Post by zendancer on Jan 2, 2011 13:09:41 GMT -5
The non-duality path is pretty humorous. We start out from where we are, travel in a big circle (psychologically), and end up back where we were and always are. In one sense there is no movement of any kind.
We start off in a kind of dream state, a concensus trance. We imagine that we are human beings living in an externalized universe. We imagine that there are things like time, space, matter, energy, and objects. We imagine that we were born and that we will die.
At some point some of us begin to wonder if what we have been taught about the universe is really true. Or, we hear that the truth is quite different than what we have been conditioned to imagine, and we go in search of it. This is where the fun begins.
Overlooking the truth that is always manifesting here and now, we set out searching for the truth, imagining that it is something that we can find. Ironically, who we are IS the truth imagining that it is something else located somewhere else.
In the process of searching for the truth many of us have big mind-blowing experiences of unity and bliss. We may see angels or demons. We may meet God face-to-face, see through walls, forget our names, perform miracles, or read other people's minds.
Some of us, not realizing, or recognizing, what is always here and now, keep trying to have more whiz-bang experiences. We think, "If I can just claw my way far enough into heaven, and really get a death-grip on the truth, maybe I won't have to come back to earth." This idea can be very powerful.
However, if we're lucky, sooner or later "we" realize that there must be something fundamentally wrong with the idea that "we" can find the truth. When this happens, the truth may finally discover itself.
Here is a summarized conversation that might occur between a person who has had many unity-conscious experiences, but whose spiritual search has not yet come to an end:
Seeker: I have had several cosmic consciousness experiences, and I know that there is no "me." I know there is only oneness, yet I am not satisfied. I sense that there must be some final secret that would free me from bondage.
Sage: Who is it that is not satisfied? What imagines that there is bondage of any kind?
Seeker: Hmmmmmm. I don't know.
Sage: Good. Not-knowing is the way. This is how selfhood, which never existed and is only an idea, is forgotten. It simply falls away from disuse. At the moment, structures of thought that support a sense of selfhood are still being indulged.
Seeker: What do you mean?
Sage: When you do the dishes, just do the dishes. That's all there is to it. There is nothing else. Whatever the body/mind is doing here and now is what the Absolute is doing here and now. This is how the truth manifests.
Seeker: How can I feel that sense of unity?
Sage: Stop imagining that there is someone who can feel a sense of unity. Imagining that there is something that needs to be experienced by someone washing the dishes is the fundamental error. Washing dishes is an empty act. There is no washer here and washee there. There is no one who has ever washed dishes. Oneness is all there is.
Seeker: What is deeper than washing the dishes?
Sage: This kind of question is a distraction that will lead to another wild goose chase. There is nothing to attain and no one who could attain it. The truth is always here and now, and it manifests just like this. You are asking questions, and I am answering them, but there are not two here. If dishes need washing, then wash them.
Seeker: Is there anything more?
Sage: Yes, when you finish washing the dishes, then dry them, and put them away.
We start off in a kind of dream state, a concensus trance. We imagine that we are human beings living in an externalized universe. We imagine that there are things like time, space, matter, energy, and objects. We imagine that we were born and that we will die.
At some point some of us begin to wonder if what we have been taught about the universe is really true. Or, we hear that the truth is quite different than what we have been conditioned to imagine, and we go in search of it. This is where the fun begins.
Overlooking the truth that is always manifesting here and now, we set out searching for the truth, imagining that it is something that we can find. Ironically, who we are IS the truth imagining that it is something else located somewhere else.
In the process of searching for the truth many of us have big mind-blowing experiences of unity and bliss. We may see angels or demons. We may meet God face-to-face, see through walls, forget our names, perform miracles, or read other people's minds.
Some of us, not realizing, or recognizing, what is always here and now, keep trying to have more whiz-bang experiences. We think, "If I can just claw my way far enough into heaven, and really get a death-grip on the truth, maybe I won't have to come back to earth." This idea can be very powerful.
However, if we're lucky, sooner or later "we" realize that there must be something fundamentally wrong with the idea that "we" can find the truth. When this happens, the truth may finally discover itself.
Here is a summarized conversation that might occur between a person who has had many unity-conscious experiences, but whose spiritual search has not yet come to an end:
Seeker: I have had several cosmic consciousness experiences, and I know that there is no "me." I know there is only oneness, yet I am not satisfied. I sense that there must be some final secret that would free me from bondage.
Sage: Who is it that is not satisfied? What imagines that there is bondage of any kind?
Seeker: Hmmmmmm. I don't know.
Sage: Good. Not-knowing is the way. This is how selfhood, which never existed and is only an idea, is forgotten. It simply falls away from disuse. At the moment, structures of thought that support a sense of selfhood are still being indulged.
Seeker: What do you mean?
Sage: When you do the dishes, just do the dishes. That's all there is to it. There is nothing else. Whatever the body/mind is doing here and now is what the Absolute is doing here and now. This is how the truth manifests.
Seeker: How can I feel that sense of unity?
Sage: Stop imagining that there is someone who can feel a sense of unity. Imagining that there is something that needs to be experienced by someone washing the dishes is the fundamental error. Washing dishes is an empty act. There is no washer here and washee there. There is no one who has ever washed dishes. Oneness is all there is.
Seeker: What is deeper than washing the dishes?
Sage: This kind of question is a distraction that will lead to another wild goose chase. There is nothing to attain and no one who could attain it. The truth is always here and now, and it manifests just like this. You are asking questions, and I am answering them, but there are not two here. If dishes need washing, then wash them.
Seeker: Is there anything more?
Sage: Yes, when you finish washing the dishes, then dry them, and put them away.