Selling Water By the RiverSelections from the Talks of Adyashanti

[Guest guest]

Selling Water By the River

Selections from the Talks of Adyashanti

------

 

Many seekers do not take full responsibility for their own Liberation, but

wait for one big, final spiritual experience which will catapult them fully

into it. It is this search for the final liberating experience which gives

rise to a rampant form of spiritual consumerism in which seekers go from one

teacher to another, shopping for enlightenment as if shopping for sweets in

a candy store. This spiritual promiscuity is rapidly turning the search for

enlightenment into a cult of experience seekers. And, while many people

indeed have powerful experiences, in most cases these do not lead to the

profound transformation of the individual, which is the expression of

enlightenment.

------

 

In speaking regularly with spiritual seekers, it dawned on me one day how

addicted so many of them are to the power of charisma. They swap stories

about how powerful this or that teacher is and compare experiences. They get

a charge from it, many mistaking charisma for enlightenment. Charisma

attracts at all levels: political, sexual, spiritual, etc., and it feeds the

ego's desire to feel special. The ego loves getting hits of power - it's

like a form of spiritual candy. The candy may be sweet but can you live on

it? Does it make you free? Freedom is not necessarily exciting; it's just

free. Very peaceful and quiet, so very quiet. Of course, it is also filled

with joy and wonder, but it is not what you imagine. It is much, much less.

Manymistake the intoxicating power of otherworldly charisma for

enlightenment. More often than not it is simply otherworldly, and not

necessarily free or enlightened.

 

In order to be truly free, you must desire to know the truth more than you

want to feel good. Because, if feeling good is your goal, then as soon as

you feel better you will lose interest in what is true. This does not mean

that feeling good or experiencing love and bliss is a bad thing. Given the

choice, anyone would choose to feel bliss rather than sorrow. It simply

means that if this desire to feel good is stronger than the yearning to see,

know, and experience Truth, then this desire will always be distorting the

perception of what is Real, while corrupting one's deepest integrity. In my

experience, everyone will say they want to discover the Truth, right up

until they realize that the Truth will rob them of their deepest held ideas,

beliefs, hopes, and dreams. The freedom of enlightenment means much more

than the experience of love and peace. It means discovering a Truth that

will turn your view of self and life upside-down. For one who is truly

ready, this will be unimaginably liberating. But for one who is still

clinging in any way, this will be extremely challenging indeed. How does one

know if they are ready?  One is ready when they are willing to be absolutely

consumed, when they are willing to be fuel for a fire without end. 

------

 

If you start playing the game of being an " enlightened somebody, " the true

teacher is going to call you on it. He or she is going to expose you, and

that exposure is going to hurt. Because the ego will be there, standing in

the light of Truth, exposed and humiliated. Of course, the ego will cry

" foul! " It will claim that the teacher made a mistake and begin to justify

itself in an effort to put its protective clothing back on. It will begin to

spin justifications with incredible subtlety and deceptiveness. This is

where real spiritual sadhana (practice) begins. This is where it all

 

becomes very " real " and the student discovers whether he or she truly wants

to be free, or merely wants to remain as a false, separate, and

self-justifying ego. This crossroad inevitably comes and is always

challenging. It separates the true seeker from the false one. The true

seeker will be willing to bare the Grace of humility, whereas the false

seeker will run from it. Thus begins the true path to enlightenment, granted

only to those willing to be nobody. Discovering your " nobodyness " opens the

door to awakening as beingness, and beyond that to the Source of all

beingness.

------

 

Do not think that enlightenment is going to make you special, it's not. If

you feel special in any way, then enlightenment has not occurred. I meet a

lot of people who think they are enlightened and awake simply because they

have had a very moving spiritual experience. They wear their enlightenment

on their sleeve like a badge of honor. They sit among friends and talk about

how awake they are while sipping coffee at a cafe. The funny thing about

enlightenment is that when it is authentic, there is no one to claim it.

Enlightenment is very ordinary; it is nothing special. Rather than making

you more special, it is going to make you less special. It plants you right

in the center of a wonderful humility and innocence. Everyone else may or

may not call you enlightened, but when you are enlightened the whole notion

of enlightenment and someone who is enlightened is a big joke. I use the

word enlightenment all the time; not to point you toward it but to point you

beyond it. Do not get stuck in enlightenment.

------

 

Ego is the movement of the mind toward objects of perception, in the form of

grasping; and, away from objects, in the form of aversion. This

fundamentally is all the ego is. This movement of grasping and aversion

gives rise to a sense of a separate " me, " and in turn the sense of " me "

strengthens itself this way. It is this continuous loop of causation that

tricks consciousness into a trance of identification. Identification with

what? Identification with the continuous loop of suffering. After all, who

is suffering? The " me " is suffering. And " who " is this me? It is nothing

more than a sense of self caused by identification with grasping and

aversion. You see, it's all a creation of the mind, an endless movie, a

terrible dream. Don't try to change the dream, because trying to change it

is just another movement in the dream. Look at the dream. Be aware of the

dream. That awareness is It. Become more interested in the awareness of the

dream than in the dream itself. What is that awareness? Who is that

awareness? Don't go spouting out an answer, just be the answer. Be It.

------

 

Enlightenment means the end of all division. It is not simply having an

occasional experience of unity beyond all division, it is actually being

undivided. This is what nonduality truly means. It means there is just One

Self, without a difference or gap between the profound revelation of Oneness

and the way it is perceived and lived every moment of life. Nonduality means

that the inner revelation and the outer expression of the personality are

one and the same. So few seem to be interested in the greater implication

contained within profound spiritual experiences, because it is the

contemplation of these implications which quickly brings to awareness the

inner divisions existing within most seekers.

------

 

Spiritual people can be some of the most violent people you will ever meet.

Mostly, they are violent to themselves. They violently try to control their

minds, their emotions, and their bodies. They become upset with themselves

and beat themselves up for not rising up to the conditioned mind's idea of

what it believes enlightenment to be. No one ever became free through such

violence. Why is it that so few people are truly free? Because they try to

conform to ideas, concepts, and beliefs in their heads. They try to

concentrate their way to heaven. But Freedom is about the natural state, the

spontaneous and un-self-conscious expression of beingness. If you want to

find it, see that the very idea of " a someone who is in control " is a

concept created by the mind. Take one step backward into the unknown.

------

 

There is nothing more insidiously destructive to the attainment of

liberation than self-doubt and cynicism. Doubt is a movement of the

conditioned mind that always claims that " it's not possible ... that freedom

is not possible for me. " Doubt always knows; it " knows " that nothing is

possible. And in this knowing, doubt robs you of the possibility of anything

truly new or transformative from happening. Furthermore, doubt is always

accompanied by a pervasive cynicism that unconsciously puts a negative spin

on whatever it touches. Cynicism is a world view which protects the ego from

scrutiny by maintaining a negative stance in relationship to what it does

not know, does not want to know, or cannot know. Many spiritual seekers have

no idea how cynical and doubt-laden they actually are. It is this blindness

and denial of the presence of doubt and cynicism that makes the birth of a

profound trust impossible. A trust without which final liberation will

always remain simply a dream.

------

 

All fear comes from thought in the form of memory (past) or projection

(future). Thought creates time: past, present, and future. So fear exists

and comes from the perceived existence of time. To be free of fear is to be

free of time. Since time is a creation of thought, to be free of fear you

must be free of thought. Consequently, it is important to awaken and

experience your Self outside of thought, existing as eternity. So question

all notions of yourself that are creations of thought and of time -- of

past, present, and future. Experience your eternalness, your holiness, your

awakeness until you are convinced that you are never subject to the movement

of thought, of fear, or of time. To be free of fear is to be full of Love.

------

 

Many spiritual seekers get " stuck " in emptiness, in the absolute, in

transcendence. They cling to bliss, or peace, or indifference. When the

self-centered motivation for living disappears, many seekers become

indifferent. They see the perfection of all existence and find no reason for

doing anything, including caring for themselves or others. I call this

" taking a false refuge. " It is a very subtle egoic trap; it's a fixation in

the absolute and all unconscious form of attachment that masquerades as

liberation. It can be very difficult to wake someone up from this deceptive

fixation because they literally have no motivation to let go of it. Stuck in

a form of divine indifference, such people believe they have reached the top

of the mountain when actually they are hiding out halfway up its slope.

 

Enlightenment does not mean one should disappear into the realm of

transcendence. To be fixated in the absolute is simply the polar opposite of

being fixated in the relative. With the dawning of true enlightenment, there

is a tremendous birthing of impersonal Love and wisdom that never fixates in

any realm of experience. To awaken to the absolute view is profound and

transformative, but to awaken from all fixed points of view is the birth of

true nonduality. If emptiness cannot dance, it is not true Emptiness. If

moonlight does not flood the empty night sky and reflect in every drop of

water, on every blade of grass, then you are only looking at your own empty

dream. I say, Wake up! Then, your heart will be flooded with a Love that you

cannot contain.

------

 

Maybe I can point you to the great Reality within you. Maybe you will awaken

to the direct experience of Self-realization. Maybe you will catch the fire

of transmission. But there is one thing that no one can give you: the

honesty and integrity that alone will bring you completely to the other

shore. No one can give you the strength of character necessary for profound

spiritual experience to become the catalyst for the evolutionary

transformation called " enlightenment. " Only you can find that passion within

that burns with an integrity that will not settle for anything less than the

Truth.

------

 

Enlightenment has nothing to do with states of consciousness. Whether you

are in ego consciousness or unity consciousness is not really the point. I

have met many people who have easy access to advanced states of

consciousness. Though for some people this may come very easily, I also

noticed that many of these people are no freer than anyone else. If you

don't believe that the ego can exist in very advanced states of

consciousness, think again. The point isn't the state of consciousness, even

very advanced ones, but an awake mystery that is the Source of all states of

consciousness. It is even the Source of presence and beingness. It is beyond

all perception and all experience. I call it " awakeness. " To find out that

you are empty of emptiness is to die into an aware mystery, which is the

Source of all existence. It just so happens that that mystery is in love

with all of its manifestation and non-manifestation. You find your Self by

stepping back out of yourself.

------

 

Ramana Maharshi's gift to the world was not that he realized the Self. Many

people have had a deep realization of the Self. Ramana's real gift was that

he embodied that realization so thoroughly. It is one thing to realize the

Self; it is something else altogether to embody that realization to the

extent that there is no gap between inner revelation and its outer

expression. Many have glimpsed the realization of Oneness; few consistently

express that realization through their humanness. It is one thing to touch a

flame and know it is hot, but quite another to jump into that flame and be

consumed by it.

------

 

First published in the Fall/Winter Inner Directions Journal, copyright 1999

by THE INNER DIRECTIONS FOUNDATION, INC.

[Guest guest]

Nisargadatta , shawn <shawn@w...> wrote:

> Selling Water By the River

> Selections from the Talks of Adyashanti

> --

----

>

> Many seekers do not take full responsibility for their own

Liberation, but

> wait for one big, final spiritual experience which will catapult

them fully

> into it. It is this search for the final liberating experience

which gives

> rise to a rampant form of spiritual consumerism in which seekers go

from one

> teacher to another, shopping for enlightenment as if shopping for

sweets in

> a candy store. This spiritual promiscuity is rapidly turning the

search for

> enlightenment into a cult of experience seekers. And, while many

people

> indeed have powerful experiences, in most cases these do not lead

to the

> profound transformation of the individual, which is the expression

of

> enlightenment.

> --

----

>

> In speaking regularly with spiritual seekers, it dawned on me one

day how

> addicted so many of them are to the power of charisma. They swap

stories

> about how powerful this or that teacher is and compare experiences.

They get

> a charge from it, many mistaking charisma for enlightenment.

Charisma

> attracts at all levels: political, sexual, spiritual, etc., and it

feeds the

> ego's desire to feel special. The ego loves getting hits of power -

it's

> like a form of spiritual candy. The candy may be sweet but can you

live on

> it? Does it make you free? Freedom is not necessarily exciting;

it's just

> free. Very peaceful and quiet, so very quiet. Of course, it is also

filled

> with joy and wonder, but it is not what you imagine. It is much,

much less.

> Manymistake the intoxicating power of otherworldly charisma for

> enlightenment. More often than not it is simply otherworldly, and

not

> necessarily free or enlightened.

>

> In order to be truly free, you must desire to know the truth more

than you

> want to feel good. Because, if feeling good is your goal, then as

soon as

> you feel better you will lose interest in what is true. This does

not mean

> that feeling good or experiencing love and bliss is a bad thing.

Given the

> choice, anyone would choose to feel bliss rather than sorrow. It

simply

> means that if this desire to feel good is stronger than the

yearning to see,

> know, and experience Truth, then this desire will always be

distorting the

> perception of what is Real, while corrupting one's deepest

integrity. In my

> experience, everyone will say they want to discover the Truth,

right up

> until they realize that the Truth will rob them of their deepest

held ideas,

> beliefs, hopes, and dreams. The freedom of enlightenment means much

more

> than the experience of love and peace. It means discovering a Truth

that

> will turn your view of self and life upside-down. For one who is

truly

> ready, this will be unimaginably liberating. But for one who is

still

> clinging in any way, this will be extremely challenging indeed. How

does one

> know if they are ready?  One is ready when they are willing to be

absolutely

> consumed, when they are willing to be fuel for a fire without end. 

> --

----

>

> If you start playing the game of being an " enlightened somebody, "

the true

> teacher is going to call you on it. He or she is going to expose

you, and

> that exposure is going to hurt. Because the ego will be there,

standing in

> the light of Truth, exposed and humiliated. Of course, the ego will

cry

> " foul! " It will claim that the teacher made a mistake and begin to

justify

> itself in an effort to put its protective clothing back on. It will

begin to

> spin justifications with incredible subtlety and deceptiveness.

This is

> where real spiritual sadhana (practice) begins. This is where it all

>

> becomes very " real " and the student discovers whether he or she

truly wants

> to be free, or merely wants to remain as a false, separate, and

> self-justifying ego. This crossroad inevitably comes and is always

> challenging. It separates the true seeker from the false one. The

true

> seeker will be willing to bare the Grace of humility, whereas the

false

> seeker will run from it. Thus begins the true path to

enlightenment, granted

> only to those willing to be nobody. Discovering your " nobodyness "

opens the

> door to awakening as beingness, and beyond that to the Source of all

> beingness.

> --

----

>

> Do not think that enlightenment is going to make you special, it's

not. If

> you feel special in any way, then enlightenment has not occurred. I

meet a

> lot of people who think they are enlightened and awake simply

because they

> have had a very moving spiritual experience. They wear their

enlightenment

> on their sleeve like a badge of honor. They sit among friends and

talk about

> how awake they are while sipping coffee at a cafe. The funny thing

about

> enlightenment is that when it is authentic, there is no one to

claim it.

> Enlightenment is very ordinary; it is nothing special. Rather than

making

> you more special, it is going to make you less special. It plants

you right

> in the center of a wonderful humility and innocence. Everyone else

may or

> may not call you enlightened, but when you are enlightened the

whole notion

> of enlightenment and someone who is enlightened is a big joke. I

use the

> word enlightenment all the time; not to point you toward it but to

point you

> beyond it. Do not get stuck in enlightenment.

> --

----

>

> Ego is the movement of the mind toward objects of perception, in

the form of

> grasping; and, away from objects, in the form of aversion. This

> fundamentally is all the ego is. This movement of grasping and

aversion

> gives rise to a sense of a separate " me, " and in turn the sense

of " me "

> strengthens itself this way. It is this continuous loop of

causation that

> tricks consciousness into a trance of identification.

Identification with

> what? Identification with the continuous loop of suffering. After

all, who

> is suffering? The " me " is suffering. And " who " is this me? It is

nothing

> more than a sense of self caused by identification with grasping and

> aversion. You see, it's all a creation of the mind, an endless

movie, a

> terrible dream. Don't try to change the dream, because trying to

change it

> is just another movement in the dream. Look at the dream. Be aware

of the

> dream. That awareness is It. Become more interested in the

awareness of the

> dream than in the dream itself. What is that awareness? Who is that

> awareness? Don't go spouting out an answer, just be the answer. Be

It.

> --

----

>

> Enlightenment means the end of all division. It is not simply

having an

> occasional experience of unity beyond all division, it is actually

being

> undivided. This is what nonduality truly means. It means there is

just One

> Self, without a difference or gap between the profound revelation

of Oneness

> and the way it is perceived and lived every moment of life.

Nonduality means

> that the inner revelation and the outer expression of the

personality are

> one and the same. So few seem to be interested in the greater

implication

> contained within profound spiritual experiences, because it is the

> contemplation of these implications which quickly brings to

awareness the

> inner divisions existing within most seekers.

> --

----

>

> Spiritual people can be some of the most violent people you will

ever meet.

> Mostly, they are violent to themselves. They violently try to

control their

> minds, their emotions, and their bodies. They become upset with

themselves

> and beat themselves up for not rising up to the conditioned mind's

idea of

> what it believes enlightenment to be. No one ever became free

through such

> violence. Why is it that so few people are truly free? Because they

try to

> conform to ideas, concepts, and beliefs in their heads. They try to

> concentrate their way to heaven. But Freedom is about the natural

state, the

> spontaneous and un-self-conscious expression of beingness. If you

want to

> find it, see that the very idea of " a someone who is in control " is

a

> concept created by the mind. Take one step backward into the

unknown.

> --

----

>

> There is nothing more insidiously destructive to the attainment of

> liberation than self-doubt and cynicism. Doubt is a movement of the

> conditioned mind that always claims that " it's not possible ...

that freedom

> is not possible for me. " Doubt always knows; it " knows " that

nothing is

> possible. And in this knowing, doubt robs you of the possibility of

anything

> truly new or transformative from happening. Furthermore, doubt is

always

> accompanied by a pervasive cynicism that unconsciously puts a

negative spin

> on whatever it touches. Cynicism is a world view which protects the

ego from

> scrutiny by maintaining a negative stance in relationship to what

it does

> not know, does not want to know, or cannot know. Many spiritual

seekers have

> no idea how cynical and doubt-laden they actually are. It is this

blindness

> and denial of the presence of doubt and cynicism that makes the

birth of a

> profound trust impossible. A trust without which final liberation

will

> always remain simply a dream.

> --

----

>

> All fear comes from thought in the form of memory (past) or

projection

> (future). Thought creates time: past, present, and future. So fear

exists

> and comes from the perceived existence of time. To be free of fear

is to be

> free of time. Since time is a creation of thought, to be free of

fear you

> must be free of thought. Consequently, it is important to awaken and

> experience your Self outside of thought, existing as eternity. So

question

> all notions of yourself that are creations of thought and of time --

of

> past, present, and future. Experience your eternalness, your

holiness, your

> awakeness until you are convinced that you are never subject to the

movement

> of thought, of fear, or of time. To be free of fear is to be full

of Love.

> --

----

>

> Many spiritual seekers get " stuck " in emptiness, in the absolute, in

> transcendence. They cling to bliss, or peace, or indifference. When

the

> self-centered motivation for living disappears, many seekers become

> indifferent. They see the perfection of all existence and find no

reason for

> doing anything, including caring for themselves or others. I call

this

> " taking a false refuge. " It is a very subtle egoic trap; it's a

fixation in

> the absolute and all unconscious form of attachment that

masquerades as

> liberation. It can be very difficult to wake someone up from this

deceptive

> fixation because they literally have no motivation to let go of it.

Stuck in

> a form of divine indifference, such people believe they have

reached the top

> of the mountain when actually they are hiding out halfway up its

slope.

>

> Enlightenment does not mean one should disappear into the realm of

> transcendence. To be fixated in the absolute is simply the polar

opposite of

> being fixated in the relative. With the dawning of true

enlightenment, there

> is a tremendous birthing of impersonal Love and wisdom that never

fixates in

> any realm of experience. To awaken to the absolute view is profound

and

> transformative, but to awaken from all fixed points of view is the

birth of

> true nonduality. If emptiness cannot dance, it is not true

Emptiness. If

> moonlight does not flood the empty night sky and reflect in every

drop of

> water, on every blade of grass, then you are only looking at your

own empty

> dream. I say, Wake up! Then, your heart will be flooded with a Love

that you

> cannot contain.

> --

----

>

> Maybe I can point you to the great Reality within you. Maybe you

will awaken

> to the direct experience of Self-realization. Maybe you will catch

the fire

> of transmission. But there is one thing that no one can give you:

the

> honesty and integrity that alone will bring you completely to the

other

> shore. No one can give you the strength of character necessary for

profound

> spiritual experience to become the catalyst for the evolutionary

> transformation called " enlightenment. " Only you can find that

passion within

> that burns with an integrity that will not settle for anything less

than the

> Truth.

> --

----

>

> Enlightenment has nothing to do with states of consciousness.

Whether you

> are in ego consciousness or unity consciousness is not really the

point. I

> have met many people who have easy access to advanced states of

> consciousness. Though for some people this may come very easily, I

also

> noticed that many of these people are no freer than anyone else. If

you

> don't believe that the ego can exist in very advanced states of

> consciousness, think again. The point isn't the state of

consciousness, even

> very advanced ones, but an awake mystery that is the Source of all

states of

> consciousness. It is even the Source of presence and beingness. It

is beyond

> all perception and all experience. I call it " awakeness. " To find

out that

> you are empty of emptiness is to die into an aware mystery, which

is the

> Source of all existence. It just so happens that that mystery is in

love

> with all of its manifestation and non-manifestation. You find your

Self by

> stepping back out of yourself.

> --

----

>

> Ramana Maharshi's gift to the world was not that he realized the

Self. Many

> people have had a deep realization of the Self. Ramana's real gift

was that

> he embodied that realization so thoroughly. It is one thing to

realize the

> Self; it is something else altogether to embody that realization to

the

> extent that there is no gap between inner revelation and its outer

> expression. Many have glimpsed the realization of Oneness; few

consistently

> express that realization through their humanness. It is one thing

to touch a

> flame and know it is hot, but quite another to jump into that flame

and be

> consumed by it.

> --

----

>

> First published in the Fall/Winter Inner Directions Journal,

copyright 1999

> by THE INNER DIRECTIONS FOUNDATION, INC.

 

 

 

 

THANKS SHAWN,

EXCELLENT MATERIAL.

JADE

[Guest guest]

Nisargadatta , shawn <shawn@w...> wrote:

> Selling Water By the River

> Selections from the Talks of Adyashanti

> --

----

>

> Many seekers do not take full responsibility for their own

Liberation, but

> wait for one big, final spiritual experience which will catapult

them fully

> into it. It is this search for the final liberating experience

which gives

> rise to a rampant form of spiritual consumerism in which seekers go

from one

> teacher to another, shopping for enlightenment as if shopping for

sweets in

> a candy store. This spiritual promiscuity is rapidly turning the

search for

> enlightenment into a cult of experience seekers. And, while many

people

> indeed have powerful experiences, in most cases these do not lead

to the

> profound transformation of the individual, which is the expression

of

> enlightenment.

> --

----

>

> In speaking regularly with spiritual seekers, it dawned on me one

day how

> addicted so many of them are to the power of charisma. They swap

stories

> about how powerful this or that teacher is and compare experiences.

They get

> a charge from it, many mistaking charisma for enlightenment.

Charisma

> attracts at all levels: political, sexual, spiritual, etc., and it

feeds the

> ego's desire to feel special. The ego loves getting hits of power -

it's

> like a form of spiritual candy. The candy may be sweet but can you

live on

> it? Does it make you free? Freedom is not necessarily exciting;

it's just

> free. Very peaceful and quiet, so very quiet. Of course, it is also

filled

> with joy and wonder, but it is not what you imagine. It is much,

much less.

> Manymistake the intoxicating power of otherworldly charisma for

> enlightenment. More often than not it is simply otherworldly, and

not

> necessarily free or enlightened.

>

> In order to be truly free, you must desire to know the truth more

than you

> want to feel good. Because, if feeling good is your goal, then as

soon as

> you feel better you will lose interest in what is true. This does

not mean

> that feeling good or experiencing love and bliss is a bad thing.

Given the

> choice, anyone would choose to feel bliss rather than sorrow. It

simply

> means that if this desire to feel good is stronger than the

yearning to see,

> know, and experience Truth, then this desire will always be

distorting the

> perception of what is Real, while corrupting one's deepest

integrity. In my

> experience, everyone will say they want to discover the Truth,

right up

> until they realize that the Truth will rob them of their deepest

held ideas,

> beliefs, hopes, and dreams. The freedom of enlightenment means much

more

> than the experience of love and peace. It means discovering a Truth

that

> will turn your view of self and life upside-down. For one who is

truly

> ready, this will be unimaginably liberating. But for one who is

still

> clinging in any way, this will be extremely challenging indeed. How

does one

> know if they are ready?  One is ready when they are willing to be

absolutely

> consumed, when they are willing to be fuel for a fire without end. 

> --

----

>

> If you start playing the game of being an " enlightened somebody, "

the true

> teacher is going to call you on it. He or she is going to expose

you, and

> that exposure is going to hurt. Because the ego will be there,

standing in

> the light of Truth, exposed and humiliated. Of course, the ego will

cry

> " foul! " It will claim that the teacher made a mistake and begin to

justify

> itself in an effort to put its protective clothing back on. It will

begin to

> spin justifications with incredible subtlety and deceptiveness.

This is

> where real spiritual sadhana (practice) begins. This is where it all

>

> becomes very " real " and the student discovers whether he or she

truly wants

> to be free, or merely wants to remain as a false, separate, and

> self-justifying ego. This crossroad inevitably comes and is always

> challenging. It separates the true seeker from the false one. The

true

> seeker will be willing to bare the Grace of humility, whereas the

false

> seeker will run from it. Thus begins the true path to

enlightenment, granted

> only to those willing to be nobody. Discovering your " nobodyness "

opens the

> door to awakening as beingness, and beyond that to the Source of all

> beingness.

> --

----

>

> Do not think that enlightenment is going to make you special, it's

not. If

> you feel special in any way, then enlightenment has not occurred. I

meet a

> lot of people who think they are enlightened and awake simply

because they

> have had a very moving spiritual experience. They wear their

enlightenment

> on their sleeve like a badge of honor. They sit among friends and

talk about

> how awake they are while sipping coffee at a cafe. The funny thing

about

> enlightenment is that when it is authentic, there is no one to

claim it.

> Enlightenment is very ordinary; it is nothing special. Rather than

making

> you more special, it is going to make you less special. It plants

you right

> in the center of a wonderful humility and innocence. Everyone else

may or

> may not call you enlightened, but when you are enlightened the

whole notion

> of enlightenment and someone who is enlightened is a big joke. I

use the

> word enlightenment all the time; not to point you toward it but to

point you

> beyond it. Do not get stuck in enlightenment.

> --

----

>

> Ego is the movement of the mind toward objects of perception, in

the form of

> grasping; and, away from objects, in the form of aversion. This

> fundamentally is all the ego is. This movement of grasping and

aversion

> gives rise to a sense of a separate " me, " and in turn the sense

of " me "

> strengthens itself this way. It is this continuous loop of

causation that

> tricks consciousness into a trance of identification.

Identification with

> what? Identification with the continuous loop of suffering. After

all, who

> is suffering? The " me " is suffering. And " who " is this me? It is

nothing

> more than a sense of self caused by identification with grasping and

> aversion. You see, it's all a creation of the mind, an endless

movie, a

> terrible dream. Don't try to change the dream, because trying to

change it

> is just another movement in the dream. Look at the dream. Be aware

of the

> dream. That awareness is It. Become more interested in the

awareness of the

> dream than in the dream itself. What is that awareness? Who is that

> awareness? Don't go spouting out an answer, just be the answer. Be

It.

> --

----

>

> Enlightenment means the end of all division. It is not simply

having an

> occasional experience of unity beyond all division, it is actually

being

> undivided. This is what nonduality truly means. It means there is

just One

> Self, without a difference or gap between the profound revelation

of Oneness

> and the way it is perceived and lived every moment of life.

Nonduality means

> that the inner revelation and the outer expression of the

personality are

> one and the same. So few seem to be interested in the greater

implication

> contained within profound spiritual experiences, because it is the

> contemplation of these implications which quickly brings to

awareness the

> inner divisions existing within most seekers.

> --

----

>

> Spiritual people can be some of the most violent people you will

ever meet.

> Mostly, they are violent to themselves. They violently try to

control their

> minds, their emotions, and their bodies. They become upset with

themselves

> and beat themselves up for not rising up to the conditioned mind's

idea of

> what it believes enlightenment to be. No one ever became free

through such

> violence. Why is it that so few people are truly free? Because they

try to

> conform to ideas, concepts, and beliefs in their heads. They try to

> concentrate their way to heaven. But Freedom is about the natural

state, the

> spontaneous and un-self-conscious expression of beingness. If you

want to

> find it, see that the very idea of " a someone who is in control " is

a

> concept created by the mind. Take one step backward into the

unknown.

> --

----

>

> There is nothing more insidiously destructive to the attainment of

> liberation than self-doubt and cynicism. Doubt is a movement of the

> conditioned mind that always claims that " it's not possible ...

that freedom

> is not possible for me. " Doubt always knows; it " knows " that

nothing is

> possible. And in this knowing, doubt robs you of the possibility of

anything

> truly new or transformative from happening. Furthermore, doubt is

always

> accompanied by a pervasive cynicism that unconsciously puts a

negative spin

> on whatever it touches. Cynicism is a world view which protects the

ego from

> scrutiny by maintaining a negative stance in relationship to what

it does

> not know, does not want to know, or cannot know. Many spiritual

seekers have

> no idea how cynical and doubt-laden they actually are. It is this

blindness

> and denial of the presence of doubt and cynicism that makes the

birth of a

> profound trust impossible. A trust without which final liberation

will

> always remain simply a dream.

> --

----

>

> All fear comes from thought in the form of memory (past) or

projection

> (future). Thought creates time: past, present, and future. So fear

exists

> and comes from the perceived existence of time. To be free of fear

is to be

> free of time. Since time is a creation of thought, to be free of

fear you

> must be free of thought. Consequently, it is important to awaken and

> experience your Self outside of thought, existing as eternity. So

question

> all notions of yourself that are creations of thought and of time --

of

> past, present, and future. Experience your eternalness, your

holiness, your

> awakeness until you are convinced that you are never subject to the

movement

> of thought, of fear, or of time. To be free of fear is to be full

of Love.

> --

----

>

> Many spiritual seekers get " stuck " in emptiness, in the absolute, in

> transcendence. They cling to bliss, or peace, or indifference. When

the

> self-centered motivation for living disappears, many seekers become

> indifferent. They see the perfection of all existence and find no

reason for

> doing anything, including caring for themselves or others. I call

this

> " taking a false refuge. " It is a very subtle egoic trap; it's a

fixation in

> the absolute and all unconscious form of attachment that

masquerades as

> liberation. It can be very difficult to wake someone up from this

deceptive

> fixation because they literally have no motivation to let go of it.

Stuck in

> a form of divine indifference, such people believe they have

reached the top

> of the mountain when actually they are hiding out halfway up its

slope.

>

> Enlightenment does not mean one should disappear into the realm of

> transcendence. To be fixated in the absolute is simply the polar

opposite of

> being fixated in the relative. With the dawning of true

enlightenment, there

> is a tremendous birthing of impersonal Love and wisdom that never

fixates in

> any realm of experience. To awaken to the absolute view is profound

and

> transformative, but to awaken from all fixed points of view is the

birth of

> true nonduality. If emptiness cannot dance, it is not true

Emptiness. If

> moonlight does not flood the empty night sky and reflect in every

drop of

> water, on every blade of grass, then you are only looking at your

own empty

> dream. I say, Wake up! Then, your heart will be flooded with a Love

that you

> cannot contain.

> --

----

>

> Maybe I can point you to the great Reality within you. Maybe you

will awaken

> to the direct experience of Self-realization. Maybe you will catch

the fire

> of transmission. But there is one thing that no one can give you:

the

> honesty and integrity that alone will bring you completely to the

other

> shore. No one can give you the strength of character necessary for

profound

> spiritual experience to become the catalyst for the evolutionary

> transformation called " enlightenment. " Only you can find that

passion within

> that burns with an integrity that will not settle for anything less

than the

> Truth.

> --

----

>

> Enlightenment has nothing to do with states of consciousness.

Whether you

> are in ego consciousness or unity consciousness is not really the

point. I

> have met many people who have easy access to advanced states of

> consciousness. Though for some people this may come very easily, I

also

> noticed that many of these people are no freer than anyone else. If

you

> don't believe that the ego can exist in very advanced states of

> consciousness, think again. The point isn't the state of

consciousness, even

> very advanced ones, but an awake mystery that is the Source of all

states of

> consciousness. It is even the Source of presence and beingness. It

is beyond

> all perception and all experience. I call it " awakeness. " To find

out that

> you are empty of emptiness is to die into an aware mystery, which

is the

> Source of all existence. It just so happens that that mystery is in

love

> with all of its manifestation and non-manifestation. You find your

Self by

> stepping back out of yourself.

> --

----

>

> Ramana Maharshi's gift to the world was not that he realized the

Self. Many

> people have had a deep realization of the Self. Ramana's real gift

was that

> he embodied that realization so thoroughly. It is one thing to

realize the

> Self; it is something else altogether to embody that realization to

the

> extent that there is no gap between inner revelation and its outer

> expression. Many have glimpsed the realization of Oneness; few

consistently

> express that realization through their humanness. It is one thing

to touch a

> flame and know it is hot, but quite another to jump into that flame

and be

> consumed by it.

> --

----

>

> First published in the Fall/Winter Inner Directions Journal,

copyright 1999

> by THE INNER DIRECTIONS FOUNDATION, INC.

 

 

 

 

THANKS SHAWN,

EXCELLENT MATERIAL.

JADE

[Guest guest]

>Enlightenment, fear, etc.

Thanks Shawn: Wonderful guide and exposition. I plead guilty to

stepping in many of those traps, and will surely do so often. My

only Grace has been none of my doing. That being an inate

recoginization of those who have no bones to grind, such as

Maharaj,Ramana, and Thich Thien-An, and an openess to allow the

Devine to overcome the gross despite my ignorance and the Ego's

attempts half-step my way beyond that same Ego. May these

expositions provide assistance! John