Nonduality 101

Notice...

In the apartment complex where I live, there are signs that state, "NOTICE: This property is under video surveillance". This prompted a bit of pointing that might be useful:

Notice: Are you awake? Notice: Is there Awareness here now? Notice: Is there Presence here now? When (during wakefulness) is there NO Awareness, NO Awakeness, NO Presence? Find a "time" when there is no wakeful aware presence. Can you? (Don't say deep sleep; sleep is not present NOW, is it!?)

Consider the obviousness of Wakefulness, Awareness, Presence. Does that ever change? Is that ever modified or altered in any way shape or form? Does that HAVE any "form"? It is Formless, isn't it? And yet it is SO  obvious when pointed to; this Unchanging Wakeful Aware Presence. As a friend, Gilbert, like to say, "The first instant is Wakefulness. Who is there to argue about that? You-AS-Wakefulness must be present and aware to mount a challenge. Look: This is not a philosophy, not spirituality, this is pointing only to the Reality that NEVER changes, and proposes that YOU look to see if maybe, just maybe, THAT is what YOU really are.

Have a look. What do you have to lose? Only any perceived or imagined limitations on your actual Being. Might as well see what can be seen, in looking BACK behind the ubiquitous sense-of-ME and notice. Just NOTICE. YOU have never changes and never will. Noticing That any search for wholeness, God, or enlightenment is over, in this Wholly Instant Moment outside of space-time, ever present, here now. That thou art, as the ancients reminded us over and over.

And That's THAT.

The Infamous "Flip-Flop"

Q: Things remain interesting here.  Still a bit of flip flopping back into and then out of the sense of a separate self, but that is seen through much quicker now.

C: The flip-flop can go on, nothing wrong with that. Since you already ARE what the seeker seeks, anything is possible and none really matters! It is all Totality functioning perfectly. Of course one can always ask, "to whom is this 'flip-flop- happening?" The mind-machinery responds with some variation on "ME". Then the question is, who or what is THAT? Where exactly is this "me" or "I"? Who am I? We shall see if that arises. 

Fundamentally there is no one to suggest asking "Who Am I". There is no one to ask "Who Am I?". AND sometimes for some there is the natural functioning of totality rediscovering its True-Self that brings these things forth. I do encourage that (though I know there is no "me" here encouraging that; it is ALL a part of the Totality of What IS and what APPEARS, the Not-Two of wholeness-Beingness-Love!

"Who are You/Who Am I?" No answer is valid. In that open No-Answer your true-Nature is seen to BE ... clear and obviously ever-present. Being is unavoidable and indescribable.

Nonduality and Creativity

Sometimes it seems that creativity, inventing new projects, expanding the arena of possibilities, all gets a bad rap from "nondual purists." It is curious that some wags like to claim, "creativity? That's totally dualistic!" I ask them, how is it that you EXCLUDE creativity from nonduality? What could possibly be apart, how could anything be separated from, TOTALITY!? (Even the most clouded intelligence MUST allow this truism: Totality is, well, TOTAL!!)

I heard the great Ramesh Balsekar address this nonsense once a while back: A student was saying, "Ramesh, what about Reiki? What about 'est'? What about the Landmark Forum? (The implication being that perhaps these things were somehow dualistic ... and that dualistic was somehow "wrong!") Ramesh replied, in essence, "There IS Reiki. There IS The Landmark Forum. There WAS 'est'." Etc! Here is the point: OF COURSE these things ARE, in the manifest appearance; these events, and all such events, are absolutely an inherent part of The One Totality. As 'Sailor' Bob says, "It is One Essence appearing as Everything." Key Word! Everything!

So despite the protestations and lamentations of the "Advaita Cops" IT IS ALL "THAT". One without a second. How many times have we heard from Sages both current and ancient: All Is One.

This is it. Everything is It. Nothing is It. IT is all.

So what?

So: Anything is Possible for Who You Are And that means ANYTHING. Certainly, creativity is absolutely possible. The mind, being a perfect servant, is a tool for the One to use as Its Creative-Intelligence manifested. You are that Creative Intelligence, so here is an invitation to access that Creativity that you Are a,d create FOR YOUR SELF a world of joy, of freedom, of LOVE.

Why not??

As Emily Dickinson wrote decades ago, "Dwell in The Possibilities". That statement, in a beautiful large calligraphy, has pride of place in my Satsang room. Come see and dwell in the Ultimate Truth of Being:

Anything is Possible, and that means ANYTHING!

And, duality and nonduality are NOT TWO. Because there is NO duality in nonduality, the Nondual Essence which is, simply put, All There IS.

With great respect, and great love,

Charlie

Where IS any "I" unless you think about it?

Q: I can see that all possible experience can only happen within the present self-aware space, and that it has only ever been doing this. 

C: Okay, but WHO or WHAT exactly IS the “I” that says “I can see” this? There is a thought-story of some “entity” that CLAIMS “I can see”. Where IS this entity? IS there such an entity, apart from thought? Where IS any “I” unless thoughts CLAIM the existence of such? WHO claims “I can see?” This is the “investigation” that is called for by Sages such as Nisargadatta and Bob Adamson.

Where is any “I” unless you THINK about it? Pause thought right now. Where IS that “I”? It is a fiction, unreal, a thought-story that comes and goes. What does the story appear within? Or on? Open naked presence, Self-Knowing Awareness. THAT is what You are; THAT is NOT any thought or experience or any “thing” at all. IT is NO Thing. You are That No Thing. Do not trade that No Thing, Unborn Naked Great Perfection, for paltry and limiting thoughts!

Q: But, prior to the birth of this body, there was no experiencing going on at all.  So my question is on the eternity of the present self-aware space.  How do I know that this present self-aware space was in existence prior to any experiencing going on?  And how do I know that it will continue to exist once this body dies?

C: Reread the above response. WHO is it that wants an answer? Haven’t you noticed that the moment an answer arises, or is given to you by someone, the question no longer matters? And that then another question shows up, and you are apparently stuck once again in the fiction of a ‘me” that craves answers that nevertheless NEVER bring satisfaction or completion? ALL of this arises only in (mostly stupid) thought-stories of an “I” that is just NOT real.

You must of course discover this through your own gentle and persistent LOOKING. Investigate the claims of that mind-stuff, the mentation which is no more than a claiming machine that asserts its reality despite the absence of real evidence or reliable proof. The machine claims “I am ME and separate, and must become whole”. Yet YOU are already Wholeness Itself. As ‘Sailor’ Bob asks us to ask, “What’s wrong with right now unless you think about it”? As Baba Muktananda said, “All suffering is due to ‘thinking-about’.” Chew on Bob’s question, along with mine: WHO wants an answer? WHO are you really? Are you a thought which comes and goes? Who says so!?

As Ramesh Balsekar said once, “The individual self can exist only as a process of becoming, whereas THAT WHICH IS is the perennial state of BEING.  Therefore, its realization is the annihilation of the individual.”

Let the mind go in this Full Stop: Where IS that “I” that claims to “see” in deep sleep? And can the thought “I” actually “see” anything? Consider the possibility that thoughts have no real power to see, to hear, to know ANYTHING. And let yourself discover the truth of that! Realize THAT and the search is over in the clear non-conceptual (natural) knowingness that the only “claim” the human can make that cannot be argued is, “I AM”. And the THOUGHT “I am” is no more that actual I Am-Ness than the THOUGHT “table” is something you can set your coffee cup on.

Start with the only FACT you can know beyond doubt: I AM. Stay with that and refuse to grant legitimacy to those "buts" ANY other thoughts of lack, limitation or becoming. And refuse to ask ANY other questions save for "WHO AM I?". Full stop!

“Subject-object thinking seems to cover the natural state (awareness). But without awareness, thinking could not take place. Because thinking appears in awareness (like a cloud appears in the sky), realise that thinking is in essence awareness. Understanding this, thinking cannot obscure awareness." ~'Sailor' Bob Adamson

From Love to Love, With Love,

Charlie

What's Happening is Life, Living Itself Through All

Q: Dear Charlie, thank you for all your words I have read and for the seconds of no - me - bliss or emptiness.

C: You are most welcome!
 
Q: "I" have become disinterested in "my” life story which is good, but "I" have become disinterested on others' life stories too, which makes me a bad listener and not engaged in social situations.

C: So that is what is happening! Labeling what is arising as “good” or “bad” is a product of the judging mind with its attachment to preferences and it’s propensity to involve itself egoicly in what is simply HAPPENING. Life IS what IS. The labeling is a mental involvement after the fact; it’s a false sense of wanting power, wanting to be in control. That sense of ennui, that disinterest, does seem to happen as the Teaching sinks in! It is Nature, Life itself, living as that exact happening, THROUGH you. It cannot be otherwise. But you can investigate this: Are YOU the author, the designer, of this? The assumption is that "this is MY life" and also the sense (usually quite deep and cellular) that "something is wrong" (with "me", with "life as it actually is,” etc.) IS THAT TRUE? Investigate the claims of the sense of being in charge of life and living! Who or what asserts it is in charge and not only should, but could, make things different (meaning "better")?
 
Q: If I can't be in silence with people, I have to act as if I am interested.  What a chore!!

C: Of course. ANY pretense is a struggle, because it is going against Nature. Against What Is. Yet again, you can investigate: For whom is this a "chore"? The label “chore” is again a product of the judging mind.
 
Q: "You" are living out an enormous service with writing, teaching and talking.  Will "I" find a service?  Right now, "I" am in idle.

C: I, like everyone and everything else, am “being lived”. By WHAT? That is a question for you to look with, dear One. Look at this one: Right here, right now you ARE. Adding the after-words “in idle” brings forth unnecessary suffering. Stop at “I AM”” as best you can and keep looking BACK, behind the mind’s assertions: Are YOU the Source of What IS?

Are YOU as the egoic entity with a name the actual power behind the throne? Or is there something far greater, vast actually, Living THROUGH what you call your self? Looking BACK, rather than attempting to ask questions such as “”will I find service” to what ASKS that question and what Power is operating that causes thoughts, feelings, a beating heart, and makes the grass grow, the sun shine, what IS That which animates all of Totality? What is breathing you? Are YOU breathing? Then where are you, the breather, in deep sleep wherein breathing is still going on? Without Consciousness itself, would you even BE?  Could anything BE sans Consciousness?

Keep looking and feel free to stay in touch. Much Love to you!

Meeting Postponed Indefinitely

Dear Friends,

This old body is still going through effects of the bad fall that happened in Oklahoma, therefor it seems appropriate to NOT schedule any public meetings. I would still be happy to meet you on a day and time that works for you, but more than two people imposes a bit of a strain. If you would like to come up to NW Reno at some point, try and give me a couple of dates and times with at least two days notice.

As always, it is the will of Source (so to say) and one never knows whats next, isn't t!?

Much love and thanks again for your great support of the Message.

Charliewww.theeternalstate.org
~

PS:

Ram Tzu loves you...

So he is out to destroy you.

He knows you are your own
Worst enemy
So to destroy you
Is to save you.

Your ego must be smashed
Or you will surely die.
Yet words are like
Sledge hammers with greased handles.
They're difficult to guide
To their target,
Dangerous,
Liable to hit anything.

Ram Tzu loves you.
You can trust him.
Just put your head right here.
That's it.
Nothing to worry about...

Why do you hesitate?

Plans?

Man Plans. Then: Totality does whatever happens. And so often, the plans we make and the actions, and the actuality, is very, very different! Don't we notice how often our cherished plans and preferences are NOT fulfilled? That very different stuff happens? Never did this old guy DREAM it would end up in Reno, Nevada. And despite the "plans" that seemed that a studio apartment here would be available for a measly $400 a month, and there would be a steady paying job, NONE of that actually did happen. (Though I did earn enough to buy a TV, that seems to have been the extent of the gig! Plans .... !)

What DID happen? A crazy near-nightmarish several weeks of no home, no job, markets going down and finances shrinking. All the while there was a noting that plans and "quote reality" were remarkably different, and nowhere is lovely as dreamed of while still in Enid, Oklahoma.

Furthermore, despite some very good blessings of finding, finally, an affordable apartment and cable TV service that one living on Social Security (mois) can just barely afford, and having a place to stay while looking that was also affordable, other "shit happened" like the old Jeep breaking down and refusing to start, and said Jeep developing some other issues that would preclude driving top commute to the job from one side of Reno to the other, but of course totality having conspired to have the job disappear coordinates well with that.

Then of course there is the matter of losses of capitol from the already meager retirement savings owing to totality's "credit downgrade" and the "volatile markets", AND the fact that donations have dropped to near Zero, as have book sales, and well ... so much for them there plans hunh!?

Then the cable system lost most of its channels, and with no job, and nothing to "do", now there was (is) no cable TV. The company said they were working on it, and because it had been a few days not working gave me a $20 credit. At this point I was happy to get the credit; screw the TV! LOL ...

All the while the Presence-Awareness that IS what-we-are remains untouched. But that sure as shootin' doesn't mean that some things just do SUCK. Ask any Sage and he or she will share with you that so long as there is an organism drawing breath (or "being breathed if you prefer") shit happens and some is nice and some is freakin' NASTY.

All in all, simply trusting the Unborn-Isness may occur or not. Presence-Awareness could care less. The Self has no interest in what appears to happen. Yet so long as the organism lives it will have unrealized plans, unexpected travails, unmet expectations, thwarted intentions and occasionally, blessings and good other shit.

Anyway, so much for "the best laid plans etc". As a major Network Exec who developed fatal cancer said a while back, "If you wanna make God laugh tell him your plans".

No kidding!

(PS: If this sounds like a manipulation to try to get you to donate, well shit yes it is [no not really]. But you already khis stuff costs money; bandwidth, computer upkeep and all that plus newsletter fees, podcast storage fees etc add up quick. Hey, maybe totality will conspire to eliminate this expression altogether. Who would care? That said, if YOU care and you feel like helping, that would be great. No manipulation truly intended; all just a spontaneous and UNPLANNED expression coming out of these fingers pecking away. FWIW!) Everything happens by itself. Or, is there anything that does NOT happen all by itself? Check that out if you like...)

Donate Here.

~"You are not going to get out of this alive". ~ Ram Tzu

The Freedom of Being Powerless

Anyone who has truly apprehended that it is impossible for him to live independently according to his own "will power" would naturally cease having any intentions. When he is convinced that living is a sort of dreaming in which he has no control over his [or her] actions, all tension ceases and a sense of total freedom takes over. ~Ramesh Balsekar

In my experience, TRUE Freedom consists ONLY in Being absolutely Powerless! This first appeared for me when I was racing and lost control when a radiator tank burst and dumped water on the right rear wheel in a 125 MPH left hand corner. As the car was spinning out of any possibility of "my" controlling it, there dawned absolute Freedom, absolute Peace, and this continued as the car leapt a guard rail and spinning around, landed in a clearing 50' down a steep hill, ruining the springs and shocks and whatnot. I was uninjured. This was addressed recently by Wayne Liquorman in a fantastic one hour audio which I request you get and listen to with an openness to see another profound Possibility: The Freedom of Being Powerless!

This is my direct experiencing Here./ Now.

Here is the link ...

https://advaita.3dcartstores.com/WITNESS--A-Talk-with-Wayne-Liquorman--51211-AUDIO-DOWNLOAD_p_450.html

Much love!

The Freedom Of Being Powerless - 2.0

(This is a follow-up to "The Freedom of Being Powerless").

Note: I speak pronoun-laced English. Yet it is utterly obvious here that there is no independent "entity" here. So I use "I", "me", "my" etc. for communicating and sharing the experience of nonduality with you, dear readers! With Love, Charlie H.

Today here there arose a very potent set of "reminders" of what true Powerlessness really IS: Zero control over circumstances, plus a complete absence of any suffering. It is all well and good to "know" such "aphorisms" as, "It is what it is", or, "this too shall pass", "All Is One", "I am Shiva, untouched by this" and ten thousand other "'positive declarations". However, have you noticed (if there is still suffering happening there where you exist) that such statements rarely bring authentic peace or real lasting freedom from that suffering? In ay event, what happened today:

The stock market lost over 500 points (on the Dow-Jones) and this has now accumulated to a very big drop over the last several days. (I've watched my meager retirement savings shrinking as this was happening.) Then at around noon Pacific time, as I was observing (on CNBC TV) the nutty goings-on and the wild and crazy conversations of heady and unfounded opinions across a whole spectrum, AND was watching people's faces, which for the vastly most part, writ large in their pained expressions (evoking some sense of compassion but NOT pity) the Cable System went down all over the neighborhood.

So I called, was told a provider server had melted down somewhere and their techs were hard at work.

Okay, time to go for a nice long walk!

This doesn't mean there wasn't annoyance with the breakdown. But there came NO suffering. No "It should not be... which assumes it COULD somehow be other than IT IS, totally foolish and utterly impossible!" I also do NOT mean that anger never arises. Anger is a function of the organism's programming, and is a quite often LOUD expression of "I don't LIKE this!" But that does NOT devolve to "This should not BE as it is." THAT insanity is gone with the wind, fried by the Light that Always Is. And there is NO suffering; just a passing storm, when and if it happens to occur. There is just simply nothing wrong any more, regardless of WHAT appears and HOW the "charliethingie" reacts!

As of now (about 9:10 PM here) only a few of the channels have been restored (and CNBC ain't one of 'em).  The sense that there is "something wrong" simply has no energy and cannot arise. Owing to the fact that, in my experience, there is no one in here to carry an assumption that "what is ought to be better, different etc. This is a product NOT of some "practice" or "declaration" pr ANYTHING in the relative-appearance of whet we call Life. NOT. Never, NO.

Then what IS this all about? Way simple. It is what I call the death of the notion of a me with any trace whatsoever of independent or "personal" power. and what "caused" that death? Nothing. Or everything. Totality-In-Expression.

Somehow along the way a crack appeared in the stone wall of an assumes-as-separate and independent entity called "me". As Leonard Cohen elegantly put it, it's the crack that lets The Light (that Light of Eternal Presence-Awareness) SHINE THROUGH. In my experience, this Light is always present, despite the fact that from about the age of two it was seemingly obscured by that false sense of a controlling-me (or what Wayne Liquorman powerfully calls "The False Sense of Authorship".

Of course, as those concepts are seen to not some "truth to believe or accept" but rather to POINT at the indescribable Light-before-Consciousness, then they are no longer taken to be some holy grail, and what is pointed TO appears in all its loving radiance. Yet again in my experience, that seeing is NOT a matter of something NEW. It is what has forever been, indestructible and omnipotent.

So this happening destroys suffering because the one-who-suffers is toasted in the beginningless-endless Light of what is REAL. And what is REAL is ... YOU. That Light that You are has ever gone away to return. It's... forever thou.

So what does all the doing" What makes all the happenings appear and fade? What is the True Source of whatever appears in-the-life, in-the-world? What is the root of the root of the bud of the bud of the tree called life, as the poet ee cummings put it?

No concept can get anywhere near That. We do use concepts, words, to POINT, i.e. "Totality", Omnipotence", "Universal-Life-Energy" etc. But as you know, at least conceptually if you have seen my expression before, the concept is NOT what the concept describes or represents. This Light that Is has NO properties, and cannot be represented!

I am grateful to my Guru Wayne (Ram Tzu) Liquorman who inspired this expression.

May that Light find and erase 'you' now!

(More to Come. And there will likely be a NEW Book, the working title of which appears to be "The Freedom of Powerlessness".)

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj is Alive, Well and Unborn ... in Everyone