - accept no belief at face value - find out what this world truly is and you will surely find yourself.
You are not an individual person who will someday get something. You are the whole itself, the totality, the Absolute, Brahman, fullness, limitless, Oneness - whatever word is used - you are THAT now, already.
As it seems you are sitting here, inside the head, looking out at an outside world, a world which is separate of you, THIS is IT. That arrangement doesn't need to change. That appearance doesn't need to change. That feeling doesn't need to change.
There is no good feeling waiting to be achieved. All feelings are IT, good or bad. There is no better situation waiting to be achieved. All situations, good or bad, are IT.
This is only about the truth of what you are, about what you actually are and not what you take yourself to be. This has nothing to do with getting some new feelings or states.
You presently take yourself to be an individual, born into a world, a finite existence which will end. This is already false. This was never true. Taking it to be true, you feel you must seek some fantasy of spirituality, trying to BECOME whole. This is an impossibility. If you are this limited individual, no effort or spiritual method can MAKE you whole.
You are ALREADY whole. It is only the idea you have about yourself which is called bondage. You miss that you are the whole then assert yourself as a limited individual, then try to get out of that limitation. It is an impossibility.
Your true nature is the whole itself, the one essence, the Absolute nothingness which appears as the universe, the reality which is simultaneously emptiness and form. You were never born, only a form appeared. It is in identification with this form that you assert yourself as limited.
The only solution is to find out why you falsely assume you are limited. Watch the mind, watch the stories play out, watch how the whole thing is woven. Watch the individual as it's constructed. Notice that it always arises in a thought-story. Notice that this individual you take yourself to be is always objective, it is always an appearance in the form of thought or feeling.
There is one intelligence, one essence appearing as everything. No "thing" has any independent existence. No "thing" stands on it's own. Everything IS that essence, that intelligence.
When that capacity we call "Consciousness" comes, this essence "appears" - it appears as the computer, the hunger, the desire, the body, thoughts, stories. When Consciousness is not there, this essence does not "appear".
You are that essence, that intelligence. The wholeness itself. No special state is going to come to an individual due to "proper seeking". The only resolution is to come to know yourself as you truly are, and stop taking yourself falsely.
Ask - how am I, that intelligent essence, wholeness itself, taking myself as limited? How am I, Oneness itself, identifying with a particular form? How am I, Brahman itself, mistaking myself for an individual separate from a world? How does this happen? Where does it happen? By what mechanism do I mistake myself as this body-mind? What is the world? What is it "made of"? What is the essence of existence? Does existence arrive with the form? Is it existence which is limited or only forms or manifestations?
There are two ways to go about it - either detach yourself completely from the world or dive headfirst into it - take no prisoners - accept no belief at face value - find out what this world truly is and you will surely find yourself.
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