What Is The Absolute

everyday ordinary awareness

What is always fully present? You as ordinary everyday awareness. Clear and empty, yet filled with the natural light of The Absolute. Even before awareness can "be aware" there is the eternal light of unknowable knowing. So to speak! 

So what are you seeking? What are you looking for? To understand your real essence, just pause. Be. Awareness and just That. That, awareness, is the only I there is. That I awareness is conscious of being and not being, waking and sleep. Seeing this natural ordinary awareness as who you are is the natural end of our unnatural search for what already IS. Let it be. Enjoy the play of light and shadow, riding the rollercoaster of this dreamlife. Have fun; for who we are, life is bliss, even when it apparently sucks. 

This awareness is Home; the Home we never leave. Rock ON!

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pointers

It has been pointed out, Consciousness, the knowing "I Am", is in the body. Also it has been pointed out, the body is in Consciousness, the knowing "I Am". Which is true? Neither, or both? One, or the other? The question is a manifestation of Consciousness and any answer is also a manifestation of Consciousness. What is That which is the knower of "I Am"? What is the Eternal Unchanging Unmoving Source of the Consciousness of Being? Find out!

Unborn!

"All things are perfectly resolved in the Unborn.” ~ Zen Master Bankei

Bankei expounded a simply Truth: Fu-shō. UNBORN! Being That, and everything/everyone IS That, and ONLY That, there are no "problems".

For The Unborn Is-ness, nothing is "wrong"; nothing was ever "wrong". Don't refuse to BE That. And don't pretend you are otherwise!

Period. Full stop.

Top Podcasts

With John Wheeler...

• John Wheeler 1.True Freedom (Rev. by JW 1/31/10)
• John Wheeler 2. Fact of Being
• John Wheeler 3. Golden Key
• John Wheeler 4. Being Joy
• John Wheeler 5. It's Here Now
• John Wheeler 6. "Nothing's Wrong Any More"
• John Wheeler 7. "The Final Truth"
• John Wheeler 8: The Practical Value Of This

Other Expressions.... a few of our favorites

• Latest: "UN-Minders" from John Greven & Charlie
• THIS IS IT; Being Everything
• “Life Coaching”
• Listening & Seeing: Transforming The False Sense of Self
• 'Sailor' Bob 1. One Essence
• 'Sailor' Bob 2. "Not Two"
• John Greven – Deconstructing The False "I"
• Hillbilly Enlightenment ~JD Hazlewood
• Unmani ... It's all about Love
• Rodney Stevens ... Know Thy Self

a note on persistent 'stuckness'

NOTES about seeing and apparent “stuckness”:

Some who are talking about the message of nonduality seem to be stuck in a kind of impasse, which often appears as frustration and despair that “the message isn’t working, despite months or years of looking, listening and inquiry”.  This indicates a probable “misuse” of the message. This is NOT about improving circumstances, getting better, changing some mental condition or fixing “something wrong”. 

That is NOT what this is about. 

In a fundamental way nonduality is completely useless. Rediscovering the truth of what you are has nothing to do with relative conditions that may be at play, such as problems of relationships, or health and well being issues of the bodymind organism. In many cases (if not most) there are other issues at play that need attention, i.e. mental illness, such as bi-polar disorder of chronic depression. Those are brain chemistry issues that need to be dealt with in appropriate venues by physical and/or mental health professionals or counseling.

There needs to be a kind of “readiness” for the message. It is not “anyone’s” readiness; it is just a natural receptivity to the stark, simple and potent pointing of what is real and what is not real.

Sri Nisargadatta would sometimes send a seeker off to “meditate” or “chant mantras, do japa, “or some other purification practice to remove these  obstacles to receptivity. For example, in “Prior To Consciousness’ he said, 

“What I am expounding is not for the common people, because they have not reached the stature to understand what I am saying. Therefore I tell them to do Bhajans, Japa, Meditation. After doing that, when the purifying takes place, they will be worthy enough to receive my talks.”

This is how it was here; I started looking into this via the teachings of Ramana Maharshi in 1974. It was very frustrating and bore no fruit! In the case of this organism it took thirty years of “conventional practice” … meditation, mantra repetition, service (Guru Seva), seminars,  etc … which happened sporadically … until this organism was sufficiently purified to begin to imbibe the message as expressed by John Wheeler and Bob Adamson.

There are many places and possibilities for this purification, such as “The Art Of Living” of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the Eastern approach, and “Landmark Education”, a Western approach.  These two are available all over the world. If there is any addiction, to substances or alcohol, AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) is just about everywhere. (There are obviously many others; but I have been benefited by those three personally). 

And in a surprising number of cases, just getting a good doctor to diagnose and prescribe for a “chemical imbalance” sorts it out rather quickly.

The bottom line is, “using” the nondual message to “correct or modify conditions” is to misapply and misuse the pointers.

So: earnestness, sincerity and self-honesty are hallmarks of readiness. If your are someone who is “stuck into frustration and persistent despair, or feeling like you ore on a roller-coaster of emotional highs and lows, please consider this note and take appropriate steps to manage your well being.

I Love You.

Charlie

re the podcast with Paul

Q: Wow!  Your Podcast with Paul is one of the clearest and most cutting pointing I have ever come across.

C: That is great to hear! Just let it remove any vestige of doubt or confusion.

Q: I used to think I was experiencing glimpses of the Absolute – I know now that glimpses, or contractions, or whatever arises can only ever be experiences on the Absolute (and made of the Absolute).  Seeking may occur, but it occurs for no one – it is just another appearance - and never separate from the Absolute.

C: Excellent insight.  Anything and everything appears to come and go in that Absolute Existence, which is always complete, and self-aware. Anything means anything. No one is seeking and that is what is uncovered, when the truth of what we are (unassailable beingness) is made clear.

Q: There is NO answer to what the Absolute is because it is impossible to objectify it.  Your pointer that the Absolute can never be known because that would imply division from it – is pure gold!  I have heard the same idea a million times, but this time it struck home.

C: Excellent.

Q: How is the Absolute “nothing” if it is already “everything”?  Doesn’t that imply duality?  Or Does it actually imply the opposite – that there could never be duality if it is both nothing and everything?

C: Yes, the latter. Now stay out of the mind; the paradox of absolute and relative being nondual cannot be grasped. Mind is the wrong tool. It’s paradoxical to the mind but obvious to the Self (Beingness).

 Q: Thanks and Love…

C: And to you. Good seeing. Keep it clean and simple. I Love You.

Click HERE to listen to that Podcast, or right Click and Save to download

NEW Podcast: This Is It, Being Everything

This one is a discussion with a wonderful guy named Paul, who graciously gave his permission for our consultation to be shared with you.

Click HERE to listen or ight Click and Save to download.

"UN-minders".. a new Audio Podcast

In this Podcast we offer potent pointers from John Greven and Charlie.

Click HERE for "Un-minders" or right click & Save to download. 

"The Supreme Subject is unattainable, unimaginable, undeniable, ever present, and – manifest as the thought “I Am.” Seek the Source of "I Am"." ~John Greven
(John's website is www.onenessjustthat.com.)

The dream of "I am the body" creates suffering...

"In the body the consciousness does the witnessing; the behavior is done by the three gunas. [Forces of nature]. Consciousness is all-pervading, spacelike, without form. If one has an illness or a pain, is there a form to that? It is only a movement in consciousness. The knower of consciousness cannot feel the pain, and it is only because consciousness has identified itself with the body that the body feels pain. When consciousness is not there, even if the body is cut, there is no pain. It is not the body which feels pain. When there is a disturbance in the balance of the five elements, illness comes and the illness or pain is felt in the consciousness. Just as in the winter the heat gets less and less, as this identification with the body gets less and less the pain that is felt gets less and less." ~Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

This point is illustrated by being anesthetized for surgery. This body was “out”, oblivious and totally devoid of any consciousness; not sleeping, not dreaming, not waking …  for six hours… and in that period the surgeon cut the chest and leg open and grafted veins from the leg to the heart (it had a quadruple bypass in 2000). The pain is felt ONLY as long as there is consciousness AND identification “I am the body”. That identity, which is false, must be recognized AS false. The imaginary body is appearing in consciousness, like a character on a cinema screen appears in the screen. But the cinema character is only light, a play of light, and in the same way the human character is made of the light that arises in consciousness, which is spacelike, AND as the play of that consciousness, which is all these apparent shapes and forms. And consciousness is a manifestation of the absolute IS-ness of no thing what so ever.

Knowing this is a start toward disidentification with the body. It is ONLY body-identity of an “I” concept that gives rise to suffering. Dwell as the consciousness, the knowingness of the I Am before the labeling by the mind. Sit with that as often as possible; allowing what is to be as it is with no resistance and no attempting to alter any of it. The dream at night is uncontrollable; it just happens, and on waking it is seen as “ah, that was just a dream”. In the same way see this waking dream for what it is … imagination only.

Your being is never changing in any way, shape or from. Ways, shapes and forms ("process" and "body" etc.) ARE the dream of being. See them as such. You remain as always, free, open, empty and loving what is as it is. This is all there is. This. Just here just now. Be that and nothing else matters.

Only The Absolute Prevails . . .

Q: The sense of being a separate entity appears at times during the day. Also it may appear suddenly at night usually with a rapid pulse and sweating.

C: What exactly do you mean by “a sense of being a separate entity”?

Q: Most of the time there is only a doing without sense of suffering and at times a deep sense of peace.

 C: Okay, So, that is an experiencing in the appearance of “I Am”. Also the 'fear' and 'sense of being etc.' is the experiencing arising ... where and for whom? Without that “I Am” could that be there? Look deeply and see if you can locate the separate entity APART FROM LANGUAGE. (Feelings are sensations arising in language. Thoughts are sensations arising in language.)

What does LANGUAGE arise within? The space-like Being that you are. Even before the empty cognizing of “knowing-I-Am” appears, there is something indescribable, always fully present, which we can “call” Aliveness, Just That. What is THAT by which you know this consciousness, awakeness, this I Am-ness?

Q: I heard that active looking is recommended and I wonder how this is done while at work or when fears appears at night.

C: Here it gets too simple for mind or language. It is done naturally, by simply LOOKING with naked Awareness, not resisting or submitting, not trying to alter or modify what is appearing; just BE with what is happening. Looking at it like looking at a mirror. Is there anything “wrong” with a mirror? No. It just reflects appearances. Take your Self to be that mirror, abide as that, rather than the reflections arising in that mirror.

Q: Maybe there is nothing to do but this could just be a mental trick of the mind to escape the direct seeing.

C: “You” have never done anything EVER. The trick is just language. YOU as that mirror is Prior to Language; PRIOR to “consciousness, the sense of empty being called non-conceptual I am-ness.

Ponder this from Nisargadatta Maharaj:

 “This touch of ‘I Amness’ is in each being; this beingness has that touch of love for the Absolute and it is a representation of the Absolute. When you got yourself separated from the Absolute with this identity ‘I Am’, you felt fragmented, isolated, and that is why your demands started. In the Absolute there are no needs. Only the Absolute prevails.”

Stay with this sense of being, “I am”, and ignore all modifications of that. See the Source if that “I Am” and you will find that only the Absolute is eternal. Rediscovering that what you are is That and only That removes all insecurity, vulnerability, and fear of damage or death. You are the Absolute; do nit oretend to be other than That. That is Self-Love.

Aliveness, Just That

Beyond Religion and Spirituality

Beyond theism, atheism and nontheism

Beyond Advaita, Zen, and everything in between

Beyond psychology, philosophy, phenomenality and noumenality

What IS?

Beyond this and that, beyond that and this

What IS?

Answer it NOT.

Beyond IT IS and IT IS NOT

What Is “IT”?

What IS?

Aliveness, Just That

Are you alive? Who could say no?

Being. Alive. This is IT. Nowhere to go, nothing to get.

 "If one is awake and alive one can live ten years in two hours on Sunday" -A Ferrari Racing Team Driver

This website and our books, consultations and meetings are about Being Awake and Alive and not needing a race car or any other circumstance to BE that right now. Being is ALREADY Awake and Alive. Fully whole and ever present. Just now.

Who does not see that?

Q: Can a person’s ego learn to "point" good enough from a book or lecture to convince itself it is Awake? I see lots of good "pointers" doing satsang and such and yet they are highly reactive to questions and critical thinking, acting as if attacked. Does not reaction always point to Ego/Mind?

C: The apparent ego's mechanistic nature can certainly "fool itself". The way I usually talk about that is, watch for some "claim of being enlightened" that a fake teacher will make, whether subtle or not so subtle. One teacher I love a lot says in the "awakening stage" there can still be a "sense of a me" that has "attained" some "special state". In true liberation that just is not there. All is clear and self-evident, that in fact being is all there is, nothing and everything just being, happening, and there is no duality (despite appearances!).

Listen to the real thing, such as a John Wheeler, Bob Adamson, Tony Parsons ... you can get a sense that there is no one in the machinery any more (yet the use of personal pronouns, "I" or "me" etc., goes on for "relative communication" so to speak.)

Getting the "words right" is dead easy so it takes a deeper kind of listening, what I call heart to heart, to discern when there is fakery going on!

This is a good question. Thanks!

NOTE: The January 31st Dallas Meeting, One Heart, One Essence is ON. Go HERE  for more info.