Guest guest Posted October 3, 2000 Report Share Posted October 3, 2000 On Tue, 3 Oct 2000 12:02:13 Gloria Lee wrote: >This is what I hear you saying/asking about your friend. > >Either 1. The advaita ideas he studied may be "true" - but he misunderstood and >used them the wrong way previously. > >And 2. The advaita ideas may be "true" or not, but using any belief or concept >to filter direct awareness was the "mistake" he has stopped making. Dropping all >beliefs in favor of "Not-knowing" is the way to go. > >JB, your own insights here are very astute. Any beliefs become irrelevant at the >point they are a barrier and are preferred to opening into the present moment >awareness. It actually sounds more like your friend has disidentified with his >mind via dropping formulaic concepts, (like "I am That" as a mantra, is just a >concept, right?) Its less a matter of what he is believing, and more how he is >being.."more honest, authentic, less inner conflict, relief"..as you describe. >It certainly seems a step in the right direction...towards reality. Yeah... It is sometimes frighteningly easy and difficult at the same time. The very well trained linguistic part of the brain (which I'm using right now to express this, of course) may be one of the biggest obstacles to direct sensation. The inner dialogue is difficult to still and see beyond, even with meditative techniques, and especially with techniques where the mind can ask itself "am I doing this right, is this the way it's supposed to be / feel ?". As you and Harsha point out, the very performance of technique or method can become an obstacle, because this keeps the mind busy and what you want is to peek above the rim of the mind. Thus, leaving mantras and ideas and concepts can be good. As many teachers have pointed out, what is the mind when it's not being filled with concepts and language, then it is often in dreamless sleep, and this is something every human, perhaps every living being, on the planet experience every day. Advaita is simplicity, the most basic way one can be, but like most simple things, it is difficult to "learn" since in many ways it is about "unlearning", in one way something like unlearning to bike or unlearning to swim. But I believe a child can learn to "see the Self", maybe even, as we have seen with the story about Valli, an animal can do it, if there was some way to describe the witness state to an animal and some way for it to recognize this state. Who knows, maybe animals have a constant sense of Self, because they have less of a conceptual mind than humans do... Love, Amanda. Angelfire for your free web-based e-mail. http://www.angelfire.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 4, 2000 Report Share Posted October 4, 2000 > Advaita is simplicity, the most basic way one can be, but like most simple > things, it is difficult to "learn" since in many ways it is about > "unlearning", in one way something like unlearning to bike or unlearning > to swim. But I believe a child can learn to "see the Self", maybe even, as > we have seen with the story about Valli, an animal can do it, if there was > some way to describe the witness state to an animal and some way for it to > recognize this state. Who knows, maybe animals have a constant sense of > Self, because they have less of a conceptual mind than humans do... > MUUUUUUU..... ( The cow is saying "Yes" :-))) With the cow, Nasir Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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