NON-DUALITY
The Journey Ahead….
1 - January - Introduction & Prepare for the Journey
2 - February - Feels like Something is Missing
3 - March - Uncover the Clues
4 - April - Locate the Missing Pieces
5 - May - Land a New Approach
6 - June - Concentrate your Practice
7 - July - Impressions of Home
8 - August - Recognize your Wholeness
9 - September - Completely Gone
10 - October - Long for Nothing
11 - November - Enter the World Again
12 - December - Your Homecoming Graduation
1 - January - Introduction & Prepare for the Journey
2 - February - Feels like Something is Missing
3 - March - Uncover the Clues
4 - April - Locate the Missing Pieces
5 - May - Land a New Approach
6 - June - Concentrate your Practice
7 - July - Impressions of Home
8 - August - Recognize your Wholeness
9 - September - Completely Gone
10 - October - Long for Nothing
11 - November - Enter the World Again
12 - December - Your Homecoming Graduation
![Picture](/uploads/4/5/1/6/4516117/published/2023-08-09-01-40-07.png?1691559639)
Uncover The Clues
I went hiking one day
The forest was deep and dark
Where I was, I couldn't say
I saw no directional marks
It was not a place I wished to stay
Feeling fearful in my heart
But then I saw it clear as day
It was a wonderful place to start
Questions for contemplation:
1. Do you enjoy hiking and/or exploring new places? What's your favorite so far?
2. Are you excited when you go someplace new or do you have apprehension?
3. Have you ever gotten lost? How did that make you feel? And how did it feel once
you "found" yourself?
4. Please share your perfect adventure. Where is it? Who is with you? What do you
want to see and experience?
5. Do you have a wishlist of places you'd like to explore?
I went hiking one day
The forest was deep and dark
Where I was, I couldn't say
I saw no directional marks
It was not a place I wished to stay
Feeling fearful in my heart
But then I saw it clear as day
It was a wonderful place to start
Questions for contemplation:
1. Do you enjoy hiking and/or exploring new places? What's your favorite so far?
2. Are you excited when you go someplace new or do you have apprehension?
3. Have you ever gotten lost? How did that make you feel? And how did it feel once
you "found" yourself?
4. Please share your perfect adventure. Where is it? Who is with you? What do you
want to see and experience?
5. Do you have a wishlist of places you'd like to explore?
March 1st - Swallowing the Universe
Peter Posted:
My mind creates the world? I find that funny. It all happens inside of me. As if I swallowed the universe.
I replied with Robert Lanza's Quantum Kitchen and how mind/consciousness creates an illusory objective reality.
I followed that up with: It's like every morning when we wake up, the mind and consciousness are instantaneously manifesting the entire universe around us! But somehow we jump into duality of me/here looking at everything out there by habit and conditioning? It seems so simple that all we have to do is wake up and see all of this including the looker as nondual awareness [Not-2]! Yet for whatever reason, I continue to play the game .
Peter Replied: I greatly appreciate your post. Your excellent follow-up reminds me of the book, "The Holographic Universe".
To this I replied: Yes, I love Talbot's book too, read it a few times! Actually one of his earlier books "Beyond the Quantum" was the one that first opened me up to things beyond the physical in 1994. It ignited my spiritual quest because he was a physicist talking about OBE's NDE's, remote viewing, clarivoyance, etc from a New Physics perspective, and cited a lot of research references as well. I don't think any typical "unscientific" New age books would have penetrated my atheistic and materialistic mind at that time.
Peter then said: I'm in total agreement.
----
Peter replied beautifully to someone asking a lot of question about science and the universe:
---
Someone playfully added: If my fridg only exists as a "haze of possibilities" when I am not present to observe it, why is it that food spoils in that refrigerator?
Peter Replied: Just like a thought which can't think itself, the food must be recreated moment by moment. Every thought manifestation instantly dissolves as every new thought replaces and keeps the image from appearing to change. Yet, everything we think we see has already changed into its replacement image. I'm certain Bryant Meyers can further expand on this from a scientific perspective.
Peter Further Added: Mind is nothing but a parade of images/thought forms that the light of consciousness illuminates creating the world we swear is real. However, when mind stops, the world disappears. There is no world outside of mind. However, the screen upon which it plays persists.
I replied to Poster: Funny...lol
But actually those possibility waves evolve, it's called the time evolution of the wavefunction and what is cool is there is retrocausation possibilities such that an observation Now can change the past.
So a question I pondered is why does this consensus reality appear so consistently solid and for the most part fairly predictable? And why don't we see retrocausation except for small particles like electrons and photons
The answer is two-fold for both these and related puzzles...
1) Matter waves of masses more than a large molecule say a 60 carbon buckyball (there is no clear cutoff but they have done double slit experiments with large macro molecules), obey the matter wave equation which shows the waviness (which is the haze of probabilities - I like the term "possibility waves") becomes ridiculously small as mass increases from even teeny tiny things. That is the wavelength reduces astronomically below the size of the object. This "locks in" the wavefunction to a fairly predictable pattern on large scale objects like food in your fridge such that it begins to approximate classical physics.
2) Regeneration time - quantum system upon observation collapse into a definite state but will have a likehood of regenerating to the originate state with time. However again as things become more massive and complex the regeneration time becomes ridiculously large such that it can exceed the age of the universe. This has a deep connection to entropy and information. An egg that is dropped on the floor doesn't recombine back into an egg, though there is a chance it will, it is just ridiculously small probability. Same with spoiled food becoming fresh again, it can, but the probability is astronomically small.
I began a page explaining matter waves and why things appear stable on the large scale here (work in progress)
http://www.non-duality.com/matter-waves.html
BUT STILL, even a large and complex system like the food are fundamentally quantum and STILL requires a conscious observer to solidify it into seemingly solid 3D objective reality. Before you open the fridge and look it is all a haze of fuzzy possibility waves though the pattern is stable for large objects. Stated another way, everything is always already nondual, but a conscious observer collapses this nonduality into duality and "seemingly" objective objects are seen.
But this objectivity is an illusion even in quantum physics as I have written several articles on this and posted a couple of my favorites here:
http://www.non-duality.com/quantum-mechanics-part-1.html
Peter Replied: Beautiful and amazing material
Peter also applied
Peter Posted:
My mind creates the world? I find that funny. It all happens inside of me. As if I swallowed the universe.
I replied with Robert Lanza's Quantum Kitchen and how mind/consciousness creates an illusory objective reality.
I followed that up with: It's like every morning when we wake up, the mind and consciousness are instantaneously manifesting the entire universe around us! But somehow we jump into duality of me/here looking at everything out there by habit and conditioning? It seems so simple that all we have to do is wake up and see all of this including the looker as nondual awareness [Not-2]! Yet for whatever reason, I continue to play the game .
Peter Replied: I greatly appreciate your post. Your excellent follow-up reminds me of the book, "The Holographic Universe".
To this I replied: Yes, I love Talbot's book too, read it a few times! Actually one of his earlier books "Beyond the Quantum" was the one that first opened me up to things beyond the physical in 1994. It ignited my spiritual quest because he was a physicist talking about OBE's NDE's, remote viewing, clarivoyance, etc from a New Physics perspective, and cited a lot of research references as well. I don't think any typical "unscientific" New age books would have penetrated my atheistic and materialistic mind at that time.
Peter then said: I'm in total agreement.
----
Peter replied beautifully to someone asking a lot of question about science and the universe:
- I love your questions. I don't know. I was once asked, "Show me what swallows the universe." I now have an answer I could never be able to put into words. Now everything is quite simple. Nothing is lacking and nothing is in excess and everything is simply as it is. I can only smile and point.
---
Someone playfully added: If my fridg only exists as a "haze of possibilities" when I am not present to observe it, why is it that food spoils in that refrigerator?
Peter Replied: Just like a thought which can't think itself, the food must be recreated moment by moment. Every thought manifestation instantly dissolves as every new thought replaces and keeps the image from appearing to change. Yet, everything we think we see has already changed into its replacement image. I'm certain Bryant Meyers can further expand on this from a scientific perspective.
Peter Further Added: Mind is nothing but a parade of images/thought forms that the light of consciousness illuminates creating the world we swear is real. However, when mind stops, the world disappears. There is no world outside of mind. However, the screen upon which it plays persists.
I replied to Poster: Funny...lol
But actually those possibility waves evolve, it's called the time evolution of the wavefunction and what is cool is there is retrocausation possibilities such that an observation Now can change the past.
So a question I pondered is why does this consensus reality appear so consistently solid and for the most part fairly predictable? And why don't we see retrocausation except for small particles like electrons and photons
The answer is two-fold for both these and related puzzles...
1) Matter waves of masses more than a large molecule say a 60 carbon buckyball (there is no clear cutoff but they have done double slit experiments with large macro molecules), obey the matter wave equation which shows the waviness (which is the haze of probabilities - I like the term "possibility waves") becomes ridiculously small as mass increases from even teeny tiny things. That is the wavelength reduces astronomically below the size of the object. This "locks in" the wavefunction to a fairly predictable pattern on large scale objects like food in your fridge such that it begins to approximate classical physics.
2) Regeneration time - quantum system upon observation collapse into a definite state but will have a likehood of regenerating to the originate state with time. However again as things become more massive and complex the regeneration time becomes ridiculously large such that it can exceed the age of the universe. This has a deep connection to entropy and information. An egg that is dropped on the floor doesn't recombine back into an egg, though there is a chance it will, it is just ridiculously small probability. Same with spoiled food becoming fresh again, it can, but the probability is astronomically small.
I began a page explaining matter waves and why things appear stable on the large scale here (work in progress)
http://www.non-duality.com/matter-waves.html
BUT STILL, even a large and complex system like the food are fundamentally quantum and STILL requires a conscious observer to solidify it into seemingly solid 3D objective reality. Before you open the fridge and look it is all a haze of fuzzy possibility waves though the pattern is stable for large objects. Stated another way, everything is always already nondual, but a conscious observer collapses this nonduality into duality and "seemingly" objective objects are seen.
But this objectivity is an illusion even in quantum physics as I have written several articles on this and posted a couple of my favorites here:
http://www.non-duality.com/quantum-mechanics-part-1.html
Peter Replied: Beautiful and amazing material
Peter also applied
March 2nd - The illusion of Motion:
Peter Posted: Peter Note: I'm always amused to see scenery move by as I drive. Yet, I am just sitting still in my vehicle!
I replied to this: Beautiful! I love it . To me this is much more profound than its simple face value description. I have heard some nondual sages explain reality something like that. Are we moving through space and time or do all things only 'apparently' move in consciousness? Because ultimately where can you possibly go when everything always and already is Here and Now - Just This?
To This Peter Replied: Ah ha! you caught it! I love that about you. The fragrance remains, though the flower remains unseen.
Haiku:
Driving in my car
fresh scenery passes me
I stand still in awe
[as I remain still]
---
While the earth spins 7 Billion people on its axis, I remain still as it spins around me
As the earth orbits the sun at 67,000 mph, I watch it all pass and laugh
Then the solar system races at 480,000 mph around the galaxy, but I remain the eye of the spiral
The galaxy says hold on as we goe 1.2 mph per hour, and I reply hold onto what?
All there is is This, nothing going Nowhere.
The motion found in this vast Univeral motion picture with many stars that light up the stage,
Is all but a dream, albeit a film for the ages!
But before, during and after the big bang, the screen never changed, watching the movie in stillness,
Until each star, one by one, expands and collapses into nothingness, each leaving its own unique invisible smile
And timeless the collective laughter of the One laughing with itself, adds yet more joy to the infinite screen of everything and nothing.
Peter Posted: Peter Note: I'm always amused to see scenery move by as I drive. Yet, I am just sitting still in my vehicle!
I replied to this: Beautiful! I love it . To me this is much more profound than its simple face value description. I have heard some nondual sages explain reality something like that. Are we moving through space and time or do all things only 'apparently' move in consciousness? Because ultimately where can you possibly go when everything always and already is Here and Now - Just This?
To This Peter Replied: Ah ha! you caught it! I love that about you. The fragrance remains, though the flower remains unseen.
Haiku:
Driving in my car
fresh scenery passes me
I stand still in awe
[as I remain still]
---
While the earth spins 7 Billion people on its axis, I remain still as it spins around me
As the earth orbits the sun at 67,000 mph, I watch it all pass and laugh
Then the solar system races at 480,000 mph around the galaxy, but I remain the eye of the spiral
The galaxy says hold on as we goe 1.2 mph per hour, and I reply hold onto what?
All there is is This, nothing going Nowhere.
The motion found in this vast Univeral motion picture with many stars that light up the stage,
Is all but a dream, albeit a film for the ages!
But before, during and after the big bang, the screen never changed, watching the movie in stillness,
Until each star, one by one, expands and collapses into nothingness, each leaving its own unique invisible smile
And timeless the collective laughter of the One laughing with itself, adds yet more joy to the infinite screen of everything and nothing.
March 3rd- The Forest of the Mind
Peter Posted: Imagine being in this forest. Please tell me a story. I look forward to reading what you share
I replied: After my inquiry/meditation this morning, I opened up this post here and the first thing that came up for me is the idea of the mind as a thick forest of thoughts. I know ultimately thoughts are not 2 with the non-dual screen of awareness, but it 'seems' this constant parade of thoughts makes is harder to recognize that which IS already. One thought bouncing to the next like kudzu growing uncontrollably that can strangle the surrounding vegetation.
How to reach the blue sky and sunlight of the everpresent Self in such a forest? It seems clearly forcefully trying to control the mind never brings lasting results, but some kind of shift 'appears' to be needed, a new trail-less trail to trek upon leading to a silent nowhere that is always here and now. Why does the mind 'appear' to be a thick forest standing here in front of me when ultimately it is just awareness playing with this little toy called the mind. I mean, it is beautiful in its own way [at times..lol], but it still appears to me as an unruly obstacle that stands sphinx-like on the pathless path leading to the gateless gate.
Yet there are little glimpses that effortlessly - for a split timeless moment - the whole forest disappears.
Haiku
Forest of my mind
Full of thoughts of every kind
What stories you tell!
Peter Posted: Imagine being in this forest. Please tell me a story. I look forward to reading what you share
I replied: After my inquiry/meditation this morning, I opened up this post here and the first thing that came up for me is the idea of the mind as a thick forest of thoughts. I know ultimately thoughts are not 2 with the non-dual screen of awareness, but it 'seems' this constant parade of thoughts makes is harder to recognize that which IS already. One thought bouncing to the next like kudzu growing uncontrollably that can strangle the surrounding vegetation.
How to reach the blue sky and sunlight of the everpresent Self in such a forest? It seems clearly forcefully trying to control the mind never brings lasting results, but some kind of shift 'appears' to be needed, a new trail-less trail to trek upon leading to a silent nowhere that is always here and now. Why does the mind 'appear' to be a thick forest standing here in front of me when ultimately it is just awareness playing with this little toy called the mind. I mean, it is beautiful in its own way [at times..lol], but it still appears to me as an unruly obstacle that stands sphinx-like on the pathless path leading to the gateless gate.
Yet there are little glimpses that effortlessly - for a split timeless moment - the whole forest disappears.
Haiku
Forest of my mind
Full of thoughts of every kind
What stories you tell!
March 5th- Uncover the Clues
Peter Posted:
I went hiking one day
The forest was deep and dark
Where I was, I couldn't say
I saw no directional marks
It was not a place I wished to stay
Feeling fearful in my heart
But then I saw it clear as day
It was a wonderful place to start
I replied: Beautiful Peter . I see the mind/Ego as the forest and thoughts the trees, and even though it is ultimately an illusion, it still 'appears' to be THE obstacle.
In this forest it seems to me a wonderful place to "start" is recognizing that in the light of our basic ordinary awareness right here and now, we are already THAT which is not-2 with even the mind and our thoughts. The nondual sages all agree on the immediacy of Awareness, and there is nothing to attain or gain, because always and forever, IT is Just This, Just wonderfully This! It seems "getting" this - at least based on my understanding - is a good place to start, because we are beginning from the end? There is something comforting about realizing there is nothing to attain, and everything, EVERYTHING, is already Here and Now!
Upon further reflection I wrote and decided not to post - for it is a commentless comment:
Re-reading this I also can see, the abyss of the unknown as a lightless light that takes us beyond the familiar world of the sensory and conceptual mind, into our true silent Self. It only 'seems' like darkness to the mind because to get there it must itself disappear, hence the fear due to mind and ego identification.
No more thoughts, symbols, teachings, teachers or pointers to hold onto, I stand on the edge of this Great Abyss with no path to follow. The darkness itself is the light, and dropping everything I know into this void, like a fireless bonfire consuming all illusions and all masks into a black hole of nothingness, beyond which the ego and mind is left far behind. Yet there is something more that is left that is not a thing at all standing in poetic nakedness that alone can take 'the leap'. Perhaps this is something of a wonderful place to start (as long as I delete this comment before posting so it remains non-conceptual )?
Haikus:
Enlightenment comes
when seen it can't be achieved
awestruck beyond words
Leap in perception -
that is all that is needed
to see the Self Now!
Peter Posted:
I went hiking one day
The forest was deep and dark
Where I was, I couldn't say
I saw no directional marks
It was not a place I wished to stay
Feeling fearful in my heart
But then I saw it clear as day
It was a wonderful place to start
I replied: Beautiful Peter . I see the mind/Ego as the forest and thoughts the trees, and even though it is ultimately an illusion, it still 'appears' to be THE obstacle.
In this forest it seems to me a wonderful place to "start" is recognizing that in the light of our basic ordinary awareness right here and now, we are already THAT which is not-2 with even the mind and our thoughts. The nondual sages all agree on the immediacy of Awareness, and there is nothing to attain or gain, because always and forever, IT is Just This, Just wonderfully This! It seems "getting" this - at least based on my understanding - is a good place to start, because we are beginning from the end? There is something comforting about realizing there is nothing to attain, and everything, EVERYTHING, is already Here and Now!
Upon further reflection I wrote and decided not to post - for it is a commentless comment:
Re-reading this I also can see, the abyss of the unknown as a lightless light that takes us beyond the familiar world of the sensory and conceptual mind, into our true silent Self. It only 'seems' like darkness to the mind because to get there it must itself disappear, hence the fear due to mind and ego identification.
No more thoughts, symbols, teachings, teachers or pointers to hold onto, I stand on the edge of this Great Abyss with no path to follow. The darkness itself is the light, and dropping everything I know into this void, like a fireless bonfire consuming all illusions and all masks into a black hole of nothingness, beyond which the ego and mind is left far behind. Yet there is something more that is left that is not a thing at all standing in poetic nakedness that alone can take 'the leap'. Perhaps this is something of a wonderful place to start (as long as I delete this comment before posting so it remains non-conceptual )?
Haikus:
Enlightenment comes
when seen it can't be achieved
awestruck beyond words
Leap in perception -
that is all that is needed
to see the Self Now!
March 8th Peter Posted
Question #3)
Have you ever gotten lost?
How did that make you feel?
And how did it feel once you "found" yourself?
I replied: Somehow I lost myself when I was very young and became a separate self.
I am still looking!
But it is comforting to know that right here and now, I am Self already. It is always immediate and intimate, all around me and in me - not 2! The nondual sages say It is so obvious that it remains hidden. Ramana gives the analogy of a group of 10 people who all count only nine. The 'missing' or lost person was just because each individual forgot to count themself. Simply recognizing this it is clear no one was missing all along!
Peter Replied: Beautiful analogies! Making it special makes it disappear.
I replied: I love that Peter, "making it special makes it disappear". That nicely summarizes all of non-duality. For it is Just this, just wonderfully ordinary This! It makes me think of the contrast of striving for higher dimensions, the 12 levels of enlightenment, rainbow buddha bodies, golden immortal bodies, etc. I mean I guess why not as long as you realize its all a dream, just like you work out and create your best version of a perfected physical form. But it seems from the nondual perspective all that is still This 'appearing' as That. I love how Ken Wilber put it. It's like a surfer seeking bigger and bigger waves, ultimately they are all still made of water and all equally wet.
Peter Replied: I love, "This 'appearing' as That." That is all that can be said. And the gym is simply the place I create a 'sand mandala' knowing full well it means nothing and that "i" am but dust in the wind. Where being and non-being are identical. When what exists knows it doesn't exist there is awakening from illusion.
I replied: Beautiful comment Peter The sand mandala imagery hit deep. That is so spot on, and gives me an even greater appreciation for that art!! I wonder if they [the monks] truly ponder the ground upon which the sand mandala's are made? Thou are THAT! The ego indeed is just dust in the wind, like the great song by Kansas that is now playing in my head.
Peter Responded: I really love that song too! I've always thought of my paintings in a similar way. I can give them away or throw them away, they're like music in the air that can't be caught only remembered. That which creates need not see its face in the mirror. Letting go is awakening.
Question #4)
Please share your perfect adventure.
Where is it?
Who is it with?
What do you want to see and experience?
My Answer: My perfect adventure is *anywhere* truly knowing the Self! Being the screen is a lot more interesting to me (right now) than the endless images that can parade upon it. Sorry to be a party pooper here
Question #5)
Do you have a wish list of the places you'd like to explore?
My Answer: I would like to explore the formless abyss in which all forms are contained.
Question #3)
Have you ever gotten lost?
How did that make you feel?
And how did it feel once you "found" yourself?
I replied: Somehow I lost myself when I was very young and became a separate self.
I am still looking!
But it is comforting to know that right here and now, I am Self already. It is always immediate and intimate, all around me and in me - not 2! The nondual sages say It is so obvious that it remains hidden. Ramana gives the analogy of a group of 10 people who all count only nine. The 'missing' or lost person was just because each individual forgot to count themself. Simply recognizing this it is clear no one was missing all along!
Peter Replied: Beautiful analogies! Making it special makes it disappear.
I replied: I love that Peter, "making it special makes it disappear". That nicely summarizes all of non-duality. For it is Just this, just wonderfully ordinary This! It makes me think of the contrast of striving for higher dimensions, the 12 levels of enlightenment, rainbow buddha bodies, golden immortal bodies, etc. I mean I guess why not as long as you realize its all a dream, just like you work out and create your best version of a perfected physical form. But it seems from the nondual perspective all that is still This 'appearing' as That. I love how Ken Wilber put it. It's like a surfer seeking bigger and bigger waves, ultimately they are all still made of water and all equally wet.
Peter Replied: I love, "This 'appearing' as That." That is all that can be said. And the gym is simply the place I create a 'sand mandala' knowing full well it means nothing and that "i" am but dust in the wind. Where being and non-being are identical. When what exists knows it doesn't exist there is awakening from illusion.
I replied: Beautiful comment Peter The sand mandala imagery hit deep. That is so spot on, and gives me an even greater appreciation for that art!! I wonder if they [the monks] truly ponder the ground upon which the sand mandala's are made? Thou are THAT! The ego indeed is just dust in the wind, like the great song by Kansas that is now playing in my head.
Peter Responded: I really love that song too! I've always thought of my paintings in a similar way. I can give them away or throw them away, they're like music in the air that can't be caught only remembered. That which creates need not see its face in the mirror. Letting go is awakening.
Question #4)
Please share your perfect adventure.
Where is it?
Who is it with?
What do you want to see and experience?
My Answer: My perfect adventure is *anywhere* truly knowing the Self! Being the screen is a lot more interesting to me (right now) than the endless images that can parade upon it. Sorry to be a party pooper here
Question #5)
Do you have a wish list of the places you'd like to explore?
My Answer: I would like to explore the formless abyss in which all forms are contained.
Peter's Call Sunday 3/12/2023
Highlighted Notes:
I get to imagine playing with matter...
What is this subtle anxiety that I need to do something?
Clues as to what is missing..
Traveling and returning to childlike innocence and awe. Mystery to explore and unravel.
Excited about going somewhere new or anxious?
Notice how the mind races and how thoughts jumble together...
1) What if Thought
2) Oh no, now what am I going to do.
Coming back to center/zero - step back, stand still... Thick fog slowly disappears. Now, now I can see clearly what I need to do. Moment of stillness the compass points to North. Look at it and just follow!
Peter stepping into a cowpie, sometimes there needs to be a little more grounding.
"If you wish to move in the One Way do not dislike even the world of senses and ideas. Indeed, to accept them fully is identical with enlightenment." - Sosan
Just This... Ah This! It is THIS THIS... To capture This, no more can be said.
Message "Be Here Now" ... It is Not Two, it is THIS! Just this!
Ordinary Life and the Absolute are Not-2!
Live fully and ask for what you want... Don't be shy!!
When the game is over all the pieces go back into the box.
Whatever you put in your Heart will always find fruition!!
Dream Bigger, but remember wherever you go there you are!
Highlighted Notes:
I get to imagine playing with matter...
What is this subtle anxiety that I need to do something?
Clues as to what is missing..
Traveling and returning to childlike innocence and awe. Mystery to explore and unravel.
Excited about going somewhere new or anxious?
Notice how the mind races and how thoughts jumble together...
1) What if Thought
2) Oh no, now what am I going to do.
Coming back to center/zero - step back, stand still... Thick fog slowly disappears. Now, now I can see clearly what I need to do. Moment of stillness the compass points to North. Look at it and just follow!
Peter stepping into a cowpie, sometimes there needs to be a little more grounding.
"If you wish to move in the One Way do not dislike even the world of senses and ideas. Indeed, to accept them fully is identical with enlightenment." - Sosan
Just This... Ah This! It is THIS THIS... To capture This, no more can be said.
Message "Be Here Now" ... It is Not Two, it is THIS! Just this!
Ordinary Life and the Absolute are Not-2!
Live fully and ask for what you want... Don't be shy!!
When the game is over all the pieces go back into the box.
Whatever you put in your Heart will always find fruition!!
Dream Bigger, but remember wherever you go there you are!
![Picture](/uploads/4/5/1/6/4516117/published/2023-08-09-01-40-07.png?1691559718)
3/19/2023 Peter’s Reflection March 2023
Uncover The Clues
Without a destination, how can I be lost? Maybe it's a yearning or an emptiness that causes this chasing of my desires. Searching here and there, I see hints of a path. It's similar to being lost in the wilderness. The one who recognizes being lost begins to search for a clear path -- look for the comfort of home. But, sometimes my memory of home seems like a dream, something that perhaps was never real to begin with. Perhaps it's just a story I told to challenge myself with this feeling that something is missing. Or perhaps it's just a place to start.
My Reply:
For me it is a paradox right now... Deep down I still feel lost in the wilderness of thoughts, yet at least intellectually, I know Elysium is ever present here and now all around me and including the me (not-2). If I try to step on a path, any path, my feet are instantly burned with the faint knowingness there is nowhere to go. IT is immediately THIS, Just this, right here and now in what's happening.
Yet I tread anyway. For what is one to do? Even the loftiest of nondual philosophies is still a glass bead game, though one played in perhaps the loftiest of ivory towers. How to shatter the illusion when in reality it doesn't even exist? How to go beyond the Me when there really is no Me at all which is perhaps THE illusion of all illusions? How can you get rid of yourself in a dream when you yourself are the dreamer? The answer seems clear: WAKE UP, and both the dream and dreamer disappear. But the answer is not the experience, and Waking up (aka Enlightenment) is still right now but a concept, but one with increasing aroma. These musings are all thoughts from a yearning of still feeling lost, and 'looking' for pathless path that leads home to THIS right now. And yet it is not THIS, these words, hence the feeling of still being lost.
I realize there is no conceptual answer except in actual experience ItSelf, which apparently Just seems to happen! I laugh at the thought of stepping on a cowpie and all of a suddenly waking up! Thats IT!! LOL... For even that is THIS
Peter Replied:
Yep, "That is this!". The only thing that walks the path home is a non-existent, separate self. The only thing walking is the thought of walking. The Insight that Brings Us to the Other Shore. Peter Shared the Heart Sutra.
Peter Added: Here it is very simply put. No eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind; No colour, sound, smell, taste, touch, Or what the mind takes hold of, Nor even act of sensing. No ignorance or end of it, Nor all that comes of ignorance; No withering, no death, No end of them.
A question was asked: So, Peter, how exactly do we "practice" the "Insight that Brings Us to the Other Shore?" What does this practice look like?
Peter Replied: In the most basic terms, all 'practice' is future oriented and leads only to disappointment. There is only the present awareness of being aware that opens to the stunning realization of "I am that." So if I say 'practice' it is to infer that consciousness is conscious of itself. Moment to moment recognition of "I am that!" is practice. Because it appears to the mind of the separate self as 'practice' any and all techniques only lead one deeper into the forest looking for another path. All methods will get one lost.
Uncover The Clues
Without a destination, how can I be lost? Maybe it's a yearning or an emptiness that causes this chasing of my desires. Searching here and there, I see hints of a path. It's similar to being lost in the wilderness. The one who recognizes being lost begins to search for a clear path -- look for the comfort of home. But, sometimes my memory of home seems like a dream, something that perhaps was never real to begin with. Perhaps it's just a story I told to challenge myself with this feeling that something is missing. Or perhaps it's just a place to start.
My Reply:
For me it is a paradox right now... Deep down I still feel lost in the wilderness of thoughts, yet at least intellectually, I know Elysium is ever present here and now all around me and including the me (not-2). If I try to step on a path, any path, my feet are instantly burned with the faint knowingness there is nowhere to go. IT is immediately THIS, Just this, right here and now in what's happening.
Yet I tread anyway. For what is one to do? Even the loftiest of nondual philosophies is still a glass bead game, though one played in perhaps the loftiest of ivory towers. How to shatter the illusion when in reality it doesn't even exist? How to go beyond the Me when there really is no Me at all which is perhaps THE illusion of all illusions? How can you get rid of yourself in a dream when you yourself are the dreamer? The answer seems clear: WAKE UP, and both the dream and dreamer disappear. But the answer is not the experience, and Waking up (aka Enlightenment) is still right now but a concept, but one with increasing aroma. These musings are all thoughts from a yearning of still feeling lost, and 'looking' for pathless path that leads home to THIS right now. And yet it is not THIS, these words, hence the feeling of still being lost.
I realize there is no conceptual answer except in actual experience ItSelf, which apparently Just seems to happen! I laugh at the thought of stepping on a cowpie and all of a suddenly waking up! Thats IT!! LOL... For even that is THIS
Peter Replied:
Yep, "That is this!". The only thing that walks the path home is a non-existent, separate self. The only thing walking is the thought of walking. The Insight that Brings Us to the Other Shore. Peter Shared the Heart Sutra.
Peter Added: Here it is very simply put. No eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind; No colour, sound, smell, taste, touch, Or what the mind takes hold of, Nor even act of sensing. No ignorance or end of it, Nor all that comes of ignorance; No withering, no death, No end of them.
A question was asked: So, Peter, how exactly do we "practice" the "Insight that Brings Us to the Other Shore?" What does this practice look like?
Peter Replied: In the most basic terms, all 'practice' is future oriented and leads only to disappointment. There is only the present awareness of being aware that opens to the stunning realization of "I am that." So if I say 'practice' it is to infer that consciousness is conscious of itself. Moment to moment recognition of "I am that!" is practice. Because it appears to the mind of the separate self as 'practice' any and all techniques only lead one deeper into the forest looking for another path. All methods will get one lost.
3/20/23 -
Question #1) Have you ever been subconsciously moved or drawn in a particular direction?
MY Answer: Recalling a few major events in my life... I was drawn to changing my major to physics for no practical reason, but just enjoyed it. I was drawn to becoming a monk after graduating and I spent 6 months in India and 4 years at a yoga retreat center. I was then drawn to get back out in the world and make money again..lol.. so I got my Masters in physics and taught college math and physics for 5 years. All the while I was drawn to all kinds of MLM opportunities and finally found a couple I was successful which led to getting good at marketing online which I was drawn to 3 products mainly, a colon cleanse, a whole body vibration device and a PEMF mat. I was then drawn to visit Florida and a friend in Sarasota, and liked it so much I was drawn to move to Florida. Many other examples in my business and success, but eventually I was drawn back to Self realization and took some months off here and there focusing on meditation and working only part time for a good year, and finally took a couple years off to focus on meditation leading to present (though there was a four month period I was drawn to debunking flat earth..haha). Now I have a few opportunities and I am drawn to finding balance, but mainly I am drawn to nonduality for a couple years now and it is something I am in love with though it is non-profit along with being non-dual...LOL, so I am getting back into energy medicine too! Looking back it seems a lot of these events just happened, not saying as destiny but there was some strange magnetism pulling me in all these different directions the past 30 years.
Peter Replied: Very interesting. I believe it was about the time you were living at he yoga retreat that we first met.
I replied to that:
Yes, I learned about you there but it took some time to save up as our stipend was $200 a monh...LOL...It was funny the message that Ann gave to me was something to the effect, "you are approved but Peter says 'No beads'" but I thought I heard her say "No Fee"...LOL... I did not figure it out until payment was due .
That first seminar I serendipitously shared a room (Jacuzzi included) with Tony Balesteri (that was his first time meeting you as well) whom I never met but Mary Cook connected us and the whole thing was really MAGICAL how it all flowed together... I loved that whole weekend so much! Even sweet memories are Not-2, right? Nothing is completely unreal no-thing is totally real. Just this - even memories arising.
Peter Replied: And just to think, here we are still. "...and in it a single thought is 10,000 years."
I replied:
So beautiful from Sosan...
"And this truth is beyond extension
or diminution in time and space:
In it a single thought is ten thousand years."
Question #1) Have you ever been subconsciously moved or drawn in a particular direction?
MY Answer: Recalling a few major events in my life... I was drawn to changing my major to physics for no practical reason, but just enjoyed it. I was drawn to becoming a monk after graduating and I spent 6 months in India and 4 years at a yoga retreat center. I was then drawn to get back out in the world and make money again..lol.. so I got my Masters in physics and taught college math and physics for 5 years. All the while I was drawn to all kinds of MLM opportunities and finally found a couple I was successful which led to getting good at marketing online which I was drawn to 3 products mainly, a colon cleanse, a whole body vibration device and a PEMF mat. I was then drawn to visit Florida and a friend in Sarasota, and liked it so much I was drawn to move to Florida. Many other examples in my business and success, but eventually I was drawn back to Self realization and took some months off here and there focusing on meditation and working only part time for a good year, and finally took a couple years off to focus on meditation leading to present (though there was a four month period I was drawn to debunking flat earth..haha). Now I have a few opportunities and I am drawn to finding balance, but mainly I am drawn to nonduality for a couple years now and it is something I am in love with though it is non-profit along with being non-dual...LOL, so I am getting back into energy medicine too! Looking back it seems a lot of these events just happened, not saying as destiny but there was some strange magnetism pulling me in all these different directions the past 30 years.
Peter Replied: Very interesting. I believe it was about the time you were living at he yoga retreat that we first met.
I replied to that:
Yes, I learned about you there but it took some time to save up as our stipend was $200 a monh...LOL...It was funny the message that Ann gave to me was something to the effect, "you are approved but Peter says 'No beads'" but I thought I heard her say "No Fee"...LOL... I did not figure it out until payment was due .
That first seminar I serendipitously shared a room (Jacuzzi included) with Tony Balesteri (that was his first time meeting you as well) whom I never met but Mary Cook connected us and the whole thing was really MAGICAL how it all flowed together... I loved that whole weekend so much! Even sweet memories are Not-2, right? Nothing is completely unreal no-thing is totally real. Just this - even memories arising.
Peter Replied: And just to think, here we are still. "...and in it a single thought is 10,000 years."
I replied:
So beautiful from Sosan...
"And this truth is beyond extension
or diminution in time and space:
In it a single thought is ten thousand years."
3/24/2023
Question #2
Do you prefer to plan your trips thoroughly or leave them to chance?
My Reply: I don't travel a whole lot these days, but I typically err on the side of planning things fairly thoroughly.
Peter Responded: I never travel anywhere. Never have. Ha, haa!!!
I Replied: Love it!! And I got it right away!! That is really where I want to 'travel' to, the place where I never travel!!
I added: Of course it is a destination I am already at.
Peter Added: I'll rephrase what I said, "I don't go anywhere, it's the scenery that changes." It's this subtle shift that changes the whole world. It's captured in the Zen saying, "Spring comes and the grass grows by itself." Like Sosan states, "Consider movement stationary and the stationary in motion, both movement and rest disappear." This is one of the most powerful examples that describes how consciousness views the world of people, places and things. At first this made me a slight bit disorientated. But ever since I got a seat on the ride, it no longer moves. Everything is absolutely the same, but nothing is. No seeking, nothing special, everything special, no enlightenment, no awakening, no future, past or today.
I replied to that: Thanks for Sharing Peter. That is beautifully said and wonderfully Nondual. Or as one master pointed to even the nonduality of nonduality and duality which you also encapsulate. I know all words miss the mark but yours here (and Sosan's) are poetically and pragmatically as enlightening as words can be.
Peter Shared a Funny Story: A confusing and comical conversation I had with a person on the path by Mystic Mt. as I recall it. Hiker; "Where am I?" Me: "Where do you want to be?" Hiker, "I think I'm lost!" Me, "Sorry you can't get there from here!" Hiker, "What?" Me, "You can only be where you are." Hiker, "can you help me? Me, "Sure."
Question #3
What does the word "home" mean to you?
My Answer: Home to me is the Self and whatever tiny or small glimpse I get. Also those moments I feel full of love and Devotion for God, Divine Mother or Guru which I realize is duality, but it is still oh so sweet and feels like home. Everything else is a vacation cottage
Question #4
In "The Wizard of Oz" Dorothy runs away to find excitement. But in the end she repeats, "There's no place like home." Have you ever dreamed of going someplace only to find yourself wanting to return home?
My Answer: When I was in India for 6 months, I thought I went there to "renounce the world" never to come back, but after 6 months and my VISA expired, I got sick, got kicked out of the ashram (because of expired VISA), ended up in the police station and barely made it home. It was the only time in my life I actually cried at an airport because my VISA was expired and there were no seats on the plane. Miraculously a seat opened up and I was glad to be home instead of back at the police station...(all true!).
Question #5
If you had to choose one place to be your forever home, where would it be and why?
My Answer: Where else could I choose but the Self, always and already my forever home but I keep taking vacations to many 'theme parks' my mind creates...LOL. Still it is where I want to be, drivers seat attached to the road (I love that metaphor Peter gave) and just the windless wind of WHAT IS arising passing me by.
But pragmatically here on earth anywhere close to Nature, quiet, no pollution, preferably warm and sunny with no neighbors around. I do like Florida minus the Hurricanes and bugs.
2nd Call March:
My Takeaway:
I listened to it again last night, it was not anything in particular but more the energy and consciousness behind the words. If I could pick one thing it was when the Rabbi said, "you look very peaceful", and that was the best overall impression energetically I felt too. So simple but with a deep sense of presence behind it. The whole talk was very meditative. One more thing was something as simple as when you talked about "Home is where the heart is", or rather you are at home when you are in your Heart, the Heart of all hearts. These are simple things I have heard before but have a deeper appreciation for them now. These simple stories and ideas imbued with Presence, leave all the highfalutin philosophies far behind in the dust of the dualistic mind.
Question #2
Do you prefer to plan your trips thoroughly or leave them to chance?
My Reply: I don't travel a whole lot these days, but I typically err on the side of planning things fairly thoroughly.
Peter Responded: I never travel anywhere. Never have. Ha, haa!!!
I Replied: Love it!! And I got it right away!! That is really where I want to 'travel' to, the place where I never travel!!
I added: Of course it is a destination I am already at.
Peter Added: I'll rephrase what I said, "I don't go anywhere, it's the scenery that changes." It's this subtle shift that changes the whole world. It's captured in the Zen saying, "Spring comes and the grass grows by itself." Like Sosan states, "Consider movement stationary and the stationary in motion, both movement and rest disappear." This is one of the most powerful examples that describes how consciousness views the world of people, places and things. At first this made me a slight bit disorientated. But ever since I got a seat on the ride, it no longer moves. Everything is absolutely the same, but nothing is. No seeking, nothing special, everything special, no enlightenment, no awakening, no future, past or today.
I replied to that: Thanks for Sharing Peter. That is beautifully said and wonderfully Nondual. Or as one master pointed to even the nonduality of nonduality and duality which you also encapsulate. I know all words miss the mark but yours here (and Sosan's) are poetically and pragmatically as enlightening as words can be.
Peter Shared a Funny Story: A confusing and comical conversation I had with a person on the path by Mystic Mt. as I recall it. Hiker; "Where am I?" Me: "Where do you want to be?" Hiker, "I think I'm lost!" Me, "Sorry you can't get there from here!" Hiker, "What?" Me, "You can only be where you are." Hiker, "can you help me? Me, "Sure."
Question #3
What does the word "home" mean to you?
My Answer: Home to me is the Self and whatever tiny or small glimpse I get. Also those moments I feel full of love and Devotion for God, Divine Mother or Guru which I realize is duality, but it is still oh so sweet and feels like home. Everything else is a vacation cottage
Question #4
In "The Wizard of Oz" Dorothy runs away to find excitement. But in the end she repeats, "There's no place like home." Have you ever dreamed of going someplace only to find yourself wanting to return home?
My Answer: When I was in India for 6 months, I thought I went there to "renounce the world" never to come back, but after 6 months and my VISA expired, I got sick, got kicked out of the ashram (because of expired VISA), ended up in the police station and barely made it home. It was the only time in my life I actually cried at an airport because my VISA was expired and there were no seats on the plane. Miraculously a seat opened up and I was glad to be home instead of back at the police station...(all true!).
Question #5
If you had to choose one place to be your forever home, where would it be and why?
My Answer: Where else could I choose but the Self, always and already my forever home but I keep taking vacations to many 'theme parks' my mind creates...LOL. Still it is where I want to be, drivers seat attached to the road (I love that metaphor Peter gave) and just the windless wind of WHAT IS arising passing me by.
But pragmatically here on earth anywhere close to Nature, quiet, no pollution, preferably warm and sunny with no neighbors around. I do like Florida minus the Hurricanes and bugs.
2nd Call March:
My Takeaway:
I listened to it again last night, it was not anything in particular but more the energy and consciousness behind the words. If I could pick one thing it was when the Rabbi said, "you look very peaceful", and that was the best overall impression energetically I felt too. So simple but with a deep sense of presence behind it. The whole talk was very meditative. One more thing was something as simple as when you talked about "Home is where the heart is", or rather you are at home when you are in your Heart, the Heart of all hearts. These are simple things I have heard before but have a deeper appreciation for them now. These simple stories and ideas imbued with Presence, leave all the highfalutin philosophies far behind in the dust of the dualistic mind.