Q&A: Point Taken

Question: Rodney, I'm new to your blog, which was recommended by a friend. I started with just a quick scan, and then I slowed w-a-y down.

Rodney: Very good.

Q: And it wasn't so much that I slowed down, as it was the fact that "I" was slowed down.

Rodney: Excellent distinction. Yes, the movement of the conceptual "I" was naturally reduced. There was no "you" attempting to do it. In fact, the mind had to catch up and respond to the occurrence, which is pretty much its standard operating procedure.

Q: Exactly, and that's very evident to me now...Your blog, by the way, is like some nondual oasis!

Rodney: Thank you. But don't just stop at "Radiance." There are a number of nondual jewels out there. But as you said, if there is natural halting here (or at any place), then just go with it and see how it turns out. And you can get a sense of the site or blog fairly quickly. One of the things to watch for is just what happened with you: A natural "decelerating" to what is on the screen before you. Look too for the occasional "Yes!" to some pointer, image, or paragraph. And finally, be alert for those defined and all-important pauses--for they will likely occur on truly exceptional sites and blogs.

Q: Well, I'm going with it all right--I've already bought a copy of your book! It's in the mail and should arrive any day now.

Rodney: Thanks again! I hope it resonates with you.

Q: I love the title. Could you tell me how that came about? You probably cover that on Page 1 or something, but I'm curious to know right away, if you don't mind?

Rodney: Not at all. A short time after this understanding occurred (spring 2007), I wanted to be able to describe clearly how I was feeling. That's a natural inclination for us writers--wanting to accurately phrase various things. Also, seekers were curious to know what I was feeling, which was a legitimate interest on their part. They wanted to know exactly how things were different. (Though in nonduality, it is more a matter of how things remain the same!) Well, the words didn't immediately come. Then, some days or weeks later, as I was sitting down at the computer one morning with my coffee, the phrase was simply there. I immediately smiled, because the description was spot-on. For it beautifully pointed to the natural state itself, as well as to precisely what I was feeling--which was, a vastness all around.

Q: And is it still the same today?

Rodney: Absolutely. And that's the way it should be. And to elaborate a little further on this: There should always be a "felt" presence with self-knowing. It's not enough to say, "There are no more questions." That could mean that you have resolved (or at least seemingly so) certain conceptual or philosophical issues, when actually, nothing significant has taken place.

Q: Got it.

Rodney: For some people, presence manifests as a subtle yet penetrating sense of peace and serenity; to others, it is incomparable spaciousness. Various body/minds will naturally articulate this differently.

Q: At this point, I'd be satisfied with just a taste of it!

Rodney: And that's all you need. Because once you recognize that it is directly within or before you, it is forever yours. And why shouldn't it be? You are That, awareness itself. You are finally seeing something that was always there. And that's one of the great beauties of nonduality--the supremeness of its pointing. Another is its highlighting of the fact that there is nothing that you have to "re-enter" or "stand as", or stabilize. Awareness is self-luminous and fully present, and it is what you are at this very moment.

Q: I don't have to "merge" myself into it in some way.

Rodney: Precisely. After you have the thought "I have to merge myself into awareness," where is the thought? It's no longer there. It has disappeared, but awareness hasn't. And even when the next thought appears, it won't be able to take/merge/unite you with presence--because you already are presence. You have never left being what you are. Not for a single second.

Q: I have a better feel for that now, but I was certainly guilty of the "merging" approach earlier on, when the whole so-called "journey" started.

Rodney: Those were the lines we were fed by fake gurus and erroneous spiritual books. And because the books were mega-sellers and the gurus got prodigious press, we thought that there must be, at the very least, a sliver of truth to what they were saying. But it wasn't. Self-knowing isn't time-laden or work-laden. You are already what you are seeking. So just find a comfortable seat, reflect carefully on what is said here, and see the wonder of your very own existence.

Q: Point taken, Rodney. I will do just that!

-----

News & Info

John Wheeler's Web site is no longer up. But earnest and serious seekers (and that's the only kind we have here at "Radiance") can reach him at: johnwheeler111@yahoo.com

~~~~~

JUST IN: A review of the Kindle Edition of A Vastness All Around on Amazon.

~~~~~

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.

~~~~~

"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

~~~~~

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.

~~~~~

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

~~~~~

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

~~~~~

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!

~~~~~

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

Pointers

"Use not vain repetitions," as Jesus counsels in Matthew 6:7.

*****

You don't have to halt your thinking to discover Truth. Just note that there is a natural spaciousness between each thought. And it is within that spaciousness that the Ultimate can be discerned.

*****

Many seekers give an aliveness to the mind that simply isn't there. They claim that it wants nothing but power or that it orchestrates cunning ways to defeat your attempts to suppress it. But the mind is nothing but the arising and disappearing of thoughts, concepts, and feelings. There is no defined "thing" present. You are the pauses between the thoughts!

*****

Awareness is self-luminous and without beginning or end. And you are That. What is it, within you, that has those qualities or attributes? See for yourself that which has always been readily apparent.

*****

There is no bridge to Truth. You are already on the other side.

*****

You need no special guru or lineage of teachers to help you awaken to your natural state. All that's required is a self-realized person (teacher or not) who directs you to Self with clarity, nuance, and self-assurance. It is presence pointing to presence.

*****

This is key: You exists as awareness. Your body, thoughts, and sensations are appearances in that awareness.

*****

When you meditate, you think you are accomplishing something, but you aren't. It is just a massive waste of time, energy, and money (if payment or expenses are involved). Why are you attempting to be something that you already are? Where is the logic in that? Or the sanity? And because self-knowing does not transpire in that manner, you are going to spend a lifetime striving to "achieve" something that absolutely will not occur!

*****

"Enlightenment" is not an empty mind. Rather, it is the teeming presence of awareness in which the so-called mind sporadically arises.

*****

So much spiritual writing is pure fluff. And that fluff is not going to help you in the least to recognize your fundamental state. It may make for entertaining reading or workshops, but it will not pause your thinking in any significant or life-changing way.

*****

I recently read an article in a beautiful Buddhist magazine, where the late and well-respected author wrote: "Although Mahayana Buddhism has the concept of sudden enlightenment, it remains a long and gradual practice." With all due respect to the writer, that simply is not true. Awakening will indeed remain interminable as long as it is seen as a practice--that is, as something that you have to attain or work progressively towards. If, however, you were to simply take note of this presence of awareness that is ever before you, the answer can be found, right here and now.

-----

News & Info

John Wheeler's Web site is no longer up. But earnest and serious seekers (and that's the only kind we have here at "Radiance") can reach him at: johnwheeler111@yahoo.com

~~~~~

JUST IN: A review of the Kindle Edition of A Vastness All Around on Amazon.

~~~~~

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.

~~~~~

"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

~~~~~

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.

~~~~~

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

~~~~~

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

~~~~~

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!

~~~~~

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

Pointers

Truth is startling--but only in its hushness, bareness, and clarity.

*****

Life goes on quite nicely without this imagined you of yours. Aliveness, richness, and spontaneity are the very nature of living. And you are that Livingness. You are giving undue attention to a sporadic appearance (the ego) instead of to the majestic course of existence itself.

*****

Nonduality is not the transformation of anything (especially oneself). It is the seeing or understanding of a presence that has always been in place.

*****

Awareness is always "choiceless." You don't have to practice to make it so. You will only be getting in the way of something that is already incomprehensibly pristine.

*****

There is blessedly little spiritual drama in nonduality. There are no sannyasins in some fiery state of concentration, desperately attempting to burn away the last vestiges of the ego. But as I keep saying here, the only time the ego will be dead is when you are dead. Just see through the ego (i.e., that it is merely a momentary arising of a sense of individuality), and it's no longer a problem.

*****

Just to clear: There is no one to "let go" of anything. What happens is a thought or notion or sentiment comes up. And if you don't like it, you say, "I've got to let go of that." That sentence is just another thought. No defined "me" has been created. Nor was there ever one.

*****

You are awareness itself. There is nothing to "journey to" or to "work towards." See the utter foolishness of those lines of thinking, and you are free.

*****

You are fixated on this spiritual mirage of "enlightenment" and of it being ecstatic and rife with visions and spirals of energy cruising throughout your body. But self-knowledge is none of those things. In fact, it's not even spiritual in its purest sense. We are talking about a very natural state--of peace and limitlessness--that is simply not being noticed.

*****

"Strengthening your spirit," "awakening the mind," and "expanding your awareness" are just catch-phrases for doing nothing at all. They sound like spiritually important endeavors, but they aren't. In fact, they are ludicrous. The recognition of your natural condition requires none of the above.

*****

No separate objects are ever witnessed--only awareness.

*****

Self-knowledge is not a process. It is an end in itself. It is the abandonment of all rituals, practices, and sadhanas. It is the simple seeing of your unalloyed Self.

*****

"Om" is wrongly chanted to achieve enlightenment. But when that is done, you are focusing on it as if it is something "outside" of or beyond you. Also, even a single chant is too much and entirely unnecessary. Just sit quietly and see that "Om"--which The Bhagavad Gita beautifully notes "designates the Divine" and is "heard throughout the universe"--is emanating from within you. Hear your own divinity. It is both present and silent, uttered and unsaid. And there is no place where it is not. It is the loveliness sound that you could imagine, and it is pouring--at this very moment--from your very own vastness.

-----

News & Info

John Wheeler's Web site is no longer up. But earnest and serious seekers (and that's the only kind we have here at "Radiance") can reach him at: johnwheeler111@yahoo.com

~~~~~

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.

~~~~~

"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

~~~~~

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.

~~~~~

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

~~~~~

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

~~~~~

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!

~~~~~

This blog is now updated every Sunday afternoon, Eastern Standard Time.

Q&A: An Okay-Place

Question: Hi Rodney. I don't have any specific questions really. I just wanted to rave about your blog a bit. Your writing and pointing are just extraordinary.

Rodney: Thank you so much.

Q: And your two-part "Edisto" is definitely a recent of favorite of mine.

Rodney: I'm thrilled to hear that. I'm rather partial to those pieces myself.

Q: As I said, I'm don't really have any questions. Because of your pointers, I've come to see that the various meditations that I was doing were totally unnecessary.

Rodney: Yes, totally. All practices are extraneous and distracting. I'm almost tempted to say comical, as well. But it's more a feeling of sadness that comes up here. For most seekers are truly well-meaning folks. They want nothing more than "enlightenment" itself. But they think--because of erroneous books and clueless teachers--that awakening is progressive and time-laden. And nothing could be further from the Truth.

Q: Exactly! That's what I am feeling right now. I haven't reached that seamless understanding yet. But I'm calmer and a lot less stressed. And it dawned on me that the meditations were making me anxious!

Rodney: It certainly can happen.

Q: So I'm at this okay-place, right now. I don't know where it is going to lead. But that's okay too!

Rodney: Precisely. You're doing some clear-headed shifting at the moment, and my advice--which you're welcome to use or not--is to continue with what you are doing. For any reading, contemplation, listening, or reflecting on nondual matters that you do now will be deeper and more insightful because you are calmer and more receptive. And if you want to be mindful of anything, let it be that you and awareness are the exactly the same. When I speak about you, I am speaking about That. You are awareness itself. Your body is there, but you know it's there because awareness recognizes its presence. Ditto your thoughts and mental activities. You are That in which all of these things are within.

Q: So, I would simply search for--

Rodney: --Well, "search" is probably too loaded a word. It infers painstaking work and man-hours!

Q: Man-hours! (Laughing) I like that.

Rodney: Ah, let's make that "person-hours."

Q: Works for me. I just happen to be a woman!

Rodney: Great! So what you are doing here is recognizing something that is constant within you. Everything else is changing, but something isn't. What is that something? That's all. And believe it or not, that is one of the most significant questions that you could ever ask yourself. Because the answer is abounding peace and spaciousness.

Q: That's so beautiful.

Rodney: Yes, but I'm talking about you and what you are at this very moment. I'm not speaking about a concept or some idealized condition. I'm directing you to your own treasure-trove, to your own natural and ever-present state, which is beautiful indeed. But you have to see it for yourself. I can only point you to it. But what I'm directing you to is one of simplest things in the world to see. It only appears elusive because of its immediacy.

Q: Which, I suppose, makes my natural state the Ultimate okay-place! (Laughing)

Rodney: Yeah, I guess I'm okay with that. :)

-----

News & Info

John Wheeler's Web site is no longer up. But earnest and serious seekers (and that's the only kind we have here at "Radiance") can reach him at:johnwheeler111@yahoo.com

~~~~~

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.

~~~~~

"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

~~~~~

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.

~~~~~

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

~~~~~

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

~~~~~

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!

~~~~~

This blog is now updated every Sunday afternoon, Eastern Standard Time.