A yearning for freedom keeps nagging, and this can lead to a desperate feeling of helplessness. The question arises ‘Is there anything that can be done to make freedom happen?’
The ‘Nonduality scene’ is divided in answering this question. For some listeners, the statement that ‘nothing can be done as there is no-one to do anything’ (Tony Parsons) is a great relief, and instant insight may happen. For others, this statement is unacceptable, and then the search continues.
People throughout the ages have offered assistance – one way or other – to facilitate the awakening to nondual insight.
Some facilitators have come across as being radical and uncompromising, seemingly without compassion; others have come across as loving, showing more gestures of pleasing the apparent, questioning seeker.
Guidance and exercises that promise to reveal more elevated states of awareness to the seeker – in an imagined future – are brushed aside. Still, for those who seek clarification and who desire realisation, their questions are perceived to have validity. Such seekers welcome assistance, if available, in anticipation that it may trigger genuine recognition of boundlessness.
Some ‘nondualists’ see exercises as being detrimental to the awakening to ‘what is already the case.’ Others see practices to be useful tools in making the mental activity less domineering, thereby increasing the chances for the mind to loosen its seeming grip on awareness.
The bottom line is: Whatever happens in the lifestream of a person, whether it is thinking, sensing or exercising, there is no need to imply an imagined, separate entity that does these things.
Hello! Yes, a patchwork of endless possibilities!
The patchwork of endless possibilities is, of course, another word for life beyond and prior to any patches that seem to manifest in assumed time. However, the patchwork is always only work in progress and never ends up with being something. The possibilities express themselves as patching. The moment we assume that the results are patches we miss the flowing of patching (life) and instead experience stagnation. This, in turn, spurs the desire for freedom from stagnation, often accompanied by the notion that there will be a patch that saves us. It is more rewarding to enjoy the patching, rather than assumed patches.
In the activity of patching is the flow of love. In the attempt to find a suitable patch lurk desire and fear. We could call this pseudo-patching or illusory patching.
it’s such an undeniable seeing ,
I ‘ve laways heard even within the non dual circles that the brain does this or that ..
but actually you just have electric currents and some biochemical acivities , you tell me where is the image or the sound and so on..inside the brain !!!
this seeing is like the canvas of the screen …or like the inside of a mirror
and of course these are just metaphores..
all this stuff , and includes even the deepest fears , is seen
there is a seen behind those fears and when is recognized it is seen that those fears cannot exist without this seeing….and then this seeing is also like being , aliveness which is playing by pretending of being those fears..
The theme of this site is about the seeing – you call it ‘undeniable seeing’. Whether the thinking is produced by the brain, biomechanical activities etc, this is not so much the focus of this site. In my opinion, lots of statements about this, made by popular nonduality speakers, are not reliable. That unreliability has to do with the limited tools of perception. Some people may see finer bodies, others may not. There is a whole lot more to the human, multi-layered apparatus than the physical body and brain.
Nevertheless, the basic message remains unaltered – as you say: ‘Aliveness is playing’.
“It’s the seeing that frees.” J Krishnamurti
I must be an insensitive philistine for although spirituality interests me I have never felt a lack, helplessness, a yearning to be free (from what?) or a ‘search for home’. I am also interested in archeology, philosophy and physics without wanting to participate in any meaningful way. I am an old man now (72) but have always (and still do) arrange my life in my own way without worrying what others may think, as a teenager I hitchhiked all over Europe in one year from Lapland to Yugoslavia, I decided to live in Germany so I studied German and left England with 14 pounds in my pocket, when I retired I left Germany for Asia and settled in Thailand after teaching myself to read and write the language. Never during all this time had I the feeling that something was missing (religion was something I have largely ignored). When I read the comments on spiritual matters shown on Youtube, whether it be from Nisargadatta, Ramana Maharshi, Eckhart, Spira et al I am always surprised firstly by the passionate, emotional responses and secondly the lack of discernment and understanding in the matter. My opinion (it is only my opinion) is that many people go to these spiritual meetings because they have screwed up, their lives are in a mess, there is mental turmoil and they have no inner strength to sort their own lives out, they are looking for a crutch to lean on, all will be well. Eckhart’s talks are custom made for such people and I am sure he does a lot of good whereas Tony Parsons talks are more for the hardened who don’t mind the unvarnished truth (as he sees it). It is so simple, ‘it is as it is’ accept life as it is and attempt to change your own circumstances as best you can but accept it may all go wrong, it doesn’t matter, the journey was worth it. As for the ego there is nothing wrong with it, indeed without it humanity wouldn’t have survived, it is the motor of improvement, for striving for something better (like spiritual awakening?) Yes it may block the ‘true seeing’ but is that important? David Carse (‘perfect brilliant stillness’) said “Awakening appears to be given out by the cosmos on the basis of a ‘need to know’ and there is rarely a need to know”, I agree.
It is true that the degree of yearning for a solution is usually in proportion to the perceived severity of the problem. We can’t hold it against anyone to look for a solution. We also can’t hold it against anyone to sense problems. If people turn to nonduality in the hope that it will solve their problems does not disqualify the nondual messengers or the nondual message. If a sick body goes to a doctor, the doctor is not automatically disqualified. Sure, some doctors may be better than others and some may come to a wrong diagnosis and the advice may be less than helpful. Regarding nonduality, one potentially efficient advice is to look at the nature of the problem and its entanglement in the concept of time. Just by honestly identifying the problem, the solution is seen to have never been absent. In other words, nonduality does not provide a solution as a way out of problems. Rather, it reveals that the belief in solutions prevents the insight that the ‘solution’ has never been absent. This insight appears to be theory only to minds that are caught in the concept of time.
“It’s the seeing that frees.” J Krishnamurti