Saturday, March 9, 2013

Pointers

What is spirituality? It is your essence, isn't it? It is your core being, that part of you that never changes. And the only thing about you that does not change is pure awareness. Thus, true spirituality automatically goes beyond any particular religion or denomination. See this for yourself so that it will be a living reality for you.


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"Expanded consciousness" is still limited consciousness. It is a state, and it is most certainly temporary. So why bother with getting enamored with whatever "transcendental" occurrences you may have? The only way such experiences can help with self-knowing is simply by disappearing, or by your losing interest in them.


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Emotions are not the core of your being. They are merely appearances in awareness.


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When you're talking with someone who has come to this understanding, listen not only to his or her words, but to the stillness between words. Also be attuned to the quietude that you are feeling inside of you. That happens with some teachers more than others. But don't get hung up on the person; but rather, see what the teacher and the stillnesses are pointing to! That is your treasure!


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You want to struggle with self-realization because you think that there is something to overcome. Also, you see it in the movies and read about it in books—people going to great distances and enduring ridiculous hardships because they think that the answer is located in the place to which they are journeying. But why is unbounded awareness—your unchanging essence—situated in India or Japan and not where you are seated right now? By its very nature, awareness is everywhere all the time. And there is nothing that it is not.


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Your real teacher is your natural state.


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The intellect is the wrong tool to use in self-enquiry. For before any thoughts or notions about nonduality arise, nonduality is there. Awareness is already present. So any intellectual discussion or investigation amounts to a kind of piling on. A more advantageous route is to simply see what is never not present. That is the way to true understanding.


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"Enlightenment" is fully present as your ordinary awareness. That is the understanding to which the true sages are pointing and to which Nisargadatta Maharaj was highlighting in nearly all of his talks. So come back to what you are, at this very moment. The answer is right there, and it has never moved from being there.


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Any true spiritual awakening is simply the recognition of your natural and ever-present state.


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Self-knowing isn't being "connected to" or "at one with" some larger reality. It is recognizing that you are presence proper—that there is no division or distance from that for which you are seeking. Coming to this understanding can appear as a thunderbolt or as an eventless occurrence (more often the latter). Every personality is different. But the understanding is the same.


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Only a "who" can attempt to meditate. But no success can occur because a "who" (an assumed person or meditator) cannot awaken. Why? Because the "who" is a thought and a concept. And a thought cannot awaken. Further, thoughts are not your fundamental reality; awareness is. So the moment you attempt to meditate or practice any kind of mindfulness, you move away from presence! You move away from the very thing that you are seeking! Thus, as Ramana Maharshi noted, "your very effort is bondage."

News & Info


This blog appears every other Sunday.

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Fully Present is now available at the superb Powell's Bookstore, in Portland, Oregon. 


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

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Click HERE to buy Rodney's Fully Present: Daily Reflections on Nonduality from Amazon.

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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 WestPhilip'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.

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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 other Sunday afternoon, Eastern Standard Time.

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