What is REAL?

What is REAL?

You.

We call it "I" but do you know absolutely WHAT that "I" IS? And WHERE this :I: IS? Seeing that the thought of feeling of being i.e. "I am a separate thing CALLED 'I' " (in short identifying as a one letter WORD) is NOT what the True I is. The natural and eternal I is a stateless timeless Is-ness which is inescapable, unavoidable and incomprehensible. This "I"-Consciousness is an OBJECT appearing to the True I which cannot be known except in its ASPECT of "I"-Consciousness. For an analogy, it is as though Totality is seeking Itself, while pretending it is separate from Itself. Totality is TOTAL and only THAT is Reality AKA YOU, and as pointed out in so many wonderful and strange ways, THAT, Thou Art. Tat Tvam Asi.

I am That.

You are That.

All of "this" is nothing-but That.

Caution to the reader: Do not now make this into a belief! Top paraphrase what my one time friend and teacher Dr. Fernando Flores once said, when I say "I believe", I am about to say some bullshit I cannot prove. What I am pointing at here is NOT a belief, as for That there is no believe-ER. That is beyond religion, not spirituality and not even no thing! So what if the language-bound mind-essence tries to make this into a something, especially if it makes No Thing into a thing. To repeat a simple pointer what you ARE is NOT an object; NOT a "separate part" of Totality.

Look and see: can you locate anything that is NOT an object arising for the awareness that you are? That awareness ... where does it begin? What are it's dimensions??

Have a look. What you are is hiding in plain sight. It is. That is all, nothing/everything. Does exist. Cannot ever be put into words.You are That, the undivided Whole, and that Whole, as said above, is appearing to be divided up and then searching for itself!

Game over.

Q: I am often VERY angry and seem to have a hot temper and a short fuse. It gets me in a heap of trouble sometimes! Is my search for my true Self prevented from getting over with by this? What should I do about this? Can you advise me? 

Charlie: Anger happens as a product of the DNA (and perhaps subsequent conditioning) of the machinery, the organism. It has absolutely nothing to do with the "final understanding" or the end of seeking; the anger is just another happening, another expression of Totality, and a completely natural function! I have been with Sages who get really pissed at some people, including at me. And consider Nisargadatta Maharaj, who was a hot tempered guy with a short fuse also, yet beyond doubt a great Being. Same with Muktananda.

Whatever is to happen will happen. Re advice on anger, this is not a place for that; I leave that to the therapists and other medical professionals. Maybe there is a brain chemistry imbalance that is correctable with meds. But I must add that here I don't generally give advice because WHO would I give it to? This is Self talking and Self listening; there is only One Self and the FACT is You Are That and nothing else, regardless of the lies the mind might tell you. There is nothing wrong with you! So be as you are. And we'll see if Totality moves that organism along to a doctor as part of the natural unfolding of Life, the livingensss happening that is animating that mechanism. That said, I wish you the best and hope the Peace that You ARE obliterates the false sense of there being a separate me for whom there is "something wrong. Much Love to you!

NEW Review of 'Thy Will be Done by Peter Dzubian, author of 'Consciousness Is All'

If the reader is not already familiar with Charlie Hayes' work, in the book [Thy Will Be Done] one will notice an adeptness at removing or helping the reader to "see through" the sense of a separate "personal me" each time it tries to raise its head. It's as if Charlie has already seen every question or wanna-be objection that has ever come over the pike, and knows how to deftly handle it. By providing pointers, examples, or by asking questions of the reader--every type of argument that a so-called separate personal self or ego might try to raise--is dealt with. Charlie's relaxed, informal, plain-talk style also helps debunk the myth that "enlightenment" is reserved only for some kind of spiritual elite. Then it goes on to make clear why there really isn't such a thing! Thankfully, Charlie doesn't sugar-coat either, but makes clear that it requires one to Stop, Look and Listen. The placement of wonderful quotes at key places throughout the text is an added bonus.

Peter Dzubian, "Consciousness Is All" 

Are you suffering?

The essence of suffering is the belief in a self that asserts, "what IS should not be the way it is". That stance obviously assumes that things COULD be different, which is basic ignorance ... a product of the false sense of "control". You are OUT OF CONTROL but you don't know that. That is why I will now ask you, WHO is it that thinks or feels there is "something wrong" ... with ANY appearance!?? As Byron Katie says, "who needs God when we have 'you'?" 

"In reality all is here and now and all is one. Multiplicity and diversity are in the mind only." ~Sri Nisargadatta

Moving to Reno, Nevada Mid June

The good news is I am all set to make the move from Oklahoma to Reno, Nevada. Ha! When a happening is to happen totality provides the push ... whether it "looks nice" or not is irrelevant!

As it happens, a very good friend of mine is a realtor in Reno and has just rented me a studio apartment that I can move into on the 15th of June! So I now have a place to move to firmed up, and that's a relief... so, I will be 'getting outta Dodge' around Noon on the 13th and heading West with just what will fit in (and on top of!) my fine old Jeep! Looking forward to it. My friend Dennis, is a long time graduate of Landmark Education's programs (as am I)  and has also met my dear friend Werner Erhard.

Dennis is a really cool guy, whose 'search' is also complete, and he's very successful as well. Moreover, it appears there may be a part time job for me at his firm. How cool is that!

As always, it is all perfectly managed by The Unborn. THAT seems to produce ... well ... MIRACLES! Even when (or maybe especially when) it looks like the opposite :-) ... !

Being Awake

One of his students asked Buddha:

"Are you the messiah?"

"No", answered Buddha.

"Then are you a healer?"

"No", Buddha replied.

"Then are you a teacher?" the student persisted.

"No, I am not a teacher."

"Then what are you?" asked the student, exasperated.

"I am awake", Buddha replied.

(Get Charlie's Book, "Being Awake And Alive" HERE.)

A Very Moving Happening

So it seems that finally Totality is pushing this "charlie-corpse" outta her! Over the last week there were THREE (count them) times it became necessary for me to call 911 due to threats from people nearby. The week before there had been another, someone being threatened by i believe an angry ex. The bottom line is I no longer believe this area is a safe place for me (the body-'me') to live. So: I am looking for a new abode; I need to have a new space to move in to by about June 10th... and am seriously considering heading out to Reno, NV, where I have a very good long time friend (who knows who he is and who I am!)

It seems there are quite a few people around Reno interested in the straight talk of the Message shared here, which points beyond religion, spirituality, and any "ism" at all. It's a privilege and a joy to share the Message with those who are ready to "hear without ears" and end their search for "God, Buddha, Love, Source" or any other "object of affection" (or affectation! :-))

For more info, or to book a consult, please contact me on 580-701-4793 or e-mail charliehayes36@yahoo.com.

Love,

Your Self called Charlie

PS: There is a "teaching"available in this happening: WHO did the actions that prompted the calls to 911? In the clear seeing of What Is, there is no chance to "blame" the "perpetrators" no matter who or what they may seem to be. It is simply put: The Understanding provides the simple knowing that what ANYONE does is NOT in their control. It is ALL the happening of Totality, THROUGH every organism, every blade of grass, every single thing with no exceptions. When this is not seen clearly there is often "much weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth". What is usually required is a solid and unswerving investigation. 

As one of my Gurus, Ramesh Balsekar, said: "There must be an honest and thorough investigation into what you think are 'your' actions from day to day. This investigation is really one step further from Ramana Maharshi's famous 'Who am I?'. This investigation that I suggest is based on theory: 'Am I the doer of what I think are my actions?' "

Left In Deep Peace

Charlie Hayes is a unique spiritual teacher who persistently and powerfully points you back to your True Nature. You think you are looking for a better life or being more comfortable in your body, but he shows you that your spiritual search is really about waking up to the fullness of Life. Charlie begins each session with fresh ideas that show you the way home. Charlie has a keen and cheerful wit and an open heart. He always has a poignant quote from a large number of genuine spiritual teachers that speak to that instant. At the end of a meeting with Charlie I am left in a deep peace and with a focus on what is important. ~Brian S.

It is ALL spontaneous

Q: ...have just read your blogpost  "Severing the root cause of seeking " and now I am writing to you and have no idea what I'm going to say. I am spontaneous.

C: Everything is always "spontaneous!" The "I Am" is only a claim of the false sense of authorship (as my Guru Wayne puts it) that this is "created" (or "owned") by the "I" as in the statement every bodymind seems to know itself as, namely, the "I AM". But this "I AM" is merely a concept, while what-You-Are has NEVER been any concept; concepts or ideas come and go while Awareness- Consciousness does not. It is this UN changing essence which is pointed out as the "True-Nature" of all that is. It is just THIS, the suchness and thusness of Life-Energy-Happening ... spontaneously and uncausedly!

Q: I am at a place of understanding now that calls every-thing into question. The other day I no longer knew what the word "change" meant. Knowledge and concepts seem to be falling away like memories. The idea that everything is in a constant process of change makes a lot of sense but I am no longer in the business of making sense of things. Sense is dropping off the edge of a cliff and I'm happy to wave it goodbye. So I no longer see change anywhere.

C: Yet "changes" ARE happening ... as ASPECTS OF the Unchanging Absolute Being-Stillness  but for no-one ... I reckon this is just some semantic difference; just a linguistic interpretation that is absolutely utterly meaningless and empty yet filled with the awesome Wonder-Of-THIS!

Q: Twenty years ago I was trying to be a writer and one day whilst working on a short story a phrase appeared that was totally unconnected to the work in hand: In a sense, all sense is nonsense. It has taken until today, as I walked through the park a few hours ago, to understand this phrase in clarity.

C: Lovely!

Q: I used to understand it with doubts and reservations, in the mind only. But now my whole insubstantial being seems to grok it in a way that words won't capture. So there is a crumbling of these conceptual foundations. And they don't get replaced.

C: Quite correct! There is no concept needed, to "replace" what never truly existed from the start! :-))

All sounds good ... now for your question:

Q: In your blogpost you mention looking for what is here right now before the I-concept is cognized. Take a deep look. But I have no concept of what a "deep" look is.

C: "Take a deep look" is a pointer for those who are still mesmerized by the sense of the "I Am" concept-structure which has obviously been transcended there ... so there is no need to figure it out or "understand with the mind" any more.

Q: This word has no meaning whatever for me.

C: Cool!

Q: What is here before the I-concept? I don't know what the I-concept is because there is nothing here to tell me.

C: Yes. There IS no separate independent "I"" in Reality. The clear seeing of this (the IMpersonal seeing-knowing of this) defuses all the seeking and suffering and all that remains is the play, with no sense of a "me" authoring that play.

Q: I don't know what is there before it because there is only this, which I don't have a name for.

C: To state "there is only this" while a fantastic pointer, is of course another  "naming" of the nameless! But hey, no problem; the organism's functioning in the appearance needs that natural working-identity (which is imbedded in the organism's DNA) to know the difference between the food and the computer so eating a computer doesn't get attempted! That natural functioning lives with language for communication. It doesn't go away in liberation.

Knowing that there is no separate "I" doesn't mean you won't pass the salt if asked at the dinner table.

Q: I think my mind is trying to pin things down in the old conceptual style and it isn't working anymore.

C: It never will work, never did. So that mental gymnastically occurring DOES drop off naturally with no will or effort required. After all is said and done EVERYTHING is simply ... HAPPENING-BY-ITSELF and when the claiming-mechanism has run out of steam there is (as you mention) THERE IS ONLY THIS (for which there is NO name!) And that "when" is of course NOW ... and not even THAT!

Q: My gut is quivering with excitement and my mind is churning out the usual schizophrenic voices. Life is beyond description. Thank you for taking the time to read this splurge.

C: Life indeed  “beyond description”. That is a natural seeing of complete clarity. VERY nice!

It is my privilege and my pleasure! As far as I can tell you are absolutely spot on in your understanding-seeing and expressing that beautifully. Thanks again for writing! So, welcome Back Home to the Abode you never left. And great thanks again for your generosity.

Much Love,

Charlie

"Our lives are in fact being lived for us rather than by us as we seem to think. All our experience, if carefully analyzed, would clearly show that volition is really not a significant factor in our lives.  Only the most minute fraction of our total physical and mental functioning even appears to be subject to volition.  Did you exercise volition when you were conceived?  And when the conceived material grew in the mother's womb?  How long can you live without sleep, without food and water?  How long can you go without the excretory movements of the body? How do you breathe and digest your food?  Do you have the absolute certainty of remaining alive for even the next five minutes on the strength of your own volition?" ~Ramesh Balsekar

~   ~   ~

Follow-up

Q: Thank you dearly for replying in such detail and with such clear vision. It was much more than I could have expected. I've been waiting for months to feel a rich upwelling of gratitude for something,    anything. And it has finally happened in response to your  words. It's wonderful.

C: You’re of course VERY welcome. And, it is your ripeness, your already open and clear heart, that draws out the Living Expression. I am very happy that this is “resonating” for you and is of value to you. That is always great news to receive! I look forward to hearing from you again, any time you feel moved to share what is..

Once again … I Love You.

New Video ~ Abiding In Silence, Satsang on 14 May 2011

What is the SOURCE of thoughts, and actions?

Q: I try to figure out something that I do not understand. Thinking and doing is not adding up, I think or tell someone that I will do something and I really mean to, but then I do not do what I say.

C:  Good honest question. However I want to point you BEHIND this mental play: The deeper question is, what is it that designs and “authors” the thinking and the doing … whether there is a “match” or not! What is the SOURCE of thought? What is the SOURCE of what you call “your” actions? Is that “I” that is merely another passing thought endowed with any trace of power to “do” anything? This premise begs to be challenged, dear One. The assumed entity with the name “I” is but another arising thought. Is that “I” idea what and who you really are? Is that idea eternal? Or not? Check this out … have a deep look, not at what that “I” believes IT thinks or does, but at where the thought comes up from.

"Man has become addicted to the drug named "intellect" and under its influence compulsively analyzes everything, cogitating, speculating and making all simple things complicated.  This addiction can only be gotten rid of by unconventional surrender to the process of pure receptivity."~ Sri Ramesh Balsekar

Q: At first I thought it is OK to chance it but it happens so often that I got angry which did not help, so I take a look again……it seems that I am in charge to make money, to do what I say, to take care what I put in the body and so on…but all I can find is likes and dislikes and they change also.

C: Again can an IDEA do or decide or choose ANYTHING? Does an idea have any power or independent existence apart from pure naked awareness, that Space which you REALLY are, IN which there is all this kerfuffle arising? The core issue is that we are trained to believe, and accept, and decline to challenge, that this IDEA of a separate “I” IS what we are. What if the Sages are correct when they say in a thousand way, that “I” is NOT who or what you are!? Then what if what you know your self to be is NOT what you e=really are? Than everything that follows “I” is what” an incorrect (albeit persistent!) false assumption. It’s the near-universal dream or delusion.

Q: The question: what is wrong with right now ? helps to calm me and lets me recognizes the space until the next scary thought is popping up. I see that every thought that scares me has something to do with surviving ……..as if I could do anything to make the ride pleasant and everlasting. Could you shine a light on that?

C: It is not that the false sense of a separate “you” i.e. that IDEA-I” can do or not do anything about what appears to happen in the play. It is that the very idea of being the producer or author of the action is dimply FALSE. Seeing the false AS false is a good first step. Then ask the question of all “I” assumptions of thought and/or action (whether it “fits” or not!) … IS THIS REALLY TRUE?

Take it NOT from what arises in thoughts or actions AFTER the assumed entity “I” but look to see if that “I” IS really what and who you are. See if there is light down below that I idea, an energy-awareness that illuminates the idea and makes it appear. Find out if that light, the energy-awareness is more real (eternal) than the passing idea(s) that come and go. I assert that what you are is intemporality itself, the non-objective un-figure-outable eternal light-energy-awareness, that forms the cells and the stars, that moves as the energy arising as thought, action, and the whole shebang! Life is a dream. The only issue is, WHOSE dream? Yours? Mine? Nah. It is the Dream of Consciousness-Being, Light-Energy.

This entire appearance is like a hologram, which cannot appear unless there is the Laser light to shine through is and display it in and on the space of naked awareness. Seeing this ends the false sense of being cause in the matter; then life plays out like the dream at night and the natural (uncausable!) awakening to the dream happens in accordance with Life’s dance of manifestation. All the while what you are is serene, ever-at-peace and untouched by the play like the movie screen or TV flat panel remains untouched by the play of light and shadow that appears as the electricity-energy that appears to make that play possible. Focus the attention on the True Source, the Unmanifest Light-Awareness that powers the play. THAT, thou art!

And trying to figure out totality, the Light-Energy-Appearance, is a lost cause. YET That IS "knowable, as it is always fully here as Aware-Presence, prior to, between, beyond, after, all that appears as its own Divine Dream-Play. Shiva's dance as Shakti! So: It is simple: It is ALL a Mystery to the mind of humans. Simply BE. That is all there is … Being-Consciousness-Love. At play in the dream.

I Love you,

Charlie

"When the mind is quiet, we come to know ourselves as the pure witness. We withdraw from the experience and its experiencer, and stand apart in pure awareness, which is between and beyond the two. The personality, based on self-identification, on imagining oneself to be something: "I'm this, I'm that", continues, but only as a part of the objective world. Its identification with the witness snaps." ~Sri Nisargadatta

'Health Issues' ... and True-Nature

MC Writes, "How are you ? I hope you have recovered from your fall and other ailments"...

Many other great friends of this space have written in here and on Facebook inquiring into the health of this aging bodymind called “Charlie”. I can report that the Gall Bladder removal was successful BUT that did not solve the various Gastrointestinal issues as was hoped. There is “GERD” and Irritable Bowel disorder, serious loss of vitality, anemia, muscle degradation, and other various aches and ailments. Hey: As said by so many, “getting old ain’t for sissies!” And so there are ongoing bills for medicines and treatments etc. But that is what's happening; that is how Totality-Wholeness is appearing. So what!?

Sometimes there is also a pissed-offed-ness that comes, and a frustration that all the doctors and all the kings men ain't been able to reassemble this humpty! So what!?

And I am as always reminded of Sri Nisargadatta, who, when asked as he was ailing, by a devotee, “Maharaj, are you in great pain”? Maharaj replied, “There IS great pain”. What does this indicate? That there is pain yet, there is no “one” who assumes he “caused” that pain. Pain, like all the rest of it, is a naturally happening APPEARANCE, an objective temporary stuff-ness that comes and goes.

That said, there is a way finer distinction we can make: When and why does SUFFERING kick in, and where does it arise from? The pain that is apparently "owned" by Nisargadatta and not his devotee is a knowing of the natural identity of a functioning organism. But what Nisargadatta was pointing to is the absence of any "CLAIM" of being at the source or cause, or "authorship", of that pain.

Certainly the pain and illness is in my body and not yours! But here there is a very subtle yet crucial bit of "dividing-up" (distinguishing) of the assumed "I" that is at play: One's natural functioning I knows it is this body that has pain and not that one over where you are. BUT (and it's a BIG but) ON:LY if there is a secondary sense of being the architect of, the cause of, the pain, along with a subtle yet potent sense that "this should not BE as it is (desoite the utterly opbvious fact that IT IS the way it is!) The deeper questions include: Who assumes he or she “OWNS AND CAUSES” said pain, or any other temporal passing appearance/experience? And if there is the assumption “I” CAUSED or CREATED the pain then it's appropriate to challenge that assumption: “Is that true!?” Of course, while I encourage this, it is clear that whether that challenge HAPPENS (or not) is NOT going to be "caused' by the false author, the assumed cause or architect of the happening.

When it does so happen, this can ameliorate the attachment/aversion cycle of wanting pleasure and resisting pain. But simpler yet is to simply SEE, right here, right now, that there IS an Always-So-Ness, a space like or naked presence. 

As Ramesh Balsekar pointed out so directly and poignantly:"In one’s natural, immediate attention or awareness there are no boundaries, no separate items of manifestation, unless and until thought intrudes and directs specific concentration on a particular thing. And this is what creates separation along with the whole chain of other thoughts and reactions that lead to every kind of conflict and unhappiness, which we then interpret as bondage. But the realization that boundaries are a product of thought is at once the realization that the separation caused by these boundaries and the conflicts that ensue are all an illusion".

In large measure this direct Seeing-Sans-Seer is a function of Grace, that is, a natural NOTICING that this that Always IS has NEVER really been "missing" or "obscured" in any true way. What IS simply ALWAYS is; that's the core definition of "Eternal". So it may happen as there is a reading of this text that the noticing of the Always-Presence happens. Perhaps beginning with a simple noticing of the white space around the black squiggly marks that the brain translates into words; then a noticing of the computer screen or entire book page; then a seeing that naturally there is always Space AROUND said screen or page, and without that essential Space nothing could ever appear. So Space, i.e. the Space-Like Awareness or Natural State of Isness-thusness-suchness, is the Absolute Nondual True-Nature or True-Subject, the non-objective non-temporal that ALLOWS whatever comes and goes to be exactly as it is and as it is not.

Noticing. That's all.

Simplicity, YES?

Happiness

What if .....

Happiness is a function of your DNA? Set at the moment of conception? And NO amount of "action by the assumed individual", no matter how highly touted, can ever bring the happiness the false sense of a separate I seeks?

What if "the pursuit of happiness", a so called guarantee of the US Declaration of Independence, is a completely FUTILE (though not for a "me" a trivial pursuit!) and absolutely CANNOT produce the desired state regardless of all the false promises made by all the fake gurus etc. and has no more chance of changing what IS (that DNA) than changing slate to hamburger?

Ponder. And maybe (if there is, well, "Grace"), there may be a relinquishing of the chasing an unattainable mythical happiness?

THAT would certainly bring, if not happiness, at least a measure of peace and a great fading of suffering. That has happened here, and for others I know. Perhaps you will find this a worthy inquiry.

We shall see!

With my Love,

Charlie

Are 'My' Assumptions TRUE?