NON-DUALITY
![Picture](/uploads/4/5/1/6/4516117/editor/2023-08-09-02-09-00.png?250)
Peter’s Poem & Reflection August 2023
Recognize Your Wholeness
Smiling at the thought of "something to get"
Even though no part of me is missing
My discipline I can now forget
No need for books or teachings
The journey is one I'll not revisit
I'm done with all I believed in
On a quiet bench I sit content
Peaceful with this new beginning
Recognize Your Wholeness
Smiling at the thought of "something to get"
Even though no part of me is missing
My discipline I can now forget
No need for books or teachings
The journey is one I'll not revisit
I'm done with all I believed in
On a quiet bench I sit content
Peaceful with this new beginning
My Takeaway from the First Call in August
I like the passage after you read the poem that said something to the effect:
With the bull absorbed there is nothing to tame. No conscious discipline. We are the very thing we sought. Nothing to believe in, Only This. Everything including all beliefs are absorbed into Self. This is the wisdom of non-attachment.
It struck me when you said all beliefs are absorbed into the Self which points to how this experience of awareness being aware of Itself is utterly beyond words. As you say so many times, the Tao that can be spoken is not the Eternal Tao.
With nothing to believe in, there is ONLY this. No more thoughts to cloud the direct experience of What Is.
I am still pondering how we need to ride the bull home, for it seems essential [the bull] for awareness to know itself, which relates back to the preciousness of a human birth. But once the destination is reached, the bull like everything is absorbed into Self. But that bull of mine is still bucking me around
ALSO, I always love your stories and heard some new ones. They always warm the heart
Peter Responded: Thank you! Riding the bull home is our recognizing that the mind is the self coloring of awareness.
I like the passage after you read the poem that said something to the effect:
With the bull absorbed there is nothing to tame. No conscious discipline. We are the very thing we sought. Nothing to believe in, Only This. Everything including all beliefs are absorbed into Self. This is the wisdom of non-attachment.
It struck me when you said all beliefs are absorbed into the Self which points to how this experience of awareness being aware of Itself is utterly beyond words. As you say so many times, the Tao that can be spoken is not the Eternal Tao.
With nothing to believe in, there is ONLY this. No more thoughts to cloud the direct experience of What Is.
I am still pondering how we need to ride the bull home, for it seems essential [the bull] for awareness to know itself, which relates back to the preciousness of a human birth. But once the destination is reached, the bull like everything is absorbed into Self. But that bull of mine is still bucking me around
ALSO, I always love your stories and heard some new ones. They always warm the heart
Peter Responded: Thank you! Riding the bull home is our recognizing that the mind is the self coloring of awareness.
![Picture](/uploads/4/5/1/6/4516117/editor/2023-08-09-02-09-00_1.png)
Recognize Your Wholeness - Peter's Reflection - August
There is no longer anything to teach. No more knowledge to obtain. We don't need labels to mask the real person. And the pure essence of presence fills the air like the perfume of a newly opened flower.
With "no place" to arrive, it's truly a new beginning. This is the stage where we are united with our own hearts. Desires and intense cravings have settled. Welcome to a place of unity, with no separation. No more picking and choosing. No more us and them. All is one. The heart is open and free from afflicting desires. The self is gentled. And daily life allows us to check and re-check that we are no longer living in delusion.
My Reply to the Reflection:
Such inspiring words Peter, I am reading this a couple times. It really touches the heart. However, I still feel I am in between "I get it" and "I don't GET" it...LOL. But there are these moments where beautiful wafts of the aroma of consciousness [like reading this passage] are passing through the cracks of these still closed doors. I guess since there is nothing to do, it probably best that I just take in these beautiful words and the energy behind this course and sit back, watch and enjoy the show...
I added: This passage is really worth reflecting:
"And daily life allows us to check and re-check that we are no longer living in delusion."
Peter Replied:
As always, I welcome and value your thoughtful words. A wise person stated, "Enlightenment is only for the ego". So allow me to speak from the position of "enlightened duality". Much like the progression in the Bull pictures, there is first the realization that we are pure awareness. That means all experience, all touch, taste, smell, hearing and thought etc.. are presented and played out on our screen of experiencing awareness. Step two, the Bull has disappeared and attention now flows backward into itself. Consciousness is seen as ever present and objects (including thought) are seen for what they are, just images on the screen. Now comes the point of dissolving the distinction between the world and consciousness/ the image and the screen. Part of my Bull poem,"...no looking back along the path the bull has simply dissolved, the air is cool and the man is calm, no more riddles to be solved..." Step three, the distinction between the two collapses completely. Objects and consciousness merge like clouds in the sky. The sky always remains as clouds come and go. But the sky only knows itself as both with no distinctions being made. No two exist. Ps/ Here the Bull and man have both disappeared. Picture 8
There is no longer anything to teach. No more knowledge to obtain. We don't need labels to mask the real person. And the pure essence of presence fills the air like the perfume of a newly opened flower.
With "no place" to arrive, it's truly a new beginning. This is the stage where we are united with our own hearts. Desires and intense cravings have settled. Welcome to a place of unity, with no separation. No more picking and choosing. No more us and them. All is one. The heart is open and free from afflicting desires. The self is gentled. And daily life allows us to check and re-check that we are no longer living in delusion.
My Reply to the Reflection:
Such inspiring words Peter, I am reading this a couple times. It really touches the heart. However, I still feel I am in between "I get it" and "I don't GET" it...LOL. But there are these moments where beautiful wafts of the aroma of consciousness [like reading this passage] are passing through the cracks of these still closed doors. I guess since there is nothing to do, it probably best that I just take in these beautiful words and the energy behind this course and sit back, watch and enjoy the show...
I added: This passage is really worth reflecting:
"And daily life allows us to check and re-check that we are no longer living in delusion."
Peter Replied:
As always, I welcome and value your thoughtful words. A wise person stated, "Enlightenment is only for the ego". So allow me to speak from the position of "enlightened duality". Much like the progression in the Bull pictures, there is first the realization that we are pure awareness. That means all experience, all touch, taste, smell, hearing and thought etc.. are presented and played out on our screen of experiencing awareness. Step two, the Bull has disappeared and attention now flows backward into itself. Consciousness is seen as ever present and objects (including thought) are seen for what they are, just images on the screen. Now comes the point of dissolving the distinction between the world and consciousness/ the image and the screen. Part of my Bull poem,"...no looking back along the path the bull has simply dissolved, the air is cool and the man is calm, no more riddles to be solved..." Step three, the distinction between the two collapses completely. Objects and consciousness merge like clouds in the sky. The sky always remains as clouds come and go. But the sky only knows itself as both with no distinctions being made. No two exist. Ps/ Here the Bull and man have both disappeared. Picture 8
![Picture](/uploads/4/5/1/6/4516117/published/367723000-3026695497465969-3290052510323988544-n.jpg?1694928501)
Peter Posted: It occurred to me that trying to let go was just another way of holding on. Might you like to share your thoughts on this?
I responded: From the viewpoint of oneness, there is no one to let go and nothing separate to let go TO. But in the illusion, perhaps there is a letting go of the false self and its attachments. But as you have hinted before if you bring your attention back to the Seer, this is the compass that always points True North. While it is still a conceptual understanding, the Awakened state is an effortless state where ideas of attachment and letting go do not exist. But preceding that perhaps some discipline and practice is needed to break the chains of attachment and separateness? Or perhaps it is enough to keep bringing our attention back to the Seer, the Observer, the Experiencer, The Hearer, Thinker, Awareness, etc. Maybe that is all that is needed and everything will effortlessly fall away that is not needed?
Peter Replied: Can you see how your just described the progression of the "Bull pictures"?
I replied: Am I correct to say that using your imagery in Zen, Christianity and a lot of bull, when we first get a little glimpse of awareness, it is but a little mustard seed. Then we reflect and ask deeply who am I? This leads us on the path searching looking at the traces and footsteps left by the Masters before us. As we investigate who or what we are, this awareness grows, but slowly. Initially the bull and its passions are still stronger, but slowly we tame the bull, not by force, but by the further flowering of this seed into a small bush (to continue the metaphor). As awareness grows, the bull becomes tamer and we then ride it home back to oneness as the bull and rider are seen as "not 2". As we do awareness continues to blossom and both the bull and the man disappear which at this point the mustard seed has become a tree and so on.
Maybe all we need to do is bring our attention back to awareness and everything takes care of itself and there is no need to "try" to let go of anything?
But it can't be that easy can it??
Peter Replied: The continuous turning the mind back on itself with the question "Who/what am I?" and the impossibility of a rational reply reveals all we are not. Each time we return to objective reality collapsing where world, body and mind are but appearances in consciousness, we realize "I-amness". "The great way is not easy nor difficult for those who have no preferences." (Sosan) It is in non-doing that all is done. It is in self-resting that the universe flows back into itself.
Peter Added: The illusion of "I" can only see its own illusions. The separate self is an activity that has no actual reality except as an image in its own illusion. It is as a flickering light on the screen of awareness.
I replied: Beautifully articulated Peter
The little separate self is "a flickering light on the screen of awareness". And we give it SUCH importance (myself still included) parading around this dream world. Why does the mighty Screen identify with this silly little flickering and bickering self...
Peter Responded: Good question! I still have the tug of the image of my sculpted physical form. Its a ridiculous addiction of a six-pac at eighty when this too must be let go of. Noticing these impulses and giving them meaning is always problematic. I'm trying to pull my anchor up, but its still dragging on some seaweed. But, I'll wait until Full Circle is finished before my final tug. Ha, haa!!!!
I Replied: It is funny imagining you posing in the mirror and pulling your shirt up to see your abs... But as a "floating ghost" or "glove with no hand", it must be a little surreal....
I am read today in Zen, Christianity and a lot of bull:
"When we expose our mind's photo plates to the brilliant light of divine consciousness, there is no past or future, only an eternity of now-ness".
So with that "light", there is no need to "let go" because if I understand correctly everything - including the universe - is swallowed up. But leading up to that moment of moments, it seems some "letting go" and discipline is needed, even if playfully with no goal.
It is still the conundrum of the effortless state seemingly needing effort to discipline ones attention onto awareness (instead of the endless movies).
Peter Replied: Everything takes care of itself with the realization that the mind is simply the self coloring of awareness. To just live the everyday game of life. You don't have to believe anything to play and it is in the playing that we can then suddenly see and laugh at it all. Nothing special! There's nothing to do, nowhere to go, nothing to be but that which is already present. All efforting colors the screen. All teachings lead us astray. But, how to be just this? How to be ordinary? The wave boasts of being a wave until it crashes and realizes the ocean. Everything is meant to be let go of. Herein lies the secret.
I responded: From the viewpoint of oneness, there is no one to let go and nothing separate to let go TO. But in the illusion, perhaps there is a letting go of the false self and its attachments. But as you have hinted before if you bring your attention back to the Seer, this is the compass that always points True North. While it is still a conceptual understanding, the Awakened state is an effortless state where ideas of attachment and letting go do not exist. But preceding that perhaps some discipline and practice is needed to break the chains of attachment and separateness? Or perhaps it is enough to keep bringing our attention back to the Seer, the Observer, the Experiencer, The Hearer, Thinker, Awareness, etc. Maybe that is all that is needed and everything will effortlessly fall away that is not needed?
Peter Replied: Can you see how your just described the progression of the "Bull pictures"?
I replied: Am I correct to say that using your imagery in Zen, Christianity and a lot of bull, when we first get a little glimpse of awareness, it is but a little mustard seed. Then we reflect and ask deeply who am I? This leads us on the path searching looking at the traces and footsteps left by the Masters before us. As we investigate who or what we are, this awareness grows, but slowly. Initially the bull and its passions are still stronger, but slowly we tame the bull, not by force, but by the further flowering of this seed into a small bush (to continue the metaphor). As awareness grows, the bull becomes tamer and we then ride it home back to oneness as the bull and rider are seen as "not 2". As we do awareness continues to blossom and both the bull and the man disappear which at this point the mustard seed has become a tree and so on.
Maybe all we need to do is bring our attention back to awareness and everything takes care of itself and there is no need to "try" to let go of anything?
But it can't be that easy can it??
Peter Replied: The continuous turning the mind back on itself with the question "Who/what am I?" and the impossibility of a rational reply reveals all we are not. Each time we return to objective reality collapsing where world, body and mind are but appearances in consciousness, we realize "I-amness". "The great way is not easy nor difficult for those who have no preferences." (Sosan) It is in non-doing that all is done. It is in self-resting that the universe flows back into itself.
Peter Added: The illusion of "I" can only see its own illusions. The separate self is an activity that has no actual reality except as an image in its own illusion. It is as a flickering light on the screen of awareness.
I replied: Beautifully articulated Peter
The little separate self is "a flickering light on the screen of awareness". And we give it SUCH importance (myself still included) parading around this dream world. Why does the mighty Screen identify with this silly little flickering and bickering self...
Peter Responded: Good question! I still have the tug of the image of my sculpted physical form. Its a ridiculous addiction of a six-pac at eighty when this too must be let go of. Noticing these impulses and giving them meaning is always problematic. I'm trying to pull my anchor up, but its still dragging on some seaweed. But, I'll wait until Full Circle is finished before my final tug. Ha, haa!!!!
I Replied: It is funny imagining you posing in the mirror and pulling your shirt up to see your abs... But as a "floating ghost" or "glove with no hand", it must be a little surreal....
I am read today in Zen, Christianity and a lot of bull:
"When we expose our mind's photo plates to the brilliant light of divine consciousness, there is no past or future, only an eternity of now-ness".
So with that "light", there is no need to "let go" because if I understand correctly everything - including the universe - is swallowed up. But leading up to that moment of moments, it seems some "letting go" and discipline is needed, even if playfully with no goal.
It is still the conundrum of the effortless state seemingly needing effort to discipline ones attention onto awareness (instead of the endless movies).
Peter Replied: Everything takes care of itself with the realization that the mind is simply the self coloring of awareness. To just live the everyday game of life. You don't have to believe anything to play and it is in the playing that we can then suddenly see and laugh at it all. Nothing special! There's nothing to do, nowhere to go, nothing to be but that which is already present. All efforting colors the screen. All teachings lead us astray. But, how to be just this? How to be ordinary? The wave boasts of being a wave until it crashes and realizes the ocean. Everything is meant to be let go of. Herein lies the secret.
![Picture](/uploads/4/5/1/6/4516117/published/366632522-3027385890730263-7961192058748259415-n.jpg?1695533691)
A game for today. Imagine you are a film projector projecting the world of people and things on a 3-D screen with surround sound. As you turn your head objects and people appear and disappear. Give it a try and tell me how the world then feels different for you.
Question #1)
Can you go one hour without using the words "I", "me" or "myself"? How about two hours? Try this exercise and see how it goes. (ps/ This means in conversation with another person. It is much easier to do while sleeping.)
I answered: I am finding it hard in business dealings (and just hard in general)... It is almost like I have to refer to myself in the 3rd person... "Bryant" would like to send you some more information on this product...lol... Or "this body" is hungry...
Peter Replied: Again, this is only a game.
I responded: I know, but it is hard. I was trying to answer texts and respond to messages and I basically gave up after about half an hour. But it really drives home how dependent we are on these 1st person pronouns.
Ramana says to investigate this "I"-thought and in doing so we discover it does not exist. Of course he recommends inquiring "Who am I"? Or as you say, "Who or What is experiencing this moment?" I tell myself, I do, but who am I? It's not enough as you've pointed out to answer with any word. This attachment to a separate self we call me or I is indeed a puzzle..haha. It seems like this individual existence itself is a koan: "Show me that which calls itself me or I?"
Question #5
If you were given the opportunity to be immortal, would you take it?
My Answer: Yes! But the question is who or what is it that is immortal?!
I think if I can answer that question perhaps "I"/Awareness will realize I am already immortal?
Certainly I want to live in this physical body AT LEAST as long as is necessary to Wake Up to THIS, Just This! It seems there is something very very precious of the human birth that is needed for this great realization?
Last Call of August: Bull has disappeared
Notes:
Heart has been "reeled in", no longer stuck "out there". Desires and ambitions hold less grip. We are that energy, a tremendous creative force is "in here", not "out there".
WAIT = Why Am I Talking
Careful with Words- Speech is memory recycling itself.
Tell, Ask
Answer a question immediately and ask them a question. Don't be the answer man.
Nothing to teach, no knowledge to obtain, no mask to wear, no longer living in delusion of a separate self.
Communicate better from the heart. Everyone knows if you are talking from your heart or not. Listen Carefully.
No more likes and dislikes, Just This!'
Just want to go up and hug people. There is a kinship with all life.
When I gets out of the way, there is only "Us", this One Thing!
On Immortality:
When do we stop seeking?
All things/body's/clouds move, change, dissolve and disappear. We return to the wholeness of all that is. What I AM is larger than already. Why remain as the cloud, when you are already the sky. When the cloud dissolves it realizes it was the sky all along.
Desires all evaporate because they are fulfilled in the Self.
We are all enlightened pretending not to be. There is nothing to seek.
Life becomes smooth when addictive desires become mild preferences.
Happiness is always "now". Happiness and contentment are our natural state. Desires are the distraction as the ego involves itself with picking and choosing, liking and disliking and always being for or against.
My Takeaway:
Today I am feeling this nice little "heart glow". I think I was able to take that away ...lol. Maybe that is the BIG takeaway: "taking away" our heart from all external objects we attach it too and reeling it into the Real. Then we can enjoy this wonderful feeling of Being in the heart and be happy for no reason. It might be another little taste but it's delicious for Now. Much Gratitude!
Can you go one hour without using the words "I", "me" or "myself"? How about two hours? Try this exercise and see how it goes. (ps/ This means in conversation with another person. It is much easier to do while sleeping.)
I answered: I am finding it hard in business dealings (and just hard in general)... It is almost like I have to refer to myself in the 3rd person... "Bryant" would like to send you some more information on this product...lol... Or "this body" is hungry...
Peter Replied: Again, this is only a game.
I responded: I know, but it is hard. I was trying to answer texts and respond to messages and I basically gave up after about half an hour. But it really drives home how dependent we are on these 1st person pronouns.
Ramana says to investigate this "I"-thought and in doing so we discover it does not exist. Of course he recommends inquiring "Who am I"? Or as you say, "Who or What is experiencing this moment?" I tell myself, I do, but who am I? It's not enough as you've pointed out to answer with any word. This attachment to a separate self we call me or I is indeed a puzzle..haha. It seems like this individual existence itself is a koan: "Show me that which calls itself me or I?"
Question #5
If you were given the opportunity to be immortal, would you take it?
My Answer: Yes! But the question is who or what is it that is immortal?!
I think if I can answer that question perhaps "I"/Awareness will realize I am already immortal?
Certainly I want to live in this physical body AT LEAST as long as is necessary to Wake Up to THIS, Just This! It seems there is something very very precious of the human birth that is needed for this great realization?
Last Call of August: Bull has disappeared
Notes:
Heart has been "reeled in", no longer stuck "out there". Desires and ambitions hold less grip. We are that energy, a tremendous creative force is "in here", not "out there".
WAIT = Why Am I Talking
Careful with Words- Speech is memory recycling itself.
Tell, Ask
Answer a question immediately and ask them a question. Don't be the answer man.
Nothing to teach, no knowledge to obtain, no mask to wear, no longer living in delusion of a separate self.
Communicate better from the heart. Everyone knows if you are talking from your heart or not. Listen Carefully.
No more likes and dislikes, Just This!'
Just want to go up and hug people. There is a kinship with all life.
When I gets out of the way, there is only "Us", this One Thing!
On Immortality:
When do we stop seeking?
All things/body's/clouds move, change, dissolve and disappear. We return to the wholeness of all that is. What I AM is larger than already. Why remain as the cloud, when you are already the sky. When the cloud dissolves it realizes it was the sky all along.
Desires all evaporate because they are fulfilled in the Self.
We are all enlightened pretending not to be. There is nothing to seek.
Life becomes smooth when addictive desires become mild preferences.
Happiness is always "now". Happiness and contentment are our natural state. Desires are the distraction as the ego involves itself with picking and choosing, liking and disliking and always being for or against.
My Takeaway:
Today I am feeling this nice little "heart glow". I think I was able to take that away ...lol. Maybe that is the BIG takeaway: "taking away" our heart from all external objects we attach it too and reeling it into the Real. Then we can enjoy this wonderful feeling of Being in the heart and be happy for no reason. It might be another little taste but it's delicious for Now. Much Gratitude!
![Picture](/uploads/4/5/1/6/4516117/published/372905658-3036685196466999-5211729791655469452-n.jpg?1695537930)
Peter Bonus Reflection End of August
"The space between what happens and how we respond is where peace resides." Your thoughts on reaction vs response? Can you tell the difference between the two as they arise? Sosan states, "To set what we like against what we dislike is the disease of the mind." He explains this by saying then "...that the deep meaning of things is not understood." This is why the mirror of the mind reveals so much when we're silent and reflective. This is what's meant by the bull dissolving, as the power of great energy settles with us.
Peter Added: I've personally noticed over the years that the more I refrain from reacting without pause, the stronger I become. Not just mentally, but actually even physically. Whenever I catch myself starting to say something, I stop, I pause and see if what I'm about to say puts me at the center of attention. Am I being the teacher, the expert, am I preaching my pet ideas, am I needing to be right and diminish another person's opinion or belief? This self inquiry is how I pull back the reins of the wild, magnificent bull energy. I feel it is truly the secret to strength on so many levels. Oh, how many times has my bull run wild, I find it hard to count. But the reward of reflecting and taming is beyond my capacity to express. p.s. Reacting isn't "bad," but I find responding after reflection is far more supportive of my journey and the journey of those around me.
"The space between what happens and how we respond is where peace resides." Your thoughts on reaction vs response? Can you tell the difference between the two as they arise? Sosan states, "To set what we like against what we dislike is the disease of the mind." He explains this by saying then "...that the deep meaning of things is not understood." This is why the mirror of the mind reveals so much when we're silent and reflective. This is what's meant by the bull dissolving, as the power of great energy settles with us.
Peter Added: I've personally noticed over the years that the more I refrain from reacting without pause, the stronger I become. Not just mentally, but actually even physically. Whenever I catch myself starting to say something, I stop, I pause and see if what I'm about to say puts me at the center of attention. Am I being the teacher, the expert, am I preaching my pet ideas, am I needing to be right and diminish another person's opinion or belief? This self inquiry is how I pull back the reins of the wild, magnificent bull energy. I feel it is truly the secret to strength on so many levels. Oh, how many times has my bull run wild, I find it hard to count. But the reward of reflecting and taming is beyond my capacity to express. p.s. Reacting isn't "bad," but I find responding after reflection is far more supportive of my journey and the journey of those around me.
![Picture](/uploads/4/5/1/6/4516117/published/3-733x489_1.jpg?250)
Peter’s Poem September 2023 - Completely Gone
Gone, gone, gone beyond
The circle now is empty
No self of which to be found
In nothing I find plenty
Life and death hold no bonds
No fears or thoughts of what can be
For I know I cannot be robbed
Of the joy that has become me
I replied: So beautifully stated Peter!
I chuckle in both humility and reverence that I am already THIS Joy, but for whatever reason I am still chasing the dream a little too much..haha. Of course the question comes, who is this chaser? Why Am I still running after unreality? Questions I must inquire and see for myself.
Some of Peter's Comments:
1) It is why I often say, I don't believe everything I think. I realize that all thoughts are objects floating on the screen of consciousness, who is this that observes and experiences them? That identity is the ultimate act of honesty. People suffer because their identity is tagged to the object. But once the actual identity is recognized all suffering ceases. One might say its "the peace of God that excels all thought." (But I think there are better ways to express it.) ps Its the wanting which brings distress. The demanding that life occur in a certain manner causes dismay. I of course have certain preferences, but I'm not wanting or not wanting. This moment is for me everything I'd ever hoped it would be.
2) The river is a metaphor for passing over to the spiritual dimension or better yet, the realization we are not two different things. Buddha used this to say the teaching was the raft we use. But upon reaching the other shore the raft is abandoned. This is also why the circle is empty.
3) Someone said: Perhaps its time for the false self to die. I must see it for what it is, shine the light on it fully, notice all of its qualities, and watch it vanish.
Gone, gone, gone beyond
The circle now is empty
No self of which to be found
In nothing I find plenty
Life and death hold no bonds
No fears or thoughts of what can be
For I know I cannot be robbed
Of the joy that has become me
I replied: So beautifully stated Peter!
I chuckle in both humility and reverence that I am already THIS Joy, but for whatever reason I am still chasing the dream a little too much..haha. Of course the question comes, who is this chaser? Why Am I still running after unreality? Questions I must inquire and see for myself.
Some of Peter's Comments:
1) It is why I often say, I don't believe everything I think. I realize that all thoughts are objects floating on the screen of consciousness, who is this that observes and experiences them? That identity is the ultimate act of honesty. People suffer because their identity is tagged to the object. But once the actual identity is recognized all suffering ceases. One might say its "the peace of God that excels all thought." (But I think there are better ways to express it.) ps Its the wanting which brings distress. The demanding that life occur in a certain manner causes dismay. I of course have certain preferences, but I'm not wanting or not wanting. This moment is for me everything I'd ever hoped it would be.
2) The river is a metaphor for passing over to the spiritual dimension or better yet, the realization we are not two different things. Buddha used this to say the teaching was the raft we use. But upon reaching the other shore the raft is abandoned. This is also why the circle is empty.
3) Someone said: Perhaps its time for the false self to die. I must see it for what it is, shine the light on it fully, notice all of its qualities, and watch it vanish.
Question #1)
When you go on a trip, what is the thing you miss most about home?
My answer: I think I miss my bed and quiet and sleeping well. For whatever reason I never sleep as well on trips as usually there is a time schedule involved (at home I rarely use an alarm clock, very very rarely).
But I look forward to WAKING UP to THIS!!
Peter Replied: I feel very blessed in that I fall asleep like flipping off a switch. The HGH release that occurs in deep sleep I believe accounts for the vitality of the body. That's why I always nap. But of course, I really enjoy turning off the world too. I love where I return during these intermissions. Ha, ha!
I asked: How does one turn the world off? I kinda get that in deep sleep and Nirvikalpa samadhi (kinda..lol), but in the sahaja samadhi nondual state (for lack of better words) of acting in the world, the world is not off, its just not 2 anymore, right?
I have always liked the mirage analogy, you see the mirage, but yet it is not really water. I suppose in that sense the world is "turned off", because it is seen through as a wondrous dream, like the mirage... there, but not there.
I know, I know, this mind will never get it
Peter Replied: A Zen text says, "The ordinary life fits the absolute like a box and its lid. The absolute works together with the relative like two arrows meeting in mid-air." Sosan states, "If you want to move in the one way, Do not dislike the world of senses and ideas. Indeed, to accept them fully is identical with true enlightenment." The simple swirling of space creates the "relative illusion of a solid world, like the empty sky produces clouds. Yet even this is "not two". This is why I again address everyday life in this course, because it is not apart from the awakened life. However, once seen, then everything you see is enlightened. Because there's no "you" to see anything. Its just the way the box fits the lid.
When you go on a trip, what is the thing you miss most about home?
My answer: I think I miss my bed and quiet and sleeping well. For whatever reason I never sleep as well on trips as usually there is a time schedule involved (at home I rarely use an alarm clock, very very rarely).
But I look forward to WAKING UP to THIS!!
Peter Replied: I feel very blessed in that I fall asleep like flipping off a switch. The HGH release that occurs in deep sleep I believe accounts for the vitality of the body. That's why I always nap. But of course, I really enjoy turning off the world too. I love where I return during these intermissions. Ha, ha!
I asked: How does one turn the world off? I kinda get that in deep sleep and Nirvikalpa samadhi (kinda..lol), but in the sahaja samadhi nondual state (for lack of better words) of acting in the world, the world is not off, its just not 2 anymore, right?
I have always liked the mirage analogy, you see the mirage, but yet it is not really water. I suppose in that sense the world is "turned off", because it is seen through as a wondrous dream, like the mirage... there, but not there.
I know, I know, this mind will never get it
Peter Replied: A Zen text says, "The ordinary life fits the absolute like a box and its lid. The absolute works together with the relative like two arrows meeting in mid-air." Sosan states, "If you want to move in the one way, Do not dislike the world of senses and ideas. Indeed, to accept them fully is identical with true enlightenment." The simple swirling of space creates the "relative illusion of a solid world, like the empty sky produces clouds. Yet even this is "not two". This is why I again address everyday life in this course, because it is not apart from the awakened life. However, once seen, then everything you see is enlightened. Because there's no "you" to see anything. Its just the way the box fits the lid.
My Takeaway from the first call of September:
When referring to questions in this course, you stated you wanted us to do a deep sense of probing, a deep inquiry. It's not the answer, but what is the energy behind the answer. Who is having this this experience? What is this experience?
It occurred to me all these seemingly ordinary questions are asked so we may reflect on the experiencer of all these variety of things in life. What is the vast spectrum of energy and emotions behind all these facets of life you ask us to reflect upon. I wish I "got that" a little better earlier in the course, but it will make for a nice review to go back over everything again.
The whole course is like Asking Who Am I? or What am I? but with a lot of detailed and specific inquiry that is done in a way that reflects back to us all kinds of various experiences this life brings us (and who is the experiencer behind them all),
And by us I mean pure Awareness, with the goal of awareness turning back on itself in the indescribable Epiphany of Just This!! Something the mind can never "find" because it is already Just This...
Peter Replied:
Yes, exactly! Its the wave recognizing the ocean. How exactly we break upon the shore and then flow back to being what we never left. I go through my day imagining I have no face, as if wearing a hooded sweatshirt with no head but unbounded space as my window. Space is the most intimate awareness that brings me delight in all I see. For all I see is me.
Peter Added:
I've often used the phrase, "radical self-honesty". Which means I keep digging beneath deepest layers of my own beliefs. The very first thing I had to do was get rid of obvious irrational absurdities. I realized people suffer because of their beliefs. So I took a mental enema and flushed all issues, doctrines, teachings and refused to debate, argue or even to try to reason with anyone. I had not only to know my own mind, but to realize it cannot be trusted fully. Awakening is honesty, all else are lies of lesser or greater gravity. The ego is always in a fight to be right and make others wrong. I had to consciously see this in order to escape and find refuge in the true self which is no self. It has led me to constantly ask, "Now what?" There will never be a time without problems or issues arising, being solved and new ones appearing, now what? That's why the questions in this course are about ordinary life to invoke a heart-felt, ego ripping "now what?" Only when there's nothing left to cloud the eyes can blue sky awareness reveal true identity because there are no more questions to ask. Because there is no one left to ask them.
Especially in a world filled with the most irrational beliefs and insane assertions. I'm often shocked! And I'd be scared if I didn't know that its all part of the script.
Peter Replied to another Post:
Long ago I discovered that the search for happiness was just another un-happiness. So the moment I stopped I discovered what I had been seeking and laughed aloud!
When referring to questions in this course, you stated you wanted us to do a deep sense of probing, a deep inquiry. It's not the answer, but what is the energy behind the answer. Who is having this this experience? What is this experience?
It occurred to me all these seemingly ordinary questions are asked so we may reflect on the experiencer of all these variety of things in life. What is the vast spectrum of energy and emotions behind all these facets of life you ask us to reflect upon. I wish I "got that" a little better earlier in the course, but it will make for a nice review to go back over everything again.
The whole course is like Asking Who Am I? or What am I? but with a lot of detailed and specific inquiry that is done in a way that reflects back to us all kinds of various experiences this life brings us (and who is the experiencer behind them all),
And by us I mean pure Awareness, with the goal of awareness turning back on itself in the indescribable Epiphany of Just This!! Something the mind can never "find" because it is already Just This...
Peter Replied:
Yes, exactly! Its the wave recognizing the ocean. How exactly we break upon the shore and then flow back to being what we never left. I go through my day imagining I have no face, as if wearing a hooded sweatshirt with no head but unbounded space as my window. Space is the most intimate awareness that brings me delight in all I see. For all I see is me.
Peter Added:
I've often used the phrase, "radical self-honesty". Which means I keep digging beneath deepest layers of my own beliefs. The very first thing I had to do was get rid of obvious irrational absurdities. I realized people suffer because of their beliefs. So I took a mental enema and flushed all issues, doctrines, teachings and refused to debate, argue or even to try to reason with anyone. I had not only to know my own mind, but to realize it cannot be trusted fully. Awakening is honesty, all else are lies of lesser or greater gravity. The ego is always in a fight to be right and make others wrong. I had to consciously see this in order to escape and find refuge in the true self which is no self. It has led me to constantly ask, "Now what?" There will never be a time without problems or issues arising, being solved and new ones appearing, now what? That's why the questions in this course are about ordinary life to invoke a heart-felt, ego ripping "now what?" Only when there's nothing left to cloud the eyes can blue sky awareness reveal true identity because there are no more questions to ask. Because there is no one left to ask them.
Especially in a world filled with the most irrational beliefs and insane assertions. I'm often shocked! And I'd be scared if I didn't know that its all part of the script.
Peter Replied to another Post:
Long ago I discovered that the search for happiness was just another un-happiness. So the moment I stopped I discovered what I had been seeking and laughed aloud!
![Picture](/uploads/4/5/1/6/4516117/editor/3-733x489_2.jpg?250)
Peter’s Reflection September
Completely Gone
Passing through the empty circle has been referred to as the "great death." The human heart has burst open scattering its seeds of love, compassion, and caring with no concerns as to where they land. All self-centered striving has ceased, no teachings left to grasp, nothing to hold on to. Sosan states, "Here thought, feeling, knowledge and imagination are of no value. In this world of suchness there is neither self not other-than-self."
My Reply to the reflection:
Beautiful Peter! Words for some deep contemplation!
In this Great Death Ramana says the Mind enters the Heart (Heart of hearts) and dies. What I cannot grasp is what is left? Because with you and Ramana (for example), something is there that teaches, moves and acts. The closest thing my mind can understand this is recalling dreams at night where I am imagining a dream body separate from other dream characters. When I wake up it is clear that was all in my mind/consciousness. All along I was the dreamer but somehow my consciousness identified with a "me" in the dream. Why does this happen? I mean, the physical body is very solid and real looking, but why do I do this in ephemeral and ghostly dreams which lack the conviction of solidity. It is almost like there is some grasping energy that wants to latch onto a body and call it "me"? I sense it is due to a LOT of conditioning and mistaken beliefs in being a separate self. It is kinda frustrating now that I am realizing there is nothing I can really DO to obtain this, because like the dream at night, I was the dreamer all along. I imagine myself in a dream trying to meditate to wake up . Actually there have been dreams where I have been falling to my death that jolted me to wake up before dying in the dream (that just occurred to me).
Peter Responded: Thank you as always for your observations. First off, the mind is a counterfeit "me". It is simply allowed to play in the theater of awareness. As Ramana would ask, "Who am I?" It (while included) is not what thinks, evaluates, or mistakes identity. Self and no self are identical. What is experiencing or aware of the movie/dreaming, waking state cannot/does not talk about itself, to do so would make it two different things. Your mind and my mind know this as pure knowing leaks though in these exchanges. Even as I type these words, pure knowing swallows me making my explanation futile, but I know you sense something else as you read this. As do I. It is that which energizes these words and gives them a life that can't be explained.
I replied: Thank you Peter and indeed it is that which energizes and gives the words life that I love "tuning into". I try to write something thoughtful, but ultimately it is just an excuse for THAT...lol. Otherwise I just leave my comment reply blank and your response will be blank. Maybe by December.
Completely Gone
Passing through the empty circle has been referred to as the "great death." The human heart has burst open scattering its seeds of love, compassion, and caring with no concerns as to where they land. All self-centered striving has ceased, no teachings left to grasp, nothing to hold on to. Sosan states, "Here thought, feeling, knowledge and imagination are of no value. In this world of suchness there is neither self not other-than-self."
My Reply to the reflection:
Beautiful Peter! Words for some deep contemplation!
In this Great Death Ramana says the Mind enters the Heart (Heart of hearts) and dies. What I cannot grasp is what is left? Because with you and Ramana (for example), something is there that teaches, moves and acts. The closest thing my mind can understand this is recalling dreams at night where I am imagining a dream body separate from other dream characters. When I wake up it is clear that was all in my mind/consciousness. All along I was the dreamer but somehow my consciousness identified with a "me" in the dream. Why does this happen? I mean, the physical body is very solid and real looking, but why do I do this in ephemeral and ghostly dreams which lack the conviction of solidity. It is almost like there is some grasping energy that wants to latch onto a body and call it "me"? I sense it is due to a LOT of conditioning and mistaken beliefs in being a separate self. It is kinda frustrating now that I am realizing there is nothing I can really DO to obtain this, because like the dream at night, I was the dreamer all along. I imagine myself in a dream trying to meditate to wake up . Actually there have been dreams where I have been falling to my death that jolted me to wake up before dying in the dream (that just occurred to me).
Peter Responded: Thank you as always for your observations. First off, the mind is a counterfeit "me". It is simply allowed to play in the theater of awareness. As Ramana would ask, "Who am I?" It (while included) is not what thinks, evaluates, or mistakes identity. Self and no self are identical. What is experiencing or aware of the movie/dreaming, waking state cannot/does not talk about itself, to do so would make it two different things. Your mind and my mind know this as pure knowing leaks though in these exchanges. Even as I type these words, pure knowing swallows me making my explanation futile, but I know you sense something else as you read this. As do I. It is that which energizes these words and gives them a life that can't be explained.
I replied: Thank you Peter and indeed it is that which energizes and gives the words life that I love "tuning into". I try to write something thoughtful, but ultimately it is just an excuse for THAT...lol. Otherwise I just leave my comment reply blank and your response will be blank. Maybe by December.
Question #1)
Where will you be in ten years? (Please give as much description as possible.)
My Answer: That is a good question, in the dream, I imagine I'll still be sharing breakthrough wellness technologies and living a very abundant and prosperous life. I will be in great health, and physically fit with no health problems. I will have attracted a conscious partner that is in alignment with my core values to share in fun and adventures in this dream. I will live in a secluded house with plenty of Nature, and plenty of quiet. With health and financial security I can and will simply Be and have fun with no worries.
My bull will be fading into the background and Just This, this wonderful Presence will expand and grow more and more. If things go REALLY well, I will be a nondual nobody living life peacefully, simply and effortlessly in the moment! Ah This , Just this!! Ultimately that is all I want!!
Nevillizing the future this is a brief outline of what I see.
Peter Replied:
Where in Florida (my assumption) will you be? Why? What annual income projections do you have? So estimated compounded interest will be what in 10 years? Oh yes, least I forget, what will projected living/social and environmental conditions likely be then?
I responded:
I would like to live on the water with as much privacy as possible. Like Sarasota or Siesta Key. Annual income projection starting next year (since I took two years off) will be $250,000 a year scalable to $500,000 or more (using todays dollars). Goal would be to have one to two million in savings (or more). I just see that number as very doable and realistic. I probably won't retire, but continue to recommend energy devices I use and believe in, but in a more leisurely way.
Your last question is unclear, you mean at my home or in the world? That is hard to say. I guess it will just be "it is as it is"?
Do you have a projection?
Peter Said about Florida:
There's a personal moto I live by, "No one is coming to the rescue! If its to be its up to me." One is only as free as they allow themselves to be or as conscious of what storms are on the horizon. And the sky is indeed darkening. Beware. Reason is a great virtue and irrationality the greatest vice.
I replied:
Thanks Peter for sharing that. I always deeply appreciate and honor your feedback, bias or not . It is hard NOT to have any bias in this world of duality..haha.
Peter Responded: The trick here is seeing and realizing we are the space, the emptiness itself in which the movie is playing. With that said, anything I say about the movie/game is to help move your token around the board in a more interesting and effective manner. Yep, pass go collect the cash, throw your hands in the air! Yay!! I've got this game nailed!
I replied: I have been "trying" to SEE this trick. Quite the Master of Illusion God is...lol. Of course you can't "try" to see it, because everything is already it. It seems that just resting in Pure Being is the "Seeing".
I want to move my token to a couple million in savings and great health so I can focus more on Just Being.
Just like when you were describing the other day that your were getting "swallowed up" as you were typing words. Getting tiny glimpses, it just seems so peaceful and blissful being swallowed up by the Immortal Self/no self/space/consciousness/emptiness or whatever word used.
Peter Answered: Much like amnesia, soon the spell wears off and we remember our own true name. Never fret about not remembering. That's why we're having this exchange
Where will you be in ten years? (Please give as much description as possible.)
My Answer: That is a good question, in the dream, I imagine I'll still be sharing breakthrough wellness technologies and living a very abundant and prosperous life. I will be in great health, and physically fit with no health problems. I will have attracted a conscious partner that is in alignment with my core values to share in fun and adventures in this dream. I will live in a secluded house with plenty of Nature, and plenty of quiet. With health and financial security I can and will simply Be and have fun with no worries.
My bull will be fading into the background and Just This, this wonderful Presence will expand and grow more and more. If things go REALLY well, I will be a nondual nobody living life peacefully, simply and effortlessly in the moment! Ah This , Just this!! Ultimately that is all I want!!
Nevillizing the future this is a brief outline of what I see.
Peter Replied:
Where in Florida (my assumption) will you be? Why? What annual income projections do you have? So estimated compounded interest will be what in 10 years? Oh yes, least I forget, what will projected living/social and environmental conditions likely be then?
I responded:
I would like to live on the water with as much privacy as possible. Like Sarasota or Siesta Key. Annual income projection starting next year (since I took two years off) will be $250,000 a year scalable to $500,000 or more (using todays dollars). Goal would be to have one to two million in savings (or more). I just see that number as very doable and realistic. I probably won't retire, but continue to recommend energy devices I use and believe in, but in a more leisurely way.
Your last question is unclear, you mean at my home or in the world? That is hard to say. I guess it will just be "it is as it is"?
Do you have a projection?
Peter Said about Florida:
There's a personal moto I live by, "No one is coming to the rescue! If its to be its up to me." One is only as free as they allow themselves to be or as conscious of what storms are on the horizon. And the sky is indeed darkening. Beware. Reason is a great virtue and irrationality the greatest vice.
I replied:
Thanks Peter for sharing that. I always deeply appreciate and honor your feedback, bias or not . It is hard NOT to have any bias in this world of duality..haha.
Peter Responded: The trick here is seeing and realizing we are the space, the emptiness itself in which the movie is playing. With that said, anything I say about the movie/game is to help move your token around the board in a more interesting and effective manner. Yep, pass go collect the cash, throw your hands in the air! Yay!! I've got this game nailed!
I replied: I have been "trying" to SEE this trick. Quite the Master of Illusion God is...lol. Of course you can't "try" to see it, because everything is already it. It seems that just resting in Pure Being is the "Seeing".
I want to move my token to a couple million in savings and great health so I can focus more on Just Being.
Just like when you were describing the other day that your were getting "swallowed up" as you were typing words. Getting tiny glimpses, it just seems so peaceful and blissful being swallowed up by the Immortal Self/no self/space/consciousness/emptiness or whatever word used.
Peter Answered: Much like amnesia, soon the spell wears off and we remember our own true name. Never fret about not remembering. That's why we're having this exchange
Question 2:
What Scares you?
My Answer:
What scares me is not being able to take care of myself in older age, or if some accident happens. I think I fear that more than death even. I just always want to be able to be self sufficient and energetic and mobile to take care of myself. I have been in situations where I had an injury that I could not take care of myself, and for me that is the worst.
Peter Replied: Health care for the elderly is a serious concern. A basic MRI or CT scan can cost up to $2800.00 simply to see if something serious is going on. If your requiring an assisted living facility figure 10,000 a month or more depending where you are. So, yes I can understand your fear. Most older Americans are terrified. Question, can you get up off the floor without using your hands? How many seconds can you stand on one foot? Touch your toes, etc...? Balance and mobility are crucial. "More than one out of four Americans age 65+ falls each year. Falls are the leading cause of fatal and nonfatal injuries among older adults. The cost of treating injuries caused by falls is projected to increase to over $101 billion by 2030." And the money isn't there. Some food for thought!
I replied: Thanks for sharing that. It is motivating! My balance is good, I can get up without using my hands, and touch my toes. I do need to address this hernia (or whatever it is) and something going on in my right hip that bothers me at times (both which can affect my mobility). I am working out more again and doing better, but there is still definitely PLENTY of room for improvement.
update: I am addressing my teeth so that fear is evaporating. I found a GREAT dentist. Wow she is good. It will probably end up costing $60,000 but so be it, I have confident it will within two years be picture perfect.
She has over 80 reviews on google and every one is 5 stars. Meeting her, I see why. I feel blessed to have found her.
Peter Responded: This is excellent!!! And yes, that's about the out of pocket cost (speaking from experience). It will even change the structure of the face and allow one to retain a youthful appearance. My Finnish teacher and I were having a similar discussion about teeth. She had broken one of her front teeth and had to have it replaced. I asked her the cost? She said, $50 euros. Unreal!!! A one time maximum fee to visit a doctor is 20,90 euros. Ridiculous! By the way hernia repair is pretty simple and your back to activities fairly quickly.
What Scares you?
My Answer:
What scares me is not being able to take care of myself in older age, or if some accident happens. I think I fear that more than death even. I just always want to be able to be self sufficient and energetic and mobile to take care of myself. I have been in situations where I had an injury that I could not take care of myself, and for me that is the worst.
Peter Replied: Health care for the elderly is a serious concern. A basic MRI or CT scan can cost up to $2800.00 simply to see if something serious is going on. If your requiring an assisted living facility figure 10,000 a month or more depending where you are. So, yes I can understand your fear. Most older Americans are terrified. Question, can you get up off the floor without using your hands? How many seconds can you stand on one foot? Touch your toes, etc...? Balance and mobility are crucial. "More than one out of four Americans age 65+ falls each year. Falls are the leading cause of fatal and nonfatal injuries among older adults. The cost of treating injuries caused by falls is projected to increase to over $101 billion by 2030." And the money isn't there. Some food for thought!
I replied: Thanks for sharing that. It is motivating! My balance is good, I can get up without using my hands, and touch my toes. I do need to address this hernia (or whatever it is) and something going on in my right hip that bothers me at times (both which can affect my mobility). I am working out more again and doing better, but there is still definitely PLENTY of room for improvement.
update: I am addressing my teeth so that fear is evaporating. I found a GREAT dentist. Wow she is good. It will probably end up costing $60,000 but so be it, I have confident it will within two years be picture perfect.
She has over 80 reviews on google and every one is 5 stars. Meeting her, I see why. I feel blessed to have found her.
Peter Responded: This is excellent!!! And yes, that's about the out of pocket cost (speaking from experience). It will even change the structure of the face and allow one to retain a youthful appearance. My Finnish teacher and I were having a similar discussion about teeth. She had broken one of her front teeth and had to have it replaced. I asked her the cost? She said, $50 euros. Unreal!!! A one time maximum fee to visit a doctor is 20,90 euros. Ridiculous! By the way hernia repair is pretty simple and your back to activities fairly quickly.
![Picture](/uploads/4/5/1/6/4516117/381195819-10226604556553526-6785611267202862602-n_orig.jpg)
What Scares me most part 2: Loss of Individuality
Upon honest reflection, I also think part of me is scared of also losing Individuality. It seems the common theme in nondual traditions is our sense of individuality, separation or duality is the root cause of suffering. But if the individual is gone, it is hard to fathom what is left? At least hard for the mind...LOL. It just seems some sort of focus of consciousness would be left, perhaps akin to a toriodal flow (donut) which maintains both interconnectedness and a center of consciousness.
Like the Alex Grey art attached (just for reference). Notice in the middle of the "donut" there is interconnectedness "heart to heart" yet there is still an individual "cell" of consciousness, yet it is no longer disconnected. I know this is still in the mind, but it makes rational sense to me how this sacred geometry bridges oneness and duality (not 2). Maybe this is my mind grasping at the fear of losing individuality altogether?
So I guess this scares me too.
Peter Replied: You nailed it with "...at least for the mind." Mind is like the cloud which is still the sky. Just this morning I was thinking about you while I was listening to my mind reciting the Hsin, Hsin, Ming. And it occurred to me that two things going on in my head at the very same time is no different than the movie of the world playing on the same screen. So as an exercise, try to recite a poem or saying, even a mantra and watch yourself thinking about what you are listening to or perceiving. Then realize what is it that is perceiving all of this at the same time. I love the saying by Krishnamurti, "You are the world." The clouds are the sky and never go anywhere even when they dissolve. Peter is simply a cloud that knows it is the sky. Now you can see this cloud and hear the wind blowing. Nothing special is happening. Just this. We are just two clouds meeting in the air
Upon honest reflection, I also think part of me is scared of also losing Individuality. It seems the common theme in nondual traditions is our sense of individuality, separation or duality is the root cause of suffering. But if the individual is gone, it is hard to fathom what is left? At least hard for the mind...LOL. It just seems some sort of focus of consciousness would be left, perhaps akin to a toriodal flow (donut) which maintains both interconnectedness and a center of consciousness.
Like the Alex Grey art attached (just for reference). Notice in the middle of the "donut" there is interconnectedness "heart to heart" yet there is still an individual "cell" of consciousness, yet it is no longer disconnected. I know this is still in the mind, but it makes rational sense to me how this sacred geometry bridges oneness and duality (not 2). Maybe this is my mind grasping at the fear of losing individuality altogether?
So I guess this scares me too.
Peter Replied: You nailed it with "...at least for the mind." Mind is like the cloud which is still the sky. Just this morning I was thinking about you while I was listening to my mind reciting the Hsin, Hsin, Ming. And it occurred to me that two things going on in my head at the very same time is no different than the movie of the world playing on the same screen. So as an exercise, try to recite a poem or saying, even a mantra and watch yourself thinking about what you are listening to or perceiving. Then realize what is it that is perceiving all of this at the same time. I love the saying by Krishnamurti, "You are the world." The clouds are the sky and never go anywhere even when they dissolve. Peter is simply a cloud that knows it is the sky. Now you can see this cloud and hear the wind blowing. Nothing special is happening. Just this. We are just two clouds meeting in the air
Q3: What Inspires You?
My answer: This past couple years I have been very inspired by nondual writings. Especially Ramana Maharshi, Ken Wilber, Tony Parsons and a couple others. Also the connection between nonduality and quantum mechanics has been very inspiring.
And this year, it has mainly been THIS Full Circle course along with Zen, Christianity and a lot of Bull (that I just finished reading for the second time in three months) which has been an even added inspiration in that direction. I feel this course is deeping the inspiration and making the teaching more "real" for lack of a better word. As the image here portrays, I feel like I am rowing in the right direction back to the Heart, though it is still a bit of a choppy ride and curvy path..lol. And Peter is a guide, pointing "its This Way" . Of course we are ultimately not going anywhere, just realizing THIS, Just This!!
Peter Answered: Beautiful! Thank you, Bryant. "...once a man thought the shore was moving."
Q4: Do you think people can change...
Peter Added: It occurs to me the more time a person spends trying to find out whose right, the more wrong they become. Why? The outside is the distraction leading one away from the inside where all distinctions vanish and only peace is found. Peace of mind isn't found on the news, isn't found in time-wasting scrolling, isn't found in debates. It is waiting for everyone the moment they turn within. That's the biggest change a person can make. I think the biggest change comes with the off button.
Peter added to this: Exactly! To get sucked into playing a game that is stacked against you isn't the best use of a life. Only you can have control over your life, despite what ever anyone else says or may threaten you with. I never submit to any mob mentality, no matter how hard they press. I don't need answers or explanations. I don't need to get angry only to stay conscious. Awareness is the ultimate survival in a world of predators. I've learned through experience that my thoughts govern what happens to me. Peacefulness creates the circumstances in which I thrive
Peter answering another questions: My personal moto for decades has been, "No one is coming to the rescue! What am I going to do about it?" Religion and politics very nature is irrationality and enslavement. Both are things I refuse to waste my time on.
My answer: This past couple years I have been very inspired by nondual writings. Especially Ramana Maharshi, Ken Wilber, Tony Parsons and a couple others. Also the connection between nonduality and quantum mechanics has been very inspiring.
And this year, it has mainly been THIS Full Circle course along with Zen, Christianity and a lot of Bull (that I just finished reading for the second time in three months) which has been an even added inspiration in that direction. I feel this course is deeping the inspiration and making the teaching more "real" for lack of a better word. As the image here portrays, I feel like I am rowing in the right direction back to the Heart, though it is still a bit of a choppy ride and curvy path..lol. And Peter is a guide, pointing "its This Way" . Of course we are ultimately not going anywhere, just realizing THIS, Just This!!
Peter Answered: Beautiful! Thank you, Bryant. "...once a man thought the shore was moving."
Q4: Do you think people can change...
Peter Added: It occurs to me the more time a person spends trying to find out whose right, the more wrong they become. Why? The outside is the distraction leading one away from the inside where all distinctions vanish and only peace is found. Peace of mind isn't found on the news, isn't found in time-wasting scrolling, isn't found in debates. It is waiting for everyone the moment they turn within. That's the biggest change a person can make. I think the biggest change comes with the off button.
Peter added to this: Exactly! To get sucked into playing a game that is stacked against you isn't the best use of a life. Only you can have control over your life, despite what ever anyone else says or may threaten you with. I never submit to any mob mentality, no matter how hard they press. I don't need answers or explanations. I don't need to get angry only to stay conscious. Awareness is the ultimate survival in a world of predators. I've learned through experience that my thoughts govern what happens to me. Peacefulness creates the circumstances in which I thrive
Peter answering another questions: My personal moto for decades has been, "No one is coming to the rescue! What am I going to do about it?" Religion and politics very nature is irrationality and enslavement. Both are things I refuse to waste my time on.