Wednesday, May 19
I'm enjoying Ian McEwan's Solar, about a brilliant, Nobel Prize-winning physicist whose best work is behind him, and whose fifth marriage is in terrible shape because of his compulsive womanizing. Here is a particularly beautiful quote from a fellow scientist who is attempting to get Beard (the physicist) to consider taking a hard look at solar energy:
"The [sun] drenches our planet, drives our climate and its life. A sweet rain of photons, and all we have to do is hold out our cups!"
How lovely, that. And all we have to do is simply recognize this actually of awareness, which not only drenches our everything, but is our everything. No real effort is required. Just a simple seeing of what is bountifully present!
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You are not anything that you can perceive. So right off, you know that you are not your physicality, thoughts, personality, or states of consciousness. So what is left? Knowingness. Pure Knowingness--which presents itself through our body/minds as supreme peace and spaciousness.
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No method, practice, or 20-day silent retreat is going to help you with self-knowing. You are just increasing the bank accounts of shoddy teachers and spiritual con artists when you sign up for those sorts of things. But if you are drawn to these activities, I'll be the first to say, "Go for it. Pay the money. Give it your best shot."
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The essence of this teaching is this: You are awareness. The seeker is just a notion or idea arising in that awareness. So take a moment to see what is always present, which is presence itself.
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The essence of this teaching is this: You are awareness. The seeker is just a notion or idea arising in that awareness. So take a moment to see what is always present, which is presence itself.
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When it comes to nonduality, be an avid explorer. Through the internet, you can check out any number of Web sites, blogs, interviews, podcasts, and videos. Read books by proven teachers, i.e., by those who have come to this understanding themselves and who have no blind areas. Arrange phone consultations with them, if you are moved to do so. For you never know when you are going to read, discuss, or reflect upon something that will lead you to a full seeing of who and what you are. And don't forget to donate, if you are able to do so. For some teachers, it's how they pay for food and medicine.
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A thought doesn't know that awareness is present. How could it? Thoughts aren't sentient--they aren't conscious of their surroundings. They don't even know what the previous thought was! How, then, are these transitory, non-living, appearances going to help you to recognize your natural state? They can't. So instead of centering on and getting carried away by fleeting manifestations, focus upon this all-important question: Right at this moment, what is it that your thoughts aren't recognizing? What is it that your thoughts don't know is present? Live with that question throughout the day, if you are drawn to do so--and you just might find the answer that both ordinary seekers and great sages have discovered for themselves.
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News & Info
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And click HERE to purchase Fully Present at Barnes & Noble.
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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 at www.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.
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.
2 comments:
dear Rodney,
I am very grateful to life,
by the pleasure to read your post,
now is sunday morning,
the sun drenches the flowers in the window here,
all is as find out a gift on Christma's tree...
I love to be your friend!
kiss, Rejane
And I am grateful for your lovely words and friendship, my beautiful, Rejane.
Kisses to you, as well. :)
Rodney
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