What is it that is already present?
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You don't have to "make room" for presence--for presence is all there is. And who would be "making room" for it anyway? All "you" would be doing is simply getting in the way!
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The only way to transcend the ego is to understand that it can't possibly be who and what you are. How could you conceivably be something that comes and goes--that is "good" one moment and "bad" the other? Anything that changes is, unequivocally, not your abiding essence. Throughout the day, take note of the fact that there is something that doesn't move, despite the plethora of thoughts, feelings, and sensations. What is that something?
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If you're looking for unending happiness, you're barking up the wrong tree. Happiness is a shifting condition. Deep peace--which is your natural state--never alters in the least.
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Nonduality points to an immediate recognition that can always be had. It is merely a matter of seeing or understanding what is aboundingly present. Nothing has to be formalized or ritualized. And you don't require the support of any community to have it happen (though if a community of serious and well-meaning seekers is naturally in place, terrific!).
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The Self, like the Tenth Man, does not have to be created or searched for. You're the tenth person! No one was ever lost. Just see what it is that has never been absent. It's right there within you at this very moment. Time is not a factor with self-knowing. Anyone who tells you that you need X-number of weeks/months/years/decades for this seeing to occur has absolutely NO idea what he or she is talking about. None!
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If you are attempting to "unite" with presence, that imagined "I" will continually keep you from seeing that presence is what you already are.
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Your ordinary awareness is a pointer to your innate and immutable spaciousness. Discern that spaciousness right now. It is fully existent as you scan these words. Indeed, there is nowhere where it is not. The spaciousness is you. Everything else is just an appearance in that spaciousness. Again, the spaciousness is you. Don't move from that--and you just might come to know that you never move from that.
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News & Info
NEW: I am now scheduling teaching events. If you would like to arrange something in your area, you may email me at: writerguy@fastmail.fm
I am also doing one-to-one phone consultations for anyone who is vitally interested in self-knowledge. Each conversation will take an hour or so, and donations of around $25 will be greatly appreciated.
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Tami Brady reviewed A Vastness All Around on her TCM Reviews page.
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"A Vastness All Around is, hands down, one of the best books out there on nonduality. Thank you for all of your writing." --Alex Taylor
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Here's a review of the Kindle Edition of Vastness on Amazon.
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Nonduality Magazine has published a discussion with Rodney about his work and book. 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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This blog is generally updated every Sunday afternoon, Eastern Standard Time.
2 comments:
Good. These do sound like reflections of a person reading Wei Wu Wei though.. are they?
Thanks, Ta-Wan. The "tenth-man" pointer is indeed a reference to a story found in a Wei Wu Wei volume. But the thoughts in the pointer are completely my own.
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