Tag Archives: absolute reality

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.

 

9 Comments

Filed under Absolute, Awareness, Contemplation, Enlightenment, Mindfulness, Nonduality, Pointers, Present Moment

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

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

Leave a comment

Filed under Enlightenment, Freedom, Gateless Gate, Liberation, Nonduality, Zen

Tagged as , , , , , ,

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…..

4 Comments

Filed under Absolute, Direct Experience, Enlightenment, Mind, Nonduality, Reality, Seeker, Self Identity, Self Realization, Shadow, Spirituality, Truth, Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , ,

November 24, 2013 · 11:12 am

My Little Life

I usually don’t have a particular intention during meditation but today I had the intention to understand my next step in this spiritual journey.  I feel  like I’m jumping around again between different teachers seeing the sameness in all their teachings. I put out this intention…didn’t get an answer so I quit meditating early with a bit of an attitude.  The attitude was one of feeling discouraged wondering if I will ever be content to just “be”.

I sporadically keep a journal. I picked it up and read about a dream I had almost exactly a year ago to the day. I was trying to find a connection at a train station. I was running around trying to find the next train, up and down stairs, in elevators and then a man appears in a chair with wheels and says he knows the way and to hop in.  It was uncomfortable fitting in the chair with him at first but I got settled in and we flew through the station quickly. I remember the relieve of giving up looking on my own and letting him navigate. I don’t remember if we made it because the next thing I remember is looking at him from a distance and he was eating chocolates not worrying about catching the train at all. Then I started judging whether he was the right one to lead me after all and the anxiety started again.

Well, here I am a year later still looking for the next train.  But now I finally realize why I never want to stop seeking or looking for the next train.  If I stop seeking I’m afraid of going back to sleep again and living my little mechanical life outside of awareness.

My spiritual life has always been a priority for me and I try to keep it strong because my little life has never seemed as important to me as my spiritual life.  It came to me that I need to switch that notion and make my little life a priority because that is what is..right now.  It’s not attached to the next teacher or to the cushion.  This is one of the common threads in most teachings but now I may be actually getting it.

I’ll have to remind myself (probably often) that the fear of going backward and living that mechanical life outside of awareness is not possible because my hope is that once it’s seen… it cannot be unseen.  My next step is to realize that my little life is what is important….living it within awareness is the practice.

I guess maybe having an intention during meditation is a good thing after all.

6 Comments

Filed under Absolute, Direct Experience, Direct Inquiry, Enlightenment, Nonduality, Reality, Seeker, Thoughts, Truth, Zen

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , ,

June 18, 2013 · 1:56 pm

The Hidden Image in the Picture

I started this blog when I began the process of retiring from the search and I have to admit that over the last year there has still been more seeking than non-seeking going on. Nonduality has been my focus and naturally coming out of that is a different kind of seeking, the seeking of direct experience or direct inquiry.

I still hold the assumption that there is someone in here experiencing things and people out there.  I have accomplished being the witness of thoughts and things (most of the time) but now what is behind the witness has been my question.  Direct experience may be what will eventually replace the witness but letting the witness go is difficult and requires a shift in perception.

This shift in perception reminds me of  illusionary art called stereograms where a 3D image is hidden within a drawing and you can only see the hidden image if you learn to re-focus your gaze.  When you finally see it, it magically appears out of nothing.  Most instructions tell you not to focus on the picture but fix your gaze beyond it.   I was never good at finding the hidden images.

I recently reintroduced myself to the teachings of Francis Lucille which led me to again consider the Direct Path experiments by Greg Goode.  Maybe the timing is right to get down to some serious direct experience investigation so a few days ago I started the experiments which seem to be similar to learning to look through the illusion and see the hidden images.

The first experiment in the Direct Path involves the perception of hearing because it’s supposed to be the easiest.   During the experiment of ringing a bell, at first the sound still seems to be coming from the object of the bell and I can’t get past that.  Looking closer…since I am to use only the sense of hearing I just hear the sound without the interpreter telling me that the sound is coming from a bell.    Maybe that’s it…my direct experience is that hearing is just happening with or without the use of an interpreter.

One experiment down and 39 more to go….This could be intense but I’ll keep you posted.  If there is anyone else out there who has already been on this part of journey and the hidden image in the picture has appeared, please let me know.

There’s supposed to be a shark hidden in here somewhere…I can’t see it yet.

File:Stereogram Tut Random Dot Shark.png

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

14 Comments

Filed under Direct Experience, Direct Inquiry, Enlightenment, Nonduality, Reality, Seeker, Spirituality, Thoughts, Truth, Zen

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

May 4, 2013 · 9:05 am

Home is…?

For those of us who are seekers or ex-seekers, the word Home is one of those words used in an effort to relate a state of Being. I’ve looked up the definition of Home and some I liked were:

  • A place where one dwells permanently.
  • Social unit formed by a family living together.
  • An environment offering affection and security.

Our physical home may or may not fit those definitions but almost everyone has their own concept of the word Home. I like the last word of the first definition…”permanently”.  In a world of impermanence, we could use the word Home interchangeably with the Absolute (where one dwells permanently).  You are already Home…it’s not about how to get there, not about waiting for it to open its doors and welcome you in.

The word homesick is defined as “sad or depressed from a longing for home while away from it for a long time”.  When we are not present, we all suffer from homesickness which can manifest in many forms with the symptoms and cures being discussed and analyzed endlessly.

I’ve read that your physical home is a reflection of your inner home.  Now that’s an interesting concept. Is it aesthetically appealing, is it secure, is it chaotic, does it need attention, is it in need of repair? If it is perfect in every way, are you content?

“Home is where the heart is”.  The earliest author given credit for that quote is Pliny the Elder AD 23-79.    I guess none of this is exactly a new concept.

9 Comments

Filed under Absolute, Home, Mindfulness, Nonduality, Seeker, Spirituality, Thoughts, Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

March 15, 2013 · 10:58 am

Nothing Personal

Why do bad things happen to good people is a question that generates a variety of concepts each constructing a solution to the fairness of life dilemma and how judgments of good and bad are to be made. When circumstances are examined closely there seems to be no direct evidence that there is a method of fairness existing here.  It certainly isn’t very comforting to maintain that stuff just happens, that there is no system of justice operating and we are all just here until we’re not.

Strange as it seems, this question arises for me when I look at a windshield splattered with remnants of what used to be a bug.  The bug was just flying along enjoying the day, not a care in the world and then in the blink of an eye it’s just bug juice on a windshield.  We think nothing of it, it just happened and that’s a bug’s life…. no plan, no justice, just happening, nothing personal about the bug’s life.

Of course, it appears that a human life is much more personal than a bug’s life because we’re so entwined with complex characteristics, memories and relationships.   I like the idea that my life is personal and important with purpose and would like to hold on to that idea.  However, nothing really makes sense to me except that the bug’s life is no less or no more important to the Absolute than my life….it’s really nothing personal….

5 Comments

Filed under Absolute, Nonduality, Seeker, Spirituality, Truth

Tagged as , , , , , ,

February 26, 2013 · 12:42 pm

Seeking Everywhere but Here

This morning I read an article posted by Science and Nonduality, “Stop Trying to Solve Problems” by David Rock who has been researching what happens during the “moment ” of insight.  Neuroscientists have found that complex problems are usually solved during the brain’s “downtime” not during vigorous activity.  My own experience confirms that when I stop thinking about a problem for even a few minutes, consciousness continues to sort out data without my interference and suddenly the solution comes to light.

A constant thread in nonduality literature is that the mind is not the tool for perceiving the Absolute reality.

I agree that searching for Truth with the mind can be fun, interesting and exciting because of never ending concepts to explore.  But maybe the Absolute reality is not to be explored anywhere but is always here waiting for the mind’s “downtime” in order to be discovered.  If the answer is always here…where am I?

3 Comments

Filed under Absolute, Nonduality, Seeker, Spirituality

Tagged as , , , , ,