A Review of "Being... Awake And Alive" from Maury Lee

Here is a great line from the book, "Being... Awake And Alive!", that shows the path from not understanding to understanding: "Possibly enlightenment starts with giving up the notion 'I am an unenlightened person' and ends in giving up the notion 'I am an enlightened'..? Check this out!"

The line about enlightenment may seem intellectual, or even paradoxical, but from understanding, the line contains the beginning and the end.

This book is in a question and answer format, which makes it highly personal and intimate. While Charlie is pointing to the impersonal absolute, the path is via dismantling the personal. The questions are from real seekers, which provides a broad territory of paradigms which need to be unstuck. Charlie does an excellent job of pointing out the unborn reality behind the apparent problems.

The fact that non duality has answers to shame and guilt, is very clearly shown in Charlie's answers to questions on this subject. A truly big problem from which humanity suffers greatly.

Charlie's leading questions are quite therapeutic. His Socratic method asks you to think from a deeper level. And, if allowed to sink in, will reveal a deeper perspective.

Charlie speaks with experience, and he asks questions with authority. That authority helps the seeker take the questions he asks seriously. He is not playing theoretical games.

If you are looking for answers to your relentless seeking, you may find an answer here. If you don't really know what the question is (some undefined knot in your gut that just won't go away), perhaps you will find your question here, and some poignant answers as well.

Questions are often answered with questions. This is an old method for getting to the bottom of things. In the non dual understanding, though concepts may create illusion, a thorn can used to remove a thorn. 

Maury Lee 

Read MORE Reviews at Amazon.com

No Experience, No matter How ‘Holy’, Will LAST

Every so often it happens. Someone posing as a “Self Realized individual” (which is the ultimate oxymoron!) writes or calls and takes issue with something he or she perceives as “wrong” and gets their panties in a knot!

You would be appalled if I were to publish the most recent version of this, from a so called “realized” teacher who had some false ideas of what he had been promised by way of help with a project (the most startling aspect of which was that the help was offered in a spirit of support and friendship at NO cost!) wrote messages containing an extremely  vitriolic and disrespectful whining, plus patently false and egregious allegations of what was supposedly "promised" to him regarding  the project!

So there came up, from nowhere, a spontaneous expression calling this guy out on the bullshit he had perpetrated. It simply arose, was typed, and sent.

Recently this conversation reentered the Consciousness and there came about a wondering if we have there yet another false prophet who has had the "Big Spiritual Experience" and that experience has simply not yet faded (as it assuredly WILL!).Consider Suzanne Segal. The poor dear who went 20 years in "Oneness-Experience" then finally crashed. Mine in 2002 (blessedly) only lasted a few weeks! Then it began to get REALLY real! Here is what I mean by that:

I was just browsing a favorite Nisargadatta book … Ramesh Balsekar's "Explorations Into The Eternal" … while watching TV this evening (my preference is for “multitasking!”)  which triggered this message to those who follow this site and Facebook:  I hope that such false teachers and poseurs will reflect, as much of what I said in my response to that teacher is precisely in accord with Ramesh (sharing the Teachings of Maharaj):

"It is an interesting fact that among the many images that are created of the Jnani, a fairly common one is that of a sort of vegetable, totally impervious to whatever might happen in the world, and is expected to be a "sucker" taking advantage of whom would be as easy as taking a lollipop out of an infant's hand. Anybody may kick him around without any fear of reprisal or retribution -that is the image. And when there is a sharp, sudden and businesslike reaction from the ]nani, the perpetrator of the original deed feels that has been living under false pretenses, that the Jnani is not a Jnani at all but an idol with clay feet, a God that has come crashing down from his pedestal. Actually, what might seem as a retaliation from the Jnani could well have been an object lesson to the conceiver of the concept to mend his ways and not the act of the Jnani's wounded ego. Indeed, the very basis of conceiving is the ego, and when the expected benefit from the Jnani is not forthcoming there is resentment and frustration. There is a very beautiful verse in the Ashtavakra Gita, the purport of which is "The spontaneous unrestrained outburst from a |nani is a glorious thing free as it is from motivation and preference, but not the unnatural and assumed quietude of the hypocrite who is still attached to his individual id-entity.”

At this stage I am highly suspicious of most "teachers". My Links list is shrinking, not growing!

On a final note, what happened to me in 2004 in the company of Wayne Liquorman was exactly like this guy’s actions, which got me kicked out of Wayne’s meetings! THAT was exactly, but EXACTLY! what this one called charlie needed. THAT was THE wakeup call, NOT that several weeks of “being one with everything”. 

Make no mistake about this: NO “experience" will last, no matter how "holy or peaceful or loving." And when it goes there can be a helluva crash! (BEEN THERE... SOURCE DONE THAT through Charlie!)

So: Caution to the seeker! Watch out for those who pretend to be holy and write or speak perfect expressions that mirror THEIR Guru. They are fakes.

As I say at my meetings: If you encounter someone who claims he or she is “Enlightened”, grab you wallet or purse and run outta there as fast as your legs will take you!

Love ya!

Podcasts are Relocated:

The Newest Podcasts are now located HERE. 

Some additional Free Ones are HERE.

Note: We found that the dialogues with John Wheeler became for many another "belief system!" It is better to talk directly One to One with someone who has seen the illusion of a "me" AS illusion ... who will point out uncompromisingly, that  "you"  ARE the illusion! We have removed those podcasts now (as has John, from his own site).

"I Am NOT, Therefore I AM"

Q: I wanted to clarify something.

Would you say that the self is like an optical illusion that, even when it's realized that it's an illusion, still appears the same?

In other words, even though a mirage is realized to be a mirage it still looks like water.

C: What may prove to be far more fruitful than an 'answer' to this question would be for you to inquire more deeply ie "Who wants to know? Who cares about some philosophical treatise of the question?" In other words "Who cares!?"

The question is based on a premise unexamined, an invisible context, ie that there IS a person for whom some answer to this would cause to arise some "transformation". That premise is the root of all problems for the apparent "individual". So the invitation here comes, to look, much deeper; or look at What Is ... BEFORE that or any other question even can arise.

I am not avoiding your question (even though it may appear to be so). Rather I am suggesting that IF I were to give some "enlightened answer" that answer itself would merely serve to reinforce a false premise of a subject-me that wants to know something about what a self really is and whether it's similar to water in a mirage.

Reverse course!

Look at what's animating all thoughts, these and all others; the Animating Consciousness that propels the ENTIRE phenomenal appearance.

Then look at where Consciousness itself arises from (Noumenon.) In other words, look first at the obviousness of your own being, "I AM". Then ask yourself "Where does this 'I AM' -ness arise from?" It mat then be apperceived that "I AM" comes FROM "I am NOT" and the Truth is PRIOR to BOTH "I Am AND "I Am Not.?!?

And so Noumenon arises, since It is pure potential that must "potentiate", as all Phenomena, leading the Sage Wei Wu Wei to asseverate, "I am Not, therefore I AM!"

Much Love!
Charlie

PS: Please take careful note that ALL words are only pointing to That which cannot be "known" (comprehended mentally) THEREFORE ... to say "I Am NOT, Therefore I AM", is no more (OR LESS) "True" than to say (as my friend, the Arkansas Sage JD Hazlewood says) "I Am ... Therefore I Am"!!

A Pointer ...

There are “teachings that talk about “being aware of Awareness". This is gross ignorance in action, because Awareness is NOT an “Object” that “some pseudo subject-me" could possibly be aware OF! You ARE Awareness (or The Absolute, or The Oneness, remember all these are only concepts that can do more than POINT to What Is!) and any notion of being or worse, “becoming”, aware IF that is simply a reinforcement of the false “me”, the “one to be aware of" Awareness! This delusive teaching has gained in popularity as it is wonderful fruit for an ego that wants to GET the fabled “enlightenment." But it is barking up the wrong tree! As Nisargadatta Maharaj said so potently, that "Indeed, there is no such thing as enlightenment. The apperception of this fact is itself enlightenment!"

New Video 24 Sept: Amazing Grace

Amazing GRACE

 

A Question About Brain Chemistry Medications And Nonduality

Q: I take prescription medications that alter my brain chemistry like anti-psychotic drugs do. I want to know if brain chemistry caused feelings like extreme apprehension, which is suffering... can coexist with enlightenment or nonduality?

C: The short answer is, YES. It is NON-Duality ie One-Not-Two-Not-Many! Nothing is excluded! That said: This is really a question for your doctor(s). Insofar as Nonduality is concerned, all the word Nonduality is pointing to is the Absolute INCLUSIVENESS, that EVERYTHING is "Consciousness" either in abeyance (deep sleep) or appearing as what is manifesting (waking, dreaming) ... and necessarily ALL such experiences are part and parcel pf the Absolute Whole.

If a qualified mechanic finds the fuel filter clogged and prescribes a chemical treatment for your motor car, you would naturally say yes. In the same way the machine (bodymind unit) sometimes needs brain or other body tweaks from a qualified mechanic ie doctor. I would also point out that in manifestation anything can appear (much as anything can appear no matter how 'bizarre' the mental judgment of it is in a night time dream).

Let's make sure you have a solid Understanding of what is operating that we call duality: It is the opposites of light/dark, 'good/bad', pleasure/pain and so on. There is NO escaping these opposites! Your machinery will function as an INSTRUMENT of The Totality, the ENTIRE Unicity-Diversity, as long as Life breathes it and lives it. The basic pointer is the see that there simply is NO individual doer, not in you nor in anyone else. So if what is to happen is suffering through brain disorders, sleep disorders etc, that is what you might well call "The Will Of God", or "The Natural and Perfect Unfolding of the Universe." And: As Ramesh Balsekar said once, "The Universe is not human centered, or human hearted!"

Acceptance of this as the Ultimate and Final Truth can only come if and when it does as a function of the Whole, as with everything else. Wanting release from pain increases pain while acceptance mitigates it but this acceptance is not in anyone's control! The whole point is the direct cognizing that there IS no one!! This is the most difficult part of the Message for the assumed yet phantom "ego-doer' to accept... simply because there is the incorrect conviction that "I as this body, and mind, must take charge and make my life work". Suffering consists in resisting what is. Acceptance is a function of accepting what is. And as said many ways and times that acceptance can only come when there is a readiness which readiness itself is a function of Cosmic Law!

When this arises, it annihilates the sufferer, ie the secondary thinker-experiences that fears that suffering will continue for ME. He/she also has a core incorrect conviction that what IS SHOULD NOT BE as it is! That is clearly delusive! IT IS what IT IS, after all! In short the Final disappearance pf the false self centered 'me' it's the death of the false sense of a separate "me" with free will, control, volition etc. Then (as it always was-is-shall be) all of it appears to happen for no person; just the happenings of the Play of Consciousness Itself. There is only what IS, the Experience-ing, devoid of the false "pseudo subject (ego). The false triad of experiencer-subject / process of experiencing / experienced object collapses in a heap! Then what is obvious is it was always Maya, a delusion of mind with no substance whatsoever.

In closing, I would just say, do what you think is best to manage things AS IF YOU HAVE FREE WILL, all the while with the deepest possible Understanding that Life is doing the Livingness, not 'you' or any 'other'.. No one is home in the mind!

It is purely and quite simply a matter of Grace. To ask for Grace is a mistake by a seeker. To want enlightenment or surcease from pain and the dualism of manifestation, to seek enlightenment, is the absolute sure fire way to keep Grace out!

I hope you can relax into this. You are, already Being, regardless of what appears in the Dream of Living. That Being is the only actual Reality; all else is the mind, the mental dream-works, the illusion. And the core illusion is the "you" which seeks release or peace.

All the best and Much Love to you my friend, and stay in touch as you are moved to.

Note: As stated on the website, nonduality or any other “spiritual path” is a substitute for appropriate professional medical care. The body-mind must receive certain things for its viability: air, food, and water obviously! Not so obviously is that due to the DNA of an individual organism-appearance, sometimes medications are needed and in essence are just another form pf “food”. Do not eschew such foods when prescribed by a competent medical practitioner! If meds for Bipolar disorder, clinical depression or sleep disorders are indicated and prescribed take them. If the issues are not handled by your caregiver seek additional opinions. It is not necessary to suffer from brain chemistry disorders in this modern age, as far as I am concerned.

WHO wants "Enlightenment"?

Q: I listened to some of your MP3’s (made a donation for the ones I downloaded this morning) and was deeply affected especially by the "Absolute I" recording. I'm looking forward to reading your book now too.

C: Thanks for your support of the Message!

Q: What seems to be happening for me is that the deconstruction of my sense of control over life and myself is the most important aspect, recognizing my true nature as "awareness" or whatever, is kind of in the background. Although both do seem to be happening at the same time.

C: There are “teachings that talk about “being aware of Awareness. This is ignorance in action, because Awareness is NOT an “Object” that “some pseudo subject-me could possibly be aware OF! You ARE Awareness (or The Absolute, or The Oneness, remember all these are only concepts that can do more than POINT to What Is!) and any notion of being or worse, “becoming”, aware IF that is simply a reinforcement of the false “me”, the “one to be aware of" Awareness! This delusive teaching has gained in popularity as it is wonderful fruit for an ego that wants to GET the fabled “enlightenment." But it is barking up the wrong tree! As Nisargadatta Maharaj said so potently, that "Indeed, there is no such thing as enlightenment. The apperception of this fact is itself enlightenment!"

Moreover “control”, being an illusion or a mental fiction, cannot be “deconstructed!” This is the immense paradox of Nonduality: The fictional ego or “me” wants to “destroy itself” so the True Self can emerge. But that True Self, the Immaculate “I-Consciousness which we cognize (witnessing it) as ‘I AM’, has never gone anywhere and therefore cannot be “revealed!” This is pointing with concepts, all so called “teachings are only concepts, and the concept is used (as Ramana Maharshi said) like a thorn to remove an imbedded thorn. The problem is, we try to comprehend what we ARE with concepts (“mind") and the fact is, mind, time and space are all conceptual while what IS is NON-conceptual... Not to belabor the point, but to indulge in a potent point, the real bottom question is, “WHO wants to deconstruct what!?” 

Q: I've been interested in "spirituality" for quite a while but it never was a serious thing up until recently. My girlfriend had a routine blood test and they found that she had a dangerously low level of platelets in her blood. After weeks of daily blood tests and worrying ourselves sick about possible internal bleeding and about the possible life threatening causes for the low platelets it turned out that there is and never was anything wrong with her at all. Apparently her blood reacts to a chemical that is inside the tubes that they use and clots. The machine they use can't measure the correct number of platelets then. That was it.

C:  That is a good example of the illusion (“Maya) of what LOOKS real actually being nonexistent! This dream play is an amazing and diverse ILLUSION. And the dream-illusion all beings with the core illusion (delusion) called “I AM” Before the “I am” (Consciousness of Being) appeared, what were you? Before your grandparents were born, where were you? THAT is what and where You as what-You-are abide AS ... Here. Now.

Q: The whole thing pretty much just leads to a single question for me "Who the hell is controlling all this?!"

C: No one! All there is is the phenomenal APPEARANCE of apparently sentient OBJECTS (like puppets that appear to be “doing” but are merely manipulated dolls moved by the puppet master). You as what you know-believe-accept you are is an instrument of Universal Life-Energy, which animates the puppet-self (body-mind-time-location) at due to the delusive “Maya” makes it SEEM as so the “me” is an entity separated from Totality and that the entity is real, substantial, and possessed of free will (control or volition). In short control is an illusion; every body-mind puppet is merely an instrument through which Infinite Absolute Subject (The IS prior to “I am”) which moves it all yet itself is unmoved and uncaused. In other words what we are is like toasters and microwaves through which electricity functions to produce actions in the dream. 

The only REALITY is that which PRECEDES both “reality and unreality.” This all of course makes no “sense” to the appearing thought structure called mind-time-space which, being a mere object appearing in the Absolute, CANNOT and could never “know itself”. How could an object know the Subject? The delusive pseudo subject BELIEVES it is an individual subject perceiving the ten thousand objects within its view. Bit that “subject” IS the illusion. “You” are a machine and the “me-subject” is an hypnotic delusion that can only disappear when and if there is a movement (call it Grace) of the Supreme Subject to an apperception that there never was a separate “me” with any trace of authentic control. All happens by itself with no factual doer; as The Buddha said, “Actions happens, deeds are done, but there is no individual “doer” thereof!”

Q: Since then I've been looking into "spirituality" more deeply and came across advaita. It is so strange because I feel like I've been caught up in a whirl wind. I am searching around quite feverishly all over the place and just seem to be coming across things that are resonating with me all the time. I can't remember how I found your site actually; it kind of just came to me.

C: The concepts already shared herein can act as solvents for the idea of a seeker and an object generally called “enlightenment” which the seeker is on the hunt for. And you are quote right that ALL just “comes to you” when the time is right and the seeking has “ripened” to the stage where a direct message may strike a chord in the heart.

Q: Questioning the "me" is happening quite a lot, but I'm not sitting down much and asking "who am I" or anything or "what is this me". For me it seems to be more like a practical investigation into what I actually have control over. I'm doing things like noticing what my next thought will be or not moving and then noticing what the next movement is. Your thing about "if you are in control of your suffering, then why don't you just stop suffering?" was good. I'd love to find a book full of things like that so I can really chip away at the sense of me. I don't seem to want to destroy it like is mentioned sometimes, I just want to question it using practical "experiments". Just really get to the bottom of it and find out if it's really there in that way.

C: That is exactly what Totality is bringing forth. Now, we shall see if it brings about the fructifying of Understanding (the non conceptual True Seeing) that there is no “one” doing anything, not on you or in anyone “else”!

Q: Looking for my true identity is happening too, but not quite so feverishly at the moment. It seems to be happening a bit more spontaneously and I just kind of notice that I'm aware. I've been feeling into the feeling of being. Not much more right now. I don't know if that's right or wrong, but my priority seems to really be more about investigating the controller at the moment.

C: Sounds like Grace, which is the Gift of The Absolute unconcealing Itself to Itself ... so to speak. (Thorn to remove embedded thorn!) I would say at this stage, just BE, and forget all the teachings; take no “knowledge” into the mind to remember, because the Truth that can by “known” is NOT the Real Truth. As Lao Tzu put it, “The Tao that can be named is not the True Tao”... and as The Shiva Sutras point out, "Jnanam Bhandaha", meaning "knowledge is bondage!" (More thorns!)  Use the thorn then throw this and the removed previously imbedded thorn into the fire! Bodhi Svaha!)

Q: Thank you Charlie for all that you do and all that you make available for the people who are ready to hear what you have to say.

C: You are most welcome. You may also like to chew on words (pointers) I shall paraphrase (from one of my favorite expressions of Advaita, Ramesh Balsekar):

Enlightenment is an instant apperception (knowing beyond the “knower and known” delusion) that the pseudo-subject realizes that there cannot be a “separate entity”, and the conceptual body-mind can only function as an instrument in the manifestation of Totality. 

This is the natural and irreversible end of the fiction of a separated ‘me’, that is, the end of an illusion of being “I as this organism am the subject and the world is my object” to the transformed viewless view that what I thought and knew as "my self" was nothing but a “tale told by an idiot, signifying nothing”, as Shakespeare said it.

In short the seeker and sought are seen to be One, or Not-Two (A’Dvaita). This is the final end of seeking as the seeker discovers quite by accident (in a way) that he or she IS already what was sought! “The seeker IS The One Absolute, apparently in search of Itself”. Kind of tail chasing, which sometimes if there is Grace exhausts the seeker to the point where an unconditional surrender happens. As with it ALL, this happening is author-less, designer-less and doer-less! IT happens. To no one, for no one, by no one! That’s the final pointer.

Q: I hope life is treating you kindly.

C: Treating “WHO!” But thank you, speaking relatively! All is well for The Unborn!

~ Follow-up Q: Thanks so much for your explanations and pointers. I just knew you would ask “WHO wants to deconstruct what!?”

C: The mind claims that! But in TRUTH you do NOT know what I or you will say or think in the next moment. Why? Because NO ‘you’ or ‘I’ DOES any “thinking!” You must see that thoughts simply arise and afterward, the mechanism of ego CLAIMS “I knew it” or “I think it”.

Q: I can see that that is a useful thing to contemplate, but it has the effect on me of making me feel that there is something wrong about me having the drive at the moment to deconstruct (question the reality of) the "controller". Makes me feel like I shouldn't be doing that. I imagine that's not what you are saying of course, I suppose you are just throwing something extra into the mix for consideration. Is that right?

C: Just WHO IS this much-ballyhooed “me!?” WHO claims all this as ITS thoughts and ruminations? YOU are an out of control machine. Ask yourself WHAT AM I REALLY? Accept absolutely NO answer! The question destroys thoughts, little by little. To paraphrase Nisargadatta, DO NOT BE LAZY to do this, to think for The Self rather than keep on with the inauthentic automaticity. And Nisargadatta said, and this is the absolute CORE of the Teaching: "Refuse all thoughts except 'I AM', and give up all questions except, 'Who Am I’?"

Q: The way I see it I should just carry on doing whatever comes up for me in terms of trying to shake the foundations of the "controller" (or whatever other approach I might start taking tomorrow or the day after), but also consider who is actually doing that and what are they trying to do it to. Is that right?

C: NO. You keep claiming a volition that is false! The counterfeit “little me: keeps asserting its independence. It is like a chattering monkey. Inquire! Who thinks that “I am me?”

Q: I just noticed that I asked "Is that right?" a couple of times now. That seems to be a thing for me. "Is there a right way to go about this?" I suppose that you would answer that whatever way I am going about it right now is the right way. Is that right? Ha ha :)

C: Again what the bleep IS this repeated identity you claim as “I”?” Where is it in deep sleep? Nonexistent. It is nothing more than your mental claims of “I” this and “I” that keeps you in a false mental loop of bondage. Break that habit. To break it first you must admit the addiction to the false (mistaken) identity of this “I” thought being hooked in to the body appearance and taken on board as “what you are”. The “I: THOUGHT is NOT What You Are! In 12 step programs such as AA, step one is admitting you are addicted! To own up to you addiction to the identity you call “me” or “I” would be a powerful insight, IF your intellect (obviously quite bright and therefore a potential obstruction!) will allow it. Do understand that You are NOT what you know, what you think, what you have been told since the age of two or so, that all you “know” is mere hearsay and NOT the Truth of What you ARE. YOU, in short, cannot be described or known except in negation: Not this not that no thing al all Full Stop!

Q: This whole thing is so weird when you think about it.

C: Weird for whom!? There it goes again, the claiming judging machinery! Break it! Throw that “What am I” monkey wrench question into the works! What is REALLY weird is your hanging on for dear life to that false identity which brings you nothing but suffering. Now THAT IS weird! So to speak!

Q: When I consider your comment/question about "if you are in control of your suffering, then why don't you just stop suffering?" it seems so incredibly logical that the controller would just have to say "oh yeah, I see now, I'm not actually the one in control am I", but it doesn't does it. I've noticed it kind of ignore the logic of that and then hunt round for some "evidence" of something else that it believes/knows it was in control of. The "evidence" is more of a feeling though rather than any concrete factual evidence. I suppose it could be using itself as the evidence, kind of like I exist (you know I do) so it must be true.

C: Let the Teachings really sink in, rather than keeping on with conceptual analysis!!

Q: It all seems to be very ridiculous.

C: It IS ridiculous to suffer due to nothing more than a mistaken identity.

Q: Your advice to just BE is very nice. That is actually what I am searching for, I think; the ability to just BE and allow everything else to just BE too. At this point in time it seems to be so difficult though; there seem to be so many reasons why that's not possible.

C: FOR WHOM!!??

Q: Whether that's a load of shoulds and shouldn'ts, undesirable feelings coming up that aren't being allowed, wanting something to be different or better or whatever else it might be. As I was writing that I actually thought about how ridiculous my own statement was. I want to gain the ability to just BE, but I already am BEING. I suppose I mean just BE without any "interference" :)

C: I repeat! Let the Teachings really sink in, rather than keeping on with conceptual analysis!! All that is just the defense mechanism the ego keeps using to avoid being outed as the fake it is! Breaking the spell happens when you are serious to allow it. The Teachings have got hold of you know and they will have their way with you in due time. Meanwhile just realize that what you NATURALLY are is the ever present Presence, the undeniable Beingness without which NO thoughts or false identification could ever even arise.

You and I are both the same Absolute Unicity therefor listen as though YOU are writing to YOU (because that IS in fact what is happening here!)

You are That ... Absolute Unknowable Unicity. THAT is Love!

Love Alone is Real. ALL else is Dusty Death.

Q: Wow. Thanks.

C: De Nada (quite literally!)

de Nada!

Q: Hi Charlie, Why only some thoughts repeat (out of zillions which might have come and gone during a lifespan)......what makes only THOSE continue....

C: It is simple. Thoughts happen because thoughts happen. Only those thoughts that happen, happen. The ones that don't, don't! You might as well ask why do" birds fly!" No One is writing the script. You are That ... No One.
 

Q: Thanks for keeping it sooooo simple, you always do :-)
 

C: de Nada!

Currently Available Free Podcasts

• Two Pointers
• "What Is The 'I'?"
• Contemplate: "I Am-Aham"
• "UN-Minders" from John Greven & Charlie
• JD Hazlewood "What Always IS"
• John Greven - The False "I"
• 'Sailor' Bob 2. "Not Two"
• 'Sailor' Bob 1. One Essence
• MORE Current Favorites are now HERE 
• Note We found that the dialogues with John Wheeler became for many another "belief system!" It is better to talk directly One to One with someone who has seen the illusion of a "me" AS illusion ... in other words "you" ARE the illusion!We have removed those podcasts.

What Is NOT, IS ... Awake & Alive (III)

Third in Charlie's Series of Videos on "Being, Awake And Alive"
on YouTube, Go HERE for more.

Great new book: "I Am... Therefore I Am" by JD Hazlewood

With this, his third book on the essence of Spirituality, JD Hazlewood has brought the Understanding around “Full Circle”; from the initial awakening to the  fact that life just seems to be “missing something” that could really make a difference, to the discovery that indeed, something essential and profound has been overlooked, to the pointing out of what that Essence is such that it can no longer be overlooked, to the investigation into what seems to obscure and cloud That which is pure, open and obvious, to the final seeing and knowing that everything is That.

This means living in-the-world with complete peace and harmony regardless of circumstances, as the Understanding has gone all the way around to where it started out, and there is freedom in daily life with no need to struggle to attain what never gave us joy to begin with.

Whether you find yourself a “beginner’ or a “seasoned seeker” makes no difference; just follow the pointers JD offers from his Heart (YOUR Heart) and allow the Understanding to replace “you” with itself until the suffering “you” is completely gone.

This book is a Gift from Source, God, Totality ie YOU.

Enjoy it! I certainly did!

- Charlie Hayes

Check it out at http://stores.lulu.com/thatwhichalwaysis

True or Not?

Q: When this is seen it is not that the person disappears, but rather the you disappears from the person.

C: No. Neither is true and neither is false. The question is faulty, the premise is that there is a person or a you. Is there really? No "answer" is true OR false! Go deeper ... look: Who wants to know? Who asks the question? All the while YOU as What-Is-Real are Present, Aware. That is all there is to be seen ... by no one. Deep Understanding is beyond all concepts and the conceptual illusion of "you" and/or "person"....

What of "forgiveness?" There is no doer to forgive or not forgive!

Q: There is a bit of confusion around “forgiveness” here .When I read Tony Parsons  saying that “it was seen that there is nothing to forgive and no one to forgive” , I thought that’s it , it’s been dealt with . Then I heard you & Jeff Foster  having a podcast & that threw doubt back into the forgiveness subject . Ultimately ,I realize there is no one doing the forgiving & there is nothing to forgive . However given the “appropriate” situation ( if there is such a thing ! ) , I see that forgiveness happens or it doesn’t – it appears the decision is made spontaneously by no one , whether or not there is a mind commentary ( which always occurs as an after thought – no pun intended !) saying things like  “ you are a good person because you forgave” or “ you are bad because you won’t forgive“ or “they don’t deserve your forgiveness“ or even “a non-duality teacher said you don’t need to forgive (an obvious misinterpretation by the mind )” I don’t really know where this is going.. Anyway , could you comment on the above please ?

C: This is all mental noise, thoughts about thoughts. The pointer (NOT some dogmatic 'truth') is, there is no doer; "actions happens, deeds are done, but there is no individual doer thereof" as The Buddha said. So where is there any actor to forgive? Yourself OR another?

To "forgive” (meaning “give up the right to punish!”) is a psychological phenomenon that happens as a mental construction when there is still the belief that "I am the doer, and I should have done and could have done something OTHER that what The Universe produced through the organism I call me", OR "the 'other' should have and could have done something other than what The Universe did through them". This is purely ignorance, ignoring that FACT that The Universe DOES WHAT IT DOES through ALL the organisms and everything else! Yet the mind has arrogantly co-opted The Universe's doing as "mine" or "theirs" and then there is shame (hence forgiveness) or blame (hence resentment or forgiveness ... or not!).

Just see that all these thoughts are NOT solid and real. How humans make suffering (blame, shame etc) happen is they (hypnotically!) turn thoughts into solid real things! All the while what is ignored is the obvious clear Space, Awareness IN which it all happens, like a cinema screen reflects all these actions while remaining still, clean and untouched. You are the Screen, and the Content is the ever-changing show that The Universe creates out of Itself (like the spider emits a web out of herself),

Read these two posts and feel free to get in touch again; let me know what is seen after a bit of looking:

What Animates Doing?

Is there suffering in you?

Is there suffering in “you”?

Is there suffering in “you”? For whom is “suffering” occurring? What is that which takes on suffering and calls it “mine”? What is the nature of suffering? What is its source?

 Could it be that suffering is a product of nothing more complex than a single false belief, a faulty premise or assumption? Namely, that “I” as this body, mind, machine called “myself” is the “cause and responsible party” for what The Universe does THROUGH this organism? In other words, could it be that it is a false sense of being the doer of The Universes actions (rather arrogant, that!) that is at the heart of the matter regarding human suffering?

I am not talking about pain, but rather the secondary overlay of pain being MY pain that brings suffering; often if not always accompanied by a mental notion that “what is, as it is, SHOULD not be this way, it COULD be dome other way, if only The Universe would just “do it MY way!” Problem is, The Universe doesn’t CARE what YOU want and what YOU think “ought to be!”

Listen carefully to how one True Sage points out what is happening here:

"The fact of the matter is, that while in reality the ego does not exist, for all practical purposes it is the ego who is the seeker and it is the ego who needs to be convinced that his 'existence' is merely a matter of divine hypnosis. And, furthermore, he is told, his notion of free will or volition is based on the programming in the body-mind organism - genes plus environmental conditioning - over which he has had no control.

"It is only when the ego himself comes to the conclusion from personal investigation into his own personal experience, that 'his' every single action has been based on a prior happening over which he has had no control that he finally is compelled to surrender his sense of personal doer-ship. Simultaneously he accepts that he is only the operating element n the body-mind organism in which the source (or primal Energy or Consciousness or God) is the only true functioning authority'. Any other way for the ego to seek freedom from himself would seem to be an utter absurdity.

"In day-to-day living, the ordinary person carries a monstrous load of sin and guilt, only because he is not able to accept the concept that nothing – ‘good’ or ‘bad’ - can happen unless it is the Will of God' As Shakespeare has put it: .. ‘There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so’."

~ Ramesh Balsekar

The Truth Is You Are BOTH Relative and Absolute

Freedom from bondage is possible ... here and now

The following is the essence of the Pure Advaita teachings of a man I was, during 2002 through2004, privileged to speak with and whose Talks I 'digitized' for his successor Wayne Liquorman. This is a powerful pointing out of the Final Truth, from a true Sage, Sri Ramesh Balsekar. May these words resonate in your heart and set you free from the false sense of doerrship:

Do you really know what you want most in life? Even if you have all the success, fame and money you want, and the good health to enjoy it – are you happy and fulfilled? Why is it that we all find ourselves seeking something more from life – all the time? Ramesh pointed out that each one of us, at some time or the other, has a taste of what that is: an uninterrupted experience of peace and harmony. He showed the way to this constant repose in our ordinary, hectic, daily living. This is what the seeking – most evidently, the spiritual seeking – is all about.

A simple examination of one's personal experience will reveal that what usually disrupts the peace and harmony in life is a thought about something we think we – or someone else – should or shouldn't have done. Hence, a massive load of guilt and shame for oneself, or hatred and malice for the other, is perpetuated. Without a lot of arduous effort – work, discipline, sacrifice, sadhana [spiritual practice] – without outside assistance, but simply by investigating one's own experience, it is possible to get relief from this bondage. What mystics have said for ages, is viewed from the perspective of modern living: that actions are 'happenings' and not something done by someone. This understanding is what actually contributes to and helps us in discovering the state of equanimity and peace which we most ardently seek.

"What is the Ultimate Understanding?" Ramesh would ask, and answered it by saying, "That there is no one to understand anything." He emphasized that everything he said was a concept and, moreover, it did not matter whether the concept was accepted or not. "Whether the acceptance happens or not is the Will of God, and the destiny of the individual concerned." According to Ramesh, many spiritual Masters instruct their disciples to "kill the ego" which results in a lot of confusion. In striking contrast, the point of his teaching was that it 'converts' the ego. With this teaching it can be observed, from one's own personal experience, the simple truth as enunciated by the Buddha that "Events happen, deeds are done, but there is no individual doer thereof."

Ramesh further pointed out that the main confusion arose with the question, "Who seeks what? What is the ego and what is the ego seeking?" The ego wants self-realization and the ego can only be satisfied with something that can be understood and appreciated in this life. Self-realization is simply the realization by the ego that the ego itself is not a separate doer, that the doing is merely a happening through a human mechanism or instrument. This understanding annihilates the guilt and shame, pride and arrogance that accompany the sense of personal doership. The result is an enormous sense of freedom, of peace and harmony.

The teachings that emanated from Ramesh are pure Advaita: 'Consciousness is all there is'. The impact of the teachings is fueled with the force of his 'Total Understanding'. From his own life experiences, Ramesh made the teachings relevant - for the here and now.

See www.rameshbalsekar.com for more.

What 'power' do thoughts have?

Q: Thanks for you sharing.

C: De Nada!

Q: One question which I want to clarify. I realize that thoughts create the illusion of a self vs. others, the past, the future, and problems.

C: Thoughts create nothing! Thoughts are creations, not creators! Thoughts are merely creations or manifestations … aspects … of Consciousness. They are appearances of Emptiness, in Emptiness, like clouds in an empty sky. Thoughts DO nothing! They are nether relevant or irrelevant. They are phantoms! Empty and meaningless.

Q: But some teachers are not clear on whether or not thoughts have any useful value at all. For example many imply that thoughts are useful tools if "we are the master of thoughts, and thoughts aren't the master of us." Yet I question if thoughts serve any purpose at all.

C: That is excellent, a valid area of inquiry indeed. There is a real plethora of deluded and misguided “teachers” on the internet etc. and there is a great deal of misinformation (or disinformation) propagated in the guise of “enlightened wisdom”. Most of it is nonsense.

Q: It seems as though we use thoughts to help us solve problems, whether immediate or in the future. It also seems as though thoughts help in the creative process. But I see that thoughts simply comment after-the-fact, after all decisions and creations have already been decided.

C: Question ONE: WHO or WHAT “thinks?” Look: Consciousness thinks and we “receive” the thoughts AFTER they have been formed IN Consciousness BY Consciousness. Then the false sense of self CLAIMS Consciousness’ thoughts as “MY thoughts and CLAIMS to USE thought to decide, design, choose etc etc.

Question Two: WHO claims to “use thoughts?” There is a mechanistic claiming that began around the age of two and a half, as part of the mental machinery of an organism “programmed” by Consciousness (in a manner of speaking) to carry put various actions through its “life span”. This machine we call “my self” is nothing but a puppet, and its strings are pulled NOT by us but by Consciousness. We are machines with NO volition and control… we are BEING LIVED by Source. Full Stop.

Now notice the irrationality of the mind: In one breath IT claims “we use thoughts”, in the next IT admits that thoughts arise after the fact. So perhaps it will be seen (by no one!) that thoughts are movements of Consciousness like clouds are movements f moisture, and thoughts, like clouds, have absolutely NO power or actual substance,

What is REAL? Only That which cannot and does not ever change. Thoughts are always changing so they cannot be real, only temporal appearances that come and go. In what do these movements of Consciousness we call thoughts come and go? In what does the sense of being ie “I am” come and go? That is what we suggest you investigate. Remember, the truth believed is a lie. “The Tao that can be named is not the True Tao”. The Eternal State is nameless, silence, formless, yet IT IS. The moment you think about that you are out of that. Here is a great pointer from Ramesh Balsekar:

“Relax totally and sink into the silent light of impersonal immortality”.

If anything else comes up to ask, feel free to write again. Much Love to you, Charlie

"A simple examination of one's personal experience will reveal that what usually disrupts the peace and harmony in life is a thought about something we think we – or someone else – should or shouldn't have done. Hence, a massive load of guilt and shame for oneself, or hatred and malice for the other, is perpetuated. Without a lot of arduous effort – work, discipline, sacrifice, sadhana – without outside assistance, but simply by investigating one's own experience, it is possible to get relief from this bondage. What mystics have said for ages, is viewed from the perspective of modern living: that actions are 'happenings' and not something done by someone. This understanding is what actually contributes to and helps us in discovering the state of equanimity and peace which we most ardently seek. " ~ Ramesh Balsekar

October talks in Oklahoma City now scheduled

Join us for Talks with “Nonduality” Teacher and
Author Charlie Hayes, in Oklahoma  City … Topic:

Being … Awake and Alive!

(When The Buddha was asked, “Who are
you”, He replied, simply: “I am Awake”.)
    
Schedule:
Friday Evening, October 8th:
7-9 PM: Introductory Talk and Dialogue
Location:   Windsong Dojo
2201 W. I 44 Service Rd, Oklahoma City, OK 73112. 405.943.6246
By Donation: Any Amount Appreciated

Saturday, October 9th: “Awakening Intensive”
Session One: 10 AM—Noon: “Pointers To What IS” + Q & A
Noon—1  PM:  “Dutch Treat” Lunch
Session Two: 1 PM—3 PM: Dialogues: “Sudden Awakening To What IS”
Suggested Donation $50 for both sessions

Location: The Saturday Talks are being hosted in Edmond area of Oklahoma City, by Brian and Kitty Sullivan Please Call Brian at 1.405.863.3442 for Exact Location info and directions, and to reserve your space (Seating is limited.) You can also e-mail Brian at: bsullivan@cisriskgroup.com. Great Thanks to Kitty and Brian for hosting the Edmond events and to Windsong Dojo for hosting the Friday event.

Click HERE to download a Flyer.

Being with Emptiness, Awareness

It has been said, "Meditate on Emptiness". This, while a very powerful pointer, presupposes there is a "you" who must "do" this, as an action of will or volition. So long as the illusion of "you" is believed, there will be innumerable practices suggested for that "you" to undertake, wherein "you" are endlessly (and usually fruitlessly) striving to 'become emptiness" or "merge into Awareness".

Here's the inherent problem: There is no such real entity as "you". The "you" you believe and know your self to be is merely a linguistic proposition ie a belief. This belief has been nurtured and reinforced for years and decades by the two poles of resistance and acceptance. But no matter how strongly you assert "there IS water in that desert appearance" the FACT remains that there is no water there; only HOT AIR. Our sense of self is exactly the same. There is no "me" here or "you" there. It is only hot air.

This is why the sages (like Ramana Maharshi and Nisargadatta and others) have urged the seeker of truth to look and see if there is any reality to the believed-to-be-separate self. Yet this would appear to the intelligent seeker as an oxymoron: "If there is no "me" who is it that is supposed to look and see that the "me" is hot air? The Pathless Path is loaded with paradox!

The simple answer is, Emptiness is already obviously present. Without the blank screen or ground state of emptiness nothing manifest could appear! There must first and always be NOTHING for there to be anything, everything.

Being with Emptiness. Notice the simplicity: There is already emptiness. Being with that is no more complex or difficult than observing that this Witnessing Emptiness is ever present and always untouched by what appears in the space of it. In other word, clear open emptiness is the Absolute Freedom that is forever unsullied and untouched by ANY appearance, no matter how beautiful and ecstatic or horrendous and painful. This Eternal Emptiness is resisted by the "you" that is always striving to become better, more whole, all the while ignoring What Is, which is Aware Awake Being, Consciousness, Space.... so just notice What Is and be the emptiness You already are.

So simple. So profoundly simple! So Be It.

"Relax totally and sink into the silent light of impersonal immortality" ~ Ramesh Balsekar

What do you "believe"?

Belief is defined in my dictionary as "Mental acceptance of the truth, actuality, or validity of something". I would add, this "mental acceptance" is held as truth in spite of the lack of positive direct knowledge or evidence.

What do you believe you are? Most humans believe strongly "I am ME". The "me" this refers to is the sense of being a separate individual with control over its life (at least in some measure if not 100%). But if you look for evidence of control, what do you find? Are you controlling the blood flow in the organism you assert is your "self"? Are you in charge of digestion? What control do you really have over thoughts? Isn't it true that thoughts "show up" whether you want them or not?

What and where exactly IS this "individual" apart from a thought BELIEVED? Can you locate an individual in there or out here apart from a percept-concept or a memory or some imagination, ie a thought form, arising presently in awareness? What ARE you if you are nOT a thought, not a feeling, not a controller, not an individual?

It's worth looking into, but caution to the reader, looking into the assumed reality of your sense of being an individual may be hazardous to the survival of that entity! Ultimately it will be seen directly that what-You-Are is NOT a thing that language can grasp or describe... there may be a natural rediscovery that innately, all there is is Consciousness, all there is is This Eternal State of Being, Now, Forever and all the apparent manifestation is but a waking dream of the assumes individual. Oin other words you as you know yourself are a phantom.

Can a phantom appearance dispel itself? Seekers take up practices and strive to attain their "natural state". But just how is a phantom supposed to be able to dispel itself? It is like the thief dressing up as a policeman and setting out to arrest himself!

The phantom is seen through when the Absolute moves in Consciousness to investigate the claim "I am me and no one can tell me otherwise". This is also noit in "your control" any more than the sun and stars are under your sway. So, investigation may happen, and it may or may not bear fruit. And if the phantom is "outed" as a phantom it will nt be due to the phantom's effort!

So seekers, dear seekers, relax about it. Kick back (if you can) and allow what is to BE. As Ramana Maharshi put it, "Be as you are". What more is there?

Who cares?!

"The Truth believed is a lie" ~ Werner Erhard