Wow

A friend writes: Wow. I spoke with you for about an hour a few months ago.  I was one of those "hard nuts", and I ran through countless resources and "enlightened" individuals with what was, apparently, no progress along the spiritual path, as it were.

By chance I encountered your 12-minute audio "I Am-Aham",  which details the process of remaining with the thought "I Am" to the exclusion of all else.  Well, something immediately clicked!  The (apparent) I was able to perceive this "I Am" as a sort of "bridge" or "border" between the Ultimate Reality and its countless manifestations.  More importantly, this was not an intellectual realization (ugh!), but an experiential one.

I immediately began contemplating "I Am".  In fact, as a 12-Stepper for 30 years, I engaged in this activity far more frequently than you suggested (AA compulsivity, of course).  I also purchased and read "I Am That",  which was a transformational experience in itself .  Within a short time, something changed deeply!  The realization of my true nature became profoundly clear, and I now count myself among the many souls who have looked back and exclaimed, "How could I have missed this; it's so perfectly obvious!"  I continue to reflect on "I Am" very frequently, and I "season" the experience by occasionally picking up "I Am That" and leafing through a couple of pages.  I find this self-realization process "deepening" with time, with concepts like fear, regret, and frustration diminishing more and more.

I must admit,  when I first read of your "encounter" with Nisargadatta on that beautiful day [in the book "Perfect Peace"] , I thought you were speaking metaphorically or being melodramatic.  Now, when I read about that experience, my hair truly stands on end.  I understand!  In fact, to paraphrase the great sage, "Nothing much bothers me any more."  I simply had to let you know of my experience, which is much more and much different than I could have imagined. Love and Peace, DW

C: That's really good to hear. Much Love to you, DW!

DW: And to you---many thanks.

C: You are very welcome .... and ..... the truth is .... You did it! Love ya my friend.

A note from "I Am That"

Nisargadatta Maharaj: Contemplate life as infinite, undivided, ever present, ever active, until you realise yourself as one with it. It is not even very difficult, for you will be returning only to your own natural condition.

Once you realise that all comes from within, that the world in which you live has not been projected onto you but by you, your fear comes to an end. Without this realisation you identify yourself with the externals, like the body, mind, society, nation, humanity, even God or the Absolute. But these are all escapes from fear. It is only when you fully accept your responsibility for the little world in which you live and watch the process of its creation, preservation and destruction, that you may be free from your imaginary bondage.

Questioner: Why should I imagine myself so wretched?

M: You do it by habit only. Change your ways of feeling and thinking, take stock of them and examine them closely. You are in bondage by inadvertence. Attention liberates. You are taking so many things for granted. Begin to question. The most obvious things are the most doubtful. Ask yourself such questions as: ‘Was I really born?' 'Am I really so-and-so?’ 'How do I know that I exist? 'Who are my parents?’ 'Have they created me, or have I created them?' 'Must I believe all I am told about myself?' ‘Who am I, anyhow?'. You have put so much energy into building a prison for yourself. Now spend as much on demolishing it. In fact, demolition is easy, for the false dissolves when it is discovered. All hangs on the idea 'I am'. Examine it very thoroughly. It lies at the root of every trouble. It is a sort of skin that separates you from the reality. The real is both within and without the skin, but the skin itself is not real. This 'I am' idea was not born with you. You could have lived very well without it. It came later due to your self-identification with the body. It created an illusion of separation where there was none. It made you a stranger in your own world and made the world alien and inimical. Without the sense of 'I am' life goes on. There are moments when we are without the sense of 'I am'. at peace and happy. With the return of the 'I am' trouble starts.

Q: How is one to be free from the 'I'-sense?

M: You must deal with the 'I'-sense if you want to be free of it. Watch it in operation and at peace, how it starts and when it ceases, what it wants and how it gets it, till you see clearly and understand fully. After all, all the Yogas, whatever their source and character, have only one aim: to save you from the calamity of separate existence, of being a meaningless dot in a vast and beautiful picture.

You suffer because you have alienated yourself from reality and now you seek an escape from this alienation. You cannot escape from your own obsessions. You can only cease nursing them.

It is because the ‘I am' is false that it wants to continue. Reality need not continue -- knowing itself indestructible, it is indifferent to the destruction of forms and expressions. To strengthen, and stabilise the 'I am' we do all sorts of things -- all in vain, for the 'I am' is being rebuilt from moment to moment. It is unceasing work and the only radical solution is to dissolve the separative sense of 'I am such-and-such person' once and for good. Being remains, but not self-being.

Q: I have definite spiritual ambitions. Must I not work for their fulfilment?

M: No ambition is spiritual. All ambitions are for the sake of the 'I am'. If you want to make real progress you must give up all idea of personal attainment. The ambitions of the so-called Yogis are preposterous. A man's desire for a woman is innocence itself compared to the lusting for an everlasting personal bliss. The mind is a cheat. The more pious it seems, the worse the betrayal.

Ch. 63, "I Am That"

Consciousness appears in the awareness which IS

"Tan1772" writes: I totally "buy" that I exist and I have awareness.

C: Please DON’T! There is absolutely NO way to say a truth that can be bought or believed; “The truth that can be said is NOT the Real Truth”. Do not believe, accept or “buy into” ANY concept! As must be repeated over and over until it really sinks in: These are conceptual POINTERS ONLY. Look where the pointers POINT rather than taking them on board as some “truth!” And have a look: WHO is it that “buys” this anyway?

Q: But that's exactly where I am stuck:

C: WHO is this “I” that “is stuck?” That is a concept, nothing more and nothing actually real. That “I” seeming to be stuck on itself; and the stuckness (glue) itself, is just a habitual firm yet false belief that what you are IS that “I” thought. You assume you ARE that sense of being a separate “me”. No matter how much you try to get “unstuck” you stay stick until and unless you root under that “I:” sense to find out if it is actually real! The glue is your belief in that person, your mask that you wear to prop up a sense of insecurity that “you” have been fighting since about age three.

Q: I feel that my awareness is a function of this body. When my body is gone, my awareness will also be gone.

C: This is a confused view: You do not "own" awareness; you ARE awareness. And yes, the body is required for consciousness, for sure. The Awareness, the Timeless Being, is That which ALLOWS consciousness, body, world etc to appear yet That is absolutely independent of all that, including the consciousness of being-awakeness.  That body and its consciousness disappear in deep sleep every night while Awareness remains ever present giving life to a sleeping body, breathing it, living it, growing its hair, fingernails, being its heart etc., all with NO consciousness whatsoever. So let the seeing be clear that awareness IS PRIOR and Eternal while consciousness comes and goes.

Awareness IS, eternally free, nondual and empty, clear and full in Itself; duality-consciousness is the first appearance IN Awareness. Awareness is Eternal, while consciousness comes and goes. Don’t confuse or collapse these. Awareness ALWAYS IS regardless of the happening of consciousness OR unconsciousness.

Q: Of course I can't say that with experiential certainty…

C: Right. So that cannot be a timeless actual truth, can it!?

Q:  but it seems to be true by observing people who died. They are no long aware of what happens. While I can't locate my awareness (I can't because it's a function of the body rather than something solid), my awareness is nonetheless dependent on the body. The best analogy I can think of is actually the one often used in non-dual teaching: the body is the light bulb that shines the light of awareness. The light is not specific anywhere, but if you take away the bulb, the light also disappears.

Q: Can you 'enlighten' me on this, literally?

C: No. But YOU can, the Real You, which is that unperceivable self shining Light-Of-Knowing that exists forever, prior to, during, and after any and all concepts, experiences and all the manifest passing phenomena. That (Noumenon) is what IS; all else is what APPEARS. AND, these are NOT TWO. Ungraspable for the mind, which can only understand opposites. Stop trying to figure this out There is NO joy in the mind, the field of opposites, positions and concepts and points of view are all useless for this. Stop. Now. YOU ARE. That simple Isness-Awareness which registers consciousness and unconsciousness is what You are. BE That and nothing else. Full Stop Period. And the bottom line is, these are Not Two. You need NO "enlightenment". You already ARE the Light of Being, Awareness arising as Consciousness. It is that simple!

Thanks for writing; feel free to stay in touch until any and all confusion is dissolved.

Home!

A friend writes: Charlie: On my walk tonight listening to IPOD recording of you and John Wheeler, "True Freedom."   You and John were talking about "you must know who you are" being the main point of ADVAITA.  Within me there arose, "I am present awareness. This simple being is what I AM."  I saw the streets and houses and my body directly with no thoughts or interest. I was seeing and realized an uninvolvement. I was happy 'seeing', period.  It fits pretty common and familiar.  Nothing has changed for 'me'. The story continues but I am uninvolved. This is a blessing. It is a great relief.

"I am simple being awareness. "BE"-- and ignorance falls away. That is simple being, self illuminated TRUTH. Sitting I am HOME: I never left. My home is built on solid rock; Uninvolved fearlessness. This naked knowingness I am. Seeing concepts that follow. Seeing concepts arise and disappear as waves in an vast ocean. Do you see waves; or seeing the ocean directly? Relaxing on a pillow of peace I am unmoved. Peace, joy, and LOVE. I am that I am." Love top my friend Charlie, 

E.

AWESOME, E!!!

Endless Being-Loving,

Charlie

The Myths of "It", "I" and "Is"

We say “It is raining”. “It is cold today.” It is windy out”. But what IS this much-mentioned “IT” anyway? Rain is appearing. Then the added notion of an “It” that is given credit (or blame!) for the appearing rain gets taken to be some actual entity “doing” rain. Whether we name that “It” or “Nature” or even “God”, can such an entity actually be found anywhere? Have a good look. On direct and immediate looking in the present awareness, there is no “It” to be found. It’s just a MYTH.

Now in the same way, we say “I” am thinking. I am washing the dishes. I am making love (or war!) But locate that entity with the name “I”. Can you? Can anyone actually locate a real thing that is claiming credit or blame for what IS, what’s simply appearing in the space of aware presence?

No.

Now look at the notion of “here”. Where IS “here”? Drop the label and there is what is … being-aware-of-its Self, knowing sans knower. There is no “here”

Here look at the notion of “now”. Where is this “now”? Is there any such thing (THING) as “now?” there IS Being. Bo doubt about it! But such notions as “now” and “here” are mere appearances of language; mental notions with no substance whatsoever. Look and see! Is this just “advaita-babble”? Or is this little text POINTING to what REALLY IS? To present aware Being?

Now let’s take on the much ballyhooed “IS”. What IS this “IS” anyway? Where is this cherished “IS” on direct investigation? IS there any such thing (THING!) as “IS”? Or is THAT yet another cherished myth, a beloved but nevertheless false belief?

On accurate looking, what is found by no one? There is NO I. There is no IT. There is no IS.

Eternally what Really IS is No Is, no I, no It.

What remains when all those notions are completely seen through?

That is what YOU ARE.

Nothing is Eternal. ONLY Nothing is Eternal.

Who asks the questions?

Q: May I ask, are you are Enlightened/Self Realized? Are you Enlightened/Self Realized in the manner of Ramana Maharshi or Nisargadatta Maharaj? Are you fully Awakened like the Buddha?

C: One who answers yes, the mind will say is a fake. One who answers no, the mind will say is a fake. The premise from which this question is asked is incorrect: There is the assumption that some "persons" are enlightened and the simple fact is there ain't no such thing as "a person", in Reality. The mind cannot grasp That!

Realization is NOT personal; there is no "enlightened ‘I’; that ‘I’ is just a passing thought"!

What is real Here is as the Great Sage "Popeye" said it:  "I Yam What I Yam".

The question for the mind called "the questioner” is, "WHO asks this question?"

Are YOU somehow NOT already Being, Awake, Alive? Do you take your Self to be a subject in a sea of objects? Then you will project "others" and the fact is there are no others and no you in Truth, dear One. There is ONLY THAT, the One Self appearing as many.

What claims to be "enlightened" OR "not enlightened? Only a confused mind!

YOU are THAT by which you know " I am that I am".

Go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jY4TUFx-g-A

Love,

The Unborn appearing as "Charlie"

Absolutely This

Q: I enjoy what you write as it is pretty straight shooting and clear.  I had a question as I was reading your May 7th newsletter and that is, is this not all bullshit?  I mean nothing can be found because there would have to be someone there to find it and any thing discovered by the mind would be just another thought/concept.  Thus nothing can be known absolutely.

C: Correct. Nothing CAN be known, Absolutely. That, No thing, AKA pure pristine open Nonconceptual mindless Presence Awareness, IS what You are and it IS already absolutely known, but not by the mind. The mind (the thought I and all added to that one thought which is the misconstrued “I-me identity) is only a temporary appearance IN That and That never moves, changesm, shifts or goes anywhere. It is HERE. Now. (Now. Here. Nowhere).

See that how the statement is interpreted is germane to true Understanding? One way is resignation, leading to despair: Oh, the Absolute cannot be known. The other? Yes, the Absolute IS already fully present as the know-ING, Be-ING which is patently inescapable.

Q: It is also hitting me that it is incredibly arrogant to attempt to limit something as free as life with the notion of an absolute.  Life is too free for absolutes, which are just more concepts and thoughts.

C: The only purpose for the looking is for the mind to discover there is NO answer and so it gives up. This is a paradox to the mind, which will believe (ONLY believe) that there is no person. That's the tricks it plays tp keep surviving as a "thing apart".

Drop all the concepts and just look, just demand the mind answer the question "what am I"? It will not be able to and will self destruct. At that arising it is clear and obvious YES I am not a concept I am no thing and yet there IS this aware presence and  "indeed, , I am that." Only THAT!

This is not up for debate! If you only want to debate or argue concepts, this is the wrong space for that! Look at what the pointers are pointing TO.

It sounds like you believe you have this "Figured Out". But are you TRULY FREE? Beyond suffering? Be honest with yourself.

This is NOT "all bullshit". If you belied THAT then your are sadly mistaken, my friend.
Investigate! Take apart your cherished assumptions. That's what is suggested by sages from the very beginning of  the beliefs in "me"  and "time"..

Start from that FACT that YOU ARE and THAT is NO concept.

Be That and nothing else. Only THAT.

PS: You have to understand (yes with the mind at the start) that the CONCEPT "absolute" Is NOT the ACTUAL Absolute Nondual Awareness!

Q: Thanks for the response Charlie.  So it sounds like there is some kind of a realization although to name what realizes (consciousness, god, awareness) is just another concept.  I'll keep with the inquiry 'til it explodes me or whatever.

C: Sounds good! Also give this a listen or three:

http://charliehayes36.tripod.com/twopointers.mp3

Q: Also, can I ask Who am I instead of What am I? I assume it is the I part that is important.

C: Who am I? What am I? Where am I?  ... these all address the source of confusion and suffering: The assumed I/Me/'self'. Which one? Try 'em all. What am I? seems to be more potent for many but just try all three.

The point is for the mind to discover the actual fact that there is no mind! Paradox!

Q: Oh yeah and i have moments where I feel like just a voice talking or thinking but no one is there, do you ever feel that way?"

C: THAT IS the natural state; speaking happening with no "one" doing it; all actions od eating, walking, typing, listening etc. are simply the functioning of the undivided whole. Oneness gives glimpses like this to kind of show the distinct and authentic possibility of absolute freedom. Keep going my friend!

Q: Thanks, Charlie.

C: A pleasure

Audio Podcast: Two Pointers

Click the link to listen or right click and Save for your mp3 player:

http://charliehayes36.tripod.com/twopointers.mp3

What is your Premise?

If you are still searching for "Oneness", "enlightenment", "God", "Wholeness" or some other "Imaginary special state", than please have a good look at this: What is the "starting point" for that search? In other words, what is your core PREMISE?

What IS a "premise"? One way to look at this is, a premise is a conceptual core assumption or presupposition, a linguistic foundation ON which all the subsequent concepts, assumed identities, or even world experiences, are supported by. In short, a premise is an ONLY an assumption about reality, and is formed only in words, or thoughts! But when the assumed foundation is held as TRUE, then all that flows upward FROM that assumption can only be more conceptual "knowing" which reinforces (OR argues against) the Premise. Most seekers after truth do not examine their starting point, therefore the false premise remains as the core foundation which the seeking mind remains fixated on.

But what if your most cherished premises are actually WRONG? Then all that follows as the product would also be wrong. This is why the statement is so often offered, YOU are NOT who you think, believe, know, or even experience as your self.

Then what are you? Good question. There is really NO answer to this question. Because any answer will merely reinforce the false premise!

That how can one know what and who one really is? “One” cannot. Therefore the search for Self is futile, in a profound way: There is no way Self can “know itself” for to do so would require that Self would be separated from ItSelf. Just a wrong premise; reject it! That occurrence would be no more possible that chopping space into pieces would be!

So what is the seeker to do? Another good question. What there is to do is understand at the deepest possible level that the starting point is just flat false. The idea that there IS a separate disconnected entity is JUST an assumption. Realize this and the whole game is over in a flash, as the obvious seeing is, yes, “Awareness IS and I Am That”.

So start from the FACT (no assumptions please!) of there being awareness, present and self aware, or self-knowing, empty yet vibrantly alive as your own nonconceptual awake-alive-beingness prior to any word or description. In the words of Nisargadatta Maharaj, do not refuse to BE what You ARE. (And also, stop the pretenses of being what you are not.

The premise of identity is simply not true. Reject it, and notice what never changes wherever you go and whatever your watch indicates as “the time”. There is, as some wise ones said, “No time like the present!”

Live, love and BE. I love You.

New book "Only That"

NEW BOOK just released….

"Only That, The life and teaching of Sailor Bob Adamson"

Written and edited by Kalyani Lawry 

171 pages with photos 

An excerpt: "Without any concepts, you are seeing and knowing. Can you say the seeing, the knowing, hearing or functioning has any beginning? Can you say it has any ending? Can you point to where you start seeing or where you end seeing, or hearing? So it’s ever-fresh, self-shining, self-knowing. You don’t need another self to try to find yourself. That would be an impossibility. We have created this false sense of self and then we go looking from that point of view to try to find out what we really are. Yet that self-knowing is constantly with us." ~'Sailor' Bob Adamson

Available from www.non-dualitypress.com; Additional Info at www.nonduality.com.au.

Highly recommended. ...

"Consciousness Is All There Is": Is that TRUE?

It has been said by a growing number of authors, pundits and other humans that "Consciousness is all there is". Such a blanket statement! But is it actually TRUE? When such statements are not questioned, there can be a remaining confusion about your true nature, and that confusion will nearly always lead back into suffering. Why? Because no matter how good any statement sounds, if that statement is regarded as "true" what's missed is that at best, such statements are merely POINTING to something that the mind and language cannot conceive or perceive: conceptless timeless awareness. And that, awareness, has been pointed to as Being, PRIOR to consciousness. So even "consciousness", the knowing "I am" or the experience of being, life itself, turns out to be still in the relative duality (consciousness and unconsciousness).

For the final seeing so to speak, there must be the absolute conviction that NOTHING can be the Supreme or Eternal ... ONLY Nothing. So as a pointer, let us say for the sake of interim clarity, what YOU ARE is nothing, and THAT, No Thing,  is neither consciousness NOR unconsciousness.

Picking nits, the mind says? Well, have a deep look at the best of all pointers: Reality is NON-conceptual. So even consciousness must be still in duality for there are TWO: Consciousness and objects that consciousness is conscious OF.

Why bother writing this? The aware presence that IS, that nonconceptual awareness-being that is lighting the appearing consciousness, is the true natural freedom, and that is entirely beyond consciousness. Notice right now: What is that which knows there is consciousness, conscious of itself and conscious of objects? Notice that even that consciousness is an objective sense of life (just Life, unowned by "you) and that is RELATIVE, or inherently dualistic. The pure Light BY WHICH the knowing arises that consciousness is "consciousness is all there is" is the unknowable yet fully present Eternal State, absolutely nondual and beyond all attachment and aversion, and also beyond even the "witnessing presence" of what is pointed to as impersonal consciousness.

In short, any statement is inherently UNTRUE (including all said above!) because what is REAL is unknowable, and yet, IT IS. It is That by which consciousness is known. Living as That, there can never be any suffering or problems. Space-like awareness is a term that has been coined to point to the Eternal Being. Other terms are: "God", "Beingness", "Timelessness" and there are many more. But remember: NO concept is what is real. Take that two ways. There is NO concept for Reality. Or, ONLY No concept IS the Reality. And That I Am, That, You Are. There is only That, and THAT is NOT consciousness; it is what ALLOWS for consciousness: As John Wheeler says, That is "The Light Behind Consciousness".

So let's be clear that what is pointed to is absolute, the One Subject that allows all objects, including objective/subjective consciousness, to appear (and disappear!) Being THAT is Living Freedom, the Natural State. Enough said!

"Knowing and no-knowing are aspects of the body. The absolute transcends knowingness and no-knowingness." ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj

What Is The Absolute

Who tries to "figure it out"?

Q: I have these thoughts running around trying to figure out what the “illusion of space” means as I have read about in Non-Duality and other spiritual books. I can’t seem to find any answers in either John Wheeler or your books so far.

C: Right, because the “answer” is NOT in any book, or the mind! So all attempts to “figure it out ” will fail!

Q: The other problem is I don’t even know what “space” is being referred to; at least I have seen thru the “illusion of time” that is discussed in Non-Duality books ( Bob Adamson’s book really helped in this.)

C: So you see that “time” is a mental concept only, right? Like that, “space” is a mental concept. What you need is a distinction: “Space” as a CONCEPT is a mental phenomenon. Yet the FACT of the space surrounding that body is NON-conceptual. That’s why the pointer is always given that what we are is a NON-conceptual “space-like” awareness, just That and nothing else. It is so obviously ever present that when you try to figure out what the meanings of the pointers are, it is overlooked. But see right now what is always fully present: the sense of Being, I AM. NOT the concept, I am but the FACT of Being Itself. Again, make that  distinction clear in the understanding; the concept and the fact are absolutely distinct, different worlds miles apart; yet as the seeing is clear, it is also so that THESE are notional and provisional distinctions only and NOT “truths”; so look what the pointer “space like awareness” points AT and realize that what That is is NOT a concept, NOT a word, a thought, a feeling: IT is No thing.

Space is not a thing at all. If that is not absolutely obvious, investigate: For whom is that not absolutely clear and self-shiningly evident? Only a person, which itself is a mere fanciful conceptual entity with no basis in fact, can accept the false belief that there is some real separation from wholeness, from the infinity of space like awareness!

Q: Is it that there is no such thing as space other than thoughts about it e.g. there is no such thing as in here & out there. 

C: Right. Where does Space, Awareness, begin? Where does it end? This insight needs top be understood at the deepest level. To underscore an essential point, there IS no such "thing" as space, and YET, Space IS. No such "thing" as awareness, yet, Awareness IS. This cannot be grasped by the mind. Let the understanding go DEEP and undermine the conceptual structure that the mind has believed in to your detriment. This is an IMPERSONAL Understanding beyond concepts, beyond appearances, and absolutely beyond "beliefs!" That No-Concept-No-Thing Awareness which You are is changeless, unborn, undying. THAT and ONLY THAT is Eternal. The reference point called "self, me" is totally false but this must be proved through deep looking ... who am I? Not this not this; only... THAT.… There is only THAT. Appearing as this and this yet all only THAT. Absolute Awareness, unsullied and unspoiled forever.

Q: And also that objects including my body appear in what you are ( Presence Awareness) . And I suppose the question could also be asked “Who is perceiving the objects “?

C: Yes,  as I said above.

Now DO the investigation; do not fall into the trap of thinking the concepts are any more than pointers and NOT some “truth” for the mind!