Pointers

You are seeking something that is never absent.

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

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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.

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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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.

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News & Info

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

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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.

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

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

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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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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!

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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 Sunday afternoon, Eastern Standard Time.