Hook, Line and Sinker

The classic line for how a “sucker” fell for a con job is, he or she “fell for it, hook, line and sinker”. Thai might bring forth an image of a fish, happily swimming along on the ocean. Then the fish sees a bright shiny object that looks like food, or maybe IS food (the bait on the hook.) So the fish goes for the bait, the shiny attractive food, and takes it on board, hook, line and sinker. And the fish is SUNK. He's hooked and is about to lose the ocean and be dragged up to dry land, where he will still have a form, but be utterly dead. Because the fish cannot live outside of the ocean.

Consider the fact that for the human fish, who depends on the Ocean of Being-Aliveness for his or her Life, meaning real Aliveness, to take the bait of a separate individual identity, the lure of an “I”, or “the me”, IS to lose one's true Life to the walking death of identified consciousness (I am this and this and this).

Virtually every human does just this, usally around the age of two. Prior to the “birth of me, of I, there is only the Ocean of Beingness and the little humanoid swims happily, being lived by and nourished by the Ocean Of Blissful Beingness. Then, the crap happens: Someone nearby, (mother, or any other “other”) says “You are John and I am Mother”. And that “I” is assumed, “Oh, this here, this bodyform, is 'me'. and all that out there, is 'not me'.”

And the suffering starts right there in that moment. Paradise is lost. The identity is born and the little child has “eaten the fruit of the tree of knowledge”, the false knowledge of identification as a separate object apart fro all this zillions of other separate objects.

She has taken the “hook”, the “I” thought. He has swallowed the “bait”, the “sense of being “me”. And the child has been sunk by the weight of “identified consciousness”.

From then on, the humanoid is walking, talking, struggling, striving valiantly to “mange its life” and always feeling incomplete, not whole, something is wrong, something is missing. This is a living we might call being upright, but dead. Dead to life, dead to love, dead to vitality, dead to compassion, empathy and equality. Upright, DEAD.

Until someone who is beyond the assumed identity begins to point out that the only “birth” that occurred is the birth of, and taking on boiler of, a CONCEPT. ONLY a concept, and the concept “I” has no validity when seen for what it actually IS … merely a thought with no power in and of itself.

It is then pointed out patiently and compassionately that the humanoid has merely accepted a LIE, has bought into the con job; has swallowed the “I” identity “hook, line and sinker”. And then the One Beyond points to the FACT that Being Is and The Human IS That … only That. Being IS and all that appears is That. And that the hook, the line, the conman's line of patter, the conwoamn's spiel of conniving mind-lies, is all dust! It was all a believed dream (or nightmare, for some hapless upright dead travelers along the illusory line of time, form a past that never was, through a present that is smoke and mirrors, to a future that never comes.

Lies, damn lies, and so-called “scriptural truths).

Hook line and sinker, we all fell for the glib belief and assumed “this is who I am”, the I thought IS what I am.”

Believe a lie long enough and the lie becomes “true”, and the lie becomes “you”. But does believing a lie ACTUALLY make it true? Did believing "the earth is flat" ever make that “the truth”? NO.

So IS what You are a thought? Absolutely NOT. There is NO “I” in deep sleep, or in waking activity in which there is only action, only experiencing, only being-in-activity (such as “the zone” that athletes describe). Let this insight show you what is real (Being, the Ocean) and what is NOT real (the “I”, the hook and line of identity and time).

“I” and “time” are “Flat Earth” beliefs and nothing more. Refuse the con! Don't keep swallowng the LIES. The lies are what make you “upright yet dead”. Dig down under the con job; see that what You are has never n=been any thought or concept, and could b]=never be anything but this Timeless Ocean of Beingness. Root out the false assumption that was bought into at age two, namely “I am me” (and YOU can';t tell me otherwise!)

Rather than keep arguing for the existence of a phantom, why not see if it is real? Rather than swallowing the lie hook line and sinker, see if there ever was a hook line and sinker with any actual reality whatsoever.

LOOK rather than try to comprehend. Comprehending the truth of what you are is the booby prize! TRUE Understanding is NON-conceptual. The Truth is simply TRUE, and That is what You are. It does not “belong” to you; that would be conceptual. The Truth IS You, the Reality of what You ARE.

Being IS and That is what You ARE. Jump back into the Ocean of Being, having spat out the hook, line and sinker of identity.

This is the end of suffering.

And it is always fully available. Right here, right now, What you are is shining clearly and self-evidently, all around, free and open; One Infinite Luminosity of Being … This Singularity of The One-Without-A-Second. THAT is what is REAL. And THAT is who you are.

Don't settle for a life of upright and dead. Be the Love you are. That is Reality; all the rest is dusty death.

I Love You.

Before God Is, You Are

The true I … I AM… is universal and impersonal…

Q: This might sound crazy but somewhere I know that I am missing Life itself by not allowing this knowledge to be fully present and totally lived ... this is the main suffering... how can one stop pushing Life away when seen that this is what is happening?

C: All those words, all your questions, are intrinsically meaningless thoughts. Notice the unchanging I AM that they appear in. All that is temporal (temporary!). What never changes is what you are. That is Love, accepting all that appears on its own Face, the presence of awareness that IS right here right now. Just see what is fully alive, present... and knowing right now, right here, before 'time', (‘your name’), or 'charlie' concepts appear. You are That which cannot be touched by any word or object. That is what we call being-knowing-love. Remember NO word is the actual! The word love is not Love. Love is WORDLESS yet lovingly allows any and all words, objects, appearances ... without judgment, unaffected ... as the Gita pointed out, That cannot be blown by wind, wetted by rain, burnt by fire. To know yourself as that requires the courage to give up all identification... all identities are false...reality is identity-less ... give up all ideas such as I am this body with this name".

Know this for yourself, here and now: "Before God is, I AM."

Ask this also, who precisely IS this "I" that is "missing life itself by not allowing... etc" ... where is that separate I and is it actually a real thing apart? All the while you are claiming to be missing life, life is happening! Who cannot see this? There is nothing in the way of Life. If you believe you can alter anything in this dream of being in life itself then stop the next hurricane from hitting Florida! It is our arrogance that claims we can "not allow" anything including realization that we are life itself. Drop it like the hot knife it is that seemingly murders your aliveness right now. All you have to lose is everything you hold dear... your imaginary limited self. Losing everything, the Paradise you never lost is "regained".

Q: To keep on pondering the jewels you gave here is what I feel is right as to respect their deep value...by now in investigation, no one is found as ever present I and at the same time I AM HERE...Who and where? No answer can actually fulfill the question ... so the only thing that remains is the sense of being and the looking ... Meet you in Paradise ... Love To You in Freedom.

C: You say, “no one is found as ever present I and at the same time I AM HERE …" that is the key insight! What is that I which is here now? The I Consciousness (A'Ham) ... endless beginningless Being. THAT I AM is true reality and love. Notice that THIS I AM is NOT a concept, NOT an idea, NOT even an experience! This I AM is the Paradise we were seeking ... stunningly finding It already fully present as this simple Being-Knowing-Loving. So you have rediscovered Paradise in the simple seeing "there is no separate I", and at the same eternal-time, the Infinite I AM. Here and now that I AM endures forever. You carry the whole universe here, in your own heart! So I say welcome back to the Home you never left (the mind lied but now you know that Truth that sets us free in Itself. YAY!)

Another way to point ... the True I IS Ever-Present, Always ON ... in the same way that even when it appears to be dark outside we KNOW that the sun is ever-present, shining despite the appearance that it is not because the earth blocks the physical eye's view of it ... the knowing is naturally, the earth revolves around the sun and it is never not... Read More shining. In this way see that the Light of Being, Awareness-Light, IS always shining and cannot be extinguished despite the appearance of thoughts, ideas and false beliefs that like the earth seems to keep the sun from view seem to keep the Light of the Eternal I from view. YOU are that Pure I that is seen here now, and That is the Self of All. Know this now, don't refuse to be That, and don’t pretend ever again you are not That. That, I AM. There is but ONE I-I BEING the knowing I AM. This is the truth (satyam).

from "You Are Unborn"

'sailor' bob ... not two

Nobody points it out better: Hear a NEW dialogue with 'Sailor' Bob Adamson ... recorded on 25 Oct 2009 click HERE to listen (right click to download)

John Wheeler's review of "You Are Unborn"

In “You Are Unborn”, Charlie Hayes offers a potent, lively and comprehensive presentation of the timeless, fundamental pointers of non-duality, which is the heart-essence of the great spiritual traditions. His "no-holds barred", "take no prisoners" style brings the core message of "You Are That" into the streets. His words and pointers, which come from his own deep investigation and direct experience, are simply infectious and contagious. His communication is direct and uncompromising but clearly flows from a genuine love and depth of heart which is moved to take others beyond the need of further help. Many who read this book will find their doubts and questions completely dissolved and dismantled. In this, the joyful recognition will dawn that they are seekers no more.

~ John Wheeler www.thenaturalstate.org

new book review

"Charlie's expression was pivotal in exposing some erroneous concepts that kept the search going. His book is packed with potent pointers that tackle many of the common "tricks" that can keep seeking going indefinitely. Like a stick of dynamite, he explodes into the assumptions of the false self-centre, and leaves not a trace of himself as a "teacher." A wonderful compilation of a profoundly simple message- much love to Charlie and all those involved in this powerful expression."

-Michael Thielmann, http://ididntfinditandneitherwillyou.blogspot.com/

the light of pure knowing (audio podcast)

A conversation of the One Heart ... the light of pure knowing ... awareness and content are not two .... Click HERE to listen or Right Click & Save to download

New review of "You Are Unborn just in

Charlie Hayes' "You Are Unborn" is a hard-charging, to-the-point, immensely-compassionate collection of dialogues and pointers. There is something on practically every page that will halt seekers and spiritual-trippers in their overly-conceptual, fantasy-driven tracks. Readers have only to give their bare, undivided attention the gems provided here and their supposed ‘journey’ will be over. Those nondual nuggets include as: ‘Space and its Content are of a Single Essence -- Aliveness arising from Nowhere and translated by language as I am, I exist’; and this elegant and marvelously accurate response: ‘There is ONLY Being, being nothing, being something, being everything...ALL there is is The Show. AKA EVERYTHING.’ Well done, Charlie!” ~ Rodney Stevens, radianceofbeing.blogspot.com

"You Are Unborn" ... a Review by Randall Friend

This latest book, "You Are Unborn", is another example of the direct and unflinching message from Charlie Hayes, a "guru" who fits no molds, a "non-teacher" who doesn't wish to add to your worldly knowledge, but wants to rip all your beliefs and assumptions of separation out at the root. Charlie is a master, using metaphor and honesty, in guiding the mind towards itself, to devour itself, to recognize its own futility. And in that recognition of absence of individual self, the Being which Charlie points to may be known

Charlie graciously gives honor to his "teachers" John Wheeler and "Sailor" Bob Adamson, while his own expression stands authentically on its own. This book contains pointing and dialogs, quotes from both modern and ancient sources, as well as the unmistakable recognition manifested in this unique, loving and hard-hitting expression known as "Charlie". Here is an example of the crystal-clear and no-nonsense writing:

"Being is incontrovertible, inescapable and non objective; the only "separation" from Being that ever happened or could happen is in language only, and language is dreamlike, insubstantial and powerless. There is no way out of Being and no way to attain Being. To "attain" requires "don't already have" and THAT is the false identification with a movement of Divine Energy ... we call that movingness a thought ... of an "I"... which we have made solid and real in our inadvertence and ignorance; The assumption of a separate "me" is JUST an assumption."

Once again, Charlie has provided a text which can sit comfortably beside any ancient classic writing. Between the covers of this or any of Charlie's books, Truth can be found but not as we expect it, or maybe even as we might want it. Charlie clearly points out that "...no answer satisfies the mind’s search because in the final Truth there IS no answer. THAT is the 'answer!'"

Charlie Hayes provides no answers, gives no crutch to hold on to, creates no foundation for the spiritual seeker. In this void of separate-self-ness, Being may be recognized but not from afar, not objectively, not as something new. In Charlie's words, "It's about the rediscovery that there is no person and yet Being Is."

~ Randall Friend, author of the book "You Are No Thing" from Non Duality Press, and the blog "You Are Dreaming" at http://avastu0.blogspot.com

Hello All, The new book from Nonduality Expressions, "You Are Unborn", is now available at my bookstore and will be on Amazon in a few weeks. You are receiving this note because of your interest in or expressing of Nondual Spirituality.

Go HERE to preview it: http://stores.lulu.com/charliehayes36

Nonduality Books are available for instant download (or print copy) HERE

precisely what is “the I”?

Q: I have a question: I have had now a few glimpses and the thought comes into say that “that is it and this is not it”....

C: Thoughts are completely irrelevant. Any thought can arise. Does the thought touch what You ARE? That Naked Awareness this is the constant background and always fully present at all “times” is YOU, your True Nature. No thought can get within a million miles of that because THAT is what IS, always JUST SO. That never is altered or affected in any way by a thought or other appearance, in the same way the cinema screen is untouched by the play of images and sounds apparently coming from it but in fact those appearances cannot BE unless the screen is there to register them. In exactly the same way this Present Aware Beingness registers all that appears while remaining utterly untouched by whatever seems to appear. Get that point firm first!

Q: Things like not being able to find myself in a room, seeing this ME appearing in what I am, feeling disorientated in a room with other people and not knowing which one of these people AM I supposed to be, and then having to remind myself.. I am this one with the glasses, hearing sounds without a me there to hear those sounds, i.e. that there is just a sound, the sensation of feeling like a bazillion tiny pieces and that they implode back to being a thought. Like the universe imploding back on to a thought of ME, and most recently the sensation of the world being a movie screen that is just happening.

C: Okay now that is quite a story! But is that story YOU? No. You are That which COGNIZES that story and all that you describe is just like a thunderstorm happening while the sky, the space, forever remains empty, serene and untouched. The question as always is WHO is this that feels disoriented, believes he is the one with glasses, feels like being in tiny pieces etc? WHO? Take it back to the core: Who AM I that thinks, sees, feels, knows, doesn’t know anything at all? Who are YOU? Are YOU an object appearing, coming and going? Or NOT? The essence of this is to fully dismantle that "furball" of false conceptions of who you are; you are NOT anything that thoughts can grasp, own or know. Take it apart thread by thread. NOT this NOT this. You must continue to be earnest, and willing to REJECT ANY identifying thought. While there is clearly some good Seeing happening, this cul-de-sac of identity must be fully deconstructed for the peace that you are to by completely clear (even though it is already utterly free and clear the believed-identity SEEMS to obstruct it so that has to be dismantled.

Ponder this I wrote to another “seeker” today:

Q: But who is to expose or dismantle it?

C: That “you that still says I, I am this person, I still suffer. That "you" that is only a passing idea, energy-sound in Awareness, yet that idea is being taken to be real. To be "you!" Challenge that! Don’t just buy into some “nondual platitude” like “there is no one so who will look”? That is a ploy the ego-ideation uses to avoid its own being outed as the fake it really is. The emperor doesn’t want to be found out to have no clothes. YOU are Naked Awareness. Any idea to the contrary needs to be investigated and dismantled. The search began in the mind so the challenge to our cherished assumption of “I am I, Me” MUST be taken on IN that very mind. This is a paradox to the mind that wants the security of an answer. The “Answer” there is no one will still leave you suffering, as you are admitting when you are being honest about your actual experience. In my experience the structure of conceptualizing consist in A) interpretations of what is, including judgments and evaluations of what “should be different” or “could be better” that what simply IS, B) the fixation that “what is appearing is a real happening and it’s all happening to ME, and C) the core assumption that I AM the THOUGHT-BELIEF I, Me, My Self in a World Out There which I am separate from, and D) there IS a location for ME and there is also TIME, a past and future, which constrains ME.

Q: So these mysterious glimpses or experiences bring about the thought that this here now is not it and those experiences are it. Even if they are incredibly ordinary these are still a fundamentally and totally different perspective of this life. That cannot be denied; and why is this not it is because it feels like it is surrounded by thought.

Deconstruct that! ALL experiences are passing appearances while your True Self NEVER moves, NEVER changes, it is THAT Which Always IS, as JD Hazlewood puts it.

I am earnest... Nothing else is really happening in my life apart from this. And not a moment goes by where I am not checking myself.

C: Good. But go easy on yourself. Make it a curiosity to discover the source of suffering, rather than making this a “demand” or some overly aggressive challenge. Be a bit gentle yet firmly interested, curious to uncover what is at the core of it all. In other words, give yourself some love and compassion here, my friend.

Q: These experiences are a bit of a blocker at the moment, as the feeling or thought is...that or those experiences are where I need to get to.

C: That is exactly correct in the way you state it, and YET, these “blocks” are also the great opportunity to go deeper into True Understanding … to “Stand Under” what appears to be blockages and see that it’s all imagination, based only on the taking your self to be a CONCEPT. YOU were NEVER a concept; YOU Are Unborn Being, free and clear, and seeing this takes you out of the conceptualizing game (in which there is no joy, as you are aware!)

Stay with it. Asking Who Am I that still takes on board the odious idea of a me that is flawed and incomplete. Who Am I? That thought reveals NO answer; it unconceals the Space the Awareness, that You ARE. Stay with THAT and let THAT show you the depths of Its emptiness and the richness of Its fullness.

Keep on. You are at the end game. Don’t quit now! I Love You.

who wants an "answer", and why?

Q: Hi Charlie, well, I thought I had posted a lengthy reply to the latest message, only to find out that it did not post. I despair! I wonder if this is just another distraction like any other.

C: I don't see any long post so it must have gotten eaten by Love :-) ... or the CyberGods!

In any event, all these words can be a distraction, or not, depending on where you look from. From Who You ARE nothing can affect or distract YOU as Being-Existing-ness.... and...

Before the next thought arises, YOU ARE ... Here, Now … Being.

That Being that YOU ARE knows NO problems. All so called problems are in thoughts only. YOU are NOT any thought. Being, Space-like Knowing-Awareness, just Always IS. You are That. Period, End, Full stop.

If the mind claims "I despair", have a good, through, intelligent, LOOK:

What or Who says that? Who claims to be an "I" with properties like despair (or joy for that matter)? Who Are YOU in the matter? Are YOU a thought? If you know you self as a thought, there will always follow that suffering will arise. To know Thy Self as No-Thought is freedom. That does not mean thoughts are somehow resisted or are wrong; only that what YOU are is free and clear, an open space of Aware Being IN which thought appears and subside like clouds that come and go in the forever Empty Sky.

You in that metaphor are NOT the cloud (despair etc). YOU are The Sky.

Be That, your True Self, which is already the case; only NOW you just recognize it, and nothing can trouble you ever again. Nothing temporal is Real Nothing that happens is You. Being is Knowing, Seeing, One-Essence, Not-Two.

Now: Be THAT and nothing else. Since That is what Yiu already are, it's very simple. Nothing special!

for whom is there ‘despair’?

Q: Hi Charlie, well, I thought I had posted a lengthy reply to the latest message, only to find out that it did not post. I despair! I wonder if this is just another distraction like any other.

C: I don't see any long post so it must have gotten eaten by Love :-) ... or the CyberGods!

In any event, all these words can be a distraction, or not, depending on where you look from. From Who You ARE nothing can affect or distract YOU as Being-Existing-ness.... and...

Before the next thought arises, YOU ARE ... Here, Now … Being.

That Being that YOU ARE knows NO problems. All so called problems are in thoughts only. YOU are NOT any thought. Being, Space-like Knowing-Awareness, just Always IS. You are That. Period, End, Full stop.

If the mind claims "I despair", have a good, through, intelligent, LOOK:

What or Who says that? Who claims to be an "I" with properties like despair (or joy for that matter)? Who Are YOU in the matter? Are YOU a thought? If you know you self as a thought, there will always follow that suffering will arise. To know Thy Self as No-Thought is freedom. That does not mean thoughts are somehow resisted or are wrong; only that what YOU are is free and clear, an open space of Aware Being IN which thought appears and subside like clouds that come and go in the forever Empty Sky.

You in that metaphor are NOT the cloud (despair etc). YOU are The Sky.

Be That, your True Self, which is already the case; only NOW you just recognize it, and nothing can trouble you ever again. Nothing temporal is Real Nothing that happens is You. Being is Knowing, Seeing, One-Essence, Not-Two.

Now: Be THAT and nothing else. Since That is what Yiu already are, it's very simple. Nothing special!

end game

Q: I have a question: I have had now a few glimpses and the thought comes into say that “that is it and this is not it”....

C: Thoughts are completely irrelevant. Any thought can arise. Does the thought touch what You ARE? That Naked Awareness this is the constant background and always fully present at all “times” is YOU, your True Nature. No thought can get within a million miles of that because THAT is what IS, always JUST SO. That never is altered or affected in any way by a thought or other appearance, in the same way the cinema screen is untouched by the play of images and sounds apparently coming from it but in fact those appearances cannot BE unless the screen is there to register them. In exactly the same way this Present Aware Beingness registers all that appears while remaining utterly untouched by whatever seems to appear. Get that point firm first!

Q: Things like not being able to find myself in a room, seeing this ME appearing in what I am, feeling disorientated in a room with other people and not knowing which one of these people AM I supposed to be, and then having to remind myself.. I am this one with the glasses, hearing sounds without a me there to hear those sounds, i.e. that there is just a sound, the sensation of feeling like a bazillion tiny pieces and that they implode back to being a thought. Like the universe imploding back on to a thought of ME, and most recently the sensation of the world being a movie screen that is just happening.

C: Okay now that is quite a story! But is that story YOU? No. You are That which COGNIZES that story and all that you describe is just like a thunderstorm happening while the sky, the space, forever remains empty, serene and untouched. The question as always is WHO is this that feels disoriented, believes he is the one with glasses, feels like being in tiny pieces etc? WHO? Take it back to the core: Who AM I that thinks, sees, feels, knows, doesn’t know anything at all? Who are YOU? Are YOU an object appearing, coming and going? Or NOT? The essence of this is to fully dismantle that "furball" of false conceptions of who you are; you are NOT anything that thoughts can grasp, own or know. Take it apart thread by thread. NOT this NOT this. You must continue to be earnest, and willing to REJECT ANY identifying thought. While there is clearly some good Seeing happening, this cul-de-sac of identity must be fully deconstructed for the peace that you are to by completely clear (even though it is already utterly free and clear the believed-identity SEEMS to obstruct it so that has to be dismantled.

Ponder this I wrote to another “seeker” today:

Q: But who is to expose or dismantle it?

C: That “you that still says I, I am this person, I still suffer. That "you" that is only a passing idea, energy-sound in Awareness, yet that idea is being taken to be real. To be "you!" Challenge that! Don’t just buy into some “nondual platitude” like “there is no one so who will look”? That is a ploy the ego-ideation uses to avoid its own being outed as the fake it really is. The emperor doesn’t want to be found out to have no clothes. YOU are Naked Awareness. Any idea to the contrary needs to be investigated and dismantled. The search began in the mind so the challenge to our cherished assumption of “I am I, Me” MUST be taken on IN that very mind. This is a paradox to the mind that wants the security of an answer. The “Answer” there is no one will still leave you suffering, as you are admitting when you are being honest about your actual experience. In my experience the structure of conceptualizing consist in A) interpretations of what is, including judgments and evaluations of what “should be different” or “could be better” that what simply IS, B) the fixation that “what is appearing is a real happening and it’s all happening to ME, and C) the core assumption that I AM the THOUGHT-BELIEF I, Me, My Self in a World Out There which I am separate from, and D) there IS a location for ME and there is also TIME, a past and future, which constrains ME.

Q: So these mysterious glimpses or experiences bring about the thought that this here now is not it and those experiences are it. Even if they are incredibly ordinary these are still a fundamentally and totally different perspective of this life. That cannot be denied; and why is this not it is because it feels like it is surrounded by thought.

Deconstruct that! ALL experiences are passing appearances while your True Self NEVER moves, NEVER changes, it is THAT Which Always IS, as JD Hazlewood puts it.

I am earnest... Nothing else is really happening in my life apart from this. And not a moment goes by where I am not checking myself.

C: Good. But go easy on yourself. Make it a curiosity to discover the source of suffering, rather than making this a “demand” or some overly aggressive challenge. Be a bit gentle yet firmly interested, curious to uncover what is at the core of it all. In other words, give yourself some love and compassion here, my friend.

Q: These experiences are a bit of a blocker at the moment, as the feeling or thought is...that or those experiences are where I need to get to.

C: That is exactly correct in the way you state it, and YET, these “blocks” are also the great opportunity to go deeper into True Understanding … to “Stand Under” what appears to be blockages and see that it’s all imagination, based only on the taking your self to be a CONCEPT. YOU were NEVER a concept; YOU Are Unborn Being, free and clear, and seeing this takes you out of the conceptualizing game (in which there is no joy, as you are aware!)

Stay with it. Asking Who Am I that still takes on board the odious idea of a me that is flawed and incomplete. Who Am I? That thought reveals NO answer; it unconceals the Space the Awareness, that You ARE. Stay with THAT and let THAT show you the depths of Its emptiness and the richness of Its fullness.

Keep on. You are at the end game. Don’t quit now! I Love You.

"that which always is"

NOTE ... JD Hazlewood's NEW Book "That Which Always Is", "The End Of Suffering Is Here, Now" has just been published. This is an update of his book which was originally titled "Hillbilly Enlightenment". We felt the current title "speaks the possibility" much better. See JD's book at http://stores.lulu.com/thatwhichalwaysis ...

John Wheeler, Rodney Stevens, Maury Lee and I have all heartily endorsed this book. Get it ... you can purchase a download for ten bucks. It is worth a thousand time that little price, my friends.

the cause of suffering is fixation on a concept

A friend writes, Even though the root cause is seen as illusionary, the suffering does remain (in fact because it is exposed now, it can be even more intense).

C: My friend: If any suffering remains, then that root has NOT been fully exposed and dismantled! Where IS the "I" that makes THIS claim? Who says that suffering has been exposed? This claim is made by an ego that resists being REALLY seen and dismantled! Keep looking, dig down and locate the real Source of the I thought; that one thought "I" is the fixative and the fixation, the "glue" is that energy of belief going into a false self center that on earnest and committed investigation simply cannot be found! Root out that cause and the effects die on the vine of True Seeing. Start from the one FACT you are certain of: I AM. Look for the SOURCE of this I AM-NESS that you know is so. No one can tell you, you are not. That sense of presence, of existingess, is all you know by direct knowing rather than conceptualizing. Suffering can only consist and persist in conceptualizing self as a separate suffering thing ... "poor me", "woe is me", etc.

What we point out is that the root cause must be ELIMINATED. Seeing the mechanism is a first step, for sure. But to challenge the mind's assertions of belief until that cause is DISMANTLED is what is said to be the "means"...

Get real with this. Suffering is optional! I Love You.

this week's quote ... JD Hazlewood

There is a light, an essence that imbues everything that you see. It penetrates and holds it all, and you are there, resting within that being.

The things you think are happening to you now are not happening to you. Where you are, who you are, nothing can touch you, nothing can be wrong. All is as it is, the being that holds the existence within it is a pure, unconditional love for everything within.

You needn’t look any further for what you seek, you are there, you are in it, on it, around it, and it, that which you seek. Some may not like the idea of saying we are God. Look at it like this: If you think of God as the father, then you are that child, in this life if someone is your father, you are the child of that person, then that person’s blood flows throughout your veins, you are physically connected to that person, and you take no issue with this.

You can go back to a grandparent and see the connection there, and trace it back even farther until you go all the way back to the first humans.

Your body is just proteins, essentially food, and that really isn’t who you are. You are that which contains the body, that which gives it life and causes blood to flow through the veins. You are that which makes the heart beat, the rivers flow, the sun rise and set. You are a part of that magnificent All, one without second.

You are not this, and not that, you are beyond description, beyond concepts. Look inside your heart and you know that you are not this troubled entity that you think you are. You are that one power that is beyond the word power, beyond any words. You are neither this nor that, neither here nor there.

If you want some mind blowing experience, you won’t find it in who you are, but the mind looks for big, earth shaking experiences. Now if you want to see what is, as it is, that which is neither here nor there, then you can know the peace that is always present, only overlooked, because you are this peace.

It’s not something to attain; you already have that, because you are that. There is nothing that you are lacking, you need not chase anything. Until you believe this, until it is known beyond a shadow of a doubt, beyond the reach of the mind, you will be trapped by illusion.

So what is it like, if not mind blowing? It is peace, uncaused joy, calm being of presence awareness, oneness, the absolute, that which was never born and never dies. The mind won’t accept this. It wants to achieve something, search for something, and this keeps you trapped. There is no search, there is only that Source of being, that perfect One. ~ JD Hazlewood

still suffering despite "investigating"

Recently, someone wrote here, in essence saying, “In my direct and immediate experience, after doing the "investigation" on a regular basis for over a year now, to say that suffering has a cause and intelligent investigation into the source of it can dismantle that, I say, ‘NO, it’s bullshit’. In fact I sometimes find myself suffering more than ever over this bullshit nonduality. Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta, John Wheeler, etc, etc, ALL are all full of crap.”

Well, I have to say this is pretty arrogant! And bespeaks a vast ignorance and real blindness to the possibility these great sages are pointing to! To claim that these truly helpful, compassionate expressions are “full of crap” is the REAL bullshit here. Especially given the huge body of evidence that is contrary to that deluded belief!

And clearly the authentic investigation has NOT been taken up, despite the protestations to the contrary. If it had, this diatribe would not arise.

I suggest to this person that there may be a physical chemical component operating in the organism. If this were a close friend or a family member I would strongly urge the person to see a good doctor. Nonduality may not be appropriate presently, if there are other unresolved body-mind issues at play. Getting that issue resolved, then perhaps there will be a more open heart to look into this again.

Ponder this deeply, from James Hazlewood’s fine book, "Hillbilly Enlightenment":

The Character

I can see this character in the dream that was once believed to be “me”. I see that the character is not a real entity; it still walks and talks, moves around, carries on with business as usual, but now there’s a knowing what’s real and what’s not, that’s the only difference. There’s a calming peace in knowing that this character is not who I really am.

This character seems almost like a third person, except in that I know there is no person there. It’s like a character in a dream, not any specific one, just any random character. It seems to have a past and thoughts about a future, but it’s not me.

I have none of those things as I am eternally present; I am that Eternal Presence. There is no me, no you, only Being, only Awareness, all of these terms that we’ve heard before. The words mean nothing without the seeing, and I am that Seeing, that Understanding.

Understanding is key to all of this; understanding that I am not a limited character in this play of life, but Unlimited Awareness. There’s no place where I start or stop, no beginning or ending, just infinite Beingness.

There’s no dying, it only appears so, but the eternal presence that is, that illuminates everything lives on and on, without beginning or end, without measure. Everything perceivable is measurable in some form, but pure Beingness is without measure, you cannot say where it starts or ends; you cannot touch it or even think about it. All you can do is have concepts about what it might be, but they are not it, that’s how you know the unknowable variable to all of this; it is that which is beyond knowing.

The mind can only comprehend things that are measurable, that can be sensed. It cannot fathom the idea of no beginning or end. The passage of time is only an illusion, but think of eternity in either direction, think of the end or beginning of time as it is believed, then go beyond that. The mind actually has to say there’s an end to time, and then there must be something else. The mind has to put it into a box, compress it into something tangible.

Bodies are apparently born, to that end we see a beginning, we see “others” apparently born, apparently grow old and apparently die, thus we see an end. We see it with people, animals, plants. What goes up must come down, to every season and so on. That is all of what makes this thing of all things work.

But the knowing of all of this is boundless and limitless. There are no constraints on Awareness. Awareness has always been aware; there was never an instant when it wasn’t. It’s not a thing that is one day and is not the next.

Thoughts come and go, moods change, but presence of being never changes, no matter what appears.

The mind cannot grasp this, that’s why it jumps up and says “Here I am to answer all of your questions, as long as I’m alive. I’ll answer questions concerning all that can be sensed, but if you talk about anything outside of that, I cannot help you”.

This is because the mind is based on memories, it is memories, just thoughts about what has happened and conjecture about what may happen, based on past experience. It cannot go beyond what it thinks it knows.

But presence Awareness is already beyond that and needs no proof of anything; it is its own proof and its own reason for being. All of this chasing around, looking for answers if activity for the mind, it gives it something to do. It doesn’t have to be spiritual searching; any searching is the same thing. Some search inside taverns, concerts, brothels, amusement parks, the internet, just name it.

All of this searching and seeking is the mind not being content with anything that appears. As soon as it gets a fix, it is after another, until it exhausts all of these and moves onto another.

Whereas Beingness is its own reward, its own end, as it were. The difference is that these others come to an end and reap no benefits except keeping the mind occupied for a short period.

Beingness, Awareness needs no such diversion. I am what is sought already, there is no searching. See this, just see this and there’s nothing that appears to be an answer.

~ ~ ~

This makes the possibility we are pointing to so clear that if there is an openness to truly HONESTLY investigating what it is that causes the suffering, the investigation can be authentically take up (not just given “lip service” to). As we have said, meanwhile, what You are is forever free and untouched despite how it appears to be occurring for the believed-in personal “me”.

So get real , for your own sake! And if you are genuinely interested in ENDING your suffering instead of just complaining, visit James at http://thatwhichalwaysis.blogspot.com.

You can order the book there. I highly recommend that if you are still suffering, you do that!

the home no one left

A friend writes, “From Oneness to Oneness, Thank you for bringing 'me' home!”

From I AM to I AM, you’re welcome!

living freedom ... the natural state

Being is knowing, without the false assumption of a person which, in direct practical experience through a cogent investigation, cannot be found. So it boils down to this: There is NO person to attain any state, no special state to attain; the whole thing was a myth; and dispelling the myth is no more complex than getting real about what IS TRUE... knowing the Truth of what you are and refusing any compromise the mind wants to use to paste some imagined limitation onto that Timeless Awareness.

Realizing that the "I" is a CONCEPT with NO ACTUAL reality, and that "time" is ONLY another mental concept, pulls the plug on the illusion once and for good. Looking directly at what IS from/AS Naked Awareness, which isi the necessary and ever-clear and present backdrop for ALL experiences, and seeing directly the Source of the "I Am", the freedom you are comes naturally back to the foreground. And life goes on in effortless joy and there is as Nisargadatta put it, "nothing wrong any more." Seeing that ALL ideas of who or what we are are absolutely FALSE, the deal is done.

So in the end it is as it is before the beginning: You Are Unborn. Absolute freedom. The natural, or Eternal, Being-That-You-Are! As the sages like Sri Nisargadatta have pointed out, it all comes down to knowing that what you are is non-conceptual-izable. That keeps it basic and simple.

it's already here now

Q: Nisargadatta repeatedly exhorted listeners to watch the sense 'I Am', and said that it took him three years of doing this before he finally realised his true nature. On the other hand, he also maintained that it takes absolutely no effort to realise who you really are.

C: You could go mad trying to resolve the apparent contradictions … just know that ALL concepts are ONLY pointers and NOT some “truth”.

Q: [A British teacher] has repeatedly suggested that any practice or any effort to become self-realised is dualistic and re-enforces the sense of separation because it implies that there is somebody who can do something to attain liberation. He says that there is already only ever awakeness. What is your take on all this?

C: Sure, “there IS only ever “awakeness" or “wholeness”. Being-Awareness IS all there is. All is ONE. So in a way that is true. BUT … if there is still suffering, then isn't it obvious that there IS still the assumption of a person seeking operating in the mind? If there is the assumption there IS a “person”, a suffering “me”, no amount of “opposition by assertion” or some dogmatic “affirmation” will change that. ONLY investigation into the mechanics of the root cause of our human suffering will work to disengage the fixation on a phantom (yet ignorantly assumed real) “me” to whom “stuff happens” … as so many authentic sages such as Sri Nisargadatta, Ramana Maharshi and current ones like Bob Adamson and John Wheeler have pointed out.

Q: I find that trying to be aware of the present moment does take effort. I understand that even when I am deeply attending to the past or the future and to thinking that I am still only presence-awareness, but this understanding does not seem enough to eliminate suffering from my experience.

C: But does it take any "effort" to BE? No. YOU ARE. Try to NOT BE. It's inescapable. Being IS and That Thou Art.

Now: Do you know the cause of suffering? You say I this and I that. But of there is “only awakeness” and no “person”, no “I”, then exactly WHO is this asserted I that is claiming a presence that is obviously a belief in being an individual apart from wholeness? You can’t have it both ways!

Q: There seems to be a difference between understanding that all there is, is pure awareness manifesting as an apparently real dream and being in a state in which one abides as that awareness, and that some sort of effort to bring about that state is necessary (for example, spending three years watching the sense 'I Am').

C: But you never can NOT abide as Awareness despite what the mind claims. Awarness is ALWAYS SO. Now it also sounds like you may have adopted some "there is no one so who would investigate" dogmatic belief about this stuff. Let’s get real. Are you suffering? You are indicating that you are. Questiong, looking for aswners or reasoning this all out, IS suffering! So, are you seeking some “special state” that you will get for the I identity? The “me”? It seems so, right? So let’s address that.

Q: Nisargadatta said that 'understanding is all', but I can understand it intellectually and yet I still experience suffering. I still get stressed out when I have too much to do and not enough time to do it in. I still have concerns about survival. I still have moments when I just do not feel like I can accept something that is painful or feels bad.

C: Good, now it’s getting down to what matters to YOU. Right here just NOTICE the constant affirming of the existence of an “I”. That thought is the root. The energy of belief goes into that “I thought” and that gets taken to be who you are. But you are NOT a thought; all thoughts, which are only concepts, including that “I” concept, come and go while the Present Awakeness or Awareness that is REAL and always “on” NEVER comes and goes, NEVER changes. That “always-so-ness” of Being, Aware Presence, is the ever-open and empty background, the necessary condition for any thought to appear. You are THAT and ONLY THAT is Eternal, Real... So: The issue here is an assumption that you ARE the I thought, and until that is investigated and found to be a mirage, a phantom, the suffering goes on and on. So WHO is this I? Is it REAL? Only that which cannot and does not change can be the Reality, the natural, the eternal. Seeing yourself as a thought, you suffer. YOU are NO concept, NO word can define you. Pointers like Being, Awareness, I Am-ness, are all ONLY pointing to That which is always fully present and aware regardless of what appears in or on that open space-like Is-ness. Remember, what You are is NOT a concept, NOT a word, NOT a thing that language can ever grasp or describe. Te closest might be “You Are No Thing”, as Bob Adamson sometimes points out your True Self, That which just … IS.

Q: Although I understand intellectually that there is no 'me' and that there can be no 'me', there is nevertheless a sense that there is a 'me'. If I try to get rid of the sense of 'me', then there is an apparent 'me' trying to get rid of itself, thus re-enforcing itself (that British teacher all over again). If I keep coming back to the understanding that there is no 'me', there still seems to be a 'me' anyway. What to do?

C: Investigate! What is needed is to

A) realize that suffering has a cause,

B) remove the cause and the effects cannot stand, and

C) understand the actual mechanics of suffering.

For some just asking the mind, who says this? Who am I? Is enough to disengage the false connection between what is said or seen or thought about, and the sense of “this is happening to ME”. More often a little guidance is needed, from one whose understanding is clear, as to what the mechanics of this suffering really are. For me, John Wheeler’s guidance was indispensable. So if you are open to it, we might have a talk on Skype or by phone to get down to the root of this.

ALL suffering is, is self-centered thinking, coming out from the deeply held belief-assumption that “I AM this individual, this self I call 'me'." Until that is dismantled at the core, suffering goes on, despite all the protestations the mind mounts against that dismantling. One clever ploy the mid uses to avoid the phantom “me” being seen and ousted is this notion “there is no one so who would look and dismantle." That is a mental justification that leads most often to profound resignation, a kind of "personal hopelessness", and deep despair. Been there done that. It’s no fun. But the good news is, there IS a proven means to end suffering! Nisargadatta showed that to bob. Bob showed that to John Wheeler. John showed that to me. Now it’s your turn … IF you are open.

To know the reality of what you are, Being, only That, empty yet full, is the true gift of imbibing these pointers. The beauty in this is, you ARE and you already KNOW that. No one can ever tell you “you are not being”. Nor can you honestly tell yourself that. The I AM is the ONLY certainty; your own absolute, incontrovertible knowing, that being IS. That is REAL for you, right? That's IT, my friend. The whole thing is that Being IS and You Are THAT. To know thyself as That, Naked Being, and to rediscover what you are NOT, and that nothing that happens or appears is the real You, is the profound gift and legacy of the great sages.

So why not get onto the REAL understanding, which is beyond “intellect” or “reason”, and come back Home to what you truly are?

It’s already here now. Just take it! It’s YOURS.

Oct 31 Conference Call & Meeting Canceled

We have had a conflict arise so the meeting and conference call originally scheduled for 31 October has been canceled. Feel free to call or write for a one on one consultation if you like. Thank you.

no concept can define your natural beingness

Q: There still seems to exist a duality in "me". Even though that duality can't be real. On the one hand, the person is not there and instead there is nothing, a vast vacuum or space or eternal sea where no ripple can be created. Focusing on that is blissful.

C: Well perhaps but that is a pendulum swing and the other side of it is suffering! Blissful states are temporary. All states are temporary and NOT what we are pointing to as your True Self!

Q: I like that expression, "Eternal Sea where no ripple can be created".

C: That’s really not all that clear. The ripples are the same essence of water as the sea: This is NOT TWO. In the same way that your essence of pure Awareness and all the seemingly separate appearances are ALL that same essence. Not Two.

Q: And on the other hand it is not being understood or seen how this space, nothingness or whatever is also everything. "Form is emptiness and emptiness is form". That doesn't quite compute here for some reason. The nothingness is more like. Well, just simply nothing, and not even nothing because nothing is just a word. How the everything is the same as that, or one with it, is not seen.

C: Can there be two no things? Oneness IS No Thing NOT Two... Also, “everything” is also just a word, a concept. NO concept can ever capture or define what you are! The No Thing is NOT a thing that the mind can grasp or own; Awareness, No Thing, is NOT personal and NOT an object with properties. It appears that there is still a subtle fixation on being “someone” who is somehow defective because “it is not being understood”. Do you need to understand this to BE? Awareness is absolutely no thing and that means NO thing. Yet "IT", that No Thing, is fully infused with Freedom and Aliveness; we call that Aliveness Simply Being-Knowing! Life Being Life. Your Real Self. All just pointers, LOOK where the words point TO. Whatver we call THAT, it IS and THAT is beyond doubt. Right? You IS. Full Stop!

Please start out from the one FACT you cannot escape or deny: You ARE. Being IS! Irrefutable. Or Awareness IS. That true nature is never not here and never touched by any concept or object. But to make "no thing" into an object will also lead to making “everything” into ANOTHER separate object. This will keep the tacitly assumed self-center (the pre-verbal “I AM the me” assumption) in place and keep the mind spinning in this confusion. But the idea of being someone is ONLY a passing fancy and a learned notion adopted by a two-year-old’s brain and imbedded and it kind of has turned solid. But it is NOT actually solid when looked directly into. This is why investigation must happen to root out the false assumption that “there IS a ‘me’ and that ‘me’ IS real”. It’s a belief and NOT what actually IS. It takes discrimination and looking, rather than stopping at some assertion like “I am no thing” because that statement will just become another definition pasted onto your true indefinable nature.

Q: But is there really a need for that understanding? I mean, who is trying to understand it?

C: What is needed is the understanding of A) what you ARE and B) the mechanics of suffering and assumed separation. That's is essential. That's what is shared here.

Q: And I notice how I put that in the terms of "on the one hand...and on the other hand", like there are two separate things when in fact there is not. But still that understanding is not being felt and understood here... or is that just the fake person sneaking up from the shadows like a zombie creating a kind of separation?

C: No explanation will satisfy because what wants an explanation is a false self that has no more real existence than Santa Claus. And who is this “I” that says “I notice?” “I put…” etc? Where is it? What is that I-assumption, that self-center, actually made of? Presently arising thoughts, appearing in the empty space of your true nature of Awareness.

The crucial point is that the culprit is that an intrinsically meaningless I-thought being given an “assumed reality”. It is a kind of spiritual immaturity; like still believing is Santa Claus who once the child is a few years older is seen to be a totally false assumption. This is no different! See through this by looking in at the mind’s chatter from your natural timeless state of aware presence. That is never missing and there is never anything wrong in and as That. Abide as That and LOOK...

Shine the natural light of that naked “I AM” Awareness on the false belief. It’s like sneaking downstairs and seeing that there is no Santa Claus; seeing daddy putting the presents out under the tree, and mommy drinking the mike you left out, and eating the cookies… where in the past you took the presents and the remaining crumbs and empty milk glass as your “proof” of the existence of Santa.

Also, take NO identification on board, EVEN an identity called “I am no thing” OR I am everything.

ALL identities are false. Even to assert I am Wholeness is FALSE. What You ARE is just plain everyday Awareness and there is NOTHING "wrong" with THAT.

Looking into this business of "a duality in 'me'", WHO assumes there is a defective "me" that lacks some understanding? Ask this until the falseness of that assumption is seen clearly: What IS this “I” or “me” that “wants to understand and/or experience itself as being everything?” Where is that thing? IS that a thing, with a beginning, middle and end? Find out; see for yourself, that the ignorance-assumption of separateness, of a "me", is merely a thought-assumption construct made of air. What is that “thing” that wants more than naked awareness? That true self is freedom itself. WHO wants more than freedom?

Bottom line is YOU are NOT a thing and yet Awareness ... Being-Aliveness … your True Nature … IS. Always. Just. So.

And, the “I” is a word that refers to ... what? Nothing! Non-Objective Being, appearing as the Consciousness-Presence, conceptualized as “I AM” But YOU are That which is PRIOR TO that “I AM” concept and even prior to the Consciousness-Knowingness Itself! YOU are Pure Being that does not know that it is. THIS is Nonduality… One-No-Other.

Your actual NON-conceptual Being is not an object with properties therefore It cannot be attained, described or defined. See that clearly right now and the search is done.