Saturday, March 24, 2012

Pointers

Just Knowingness and nothing else.


*****


A true teacher points to what is already present.


*****


You are limitless, featureless, cognitizing awareness. You are prior to any concept, belief, teaching, and practice. See the utter foolishness of trying to "reach" presence by pilgrimages and methodologies.


*****


You are beyond the mind at this very moment! So any attempt to "go" there would be counter productive and nonsensical. See that there has always been a stillness and clarity that were immediately present. Just an easy and subtle recognition is all that's needed.


*****


Can you say that you are not present, as you read these words? No, you are present. Now look even more attentively, and you will see that what is actually the case is that there is ONLY an ever-abiding presence of awareness, and that you are that awareness.


*****


"I am my body" and "I am my mind" are merely ideas you have about yourself, or things that you have been told. But if you carefully investigate those ideas and assumptions (with reason and personal discovery), you just may find that they aren't true at all. And that you are far greater than you ever could have imagined.


*****


Your natural and majestic state isn't the production of thought. You can't think or imagine your way to it. But when there is a natural pause in thinking or imagining, presence is there for the seeing. Awareness is never not there, of course. It only appears to be absent because your attention is on the thoughts and the imagining, rather than on what they are appearing within.


*****


You are what you are at this very moment. And what is that? Your are awareness proper. See, right now, that the body isn't aware of itself--but rather, there is an awareness of the body! The simplicity of this is almost without parallel.


*****


Some people and teachers speak of awakening as a kind of "inner revolution." But that's a bit strong. For nothing is changed, destroyed, or improved upon with this understanding. You are simply seeing something that has always been in existence. Thus, you can't "practice" your way to freedom. For you are Freedom itself. Full stop. Come back to this point again and again, if you feel an inclination to do so. Again, you are awareness itself. And you absolutely never move from that fact.


News & Info

~ ~ ~ ~

Fiona Robertson interviews Rodney on Nic Higham's NONDUALITY NETWORK!

~ ~ ~ ~

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.

~~~~~

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

~~~~~

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.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Q&A: Categorically Present

Question: "You are seeking something that is always present" is a powerful pointer, and this is what I've been asking myself over the past few days. In the waking state, experiencing is happening all the time. And for experiencing to occur, awareness must be present.

Rodney: Correct.

Q: So all of this seems very natural--experiencing is happening, thoughts arise, and sensations come and go, as do perceptions. What's really amusing is to watch the coming up of the thought, "I'm getting closer to understanding this," because awareness is no closer or any more distant than it has ever been!

Rodney: Precisely. Self-inquiry isn't progressive. You can't make any step-by-step approaches to Reality, despite what 99% of the world's spiritual teachers say. Awareness never varies from being absolutely present. Your ego or sense-of-self can't "move" toward awareness because they are temporary appearances in it. Upon recognizing or understanding that, you immediately begin to see that your life is being lived from this state of unchanging Beingness. Feelings and emotions continue to arise, but they no longer define you.

Q: It's really starting to dawn on me now how awareness is obviously present, but it's not something that can be grasped as an object. That has been a source of frustration for me in the past.

Rodney: You were trying to lasso it, instead of saying, "Wait a minute. Enough is enough. This isn't working." So the question then becomes, "What is it--right here and now--that I don't have to attain"? The answer to that question has to be something that never alters in any manner. So your body, mind, thoughts, personality, senses, and consciousness are automatically out of the picture. They can't possibly be who and what you are because all of those things change. But what doesn't? What is it, at this very moment, that Is Not Moving? It is awareness. And it never varies from being fully and categorically present. So it has to be your essence. Thus, your body, mind, thoughts, personality, senses, and consciousness are automatically out of the picture. They can't possibly be who and what you are because all of those things change. But what doesn't? What is it, at this very moment, that Is...Not...Moving? It is awareness. And it never varies from being fully and categorically present.

Q: So instead of trying to grasp it, I've been simply living with those potent pointers of yours, precisely like the question above--"What is it--right here and now--that I don't have to attain"?

Rodney: Excellent. Mull it over, allow it to naturally halt your thinking and conceptualizing. And within that pause is a presence of awareness that--by its utter obviousness--you have easily overlooked. I'm not pointing you out particularly. I'm merely addressing the fact that there is nothing to grasp. Awareness is never not been present. See the truth and obviousness of this, and there won't be anything to ponder or contemplate. Awareness will simply be there, as it always has been.

-------

News & Info

~ ~ ~ ~

RECENTLY IN: Fiona Robertson interviews Rodney on Nic Higham's NONDUALITY NETWORK!

~ ~ ~ ~

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.

~~~~~

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

~~~~~

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

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

NEW EVENT: Skype Conference Call Meeting With Rodney Stevens -- March 27, 2012 at 6:30pm. Register with Julianne at julenlo@hotmail.com. Click HERE for details!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Pointers

You are seeking something that is never absent.


*****

What you are looking for is the direct experience of your natural state, not some conceptual notion of how that state should be.


*****


Doubts, questions, and reservations are just thoughts! They have no power beyond themselves. Thoughts arise in awareness. So give your attention to the pauses after the thoughts, and see what is being ignored.


*****


As you near this understanding, you will probably find yourself having less and less questions. This is because the idea of any defined "someone" seeking such-and-such will be far less potent. There will just be this gut feeling that you are both less and more (immensely more!) than you've imagined yourself to be.


*****


When there is the awareness of a thought, there is no you in addition to that awareness.


*****


All a teacher can do is point, clarify, and encourage. But those are three immensely valuable offerings, especially since they are coming from someone who has come to this understanding him or herself. That the person is even taking the time to do this is an extremely compassionate (yet natural) undertaking on the teacher's part.


*****


You are awareness itself. Once recognized, how could it ever be lost?


*****


Take a careful look at your day-to-day life. What is it that never changes? There is a subtle presence of utter serenity and spaciousness that is yours for the seeing. It has never not been present. It has simply been bypassed. Come to it once, and it is yours. You don't have to re-acquaint yourself with it again and again, in order to "deepen" it, though many teachers will have you believe that.


*****


There has to be an earnest seeking for self-knowledge; otherwise, the seeker is likely to be waylaid by occasional and uncommon "spiritual" experiences--or the lack of them. But with earnestness, your own impetus and gravitas sustains you. There is then this unquenchable pull or drive to this final understanding. There is rarely any feeling of being completely disheartened. Rather, there are some days when you aren't drawn to do any reading, listening, and contemplating about nonduality at all. And on other days, the thrust and incentive are there once again.

-------

News & Info

~ ~ ~ ~

JUST IN: Fiona Robertson interviews Rodney on Nic Higham's NONDUALITY NETWORK!

~ ~ ~ ~

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.

~~~~~

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

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

NEW EVENT: Skype Conference Call Meeting With Rodney Stevens -- March 27, 2012 at 6:30pm. Register with Julianne at julenlo@hotmail.com. Click HERE for details!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Q&A: Why Call It Anything?

Question: Hi, Rodney. I've been reading your books, as well as John Wheeler's Awakening to the Natural State. What I find so surprising and refreshing is the way you both keep returning to the simplicity of observing what's really happening, not giving in to the mind's attempts to "figure it out." Instead, just attend to presence.

Rodney: Right. The mind is in no position to either comprehend awareness or witness it. Indeed, it arises wholly within awareness.

Q: The simplicity of your directions seems to be working. I'm going to attempt to describe what is being seen here, and I wonder if you could please comment.

Rodney: Sure.

Q: First, it is so simple that it is nearly impossible to describe. Mostly, there is a strong sense of presence, which is clearly awareness. It is silent, with nothing at all to say. It is entirely at peace with itself.

Rodney: Very good--and that's beautifully articulated, by the way.

Q: There is no movement, no desire to move, no sense of anything desired or required for completeness. It is also quite obvious that this present awareness, this "no thing," is at the center of everything, is what I might want to call "me" except for the hilarious fact that "I" don't really exist.

Rodney: Again, all of that is on-the-mark.

Q: Of course I must at the same time say that "I am." But it really seems that the "I" is utterly unimportant.

Rodney: It is, to a substantial degree. But our temporary sense-of-self allows us to function in life. Whether it's writing, speaking, paying our bills, or arranging a lunch get-together, our provisional "self" functions as the doer. But the doer is just a thought, and a thought isn't conscious. It only appears to be sentient because presence is shining through it.

Q: Exactly. And it seems better to just call it presence or present awareness and be done with it. Or even better, why call it anything? It just IS. It always is, and it is always the same utterly quiet, peaceful sense of being. Why the need to name it?

Rodney: We name it in order to speak about it or to point to it. We also name because we want others to understand what we are talking about when we talking about awareness proper. For we aren't speaking about the tree in the yard or even everyday consciousness, of course. We are pointing to something that is ceaseless, as well as our natural and luminous state.

Q: I do find that mind comes in and distracts attention from presence now and then.

Rodney: That's going to happen. Your body is going to continue to react to stimuli from your surroundings, and thoughts are going to appear as a result of those reactions. Presence really doesn't disappear; rather, your attention momentarily goes to other things. But you never move from being absolute awareness. And it never moves from being absolutely present. So the question becomes: What is it, right now, that is always the same? When the answer to that question is recognized, you most certainly will never loose it.

------

News & Info

~ ~ ~ ~

JUST IN: Fiona Robertson interviews Rodney on Nic Higham's NONDUALITY NETWORK!

~ ~ ~ ~

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.