Skye-Mutual investigating

[Guest guest]

Dear Skye,

 

Nisargadatta, " skye chambers " <skyechambers@b...> wrote:

> Nisargadatta was not a preacher on a podium, like book readers

> often are. He conversed with his visitors, inquired with them

> into the nature of their questions and their lives. He

> interacted, opened his home to them and to his true nature. He

> wasn't a oneway street.

 

i know... however i feel (just an opinion) that the same sort of give

and take is not possible on a mailing list. Despite wanting to

trust, we are mostly faceless strangers to one another... i just

don't think anything approaching " face to face " interaction can

happen here.

 

> I was making an observation about mailing list expounders

> (explainers). Book learners who have read profusely the

> teachings of others and try to discuss their understandings in

> that same vein on the internet. But its a process that blocks

> mutual investigation. When book learners ask a question, they

> don't wait for an answer, they answer it themselves!

 

Seen here, 'enlightenment' lies in the dropping of the whole cycle of

questions and answers, so the 'point' is sort of moot... but i

realize that many have not reached the point where they're either

ready or willing to do that.

 

> There is very little mutual inquiry. They tell rather than discuss

> as they have only ever known nondual book monologs telling *them*.

> Investigating each moment anew with living ineractive human

> beings via the internet opens up a whole new can of worms :-)

 

i don't see it happening, given the various preconceptions on lists

like this (e.g. " only famous sages could be enlightened, " " everyone

is really just advertising their own ego, " etc). On a list like

NondualitySalon, i see more possibility of that kind

of 'interaction', and also via private Email, i have seen it happen.

 

> Nondual books have bred a nondual salesmen, who cannot openly

> investigate in an air of unknowing vulnerability. Instead from

> behind the anonymity of computers an image of certainty is

> projected, as they re-sell their book learning and forego mutual

> investigation.

 

i agree... not only the books, but the 'atmosphere' created around

the sages, living or dead. Not that i would discourage a personal

visit to a genuine teacher, but these days " treading with caution "

seems appropriate. Spirituality is not about 'learning', but about

discovering what's always and already everpresent and with us -- that

which cannot be gained or lost, that which *is* us and that which we

are timelessly.

 

> But Nisargadatta - like UG - wasn't precious with himself. He was

> ALIVE and out there interacting with everything. He wasn't

> living up to images or expounding in monologues.

>

> Thats the inquiry i speak of.

 

i don't see it happening on lists like this... and i don't see that

maintaining a 'hope' that it could happen is in the slightest bit

worthwhile either, but " just my 0.02 U.S. " ;-)

 

Namaste,

 

Tim