Sunday, February 5, 2012

Source

We can go on forever in spirituality, seeking out answers.  It is always something like:

I am seeking
I need to find answers
I have this problem
I had this experience
I want that experience
I need to find Peace
I need to find out what I am

So the entire thing revolves around that entity, that "I" you take yourself to be, that person, that independent existence, that thing which was created anew, that being which stands apart, which began on such-and-such date and time, that seeker who was born and will someday die.

The point isn't to somehow find a way to be a successful seeker, to find answers FOR this "I".  The point is to realize what it is you take yourself to be - to realize that the entire thing revolves around this idea of an independent, temporary being, something which began, someone who is finite.  It is that idea of yourself which is the problem.  Finding success in spirituality isn't FOR that "I" - it is in seeing through that "I" - seeing through that idea itself.

So if you're plodding along with that idea completely intact - averse at even questioning it - then you're going to be frustrated eventually in spirituality.  "Why can't I get it?"  Yes?  Isn't this a common question?

Instead of leaving that entity intact - dive into that entity - the idea of it - what is it you truly take yourself to be?  What is that idea you have of your Self?  Come to recognize fully the idea you have - then question it.  See if it's true.  Notice how the idea you have about yourself is the very definition of separation - how can you find so-called Oneness or Wholeness if you are separate, your very being is independent, finite?  Do you expect spirituality to somehow heal this separation?  What should happen - some sort of cosmic superglue to bind up all the separate entities?  

Isn't this the real fundamental problem?  The most cherished and root belief you have is that you were born, that you began, that you came into existence and will someday cease to exist?  Isn't this the idea that is the basis for all your ideas about the world?  Isn't your most basic, fundamental idea about reality that it is divided, separate - made up of independent things?

So how do you expect to resolve spirituality when you are pointed to nonduality or no-separation?  By marching along, ignoring this most basic contradiction?  Wondering why you continue to be confused and frustrated?

Stop ignoring it and face it.  Were you born?  Did you begin?  Is existence something which starts and stops?  What is it that begins and ends?  

Forms or patterns begin and end, come and go...  what is a pattern?  What is the source of this pattern?  What is the source of that pattern?  What do you know of the world that isn't a pattern?  What is the source of the world?

Can you be something other than that source?  

The entirety of this search isn't really much more complex than that.  Answer it with confidence and you're done, one way or another.

2 comments:

Malcolm said...

"So how do you expect to resolve spirituality when you are pointed to nonduality or no-separation?"

I wonder if there is a mistake here? I would have expected to read "So how do you expect to resolve spirituality when you are pointed to duality or separation?"

Randall Friend said...

Hi Malcolm,

How do you expect to get to the bottom of spirituality with this independent entity intact, when spirituality is saying that reality is nondual or not separate. It's a contradiction yes?

That's the point - on review it wasn't really written clearly, was it? Thanks for pointing that out so it could be clarified.


love
randall