Pointers

There is literally no boundary to who and what you are.


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Presence is one of the things you are seeing right at the moment. You just aren't noticing it. You are certainly aware of your bodily sensations and your sporadic thoughts and feelings. Ditto any sounds that may be occuring. But come back to awareness by taking note of what it is--right here and now--that you are looking beyond.


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See that awareness is the only thing that is continually before you. It Does Not Move. What is it, right now, that is ever the same?


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This understanding is not a matter of "personal growth." It is about the ultimate Truth of your existence. Therefore, it will never be very popular because seekers want to drag their imagined selves along and make a "spiritual journey" out of self-knowing. In short, they want to romanticize it. But all that is required is a relaxed kind of seeing, a focusing. Even the Bible tells us in Matthew 7:13-14, that "narrow [is] the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."


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Buddha kept pointing out "the illusion of the self." And that's a good thing. For it's because of that illusion that you feel that you must do something to attain something. But given that there is neither a "doer thereof" nor a hair's-breadth of separation between you and presence, methods and practices are completely unnecessary. Indeed, they prevent you from seeing what was never lost!


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You are awareness! Why do you need to move from that?


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You cannot be "permanently free of mind identification"--unless you're dead! Don't believe popular writers and speakers who tell you this. Brief identification with thoughts and feelings still sporadically occurs with self-realization. But that identification disappers just as quickly as it arises. It is like going to the cinema: You know it's a movie, yet you sometimes get caught up in the story. You laugh about it after the show. You may even have substanitive discussions about the film with good friends. Knowing your fundamental nature is far more important than any fleeting identification with a passing thought or emotion.


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Forgiveness isn't "done." It happens whenever it happens. And when it does, it is one-hundred percent and with absolutely no doer. In fact, no perceived "Forgiver" can ever totally forgive. In order for true absolution to occur, the Forgiver must be seen through.


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Nonduality teachers spend most of their time demystifying notions raised in both ancient texts and enormously popular self-help/spiritual books. It's not that the teachers are harping angainst any particular thing or teacher. For even the classics are not exempt from bizarreness. In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, for instance, we are given the splendid and accurate "neti, neti" ("neither this, nor that"), to which I respond, "Glorious!" But we are also instructed at the very start of the Upanishad to meditate on some white, sacrificial horse--to which I reply, "Get real."

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News & Info

RECENTLY IN: The beautiful and informative Nonduality Magazine has published a new discussion with Rodney about his book, A Vastness All Around. The extensive and wide-ranging interview was done by John LeKay, the magazine's editor.

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"Loved the book, Rodney. Enjoyed it as much as John Wheeler's first book, Awakening to the Natural State. My favourite quote of yours was "you are no more your personal history than you are your toothbrush." I like the fact that you included little tidbits of your life and surrounds. It felt more like reading a book on travel or history than some of the other textbook style books on nonduality. I think for anyone serious about a direct approach, your book and John Wheeler's are the two to have." -- Ian

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A Vastness All Around: Awakening to Your Natural State is Rodney's first collection of essays, discussions, interviews, and powerful pointers. It can be ordered directly from the publisher at Lulu Press.

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Vastness is now available for the Amazon Kindle! Order Here.

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And for the book's Press Release, click Here.

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If you would like to meet Rodney, have him to discuss nonduality, sign books, or read, you can email him at: writerguy@fastmail.fm. Such events are self-organized, so funding is key, with groups and universities that can cover travel expenses getting priority. And much appreciation!

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This blog is generally updated every Monday afternoon, Eastern Standard Time.

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