Review of I Am That by Stephen Fulder

[Guest guest]

Stephen Fulder emailed me a review of I am That.

I'm posting it for the group. If you have any questions

please email him directly fulder

 

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Stephen Fulder wrote

 

I am happy to attach a review of I Am That that I wrote for a local

web site. I would love the publishers to have or use it. Blessings

Dr. Stephen FulderFounder, Senior Teacher, the Israel Insight Society

 

**

 

" I Am That "

 

By Dr. Stephen Fulder

 

" What does that mean? " " Does it have any meaning? " " I am what? " " Who

or What exactly is the That that I am supposed to be? " " If I am That,

am I still myself? " " How can I know the That that is me? "

 

The very title of Nisargadatta Maharaj's great book begins to do the

work of the book. It cuts through the normal chains of thinking, and

thrusts us into another mysterious world of genuine spiritual

inquiry. There is no way we can regard these words from a

conventional conceptual point of view – they don't make any sense.

But from the ultimate perspective they make beautiful and

breathtaking sense. I am That? It is the expression that this self

who sits reading (or writing) these words, when truly known, is

constituted of ultimacy. If we are `Betzelem Elohim', then to see the

vast sacredness we need to direct our gaze inward, at this self.

There is a similar shocking sense in one of the phrases from the book

which runs repeatedly across the screen of my computer as a screen

saver – `Die Now Into the Now'. It cannot be understood with the

normal mind. But look deep and it is so clear. It shatters our

normal state of mind. It is an invitation to let go of the

controller, the owner, the centre, the self that thinks it is running

things, choosing things and doing things, and to drop into another

space of mind. This cannot be done by decision; it cannot be done by

wishing for spiritual experiences; it cannot be done by New Age

beliefs; it cannot be done by busyness. All these are still in the

territory of me myself that wants things and is afraid of things. It

requires a process of dying to all of that, and the dying is like

falling into an abyss that actually turns into a soft landing – the

loving embrace of the Now.

 

I find that somehow by shifting the focus of attention, I become the

very thing I look at and experience the kind of consciousness it has;

I become the inner witness of the thing. I call this capacity of

entering other focal points of consciousness – love; you may give it

any name you like. Love says: `I am everything'. Wisdom says: `I am

nothing'. Between the two my life flows.

 

This book is one of the greatest spiritual texts of the 20th.

Century. If I was asked to take a handful of spiritual masterpieces

with me onto a desert island, this would certainly be one of them. I

read the book constantly. At any moment of day or night I open it at

any page and read a sentence or two and bask in the transcendental

wisdom that the words carry. They shake us, they move us, they don't

leave us, they liberate us. They are not teachings about

spirituality, like virtually all the spiritual literature today. They

are spirituality itself and act directly on our being as initiation,

transmission and revelation. Whenever I read something changes, a

space opens up, an inspiration arrives, a teaching is transmitted.

Can a book be a guru? Of course. If a cloud, a dog crossing the

street, a lined face of an old lady in the street, or the lined face

of the trunk of an olive tree can be your gurus, this book certainly

can.

 

But naturally it is the man, not the book. Nisargadatta was simple

and unsophisticated. He went off to stay with his guru, and in three

short years broke through. His way is the way of direct non –dual

awareness. What I find quite remarkable is the confidence, utter

clarity and consistency with which he expresses the non-dual

spiritual view. His language is direct and forceful, as if the

infinite is entirely obvious, and how come you cannot see it.

Indeed, to watch him talk he seems almost angry, shouting, and yet

when you hear his words they are so sublime, so deep, so mind-

expanding, that it is a shout that carries you away. He is utterly

consistent. More than that, he insists that liberation is bound to

happen to anyone who seriously commits themselves to it. There is no

doubt about it. No place here for hesitation. And his language is

crystal clear, clearer, more penetrating and easier to understand

than any other non-dual teacher that I know of. Even the great Ramana

Maharshi, probably the greatest non-dual spiritual teacher of the

20th. Century, does not have in his verbal teachings, that level of

easy, direct clarity. However it must be said that Ramana Maharshi

taught mostly in silence.

 

Have your being outside this body of birth and death and all your

problems will be solved. They exist because you believe yourself born

to die. Undeceive yourself and be free. You are not a person.

 

The way that he taught is the way of effortless self-realization. It

is beyond formal practices, yogas, beliefs, prayers and so on. Beyond

even samadhi. The practice, if it can be called by such a name, is to

be persistently but effortlessly aware of the sense of `I am', the

sense of being, that is deeper than any specific mental content. This

opens door after door to thee source of the awareness that is looking

at itself. The teaching is effortless, but it requires a great deal

of commitment. There is often a confusion in the minds of students of

non-dual teachers, that since the truth is everywhere, there is

nothing to be attained, and therefore there is nothing to do except

hang around enjoying life. This is a misunderstanding. There is

nothing so easy but there is also nothing so difficult. Because it

does not require effort, but it does require unwavering purpose and

what Nisargadatta describes as `earnestness'. How long, can you, the

reader of this article remain in complete self-awareness? Now at this

moment?

 

Give your heart and mind to brooding over the `I am', what it is, how

is it, what is its source, its life, its meaning. It is very much

like digging a well. You reject all that is not water, till you reach

the life giving spring.

 

The translator of the book, Maurice Frydman, is also of interest to

us. He was an ultra orthodox Polish Jew, who spent much of his early

life in Yeshiva, and was regarded as one of the most brilliant

Yeshiva students of his age. He was sent during the 1920's, to Paris

to learn a regular profession of electrical engineering. In Paris he

met the Rajah of Mysore, who asked him to visit Mysore and help with

the beginnings of an electrical grid that was being set up in the

State. He agreed and went off to India. While there he visited

Ramana Maharashi, in Tiruvanamalai and was so taken by him that he

begged him to become a disciple. Ramana Maharshi, of course, told

him that he had no disciples, and the only way to be a disciple was

to practice deep self-inquiry into the self. But Maurice Frydman

nevertheless persisted, and eventually Ramana Maharshi agreed to call

him a disciple. He was close to several of the great non-dual Indian

teachers of that time, including Krishnamurti and Nisargadatta

Maharaj. For many years he was heading the Krishnamurti Study Center

in Rajghat, Varanasi, which is where I heard about him when I was

working there as a teacher for a year.

 

Translated from the English by Tomer Persico

 

 

 

Dr. Stephen Fulder is a scientist who has devoted his life to

exploring inner and outer healing and spirituality. He has been

practising Vipassana meditation for 30 years, and is the founder

of Amuta Tovana, the main Theravada Buddhist organisation in Israel.

Stephen teaches meditation retreats and dharma teachings throughout

Israel He is also one of the founders of Shvil Zahav, a charity that

carries out peace-related activities.

 

 

www.tovana.org.il

www.middleway.org

[Guest guest]

Nisargadatta , " Hur " <hurg wrote:

>

> Stephen Fulder emailed me a review of I am That.

 

....

 

> Dr. Stephen Fulder is a scientist who has devoted his life to

> exploring inner and outer healing and spirituality. He has been

> practising Vipassana meditation for 30 years, and is the founder

> of Amuta Tovana, the main Theravada Buddhist organisation in Israel.

> Stephen teaches meditation retreats and dharma teachings throughout

> Israel He is also one of the founders of Shvil Zahav, a charity that

> carries out peace-related activities.

>

 

 

If he doesn't hope his opinions will be taken more seriously because

he flashed a badge and a diploma, he is fine by my book, i could even

write a review of his review; lol! what bunch of clowns out there in

the nondual circus!