Category Archives: Nonduality

January 1, 2020 · 11:09 am

My Burning Bush

I sometimes do a Vision Board Collage or Treasure Map for the New Year instead of just a list of goals.  Last year I made two Vision Boards.  They were somewhat different but on both I had drawn a tree with leaves pointed upward with sparks shooting out.

Throughout the year I would look at the boards and wonder what was significant about that tree.  A few months ago the story of the burning bush came to mind and since I’m not familiar with the Bible, I googled the symbol of the burning bush, read a little about it and then forgot about it until today.

Reading something spiritual first thing in the morning is my routine.  While reading this morning my mind was wandering thinking about doing a Vision Board this year and then thought of my burning bush drawing again.  My mind went back to reading my book, I turned the page on my Kindle and couldn’t believe the next thing I read…..

“Do you want to have an epiphany? Do you want to stand in front of the burning bush? Here’s my burning bush…..”  I love these moments of synchronicity and know it must be important to be so obvious.

Before these words, the author was talking about clearing your mind to order to be able to  follow the voice or intuition.  That’s when it all came together for me.  In the story the burning bush was the voice of God talking to Moses.  Moses didn’t want to listen, seemed crazy to listen to a voice coming out of a bush. He resisted several times but eventually listened to the voice and things did work out in the end.

If I take this as a message for me it would be to skip the same list of goals and resolutions I have every year,  try to listen to my higher power and at the very least develop a better connection so that the voice becomes clearer.

 

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March 27, 2016 · 7:30 am

Tell me a Story

At this time of year I’m reminded of the time I took my young daughter with me for a quick visit to a funeral home…not really anyone she knew so I didn’t think it would have an impact.  On the way home she became tearful and said she didn’t want to die. Not anticipating this at such a young age, I began searching my mind for something I could use to comfort her that she would understand….the Easter story came to mind.

We were not church goers but the preschool had been teaching the Easter story so I knew she would be familiar with it.  When I told her about the resurrection and that Jesus really didn’t die but came back again in a different form, I could see the tension in her face leave as she contemplated the whole story.  It was enough to comfort her and dissolve some of the fear…after all everyone she trusted was telling the same story.

What this incident reminds me of is the significance of stories for things that are fearful and unexplainable.  Some keep the same beliefs throughout their lives and are comforted by them with no desire to change the story line.  I have changed my comfort story many times throughout my life….even realizing they are comfort stories can create another story.

With things that are unexplainable, the best we can do is in the form of stories, metaphors or pointers.   I can get caught up in arguing the validity of certain stories but at this time of year I am again reminded that it probably doesn’t matter about the content of the story because in the end it’s all about the comfort of the recipient.

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June 4, 2015 · 4:03 pm

Flash Moments

It’s been two months since I have posted anything here.   I have had several insights that I considered sharing during that time but didn’t take the time to sit down and write.  These ideas or insights come like flashes out of nowhere and if I sit down immediately and write…a blog is created.  However, most of the time when the flash comes I am involved doing other things and rather than stop what I’m doing I’ll make a mental note that I will write about this very good insight later.  I’ve given up trying to figure out where glimpses of insight come from but I know they come as “flashes” while in the present moment.

The problem is that these flashes happen while you’re in the present moment and if they are not written down right away the insight vanishes into the land of past memories.  The space where past memories dwell is not suitable ground for a flash insight because it can get absorbed in concepts and filters that were not there during the initial flash.

 

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February 7, 2015 · 10:52 am

Gateless = Freedom

It’s been a year today since I completed a “sort of” course called Liberation Unleashed. How I found out about it..I don’t remember exactly…..maybe through a long stream of events that started with Eckhart Tolle’s  “New Earth”.

The whole idea to me revolves around the Zen concept of the Gateless Gate.  It’s based on the notion that we all are looking for a way to find the Gate that will open up the path of peace, happiness with no suffering. We all look for a way to find that Gate and, more importantly, open it. When we finally realize that if there is a Gate at all that it is not locked, has no boundaries and can be freely crossed on either side or passed straight through without the least bit of effort….then we are “enlightened”.

To start the process, you are given a Guide who is a person who has already passed through the Gate so supposedly they will be able to lead you where you need to go. The Guide has only one goal…to help you realize that there is no separate self and never has been.  Sounds simple but believe me, it’s far from it. The questions asked are meant to dissolve the thought that there is a separate little person inside your head running the show…..that there is no separate little person that is separate from all other people or things.  That perceived separate little person is only a conglomerate of your past conditionings, feelings, your life story and exists in memory only.

If this is the first time you have been exposed to such a concept, it can be very unsettling and not accepted.  When something awakens in you and you begin to be interested in this crazy notion, you have started your way to finding the Gateless Gate….which is no Gate at all.

Gateless Gate

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January 6, 2015 · 12:42 pm

The Gap Between Words

I have been reading Eckhart Tolle’s book New Earth for the 3rd time. The last time I read it was about three years ago, I highlighted almost every line and a subtle shift in perception happened.  This time I downloaded it on my Kindle so I wouldn’t be distracted by all the highlights and here I go again highlighting like crazy.  Maybe I’ll compare the two to see if the same passages were highlight worthy after three years.

Speaking to someone’s soul (using soul for the words Being/Awareness/That, etc) is very tricky and almost impossible to do with words since words and thoughts come from the mind and the soul does not.  Speaking to the soul needs to be transmitted between the words. I can hear the gap between the words of some spiritual teachers and others I cannot.

I’ve always been one to wonder about not only my purpose in life but everyone’s purpose. I’m coming to think that we all share the same purpose and don’t each have our own little individual purposes. What that same purpose is we all share is up for grabs.  It does seem that we all share the same unexplained longing and all attempt satisfaction in as many ways as there are individuals.  If the word longing were to be used instead of the word purpose it might make more sense. Maybe if we all tried to understand God’s language, we could find out.

“Silence is God’s language, everything else is bad translations”  – Eckhart Tolle

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December 31, 2014 · 12:05 pm

New Year – New You…?

I saw a poster on Facebook this week that said “Here we go again with that New Year – New You Bullshit”.  I laughed out loud because every year I look forward to the prospect of creating a new me…or my idea of me.  After all if “I” am an illusion, “I” should be possible to recreate, redesign and manifest things in my life according to my desires just as I would in a dream.

For five years I published a journal/calendar based on the notion that the new moon each month is the best time to recreate and redesign your life. It was like having a new year – new you possibility each month. I always had the same list of desires every month….a few things came about but for the most part the manifesting thing wasn’t working for me.

The illusionary “I” doesn’t change so easily being crusted with long forgotten past conditionings. What has changed is the awareness that “I” am not running the show.

Now it’s time for a new year and since I’m a sucker for new beginnings I’ll make my list of what I want to accomplish this year…..and hope that whoever is running the show is paying attention.

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December 19, 2014 · 3:29 pm

Relationship or Connection?

Thinking more about the last post on the importance of my relationship with Aliveness. From a nonduality standpoint there is the question, “who is having the relationship”?  There must be two or more to have relationship. How can there be relationship if there is only One.

Looked up the definition of the word relationship and the ones I liked most were…. (1) The way in which two or more concepts, objects or people are connected. (2) The “sense” of being connected.

If I substitute the word “connection” for the word “relationship” a new understanding comes to light.  A true connection is not two separate things…but those separate things becoming one. All the different types of relationships come to mind such as family, friends, coworkers, casual, intimate and I look at them to determine if I feel connections or if I am relating as a separate self to their separate self. The second definition indicates that connection is a sensation or feeling.

I realize that most of my relationships are not connections but two or more sharing their separateness. I would like for that to be different and maybe that’s why a connection with Aliveness/Presence is important to me.  Although an open connection with others is probably…. absolutely… the exact same thing.

 

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December 17, 2014 · 1:40 pm

Relationship with Aliveness

 

Still thinking about yesterday’s post on what is important and being able to build your life around the answer. I said “my spirituality is most important….my relationship to spirit trumps all other relationships.”

I didn’t realize that until I typed it. Now I’m wondering about the choice of the word “Spirit”.  The word comes from Latin meaning “breath”. Breath is certainly our invisible source of aliveness.

How can you have a relationship with aliveness?  All religions and spiritual teachers mention an invisible unknown mystery to life and give it some sort of name. We all know that the names are endless for that which cannot be named.  I guess Aliveness is as good a name as any, it doesn’t make your mind wrap around an object or make it personal.

It seems the only way I can have a meaningful relationship with Aliveness is to treat it like any other relationship that is important to me.  Be attentive, listen, nurture it, don’t ignore it because of the constant bombardment of thoughts, appreciate it…..love it.

 

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July 2, 2014 · 11:23 am

Reality…In The Shadows?

I was vacuuming my bedroom, pulled out the bed stand and noticed a dark spot on the carpet.  Since I have a new puppy I went about my clean up routine, got the cleaner and rag and started scrubbing.  I did quite a bit of scrubbing and the spot would not come out of the carpet. I looked up to the top of the bed stand and realized that the spot I had been scrubbing was the shadow of an object on the table!  It was the shadow of a fly swatter!  How crazy is that?

I wouldn’t admit to this except that my immediate reaction was laughter and the old tale of the rope being mistaken for a snake went through my mind. But then looking deeper, I wondered how many other situations/objects do I mistake for reality?  For those few moments I was convinced I knew the reality of my purpose ….to clean the spot obviously made by the puppy.  When in reality all I had to do was remove the object producing the shadow and my problem was eliminated.  I wish I could remember that seeking the Truth is just as easy…..

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February 13, 2014 · 3:56 pm

Cleaning the Lens…

I’ve only been blogging for a year and not very consistently. Inspiration to write ebbs and flows for me. I just reviewed all of the blogs I’ve done and most relate to my journey down the nonduality path. I just completed the Liberation Unleashed process where the only goal is to help with the realization that there is no personal self….that’s it…nothing else. All other spiritual beliefs and concepts are put away temporarily so that the focus is only on direct experience.

There is only one person outside of the blogosphere who knows of my spiritual journey and that I am involved in the LU process. Not that I want it to be kept secret…exactly the opposite. I am excited to share my insights but I honestly don’t know where to begin the discussion with anyone who has never heard of the no self concept. My knowledge of it has progressed over the years going from one path to the next and the different concepts all linked up together at some point.

I remember when I first became aware of the no self philosophy…it felt uncomfortable. I felt more comfortable keeping the personal self in a separate compartment I called the ego, small self, lower self or a “little me” in the background not to be confused with “my higher self” hanging out somewhere above my head. There seemed to be two parts of me each taking turns being in charge.

Realizing that the little me in the background doesn’t exist and never has existed takes some honest looking. Maybe for some it’s a spiritual awakening happening in a flash but for me it has been a slow process that started two years ago backed up by 25 years of spiritual seeking.

I still don’t know if any awakening happened….I have no expectations of enlightenment….realization is a better word I suppose. Nothing really changes….just a clearer lens to look through.

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