Q&A: The Right Track

Question: In a recent blog entry, you say to "Simply bring your attention to the spaciousness in which the I-sense comes and goes, and you will be on the right track."

Rodney: That's correct.

Q: Could you say a bit more about what you mean by "attention"? I'd always thought of attention as being a mental function of the character or person. Presumably you're using the word attention in a different sense.

Rodney: Again, you presume correctly. :)

Q: Right, because the spaciousness that you're speaking of isn't a thing or object that "I" can place my attention on in the same way that I give my attention on a piece of music or a book, for example. So presence-awareness is undeniably present, but how can I put my attention on it?

Rodney: Very nicely put. If you remain with this line of insights, you won't need me at all!

Q: Well, the insights stop right there, unfortunately. And I'm just left with that all-consuming question--how do I place my attention on awareness?

Rodney: By recognizing that it is present. It seems easier to give your attention to a piece of beautiful music or writing than to awareness because--in those examples--you are naturally and habitually utilizing your hearing and seeing. You don't even think about it. Because awareness is not an object, you have to bring your attention to it in a completely different manner. One of the ways of doing that is with the following question: What is it that is fully present that you need no senses to see?

Q: Ah, yes...I can feel the stillness within that question.

Rodney: And that peripheral stillness is pointing to your ultimate stillness. They are actually one and the same. Just take a close and easy look at the pause itself, keeping in mind that this is not a mental action at all. No thought or action will help you at this point. It is staying with the pause that's paramount. And if done correctly, you will discern that this moment of quietude is actually the presence of awareness to which all the great sages and teachers have spoken. There may appear to be a "shifting" to a kind of immensity or depth. But really, it is more of a discovery, a recognition--indeed, a coming home.

Q: Thank you, Rodney. I want nothing more than that.

-----

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.

~~~~~

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

~~~~~

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

~~~~~

And go HERE for the press release for Fully Present.

~~~~~

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

****

"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 at www.philipgoldberg.com.

****

"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

~~~~~

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.

~~~~~

For the book's Press Release, click Here.

~~~~~

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

~~~~~

Feel free to read a review of the Kindle Edition of Vastness on Amazon.

~~~~~

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.

~~~~~

"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)

~~~~~

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

~~~~~

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