Pointers

You are not what changes.


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In many classic nonduality/advaita texts, you will see the phrase "meditate upon" Self, Brahman, or Supreme Reality. Be suspect of translations. What the self-realized authors of these works were attempting to say is " pause with what is already present."


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You cannot be your thoughts or your body because you are aware of your thoughts and your body. You are That which recognizes that these things are appearing.


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"Awakened Mind" is an oxymoron (a figure of speech that combines contradicting terms) rather than an actual condition. For there is no defined mind. And how can thoughts and concepts (which are the mind) be awakened?


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Essentially, your daily experiences can be divided into thoughts, feelings, sensations and perceptions. But what is it that is none of these?


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Your existence cannot be denied. You are here, at this moment, perusing these words. But what else is present, besides your customary thoughts, physicality, beliefs, and emotions? If your pause is relaxed and significant enough, you will immediately discern a subtle-yet-undeniable peace and spaciousness from which manifest-existence arises.


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You can't stop the mind. The mind is a naturally occurring process. And who, precisely, is there to stop it? The "I" and "Me" are the mind! They are just thoughts coming up. And these thoughts are coming up in awareness, not in some defined and individual "you." The only "you" there is awareness. And you are That.


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You are already the watcher and knower. Thus, any practices related to increased observation, concentration, and mindfulness are totally without merit. You are what you are: Presence itself. The actuality of this fact should stun you with its clarity.


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Thoughts and ideas can only point to Reality, not describe it. Don't think for a moment that you can get even a modicum of an approximation of what Presence is by a term, expression, or description. And this fact, in itself, points to the eternal and numinous qualities of awareness, all of which are readily before you and within you at this very moment.


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In the Brihadâranyaka Upanishad, or the "Great Forest Secret Teaching" (a nearly 3,000-year old Sanskrit scripture), it rightly and beautifully declares, "The Self is taintless, beyond space, unborn, vast, and immovable. Let a wise aspirant directly realize this insight, not just reflect on tiresome words."


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Apropos meditation: You can't get Here, from there. You are absolutely always Here. The "there" is a fiction, a projection, an appearance that comes and goes. Your very nature is hereness, and yet you are missing it--not because it's abstract or abstruse, but because your scrutiny is given to concepts and sensations. Now, don't try not to give your attention to those things. That is just your projected-I sneaking in the backdoor. Rather, simply understand that this misplaced attention is happening. That's all that is needed.


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The interview that I recently did for the new online publication, Nonduality Magazine, can be found at the following link: http://www.nondualitymagazine.org/nonduality_magazine_volume_1.contents.htm

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