Pointers

Simply see what it is that has never been absent.

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Who is standing apart from awareness? You certainly are not. All that's happening is that there is a thought saying that you and presence are somehow separate.

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Awareness can't be experienced. It isn't an object or something new that comes into being. It can only be known or understood to unequivocally exist. Allow these words to resonate within you throughout the day, if you are so inclined. Such contemplations have to be absolutely natural and unforced to be effective.

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You can't get any closer to what you are right at this moment. Even when your understanding occurs, there will be no attainment of anything. You will simply perceive that awareness has always been abundantly present, and that you were/are That. There is just a clear and beautiful seeing of all this.

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Your natural state is your natural state. It never moves from being absolutely there.

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All pointers are conceptual. Yet, the best ones aim away from themselves, to awareness itself. You can't remain with ideas and concepts, and expect to come to this understanding. The same applies with repeating mantras and engaging in practices; for with those activities too you are existing on a dualistic and conceptual level.

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You don't have to do a single thing, except recognize what is already present.

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You're searching for air when air is all around you. Just breathe in, i.e., recognize that there is a quiet presence of peace and spaciousness directly within and before you. You never move from being this bare whatness and plenitude. So try taking note of how things are constantly changing throughout your daily life, and you just may discern that which isn't changing in the least.

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News & Info

Rodney's new book, Fully Present: Daily Reflections on Nonduality, is now out. It is $18.95 for the paperback (excluding postage). You can order it directly from the publisher right HERE.

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The paperback version of Fully Present is now on AMAZON! It can also be purchased at Barnes & Noble, and is available through bookstores nationwide.

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For the Kindle edition of Fully Present, go here: AMAZON.

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And go HERE for the press release for Fully Present.

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For Tami Brady's review of Fully Present in TCM Reviews, go HERE.

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"Fully Present is an elegant addition to the growing literature on nonduality as it is being uncovered, lived and understood in the modern West."

--Philip Goldberg, author of the best-selling American Veda: From Emerson and the Beatles to Yoga and Meditation--How Indian Spirituality Changed the West. Philip's Web site can be found atwww.philipgoldberg.com.

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"Rodney Stevens opens his daily life and thoughts to us in these immensely natural and pleasant ramblings of one who is fully engaged in life, love, nonduality, and cinnamon muffins."

--Catherine Ann Jones, award-winning screenwriter, spiritual workshop leader, and author of The Way of the Story: The Craft and Soul of Writing. Her Web site is www.wayofstory.com

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

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For the book's Press Release, click Here.

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Check out Rodney on YouTube talking about "The Fundamental Thing."

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Feel free to read 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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"I like your approach in A Vastness All Around. The stories, thoughts and vignettes of your life seem wonderful ways to make people stop and pay attention to where they actually are right now, rather than in some imagined past or future. They show that you don't have to be some specially qualified person, preferably with a title and a name in Sanskrit, to pursue the spiritual quest. Your message comes across particularly well in such pieces as 'Sheerness of Being.'"

--Valerie J. Roebuck, Ph.D., Honorary Research Fellow, University of Manchester (England)

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I am now doing phone consultations via Skype! Each conversation will take about an hour, and a $25 donation will be greatly appreciated.

I am also scheduling teaching events at this time. If you would like to arrange something in your area, you may email me at: writerguy (at) fastmail (dot) fm

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