NON-DUALITY
When people say they are spiritual, but not religious, this is exactly what many of them mean. They are interested in direct, immediate, personal experience and meaning, not institutionalized stories and ancient mythic fables. In other worlds a Spirit or UR disclosed in states of consciousness is one of the most important and ultimately most valid of all approaches to UR or Spirit. 1-2-3, it is first person. States in 1st person. Peak experiences of altered states, or plateau.
These direct spiritual experiences are utterly beyond any sort of talk, beyond any words, labels, concepts, or ideas.
There are only 3 ways that they can legitimately be talked about, which means only three ways that they can be discussed.
In order to know spirit (a knowledge by acquaintance), you have to have a direct experience itself. You cannot just talk about it.
1) If you are talking about it, you can say what it is not. This is called Apophatic as with the "Cloud of Unknowing" ... Silencing.
Apophatic - knowledge of God obtained through negation. (neti neti) - mystics
God is not love, God is not light, God is not goodness... God is not any of those because those are all just words. The mystics say God or Spirit is Neti Neti, not this, not that.
2) Or you can say what it is like, this is called:
Cataphatic - knowledge of God obtained through affirmations or positive statements (iti iti)
God is like Love, God is like a Great Universal Mind, Like absolute Freedom. God is like those, but God is not directly any of those. Because again, those are just words and concepts. And will give you at most knowledge by description, not knowledge by acquaintance. Until you have that acquaintance, all those words will distract and actually prevent the discovery.
3) The final way you can talk about spirit is to describe the steps, or practices or injunctions that you have to follow if you do indeed what to have a real experience, a real acquaintance of this ultimate reality. That is an injunctive or exemplary form of language which is giving the actual paradigms that will help to bring forth genuine spiritual data or immediate experience which will directly introduce you to that ultimate reality as an immediate first person state of consciousness.
These direct spiritual experiences are utterly beyond any sort of talk, beyond any words, labels, concepts, or ideas.
There are only 3 ways that they can legitimately be talked about, which means only three ways that they can be discussed.
In order to know spirit (a knowledge by acquaintance), you have to have a direct experience itself. You cannot just talk about it.
1) If you are talking about it, you can say what it is not. This is called Apophatic as with the "Cloud of Unknowing" ... Silencing.
Apophatic - knowledge of God obtained through negation. (neti neti) - mystics
God is not love, God is not light, God is not goodness... God is not any of those because those are all just words. The mystics say God or Spirit is Neti Neti, not this, not that.
2) Or you can say what it is like, this is called:
Cataphatic - knowledge of God obtained through affirmations or positive statements (iti iti)
God is like Love, God is like a Great Universal Mind, Like absolute Freedom. God is like those, but God is not directly any of those. Because again, those are just words and concepts. And will give you at most knowledge by description, not knowledge by acquaintance. Until you have that acquaintance, all those words will distract and actually prevent the discovery.
3) The final way you can talk about spirit is to describe the steps, or practices or injunctions that you have to follow if you do indeed what to have a real experience, a real acquaintance of this ultimate reality. That is an injunctive or exemplary form of language which is giving the actual paradigms that will help to bring forth genuine spiritual data or immediate experience which will directly introduce you to that ultimate reality as an immediate first person state of consciousness.
Practices or Injunctions
How to Know Non-Duality - Prajna
Ideas to test and confirm.
Is it raining.
a. Injunction: Come look...
b. Data/Illumination/Apprehension: yes it is raining.
c. Confirmation: Invite a 3rd person. Invite more 3rd persons... Facts.
Discovery, asks a lot of other people to repeat results. 3rd person objective truths. Can lead to a state experience.
How to Know Non-Duality - Prajna
Ideas to test and confirm.
Is it raining.
a. Injunction: Come look...
b. Data/Illumination/Apprehension: yes it is raining.
c. Confirmation: Invite a 3rd person. Invite more 3rd persons... Facts.
Discovery, asks a lot of other people to repeat results. 3rd person objective truths. Can lead to a state experience.
Direct, immediate and conscious 1st person evidence. Not a belief, story or concept.
Enlightenment, satori, moksha, etc. Waking up.
Schools of waking up maintain that there are spiritual exercises, or practices, or injunctions or exemplars. They are actual spiritual paradigms. And if we engage those seriously, this will lead to direct data, direct experience, a genuine illumination of a radical ultimate ground of being. And the only reason people do not know this is that this knowledge is very different from typical knowledge.
Here you know this ultimate ground by BEING the ultimate ground. In direct experience, you realize YOU ARE IT! What the Sufis call Supreme Identity, Zen call Original Face, Christian Mystics, Christ consciousness, or True Self, Nondual Spirit, etc.
People that have a waking up experience, maintain it is the most real, most undeniable experience they have ever had, literally.
Where do these paths to waking up begin? Well being based on direct and immediate experience they start where ALL experience starts
With the absolute, utter, undeniable mystery of your existence.
I mean look at it. Look at the stuff arising from moment to moment.
And honestly, we have no idea why any of this is happening. How it's happening, what it all means. Where it's all going. Look at it right now. It's an absolute utter mystery.
The very first words, out of the very first mouth of the very first human there was, was "What the hell is going on here?"
Something is happening from moment to moment to moment... why?!! How? What?
It really is a mystery and this mystery is the constant all embracing reality.
If we really contemplate this mystery, really look into it, what do we find?
The paths of the great liberation say.
Sages and Saints have Started the discovery of what that mystery is NOT.
One of the conclusions of this approach "what the mystery is not" is that YOU are not who you think you are. You've taken this mystery and covered it up with a bunch of names, and labels and identities and concepts which really takes you away from the mystery of who and what you really are. Start by making a list of who you think you are right now.
Who and what you think you are
Bryant, pemf/energy medicine expert, business owner, father, son, brother, friend, Busters daddy, client, luxury car owner, Physicist, nutritionist, minister, yogi, Ma's devotee, Bhakta, kid. Describe your real self.
I like these books, these movies, this music and on and on. General sense of this ME.
I weigh 150, 6'0'.
Object, other, can be known or seen. List is a bunch of stuff that can be seen.
Not a subject but an object, not something that is the Seer, but that which is seen.
This traditions would maintain that all these things you just described is not your real self, it is exactly what you are NOT!
It is a list of false self, mistaken self, a very small and limited self, because it is just a bunch of objects, not your real self, not your true self.
The thing in you that is doing the real seeing, not just something that can be seen. It is the real knower, not something that can be know, it is feeler, not something that can be felt.
In short, your true self is a constant stream of pure witnessing awareness. It is the witness that is doing the seeing.
I see the mountain, but I am not the mountain.
I see the chair, but I am not the chair.
I see the computer, but I'm not the computer.
I have sensations, but I am not those sensations.
I have feelings, but I am not those feelings.
I have desires, but I am not those desires.
I have thoughts, but I am not those thoughts.
I am not identified with any of that.
In fact, I am totally free of all of it - a vast, open, infinite freedom,
I am an opening, a clearing, in which all of that is arising.
Boundless, changeless, absolutely free witness.
A pure awareness. This witness is radically open, transparently free, not stuck to anything. It's a vast emptiness that is pure mystery, beyond any word, object, concept, thing or label.
Because it can never be known as an object.
Anything you see out in world is not IT.
Not this that can be seen. A vast vast sense of absolute freedom.
Rest as that pure freedom. That is why discovering this state is called the Great Liberation. Everything that is arising in this state, is arising in this mystery. This vast openness, emptiness or clearing.
Often call a mirror mind. Receives but does not keep. Reflects but nothing sticks. Easy, spontaneous, free, effortless.
Paradoxical nature of this truth. There is nothing to achieve of become, it is something that is happening right now in any event. And all you need to do is recognize it.
You are a fish that is already wet. All you need to do is recognize that.
You need a Satori to realize that you don't need Satori.
Same is true with the eternal timeless now. You don't have to work hard to achieve the timeless now. It is something that you are truly experience right now in any event.
It is like the witness, you are witnessing this moment in any event, whether you recognize it or not.
The timeless now is not hard to attain, it is impossible to avoid.
You can see this is an illusion really easily... You think the past and future are really real?? Simply think of something from your past. Get a really clear sharp image of it.
And notice that image of the past is actually occurring RIGHT NOW. It is existing in this present now moment. And when that event was really happening, when it was real, IT was a now moment. Anything you are every aware of is the present now moment. Same holds for thinking of anything from the future. Get a good sense of that and notice it too is existing in this Present Now moment. And if it does become a reality it will be a Now moment when it does.
All that you are ever aware of is this endless, timeless ever present now. And that is all your True Self or ever present witness is ever aware of.
Eternal life belongs to those who live in the Present. And your true self is Always Already living in a real Eternity. That is your real self, awareness itself, and not any particular content of awareness
Enlightenment, satori, moksha, etc. Waking up.
Schools of waking up maintain that there are spiritual exercises, or practices, or injunctions or exemplars. They are actual spiritual paradigms. And if we engage those seriously, this will lead to direct data, direct experience, a genuine illumination of a radical ultimate ground of being. And the only reason people do not know this is that this knowledge is very different from typical knowledge.
Here you know this ultimate ground by BEING the ultimate ground. In direct experience, you realize YOU ARE IT! What the Sufis call Supreme Identity, Zen call Original Face, Christian Mystics, Christ consciousness, or True Self, Nondual Spirit, etc.
People that have a waking up experience, maintain it is the most real, most undeniable experience they have ever had, literally.
Where do these paths to waking up begin? Well being based on direct and immediate experience they start where ALL experience starts
With the absolute, utter, undeniable mystery of your existence.
I mean look at it. Look at the stuff arising from moment to moment.
And honestly, we have no idea why any of this is happening. How it's happening, what it all means. Where it's all going. Look at it right now. It's an absolute utter mystery.
The very first words, out of the very first mouth of the very first human there was, was "What the hell is going on here?"
Something is happening from moment to moment to moment... why?!! How? What?
It really is a mystery and this mystery is the constant all embracing reality.
If we really contemplate this mystery, really look into it, what do we find?
The paths of the great liberation say.
Sages and Saints have Started the discovery of what that mystery is NOT.
One of the conclusions of this approach "what the mystery is not" is that YOU are not who you think you are. You've taken this mystery and covered it up with a bunch of names, and labels and identities and concepts which really takes you away from the mystery of who and what you really are. Start by making a list of who you think you are right now.
Who and what you think you are
Bryant, pemf/energy medicine expert, business owner, father, son, brother, friend, Busters daddy, client, luxury car owner, Physicist, nutritionist, minister, yogi, Ma's devotee, Bhakta, kid. Describe your real self.
I like these books, these movies, this music and on and on. General sense of this ME.
I weigh 150, 6'0'.
Object, other, can be known or seen. List is a bunch of stuff that can be seen.
Not a subject but an object, not something that is the Seer, but that which is seen.
This traditions would maintain that all these things you just described is not your real self, it is exactly what you are NOT!
It is a list of false self, mistaken self, a very small and limited self, because it is just a bunch of objects, not your real self, not your true self.
The thing in you that is doing the real seeing, not just something that can be seen. It is the real knower, not something that can be know, it is feeler, not something that can be felt.
In short, your true self is a constant stream of pure witnessing awareness. It is the witness that is doing the seeing.
I see the mountain, but I am not the mountain.
I see the chair, but I am not the chair.
I see the computer, but I'm not the computer.
I have sensations, but I am not those sensations.
I have feelings, but I am not those feelings.
I have desires, but I am not those desires.
I have thoughts, but I am not those thoughts.
I am not identified with any of that.
In fact, I am totally free of all of it - a vast, open, infinite freedom,
I am an opening, a clearing, in which all of that is arising.
Boundless, changeless, absolutely free witness.
A pure awareness. This witness is radically open, transparently free, not stuck to anything. It's a vast emptiness that is pure mystery, beyond any word, object, concept, thing or label.
Because it can never be known as an object.
Anything you see out in world is not IT.
Not this that can be seen. A vast vast sense of absolute freedom.
Rest as that pure freedom. That is why discovering this state is called the Great Liberation. Everything that is arising in this state, is arising in this mystery. This vast openness, emptiness or clearing.
Often call a mirror mind. Receives but does not keep. Reflects but nothing sticks. Easy, spontaneous, free, effortless.
Paradoxical nature of this truth. There is nothing to achieve of become, it is something that is happening right now in any event. And all you need to do is recognize it.
You are a fish that is already wet. All you need to do is recognize that.
You need a Satori to realize that you don't need Satori.
Same is true with the eternal timeless now. You don't have to work hard to achieve the timeless now. It is something that you are truly experience right now in any event.
It is like the witness, you are witnessing this moment in any event, whether you recognize it or not.
The timeless now is not hard to attain, it is impossible to avoid.
You can see this is an illusion really easily... You think the past and future are really real?? Simply think of something from your past. Get a really clear sharp image of it.
And notice that image of the past is actually occurring RIGHT NOW. It is existing in this present now moment. And when that event was really happening, when it was real, IT was a now moment. Anything you are every aware of is the present now moment. Same holds for thinking of anything from the future. Get a good sense of that and notice it too is existing in this Present Now moment. And if it does become a reality it will be a Now moment when it does.
All that you are ever aware of is this endless, timeless ever present now. And that is all your True Self or ever present witness is ever aware of.
Eternal life belongs to those who live in the Present. And your true self is Always Already living in a real Eternity. That is your real self, awareness itself, and not any particular content of awareness
**STATES** Or Glimpse/Peak- Plateau then Permanent.
Temporary states become permanent traits.
A state of consciousness is simply a present, 1st person, immediate experience.
Happy, sad, excited, anxious, etc... small states of consciousness.
Big States would be waking, dreaming, deep sleep, witnessing and other meditative higher states. Peak Experiences. Some of the most important states of all are states of religious or spiritual experience. A spiritual experience is not a myth or a story or a magic tale, its a direct and immediate experience. A real experience like an ultimate unity or cosmic consciousness AND it can give you an enormous amount of insight into reality.
***William James book about just that "The Variety of Religious Experience".
Meditative Traditions around the world consist of not a bunch of magic mythic stories, but rather a set of practices (psycho technology) of consciousness transformation (not merely translation). Translation vs Transformation.
A series of practices or paradigms that will give you a whole sequence of spiritual experiences. Meditative BIG States. And those often summate with what is variously known as enlightenment, awakening, satori, moksha, metamorphosis, the Great Liberation.
This whole process you can call waking up...
Which is different from growing up, because with growing up you are moving through a series of structures of consciousness that you cannot see by introspecting (views - how you experience and interpret the world). So you have no idea it is happening to you, the growing up process.
But waking up consists of 1st person states of consciousness, and states are fully conscious, direct experiences and you immediately know them when they are happening.
When you have an experience of being one with the universe and love and bliss, believe me, you know it.
But when you are at a particular level or stage of growing up and you are interpreting the world through its particular lens, you have no idea you're doing it. New emergent Structures of consciousness akin to new emergent structures in biological evolution?
Temporary states become permanent traits.
A state of consciousness is simply a present, 1st person, immediate experience.
Happy, sad, excited, anxious, etc... small states of consciousness.
Big States would be waking, dreaming, deep sleep, witnessing and other meditative higher states. Peak Experiences. Some of the most important states of all are states of religious or spiritual experience. A spiritual experience is not a myth or a story or a magic tale, its a direct and immediate experience. A real experience like an ultimate unity or cosmic consciousness AND it can give you an enormous amount of insight into reality.
***William James book about just that "The Variety of Religious Experience".
Meditative Traditions around the world consist of not a bunch of magic mythic stories, but rather a set of practices (psycho technology) of consciousness transformation (not merely translation). Translation vs Transformation.
A series of practices or paradigms that will give you a whole sequence of spiritual experiences. Meditative BIG States. And those often summate with what is variously known as enlightenment, awakening, satori, moksha, metamorphosis, the Great Liberation.
This whole process you can call waking up...
Which is different from growing up, because with growing up you are moving through a series of structures of consciousness that you cannot see by introspecting (views - how you experience and interpret the world). So you have no idea it is happening to you, the growing up process.
But waking up consists of 1st person states of consciousness, and states are fully conscious, direct experiences and you immediately know them when they are happening.
When you have an experience of being one with the universe and love and bliss, believe me, you know it.
But when you are at a particular level or stage of growing up and you are interpreting the world through its particular lens, you have no idea you're doing it. New emergent Structures of consciousness akin to new emergent structures in biological evolution?