What is, IS!

Q: I work in a retail shop and I seem to have a mental loop occurring after interactions with certain customers who are unreasonable in their demands or accusations and where the situation remains somehow unresolved in some way where I didn’t get to say what I wanted . This mental loop occurs as thought replays of that scene with that customer saying & doing what they did & I act in different ways in response to them . These thought replays are like mental video clips that are triggered by nothing in particular and can occur anytime and very often over the next week or two weeks after the incident. These replays are irritating and frustrating because logically I realize that the incident is over & that I can do nothing about it. I also feel that I have a desire to get rid of this mental loop. Should I let them play on till it plays itself out meanwhile experiencing lots of frustration & irritation every time these memories resurface? Could you please advise me as to what if anything I can do about this?

C: That reminds me of what my son said when he was working computer tech support many years ago: "This is a great job except for the customers!" :-)

Here's the thing: So long as there is the trace, the barest vestige, of a 'me", there will always be "others". Then those others may stimulate a response that the "me" thinks "should not be". THAT, the sense of a "should" about what IS, and the passion of a conviction that the "Should" is RIGHT and that the "me" is RIGHT and of course that the other is "wrong" is real suffering. All there is is what is, and the afterthoughts, or subsequent interpretations, are a product of the notion of being a separate entity who "should" be different, implying that what is COULD be different, which is patently impossible! What is, IS. Full Stop.

Each thought is fresh in the moment. You seem to believe that there IS a "loop". It is all happening JUST NOW though.

As far as "advice" goes, who would give advice to whom? You are along for the ride! Totality does it all, and then the machine that you are claims "there is something wrong and I want to change it". Right? But you might just as well wish to change New York into London.

You as an entity are completely powerless and devoid of any trace of independent existence apart from Totality. So WHO is it that needs or gives advice? Phantom storytellers, nothing real and nothing valid. Regardless of the empty claims of the masses.

As I wrote elsewhere, see beyond this conceptual entity that is essentially nothing put a passing fancy, a notion with no properties, that ONLY TOTALITY DOES ALL DOING and the false sense of a separate entity-I is an OVERLAY or afterthought that is no more connected to actions than the boat ride in the amusement park's three "steering wheels" are connected to any steering mechanism. The seeker who CLAIMS these "realizations" is like a leaf being carried by the river toward the ocean, asserting that IT is doing the traveling, IT is steering toward the ocean where IT will "merge" etc etc! And then CLAIM "I made it!" (And then it may well start to "teach!") Hehehehe ...

Lookit: When the storyteller assumes it is the story, the star "entity-I-me" ... and assumes the authorship or control of the doing and the action, the seeker remains in the delusion of doership or authorship of what is actually just the natural and unscripted Being-And-Doing of the Whole. So drop the idea that anything is missing, There is NOTHING to get. As there is NO ONE that can "get" anything, or even a thing called "nothing" (a popular delusion in spiritual circles: OH, 'I' get it, 'I am Nothing'." THAT is just more bullshit starry-eyed story!

I say, NOT as a "prescription" but rather a description of what may well happen in the reading and pondering of this, that it MAY be clear that all suffering and all ideas of "wrongness or rightness" or "mental loops" or ANY "me" or "other" etc is nothing more that BELIEVING THOUGHTS TO BE TRUE. As that conviction drops off and is replaced NOT by "disbelief in thoughts" or anything else but rather is replaced by Nothing, the No Thing that YOU REALLY are, peace will be clear and obvious, while the dance goes on but without the "personal attachment" that makes What Is into something that causes suffering. May it be so for you... Right Now!

The possibility here is the freedom of being POWERLESS. For an example ...

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.

It's a profound Possibility: The Freedom of Being Powerless! Seeing-Knowing THAT, there is no suffering, and no should or should not be. What IS, is accepted As It IS and Is Not ... by No-One i.e Your Self.

Much Love,

Charlie

“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

“Spontaneous, natural action happens only when the mind is vacant of the slightest trace of intention and planning.  The greatest liberty is in having total trust in that final authority that makes the grass grow and our limbs, organs and minds work by themselves.” ~Ramesh Balsekar

What If .....

Conversations For Transformation
Essays By Laurence Platt
Inspired By The Ideas Of Werner Erhard
And More

September 11, 2001 - Ten Years After

Diamond Mountain Appellation, Napa Valley, California, USA

September 11, 2001

"When I don't know who I am, I serve you. When I know who I am, I am you." ... Hanuman speaking to Ram in the Sanskrit epic Ramayana

"When I don't know who I am, I hurt you. When I know who I am, I am you." ... Laurence Platt contemplating September 11, 2001 ten years after
This essay, September 11, 2001, is the final essay in the quadrilogy September 11, 2001:

1. September 11, 2001
2. September 11, 2001 - One Year After
3. September 11, 2001 - Five Years After
4. September 11, 2001 - Ten Years After

in that order.

It is the companion piece to

1. What Happened As Distinct From The Story About What Happened
2. Road Warrior

in that order.

---

Imagine you're on another planet. No, imagine you're from  another planet. Imagine you're from another planet looking down on planet Earth, and you see its people fighting each other, making war on each other. Now imagine the planet you're from, doesn't have fighting or war. Imagine the planet you're from, doesn't know  fighting or war. What could you say about what you saw the people of planet Earth doing to each other? You wouldn't know  what it was they were doing to each other, would you? Whatever you saw them doing to each other would look very strange indeed ...

Of course, you're not from another planet. And you're not on another planet. So you'll never be able to look at what we the people of planet Earth do to each other, from the perspective of not knowing what fighting is, from the perspective of not knowing what war is.

But you can  consider it like a possibility. Can you look at what we the people of planet Earth do fighting each other, can you look at what we the people of planet Earth do making war on each other, can you look at all of it from the perspective of ie coming from  not knowing what fighting is, coming from not knowing what war is? Can you consider the possibility of no fighting on planet Earth? Can you consider the possibility of no war on planet Earth?

This is what's bass ackwards  about planet Earth: here, no  fighting and no  war are the possibilities which are very strange indeed ...

I won't publish this essay, September 11, 2001 - Ten Years After, on the actual tenth anniversary of September 11, 2001 out of respect for the commemorations held on that day for the people who lost their lives and who gave their lives on September 11, 2001. There are times when it's easy to hear new ideas which intrude into our already sensitivities, and there are other times when it's not so easy. The actual day of commemoration of the tenth anniversary of September 11, 2001 may not be the most appropriate day to look newly at who we are  in the matter of September 11, 2001.

Be careful. When I say "... who we  are in the matter of September 11, 2001", I don't mean us. And I don't mean them  either. That would just keep the conversation within the same conflict: "us / them", "good / bad", "right / wrong". And the trouble with keeping the conversation within the same conflict is we already know the outcome  of this conversation. We already know "we're  the good guys, and they're  the bad guys". And it isn't even a stretch of our combined imaginations to realize "we're the good guys, and they're the bad guys" can be voiced evenhandedly by both  sides in the September 11, 2001 conflict - indeed, by both sides in any  conflict. This is the nature of conflict. So when I say "... who we are in the matter of September 11, 2001", I mean all  of us. I mean all of us nearly seven billion people of planet Earth.

"Oh no!" you say. "You're wrong, Laurence. We are  the good guys, and they are  the bad guys.". No. It's all  of us - if you're willing to look at it from this perspective. We're all the people of planet Earth fighting each other. We're all the people of planet Earth making war on each other. And from the perspective of someone on another planet, from the perspective of someone from another planet who doesn't know fighting or war, what we do to each other looks very strange indeed ...

I assert fighting and war are the natural results of not knowing who we really are. When I don't know who I am, I hurt you. When I know who I am, I am you. "Too  simple!" you say? Yes. Entrenched as we are in "us / them", "good / bad", "right / wrong", it is  simple. We can't get it from the already always listening  we are. And maybe we can't get it today, the tenth anniversary of September 11, 2001. We have to wait until the commemoration services for and the remembrances of the people who lost their lives and who gave their lives on September 11, 2001, are over. It's hard for us to listen this if it intrudes into our already sensitivities. But when the ceremonies are complete, when it's alright to re-look at September 11, 2001 after an appropriate time has elapsed, when you can re-look at September 11, 2001 with new ideas ... then invent it - like a possibility. Try it on for size. 

Republished here with permission of the author. I find this a stunning example of what is possible "coming from NOT Knowing" (as my friend Unmani might say). I am profoundly grateful to Laurence for this amazing essay. It is my wish that this move you as it moves me. Or as my friend Werner Erhard may have said, moves both "me and me called not-me!")

With Infinite Love,
Charlie

It's all That...

A.K. says, Glad your move to Reno worked out well.

C: Thanks!

A.K. It's been awhile since I last contacted you! Just saw the latest newsletter and video--great as always!  A question for you: Lately when looking at presence,(the looking/seeing has been happening a lot lately), uncaused happiness arises and with that laughter also arises; any thoughts, comments, suggestions? Namaste, All Love and Light…

C: So that's what happens, and sometimes there is the serenity of what IS and sometimes the uncaused joy of What IS and sometimes there is the appearing of a shitstorm of what IS etc!! Meanwhile what is That which remains forever changeless-timeless? You are That; there is Only That!. Anyways, all of That sounds good, my friend! Much Love, A.K.

A,K. Thanks for your wisdom. It's funny how what is, is, cause a shitstorm of health stuff occurred after all of that! It's all the same, shitstorm and all!---LOL Thanks again with love, A.

C: It’s a pleasure.

Potent Pointing from Ramesh Balsekar, thanks to Helena!

The existence of ego is purely conceptual.  When a person sleeps, consciousness is absent, but he is not dead.  We are neither the warm body that is alive nor the cold body that is dead.  We are the birthless and deathless vital current of Consciousness itself. The very first step in understanding is in giving up the false concept of 'I' as a separate entity.  It is also the last step.

The sage is one who has offered as a sacrifice his own individuality, and this annihilation of identity is tantamount to a merging with the Totality in complete love.

 What you appear to be is the outer body perceiving the outer world, but what you are is that Consciousness in which the body and the world appear.

Although thought, words, logic and reasoning are obviously necessary to lead a moral life, they do not by themselves constitute living.  They are all based on memory of the known and are products of the split-mind, the mind divided by the intrusion of a spurious 'me'.  To LIVE without thought, without words, is to be receptive to the unknown with the whole mind.

True teaching is in reality the SILENCE of the SILENCE in which there is neither talking nor the absence of talking.  It is like drawing the figure of a fish on the water's surface with a stick.

Apperception of the highest Truth is not, and cannot be, a matter of gradual practice. Apperception, in fact, occurs prior to consciousness, which is the basis of intellect. It can only happen by itself, spontaneously and instantaneously.  It is not in time, and there are no stages in which deliberate progress is made.  Furthermore, there is NO ONE to make any progress.

There is no causal relationship between Consciousness and the universe. The truth is that Consciousness alone exists and is immanent in what appears as the universe. They are not two, by which any sort of relationship could exist.

Ramesh Balsekar

By whom?

MS Writes, Hey their old friend... whats to be done when life serves rotten apples over and over?

C: Done? By whom? Apples happen, some rotten, some tasty. That's Life In The Big Dream!

MS: Ahhh nice. the big dream where am i.. really. Damn your magic charlie!

C: Ha! Love ya! ♥

The Light of Being

There is a Light that shines prior to and through the "mind" ... the thought-machinery ... and that Light allows, permeates and animates all that appears in this wondrous dream of being-and-the-world. As Sri Nisargadatta said:

"Even the sense 'I am' is composed of the pure light and the sense of being. The 'I' is there even without the 'am'. So is the pure light there whether you say 'I' or not. Become aware of that pure light and you will never lose it. The beingness in being, the awareness in consciousness, the interest in every experience - that is not describable, yet perfectly accessible, for there is nothing else."

That Light is a palpable Presence, always ON, always FREE, always and ever fresh. Just notice that. Without that Light of Being, could anything else BE? Noticing that palpable Presence prior to and infusing what is "present" frees the "seeker" fro the false self-center, which is nothing more than a believed fiction, an insubstantial and utterly powerless storytelling machine with and assumed but unfindable "false entity" at the center. The assumption "I am the center of the universe, all this is happening to me" IGNORES the Light Of Being and obscures the freedom and love that We ARE in Truth, but only "apparently". Suspend belief in the fictional self-center and right now, right here, the Truth is obvious and incontrovertible> I AM the Light, and that is all there is.

This is about the end of seeking and seeker, not about attaining a "special state" for that false self-center. Seeing IS happening and registering these words appearing now, here. But what is That which makes the seeing possible? What is That which animates, and registers, the seeing? That is NOT the story; that allows the story. Repeating this pointer happens a lot, because the habit of mind is to think "i am me" and that this "me" IS separated from "everything else. Bit can anything, even a believed story, ACTUALLY exist apart from the Light of being?

There is no separation between the sky and the clouds and the sun, the sky and the moon, the sky and the stars. Right? Have a look! Even darkness, the pitch black of a deep cave, is still lit by that Light. To know darkness AS the Self and as the Light is freedom. And in this there is love, impersonal and palpable as the I-Light. Yes, we are all That. There is only That in Truth. But do not "believe this" please; just let the pointers sink in and notice the ever fresh and fully present light of Being, and BE THAT and nothing else.

Despite our false beliefs, all truly IS The One Light. So, BE That. Love That. Respect That. It's so simple; since you already are That, just allow the false belief in being other than that evaporate naturally in the Warm Light of True Being. That is the greatest gift of the end of seeking: Being as You Are.

The Eternal Tao

Look, it cannot be seen - it is beyond form.
Listen, it cannot be heard - it is beyond sound.
Grasp, it cannot be held - it is intangible.
These three are indefinable;
Therefore they are joined in one.
From above it is not bright;
From below it is not dark:
An unbroken thread beyond description.
It returns to nothingness.
The form of the formless,
The image of the imageless,
It is called indefinable and beyond imagination.
Stand before it and there is no beginning.
Follow it and there is no end.
Stay with the ancient Tao,
Move with the present.
Knowing the ancient beginning is the
essence of Tao.


Tao Te Ching, v.14

No Exit from Your Humanity

Many "spiritual seekers" have bought into the various myths surrounding the notion of "transformation", "enlightenment", "final understanding" and have struggled valiantly to capture this "special state" ... for ME. But those concepts only point, to the dissolution of the false sense of being a controlling, separate entity with some power apart from the Universal Life-Force that is at the heart of everything. That "One essence appearing as everything", as Bob Adamson put is. In that space, of pure Knowing-sans-knower,the "me" is no more powerful than a cloud. Is a cloud s9olid and real lookimg? Yes., But don't you realize you can do nothing wahtsver with na cloud> The "Me" idea is just like that cloud; it is a movement of subtle energies with independent power to do or not do a damn thing!

Can a cloud set an intetntion and attain some goal life say for enlightenment??

The problem is, the myths tend to propagate the false idea that to be "enlightened" or "transformed" means to be always "nice", always loving and kind, always a really good person with no emotions like anger or sadness, and one who is always helpful, compassionate, generous etc. That is to say, that sort of seeker is attempting to be somehow NOT HUMAN!

Perhaps there are people whose lives seem to be "saintly" as described in brief above, and others whose lives may appear to be nasty, unkind, even evil. What is rarely fully grasped is that for a Sage, there is no way to predict his or her behavior, by anyone else or even by himself or herself. Once the Understanding has happened, life goes on living Itself THROUGH both the organism of the "saint" and the organism of the "sinner".

To try to NOT be human is a tricky old trap! A friend once said, "It is a privilege to be angry when you are angry!" Indeed. It’s human, it’s natural! When the entire range of human-ness is accepted as part of the wholeness of what is, there is no more pretenses, no more actor-persona, no more hiding behind masks, no need to cover up our insecurity, vulnerability, moods, emotions etc when they are extant … and that means no more suffering.

Of course, we must recognize and sit with what I call the Advaita (Non-separation or “not two-ness"). Caveat:  That this absolute acceptance can only arise as a function of the Whole; it cannot be forced. A metaphor I heard thirty-six years ago that I paraphrase fits here" The snake cannot rip ff its own skin; only Nature (Totality) will remove it, and only when it is "in the molting season".

So being human is an all-inclusive play which allow all and anything can arise at any moment, is it is out of the human beings ability to force any outcome. To say it in spiritual language, perhaps, whatever is to be done will be done through all the instruments, all the human animals, as well as all the other creatures, plants, trees, oceans, planets etc. All s a "Play of God" or again in Bob Adamson’s words, the “One Essence appearing as everything".
During the lifespan there is NO EXIT from Being Human, (apart from physical death), nor a need for any such; as Being, who you really are, us always fully present and aware whether a body-apparatus notices it or not. What happens to being when you die? Same thing that happens to water when it evaporates. While its  essence is unchanged its appearance has transformed. In other words it is always water in essence no matter what the form is: steam, hot liquids, cold liquids, clouds, sleet, ice, snow… all that one-essence. That is indestructible, as That is not a “thing”; That is No Thing yet It empowers and formulates and patterns into the phantasmagorias we call the Universe. And It does That all by itself!

The billions of human names and forms are of One Essence, called Intelligence, Pure Possibility, The Absolute, Love, Energy, Breath or Prana, and many more. Remember, the name is not the thing. And neither is the form. (Form is formlessness; formlessness is form … not two.)

So if you are attempting to “be one with being” or Be one with everything, you MUST fail but ONLY because you are already the Energy-Love-Peace of the Absolute at all times in places (no matter where you go you're Here), and the attempts just seem to obscure That, like the move seems to obscure the screen, Next time as a move or watching a good TV show notice actively the undeniable background existence of the screen,

In this living transformation teaching, the purest context you can adopt that can perhaps empower your looking at these points is to create the consideration that everything IS perfect. As it is and as it ain’t. I am not saying to believe that, Nooo; embrace, sip, taste, drink it in a relaxed pace, and see what show s up!

Please read Randall Friend’s post  below, to complete this evening's sharing.

Much Love to You,.

What Is "The Eternal Tao"?

Nameless, timeless, locationless, yet fully present right Here right Now as what You are:  Is there presence where You are? Is there Awareness where You are? Is there "time"? Show what "time" is: Can we? To paraphrase a favorite teacher of mine, Bob Adamson, "where is "time" unless you think about it? Whomever uttered the wonderful pointer "there's no time like the present" was a wise old owl.

To paraphrase another favorite teacher, we are constantly looking to find a truth that fits the appearance of reality, the incredible display of time-space-stuff and us. But given THAT "reality" the truth just doesn't fit!

Lao Tsu said it: "The Tao that can be named is not the Eternal Tao". Full Stop.

Now what? Here is a question you can play with if you like: What is being sought? Who or what is seeking what cannot be named or known? IS there a "seeker" or just seek-ING, appearing as part of the whole functioning of Being AND non-Being? Yes, there IS know-ING, Be-ING. And, as Lao Tsu also pointed out, "Being is born of not being."

Which are YOU? Being or Non-Being?

Neither. And Both.

Stop now and BE. Simple. YOU ARE, Being. Inescapably and unavoidably. That, Being, is NOT-a-Thing yet IT IS. Eternal, Real and appearing NOW-NOW-NOW as Your own invincible I Am-ness.

When that Natural Knowing is complete, it's clear and plain that "mind" is a tool of The Eternal, creating spontaneously, inventing live and living moment by moment. And for that, as that, IN that, anything is possible.

Anything.

"Dwell in the Possibilities" ~Emily Dickinson

"Keep very quiet and watch what comes to the surface of the mind. Reject the known, welcome the so far unknown and reject it in its turn. Thus you come to a state in which there is no knowledge, only being, in which being itself is knowledge. To know by being is direct knowledge. It is based on the identity of the seer and the seen. Indirect knowledge is based on sensation and memory, on proximity of the perceiver and his percept, confined with the contrast between the two." ~Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

"Thought, desire and fear are based on time or duration through memory -- they are not of the present moment. They disappear along with time itself when volition has been abandoned or surrendered." ~Ramesh Balsekar

Perfect!

Whatever is going on right now, whatever has gone on, and whatever may go on, is perfect.

If you "aren't there yet", that's perfect.

If you just have an "intellectual understanding", that's perfect.

For it to not be perfect is to suffer.

To suffer is to have a condition - a condition on whatever is going on.

For it to be ok is to not suffer. To resist is to suffer. To argue with reality is to suffer.

So in the midst of the spiritual search, we must somehow be ok with our present level of "achievement" or understanding. We must know deep down that it will work itself out. As long as we are determined to inquire into the nature of reality, we cannot fail. As long as we are willing to question our dearest beliefs, we cannot fail. The false cannot stand up to that spotlight.

But if we go about it as a way to make life suck less, then we are missing the point. If we just want to see through the illusion because the world sucks so bad, then we are only making suffering worse. Because our life may suck and we want enlightenment to save us - when it doesn't then we add onto our suffering.

Whatever it is that brought the spiritual search, let that resolve it. Let that drive come and do what it may do. Don't judge, don't want it to be otherwise, don't argue with your current level of understanding.

If we are resisting, we are suffering. That's just a fact. To resist resistance is still resistance. To see the futility and insanity of resistance is the end of suffering.

~Randall Friend

Redesigning the web site underway; a fresh approach is coming

Hello all,

This site and my work is undergoing a radical and wonderful transformation, and the expression here, and elsewhere where I participate, will be taking a different focus. Strange though it may seem, that is all I really know about this shift; that's happening in and as a Space of Possibility for a "Living Transformation" for all regardless of age, knowledge or circumstances: This project will be about the Natural Power to transform the quality of your life in any and all circumstances. Yes, that is bold. Yes, I mean it!

I do know that the expression is Being-Changing-Itself. Rather that just stop posting or corresponding, as has happened for a few that have shared their insights and suggestions about all this spiritual good news over the last 3-4 years, I am welcoming and embracing whatever this is that is arising, and see how it unfolds. I look forward to sharing it with YOU, and I must say It's somewhat fascinating to be "dreaming" in this way! And wicked-thrilling to be given the privilege by Totality (Or God, if you prefer) of participating in the "burning away" of the excess baggage that seems to obscure the Natural Freedom that we are: Burn Baby Burn!

The core commitment here is that whatever comes out to be written or spoken will make a positive difference for the souls who find themselves in the space. How that will now express remains to be realized.

Stay tuned if you like, and thank you for your ongoing support over the years. It is your donations and your questions and comments that make this possible. Meanwhile the books, consultations, and previous posts, which seem to have had a positive impact on many folks, will remain available as this interesting "process" of Totality-In-Drag unfolds itself.

With all my love,

Charlie

1 Sept. 2011

New Project, Book,, Auduis and More: "Living Transformation"

All coming soon. Stay tuned, announcements will arrive over the next few weeks...

Ownership of What Appears brings Suffering

Everything happens. That is simple and stupidly obvious, unless it isn't.

When it ISN'T obvious, the assumption is what happens happens "to me". "I" (the false identity of a separate entity with name and form) "own' this or that. This or that is MINE. Even more delirious is, "I caused it!" And therefore since I am suffering, "It should not be! I should have and could have 'caused' a different happening.

Suffering is in large measure, I have observed, a product of this idea that a) I am separate from everything else except my body (MY body!) and b) I am responsible for what happened TO me (or some other that I love) and for the happenings of the body I call mine. This "ownership" is a persistent belief that virtually all human beings are infected with, like a mega-virus. Or better said perhaps, like the air the bird never notices or the water the fish is not aware of. All of these metaphors just POINT to the source of our blindness, our suffering. Yet: It simply IS happening, seemingly invisibly. Including suffering. THAT happens as everything happens; there is NOT everything "plus" x.

All the while there IS something that always IS, fully present at all times and in all circumstances, that is AWARE of the fishness and the waterness. Think of a silent observer (the "fly on the wall in the room; or a Single Eye that sees it all and loves it all as it is. taking your stand THERE, as THAT, can reveal the Truth of what you really are. But that Truth is beyond language, beyond words, beyond representation. Wordless, Timeless, Beginningless, Endless ... these are pointers and NOT descriptions.

Being as you are means (as far as I am concerned) Simply Being, Silence, Stillness, and noticing that Everything Happens all by itself. That includes ... EVERYTHING.

No exceptions. Beyond belief, both being and nonbeing and beyond being and nonbeing.

Hoo YA!

Belief, any belief, is based on the sense of insecurity.  Only when all belief is given up are you free to know yourself.  In self-discovery what you find is the Truth - that Truth which is total, self-evident and which needs no outside support or justification."~Ramesh Balsekar