ADRASTIA

Self-Realization, Life and Death

2012-02-18T18:13:00.002-05:00

I prefer the life-affirming and life-fulfillment messages of enlightenment but nevertheless there are a few important points to make about the nature of self-realization from examining the state of consciousness called death.

The standard non-dual teaching (and it’s a good one) when people ask about death or what happens after death is “you are born and die at each moment” or “you die and reincarnate at each moment.” Another response is “you (as Self) were never born so can never die (see Appendix 3, Nisargadatta Maharaj); do you remember your birth or is it just something your parents and others told you about?”

The teachings of the Buddha say that enlightenment is the end of your incarnations. The Bodhisattva path claims that the realized being refuses final enlightenment to come back and help benighted mankind.

Let’s assume that death does happen, for the physical and mental bodies at least. Then what happens after you die? Let's look at this first, then draw some parallels with Self-Realization

The Tibetan Book of the Dead offers some information. Christianity and the Abrahamic religions do also. The version I like the best is from The Wisdom of the Overself by Paul Brunton. In the chapter called The Scorpion of Death he offers a view which benefits from his extensive Eastern studies but also from the Western occult tradition, which was an important form of spirituality in the West in the first half of the 20th century.

Brunton describes three phases of death. The first corresponds closely to what has been reported in many Near Death Experiences (NDE). The second phase is a dream-like state. The third phase corresponds to deep sleep. After these phases have run their course, the forces of nature conspire to formulate the next incarnation.

Phase I: Entrance to the state of consciousness called Death, which corresponds to what Near Death Studies have found. (See Moody, Kenneth Ring)

The steps in NDE are 1. A feeling of peace,[1],[2] 2. Out-of-body experience,[3] 3. Journey through a tunnel, [4]4.Being met by the spirits of dead relatives, [5] 5. Being met by a spirit guide, Jesus or a Guru, 6. Encountering the Being of Light, God, [6]7. Life review, [7], [8]8. Being instructed to return to the life in the body. In case histories of NDE phenomena, the order (sequence) of the phases can differ.

Phase II

The second phase of death consciousness is a dream-like phase where the being createsa world out of his or her conditioning and imagination.

"Although the spirit’s state is likened to that of the dreamer’s, there are however some important differences. First, it is much more prolonged. According to the new time-standard by which it now lives, years may and do pass away. Second, the wildness, incoherence and illogical disorder which mark so many dreams are not to be found here. Everything is presented to the spirit in an orderly connected and plausible manner. Whereas the dreamer cannot control his phantasies and usually experiences a wild jumble of incoherent episodes and incongruent figures, the spirit on the contrary finds its existence fairly logical and reasonably continuous."[9]

"This after-death life is really a kind of intense reverie in which the spirit sees its own visions as if they were external to itself, visions peopled with images and scenes which are subconsciously constructed partly out of the ideas, feelings, tendencies and associations of its physical lifetime."[10]

"The new entrant will most likely fall into a state which is hardly different from that of an uneasy sleeper, a state in which unconsciousness is predominant but is punctuated with fitful scraps of dream-like consciousness. During these prolonged spells of awakening he recovers much the same personal consciousness, desires, emotions and thoughts which he possessed before."[11]

“An individual will, after death, begin to live fully conscious within one of the subplanes of the psychonoetic world, carrying along with him his virtues and vices, his goals and his aspirations. His personality undergoes no change. Only the reality of space changes. The individual enters into a situation where space as we know it in the gross material plane does not exist. He perceives space as meaning, as conception.” Daskalos' last remarks provoked several questions for clarification. (For full teaching see appendix 1 from The Magus of Strovolos, Kyriacos C. Markides.)

This subtle personality eventually dissolves into a featureless deep sleep which corresponds to a deepening of the realization, peace, emptiness.

Phase III
The third and final phase is one that is like a deep dreamless restorative sleep.

"The passage from this intermediate state to the next one, which is that of pure blissful dreamless sleep, is marked by a swoon similar to but without the agonizing features of the swoon which marks the passage from physical life to the spirit-world. The spirit now enters and dwells in a condition which is equivalent to what it formerly knew as deep slumber."[12]

And finally natural forces conspire to bring about the next incarnation. (See appendix 4, A.H.Almaas.)

Non Duality

The description of what happens after you die sheds some light on an issue which is getting a lot of consideration these days: stabilization and establishment of initial self-realization.

I propose that the initial realization corresponds to the NDE, phase I of afterlife. Here the Light of the World Mind is recognized as being one’s own self-nature. One is simple clarity, consciousness, the formless awareness.

Here’s a quote from the Bardo Thodol, The Tibetan Book of the Dead:

"O nobly-born (so-and-so), listen. Now thou art experiencing the Radiance of the Clear Light of Pure Reality. Recognize it. O nobly-born, thy present intellect, in real nature void, not formed into anything as regards characteristics or colour, naturally void, is the very Reality, the All-Good.
Thine own intellect, which is now voidness, yet not to be regarded as of the voidness of nothingness, but as being the intellect itself, unobstructed, shining, thrilling, and blissful, is the very consciousness, the All-good Buddha.
Thine own consciousness, not formed into anything, in reality void, and the intellect, shining and blissful -- these two -- are inseparable. The union of them is the Dharma-Kāya state of Perfect Enlightenment.
Thine own consciousness, shining, void, and inseparable from the Great Body of Radiance, hath no birth, nor death, and is the Immutable Light -- Buddha Amitābha.
Knowing this is sufficient. Recognizing the voidness of thine own intellect to be Buddhahood, and looking upon it as being thine own consciousness, is to keep thyself in the [state of the] divine mind of the Buddha.
Repeat this distinctly and clearly three or [even] seven times. That will recall to the mind [of the dying one] the former [i.e. when living] setting-face-to-face by the guru. Secondly, it will cause the naked consciousness to be recognized as the Clear Light; and, thirdly, recognizing one's own self [thus], one becometh permanently united with the Dharma-Kāya and Liberation will be certain.” [13]

The next phase is a dream-like state, maybe a heaven world, maybe a reproduction from tendencies of the life you just departed from. This parallels the bodhisattva or teaching phase of the realized being. In the Light only the higher and more refined qualities of the personality survive. Here the primal wisdom can be communicated to others.

"Body, senses and mind are supposed to be the clothing of the real Self within. The ignorant man emphasizes the clothing alone and loses sight of the Self. But with the attainment of a spiritual outlook the position is reversed, and the very same clothes are made a help to visualize the Self within.

The way to achieve this is to make the clothing of the Self as thin as possible so as to see through them. Or, in other words, make the body, senses and mind function in such a manner that you can see through them. Then your attention is caught by the Self within; the mind and senses lose their significance as obstacles and become mere pointers to the Self.” (Shri Atmananda) [14]

"So at first I got scared of it and then I, 'cause I didn't want to lose myself back to Bruce. I tell you I didn't want to be Bruce again. One of the greatest things of losing yourself is it’s such a relief. All of the stuff about you that you don't like disappears and what remains is the stuff that was always wonderful. The real stuff. The stuff you love stays. The stuff you hated, poof, gone! There I was, was coming back. And it was coming back here (points to heart). Heart chakra area, it was vibrating and I got really disturbed by it and then I just went: (pfft) get out! Like that and it left. Poof! gone! And I said, ‘Wow, I don't have to be Bruce. And if Bruce tries to come in I have control. I'll get that out of me.’ And that's what I did and I would do that until it didn't kind of reappear very often and if it did, it did, and I tried to understand what is this Bruce and non-Bruce? Cause I'm still here, I Am. I am still here but Bruce is not here except occasionally. So I started to philosophize and in some ways using scientific principles, the understanding of light. Light is we are told a wave and a particle at the same time. Which means nothing to most people. You can't figure that out. How can it be a wave and a particle at the same time? And they say it all depends on how you observe it. If you observe it one way it’s a wave, if you observe it another way it’s a particle. And I began to think, ‘Bruce is a particle.’ Then, ‘Bruce is a wave,’ and it’s the same thing, there's this little particle and there's this vast wave of Being and they somehow operate as a whole. And Bruce didn't have to, how can I say it, completely die, disappear and he hadn't, he was still making himself known. So there was just this vastness and this tiny little thing all working in tandem as a whole. And whether this dovetails with other people awakening or enlightenment, I have no idea. This is my story So there I was with moments of Bruce and mostly this incredible largeness and this sense of walking around as a kind of blessing to people."[15] (Bruce Joel Rubin: transcript; see appendix 5.)

"Now as we begin to awaken, our identity begins to shift. We let go of one way of seeing ourselves, we awaken to a new way of seeing ourselves, a new way of being, a new, literally a new consciousness. So very often in our first real spiritual awakening what we see is that we are not ego, that we are not [N2] the person we thought we were. The ego may still be there, it may not just simply disappear with that recognition but if the awakening is true and it’s authentic, it’s in some way or another that we've really realized that we are not the person that we thought we were. That is a fundamental shift of identity. Generally when people have a first awakening, very often what they have really awoken from is their ego. They haven't necessarily awoken from ‘self’" as such but they have awoken from lower self, which would be ego which is an amazing realization, which is an extraordinarily liberating thing to experience and to see. " [16] (Adyashanti: transcript; see appendix 6.)

“And for a while what I'm talking about for some people may sound like theory, it may sound something like hard for them to touch upon especially when it comes to, 'well, what's the experience of myself starting to fall away?' But for someone whose self has started to fall away you have a very visceral sense what this means, a very visceral and concrete sense of what it’s like to have self start to fall away, the energy of self, the orientation of self. Now beyond ego when we get into the range of higher self, higher self becomes a very transparent kind of self. The higher self is so transparent that it seems as though it’s not even there at all. It's almost like looking through a plane [N3] of glass that's perfectly clean. It seems like there's no self there at all. When we come into real union, when we come into the perception of oneness usually this is higher self stuff. Union, Oneness, to see the unity of all things, all creatures, to see the divine in and as everything. This is the realization of higher self.” [17] (Adyashanti: transcript; see appendix 6.)

“So when I'm talking about a surrendering of self, I am talking about this from the most mundane egoically-oriented state of consciousness, right up to in many ways the most rarified types of spiritual consciousness, because surrendering self is a surrendering, in a certain sense it’s a letting go of consciousness itself. It’s a letting go of all ways of referencing, self-referencing, in many ways referencing an inner life. This tendency of self to reflect back on itself, on its experiences on, even the beautiful things, it starts to slow down, and slow down, and dissolve. And that too is a surrendering of self. Now when self dissolves, only then do we really experience what there is beyond all notions of self, whether it’s separate notions of self, expanded unified experiences and notions of self, but [N4] what actually lies beyond self. Ultimately this is where spirituality is taking everybody.”[18] (Adyashanti: transcript; see appendix 6.)

The final phase, the deep sleep phase, corresponds to those teachings about the void, the identity which is beyond the formless light of consciousness. Here there is no longer an extraordinary realization, no wisdom to be communicated; the Zen Mind is the ordinary mind.

"And as long as one is conscious, there will be pain and pleasure. You cannot fight pain and pleasure on the level of consciousness. To go beyond them you must go beyond consciousness, which is possible only when you look at consciousness as something that happens to you and not in you, as something external, alien, superimposed. Then, suddenly you are free of consciousness, really alone, with nothing to intrude. And that is your true state. Consciousness is an itching rash that makes you scratch. Of course, you cannot step out of consciousness for the very idea of stepping out is in consciousness. But if you learn to look at your consciousness as a sort of fever, personal and private, in which you are enclosed like a chick in its shell, out of this very attitude will come the crisis which will break the shell." (Nisargadattta Maharaj)[19]

The Mandukya Upanishad, a core text in Advaita teachings, briefly says there are 3 modes of consciousness: waking, dream and deep sleep. Awareness in itself is beyond these three and makes the experiencing of them possible. I just want to mention that the postmortem journey parallels these states: waking, dream and deep sleep.

One teacher who mentions this distinction is Karl Renz.:

KARL: Is there a difference? You can make a difference, if you like. You may say enlightenment is going from the "I am so-and-so" to the "I am." Satori, going from identification to non-identification, you can make it "enlightenment."
You can say enlightenment is even to have an experience of that light, or an experience that you are light and everything else is illusion. Then you run around like light. "I am real, but everything else is not." So you are landing there in what is called "light." And then there is an enlightened one who sees all unenlightened ones around him. So then you're in the God-consciousness and you see only pigs sitting around you.
JAMES: So you can be an avatar, or whatever.
KARL: Whatever.
JAMES: But what about Self-realization?
KARL: Self-realization I would call the realization that That which is Self is ever-realized and doesn't need anyone to realize anything. But this is not a realization of something, this is a non-realization. This is a realization that existence, for sure, doesn't need a pot to realize what is existence.[20]

In conclusion I would like to point out that death and the afterlife is a natural process. It has three phases, initial, dream-like and deep-sleep-like. The self-realized being may be or BE inwardly formless consciousness and free; still nature may have some say. Self-realization itself is a natural process. Not only are these states the basis of the Mandukya Upanishad but also I propose delineate the "process" from initial enlightenment or self-realization to final liberation. This process starts with the recognition and establishment of sense of self-identity with consciousness: there is a dream-like phase in which a 'transparent' personality made up of the finer human qualities is able to transmit and reflect back to the light of consciousness in this world. A later phase that we equate with liberation and that is parallel with deep sleep is just being what is. The translucent personality has run its course and collapsed, leaving 'just this.'

And don't take it so seriously.

‎"It’s just a spiritual story: ‘You need to die before you die.’ What’s there to die? Just notice that you are already aware. Who needs to die? It just builds up this idea of being somebody that needs to die to itself. And it never happens. Because it never was there as a real entity. There’s just a thought appearing, and a thought dying, a thought appearing, a thought dying, and you’re still here. Start to enjoy life rather than work up to some fictional death, to some future experience where the personal identity will die. Be real loving to yourself, and simply start enjoying the fact that you exist. It’s much more beneficial. And it’s much more effective." [21]

Appendix 1

The Magus of Strovolos

Kyriacos C. Markides

One after another Daskalos' students arrived, a total of about twenty-five, ranging in age from twenty-five to seventy and evenly representing the sexes. Like the Nicosia circle, they came from the more educated segments of society. Daskalos arrived last, along with Kostas, who drove from Limassol to attend the meeting. lacovos and Kostas regularly attended all the lectures that Daskalos offered at various parts of the island. They would always sit next to their master as if to offer emotional support during the lesson.

Before the formal meeting began Daskalos sat in the living room, had coffee and cracked a few jokes.

He then moved to another room and had private conversations with some of those in attendance. Daskalos was not only a teacher to these people, but also a confessor and advisor for their personal problems.

After everybody had gathered in a larger room, Kostas lit within a container some incense, the type used in Greek churches. Daskalos stood up and everyone followed suit. He held high the container with the burning incense and with it made the sign of the cross. He then recited a short prayer.

'We will spend the period today,' Daskalos said after he completed the short prayer, 'reexamining some issues concerning the psychonoetic worlds. I have noticed that some of you have many questions about the nature of these realms. You may proceed with your questions. Father Yohannan is ready to answer them.'

Kostas, who was sitting on Daskalos' left side, served as moderator. The first question from the audience was sweeping. 'What happens to a person from the moment of his death to the moment of reincarnation?' Kostas repeated the question so that everyone would hear it clearly.

Daskalos began to answer by first giving a definition of death and by explaining the transformation of the self-conscious personality after death.

'We have said before that the gross material body cannot maintain itself without its corresponding etheric-double. Death, therefore, means the separation and disintegration of the etheric-double from the gross material body. Normally it takes forty days for the dissolution of the etheric-double of a deceased person. It is for this reason that in our religion a candle is lit for forty days over the grave of the dead. Fire accelerates the process of dissolution of the etheric-double.'

Daskalos pointed out that the etheric-double of a dead person is highly malleable and can be snatched by a black sorcerer who can use it for evil purposes. The custom in India, therefore, of burning the bodies of the dead is preferable.

'Ordinary people assume that death is a frightful and painful experience. In reality it is the opposite. The process of death is no different than a pleasant sleep after the exhaustion from a day's work. One may suffer from a serious illness but at the moment of death no pain is experienced. A great mystic once said, "Never have human lips tasted a sweeter kiss than the one given by the angel of death." I know this from personal experience. The moment a person begins to abandon his body his face acquires a serene stillness and he no longer experiences any pain.

../AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary Internet Files/Content.Outlook/2U3DARL3/daskalos1'An individual will, after death, begin to live fully conscious within one of the subplanes of the psychonoetic world, carrying along with him his virtues and vices, his goals and his aspirations. His personality undergoes no change. Only the reality of space changes. The individual enters into a situation where space as we know it in the gross material plane does not exist. He perceives space as meaning, as conception.' Daskalos' last remarks provoked several questions for clarification.

'Suppose,' he went on, 'I bring you into this room while you are asleep and give you a certain lesson.

‘You will have the impression of the space as you have at this moment. When you see me the next day you will probably tell me, "Daskale, we came to the Stoa, and each one of us sat at the spot of our preference." The question I pose to you is the following. Will you have really come to this room to listen to my talk? In the state you will be in, anybody living within the psychic world, regardless of distance, may be able to hear the same lesson through coordination. In the psychic world we are like television stations that others can tune into and receive whatever we monitor. When we leave our bodies, either through death or through exomatosis, we actually enter within ourselves.

Communication, then, as well as all other experiences, takes place from within. Everything is there.’

Some time ago our master mentioned to us a great truth. "The abyss within us," he said, "is in no way less than the abyss without."

'Perhaps it will be easier to understand what I have been saying if I offer you the following concrete case. Three brothers in their wish to communicate with their father decided to carry out a psychic experiment after his death. One of them was in Australia, one in London, and the third in America.

‘Working through three different powerful mediums they managed to contact their father simultaneously. They wanted to bring their father "down" they said. They actually assumed that their father was somewhere "up." He talked to them about certain family matters that none of them was aware of and which later they confirmed to be true. They reached the conclusion, however, that it was not their father they conversed with, but the devil. How could it be their father, they reasoned, since they were at three different spots on the planet while communicating with him at the same time? They assumed that their father was in a similar condition after death as that of the material world.

'They came to Cyprus and through me contacted their father again. He reassured them that it was he who had spoken to them earlier. "I did not pay attention to your surroundings but I did speak to all three of you. I even touched you," he told them. "How could you do that, Father, since we were so far away from each other?" his three sons asked.

'I warned them that had they persisted in doubting him they could create confusion in his mind. Just because he was on the other side did not mean that he had transcended the phenomenal reality. I reassured them that it was not the devil's doing but that it was indeed their father who talked to them.

‘I pointed out that in the psychic realm communication takes place through vibrations at similar frequencies. "Let us suppose," I told them, "that I have several powerful radios that can get any station anywhere on the planet. Now, if I place these radios at different parts of the Earth and then tune them in to the same frequency, would not all of them receive the same broadcasting?"

‘Communication on the psychic plane is something analogous. No human consciousness will ever be mixed up and be confused with another. Ever since the discovery of radio and television it is much easier for ordinary human beings to understand the nature of the psychic worlds.

'You must realize that the planes and subplanes of the psychic and noetic worlds occupy the same space. And this space is the center of the Earth, everywhere on the planet, the periphery of the planet and the space around the planet. Do not imagine that these psychonoetic planes and subplanes are juxtaposed one on top of the other. At this very moment inside the head of a pin, in this space and everywhere there exist all the planes and subplanes of the psychonoetic worlds. It is a state of being, of vibrations and a method of tuning into them.

'Within the psychic world you, as a self-conscious personality, will be wherever you choose to focus your attention. That is why whenever you see a vivid dream and you perceive yourself moving instantly over vast distances, you conclude that such experiences are unreal, that they are illusions.

‘They are not. When, some day, you find yourself in the psychic world, you will realize that those worlds are more concrete than gross matter. You will begin to live with greater intensity with greater ease. Yet the world that you will find yourself in will be in many ways similar to the one you now know.

‘It is a matter of your ability of receiving impressions and psychonoetic vibrations. On the basis of your interests and predispositions, you will enter after death into an analogous psychic state. You will find yourselves in a hell, a purgatory or a paradise, the same one you are in right now at this very moment.

'There is, however, one important difference between the material and the psychic realms. When we find ourselves in the psychic environment, feelings acquire a greater intensity. For example, feelings of hatred and jealousy can become like fire that burns. In this life such sentiments can be tempered by the limitations of the material brain. On the psychic plane limits do not exist. That is why in the psychic worlds life is experienced with such intensity. But you should never assume that the so-called hells are some kind of psychic torture chambers. The hells and purgatories are schools and workshops for the acquisition of experiences so that human entities may ascend towards their perfection. In reality there is no punishment. There is only experience. If there is suffering it is not because the Absolute wishes to punish us for our transgressions but so that we can find out who we really are. The purpose of such experiences is to help us shake off our illusions and ignorance.

'Hell and paradise are relative terms. One person's hell may be another person's paradise. To help someone in the psychic plane move out of his hell, for example, you must show him an alternative condition to the one he is in. If he was a querulous person during his life on Earth, he will find himself in a similar situation after he leaves his body. To help him you will have to expose him to the immediately better condition that he can move into. If he is not receptive to your suggestions, let him remain where he is. He lives in his paradise even though it may be the most tortuous hell. Let me give you an example. I have tried to help someone who during his life was a gambler and a very quarrelsome person. He died from tuberculosis forty-five years ago. He has been living in the psychic world exactly the same way as he did when he was in the gross material plane. He has created with others the same environment analogous to the one they knew on Earth: dirty windows, dirty clothes and tables, fights, arguments, just like the environment of the coffee houses they knew before. They did not even have the imagination to build them any better. One day I said to him, "Come, my friend, let's go somewhere." I took him away from his situation and created the vibrations of a Beethoven symphony that I like very much, specifically that of joy. I told him. "Charilae," that was his name, "look!" And I showed him a beautiful forest, with colors, water, flowers, everything. I harmonized the sounds with the sights and created for him what I considered to be a paradise. He gazed at me for some time and then he said, "Aren't you tired? Let's go back and play some poker with my friends. How long are you going to keep me here listening to these tin drums of yours?" What could I tell him?

‘He lived in his paradise which for me was an intolerable hell. How could I explain to that man the difference between hell and paradise?

'Here is another case. A peevish woman spent her entire life accusing, gossiping and cursing her neighbors. When she died she continued the same kind of life, only more intensely. Instead of the real human beings she left behind, she created and quarreled with their elementals which she brought along with her; the elementals of Maria, of Eleni, of Efterbe. We tried in vain to show her that she lived in a hell and that she ought to dissolve those elementals so that she could see more clearly.

‘Only after she is exhausted from her condition will she voluntarily ask for change. Those of you who will one day become invisible helpers will encounter such difficulties. You must know that unless a person seeks change himself you cannot help him. Each person will develop gradually. The most we can do under such circumstances is to create a benign elemental and place it on the aura of the person to work. When he is ready for change, that elemental will be there to assist him.’

'Daskale,' I asked, 'do the psychonoetic planes and subplanes have an objective existence independent of the individual's subjective perception of them?'

'I have said before that the psychic worlds have trees, mountains, oceans, rivers, everything that exists on the planet, everything that has ever existed and everything that can exist. What you consider as the real world is actually the shadow or the reflection of other more luminous worlds within which everything material that is considered real exists. In the various planes and subplanes of the psychic worlds there exist not only whatever exists on this planet which was created by archangelic forces, such as water, mountains, forests, but also whatever humans have created either while they are still alive or after they depart. The psychic world is a much richer world.

‘However, most persons who live there perceive it through the elementals that they themselves create. In the psychic worlds, for example, there is no sun that rises and sets every day, unless we create one ourselves. But the sun we create will be within our individual subjective psychic world, not the external one. Therefore, when a human being abandons his gross material body, he begins to live simultaneously within two planes of existence, the real psychic plane and his own subjective psychic world. Most human beings are so engrossed within their own subjective shell that they are unaware of the nature of the psychic plane within which they vibrate. It is as if, for example, we are on a journey but because of our passions and psychic turmoil, we are oblivious to the beauty of the countryside outside. And let me say something that may seem blasphemous. On the basis of my own personal experience what may be considered an intolerable hell is, in reality, a most beautiful space, assuming that you can coordinate your consciousness with the real psychic plane. It is our predisposition that will let us or prevent us from perceiving that beauty.' Daskalos went on to say that the evolution of the Researcher of Truth implies the development of the ability to distinguish between the real psychic world and the subjective psychic environment that people build around them with the elementals they bring along when they enter there. What is ugly in these psychonoetic planes is what each individual hides within his subjective shell, his own psychic world, which gives him vibrations of evil, hatred and vulgarity.

'Where is this shell?' someone interjected.

‘You mean in terms of space? Again, everywhere and nowhere. But a person who constructs his own shell and lives in it, perceives it as having clear limits within which he is confined and is allowed to act. People build their villages, their churches, their fields, just as they had them on the gross material plane. We can enter into their psychic shells when we coordinate ourselves with them and understand how they perceive their psychic world from within.'

On a different occasion Iacovos had mentioned to me that he regularly meets with his grandfather who died several years back. His grandfather, he said, is still preoccupied with the same concerns as when he was alive. He looks after his citrus orchard, cultivates it, sells the fruit and worries about the rainfall!

'In the lower levels of the psychic world that we call hells and purgatories there is less light than in the higher planes. Divine Mercy places within beautiful landscapes those vibrations of light that make these subplanes equivalent to convalescent homes. It is similar to what we normally do when we attend to the needs of an ailing person. We keep the windows shut and the room dimly lit so that the nervous system of the patient may calm down. In a comparable manner the Absolute dressed all those magnificent landscapes of the lower psychic planes within a twilight. It is an appropriate environment for those sickly personalities who find themselves there so that they can recuperate and evolve. As we move from the lower planes towards the higher, we observe that there is increasingly more light in a similar manner to the way that a landscape is illumined as the Sun rises over the horizon. Paradises, which are the higher psychonoetic planes, are swimming in light of vibrating intensity.

'Notice,' Daskalos continued, 'that a key attribute of the psychic world is that every atom of matter emanates its own light. It is unlike the three-dimensional world where light comes from a Sun or some artificial source.'

Daskalos' last remark brought to mind Castaneda's description of an experience he had during his apprenticeship with Don Juan. Castaneda claimed that one moonless night while walking in the desert with Don Juan, having difficulty in moving about because of the darkness, he suddenly perceived the entire landscape lighting up as if the Sun had come out. He could see, he said, everything clearly and could walk forward, as if it were daytime, with great ease. In addition, he said, he was able to carry on a dialogue with a coyote that happened to be there. Did Castaneda, I wondered, enter at that moment into a state of what Daskalos would have called the psychic counterpart of that place? When I posed the question to him later on, he said that probably this is what must have happened.

'Let me now ask you this question,' Daskalos went on. 'Can one communicate with a flower or a plant? Ordinary people, no matter how much they may love plants and flowers, cannot consciously communicate with them. They appear as objects to them, outside of themselves. A poet may be inspired by the beauty of a flower, but can he incorporate into his consciousness the semi-consciousness of the flower? In the psychic world it is very different. When you advance you will be able to communicate with all forms of life. All things are alive and have their own language, vibrations, and luminosity that you can feel on your psychic body.

'In the psychic world,' Daskalos said further, 'we do not think with our brains. We have them but we do not need them. Every cell of the psychic body is a center of consciousness receiving impressions. We have eyes but we do not need them for the same reason. Within the psychic world there is no separation between us and an object outside of us. When we coordinate ourselves and focus on something we are simultaneously one with that object. We are within it and around it. But we can do this assuming that we are in fact within the real psychic world and not within our shells which create for us our own psychic world. Under these conditions we color everything through our preconceptions and impressions.'

Responding to someone's query on the nature of movement within the psychic planes Daskalos went on to say that it is radically different from the way we are accustomed to moving on Earth. 'We do not move by walking, taking buses or driving. But we can perceive ourselves and others as walking or driving. This is only a perception, and an illusory one at that. When we are outside our bodies and we move here and there within the psychic world and the etheric of the gross material world, we may have the feeling that we are flying. Sometimes in your dreams you have this sensation. Have you ever wondered how this is possible? Are we birds that can fly? In the psychic world movement can take place instantly. It is a matter of transporting our consciousness through coordination. We can be in London, for example, in a split second without having to "fly" over Europe. Some day you will learn

how to transport your consciousness over vast distances instantly while you are still within a gross material plane.'

'Can you tell us how this is done?' I asked.

'I can tell you but it will not mean anything to you at this stage. You have to create in your mind the image of the place you want to go to, live intensely within that image, hold it in your mind without distraction, coordinate yourself with that place, then you will be there. And if at that moment there happens to be a clairvoyant at the place where you transported your consciousness, he will be able to see you. When you develop further you may be able to actually materialize yourself at that place and be seen by people who do not have clairvoyant abilities.'

'When you do that,' I probed further, 'what happens to your material body?'

'Again it depends on how advanced a master you are. Your body may be in a state of deep sleep. But one can reach a point at which he can do all that while at the same time being fully awake. With time you can develop a superconscious self-awareness and be at several spots of the Earth fully conscious and focused.'

I confessed that I had a hard time understanding what he was talking about. To be at several places at the same time!

'These are difficult issues,' Daskalos proceeded, 'but your question was such that I had to give you a general answer. Do not torment yourself for the time being. These are great truths that are very difficult for you to understand because you are familiar with conditions within time and space.'

Daskalos then mentioned that the worlds of 'separateness' are the poorest kinds even though they give us the greatest paradises and the greatest hells. 'The worlds of separateness include not only the material world but also the psychic and the noetic. These are worlds of forms, images, impressions. We call them worlds of separateness because one sees oneself as a separate entity which gets impressions and interprets them. It is something other than the real self. There are, however, other worlds where separateness is transcended. There are, for example, the higher noetic worlds, the worlds of ideas -- laws that are beyond concrete thought forms. There is also the world of eternal light, of the seven heavens. We have talked of only three, the gross material, the psychic, and the noetic. Beyond that there is what our religion calls the kingdom of heaven which is within us.

'These lessons,' Daskalos proceeded slowly after pausing for a few seconds, 'were given by the Most Beloved One to his disciples under the olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane. He taught them exomatosis, materialization, dematerialization, and many other secrets. In the essence of Christianity there are no barriers to knowledge even though black-robed priests have imposed limits and restrictions. We, as Researchers of Truth, want to know through reason, inquiry and concentration.

‘We take seriously Christ's admonition, "And the Truth shall make you free." This is why Christ-came to this world, to give us a few lessons and show us the road away from the hells that we find ourselves in, and to lead us to His paradise, and ours. Unfortunately very few men have learned from His teachings.'

Daskalos stopped his monologue and waited a few seconds for further questions. He then stressed once more that the psychic planes are schools where human beings enter to receive the necessary lessons and draw appropriate conclusions based on their experiences on. Earth. 'The individual will then move to higher, more luminous planes, and after he reaches a certain point he will be ordered by the great masters of Karma to return to Earth in order to receive further lessons. In short, the psychic planes are resting homes for the self-conscious personality until the new school year begins. Unless of course one flunks the exams and has to repeat the year all over again.' With these remarks Daskalos laughed heartily and everyone else joined him.

'Is it possible to enter a lower class?' someone joked.

'Never. It is possible to remain in the same class where one becomes a more experienced student. A self-conscious entity will incarnate within an environment analogous with other kindred spirits that vibrate on the same frequency. People call it heredity. There is no such thing. Instead of heredity I would say there is the omniscience of the Absolute which brings together those that must be brought together in order to advance together towards love. Hatred, in reality, does not exist. It is an illusion based on ignorance. Of course these issues require deep contemplation and study.'

'Does the soul know its destiny and the experiences that it will acquire from a future incarnation?' a black-clad middle-aged woman asked.

'Not in detail. Subconsciously, however, the permanent self-conscious soul knows. But it does not bring this knowledge to the conscious level of the present personality. For example, a little child touches fire and burns his finger. He will forget the detail of the accident but when he is near fire again he will pull his hand away. It is not necessary to remember the details of his earlier experience.’

'Should we assume, therefore, that the experiences acquired in a given incarnation are

predetermined?'

'No. The self-conscious soul knows only possibilities and probabilities. 'My present personality has freedom of action. Otherwise human beings would be nothing more than robots. How an individual pays off his debts is his own choice. It is as if at this very moment I am ordered to embark on a vessel headed for New York. My destination is preordained. The kind of fife I lead on the boat is my own concern. What is predetermined is my destination, New York.'

‘Then everything is based on a Divine Plan,' the woman insisted.

'The Divine Plan means birth and death, that is all,' Daskalos said in a loud severe voice betraying impatience. 'Everything else is your affair. Let us not misunderstand this question and assume that what happens to us is unavoidable. Otherwise we become absurd fatalists and we cease to be Researchers of Truth. What is predetermined is that you descend to be born, complete a life cycle, and then die. This you cannot avoid. Everything else within life is based on what you bring from previous lives and how you choose in the present life to develop or express it.

'I repeat, what is predetermined is our descent into matter after passing for the first time through the Idea of Man. Men,[N5] through repeated incarnations, our destiny is to return to where we came from.

‘This is the general law of incarnations. One descends into matter with the ultimate aim of ascending back to the source. How long it will take you to do that is your problem.'

'Why is it necessary for a soul to incarnate and then return?' I asked.

'To realize, perhaps, who one is and acquire self-consciousness.’

'Are you saying that inside the Holy Monad there is no self-consciousness?'

'There is, but one does not recognize it. Let me give you a simple example. Suppose you were born into a luminous room and I asked you, "Do you know what light is?" Do you think you would know?

‘On the other hand if I turn the lights off or take you outside the luminous space you will be able to know what light is. As eternal entities we do not become something which we are not already.

‘However, my permanent self-conscious personality, which is the sum total of all the incarnations that I go through, develops around my eternal beingness my distinct individuality. Beingness and individuality are not identical. I exist even before I pass through the Idea of Man. Once I do pass through and acquire the experiences of gross matter, I am in a position to realize that I exist.

‘Therefore, what we gain is individuality within beingness. We become conscious of our beingness. Had this not been the ultimate goal, descent into gross matter, followed by the incarnational cycles, would be pointless. In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, Christ cryptically revealed to Mankind the purpose of its existence.

'Christ narrates how one of two sons decided to leave the palace of his father. He asked for his share of the wealth so that he might go and experience the world. Had it not been part of the Divine Plan, the all-wise father could have refused. But the plan was to let him go, suffer hardships, acquire knowledge and then return. The son was given what he asked, in reality reason, sentiment and a material body, that is, his present personality. He took his share and went off. Some may call the departure from the palace and descent into matter a fall or sin. I choose to call it experience. In this new condition the son abused his inheritance and consequently was transformed into a swineherd. In reality he created elementals, pastured them and nourished himself with the same food, that is, with the lowest expression of the mind. The pigs in the parable symbolize the elementals that men create ceaselessly.

One day he rebelled and questioned the life he was leading among the pigs, that is, within the world of elementals. He decided to return to his father's palace where even the servants were so blissful.

‘He asked, "Father, I have sinned. Make me one of your servants." The son took one step forward, the father took ten. Where is the punishment? Have you noticed any reproach or punishment in the parable? The father opened his arms, embraced his son and brought him back into the palace.

‘Instead of punishment he rewarded him by placing on his finger a ring, that is, the symbol of eternity.

‘Life is movement. When we move the ring in any direction, we cannot stop. There is no beginning and no end. There is only eternal movement, symbolizing eternity. The other brother who never left the palace lives in the eternal present. He is not aware of eternity. Man, on the other hand, through the experiences of the swineherd, has tasted time as past, present and future. The father, according to the parable, ornamented the Prodigal Son with the costume of his brother, that is the Prodigal Son lost nothing of what he had had. The father then killed the fatted calf, a symbol of the material body. The other son protested. "What have you done for me who has been loyal to you all along?" But that son, the archangel, never entered inside a material body. "Everything I have is yours, my son," the father responded. I am asking you now, who is in a better position? The archangel who never stepped outside of the palace, who is good but knows nothing else? Or the Prodigal Son who returned and has whatever the other brother has plus self-awareness? Consider it as an axiom that in Theosis (return to the palace), the condition of man is much superior to all the archangelic systems.

‘Therefore, in the final analysis there is no eternal punishment. There is only the acquisition of experience within matter that develops for us our self-consciousness. In the words of Saint Paul, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?"'

When Daskalos ended his analysis of Christ's parable, there were further questions from the

audience about reincarnation, a topic of apparently great interest to those in attendance. Someone raised the issue of population increase and reincarnation. He wanted to know where the new souls come from. Daskalos replied briefly that there is continued communication between the noetic, psychic and gross material level. Humans who are born now may come from other dimensions of existence. Those who die move to these other universes. We should not consider this a problem, he said, since we know how a first incarnation takes place. That is, by the passage through the Idea of Man of an emanation springing from a Holy Monad. This is an eternal and continuous process. 'How

long does a human being stay within the psychic worlds before he reincarnates again?' I asked.

'The Rosicrucians claim one hundred and forty-four years. Others say fifty years, some others five hundred. Still others insist that it takes one thousand years before one is reborn. I say nonsense.

‘There is no fixed time. It is a personal matter. I know of a mystic, for example, who stayed within the psychic world for only ten months before he reincarnated.'

'Who decides,' someone asked, 'when one will return to Earth?'

Daskalos replied that after a period of time within the psychic world, when the individual has assimilated the experiences of the previous life, he will reach a point when the appetite for more experiences on Earth will be rekindled. The person then will search for a kindred spirit to have him incarnated. Daskalos mentioned that a clairvoyant can see the spirit of the entity to be incarnated attached either to the aura of the prospective father or mother, awaiting the opportunity to be conceived. It often oscillates between the auras of the father and mother.

'Are you suggesting, Daskale,' I probed, 'that when you are on the psychic level you will voluntarily search around to find someone to incarnate you?'

'Naturally.'

'But I thought that these matters were determined by the Masters in charge of incarnations?'

'The Masters will shut you up with others in a pen. Then it will be up to you to find a house to enter.

‘Suppose that through the centuries you established close relationships with forty or fifty persons whose aura is like yours. You love them, they love you. They could make you their child. Wherever you can accommodate yourself you can enter. There are beings that are so close that whenever they are herded together they will find one another. But there are those who come together blindly, because like attracts like. Do you understand now what is happening? Suppose we have a basket like a sieve, full of holes of different sizes. When we pour various objects through and shake them well, those that are bigger than a given hole will stay on top, others will pass through. Those which remain will try to find another hole to pass through. It is possible that there may be fifty similar holes through which an object can pass. Which one it will choose does not matter. It is possible that great love between individuals which developed through the centuries will create strong magnetic attractions so that two souls will pass through the same hole. This process of incarnation is a very complex matter that requires careful study.'

'It seems from what you are saying that to an extent it is up to you to find the appropriate hole so that you can pass through,' I added.

'Of course, with the understanding that Karma will permit you to do so. The choice is given to you to decide to pass through wherever you can fit. Pay attention to this point. From all the thousands of holes, you can pass through from, say, only two hundred. It is natural that I will pass through a hole of the two hundred that is nearest to me during the shaking of the sieve, a hole through which I can fit, for which I have similarities, where the vibrations are alike, the Karma is alike.'

'But the hole you have chosen may create problems for you,’ I began to say.

‘That is a different issue. We certainly do have problems. But the vibrations fit. We have to pay our debts together. We cannot avoid the problems. The Divine Plan is similar. All the incarnations that I have studied show that the Law works mercilessly. You cannot transcend it. Why do we fit? We fit in terms of give and take. We may have certain unfinished tasks from the past that must come forward in order to torment us so that we can evolve. Or to torment others involuntarily in order for others, as well as ourselves, to evolve. You may say, for example, "What do I have in common with this parent who is depressing and oppressing me?" Or if you are a parent, "Why did he have to come into our family and tyrannize us, such nice people that we are?" Do you understand now? It is the give and take within Karma. It is also possible for the Masters of Karma to take hold of someone and place him at the right hole because it may be better for the person to pay his debts that way. Now how these four Masters of Karma work, I do not know.'

‘Four?'

'They are the Masters of the four elements. They are eternal archangelic entities, laws. They are a certain class of Michael, a certain class of Raphael, a certain class of Ouriel and a class of Siamael.

‘The Siamael are those who give us the meaning of Evil. Through them we have Satan. All four cooperate in terms of where an individual will go to incarnate. They weave his psychonoetic body. It is very difficult for us to understand how they work through the cells, through magnetism, through energy. It is a complex question how a being becomes entrapped in this whirlpool which brings him down to Earth.'

'What rational arguments can you offer in support of reincarnation and what proof do you have that it is not an illusion but a reality?' I probed further.

'First, there are historical and religious arguments that, although not proofs in themselves, support the idea of reincarnation. Second, there are cases that clearly show that reincarnation is a reality and not fantasy. And the third and best proof of the reality of reincarnation for an individual is when he awakens to the memories of past lives. But let us take one argument at a time.

'In our world a great number of people, if not the majority, accept reincarnation as a fact of life. In most of the religions of the planet reincarnation is either clearly stated or implied. In the esoteric traditions of Buddhism, Taoism, and Hinduism reincarnation is taken for granted. For those who understand Islam, I mean the Sufis, reincarnation is also a reality. In Christianity, too, reincarnation is implied. In the Eastern religions, of course, the idea of reincarnation is much more easily accepted because in these religions there is more direct contact with the psychic spheres. Unlike Western societies, there is a continuous contact in the East with the departed and of entities living within other dimensions. Therefore they are more aware of the reality of these dimensions. In Christianity reincarnation was widely accepted until the fathers of the Church removed it from the scriptures.'

Daskalos went on to elaborate that the idea of eternal damnation is a cruel and tyrannical doctrine cooked up by the priests to terrorize the faithful into submission. A person now had only one chance to attain the kingdom of God and could do so only by submitting to the authority of the Church and the clergy.

'This doctrine is both foolish and an insult to the "most merciful God" that the priests eulogize in their churches. We know that even Orthodox Christians accepted reincarnation. We can find these ideas in the works of Origen and many others. In the New Testament itself, of the things that survived the censorship of the clergy, we hear Jesus Himself asking his disciples, "Who do men say is the son of man?" And they reply, "Elias or one of the prophets that came from the dead," that is, reincarnation.

‘Christ could have told them that "What you are talking about is nonsense, there is no such thing."

‘Instead He responded that indeed it was Elias but they did not recognize him. They asked John the Baptist whether he was Elias. He replied very correctly, "I am not Elias. Now I am John." "And who are you?" they asked. "I am a voice crying in the wilderness," that is, a situation similar to the one in which Elias found himself, in the desert. We can observe in John the Baptist the characteristics of Elias, with the same virtues and the same weaknesses.

'And what about Paul's epistle to the Corinthians when he said that "Your sons have preceded you."?

‘Does that not imply the idea of reincarnation? However, there is better evidence about the reality of reincarnation than resorting to the Scriptures. Is it not proof when a child suddenly begins to speak a foreign language fluently without any prior training? Furthermore, is it not proof when he claims that he was a certain person whose relatives have been located? There are many such well documented cases.

'An even more powerful evidence for a Researcher of Truth is when he finally manages to enter into his subconscious and becomes aware of his own past lives. Believe me there is no greater proof than this.'

'Why don't we all remember our past lives?' someone asked.

'You do not remember for your own sake. It is part of Divine Mercy so that you will have a chance to progress in your path without remaining attached to old habits and desires. Suppose, for example, that an individual in his present life is a good missionary. He has reached a certain point in his evolution where alcohol no longer poses a problem for him as it did in previous incarnations. Within Universal Memory, however, the alcoholic part of him is alive. If such memories reawaken in him in his present incarnation, he may regress to his old habit and become an alcoholic again. Christ Himself made the point when he said that whoever puts his hands to the plow should look forward at the furrow to be created rather than focusing his gaze on the one already plowed.'

'Daskale, when you say that the alcoholic part is still alive, are you suggesting that it exists as an elemental? And is it possible for a master to make contact with such an elemental?' I said.

'Whatever has been imprinted on the Universal Mind will always exist. Suppose, for example, I wish to contact a master who lived four thousand years ago, let us say he lived in Egypt as Rasadat. Since that time the entity that manifested as Rasadat has incarnated over twenty-five times. Is Rasadat at this moment alive or is he a dead entity? Both Rasadat, as well as all his other incarnations, are alive within the Universal Memory. Subconsciously we are linked to all our incarnations and whatever incarnation we bring to consciousness is a living entity. Rasadat is alive because the entity that emanated him is alive. Socrates may have incarnated many times. Perhaps he is alive today in another body, in a different culture, with a different name. It is possible, however, to bring up Socrates from the pool of Universal Memory and even semi-materialize him in front of us and converse with

him irrespective of the fact that today the entity that incarnated as Socrates may be in another body.'

'Is it possible,' I asked, 'that Socrates would act and talk in the same way as the entity who was once Socrates but is presently somebody else?'

'No. You must bear in mind that Socrates within the Universal Memory is a living elemental and not a human being. The self-consciousness that was Socrates is no longer there. If I bring Socrates and converse with him, he will have the intelligence and knowledge of the Socrates of that period. He will not be able to offer more than Socrates knew during his life.

‘"The God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob is not a God of the dead but of the living," said Christ.

‘How many do you think understood what He meant? He was not talking of the self-conscious soul of the patriarchs, but of the then self-conscious personalities.'

'Daskale,' I persisted, 'who can awaken the elemental of a past incarnation?'

'Either the person himself or a master. However, masters as a rule are reluctant to tell you of your past lives lest they awaken in you old weaknesses and habits.'

Daskalos then explained that it is possible for a master to read one's past lives like pages from a book. He can do so by 'coordinating' his consciousness with the elemental of a person's past life and experience the sentiments and thoughts of that elemental. Unless past incarnations are still alive, such a feat would be impossible. 'The pages in our book of incarnations are not dead leaves but living elementals,' Daskalos said.

'When, then, can we have memories of past lives without a disturbance on the present self-conscious personality?' I asked.

'Each Researcher of Truth will learn the way slowly and patiently. At first we will feel our past incarnations intuitively until full memory is recovered. The memories will come as the present self-conscious personality is more closely in atunement with the permanent personality. Then, like good actors, we will be able to remember the roles we have performed. The Earth is the theater within which every one of us plays his various roles in order to learn and progress towards perfection.

‘When we look back without being disturbed at what we see, it is time and safe to remember. Before we can safely remember, we must first transcend the idea of Good and Evil. In the meantime Divine Mercy has shut the door of past memories in order to give us a chance to proceed in our path without the interference of past imperfections and weaknesses.'

'You said that our past incarnations are living elementals within the Universal Memory. If so is it also possible to contact a past incarnation-elemental and effect changes on its behavior?’

'Let me answer your question by telling you of a personal experience in this life. A few months ago I wanted to observe myself giving a talk in the psychic world. I remember my Master (Yohannan) saying to me, "You shall give a talk and yet it will not be you." So I withdrew, sat back, so to speak, and listened to my talk. As I was observing myself I detected certain mistakes I made. The Master brought to me, with mathematical precision, the elemental of myself as I had given the talk in the psychic world months in the past. It was like a recording of myself on a video tape. Could I intervene and make corrections at the moment I realized my errors? No. I did not have the right or power to add or subtract anything. At that moment I was simply coordinated with the one who was giving the lesson, the elemental of myself. I relived the lesson as an observer. Someone other than myself could have listened to the same talk had he coordinated himself with that elemental.

'It is possible, however, that I can create a new elemental of myself and make the appropriate corrections. This is different. But whatever has been imprinted cannot be erased, and what is imprinted is alive. Perhaps this could offer us an explanation of the meaning of hell and paradise. An elemental of myself may exist in a hell of its own making which can affect and tyrannize the present personality when the latter has not transcended its past problems. That is again the reason why Divine Mercy has shut the door towards the past, so that we will not be adversely influenced from the life of ourselves as elementals which we have left behind in a hell or a paradise. However, we should keep in mind that the present personality is always linked through the law of Karma to the living shadows of its past.’

'The subject you have raised today,' Daskalos concluded, 'is inexhaustible. I hope our discussion has given you some basic ideas on the nature of the psychonoetic worlds.'

Appendix II

Some quotes from Paul Brunton's Notebooks

"This identification with the best Self in us is the ideal set for all men, to be realized through long experience and much suffering or through accepting instruction, following revelation, unfolding intuition, practising meditation, and living wisely. And this best Self is not the most virtuous part of our character--though it may be one of the sources of that virtue--but the deepest part of our being, underneath the thoughts which buzz like bees and the emotions which express our egotism. A sublime stillness reigns in it. There in that stillness, is our truest identity."[22]

"There are certain intervals of consciousness between two thoughts--such as those between waking and sleep and those between sleep and waking--which normally pass unobserved because of the rapidity and brevity associated with them. Between one moment and another there is the timeless consciousness; between one thought and another there is a thought-free consciousness. It is upon this fact that a certain exercise was included in The Wisdom of the Overself which had not previously been published in any Western book. But it is not a modern discovery. It was known to the ancient Egyptians, it was known to the Tibetan occultists, and in modern times it was probably known to Krishnamurti. The Egyptians, preoccupied as they were with the subject of death and the next world, based their celebrated Book of the Dead upon it. The Tibetan Book of the Dead contained the same theme. Between the passing out of the invisible vital-forces-body at the end of each incarnation and its entry into that state of consciousness which is death, the same interval reappears. If the dying man can lift himself up to it, seize upon it, and not let it escape him, he will then enter into heaven--the true heaven. And it was to remind him of this fact and to help him achieve this feat that the ancient priests attended his last moments and chanted the pertinent passages from these books. This mysterious interval makes its appearance throughout life and even at death, and yet men notice it not and miss an opportunity. It happens not only at the entry into death but also in between two breaths. It is possible to go even further and say that the interval reappears for a longer period between two incarnations, for there is then the blocking out of all impressions of the past prior to taking on a new body. Plato must have known it.”[23]

“The Long Path idea of reincarnation is illusory. The Short Path idea of it is that it is an undulatory wave, a ripple, a movement upward onward and downward. Since there is no ego in reality, there can be no rebirth of it. But we do have the appearance of a rebirth. Note that this applies to both the mind and body part of ego: they are like a bubble floating on a stream and then vanishing or like a knot which is untied and then vanishes too. We have to accept the presence of this pseudo-entity, the ego--this mental thing born of many many earth-lives--so long as we have to dwell in that other mental thing, the body. But we do not have to accept its dominance; we do not have to perpetuate its rule, for all is in the Mind. Where then are the reincarnatory experiences? Appearances which were like cinema shows. They happened in a time and space which were in the mind. The individual who emerged, lost the individuality and merged in the timelessness of eternity. This is the unchanging indestructible Consciousness, the Overself.”[24]

Appendix 3

I Am That

Nisargadtta Maharaj

Chapter 56

56. Consciousness Arising, World Arises
Questioner: When an ordinary man dies, what happens to him?
Maharaj: According to his belief it happens. As life before death is but imagination, so is life after. The dream continues.
Q: And what about the jnani?
M: The jnani does not die because he was never born.
Q: He appears so to others.
M: But not to himself. In himself he is free of things -- physical and mental.
Q: Still you must know the state of the man who died. At least from your own past lives.
M: Until I met my Guru I knew so many things. Now I know nothing, for all knowledge is in dream only and not valid. I know myself and I find no life nor death in me, only pure being -- not being this or that, but just being. But the moment the mind, drawing on its stock of memories, begins to imagine, it fills the space with objects and time with events. As I do not know even this birth, how can I know past births? It is the mind that, itself in movement, sees everything moving, and having created time, worries about the past and future. All the universe is cradled in consciousness (maha tattva), which arises where there is perfect order and harmony (maha sattva). As all waves are in the ocean, so are all things physical and mental in awareness. Hence awareness itself is all important, not the content of it. Deepen and broaden your awareness of yourself and all the blessings will flow. You need not seek anything, all will come to you most naturally and effortlessly. The five senses and the four functions of the mind -- memory, thought, understanding and selfhood; the five elements -- earth, water, fire, air and ether; the two aspects of creation -- matter and spirit, all are contained in awareness.
Q: Yet, you must believe in having lived before.
M: The scriptures say so, but I know nothing about it. I know myself as I am; as I appeared or will appear is not within my experience. It is not that I do not remember. In fact there is nothing to remember. Reincarnation implies a reincarnating self. There is no such thing. The bundle of memories and hopes, called the 'I', imagines itself existing everlastingly and creates time to accommodate its false eternity: To be, I need no past or future. All experience is born of imagination; I do not imagine, so no birth or death happens to me. Only those who think themselves born can think themselves re-born. You are accusing me of having been born -- I plead not guilty!
All exists in awareness and awareness neither dies nor is re-born. It is the changeless reality itself.
All the universe of experience is born with the body and dies with the body; it has its beginning and end in awareness, but awareness knows no beginning, nor end. If you think it out carefully and brood over it for a long time, you will come to see the light of awareness in all its clarity and the world will fade out of your vision. It is like looking at a burning incense stick, you see the stick and the smoke first; when you notice the fiery point, you realise that it has the power to consume mountains of sticks and fill the universe with smoke. Timelessly the self actualises itself, without exhausting its infinite possibilities. In the incense stick simile the stick is the body and the smoke is the mind. As long as the mind is busy with its contortions, it does not perceive its own source. The Guru comes and turns your attention to the spark within. By its very nature the mind is outward turned; it always tends to seek for the source of things among the things themselves; to be told to look for the source within, is, in a way, the beginning of a new life. Awareness takes the place of consciousness; in consciousness there is the 'I', who is conscious while awareness is undivided; awareness is aware of itself. The 'I am' is a thought, while awareness is not a thought, there is no 'I am aware' in awareness. Consciousness is an attribute while awareness is not; one can be aware of being conscious, but not conscious of awareness. God is the totality of consciousness, but awareness is beyond all -- being as well as not-being.
Q: I had started with the question about the condition of a man after death. When his body is destroyed, what happens to his consciousness? Does he carry his senses of seeing, hearing etc. along with him or does he leave them behind? And, if he loses his senses, what becomes to his consciousness?
M: Senses are mere modes of perception. As the grosser modes disappear, finer states of consciousness emerge.
Q: Is there no transition to awareness after death?
M: There can be no transition from consciousness to awareness, for awareness is not a form of consciousness. Consciousness can only become more subtle and refined and that is what happens after death. As the various vehicles of man die off, the modes of consciousness induced by them also fade away.
Q: Until only unconsciousness remains?
M: Look at yourself talking of unconsciousness as something that comes and goes! Who is there to be conscious of unconsciousness? As long as the window is open, there is sunlight in the room. With the windows shut, the sun remains, but does it see the darkness in the room? Is there anything like darkness to the sun? There is no such thing as unconsciousness, for unconsciousness is not experienceable. We infer unconsciousness when there is a lapse in memory or communication. If I stop reacting, you will say that I am unconscious. In reality I may be most acutely conscious, only unable to communicate or remember.
Q: I am asking a simple question: there are about four billion people in the world and they are all bound to die. What will be their condition after death -- not physically, but psychologically? Will their consciousness continue? And if it does, in what form? Do not tell me that I am not asking the right question, or that you do not know the answer, or that in your world my question is meaningless; the moment you start talking about your world and my world as different and incompatible, you build a wall between us. Either we live in one world or your experience is of no use to us.
M: Of course we live in one world. Only I see it as it is, while you don't. You see yourself in the world, while I see the world in myself. To you, you get born and die, while to me, the world appears and disappears. Our world is real, but your view of it is not. There is no wall between us, except the one built by you. There is nothing wrong with the senses, it is your imagination that misleads you. It covers up the world as it is, with what you imagine it to be -- something existing independently of you and yet closely following your inherited, or acquired patterns. There is a deep contradiction in your attitude, which you do not see and which is the cause of sorrow. You cling to the idea that you were born into a world of pain and sorrow; I know that the world is a child of love, having its beginning, growth and fulfilment in love. But I am beyond love even.
Q: If you have created the world out of love, why is it so full of pain?
M: You are right -- from the body's point of view. But you are not the body. You are the immensity and infinity of consciousness. Don't assume what is not true and you will see things as I see them. Pain and pleasure, good and bad, right and wrong: these are relative terms and must not be taken absolutely. They are limited and temporary.
Q: In the Buddhist tradition it is stated that a Nirvani, an enlightened Buddha, has the freedom of the universe. He can know and experience for himself all that exists. He can command, interfere with nature, with the chain of causation, change the sequence of events, even undo the past! The world is still with him but he is free in it.
M: What you describe is God. Of course, where there is a universe, there will also be its counterpart, which is God. But I am beyond both. There was a kingdom in search of a king. They found the right man and made him king. In no way had he changed. He was merely given the title, the rights and the duties of a king. His nature was not affected, only his actions. Similarly, with the enlightened man; the content of his consciousness undergoes a radical transformation. But he is not misled. He knows the changeless.
Q: The changeless cannot be conscious. Consciousness is always of change. The changeless leaves no trace in consciousness.
M: Yes and no. The paper is not the writing, yet it carries the writing. The ink is not the message, nor is the reader's mind the message -- but they all make the message possible.
Q: Does consciousness come down from reality or is it an attribute of matter?
M: Consciousness as such is the subtle counterpart of matter. Just as inertia (tamas) and energy (rajas) are attributes of matter, so does harmony (sattva) manifest itself as consciousness. You may consider it in a way as a form of very subtle energy. Wherever matter organises itself into a stable organism, consciousness appears spontaneously. With the destruction of the organism consciousness disappears.
Q: Then what survives?
M: That, of which matter and consciousness are but aspects, which is neither born nor dies.
Q: If it is beyond matter and consciousness, how can it be experienced?
M: It can be known by its effects on both; look for it in beauty and in bliss. But you will understand neither body nor consciousness, unless you go beyond both.
Q: Please tell us squarely: are you conscious or unconscious?
M: The enlightened (jnani) is neither. But in his enlightenment (jnana) all is contained. Awareness contains every experience. But he who is aware is beyond every experience. He is beyond awareness itself.
Q: There is the background of experience, call it matter. There is the experiencer, call it mind. What makes the bridge between the two?
M: The very gap between is the bridge. That, which at one end looks like matter and at the other as mind, is in itself the bridge. Don't separate reality into mind and body and there will be no need of bridges.
Consciousness arising, the world arises. When you consider the wisdom and the beauty of the world, you call it God. Know the source of it all, which is in yourself, and you will find all your questions answered.
Q: The seer and the seen: are they one or two?
M: There is only seeing; both the seer and the seen are contained in it. Don't create differences where there are none.
Q: I began with the question about the man who died. You said that his experiences will shape themselves according to his expectations and beliefs.
M: Before you were born you expected to live according to a plan, which you yourself had laid down. Your own will was the backbone of your destiny.
Q: Surely, karma interfered.
M: Karma shapes the circumstances: the attitudes are your own. Ultimately your character shapes your life and you alone can shape your character.
Q: How does one shape one's character?
M: By seeing it as it is, and being sincerely sorry. This integral seeing-feeling can work miracles. It is like casting a bronze image; metal alone, or fire alone will not do; nor will the mould be of any use; you have to melt down the metal in the heat of the fire and cast it in the mould.

Appendix 4

AH Almaas

T.S: This is a question related to fear. Why is nonexistence so threatening? It seems that the same suffering I claim to want freedom from is held onto tightly as a defense against this black hole although the idea of nonexistence feels so liberating. Can you comment?

A.H.: There are many answers to that. Part of it is that we are afraid of nonexistence because we wish it on some deep level. We wish for that nonexistence because it is a kind of peacefulness, freedom. We fear it because it’s close at hand. Because it is part of our nature. Nonbeing or emptiness is part of our nature. We just (see) enter the surface. We know that it’s there but we identify with the surface. Sense of self and identity. Self and identity is nothing but the soul, your consciousness that has misidentified itself, this sense of self. So the self doesn't want to die because you believe that's who you are, what you are, so nonexistence means you won't be. That you won't be is partly scary but part of the fear is that you want to live. You love to live. People love life. You don't want to non-exist. Life is wonderful. You might not know it until the moment of death. Some don't know that love is wonderful and we don't know it till death is knocking at the door. We have an intense deep passionate love of life. We don't want it to end and we believe it will end. And we believe nonexistence means its end. With realization we realize what we call nonexistence or nonbeing or emptiness is not the ending of life. It’s really the inner nature of life, the other side of life. It’s the liberation of life. Makes our life freer, fuller. Some people might think nonexistence means nobody there, having no experience. Just like in deep sleep. Even though that can happen as an experience, that is not actually the fate of human beings. That's not part of our nature for that to happen. And some of just don't know that. Many of us, I'll say, don't know that.

transcribed from Sounds True internet webcast.

Appendix 5

Bruce Joel Rubin interview 2011 SIG Conference

http://www.viddler.com/selfinqu/videos/23/

After I gave the talk two enlightened people came up to me and said, "You are really enlightened but you just don't know it.” I said, "Well what good it that?"

I came here and sat in one of those folding chairs in the back very much prepared to settle in and relax and just be here. Paul Hedderman who I had never heard of was going to give a talk. I had no idea what to expect. This man sat down and I didn't understand a word he was saying. He was speaking with such velocity, with such intensity, with such lack of clarity from my perspective that my mind could not process what he was saying but I knew everything he was saying was true, profoundly true but I couldn't get it. I just couldn't get it. I was trying as fast as I can to catch up to it but I just couldn't catch up to it so I just stopped trying. When the talk was over, sitting back there, I sat there for a moment and I went humph, humph, something's happened, something happened. I couldn't explain it to myself but I just knew something was different. Really different. So I kind of got up and I went over to Paul and I said,"You know, man, something happened!” He said, "Great, man," and he gave me a hug and I went to the bathroom. And I'm standing in the bathroom peeing and saying to myself, "You can't just say ’thank you,' to a guy who just totally transformed your life.” And I thought I gotta go back, and I go back in the room and he's still standing there and I said, "Really something happened." He said, "Great, man." And I thought, (sigh) and I had to go over to Bart (Marshall). Bart was standing with Phil and a number of other people and I said, "Bart, something happened." Bart got all emotional which made me emotional, then everybody around Bart got emotional. I became I guess one of the first people to awaken during one of these sessions which was both wonderful and problematic because it now meant that if we had any more of these sessions we had, if two or three people didn't wake up it would be a failure. So you guys have got to work this through by tomorrow morning or tomorrow evening. You've got twenty-four hours to do this. I honestly didn't know what to make of it. I can only tell you the awakening was like nothing at all. I had expected that when one awakens it had to be tumultuous on some level and transformative on another level. What it was for me a shift like that (makes a small movement with his index finger.). All I knew and the only way I could express it to myself was that Bruce wasn't there anymore. I was still there whatever that means but Bruce wasn't. Paul kind of talks about it like there’s a hand on your shoulder for 60 years, in my case 68 years, and then suddenly it’s just not there. All you're aware of is there's something different. Something really different. The idea that Bruce wasn't there was a very odd idea to me. I know we talked about it here but the experience of Bruce being not there was very unusual. Bart and I went home that evening. I was lucky that he was gracious enough to let me stay in his home cause we get to talk after for up to two or three hours. We started talking and I'm trying to understand, "How can this happen in such a small minute little way?” It's like blowing out a candle. I started tracing it back to my LSD trip. I don't want to go through it again. It was a massive overdose of LSD, taking it up to Tim Leary at Millbrook.

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...The journey was long and constant and I began to teach and I have had a lot of students and mostly what I taught them is what I learned from my teacher which was 'this is work,’ it’s work to grow, it’s work to be a happy human being, it’s work in this world to transform yourself into something real and productive, that your life, your day-to-day life is your spiritual life. That it’s not about going into a cave, it’s not about disappearing somewhere. It’s about this here and make it work. So what it really involved I discovered in the last year or two was it was a work that said, "My life as it is isn't right. Something is wrong, change it. Make it better. There's work to be done. And what started to come to me through the introduction to Advaita, Nisargadatta, Eckhart Tolle, Adyashanti, all these people, what came to me was the need to make it other robs you of the opportunity to know what is and to live 'what is.' And living 'what is' is not necessarily easy. It’s actually a kind of very heroic act. To live what you find in any given moment has the potential to bring you into what I call a 'portal.' And trust me I don't know what I am talking about.

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I arrived back in Los Angeles and I said, Oh, my God! How do I deal with my life? It’s not even my life. There's no Bruce here. What do I do with this life? I was afraid to see my wife, I was afraid to see my kids, I was afraid to see my brother and sister-in-law who were going to come over probably for dinner. I didn't know how to handle the world. I got home and nobody was there luckily and I immediately went into my office and locked the door. I finally said, "Well, you can't do this." You gotta come out and you gotta deal with life, whatever it is with whoever you are. And I just took the step to come out of that office and my wife Blanche was there and I said, "Something has happened." I tried to explain it and of course she has been doing spiritual work all of this time so she was not unprepared for something to happen which is a great blessing, if you have a partner who knows what you're talking about. But she was threatened by it. She said what does this mean for us? How is this going to work? Now you're not Bruce. And the answer that came to that question which was very powerful was, "I love you more than Bruce ever did." And it worked. But it was true. The love that was pouring out of me was enormous. It was so enormous I couldn't sleep at night. I would get in bed and I would lie down and my heart chakra, I work a lot on the chakras so I am aware of them as energy centers, and my heart chakra was (makes a gushing sound and moving hands expressively from his heart) this as all night and it was loving the whole universe. It was loving everything. It was just pouring forth in every possible way. And I didn't care if I slept or not 'cause I as so happy. And I would just lie there and just love and I thought that's maybe what I am. I'm just a lover of the universe and I just love whatever I can. And it was an extraordinary experience because I started loving everybody, generally I have a big heart and I love a lot of people but this was just indiscriminate. It just kept loving. I said, "Fine!" I will be that. But then I tried to explain to people what had happened to me and that doesn't play well. Most people don't have a clue what you're talking about and if you have smart intelligent friends who are Buddhists or otherwise inclined they go, "It doesn't work like that. You can't be enlightened like that. (snaps finger). Enlightenment is sitting under the Bodhi tree for your whole life and fasting and fighting off the demons and doing all of this stuff and so whatever you have is good, it’s nice but it's not enlightenment.” I go, "Well, maybe not! maybe it's not enlightenment, maybe its something else. I don't know.” It felt like awakening on some level. Everything we had talked about which was awakening which meant the loss of certainly the ego sense, was gone for a bit. And then something started to happen which luckily Paul Hedderman had addressed and he called it "selfing." Selfing is when remnants of the old self which I personally call "Brucing," start to arise. They start to come up and express themselves and you can see it very clearly. "Oh, that's Bruce." And there's this thing that's seeing it and actually has some control over it. So at first I got scared of it and then I, 'cause I didn't want to lose myself back to Bruce. I tell you I didn't want to be Bruce again. One of the greatest things of losing yourself is it’s such a relief. All of the stuff about you that you don't like disappears and what remains is the stuff that was always wonderful. The real stuff. The stuff you love stays. The stuff you hated, poof, gone! There I was, was coming back. And it was coming back here (points to heart). Heart chakra area, it was vibrating and I got really disturbed by it and then I just went (pfft) get out! Like that and it left. Poof! gone! And I said, "Wow," I don't have to be Bruce. And if Bruce tries to come in I have control. I'll get that out of me. And that's what I did and I would do that until it didn't kind of reappear very often and if it did, it did, and I tried to understand what is this Bruce and non-Bruce? Cause I'm still here, I Am. I am still here but Bruce is not here except occasionally. So I started to philosophize and in some ways using scientific principles the understanding of light. Light is we are told a wave and a particle at the same time. Which means nothing to most people. You can't figure that out. How can it be a wave and a particle at the same time? And they say it all depends on how you observe it. If you observe it one way it’s a wave, if you observe it another way it’s a particle. And I began to think, "Bruce is a particle." Then, "Bruce is a wave" and it’s the same thing, there's this little particle and there's this vast wave of Being and they somehow operate as a whole. And Bruce didn't have to, how can I say it, completely die, disappear, and he hadn't, he was still making himself known. So there was just this vastness and this tiny little thing all working in tandem as a whole. And whether this dovetails with other people awakening or enlightenment, I have no idea. This is my story. So there I was with moments of Bruce and mostly this incredible largeness and this sense of walking around as a kind of blessing to people. And I don't mean that I am owning that as being Bruce, being a blessing to people, it just simply felt like anyone who was in front of me, who appeared in front of me was in touch with himself, with the Self. That's what it felt like, they're in touch with the self and really their self. And that self was loving them, just loving them exactly as they were. And it felt like an extraordinary privilege to be that, to just be a source of love for others. Every once in a while I could feel the ego going , "Hey, I'm a source of love” and I would just say, pfft! Like that, but it did get confusing at times and I was really trying to incorporate this new sense of self into what was still very much a daily life. I still have a life, a career. A lot of people have talked about that here. What to do when you awaken when you still have to go to a job and a family and still have money to make, other issues. You can't just walk away or maybe you can but I couldn't.

Appendix 6

Adyashanti Basic Teachings 3 http://www.adyashanti.org/cafedharma/index.php?file=ondemand&keyforstream=kh06b01e&k=4eb0033e98a57&layout=popup&from=video

Ego is another word for you might call it "lower self." "Lower self" is really ego. It’s where we're dealing with more of the base instincts of self. These are what we think of as egoic instincts; for control, for power, for dominance, for...all the traits that egos tend to involve themselves in, the wanting for attention, the tendency to get stuck in a blaming energy, a condemning energy, the identification with being victim. I think if you really look at the nature of ego within yourself, you could come up with your own ideas, your own experience, which is really more important, of the way ego moves within you. Generally ego is that which is grasping and pushing away. So the underlying structure of ego is, is really a type of will, underlying ego is a type of will. I want and I don't want. So attachment and aversion, these are easy words to use, but what is attachment and aversion really like inside and inside it’s really a movement of will. It’s a movement towards or away. This constructs or is the foundation of ego in the context that I am using it in.

Spirituality is really, as I have said, all of the various teachings, are different means, are different approaches of surrendering self. There's a tremendous amount of confusion about what 'surrendering self' means and this is something that is important to have some clarity about what does it mean to surrender self cause a lot of people will engage in a sort of false surrender. A false surrender is a kind of surrender we do in order to not have to take responsibility for ourselves, for how we feel, for what we think, for our lives in general, and it’s a false surrender. It's sort of like this way of copping out. It’s a way of trying to let ourselves off the hook. But that's not a real surrender. That's a way of dealing with the problem of ego by denying it. A real surrender is really seeing each way that we hold on, that we grasp, that we try to control, that we try to dominate, in very overt ways and also very, very subtle ways. And it’s the intention to let that go, to let go, to surrender. Now very few people can actually simply surrender, mostly we surrender when we are in a deep enough state of suffering. So the teachings are ways or tools to help engender surrender. The surrender of self. The surrender of self. That is what spirituality is all about. That's the whole orientation. And the reason I'm talking about this orientation sort of after I have presented some of the teachings is because it’s so important that I wanted to put it at the end rather than at the beginning; by the time you listen to the various aspects of the teaching you forget the orientation, you forget the atmosphere in which the whole teaching exists. My hope is that talking about this after I have presented the basics, the fundamentals of the teaching is that it won't be forgotten, is that what all the teachings are about are ways to surrender self. 15:09

Even the teachings that help lead us to awakening. When we awaken we realize that we are not our ego, we are not the person we thought we were. That's a sort of spontaneous grace. It’s a spontaneous act of surrender. And when this spontaneous act of surrender happens then there is a shift of consciousness, a shift of identity, a shift of how we see ourselves, of how we perceive ourselves. But this shift can't happen without a surrender. Sometimes insight leads to surrender. Sometimes one simply surrenders. Sometimes inquiry helps lead to surrender. Sometimes to be still leads to surrender. If you see the teachings in their proper context, as I said whether it’s inquiry, whether it’s meditation, whether it’s being aware, all these are actually, you have to surrender the basic impulse of ego to engage in any of the teaching effectively. So in other words we take something like meditation, very often when people meditate, it’s their egos that are meditating. They are looking for a more beneficial state, their egos are still trying to seize control, they're trying to control their experience. They are trying to avoid what they don't want to experience and move towards what they do want to experience. And one may even get relatively good at this but ultimately it’s not particularly relevant spiritually because it can actually enhance the doership and the grasping at control that is the hallmark of ego. So even something as simple as meditation, sitting in stillness can if we don't understand the orientation of a spiritual teaching it can actually become very egoically based and actually enhance the qualities that one is trying to wake up from, trying to let go of. So ego, lower self, is in almost continuous state of not allowing things to be the way they are. That's what ego does, it’s an almost continuous state of not allowing everything to be because if the ego allows everything to be then there's peace, then there's happiness, then there's the falling away of division which is something the ego cannot allow to happen. Not for very long. Maybe for brief moments but not for very long. So ego will tend to try to seize control. It will stop allowing experience to be the way it is. It will exercise its will, it will exercise its effort to control, to try to have a different experience. And if we don't understand the context in which a spiritual teaching arises and plays itself out then we can actually get caught up in the will of lower self or ego and this will of the lower self, will of ego, can very easily dominate the whole of one’s spiritual quest, in a very subtle way that might be hard to recognize. So this is why I want to really emphasize this atmosphere, the context which these teachings take place, the context in which your whole spiritual life unfolds is ultimately about surrender, the surrender of self, the surrender of division. Whatever causes internal division is surrendered. Okay? So all the teachings are simply ways to allow that surrender to happen. If you forget that spirituality is about how much of self can be let go of, if you forget that, then the spiritual teachings are not really going to be so effective. They may even be used on a very subtle level to strengthen the underlying ego’s tendency to grasp at control. 20:21

Now as we begin to awaken, our identity begins to shift. We let go of one way of seeing ourselves, we awaken to a new way of seeing ourselves, a new way of being, a new, literally a new consciousness. So very often in our first real spiritual awakening what we see is that we are not ego, that we are not the person we thought we were. The ego may still be there, it may not just simply disappear with that recognition but if the awakening is true and it’s authentic, it’s in some way or another that we've really realized that we are not the person that we thought we were. That is a fundamental shift of identity. Generally when people have a first awakening, very often what they have really awoken from is their ego. They haven't necessarily awoken from "self" as such but they have awoken from lower self, which would be ego which is an amazing realization, which is an extraordinarily liberating thing to experience and to see. And it’s at that very point, and especially after spiritual awakening, that it becomes even more important to really know what the orientation of a spiritual teaching is. Because it’s very easy to forget that the path if you can even call it a path but the teaching that leads to real awakening is about the surrendering of self.

When one has a moment of spiritual clarity, a moment of spiritual awakening, very often at some point after that the ego will come and try to grab hold of it again. And as soon as ego tries to grasp ahold of that which is beyond itself we experience that we, that our realization seems to disappear, that that aperture that opened up very vast and wise [N6] in a moment of spiritual clarity starts to close and seems to disappear. But this is simply because mind or ego is grasping at realization. Again the ego will always tend to grasp at what's pleasurable, of what it likes, of what it’s trying to sustain. Unfortunately in spirituality when ego grasps at a truth it actually obscures that truth. So if ego starts to grasp at a spiritual realization, a moment of spiritual clarity, then that view, the openness of the view of awakening will tend to close down simply because ego is grasping. And that's because the whole orientation of spiritual awakening is letting go of self. And as soon as self comes back in and tries to gain control, tries to dominate, tries to have its own way, then the consciousness will tend to shrink back down to a smaller sense of identity.

So it becomes more and more and more vital, the deeper your own realization goes, it becomes more vital, not less, that you have an understanding of what the basic spiritual orientation is, that it’s actually a surrender of self. This becomes more important because the more open you get, the more clear you get, the illusion and the workings of self become more and more subtle and more and more transparent therefore they become harder and harder to spot, to notice. One's self can actually wear very, very spiritually looking clothing, you might say. Ego or self can appear in lots of different spiritual guises and it’s very easy to get tripped up on them. There is warnings throughout all of the mystical literature of different traditions about not grasping at realization, at revelation, not grasping at the temptations of freedom, at the temptations of freedom because with freedom. as long as self is there, that freedom will come with temptations, for the self to aggrandize itself with your own realization. So there's many ways that it’s easy to become lost in the domain of self's attempt to become something again, to reestablish itself. And because there are these inherent stumbling blocks in spirituality it’s very important to have a deep understanding, an ever-growing understanding of what spirituality is all about. That it's the surrender of self. (26:00)

As I said most spiritual awakenings, initially they often feel like you completely obliterated self. There is no self there anymore, even that there is no ego there. But more often than not ego and self will reestablish itself or try to reestablish itself for some time. Now it’s very common that when our realization becomes more stable deeply, become more established as being that consciousness, that aware presence--once that sort of really begins to sink in very, very deeply, once we become established in that, usually what we become established in is life beyond ego. We have transcended ego. We've transcended the desire for power, for control, the resistance, the grabbing. This would be a very, very deep realization, a really deep realization beyond ego. Once that movement beyond ego has completed itself then you could say in a religious way of speaking about this, that our will and God's will become the same. So much so that there doesn't seem to be any difference or any separation at all between what we are and what the divine is, what the divine impulse is. This is actually a union of wills, we could say. The will of God, you could also say the will of life, the will of existence, and one's own experience of will unifies so it’s one will, one movement. This is of course a quite spiritually mature person. This is usually something that's quite beyond somebody that simply had a deep moment of spiritual clarity. This is usually something that will develop out of that with time. Rarely does it happen all in one, in one instant, because generally ego doesn't give up quite that easily. But once the energies of ego start to dissipate, once they become harmonized with the universal, once they've dissolved into spirit, you could say. This is what in many spiritual traditions would be called a type of union. Because we internally feel a deep, deep, deep unification. There does not feel to be a division. As I said your will and God's will, life's will and your will are one will. And when there's a union of will, there doesn't seem to be necessarily separate self but more often than not self is actually still operating. What this really is is something beyond ego. This isn't really something I want to go into with great depth right now. I'm just using these various phases of spiritual awakening to point out the importance and the growing importance of understanding what spiritual awakening is all about. It's really about the surrendering of self. Now at some point and you never know at what point once we've had this sort of union, this experience of Oneness, self will also begin to, well not just begin but at some point self, self itself, if I may say it that way, begins to disappear or disappears entirely. Rarely does self disappear entirely all at once although it can happen. But if you look at the overall arc of what spiritual awakening is, the whole overall arc is an actual disappearing of the various aspects, the energies of self. When we have an initial awakening which is usually beyond ego, then we establish ourselves at some point in a consciousness which is beyond the energies of ego. And so that's a certain aspect, ego is a certain aspect of self, as I said earlier we could call that lower self. And one has surrendered those aspects of lower self, one has surrendered ego which is I'm making it sound like is fundamental or rudimentary I should say but actually it’s not rudimentary at all. It’s something that's much rarer than even to have a moment of spiritual awakening. Lots of people can have moments of spiritual awakening, legitimate, transformative, beautiful moments of spiritual awakening but not many of them are really, take that to its natural conclusion. Will actually see that the awakening is not something for them, not something to grab, it’s actually a space, it’s actually that into which we can actually surrender ourselves more and more and more and more. But from the very beginning the whole of spirituality is actually a moving beyond self. And you experience this moving beyond self, you can experience the dropping away of certain energies of self, when the ego is really transcended and the energies of ego really start to dissipate you will feel that the motivating energies centered around ego, attachment and aversion start to dissipate or to disappear. And it’s only when these energies start to dissipate and disappear do we realize how much of our lives were motivated by these very sort of egoic drives, egoic will because will is an energy, will is a drive. It’s what I want and what I don't want. And only as it really begins to dissipate do we even have any real understanding about what this egoic energy was to begin with. But people often start to notice a certain diminishing, diminishment in what we call the personal will at a fairly early part of their spirituality. It may be a small diminishment but the arc, the direction that spirituality is really meant to move actually starts relatively early. That will only increase, a kind of letting go will only increase the deeper our realization goes, as we proceed. (33:45)

Spirituality again is ultimately, the whole thing, all the teachings are ways of engendering a surrendering of self. Whether that surrendering is a spontaneous grace, or sometimes it’s a very conscious act of letting go. However it comes about, that's the ground work that's the orientation of spirituality. Now when you forget that, as soon as you forget that then you think that spirituality is meant to serve you. Your spiritual life is there simply to make you happier, you feel better, it’s there to please you and as I said even that can take you quite a ways spiritually but it has a limitation to it. At some point everybody that embarks on a serious path of spiritual awakening will come to a point of reckoning. They will come to sort of a fork in the road you might say and at that fork in the road you will come to the point where desire, grasping, and wanting and trying to avoid and push away, those energies can take you only so far, you get to a point, a fork in the road and you either change your orientation or your spiritual life actually stalls out. That's what happens because once that energy of ego has taken you as far as it can take you either you have to transfer to a different orientation or your spiritual life will stall out, no matter how hard you work at it; you may still be engaged in a spiritual life, you may still be engaged quite actively but you'll start to feel like you're spinning your wheels, like you are not getting anywhere and usually a big part of that is because you haven't recognized the necessity of transferring, of changing your basic orientation about what your spiritual life is all about. Again the orientation moves as you get more mature from what we can get from the realm of spirit to what we can give to the realm of spirit. How much of ourselves we can give. How much of ourselves we can let go. It’s all a way that we are letting go of our separation. We are letting go of our separateness. We are letting go of what creates separateness, what keeps manufacturing separateness. And so this orientation of starting to realize what spirituality is really about becomes very important the farther you go. Because usually moments of grace, moments of spiritual awakening will in and of themselves not be enough. They can be very powerful and very transformative but in and of themselves for most people they are not powerful enough. There is something that is required of oneself, which is to start to willingly let go. Let go of yourself in all the ways that you create self, ideas, opinions, emotional hang-ups. We could go on and on and on of all the ways we hold on to self but it’s the orientation that's really the most important thing. It’s understanding this groundwork of what spirituality is really about.

And for a while what I'm talking about for some people may sound like theory, it may sound something like hard for them to touch upon especially when it comes to, 'well, what's the experience of myself starting to fall away?' But for someone whose self has started to fall away you have a very visceral sense what this means, a very visceral and concrete sense of what it’s like to have self start to fall away, the energy of self, the orientation of self. Now beyond ego when we get into the range of higher self, higher self becomes a very transparent kind of self. The higher self is so transparent that it seems as though it’s not even there at all. It's almost like looking through a plane of glass that's perfectly clean. It seems like there's no self there at all. When we come into real union, when we come into the perception of oneness usually this is higher self stuff. Union, Oneness, to see the unity of all things, all creatures, to see the divine in and as everything. This is the realization of higher self. Now in Non-Dual spirituality we often talk of, you know there's not really a self, that the self is a fiction, the self is something that is manufactured in thoughts, in memory, in basic orientation of our energy. Like I said self is a type of will to grasp, to push away. But if we only think of self as an illusion, even though self is ultimately an illusion, it’s illusion because it’s not permanent, it’s not everlasting. It’s also an illusion because when we look into everything that we think has self nature, what we see is that all the components of self don't actually have self in them. When you really start to look at everything that you think has self nature, has 'you' nature in it, that's what I mean by self-nature, 'you.' Right, that seems to confirm you. Whether it’s an idea, a thought, a belief, an emotion, or simply an energy, a type of energy. But all these really don't have self in them but if we simply say there is no self then we often miss something very, very important. Even though the self doesn't have ultimate existence, even though it’s not our ultimate nature, that does not mean that the activity of the self, illusory or otherwise, does not continue, does not happen, does not have a great effect on one. So for most people it’s not good enough to say or even point out that our idea of ourself, our notion of ourself is a illusion. Because self is something that's even deeper than simply our ideas and our notions, even our sense of self. Self is that, it’s actually a movement of consciousness that is constantly referring back to what you might call your internal life. It's self that has an internal life. By internal life I mean go inside and we look at all that realm of experiences, both good and bad and love and hate and craving and resistance including the internal spiritual experiences, all the internal spiritual experiences, the moments of grace, all of that, whole internal life, that life, that movement is what self is turning us, like consciousness is doing a u-turn and referring back to this inner life. That inner life that is, that self is. That is self. And as I say lower self can be quite chaotic, very egoically oriented towards power and will and resistance and craving but also self has this high nature where it is very transparent, almost seems like it’s not there at all. It’s a realm in which higher self can experience itself as unified with all things, seeing the divine in all things. This is a very, as I said, transparent and transcendent sense of being. You might say of a universal sense of I-Am where everything partakes of this I-Am-ness, of this sacredness, of this divinity.

But all these are in some sense experiences that we have. At some point this way that consciousness is always referring back to itself begins to break down, begins to fall away. And with it falls away all the internal spiritual experiences. What falls away is the experience of union. All of this sort of internal spiritual world. The view starts to fall away. Maybe occasionally it happens very, very quickly but more often than that it happens bit by bit with moments of great transcendence, transcending self altogether. This is a domain that's very subtle, in its own way it’s very complicated and very nuanced but its enough to say that there's a way in which even when we get to quite an advanced state of realization, even that realization, that advanced state of being itself starts to fall away. All of it starts to fall away.

So when I'm talking about a surrendering of self, I am talking about this from the most mundane egoically oriented state of consciousness right up to in many ways the most rarified types of spiritual consciousness because surrendering self is a surrendering, in a certain sense it’s a letting go of consciousness itself. It’s a letting go of all ways of referencing, self-referencing, in many ways referencing an inner life. This tendency of self to reflect back on itself, on its experiences, on even the beautiful things, it starts to slow down, and slow down, and dissolve. And that too is a surrendering of self. Now when self dissolves, only then do we really experience what there is beyond all notions of self, whether it’s separate notions of self, expanded unified experiences and notions of self but what actually lies beyond self. Ultimately this is where spirituality is taking everybody. Everybody. You can't really desire it. You can desire union, you can desire oneness, you can desire higher self kind of spirituality. You can't really desire what's beyond self cause there's not a self there to desire it. There's really nothing there. So it can't be really sold. You can't encourage somebody towards it. It’s sort of the ultimate outcome of the spiritual movement. So I just want to hint for the moment of that ultimate outcome, but as I say I want to conclude here by simply reiterating once again of the atmosphere, the orientation that all of spirituality is really about. All the teachings are ways to help us to see through the various graspings by self and to see though them and they are let go of. Whether those teachings are about inquiry, whether they're meditation, whether it’s about stillness, whatever it’s about they’re always moving beyond self, beyond ego. This is not to say that self or ego is bad or wrong or something that shouldn't be, it’s just to say that this is the orientation of spiritual teaching. And it’s very, very important to remember because the farther you go, in the end it’s just a bare letting go with no technique, ultimately without a teaching, without a pointer. So please remember the orientation, the atmosphere in which this teaching takes place, the surrendering of self, that that's what it’s ultimately all about. All the teachings orient you towards that.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Life After Life

Raymond Moody

Bantam Books 1976

Heading Toward Omega

Kenneth Ring

Quill 1984

At The Hour of Death

Karlis Osis

Avon Books 1977

Saved by the Light

Dannion Brinkley

Villard Books 1994

The Magus of Strovolos

Krriacos C. Markides

Penguin Arkana 1990

Far Journeys

Robert Monroe

Doubleday 1987

Other Lives, Other Selves

Roger Woolger, PhD.

Bantam New Age Books 1988

Tibetan Book of Living and Dying

Sogyal Rinpoche

Harper Collins 1992

The Wisdom of the Overself

Paul Brunton

Dutton & Co. 1943

I Am That: Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Acorn Press (June 1990)

[1] After a severe head injury one man’s vital signs were undetectable. He later reported,

“At the point of injury there was a momentary flash of pain, but then all pain vanished. I had the feeling of floating in dark space. The day was bitterly cold, yet while I was in that blackness, all I felt was warmth and the most extreme comfort I have ever experienced. I remember thinking ’I must be dead.’” Moody pp.28-9

[2] Another man recalled, “I had a nice great feeling of solitude and peace….It was beautiful and I was at such peace in my mind.” Moody p.29

[3] “I was seventeen years old and my brother and I were working at an amusement park. One afternoon, we decided to go swimming and there were quite a few of the other young people who went in with us. Someone said, ‘Let’s swim across the lake.’ I had done that on numerous occasions, but that day for some reason, I went down, almost in the middle of the lake…I kept bobbling up and down, and all of a sudden, it felt as though I were away from my body, away from everybody, in a space by myself. Although I was stable, staying at the same level, I saw my body in the water about 3 or 4 feet away, bobbing up and down. I viewed my body from the back and slightly to the side. Still I felt as though I still had an entire body form, even while I was outside my body. I had an airy feeling that’s almost indescribable. I felt like a feather.” Moody p.35

[4] “I was in an utterly black, dark void. It is very difficult to explain, but I felt as if I were moving in a vacuum, just through blackness. Yet I was quite conscious. It was like being in a cylinder which has no air in it. It was a feeling of a kind of limbo, of being half-way here, and half-way there.” Moody p 32

[5] “A seventy-year-old patient had seen her deceased husband several times and then predicted her own death. She said that her husband had appeared in the window and motioned her to come out of the house. The reason for his visits was to have her join him. Her daughter and other relatives were present when she predicted her death, laid out her burial clothes, lay down in bed for a nap, and died about one hour later.

She seemed calm, resigned to death, in fact, wanted to die. Before she saw her husband she didn’t speak

about imminent death. Her doctor was so surprised by her sudden death, for which there was no sufficient

medical reason, that he checked if she had poisoned herself. He found no signs of poisoning or any such

drugs in the house.” Osis p.4

[6] “The Being of Light engulfed me, and as it did I began to experience my whole life, feeling and seeing everything that ever happened to me. It was as though a dam burst and every memory stored in my brain flowed out.

This life review was not pleasant. From the moment it began until it ended, I was faced with the sickening reality that I had been an unpleasant person, someone who was self-centered and mean.

The first thing I saw was my angry childhood. I saw myself torturing other children, stealing their bicycles or making them miserable at school. One of the most vivid scenes was of a time I picked on a child at grade school because he had a goiter on his neck. Other kids in the class picked on him too but I was the worst.

At the time I thought it was funny. But now as I relived this incident, I found myself in his body, living with the pain that I was causing.”

I also felt the grief I had caused my parents. I had been uncontrollable and proud of it. Although they had grounded me and yelled at me, I had let them know by my actions that none of their discipline really mattered. Many times they had pleaded with me and many times they met frustration. I had often bragged to my friends about how I had hurt my parents. Now, in my life review, I felt their psychological pain at having such a bad child.” Brinkley pp.10-1

“When I finished the life review, I arrived at a point of reflection in which I was able to look back on what I had just witnessed and come to a conclusion. I was ashamed. I realized I led a very selfish life, rarely reaching out to help anyone. Almost never had I smiled as an act of brotherly love or just handed somebody a dollar because he was down and needed a boost. No, my life had been for me and me alone. I hadn’t given a damn about my fellow human beings. [IS “37” A PAGE NUMBER???] I looked at the being of light and felt a deep sense of sorrow and shame.”

Brinkley p.20

[7] This is the life review phase mentioned in the NDE literature.

“I was asked if I was ready to stay. And I didn’t know. I really didn’t know. And I was told I would have to go and make up my mind. I’d have to go make a decision…

[Later] before making that decision…I had a life review. This review of my life passed by. A “psssssh” [she makes a fast, hissing sound] –just like that. Yeah a 35 millimeter film went ‘click, click’ in a split second. It was all black and white and I saw everything. I saw my whole life pass right by me. [in any order particularly?] Oh, yeah, All chronological. All precise. It all just went right by. My whole life. [Were you

reliving events or just watching like a spectator?] I was, yeah, more of a spectator…there were no emotion. I was just watching this and I saw my whole life pass in review. After my whole life went by – in black and white – zoom! – and black and white ended and it got into color and I got into things that hadn’t happened yet. Things that I didn’t realize but things that have happened since then!” Ring pp.60-1

[8] “This flashback was in the form of mental pictures, I would say, but they were much more vivid than normal ones. I saw only the high points, but it was so rapid it was like looking through a volume of my entire life and being able to do it within seconds. It just flashed before me like a motion picture that goes tremendously fast, yet I was fully able to see it, and able to comprehend it. Still the emotions don’t come back with the pictures, because there wasn’t enough time.

I didn’t see anything else during this experience. There was blackness except for the images I saw. Yet I definitely felt the presence of a very powerful, completely loving being there with {me?????} all through this experience.” Moody p. 70

[9] The Wisdom of the Overself – The Scorpion of Death p.161

[10] The Wisdom of the Overself – The Scorpion of Death p.161

[11] The Wisdom of the Overself – The Scorpion of Death p.162

[12] The Wisdom of the Overself – The Scorpion of Death p.166

[13] Bardo Thodol online http://www.summum.us/mummification/tbotd/book1.shtml#p1

[14] Notes on Spiritual Discourses of Shri Atmananda, Non-Duality Press Vol 3 p.72

[15] Bruce Joel Rubin http://www.viddler.com/selfinqu/videos/23/

[16] Adyashanti Basic Teachings 3 http://www.adyashanti.org/cafedharma/index.php?file=ondemand&keyforstream=kh06b01e&k=4eb0033e98a57&layout=popup&from=video

[17] same

[18] same

[19] I Am That, Nisargadatta Maharaj chapter 76; To Know that You do not Know, is True Knowledge

[20]Karl Renz If You Wake Up, Don't Take It Personally Aperion Books p.88

[21] Bentinho Massaro from Facebook

[22]Notebooks Category 1: Overview of the Quest > Chapter 5: Self-Development > # 18

[23]Notebooks Category 19: The Reign of Relativity > Chapter 3: The States of Consciousness > # 172

[24] Notebooks Category 9: From Birth to Rebirth > Chapter 2: Rebirth and Reincarnation > # 220

A Meeting with Michael Hall

2012-02-17T12:56:00.005-05:00

This was a talk given at Michael Hall's Office December 2011

A clinical psychologist in private practice in Binghamton, NY, Michael studied and practiced Zen Buddhism for many years beginning in 1978. An initial experience of non-dual awareness emerged in 1982. Like virtually all first glimpses, this experiential awareness was fleeting. Still the appetite for an enduring awakening had taken hold, as well as an absolute faith in the spiritual truths reported by Shakyamuni Buddha and the Zen teachers of ancient China and Japan. Years of frequent silent meditation retreats allowed this awareness to deepen and expand, yet there was still searching for true liberation. The continuous experiential Knowing that this is it emerged many years later after an apparent surrendering of the desire to become anything at all. With this much deeper and more pervasive understanding, there arose simultaneously a reconnection with his childhood roots in the Christian tradition. Michael now shares this knowledge of Self with a growing number of students. The teaching is consistent with the truths taught by awakened teachers of all religious traditions. He teaches awakening and the integration of non-dual awareness into daily life. Over 30 years of full-time psychological practice has provided a unique perspective on the roots of suffering and the end of it. He draws on the writing and teaching of contemporary and historical awakened teachers, joining the common threads in Christian, Buddhist, Advaita, and Non-Dual traditions to share a message of the possibility and promise of personal transformation and liberation from egoic illusion.
(from interview Buddha at the Gas Pump)

Michael Hall teaching Part 1 of 4

Michael Hall teaching Part 2 of 4

Michael Hall teaching Part 3 of 4

Michael Hall teaching Part 4 of 4

2012-02-16T14:00:00.009-05:00

Richard Rose - Backwoods Buddha

Someone asked me why do I go to so many retreats and conferences? I am at the Richard Rose Farm, it is the last TAT meeting on this site, I am with at least 3 of the mythical figures of the Rose heritage, Paul Constant, Shawn Nevins and Art Tichnor, I can feel the presence of Richard Rose throughout the weekend. I mean how cool is that?

I understand Richard Rose read Anthony Damiani's Standing in Your Own Way and liked it. One of the Rose group members went up to Colombus, OH in 1977 and met Paul Brunton. I know they have a copy of Paul Brunton's Notebooks in their library.

We toured the grounds with Dave, saw Rose's grave site, went through the woods and saw many retreat cabins used by the members in the past. Some of the members were professional carpenters and the cabins were quite nicely made, others were what I would call shacks or shanties. We saw a pit like a well where a person would be walled up like the Tibetans do for an extended meditation retreat.

Richard Rose is what I have come to know as fully embodied realization. (See Adyashanti full embodiment.)

"Gradual Embodiment"

First you awaken out of life, then you awaken as Life itself.

After sudden Awakening to the Self, there begins a process of gradual embodiment of the transcendent into the human personality. By gradual I mean the deepening of realization after the experience of enlightenment.

The more the transcendent Self becomes embodied within our humanness, the more vast our view becomes, and the more we express and manifest transcendent realization in the way we live life."[1]

In the usual love-projection we have an image like guru or spouse that we are in love with and superimpose it on the projectee out there in the world. Wherever they deviate from our image we get irritated, annoyed or outraged or perhaps patiently tolerant. But in full embodiment the idiosyncrasies and character definition actually enhance our enjoyment and depth of feeling in the relationship. Full embodiment.

I think you can see from some of the following quotes of Rose a core of truth and phrased in a kind of idiosyncratic Rose style. This is like the idea of embodiment I am trying to get at.

"Fight programming with programming."

"We must make limitless commitment."

"Fight like hell but don't give a damn."

"You trap yourself, thinking you're doing something. Build power. If you think you're moving something, then you're trapped."

"There's no place to look, no place to go. Incessant looking is the only sure factor. No task is justifiable until a person has defined himself. Self-definition is the first task."

"When you're climbing the [spiritual] ladder, it doesn't matter how many rungs there are, but whether or not it wobbles."[2]

Having read "After the Absolute" and seen the movie "Closer Than Close" here I am in the middle of the Farm and participating in the mystery. And everybody is talking and working with Non-Dual teachings and self-realization. They read Sri Nisargadatta, I Am That, use exercises of Douglas Harding, refer to Franklin Merrill-Wolfe. A few Bart Marshall, Art Tichnor, Mike Connrs have mentored individuals with post-realization issues and been a beacon and a help. I mean how cool is that?

Recently I have been meditating on death and particularly what happens with the self- realized after death. Do they go through the unawakened death and afterlife scenario, see Paul Brunton, Wisdom of the Overself Chapter The Scorpion of Death. Do the self-realized merge into the All never to be seen again? Do the self-realized keep on incarnating until all tendencies are dissolved and they achieve liberation. Do they keep reincarnating to help humanity, the Bodhisattva ideal? Are they awake during the afterlife, like lucid deathing?

In a strange and synchronous way this entire visit was an answer to that question. Richard Rose's presence was everywhere. And I don't mean some kind of aesthetic residue but the actual guy in spirit, his beneficent friendly self. I am reminded of the famous statement of Ramana when asked about his own impending death[3] "Where can I go? I am Here." Something I noticed with my own teacher, when something of keen interest to him was happening he, his presence, would show up. So "here" is not just the subjective 'here' of Consciousness per se but an objective 'here' of everywhere. "God is a circle whose center is everywhere and whose circumference, nowhere."[4] And those in God, the same. One is reminded of the passage from the bible where Jesus says "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the middle of them."[5]

[1] ~ Adyashanti www.adyashanti.org

[2] TAT handout assembled by Paul Constant

[3]

Cancer – Am I the body?

By 1949 the health of Ramana’s body began to deteriorate. The years of neglect began to tell on him. Asthma and arthritis plagued the body, and now a virulent cancer began to grow on the left elbow.

It started in November 1948 when a tiny lump the size of a pea was found. In February 1949 this was removed by the ashram doctor, assisted by another devotee doctor. Soon, another growth appeared which Ramana jokingly characterized as “rising like a lingam.” Ramana never complained, and continued with a cheerful calmness. Another operation was done by an eminent surgeon in March. Radium was applied, and for a time, Ramana’s heath improved, though this was short lived. The doctor told Ramana that a complete amputation of the arm to the shoulder was required, but Ramana did not agree to this. The third and forth operations were performed in August and December, still to no avail, and further weakened Ramana. For one operation, Ramana was offered anesthetic, which he refused. After the operation, a devotee asked Ramana, “Did not that hurt?” to which Ramana answered, “The body had pain. Am I the body?” Other systems of medicine were then tried; all proved fruitless and were stopped by the end of March when all hope was given up. During all this Ramana remained peaceful, with keen alertness and a luster to his eyes. Not a complaint, not a moan, not a sigh during this entire ordeal. He remained steadfastly rooted in the Self.

Where can I go? I am Here.

During this time Ramana made sure that he was available for darshan by all who wanted to see. As he lay on his couch, thousands would file by for one more moment in the presence of this great sage. He would make himself available, even when his attendants tried to prevent it, they wanting his rest.

A lady devotee came to him in tears, “Bhagavan, you who are curing others must cure yourself and must spare your life for us, your devotees.” Ramana replied with great tenderness, “Why are you so attached to this body. Let it go.” To another he said, “Where can I go? I am here.”

[4] I don't think anybody knows the real reference on this.

[5] Matthew 18:20

The 4 Psychological Functions of C.G.Jung and Non-Dual Realization

2011-09-07T11:23:00.012-04:00

The 4 Psychological Functions of C.G.Jung and Non-Dual Realization

When talking about self-realization I get frustrated trying to explain a standpoint outside of thought and story. But acquaintance even superficially with the psychology of Jung can be helpful, I refer to the diagram of the 4 functions. On the horizontal axis the rational functions, thinking and feeling.[1] On the vertical axis are intuition and sensation called irrational functions.

Intuition
|
Feeling -----|------ Thinking
|
Sensation

Most people are identified with the horizontal axis. Looked at astrologically, the ascendant is based on birth time and descendant means the experience in the world of consensual reality and relationship. So we think we are beings who were born at a certain time, live a life of changing relationships and experiences in the world and eventually depart. The psyche has a life of its own, visionary, symbolic, driven by meaning and unconscious archetypal patterns.

I modify the vertical axis to Consciousness and embodiment. Instead of the irrational it could be called non-rational. The locus or centrality of consciousness is embodiment.

But looked at from the vertical axis we are always consciousness primarily. Consciousness is not in the past or the future but an archetypal formless immaterial integrative center. Once established in the Consciousness-embodiment axis, thought and feeling take on a different character. Thinking becomes perceived thought passing moment to moment, ever changing. Thought is seen, perceived rather than identified with. It is transparent, constantly changing often referring to nothing real. It is no wonder that ego is an entity born of thought why it is so fraught with anxiety. Feelings also take on another character. They become subtle sensations, such as a heart-ache. That objectifies the feeling then scrubs without the story. Or a mood becomes like the weather, a gloomy day or sunny day.

Once the Consciousness-embodiment is the primary axis of identification then all 4 psychological functions are conscious, this is the advent of wholeness, the Witness. The archetype of the self represents this. The personal shadow or personal unconscious resolves. Ego referencing as an unconscious complex starts to deconstruct.

"The question is how to come out of the old pattern, to behave according to this understanding with your surroundings. When you behave according to this understanding, you are not psychologically involved. You see the situation from a completely new point of view. When you see the world from the point of view of the body, the world is nothing other than your five senses. When you see it from your sixth sense, the mind, you conceptualize the world. With both of these there is conflict. But when you see the world from consciousness, there is no conflict. You will act differently because you are completely appropriate to the situation. You face the situation from your completeness, which is choiceless, without direction. There is simply an extension of this completeness into time and space: that is action.

It is important to act according to your understanding. Feel all your surroundings from this point of view, which is not a point of view. Once you have understood the situation, use the power of transposition. When you really understand something, you can transpose it. I would even say that the only proof that you understand is that you can transpose it onto every situation. Otherwise, you have not understood it."[2]

"I know of no person who is enlightened. I don't think that way. I only see self-interest or not. Self-interest comes in many forms, including the notion that "I and only those that agree with me are enlightened," whether spoken by a teacher or anyone. Join me in turning our attention away from who is enlightened or what teaching has "it" and towards a conversation about self-interest. When is self-interest helpful in our lives and when does it contribute to suffering, seeking, and conflict?"[3]

A further development in the realization is the movement from wholeness or witness-self to Oneness. Oneness moves identification from the Consciousness-embodiment vertical axis to the infinitude of the circularity of Self. "God is a circle whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere."[4] When wholeness is reached, the 4 functions united in a comprehensive integration of the personality and the personal unconscious is dissolved. When Oneness is reached, all is Brahman, Consciousness is All, the collective unconscious is resolved or no longer exists as unconscious.

"Although the aspirant has now awakened to his witness-self, found his "soul," and thus lifted himself far above the mass of mankind, he has not yet accomplished the full task set him by life. A further effort still awaits his hand. He has yet to realize that the witness-self is only a part of the All-self. So his next task is to discover that he is not merely the witness of the rest of existence but essentially of one stuff with it. He has, in short, by further meditations to realize his oneness with the entire universe in its real being. He must now meditate on his witness-self as being in its essence the infinite All. Thus the ultramystic exercises are graded into two stages, the second being more advanced than the first. The banishment of thoughts reveals the inner self whereas the reinstatement of thoughts without losing the newly gained consciousness reveals the All-inclusive universal self. The second feat is the harder." [5]

It is all like a gigantic dream, with every human inserting his own private dream inside the public one. A double spell has to be broken before reality can be glimpsed--the spell which the world lays upon us and that which self lays upon us. The man who has completely awakened from this spell is the man who has gained complete insight. This faculty is nothing other than such full wakefulness. It is immensely difficult to attain, which is why so few of the dreamers ever wake up at all and why so many will not even listen to the revelations of the awakened ones. However, Nature teaches us here as elsewhere not to let patience break down. There is plenty of time in her bag. Life is an evolutionary process. Men will begin to stir in their sleep erratically but increasingly.[6]

Jung's typology and approach to depth psychology can be used to point to the Nondual Teachings and truths. Did Jung know this, was he self-realized? I don't know. But his archetypal vision of the personal and Collective Unconscious reflects the movement from Consciousness to Oneness.

" And it actually wasn't the end though because its not Non-Dualism. The traditions that I had been studying had been Non-Dual traditions. What was left at that time, it was the end of my thinking that I was something in particular and something located but there was still a subtle distinction between my witnessing awareness as a subject and the objects that arose, you know like the green or light or thought, feeling, sensation. Those things still seemed to arise out of nowhere and be sort of abiding in consciousness and then subsiding back into consciousness. It still seemed like that was happening. And so I knew that wasn't the end just taking the Non-Dual Traditions at their word, if that's still a dualistic dynamic, the coming and going, the multiplicity of, you know there's this sound and there's that sound, green and there's blue...that's dualistic. The fact that it could even arise and then seem to be there for a moment and subside is also dualistic. So I thought there's more inquiry.

So if there can't be two thoughts then how can there be even one thought? How can this thing that occurs right now even be considered a thought if its not a numerable thing? Like anything else if there is 1 there can be more than 1, if there can't be more then 1, there can't even be 1. The whole notion of a division between objects arising just evaporated. And the whole notion of a gap between the witnessing awareness and the object arising in awareness, almost like a conceptual model, just disintegrated again into just pure consciousness. Unbroken, ungapped, inseparable pure consciousness. That's how that was." [7]

[1]

The four Ego Functions Jung's Psychological theory of Types The Four Ego Faculties

http://www.kheper.net/topics/Jung/typology.html

[2] Jean Klein
Transmission of the Flame
Third Millennium Publications
Santa Barbara
1990

p.114

[3]

Scott Kiloby on Facebook

[4] attributed at times to Empedocles, St. Augustine, Voltaire etc.

[5] Paul Brunton — Notebooks Category 23: Advanced Contemplation > Chapter 6: Advanced Meditation > # 88

[6] Paul Brunton — Notebooks Category 20: What Is Philosophy? > Chapter 4: Its Realization Beyond Ecstasy > # 194

[7] Greg's Path of Self-Realization - Greg Goode

http://blip.tv/rogeringraham/greg-s-path-of-self-realization-greg-goode-2499883

There are these traditions like Advaita, Buddhism that believe in identity that transcends one lifetime so that but instantiated in a different life. So I thought, if you want to give these traditions the benefit of the doubt whatever it is that makes me 'me' would be something that doesn't need a physical body in order to exist because its supposed to be able to transcend lifetimes. So whatever it is has to be able to exist between lives. So I knew it had to be something very subtle. So I did some more thinking about it, really deep. This was the only question I considered for years. I looked at my life and sort of examined what made something seem like the most mine? And I had it down to 'that which I decided, that which I chose.' And so I thought, that choosing tendency or the choosing faculty, whatever it is, that's what makes me 'me.' So I thought, lets look into that. And I did. I looked very deeply into what that must be and I saw that it was a spontaneous arising that itself was unchosen. So that which chose was unchosen itself. It was spontaneously arisen. So I thought, 'Ha! That was it!' It couldn't be anything. It was just as insubstantial as any other thought like the arising of a color. Like a flash of green. Phsst! The arising of a choice or decision. Phsst! Same thing. Just as spontaneous and just as insubstantial. So that moment was the flash of light moment, I was standing in the subway actually, number 6 platform, Grand Central Station, and the notion that I was an embodied something, that I had a location, that I had a particular identity, just disintegrated. And it wasn't personal either because I didn't think it was only my identity. Anyone's identity. The notion of identity itself wherever it would apply, stopped applying. It just disintegrated, dissolved. That was dramatic, you know flashing lights and stuff. It didn't seem like a big deal. It was just the end, at that point it was the end of some inquiry I was doing.

And it actually wasn't the end though because its not Non-Dualism. The traditions that I had been studying had been Non-Dual traditions. What was left at that time, it was the end of my thinking that I was something in particular and something located but there was still a subtle distinction between my witnessing awareness as a subject and the objects that arose, you know like the green or light or thought, feeling, sensation. Those things still seemed to arise out of nowhere and be sort of abiding in consciousness and then subsiding back into consciousness. It still seemed like that was happening. And so I knew that wasn't the end just taking the Non-Dual Traditions at their word, if that's still a dualistic dynamic, the coming and going, the multiplicity of, you know there's this sound and there's that sound, green and there's blue...that's dualistic. The fact that it could even arise and then seem to be there for a moment and subside is also dualistic. So I thought there's more inquiry. So for another 2 years I looked at what is this process, this witnessing process. At that point I was reading a text by Atmananda called Atma Darshan and it has a couple of sections that are very, very focused on that very question. I hadn't known it. And they attack exactly that question I had been dealing with on my own for 2 years. And so when I read that, I saw that there can't be any gap between subject and object. It sort of went like this. It seemed like one object arose and then it fell, another object arose and then it fell but then the notion that there was another object before this object is itself an object, its a memory thought. And the only evidence that there was eve another object besides the current object right here, right now, is a memory which says there was another one before. But the memory can't touch the thing that it refers to. There's no proof that a memory thought actually proved the existence of a previous thought. The thought that memory thought refers to is not there. And when the thought, let's say a thought comes that says green, then a memory thought says 'that was green.' When the green thought comes then the memory thought is not there. When the memory thought comes then the green thought is not there so they are never there at the same time. So there is never any proof that a thought other than this thought ever arose. That came very strongly through reading this. If there can't be another thought other than the current thought that means there can't be two. There can't be two thoughts. There's no experiential proof, no direct evidence there's ever two thoughts because memory is impotent, its really inert and it can't prove the existence of anything.

That was an Atmananda teaching. That whole line of approach was Atmananda's and it's funny that I was already on a line of approach that was very resonant with his in the first place. It was actually Francis Lucille who gave me that book, Atma Darshan. I had read it before and it didn't really make an impression on me at the time. Francis gave me a copy, he was a good friend and I read it with great attention and I found that sections 19 and 20 of the book dealt with exactly the issue that I had been thinking about on my own for 2 years.

The Cosmic Vision

2011-08-16T09:42:00.022-04:00

The Cosmic Vision

The Cosmic Vision is an interesting aspect of the path to Self-Realization, Mysticism and Spiritual Philosophy.

This essay is not intended to guide you to Non-Dual Realization. There are today many excellent teachers and realizers such as Eckhart Tolle, Gangaji, Sailor Bob Adamson, Adyashanti and many more who can do the job much better than I.

I am somewhat 'experience-based' in my understanding so I tend to organize the various teachings I’ve encountered into three main realization categories. The most important realization and the one people might best orient themselves toward is called Sahaja Samhadi, The Natural State, also referred to as enlightenment, self-realization, waking up, etc. The teachings and philosophies that point to Sahaja sound and read a certain way, summarized in phrases such as "Be Here Now", "Chop Wood, Carry Water," "The World is an Illusion-Brahman alone is Real-the World is Brahman," "Heaven is this Earth," "You are Already Enlightened", “Form is Emptiness, Emptiness is Form,” “Nirvana and Samsara are the same,” [1] etc.

The next important realization I use as an organizing category is Nirvikalpa Samadhi. Nirvikalpa is a deep formless trance. Nirvikalpa samādhi, absorption without self-consciousness, is a mergence of the mental activity (cittavṛtti) in the Self, to such a degree, or in such a way, that the distinctions (vikalpa) of knower, act of knowing, and object known become dissolved — as waves vanish in water, and as foam vanishes into the sea.

"There are two kinds of nirvikalpa samadhi. The first is the classic form in Raja and Kundalini Yoga where the aspirant ascends through the chakra system and penetrates beyond the Sahasrar or crown chakra even unto the further reaches of the light, finally attaining Kaivalya, which is release or immersion into the void of mystic isolation beyond all created realms. Upon return from this state, however, the yogi, not having attained knowledge or Gyan, may still be confused by, and not understand the nature of, the ego-I and the world, and also retains a nostalgia for the bliss he enjoyed in his supreme ascended trance. This state is a limited one, and it soon passes. Therefore it is not the Reality or One-without-a-second. As Adi Da once wrote, in this state “attention is still extended outside the Heart as a gesture towards an independent object”, i.e., God. Ramana Maharshi said that even having repeated experiences of such nirvikalpa samadhi is not enough for liberation, because it will not erase the samskaras, or vasanas, the hidden tendencies for embodiment. Ramakrishna, moreover, berated Vivekananda over his desire to be put into nirvikalpa samadhi by saying, “You fool. There is a state much higher than that!”

The second type of nirvikalpa samadhi may be called Jnana or Jnana-Nirvikalpa Samadhi. In this trance the practitioner does not ascend but instead traces the ego-I or ‘I’-thought to its source in the Heart-root, felt relative to the body-mind as being two digits to the right of the midline but in itself formless and beyond time and space. Rather than ascending there may be a feeling of descent, bypassing the Sahasrar and the realms of light. This was Ramana’s initial death experience. Here, upon return to normal waking consciousness, the seeker, while still not fully enlightened, nevertheless retains the intuition of the Witness-Self, Ramana’s ‘I-I’ in the Heart, or, at least, is enigmatically fixated by its presence. The quester has witnessed the death of his ego-I in a way unlike the mystic in ascended nirvikalpa samadhi, who goes into the void, as it were, blind, without achieving Gyan. In this form of nirvikalpa, however, there IS knowledge about the nature of the ego-I and the world -- although still not complete knowledge, as a subtle sense of separation between Nirvana and Samsara still remains. Again, while a great deal of freedom is gained, this state is yet a halfway-house, although an important one, on the path to Sahaj or full enlightenment. [3]

Into the Nirvikalpa Samadhi category I lump the teachings of mysticism or philosophy that speak of merging in the Void, “there is only the One,” Pure Being alone above all, obliteration of the sense of separate self, or merging into the All. Also I think that most active spiritual seeking has this as its implicit goal: the desire to be extinguished, to die, to end personal suffering, to get rid of the problems of an imperfect personality once and for all. "Occasionally when someonesends us a post advocating the NonDual point of view, it seems to me with all the notions of the illusoriness of the self and self identity or merger in or union with the One that they might be speaking of Monism. They speak of really being non-existent (and say this right while they are addressing you. Can you imagine that?) or in the process of disappearing (the merger). So, if there is a concern about confusing NonDuality with Monism consider that it might sometimes be more appropriate to make use of the term PARTICIPATION instead of merger in or identity with the One."[4] As Cat Stevens once sang, "Why can't we just live in Bliss?"

The third type of realization – and this is where the Cosmic Vision comes in – is called Savikalpa Samadhi, referred to as Asamprajnata Samadhi [5] in the Yoga Sutras.

In the state of savikalpa samadhi, the attention and the life force are switched off from the senses and are consciously kept identified with the ever-joyous Spirit. In this state the soul is released from the ego consciousness and becomes aware of Spirit beyond creation. The soul is then able to absorb the fire of Spirit-Wisdom that "roasts" or destroys the seeds of body-bound inclinations. The soul as the meditator, its state of meditation, and the Spirit as the object of meditation, all become one. The separate wave of the soul meditating in the ocean of Spirit becomes merged with the Spirit. The soul does not lose its identity, but only expands into Spirit. In Savikalpa Samadhi the mind is conscious only of the Spirit within; it is not conscious of creation without (the exterior world). The body is in a trancelike state, but the consciousness is fully perceptive of its blissful experience within.[6]

My contention is that the "Light" experience in the Near Death Experience (NDE) is savikalpa samadhi. A very deep type of NDE has been described where the Cosmic Vision is glimpsed.[7] Also the Cosmic Vision can happen at the occasion of enlightenment or self-realization or it can come as a stand-alone mystical experience.

"Indeed, the Cosmic Vision, which revealed the Presence of Infinite Intelligence throughout life, throughout the universe and throughout history, which explained so many of the Higher Laws to me, came incongruously enough while I was sitting in a hotel room in Chicago."[8]

Some of the elements of the Cosmic Vision experience would be a vision of "The Light of God", a vision of the Spiritual Universe and some understanding of it laws.

One of the most famous and traditionally accepted stories of the Cosmic Vision is from the Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 11, Verse 7.

Behold here today, O Gudakesa, the whole universe, of the moving and the unmoving, and whatever else you desire to see, all concentrated in My body. Today-It takes an ordinary mortal millions of births to grasp the universe in its entirety. And the Lord reveals to Arjuna's eyes the entire panorama. Whatever else you desire to see-Future events such as the ultimate outcome of the battle, about which Arjuna has been in doubt. The past, present, and future--nay, time itself--exist only in a fragment of the Lord.

All concentrated in My body-Related and unified in the Lord.

Sri Krishna is about to reveal to Arjuna the most staggering vision: the vision of the One in the many, the many in the One, the vision that shows that all are the One. This vision alone explains and justifies the apparent contradictions of the relative world and reconciles the antinomies of justice and mercy, fate and free will, suffering and divine love. It reveals all that was, is, and shall be. It relates and unifies the diversity of the world. Seeing God in all and all in God, man overcomes all doubt and perplexity and submits to the divine will. Thus even the most terrible thing in the world loses its terror and even the most hateful thing becomes a mode of the Lord's manifestation. The man blessed with this vision accepts the world with an all-embracing joy and great courage and goes forward with sure steps to discharge his appointed task. He sees all things in one view, and not in a divided, partial, and bewildered fashion. [9]

"We read in the Bhagavad Gita of Arjuna's cosmic vision. He was given a glimpse of a part of the universal order, the World-Design, the World-Idea. Others who have had this glimpse saw other parts of it, such as the evolution of the centre of consciousness through the animal into the human kingdom, an evolution which is recapitulated in a very brief form by an embryo in the womb." [10]

Previously relatively few descriptions of the Cosmic Vision were available from Plato's Republic, the Bhagavad Gita, the Divine Comedy of Dante, Madame Blavatsky's teachings, astrology, etc., but now with the flood of information coming from NDEs, the wave of self-realization accounts, and the greater availability of the world's sacred literature in general, a clearer picture emerges. If you take a look at the material in the appendixes, The Vision from Black Elk Speaks, Benedict Mellon's NDE, Arthur Yensen's "I saw Heaven," William Horden's Journey of Two Souls, not only are they enjoyable to read but you can see how different they are, dependent on cultural conditioning and individual dispositions, yet all were experienced as objective transcendental realities.

This raises the question of whether there is an “objective” Master Plan of the Cosmos, or if, instead, the Cosmic Vision accesses a Macrocosmic State that is essentially formless and the vision is generated culturally and individually conditioned.

One big contribution of T. Subba Row (based on the Mandukya Upanishad) is idea of the Macrocosm/Microcosm of the Three States of Consciousness, the states being Waking, Dream and Deep Sleep with the transcendental 4th state (see diagram).

"Cosmic Vision is of two kinds: (a) seeing the forms and objects around and feeling one with them, (b) seeing only the Idea of the universe. This is called identifying through worship with Hiranyagarbha. It is the subtle universe. It is an advanced experience, not the ultimate: ’So one ought not to stop there,’ said the Professor."[11]

This is where the Cosmic Vision comes from; the vision is of the World Idea in Hiranyagarbha, Cosmic Consciousness.

Because the primal realization here is of the Light of God and that which witnesses the Light of God, this duality of Soul and God is basic. The Soul is a lesser light included within the greater; it can't transcend the relationship with the "Higher", as it grows and evolves though incarnations around the Cosmic Circuit to greater perfection. Those who have had this initiation either through a Near Death Experience or as an event on the spiritual path will know there is still a rarefied thinking going on. Thinking which exclaims "This is God!" Thinking which will remember elements of the Cosmic Vision.

The question is how useful are these distinctions? When fielding questions and conflicts regarding Non-Dual teachings and teachers I am finding that the questions arise from a standpoint in one of the other realizations but particularly the Light of God/Cosmic Vision. For example: What about reincarnation, what happens when you die, what about the destiny of the self-realized being, do they disappear, what about Higher Principles like Plato's Ideas, Steiner's Cosmic Evolution, The Teachings of Theosophy, Plotinus' Levels of Being, Tibetan Buddhist Theology, The 10 Bhumis of the Bodhisattva, etc.? What about vast metaphysical systems, clairvoyance, psychic powers, levels of initiation and attainments, the Gods, Nature Spirits, and all these other teachings? It helps simply to point out that each of these three realizations has its own logic and that the three often contradict each other as contexts. For example it would be blasphemy to say you are the Light of God, the Creator of the Universe in one context, yet Thou Art That is truth in another context. Some of the dynamic which leads to self-realization comes from jostling the two contexts. On the one hand you conceive of the individual soul growing and perfecting itself though eons of births, and on the other hand is the statement to the effect that there is no person and never has been, and you are already Awareness itself. The vast stretches of the universes require the subjective element Awareness which is the I-Am in order to exist at all. It’s a paradoxical logic.

“This transparent light-world is the source of creation, the cosmic birthplace, the home of dazzling primal energy. Galaxies, universes, suns, and planets come forth from here. The revelatory, blissful vision of God's Form may happen only once in a lifetime. Beyond it all is God without Form--the still void.”[12]

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirvana

[2] Zimmer 1951 quoted in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirvikalpa

[3] Peter Holleran contributed the previous two paragraphs

[4] Bert S. in correspondence

[5] http://www.indianetzone.com/19/asamprajnata_samadhi.htm

[6] Yogananda, Paramahansa: God Talks with Arjuna http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savikalpa

[7] Heading Toward Omega - Kenneth Ring, an excellent resource for this type of NDE

[8] Paul Brunton - Notebooks Category 1: Overview of the Quest > Chapter 5: Self-Development > # 285

[9] Notes on The Bhagavad Gita by T. Subba Row online http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/gita-sr/nbg-hp.htm

[10] Paul Brunton - Notebooks Category 22: Inspiration and the Overself > Chapter 6: Experiencing a Glimpse > # 368

[11] Paul Brunton - Notebooks Category 25: World-Mind in Individual Mind > Chapter 2: Enlightenment Which Stays > # 107 (the Professor referred to is V. Subramaniya Iyer.

[12]Paul Brunton - Notebooks Category 23: Advanced Contemplation > Chapter 7: Contemplative Stillness > # 315

Appendix 1 -- The Great Spirit

Black Elk's Near-Death Experience, as described at:

http://www.near-death.com/elk.html

When Black Elk was a boy of nine, he collapsed with a severe, painful swelling of his legs, arms and face.

He lost consciousness and lay in his tipi dying. He was called by two men coming from the clouds, saying, "Hurry up, your grandfather is calling you."

He was raised up out of his tipi into the clouds, feeling sorry to leave his parents. He was shown an elaborate vision oriented around a classic Native American mandala:
the circular hoop, the four directions, and the center of the world on an axis stretching from sky to Earth, numerous neighing, dancing horses, surrounded by lightning and thunder, filled the sky at each direction.

He was told to behold this, then to follow a bay horse, which led him to a rainbow door. Inside, sitting on clouds, were six grandfathers, "older than men can ever be - old like hills, old like stars."

The oldest grandfather welcomed the boy and said: "Your Grandfathers all over the world are having a council, and they have called you here to teach you."

His voice was very kind, but the boy shook all over with fear now, for he knew that these were not old men, but the Powers of the World.

Each Grandfather gave Black Elk a power.

The first Grandfather gave him the power to heal.

The second Grandfather then gave the boy the power of cleansing.

The third Grandfather gave the boy the power of awakening and its peace.

From the fourth Grandfather the boy was given the power of growth.

The fifth Grandfather, the Spirit of the Sky, gave the power of transcendent vision.

The sixth Grandfather, a very old man, incredibly grew backwards into youth until he became the boy, Black Elk.

Growing older again he said, "My boy, have courage, for my power shall be yours, and you shall need it, for your nation on the Earth will have great troubles."

Then the boy hears a great Voice say: "Behold the circle of the nation's hoop, for it is holy, being endless, and thus all powers shall be one power in the people without end."

Then Black Elk, standing on the highest mountain, surveying the grand vista of the hoop of the world, said: "I saw more than I can tell and I understood more than I saw; for I was seeing in a sacred manner the shapes of all things in the spirit, and the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one being."

After returning to the six Grandfathers once again to receive his powers, the boy was sent back to his dying body. When he awoke, his overjoyed parents told him that he had been sick twelve days, lying as if dead the whole time.

Black Elk was afraid to tell his experience, and moped around as a shy, withdrawn boy for eight years. Finally he told a medicine man who helped him reenact the vision as a ritual. At that moment he became a powerful medicine man or shaman, healing, he said, many people of illnesses from tuberculosis to despair.

He kept his vision alive with daily practices, such as meditation on the daybreak star. But the great sadness of his life was his inability to stop the destructive onslaught of industrial culture, in search of gold and land that almost destroyed his people.

Appendix 2 -- Near-Death Experience of Mellen-Thomas Benedict

Journey Through the Light and Back
http://www.mellen-thomas.com/stories.htm

In 1982 I died from terminal cancer. The condition I had was inoperable, and any kind of chemotherapy they could give me would just have made me more of a vegetable. I was given six to eight months to live.

I had been an information freak in the 1970’s, and I had become increasingly despondent over the nuclear crisis, the ecology crisis, and so forth. So, since I did not have a spiritual basis, I began to believe that nature had made a mistake, and that we were probably a cancerous organism on the planet. I saw no way that we could get out from all the problems we had created for ourselves and the planet. I perceived all humans as cancer, and that is what I got.

That is what killed me. Be careful what your world view is. It can feed back on you, especially if it is a negative world view. I had a seriously negative one. That is what led me into my death. I tried all sorts of alternative healing methods, but nothing helped.

So I determined that this was really just between me and God. I had never really faced God before, or even dealt with God. I was not into any kind of spirituality at the time, but I began a journey into learning about spirituality and alternative healing. I set out to do all the reading I could and bone up on the subject, because I did not want to be surprised on the other side. So I started reading on various religions and philosophies. They were all very interesting, and gave hope that there was something on the other side. I ended up in hospice care.

I remember waking up one morning at home about 4:30 AM, and I just knew that this was it. This was the day I was going to die. So I called a few friends and said goodbye. I woke up my hospice caretaker and told her. I had a private agreement with her that she would leave my dead body alone for six hours, since I had read that all kinds of interesting things happen when you die. I went back to sleep.

The next thing I remember is the beginning of a typical near-death experience. Suddenly I was fully aware and I was standing up, but my body was in the bed. There was this darkness around me. Being out of my body was even more vivid than ordinary experience. It was so vivid that I could see every room in the house, I could see the top of the house, I could see around the house, I could see under the house.

There was this Light shining. I turned toward the Light. The Light was very similar to what many other people have described in their near-death experiences. It was so magnificent. It is tangible; you can feel it. It is alluring; you want to go to it like you would want to go to your ideal mother’s or father’s arms.

As I began to move toward the Light, I knew intuitively that if I went to the Light, I would be dead. So as I was moving toward the Light I said, “Please wait a minute, just hold on a second here. I want to think about this; I would like to talk to you before I go.” To my surprise, the entire experience halted at that point. You are in control of your life-after-death experience. You are not on a roller coaster ride.

So my request was honored and I had some conversations with the Light. The Light kept changing into different figures, like Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, mandalas, archetypal images and signs. I asked the Light, “What is going on here? Please, Light, clarify yourself for me. I really want to know the reality of the situation.” I cannot really say the exact words, because it was sort of telepathy.

The Light responded. The information transferred to me was that during your life- after-death experience your beliefs shape the kind of feedback you are getting before the Light. If you were a Buddhist or Catholic or Fundamentalist, you get a feedback loop of your own stuff. You have a chance to look at it and examine it, but most people do not. As the Light revealed itself to me, I became aware that what I was really seeing was our higher Self matrix.

We all have a higher Self, or an oversoul part of our being. It revealed itself to me in its truest energy form. The only way I can really describe it is that the being of the higher Self is more like a conduit. It did not look like that, but it is a direct connection to the Source that each and every one of us has. We are directly connected to the Source. So the Light was showing me the higher Self matrix. I was not committed to one particular religion. So that is what was being fed back to me during my life after death experience.

As I asked the Light to keep clearing for me, to keep explaining, I understood what the higher Self matrix is. We have a grid around the planet where all the higher Selves are connected. This is like a great company, a next subtle level of energy around us, the spirit level, you might say. Then, after a couple of minutes, I asked for more clarification. I really wanted to know what the universe is about, and I was ready to go at that time. I said “I am ready, take me.”

Then the Light turned into the most beautiful thing that I have ever seen: a mandala of human souls on this planet. Now I came to this with my negative view of what was happening on the planet. So as I asked the Light to keep clarifying for me, I saw in this magnificent mandala how beautiful we all are in our essence, our core. We are the most beautiful creations.

The human soul, the human matrix that we all make together is absolutely fantastic, elegant, exotic, everything. I just cannot say enough about how it changed my opinion of human beings in that instant. I said, “Oh, God, I did not know how beautiful we are.” At any level, high or low, in whatever shape you are in, you are the most beautiful creation, you are.

The revelations coming from the Light seemed to go on and on, then I asked the Light, “Does this mean that Mankind will be saved?” Then, like a trumpet blast with a shower of spiraling lights, the Great Light spoke, saying, “Remember this and never forget; you save, redeem and heal yourself. You always have. You always will. You were created with the power to do so from before the beginning of the world.”

In that instant I realized even more. I realized that WE HAVE ALREADY BEEN SAVED, and we saved ourselves because we were designed to self-correct like the rest of God’s universe. This is what the second coming is about. I thanked the Light of God with all my heart. The best thing I could come up with was these simple words of total appreciation: “Oh dear God, dear Universe, dear Great Self, I Love My Life.”

The Light seemed to breathe me in even more deeply. It was as if the Light was completely absorbing me. The Love Light is, to this day, indescribable. I entered into another realm, more profound than the last, and became aware of something more, much more. It was an enormous stream of Light, vast and full, deep in the Heart of Life. I asked what this was.

The Light responded, “This is the RIVER OF LIFE. Drink of this manna water to your heart’s content.” So I did. I took one big drink and then another. To drink of Life Itself! I was in ecstasy.

Then the Light said, “You have a desire.” The Light knew all about me, everything past, present and future. “Yes!” I whispered.

I asked to see the rest of the Universe; beyond our solar system, beyond all human illusion. The Light then told me that I could go with the Stream. I did, and was carried Through the Light at the End of the Tunnel. I felt and heard a series of very soft sonic booms. What a rush!

Suddenly I seemed to be rocketing away from the planet on this stream of Life. I saw the earth fly away. The solar system, in all its splendor, whizzed by and disappeared. At faster than light speed, I flew through the center of the galaxy, absorbing more knowledge as I went. I learned that this galaxy, and all of the Universe, is bursting with many different varieties of LIFE. I saw many worlds. The good news is that we are not alone in this Universe!

As I rode this stream of consciousness through the center of the galaxy, the stream was expanding in awesome fractal waves of energy. The super clusters of galaxies with all their ancient wisdom flew by. At first I thought I was going somewhere; actually traveling. But then I realized that, as the stream was expanding, my own consciousness was also expanding to take in everything in the Universe! All creation passed by me. It was an unimaginable wonder! I truly was a Wonder Child; a babe in Wonderland!

At this point, I found myself in a profound stillness, beyond all silence. I could see or perceive FOREVER, beyond Infinity.

I was in the Void.

I was in pre-creation, before the Big Bang. I had crossed over the beginning of time/the First Word/the First vibration. I was in the Eye of Creation. I felt as if I was touching the Face of God. It was not a religious feeling. Simply I was at one with Absolute Life and Consciousness.

When I say that I could see or perceive forever, I mean that I could experience all of creation generating itself. It was without beginning and without end. That’s a mind expanding thought, isn’t it?

Scientists perceive the Big Bang as a single event which created the Universe. I saw during my life after death experience that the Big Bang is only one of an infinite number of Big Bangs creating Universes endlessly and simultaneously. The only images that even come close in human terms would be those created by super computers using fractal geometry equations.

The ancients knew of this. They said God had periodically created new Universes by breathing out, and recreated other Universes by breathing in. These epochs were called Yugas. Modern science called this the Big Bang. I was in absolute, pure consciousness. I could see or perceive all the Big Bangs or Yugas creating and recreating themselves. Instantly I entered into them all simultaneously. I saw that each and every little piece of creation has the power to create. It is very difficult to try to explain this. I am still speechless about this.
It took me years after I returned from my near-death experience to assimilate any words at all for the Void experience. I can tell you this now: the Void is less than nothing, yet more than everything that is! The Void is absolute zero; chaos forming all possibilities. It is Absolute Consciousness; much more than even Universal Intelligence.

The Void is the vacuum or nothingness between all physical manifestations. The SPACE between atoms and their components. Modern science has begun to study this space between everything. They call it Zero point. Whenever they try to measure it, their instruments go off the scale, or to infinity, so to speak. They have no way, as of yet, to measure infinity accurately. There is more of the 0 space in your own body and the Universe than anything else!

What mystics call the Void is not a void. It is so full of energy, a different kind of energy that has created everything that we are. Everything since the Big Bang is vibration, from the first Word, which is the first vibration. The biblical “I am” really has a question mark after it. “I am—What am I?” So creation is God exploring God’s Self through every way imaginable, in an on¬going, infinite exploration through every one of us. I began to see during my near-death experience that everything that is, is the Self, literally, your Self, my Self. Everything is the great Self. That is why God knows even when a leaf falls. That is possible because wherever you are is the center of the universe. Wherever any atom is, that is the center of the universe. There is God in that, and God in the Void.

As I was exploring the Void during my life after death experience and all the Yugas or creations, I was completely out of time and space as we know it. In this expanded state, I discovered that creation is about Absolute Pure Consciousness, or God, coming into the Experience of Life as we know it. The Void itself is devoid of experience. It is pre life, before the first vibration. Godhead is about more than Life and Death. Therefore there is even more than Life and Death to experience in the Universe!

When I realized this I was finished with the Void, and wanted to return to this creation, or Yuga. It just seemed like the natural thing to do. Then I suddenly came back through the second Light, or the Big Bang, hearing several more velvet booms. I rode the stream of consciousness back through all of creation, and what a ride it was! The super clusters of galaxies came through me with even more insights. I passed through the center of our galaxy, which is a black hole. Black holes are the great processors or recyclers of the Universe.

Do you know what is on the other side of a Black Hole? We are; our galaxy, which has been reprocessed from another Universe. In its total energy configuration, the galaxy looked like a fantastic city of lights. All energy this side of the Big Bang is light. Every sub atom, atom, star, planet, even consciousness itself is made of light and has a frequency and/or particle. Light is living stuff. Everything is made of light, even stones. So everything is alive. Everything is made from the Light of God; everything is very intelligent.

As I rode the stream on and on, I could eventually see a huge Light coming. I knew it was the First Light; the higher Self Light Matrix of our solar system. Then the entire solar system appeared in the Light, accompanied by one of those velvet booms.

I could see all the energy that this solar system generates, and it is an incredible light show! I could hear the Music of the Spheres. Our solar system, as do all celestial bodies, generates a unique matrix of light, sound and vibratory energies. Advanced civilizations from other star systems can spot life as we know it in the universe by the vibratory or energy matrix imprint. It is child’s play. The earth’s Wonder child (human beings) make an abundance of sound right now, like children playing in the backyard of the universe.

The Light explained to me that there is no death; we are immortal beings. We have already been alive forever! I realized that we are part of a natural living system that recycles itself endlessly. I was never told that I had to come back. I just knew that I would. It was only natural, from what I had seen during my life after death experience.

I don’t know how long I was with the Light, in human time. But there came a moment when I realized that all my questions had been answered and my return was near. When I say that all my questions were answered on the other side, I mean to say just that. All my questions have been answered. Every human has a different life and set of questions to explore. Some of our questions are Universal, but each of us is exploring this thing we call Life in our own unique way. So is every other form of life, from mountains to every leaf on every tree.

And that is very important to the rest of us in this Universe. Because it all contributes to the Big Picture, the fullness of Life. We are literally God exploring God’s self in an infinite Dance of Life. Your uniqueness enhances all of Life.

As I began my return to the life cycle, it never crossed my mind, nor was I told that I would return to the same body. It just did not matter. I had complete trust in the Light and the Life process. As the stream merged with the great Light, I asked never to forget the revelations and the feelings of what I had learned on the other side.

There was a “Yes.” It felt like a kiss to my soul.

Then I was taken back through the Light into the vibratory realm again. The whole process reversed, with even more information being given to me. I came back home, and I was given lessons from my near-death experience on the mechanics of reincarnation. I was given answers to all those little questions I had: “How does this work? How does that work?” I knew that I would be reincarnated.

The earth is a great processor of energy, and individual consciousness evolves out of that into each one of us. I thought of myself as a human for the first time, and I was happy to be that. From what I have seen, I would be happy to be an atom in this universe. An atom. So to be the human part of God... this is the most fantastic blessing. It is a blessing beyond our wildest estimation of what blessing can be. For each and every one of us to be the human part of this experience is awesome, and magnificent. Each and every one of us, no matter where we are, screwed up or not, is a blessing to the planet, right where we are.

I went through the reincarnation process expecting to be a baby somewhere. But I was given a lesson on how individual identity and consciousness evolve. I was so surprised when I opened my eyes. I do not know why, because I understood it, but it was still such a surprise to be back in this body, back in my room with someone looking over me crying her eyes out. It was my hospice caretaker. She had given up an hour and a half after finding me dead. My body was stiff and inflexible. She went into the other room. Then I awakened and saw the light outside. I tried to get up to go to it, but I fell out of the bed. She heard a loud “clunk,” ran in and found me on the floor.

When I recovered, I was very surprised and yet very awed about what had happened to me during my near-death experience. At first all the memory of the trip that I have now was not there. I kept slipping out of this world and kept asking, “Am I alive?” This world seemed more like a dream than that one. Within three days I was feeling normal again, clearer, yet different than I had ever felt in my life. My memory of my near-death experience came back later. I could see nothing wrong with any human being I had ever seen. Before that I was really judgmental. I thought a lot of people were really screwed up, in fact I thought that everybody was screwed up but me. But I got clear on all that.

About three months later a friend said I should get tested, so I went and got the scans and so forth. I really felt good, so I was afraid of getting bad news. I remember the doctor at the clinic looking at the before and after scans, saying, “Well, there is nothing here now.” I said, “Really, it must be a miracle”’ He said “No, these things happen; they are called spontaneous remission.” He acted very unimpressed. But here was a miracle, and I was impressed, even if no one else was.
During my near-death experience I had a descent into what you might call Hell, and it was very surprising. I did not see Satan or evil. My descent into Hell was a descent into each person’s customized human misery, ignorance, and darkness of not knowing. It seemed like a miserable eternity. But each of the millions of souls around me had a little star of light always available. But no one seemed to pay attention to it. They were so consumed with their own grief, trauma and misery. But, after what seemed an eternity, I started calling out to that Light, like a child calling to a parent for help.

Then the Light opened up and formed a tunnel that came right to me and insulated me from all that fear and pain, That is what Hell really is. So what we are doing is learning to hold hands, to come together. The doors of Hell are open now. We are going to link up, hold hands, and walk out of Hell together. The Light came to me and turned into a huge golden angel. I said, “Are you the angel of death?” It expressed to me that it was my oversoul, my higher Self matrix, a super ancient part of ourselves. Then I was taken to the Light.

Soon our science will quantify spirit. Isn’t that going to be wonderful? We are coming up with devices now that are sensitive to subtle energy or spirit energy. Physicists use these atomic colliders to smash atoms to see what they are made of. They have got it down to quarks and charm, and all that. Well, one day they are going to come down to the little thing that holds it all together, and they are going to have to call that ... God. We are just beginning to understand that we are creating too, as we go along. As I saw forever, I came to a realm during my near-death experience in which there is a point where we pass all knowledge and begin creating the next fractal, the next level. We have that power to create as we explore. And that is God expanding itself through us.

Since my return I have experienced the Light spontaneously, and I have learned how to get to that space almost any time in my meditation. Each one of you can do this. You do not have to die or have a near-death experience to do this. It is within your equipment; you are wired for it already. The body is the most magnificent Light being there is. The body is a universe of incredible Light. Spirit is not pushing us to dissolve this body. That is not what is happening. Stop trying to become God; God is becoming you. Here.

I asked God: “What is the best religion on the planet? Which one is right?” And Godhead said, with great love: “I don’t care.” That was incredible grace. When Godhead said, “I don’t care,” I immediately understood that it is for us to care about. It is important, because we are the caring beings. It matters to us and that is where it is important. What you have is the energy equation in spirituality. Ultimate Godhead does not care if you are Protestant, Buddhist, or whatever. It is all a blooming facet of the whole. I wish that all religions would realize it and let each other be. It is not the end of each religion, but we are talking about the same God. Live and let live. Each has a different view. And it all adds up to the big picture; it is all important.

I went over to the other side during my near-death experience with a lot of fears about toxic waste, nuclear missiles, the population explosion, the rainforest. I came back loving every single problem. I love nuclear waste. I love the mushroom cloud; this is the holiest mandala that we have manifested to date, as an archetype. It, more than any religion or philosophy on earth, brought us together all of a sudden, to a new level of consciousness. Knowing that maybe we can blow up the planet fifty times, or 500 times, we finally realize that maybe we are all here together now.

For a period they had to keep setting off more bombs to get it in to us. Then we started saying, “we do not need this any more.” Now we are actually in a safer world than we have ever been in, and it is going to get safer. So I came back from my near-death experience loving toxic waste, because it brought us together. These things are so big. As Peter Russell might say, these problems are now “soul size.” Do we have soul size answers” YES!

The clearing of the rain forest will slow down, and in fifty years there will be more trees on the planet than in a long time. If you are into ecology, go for it; you are that part of the system that is becoming aware. Go for it with all your might, but do not be depressed. It is part of a larger thing.

Earth is in the process of domesticating itself. It is never again going to be as wild a place as it once was. There will be great wild places, reserves where nature thrives. Gardening and reserves will be the thing in the future. Population increase is getting very close to the optimal range of energy to cause a shift in consciousness. That shift in consciousness will change politics, money, energy.

After dying, going through my near-death experience and coming back, I really respect life and death. In our DNA experiments we may have opened the door to a great secret. Soon we will be able to live as long as we want to live in this body.

After living 150 years or so, there will be an intuitive soul sense that you will want to change channels. Living forever in one body is not as creative as reincarnation, as transferring energy in this fantastic vortex of energy that we are in. We are actually going to see the wisdom of life and death, and enjoy it. As it is now, we have already been alive forever.

This body, that you are in, has been alive forever. It comes from an unending stream of life, going back to the Big Bang and beyond.

This body gives life to the next life, in dense and subtle energy.
This body has been alive forever already.

Appendix 3 -- Near Death Experience: Journey of Two Souls

I was fully awake when my heart stopped beating and my last breath passed my lips.
In the Spring of 2003, a genetic time bomb went off and my body's time came to an end. The moment of death was upon me at age fifty-three and I found it a curious thing indeed. People around me grew quite excited but an untroubled calm came over me, carrying me further and further away from the scene, as if moving me to an invisible but familiar place just sideways to where my body lay. The sirens of the ambulance were soft and melodic, the questions of the emergency room doctors sounded like a different language.
Minutes after they placed me on the emergency room table and fit an oxygen mask over my face, I felt my heart stop beating and I sighed my last breath. There was the briefest pause while my conscious personality puzzled that I did not gasp for breath nor seem concerned that my body had just died -- and then it was suddenly cradled in my higher soul and I was catapulted, for that is the only word for it, catapulted, wide awake, out of my body and into the Sphere of Universal Communion.
My whole life, it turned out, had been practice for the moment of dying: my higher soul stepped forward, speaking reassuringly about how it had been through this so many times before. While my lower soul, this lifetime's personality, went mute in the face of the vast Unknown, my higher soul catapulted into It with one last sigh of joy and gratitude: What a glorious Creation!
I was fully awake when I entered the Sphere of Universal Communion.
How do I know that is it's true name? I don't. I'm not even sure it's possible for it to have a single true name. But the Sphere of Universal Communion is what I saw and what I felt and it's the only true name I can imagine, the only one I can use to describe it at all.
It appeared to me as a sphere of light, but light that is aware. Light that is awareness. Not something so much seen -- since we have no physical eyes without a body -- as sensed. Something like the warmth of sunlight even when your eyes are squeezed shut. But with the additional sense of someone present, close by, their attention resting on the edges of your awareness gently. An aware light that is both the substance and the medium of communion within its own spherical spaciousness. An aware light that creates and sustains the possibility of shared awareness on a universal basis.
I was fully awake when I realized I was myself a sphere of communion. A sphere of aware light. Surrounded by an infinite number of other spheres of aware light.
As I experienced it, then, the Sphere of Universal Communion is an infinite space of aware light that is occupied by all the individual spheres of aware light that ever have or ever will exist. As if it were One Mind, occupied by all the individual Ideas it ever has or ever will conceive. Or a timeless, limitless, Oversoul, occupied by all the individual souls that ever have or ever will enter the realm of time, space, and personality. As I said, I do not pretend to know what it's true name is, but the relation between the Whole and its parts -- and between parts and parts -- this I can still see with diamond clarity.
What can I still see of that bodiless state?
Each of us, as an individual sphere of communion seems the embodiment of two complementary halves: Understanding and Memory. While Understanding seems the principal characteristic of the higher soul, Memory seems to be the principal characteristic of the lower soul. As I experienced it, Understanding is our individual portion of the limitless Knowledge of the One Soul, the evolving insight we possess into the Way of the One, our individual spark of immortality. Memory, on the other hand, is the accumulated impressions of all the lifetimes we recall, the sum of all the personalities we have yoked to our soul, our enduring storehouse of mortal treasures.
I was fully awake when I realized that whenever another sphere of aware light came into contact with me, there was an immediate and spontaneous exchange between us of our respective Memory and Understanding. This is why I say we are individual spheres of communion within the Universal Sphere of Communion. Because when we come into contact there, all that we know and all that we are passes uninhibited between us in a natural and open communion of shared being. Spheres of aware light touch and so exchange the totality of their experience and assimilate one another's experience into their own.
I was fully awake when all the individual spheres of communion came into contact with one another at the same time, breaking through every dam of individuality and flooding us all in the totality of our shared being. This is why I suspect its name is the Sphere of Universal Communion--because when all the individual spheres of aware light periodically come into contact at the same time, every individual awareness that ever has or ever will exist is spontaneously and immediately At-One with the One. I cannot say what it is that periodically draws all of us together at the same time but, cause aside, its effect is the complete and overwhelming experience of every drop of awareness in the ocean suddenly merging into the single sea of awareness.
My body was dead for two minutes but for me, the time passed as if it were many years.
Other individual spheres of aware light, many of great depth of Understanding with the Memory of thousands of lifetimes, generously taught me lessons to bring back and make use of in this lifetime. Such, it seems, is the loving-kindness of our collective ancestors, who care so deeply that this era of transformation is one of metamorphosis and not one of atrophy.
There is one last thing I have come to believe since returning to this realm of the body and its five senses--

Although it is much more difficult to perceive here than in the Sphere of Universal Communion, we are no less individual spheres of communion here than we are there. Once I had experienced what it feels like to recognize myself as a sphere of aware light in the bodiless state, I found I had become sensitive enough to perceive myself as that same sphere of communion here with a body. And sensitive enough to recognize that everyone else is a similar sphere of aware light, as well.
Moreover, although it is more difficult to perceive the spontaneous and immediate exchange of Understanding and Memory that occurs when we individual spheres of communion come into contact here, I believe it occurs nonetheless, even if not in our conscious awareness.
So what I have come to believe moving from life to death and back again is this: just as learning to live is actually preparing to die, it seems clear that preparing to die is actually learning to live.
It's been nearly eight years since I died and I have been reticent to speak about it too soon, for fear of coloring my account with the profound emotions of the experience. As with so many others who have undergone such an experience, the depth of those emotions has moved me to dedicate the remainder of this lifetime to giving expression to the lessons I learned while outside this lifetime.
There you have it, that's the best account I can give. It's all still as fresh today as it was when it happened. By now it doesn't seem strange at all to say things like, Dying is one of the most meaningful events in life. Clearly, the near-death experience has changed me, filled me with a deeper appreciation of the sacredness of everything. And I apologize ahead of time for the clumsiness of my report: Words that were invented to describe this world fail to paint a picture of that other realm.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts about this matter that is part of our common humanity.

Rupert Spira in Manhattan

2011-03-28T15:47:00.003-04:00

Rupert Spira in Manhattan March 18-20

Karl Renz in Silver Springs MD

2011-03-28T14:49:00.005-04:00

Karl Renz in Silver Springs MD March 10-12, 2011

Mike Conners Retreat at Wisdom's Goldenrod

2010-11-06T13:33:00.001-04:00

Mike Conners Retreat at Wisdom's Goldenrod Oct 15,16,17 2010

Science and Nonduality Conference

2010-11-06T13:19:00.000-04:00

Science and Nonduality Conference

October 19-25, 2010

San Rafael at Embassy Suites

Wed 4 hrs talk with Jeff Foster

Thursday morning Florian Schlosser

afternoon Rupert Spira

9:00am-12:30pm
Sausalito room

C2. Perspectives on Non-dual Awareness

Stephen LaBerge, Jeff Carreira

Peggy LaCerra, Ian J. Grand, Zoran Josipovic, Mokshananda
Peter Baumman &Tami Simon
This session is eligible for CE credit.

4:30pm-6:30pm
San Rafael Ballroom

PL 2. The Primacy of Consciousness

Adyashanti, Peter Russell, Robert Lanza

9:30pm-11:00pm
San Rafael Ballroom

Film - Calling it Quits (96 mins)

Saturday, October 23, 2010

8:00am - 9:00am
Tiburon room

Meditation led by Rupert Spira

9:00am-12:30pm
Sausalito room

C6. Seeing the World From Nondual Perspectives

Jerry Katz, Chuck Hillig, Peter Wrycza, Stanley Sobottka, Kenneth D. Johnson, Keith Turausky, Wolfgang Baer

2:00pm-04:00pm
Corte Madera room

SEMI-PL 3. Infinity Through Presence

Peter Dziuban, Robert Dittler, Scott Kiloby

4:30pm-6:30pm
San Rafael Ballroom

PL 3. Unifying Spacetime and Beyond

Francis Lucille, Drew Dellinger, Nassim Haramein

Sunday, October 24, 20

9:00am-12:30pm
Corte Madera room

C9. Entheogens as a Portal

James Oroc, Martin Ball, Frank Echenhofer , Steven Lehar, Rick Doblin, Matthew Baggott, James Fadiman,

2:00pm-3:00p
Sausalito room

PANEL 1 - The Journey from Glimpse to Abidance: The Process of Self Realization after Awakening

Chris Hebard (moderator), Scott Kiloby, Jeff Foster, Rupert Spira

4:30pm-6:30pm
San Rafael Ballroom

PL 4. Enquiries Into the Nondual Nature of Reality

Hameed Ali (A. H. Almaas), Puppetji

Francis Lucille retreat

2010-11-02T12:27:00.000-04:00

Francis Lucille Retreat in Temecula CA Oct 23-31 2010
I loved the retreat with Francis. I would recommend seeing him in Temecula rather than Tampa or NYC. His estate is a paradise in the California hills and he has a sort of salon of his friends and students who hang out and talk during the day and evenings. It's definitely part of his praxis. Also cultured, he plays flute and his son violin and they hold occasional concerts in the evening, Beethoven, Faure, Handel, etc. Francis could handle any Advaita or Nondual question I threw at him, often giving new and revealing insights. But he is also a strong heart person and one could easily feel the presence of the Overself or just Presence in meditations and his simple yoga exercises which he does daily. And he's a lovely person, pleasure to know him. His approach I call the "salt doll method", after the Hindu story, a gentle and slow dissolving of ego into the Overself's presence by hanging out with him. Aesthetic beauty is a strong element in his teachings and life. And as a Nondualist he also incorporates the idea of the World Mind, doesn't call it that but New York City is still there when you are not looking at it. So yeah, check him out.

SIG Retreat 10/1-3/2010

2010-10-08T22:13:00.006-04:00

This was an exceptional retreat. Michael Hall, Margo Ridler, Bart Marshall. I especially liked the talk by 3 members of SIG that had some awakening.

I heard Bruce Rubin got some realization during Paul Hedderman's talk. I couldn't stay for Shawn Nevins. Had to get back to go on a bus trip.

4 SIG Panel from October Retreat

and the Stephen Norquist and Paul Hedderman talks were so good.

I liked camping in Durant Nature Park. It is a boy scout camp. Luckily the weather was good. There were rainstorms the week before. The food was excellent. Attendance is limited by the size of the building, under $100 which makes things intimate. No alcohol or pot. We tried to have a drum circle in the evening but I only had 1 drum. Next years I will my drumming stuff.

Becoming What Is

Durant Nature Park - Raleigh, NC

Friday, October 1st - Sunday, October 3rd, 2010

Hosted by

The Self-Inquiry Discussion Group of Raleigh

AGENDA

(Subject to Change)

Friday, October 1st

7:00 p.m. Opening - Luke Roberts

7:15 p.m. Keynote - Bart Marshall

8:00 p.m. Speaker #1 - Michael Hall

9:30 p.m. Free time

Saturday, October 2nd

9:00 a.m. Speaker #2 - Bruce Joel Rubin

10:30 a.m. Break

11:00 a.m. Speaker #3 - Margot Ridler

12:30 p.m. Break

1:00 p.m. Lunch

3:30 p.m. Speaker #4 - TBA

5:00 p.m. Break

5:30 p.m. Dinner

7:00 p.m. Speaker #5 - Bart Marshall

10:00 p.m. Free time

Sunday, October 3rd

9:00 a.m. Speaker #6 - Paul Hedderman

10:30 a.m. Break

11:00 a.m. Speaker #7 - Steven Norquist

12:30 p.m. Break

1:00 p.m. Lunch

3:00 p.m. Speaker #8 - Shawn Nevins

4:30 p.m. Break

5:00 p.m. Fireside Wrap-Up

6:30 p.m. Dinner

Monday, October 4th

9:00 a.m. Check-Out

Scott Kiloby 9/24-26/10 NYC

2010-10-08T22:10:00.001-04:00

Scott Kiloby 9/24-26/10 NYC

7 Day Silent Retreat with Adyashanti

2010-09-24T06:46:00.001-04:00

7 Day Silent Retreat with Adyashanti at Omega Institute 9/10-17/2010
This is the first 7 day retreat I have done. No talking for 7 days. A few people I knew from Ithaca and NYC were there. A guy camping next to me, it was his first retreat, had a big experience. his name was Randy. Nice guy. I was cold at night and camping was a pain. I think I will get a dorm room next time. I am trying to carry over some of the aspect of the retreat into my daily life. Silence, not too much electronics, not much talking really in an attempt to preserve the light-awareness.

Stuart Schwartz in Woodstock

2010-08-30T16:16:00.002-04:00

Stuart Schwartz in Woodstock 8/27-9/2010
What a great retreat. It was a Kristine Flone's house and yurt in her back yard. It was well attended. I went with Bib Yavits and Colin Sky was there, Hersh and Laurie Stern and alot of other interesting people. Most people spoke of personal problems and I occasionally asked about Nondual realization. Stuart was kindly and funny we who follow him have come to know. It was a good break from the Ithaca scene.

Rupert Spira in NYC

2010-07-21T20:57:00.003-04:00

Rupert Spira in NYC July 16,17,18,19 2010
I read alot of Nondual books. "The Transparency of Things" I found to be one of the best. Maybe it is because I was an artist. Maybe its because he reasons from direct experience to Consciousness, Presence, Reality. But I found it to be a most engaging and transforming book I especially like his approach that each and every question that arises naturally should be answered and this a necessary part of coming to full realization.
This book shouldn't be read like a philosophical text but rather a modern day sutra. I read about 5 pages a day until inspired than let it drop till the next day's reading. Trying to comprehend it intellectually won't be a satisfying approach although it is reasoned. But it is a sacred reasoning. One that lead to something intangible and real.
I had the opportunity to attend a weekend with Rupert in New York City. He is an engaging and compassionate teacher who IMHO is genuinely self-realized. If you are at all interested in the modern Awareness teachers and coming to self-realization, you should check this out.

Consciousness conceives of itself as a subtle object towards which it
can turn. It does not yet know that it is already the attention that it
is trying to give itself.

It does not yet see clearly that attention divested of an object is
already Consciousness, Presence, itself. So it plays a trick on itself. It
searches for itself.

Consciousness never finds itself in this way because it is, without
knowing it, already itself.

However, in attempting the impossible task of using mind to look
towards that which is not an object, Consciousness is somehow
undermining its habit of looking ‘outside’ and ‘elsewhere.’

The mind dissolves when it tries to see or touch that objectless place.
The search collapses. It is undermined rather than fulfilled.

p 141

The idea that time is like a container, that houses all the events of
our lives is in fact a temporal representation of Consciousness, in
the mind.
And likewise, the idea that space is like a container, that houses all
the objects in the world is a spatial representation of Consciousness,
in the mind.
Events do not appear in time and objects do not appear in space. They
both appear in Consciousness.

p.243

Janine Waldron, Intuitive

2010-06-19T21:24:00.003-04:00

6/17/10 Janine Waldron, Intuitive at Michael Hall's office in Binghamton. I went to see Janine with Cathy Kramer. My meeting with her was about an hour and a half.

Light on The Hill Photo Gallery

2010-06-14T13:39:00.000-04:00

Light on The Hill Photo Gallery

Michael Hall Retreat at Light on the Hill

2010-06-14T13:28:00.005-04:00

Wow this was a really good retreat for a number of reasons. First the site Light on the Hill was just beautiful in the summer. Birds and flowers etc. Second reason was Michael was joined by Margot Ridler and Bart Marshall. The whole event was videotaped by Richard Miller of Never Not Here. The dialog which stands out in my mind was clarifying what enlightenment is on Sunday Morning. I hope it gets posted on Never Not Here.
It was fun checking out Richard Miller's equipment 2 Canon GL-2 video cameras, Behringer mixer and mics. 3 camera setup.
The enery was so intense I could barely remember my name. But Bart's talk in particular clarified that what I thought was referred to as realization in fact was. Simply openness, clarity which I guess is the nondual in actuality. Seems to be no separation between subject and object.
One of the most powerful retreats I have ever attended.

Margot Ridler

2010-05-26T09:33:00.002-04:00

Margot Ridler in Ithaca at Elaine Gries House on 5/19/10 and at Endicott Visitor Center 5/23/10

Scott Kiloby 5/14-16/10 NYC

2010-05-17T08:17:00.007-04:00

Scott Kiloby 5/14-16/10 NYC

I thought this was a great weekend. Arlene hosted Scott in her apartment on the upper West Side of Manhattan. Of note a man named Roger who was a vehement questioner at the fall satsang apparent got the realization in between and seems to be at peace and have a full understanding. He chimed in occasionally.

I asked a couple of questions but it marked a turning point. I asked 'is being openess, formless spacious consciousness, it that it? Is that enlightenment or what we are looking for?' He said yes. He also said at one point, this is emptiness talking to you, referencing the same.

At another point I asked him if he experienced something like the burning of the samskaras in the heart after realization and he didn't answer directly but later he explained he had to do some shadow work which is complexes with his father and friends.

The satsangs were packed, Arlene's apartment was full. We went out in the evening and got dinner at Whole Foods and had a picnic in Central Park.

I see why Roger got his realization by working with Scott. If you read too much stuff you get confused comparing one author with another. Scott is so simple it's like you can't miss it and once you stay with it all the other issues get cleared up. I realized I am sort of moving from non-abiding awareness to abiding awareness, moving from awareness to thoughts to back to awareness to seeing thoughts a a subset of awareness. You are always awareness.

Mike Conners in Ithaca, NY

2010-05-17T08:15:00.002-04:00

Mike Conners in Ithaca, NY May 7-8-9, 2010

Eckhart Tolle in Malibu, CA

2010-04-29T22:08:00.002-04:00

Eckhart Tolle in Malibu, CA April 27-May 2, 2010

Adyashanti in Fredrick, MD and Asheville, NC

2010-04-29T22:05:00.002-04:00

Adyashanti in Fredrick, MD and Asheville, NC April 20-24, 2010

Jac O'Keeffe in Rye NY

2010-04-29T22:02:00.004-04:00

Jac O'Keeffe in Rye NY the weekend of April 16-18, 2010.
Four of us drove down to see Jac in Rye NY. We stayed at the Marriot. The first evening satsang was at Wainright house, a sort of famous place. The next 2 afternoons were at the sponsors house in a residential neighborhood of Rye. Richard Miller of Never Not Here was videotaping the entire event. All satsangs are online at
http://blip.tv/file/3499456 /
http://blip.tv/file/3503957/
http://blip.tv/file/3504056/
Her responses are pretty much consistently inspired

Mukti at Kripalu

2010-04-14T14:59:00.005-04:00

Mukti at Kripalu March 26-28 2010

I like Mukti. She has a mild personality and tries to answer questions honestly and completely. I told her about my wake-up experiences with Adya. She seemed open but undecided if that was 'it,' the real thing. But was polite about it. I asked her if she had the experiences of 'the burning of the samskaras int e heart' which I am asking everybody lately. She said after realization she experienced a physical pain in her chest. She went to doctors and they could find nothing wrong. So each day she would do like a mediation/inquiry with the pain. She said it was at the core painful experiences in family and social life. This I took to be the modern equivalent of the yogi phenomena. Meditations with her were excellent and I remember experiencing something like the 'vats' in Taoist meditation, dropping from the head to the heart vat.
I had a single room at Kripalu which although expensive made for a pleasant experience.

Satori at a Grateful Dead show 2/14/10

2010-02-15T15:22:00.002-05:00

Satori at a grateful dead show 2/14/10. Well not really the Grateful dead but it's current reincarnation called Further. Phil Lesh, Bob Wier and the guitar player from Dark Star orchestra who sounds like Jerry both in guitar and vocals. The show was at Barton Hall Cornell University. Man these guys packed them in. I went with Pete. The first half was good musically and soe great solos.
You need to know a question I asked David Scoma. How does perception work without separation. His answer is that it was like a hologram, the field of perception and its objects appear 3-D but in fact they are flat. I Greg Goode I think said with it is thinking and conceptualizing that creates separation of objects in the field and sense of self. My question was 'how does it work?'
Last night during the second set I had a first hand experience. I kept moving in and out of a state of unity and the way things were perceived changed. Usually you see the stage and people in the band at 3 point perspective. But then it would flip where there was no measured space, it was kind of like design space. The members of the back were right in front of me. But teh space didn't make any sense. It was more like you perceived objects closely if you felt some kinship. It wasn't classical visual space. Also noise, the show was very noisy. But it was as if I stepped back into silence and yet was able to enjoy the sound like right on the surface of my ears.
But now I know. the question was answered by exerience. The best way.

Tomas Sander and Greg Goode - Western Emptiness Teachings and Joyful Freedom

2010-01-26T23:16:00.002-05:00

This was a fun little teaching session in an apartment on 23rd st west side. I walked past the Chelsea Hotel on the way over. I rode up in the elevator with Tomas. It was well attended, like around 30 people. A few seemed to be members of Tomas' Buddhist group. There were lots of Tibetan Buddhist statuary etc. The talk was very well prepared with Greg and Tomas switching back and forth, handouts and a nice PowerPoint presentation. It really wasn't about nonduality and wasn't really a satsang either. But it was informative and interesting. My brain ceased functioning after awhile by middle afternoon. The lunch was fabulous coming from a Thai restaurant close by. The whole thing was well organized. Unfortunately which seems to be a modern convention half of everybody leaves in the middle or afternoon leaving the presenters with a sense they are not being appreciated. The exchange with members of the audience was good, had some real thinkers there.

Tomas Sander and Greg Goode - Western Emptiness Teachings and Joyful Freedom

Jan 16 Sat 9:30 AM

Location: Nalandabodhi New York

324 West 23rd Street #2A
New York, NY 10011
212-399-2193

Estimated attendance: 2 people attended.

Who organized?
Advaita-Nondual Meetup Group

Western Emptiness Teachings and Joyful Freedom

The Mahayana emptiness teachings are considered key for attaining liberation from cyclic existence. Yet their difficulty has made them less intuitive than they might be. This class will offer insights from the Western tradition that can come to the assistance of the Western student. We will learn several Western emptiness meditations and experience how they can foster joy, lightness, compassion, and freedom.

This class will be taught by Tomas Sander and Greg Goode. It was presented in condensed form at a talk at the 2009 Science and Nonduality Conference in San Rafael, California.

This class is open to Buddhists, non-Buddhists, and anyone interested in the variety of non-dual approaches.

To enroll:
Pls send e-mail to: tomas_sander@yahoo.com

Location:
Nalandabodhi New York
324 West 23rd Street #2A
New York, NY 10011
Phone: 212-399-2193

Schedule:
Saturday, January 16
9:30am - 5pm
(bring your lunch or lunch money to order in)

Registration: $25*
*If you want to attend but have difficulties with the requested registration fee, please let us know so we can make other arrangements with you.

Contact:
To enroll please send email to tomas_sander@yahoo.com

For more information:
http://www.nalandabod...

Presenters:
Tomas Sanders is a Buddhist practitioner since 2002. He has studied mostly in the Tibetan tradition and received teachings from Tsoknyi Rinpoche, Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche and other Tibetan masters. With Greg Goode he has been studying Buddhist philosophy and its soteriological applications, which is one of his main interests today. Tomas grew up in Germany, holds a doctoral degree in mathematics and works as a research scientist in the computer industry. Please feel free to contact Tomas Sander if you have any questions: tomas_sander@yahoo.com

Greg Goode is a teacher of nondualism, combining Western and Eastern approaches. He has taught several emptiness seminars through NBNY. Having studied Western philosophy at the Universität zu Köln in Cologne, Germany, Greg received his M.A. and Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Rochester. He studied Mahayana teachings of Pure Land Buddhism through Jodo-Shinshu, and has taken formal refuge through the Chinese Madhyamika lineage of the pre-eminent scholar of Chinese Buddhism, Master Yin-Shun of Taiwan, P.R.C., author of The Way to Buddhahood. Greg has served as managing editor of Philosophical Practice, the journal of the American Philosophical Practitioners Association. He is the author of Nondualism in Western Philosophy, Standing As Awareness, and a contributor to Dennis Waite's Enlightenment: The Path Through the Jungle. Nationally certified as a philosophical counselor by the American Philosophical Practitioners Association, Greg has a private practice in New York.

Website: http://www.heartofnow...

Stuart Schwartz in Woodstock 11/29/09

2009-12-05T06:35:00.000-05:00

Stuart Schwartz in Woodstock 11/29/09

Michael Hall Retreat 11/20-22/09

2009-12-05T06:24:00.000-05:00

Michael Hall Retreat 11/20-22/09

Scott Kiloby 11/16-17/09 NYC

2009-11-19T11:09:00.002-05:00

This was a really fun weekend. I went to NYC on a Monday, met Janine at Port Authority and we had lunch. I went to my digs on 19th st. I went over to the Rubin Museum to see Jung's Red book which was on display there. Jung was really a good artist and the book is like a psychological illuminated manuscript. It was interesting to see the psych juxtaposed to the Nondual teaching. Like realization seeks to collapse the psych and have spirit and body experience left.I met up with J. and Scott for dinner. We went to french restaurant and had some excellent food. Then up to 104th st. Arlene's apartment where Scott would do satsang and stay. Scott's approach is direct pointing, being with him is like sitting next a light or a fire. He realization was only 2 years ago. The crowd was small but decent. The next day I went down to Soho, Chinatown and Delancy St. on an excursion of my own. Then I met Scott and J. for lunch at a Thai place. Then we went down to Ground Zero and the Wall St. area. It still smelled like smoke in some places. The we went out to dinner at an Indian restaurant near Arlene's and anothe rsatsang. I didn't talk. I could see I didn't have the clear realiztion that Scott had. ost of the people in the satsang just complained about net getting the realization. Scott mentioned that someone at the Rockville MD went home after the teaching and woke up the next day. I was quite impressed with Scott and his writings. I may try and see him at Omega.

Enlightenment and Grace Intensive

2009-10-11T22:28:00.001-04:00



			"Enlightenment and Grace: Removing Resistance to Destiny" A Weekend Spiritual Intensive

		Friday, October 9th - Sunday, October 11th, 2009 Durant Nature Park - Raleigh, North Carolina
	"Do understand that you are destined for enlightenment. Cooperate with your destiny, don't go against it, don't thwart it. Allow it to fulfill itself." -- Nisargadatta Maharaj "Man is asked to make of himself what he must become to fulfill his destiny." -- Paul Tillich "Amazing Grace! How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me." -- John Newton
The Self Inquiry Discussion Group (SIG) of Raleigh, NC is hosting a weekend intensive October 9th - 11th, 2009. The purpose of this retreat is to provide a forum for like-minded individuals to convene with the intent of furthering the search, and advancing the endeavor of finding an answer to one's deepest longing. Seekers and finders alike will come together in an atmosphere of friendship, camaraderie, and focused intention. You are encouraged to come and participate, to share what you may have to offer fellow seekers, and to welcome help from others. The weekend will include a variety of speakers and activities, all geared toward helping one to hear and heed the Call. We will open the weekend at 7:30 p.m. Friday, October 9th and continue through the evening of Sunday the 11th, checking out of the lodge by 9:45 Monday morning. (You are encouraged to arrive prior to 7:30 p.m. Friday in order to settle in at the lodge and to hang out. The space is available to us starting at 1:00 p.m. Friday, so you are welcome any time after that.) The agenda will include presentations led by Avery Solomon, Bart Marshall, Bob Cergol, Bruce Rubin, David Scoma, Michael Casari, Michael Hall, Mike Conners, and Nathan Spoon, along with sessions centered on a variety of thought-provoking topics and insight-inducing experiments. For more on these speakers, see More on Session Leaders below. Also, a tentative agenda is now available. Please refer to the Logistics sections below for the current plans concerning the practical aspects of the retreat. To learn more about SIG and the spirit of this retreat, see More on the Self Inquiry Discussion Group of Raleigh below or visit our Web site at www.selfinquiry.org. SIG is an affiliate group of the TAT Foundation. For more information on TAT, please visit www.tatfoundation.org. Please send any inquiries regarding the retreat to Luke Roberts: luke444@gmail.com. You may also send inquiries regarding SIG in general and/or the retreat to: info@selfinquiry.org. Also, please feel free to pass on the URL of this page to anyone you feel may be interested. All are welcome to the retreat and we are advertising primarily through word-of-mouth. We look forward to seeing you in October! Sincerely, The Self Inquiry Discussion Group of Raleigh LOGISTICS We will have a finalized agenda for the weekend available at least one month prior to the retreat (by the beginning of September). We will also include a "What to Bring" list at that time and any updated logistics. There is some logistical information available at this time. Location The Training Lodge at Durant Nature Park 8305 Camp Durant Road Raleigh, NC 27614 Durant Nature Park The Training Lodge Lodging Meeting space will accommodate 50 people, however, the lodge itself sleeps only 38 individuals. There are 22 bunk beds and 16 army cots. Excepting any medical necessity, the bunk beds are allotted on a first-come-first-served basis. Lodging accommodations are BYOB (bring your own bedding). Please register early to confirm your space at the retreat and reserve a bunk at the lodge, if that's your preference. Camp sites are also available near the lodge for no additional charge. Also, there are a number of hotels in the area. We encourage those who feel pulled to do so to stay at Durant Nature Park, as this will further facilitate the spirit, intimacy, and intensity of the retreat. Food All food will be provided and included in the cost of the retreat. SIG will prepare the meals, and volunteers will be requested to help with each meal. We do encourage you to bring your favorite snacks (including coffee, tea, etc.) to contribute to the stockpile. Furthermore, please indicate any food allergies or dietary restrictions that you may have, as we will do our best to accommodate everyone. Sunday dinner will be dining out at local restaurants (we will provide a list of nearby locations): this meal will not be covered by the cost of the retreat. Additionally, there is an optional Monday breakfast/brunch out at a restaurant to close the weekend before heading back home. Cost The cost of the retreat is $52.00. This covers lodging, food (with the exception of the Sunday dinner and Monday brunch at local restaurants), recording equipment, miscellaneous supplies, and firewood. NOTE: If the cost of the retreat is an issue--one that could make or break your attendance--please contact Luke Roberts. We do not want anyone to not come for reasons of cost and will do our best to make arrangements. Registration We encourage you to register as soon as possible to reserve your spot and to help us plan the retreat. To reiterate, space is limited and we do anticipate a full retreat, so please register early while spots are still available! Please register and send your payment through PayPal: www.paypal.com. Click on the "Send Money" option; you will send the money to luke444@gmail.com; indicate that you are sending money for a "Purchase" and for "Goods". Finally, read the section below, Info Needed from You. Though we strongly prefer payment through PayPal, you may also send a personal check to the following address, made out to Luke Roberts: Luke Roberts 104 Milton Drive Apt. B Carrboro, NC 27510 INFO NEEDED FROM YOU: The following are items that we need you to include upon registration. Further information may be requested from you at a later time. Anyone registering may include the information by emailing it to Luke Roberts at luke444@gmail.com. Alternatively, if using PayPal, you may enter it in an optional "Note" or "Comments" field; if mailing a check, you may include it in a handwritten note. 1. Full Name 2. Mailing Address 3. Contact Email Address 4. Contact Phone Number(s) 5. Dietary Restrictions / Allergies 6. Health Concerns / Issues 7. Please specify your Sleeping Preference or Arrangements: Cot, Bunk, Camping, or Other (hotel, personal arrangements, etc.) MORE on SESSION LEADERS The following is the current lineup of session leaders, each with a brief description and links. Other presenters and session leaders may be added later as the final agenda takes shape. Avery Solomon Avery Solomon has been a teacher and researcher at Wisdom's Goldenrod Center for Philosophic Studies in Hector, NY for 30 years, giving seminars and classes there and in several countries around the world on ancient wisdom, modern spirituality, meditation, and healing. For more about Avery, please visit his Web site at: www.averysolomon.com. Bart Marshall After a long journey that took him from the jungles of Vietnam to Richard Rose's backwoods farm in West Virginia, Bart came to the end of seeking in 2004. For samples of Bart's writing, please visit to www.selfinquiry.org, or to these sites: www.searchwithin.org/download.htm and www.tatfoundation.org/forum_index.htm. He also appears in the spiritual documentary, Closer than Close. Bob Cergol One of Richard Rose's earliest students, Bob Cergol completed his search in 1999, after almost 30 years of seeking. Read a review of him here: www.spiritualteachers.org/bob_cergol.htm. For samples of Bob's writing, please refer to these sites: www.searchwithin.org/download.htm and www.tatfoundation.org/forum_index.htm. Bruce Rubin Oscar-winning screenwriter and director Bruce Joel Rubin (Jacob's Ladder, Ghost, Deep Impact, My Life, Time Traveler's Wife) has been a spiritual practitioner and teacher since the late '60s, and has taught popular Kundalini yoga and meditation classes in New York and Los Angeles for many years. To listen to MP3s of some of his talks, please go to www.brucerubin-class.org/2009.aspx. David Scoma After years of spiritual seeking, David Scoma finally became that which he sought. He now maintains a spiritual blog and Web site, as well as contributes articles to other sites, such as the TAT Forum. Check out his many articles and MP3s at www.JustPerception.net. Michael Casari Michael was with Richard Rose when he began teaching, and at his side when he died. Over the course of almost 40 years he has absorbed Rose's teachings, as well as most every other spiritual system and tradition. He's also one of the largest repositories of Rose anecdotes on the planet. To listen to a talk he gave in 2008, entitled "What is TAT?", go to www.tatfoundation.org/tat_audio.htm. Michael Hall, PhD A clinical psychologist in private practice in Binghamton, NY, Michael Hall practiced Zen Buddhism for 25 years before his sudden Awakening in 2002. In addition to traditional psychotherapy, he now teaches the direct path to spiritual awakening to a growing number of students, as well as to his clients. His first book, Awake and Alive: Spiritual Awakening in Daily Life is due out soon. For samples of Michael's writing, plus MP3s and videos, please go to: www.awakentotruth.com and www.awakentotruth.blogspot.com. Mike Conners Mike practiced meditation and self inquiry for over thirty years before his search ended with Self-realization. Since then, he has taught Effortless Meditation to hundreds of students, and holds weekly meditation meetings in Cincinnati. He also appears in the spiritual documentary, Closer than Close. For samples of Mike's writing, see www.tatfoundation.org/forum_index.htm. Nathan Spoon Nathan's search for Truth has led him through many traditions, and encounters with a wide variety of teachers. He studied Kundalini and Shaktipat for some years with a teacher in Nashville, and continues to be fueled by his teacher's encouragement and example. Now, however, he focuses most of his time and energy on the study and teaching of traditional Advaita Vedanta. Check out his blog: ganapatiadvaitaashram.blogspot.com. MORE on the SELF INQUIRY DISCUSSION GROUP of RALEIGH, NC The Self Inquiry Discussion Group provides an opportunity to meet with others involved in the search for Truth and Self-definition via Self-inquiry. Our meetings consist of an informal and open discussion of paths, teachers, techniques, philosophical and spiritual systems, and possible ways and means for expediting the search. The discussions are not academic or theoretical, but rather focus on our own personal experiences as seekers. There is usually also a period of silent meditation at some point during the evening. Most people who continue to come to our meetings are not concerned with "Why should I seek Self-realization?" but rather, "What is the best way to go about it?" There is a paradox in that we use words to talk about that which is beyond words, and although there is often talk of paths and things to do, there is also general agreement that the best approach is subtractive: that is, rather than try to accumulate more spiritual and worldly knowledge, doubt the truth of all you think you already know. If you find yourself drawn to teachers like Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, Richard Rose, Ramana Maharshi, Douglas Harding, Tony Parsons, Franklin Merrell-Wolff, Eckhart Tolle, Adyashanti, and the ancient masters of Zen, Advaita Vedanta, and Christian Mysticism, you may find the retreat and our meetings very worthwhile. For more information on the Raleigh SIG group, please check out our Web site: www.selfinquiry.org. Photograph "Exploding Star" by Valerie Bruchon (www.valeriebruchon.com).

Michael Hall Wisdom's Goldenrod 9/19/09

2009-09-20T09:29:00.001-04:00

Michael Hall Wisdom's Goldenrod 9/19/09

Eli Jaxon-Bear in Woodstock 9/11-12-13/09

2009-09-20T08:55:00.004-04:00

Eli Jaxon-Bear in Woodstock 9/11-12-13/09
This was an interesting weekend. I am always glad to go to Woodstock and I stayed with an old acquaintance from the early days of Wisdom's Goldenrod, Robert Esformes. Robert had a really nice apartment way out in the country with a view of Ashokan lake. Robert is a cantor. He went to see Eli for the Friday night satsang and also to the Gangaji meeting on Monday (which I did not attend)

Sirryia Din asked me to come and video Eli's satsangs. Attendance was poor, under 10 people. He is used to getting 100 on the West Coast. Things went predictably until Sunday. I could tell Eli was not happy with the video. At lunch with some of the attendants it came out they thought I was a 9 on the enneagram scale rather than a 5 which is what I had thought. But I always considered my secondary type. I got a chance to talk to Eli on Sunday. I asked an intellectual question about Buddhism and Hinduism which he sort of dismissed. Then we gravitated to talking about my type, 9. (9's characterology is they are afraid of their anger. Anger caused by some childhood trauma. My father abandoned us when I was 7 years old. So I said I went around to see alot of satsang teachers and he said to quit that and focus on my issues, the anger. Actually as we talked about it I started to get angry. 9s are lazy, self-medicating, live in a dream world etc. I felt the conversation was not going my way, he was authoritative and somewhat condescending and I left the interview stewing. And then exactly what he pointed out happened. My projection totally withdrew from the scene, totally devalued it, became a shadow of what I had formerly experienced. I thought if I had to hear one one "Californiaism" I would throw up. Still stewing on the ride home there came a moment of clarity where the whole thing dissolved, like a higher state of consciousness descended briefly to give me its freedom.

Mooji in Port Arthur NY

2009-09-10T23:32:00.002-04:00

Mooji in Port Arthur NY Sept 5 & 6, 2009

JackieO'Keeffe in Rochester 8/21-3/09

2009-08-26T14:56:00.003-04:00

JackieO'Keeffe in Rochester 8/21-3/09

Man What an exceptional weekend. I led with my often used question about realization of openness, spacious awareness and she said this was the witness and a form of the "I." Okay good answer. A little depressing but okay the ego had something invested so there it is. The second time I asked her about retiring. I said I was being forced and was going to be out of a job. She asked me what my forst feeling or impulse was and I realized I wanted to retire and cooperate. The third question I asked about the progressive path versus the direct path, can they coexist or does one superced the other. Her ultimate answer was they were both thoughts to an empty awareness that was here now.

I also asked her about the story f her owwn realiztion. She said it could be found on her blog. http://thoughtsfromjac.blogspot.com/2009/07/awakening-story-goes-like-this.html. It was fastinating that her initial egoloss happened through taking Ayahuasca and her unity realiztion happend in a 6 day samhadi at Ammachi's ashram in Kerala.

She lives in Arunachala possibly inspiring me to visit her there. I was quite impressed with her. Reminded me of Jed McKenna a bit for the uncompromising direct view.

Dasa Davidson 8/16/09

2009-08-21T09:12:00.002-04:00

I went to a 2 hour satsang with Dasa Davidson at his house. Since my strong experience with Prasana I was thinking of tryng out the mini-satsang again with just 3 or 4 people. And it turns out it was excellent. I got my burning questions asked right up front, and again I had the experience of directly pointing to Being or Original Nature as well as having a question decontruct itself in front of my mind's eye. We made some progress with my misundrstandings. Dasa was a student of Papaji who had hhis relization with him. He did satsangs for a while in the 90's in New York, Harbin Springs and Ithaca.

Moni Vangolin and Tomas Stubbs in Ithaca

2009-07-20T17:03:00.005-04:00

July 14 & 15
Moni and Tomas came to Ithaca as sort of an add-on to their semi-annual Rochester visit. The were sponsored by Paula Jacobs and were very well recieved. the satsangs covered 2 nights and were held at the Foundation of Light. In all very excellent.

Adyashanti in Phili July 10-11

2009-07-20T17:02:00.003-04:00

This was an excellent intensive that took place in St. David's Methodist Church in a very wealthy suburb of Phili. I knew a whole bunch of peop l there and took photos which are on my Facebook page. Thtalk and some of the questions on Saturday are available on Adya's website

Sunday 6/28/09 Santa Cruz

2009-06-29T12:39:00.004-04:00

Sunday Gillian and I went up to Sonoma Co to visit Prasanna, and artist and spiritual teacher. I knew it was going to be an important meeting because we got lost so much and just made it on time. He is featured in the documentary "Holy Rascals". It was great to dialogs with him, it was just th 2 of us. I asked some questions about some realizations and I found dialoging with him he quite clearly pointed out what the "Who Am I?" is all about. He is a very sweet and open-hearted man, genuinely concerned with your spiritual development and clearly realized through Ramana's path. He is also a spiritual artist and quite happy to bring out his large canvasses. The one I saw was clearly a portrait of spiritual reality, like Veronica's Veil. He advises just being interested in the knower, Consciousness, and turn you attention on that and the job will complete itself. Having had I pointed out, his job is done sort of. You now where to look.

Next we went down to Berkeley to see a talk by Richard Miller - Nondual Therapist who is quite well known. He gives talks all over the place, has retreats and is quite an accomplished person. He authored Nidra Yoga and has a 3 level training program. He is based in Sebastipol. He looks kind of straight but he won over the audience pretty easily, answered questions and handled the Berkeley crowd well. There was a nice turn out which was videotaped and will be on East Bay Open Circle website. He describes his teaching as Kashmir Shaivism and Nondual, realized through Jean Klein. I particularly like his teaching on the 5 kanchukas. They are 5 veils covering the self and adapted them to Nondual pointing really well. A description can be found in Spirituality for Dummies by Sharon Janis. We did meditations and exercises and the whole thing came off quite well.

Satsang in Santa Cruz with Jon Bernie

2009-06-27T21:59:00.003-04:00

Today 6/27/09 Satsang in Santa Cruz with Jon Bernie. Pacific Cultural Center. Turnout maybe 40 people including Mokshnanda and Jennifer Holt. Jon was in top form and the questions were like therapy and nondual philosophy mixed were very good. Gillian and I helped set up and break down the chairs.

Later that day I went down to the wharf to see a show of restored "Woodies" or station wagons used by surfers. It was great to se those old cars restored so lovingly.

Visit to Santa Cruz 6-19 to 30-2009

2009-06-24T12:39:00.006-04:00

Friday evening Gillian Pederson-Krag picked me up at the San Jose airport and we went right away to a satsang given by Daniel Sannel at Elizabeth's row house which is by the beach. Daniel is staying with Gillian at the Hanover St. house. He is actually from Minneapolis. But he is a good teacher and chatterer and we get alot done just hanging out with him. We did his astrology chart, Gemini rising. I feel I have made alot of progress confirming and no having intellectual doubts about my own realization a few years ago with Adya.

The next day we went to a satsang at Elizabeth's again with Tom Fitzgerald. he is a firey and bombastic Irishman that doesn't let anyone have a word in edgewise. But after quite a bit of doubt, later talking to Daniel I think his realization is genuine.

Sunday we went to Mokshananda's. He gives satsang out of his house with is across town. I really liked him. His talk was good and made sense. He was an athlete and later a devotee of Guru Mayi. His realization came through her and was confirmed by Adyashanti. The conversation was lively, the crowd interesting and it was an inside peek at life on the fringe in Santa Cruz. A woman with a Harley living in an apartment in the garage out back.

Monday I went into Berkeley on the bus and the the train to have lunch with my cousin Polly. We met at the Mediterranean on Telegraph Ave and had lunch at a little Indian place. Then I went to her adult 360 care home in downtown Oakland and then went looking for Oaksterdam. Took the Bart over to SF and killed some time in Haight Asbury before going to a satsang with Jon Bernie. It was at the Friend's Center down around Mission St. It was well attended and Jon has this way of grocking people problem issues and then pointing to the freedom within them when they touch it but might not be aware. I met Rob Schwartz who organizes the East Bay Open Circle. We are going to check that out on Sunday.

Bart Marshall at Wisdom's Goldenrod

2009-06-17T19:56:00.003-04:00

Bart Marshall at Wisdom's Goldenrod 6/12-14/09

I invited Bart Marshall a number of months ago at the request of Lenny Silver. Bart is a member of the Richard Rose group and subsequently self-realization came though attending a weekend with Douglas Harding in 2004. His talk was well received by the WG crowd and was very good. Unfortunately it wasn't taped. And as I like to say 50% of self-realization is in accepting that it is possible.

The next day we went down to Binghamton and Bart and Michael Hall did a joint talk in his office and backyard. Then we went out to dinner. It all worked out beautifully.

John Wheeler in Rockville MD

2009-06-02T11:30:00.002-04:00

John Wheeler in Rockville MD May 30-1, 2009
Like wow, what a great weekend. John was in top form, straight advaita, clarity of vision, good songs. He let me tape the event for personal use only. It came out great. It may be transcribed and presented to John for publication or website, don't know. Hersh Stern and Laurie came as well as Janine Mellilo, and Charles Blake. Great to see them all. Also I ran into Deborah Oakley. I went out to dinner with John and the crew Saturday night. Wow is he a good researcher. He knew so much stuff about Ramana, Nisagardatta.

Stuart Schwartz in Ithaca 4/10-12/09

2009-04-14T10:47:00.002-04:00

Stuart Schwartz came to Ithaca at my invitation and first there was a satsang at the DeWitt Mall, Ahimsa Yoga Studio and two day intensive at Wisdom's Goldenrod in Hector. Attendance was good and food and housing worked out well. I thought the sessions were particualrly deep. Stuart did Sedona Method counselling for 20 years so there was alot of thereapy, removing blockages and life problems but finally leading to the Nondual view. He read from That by Papaji and the Ribhu Gita an old edition by Franklin Jones from 1973. Stuart thought that edition was particularly lucid and clear. He didn't bring any music so we listened to Al Hadra, a really great endless orchestral piece.

Jeannie Zandi in Ithaca 3/13/09

2009-03-14T07:44:00.000-04:00

Eckhart Tolle in Toronto

2009-01-31T15:12:00.000-05:00

Eckhart Tolle in Toronto 1/31/09-2/1//09