Pointers

Stillness is the door to the eternal.

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Your unconditional freedom is what you are right now, which is pure awareness. Nothing needs to be done, other than to see that this is a fact. Indeed, your doing and practices postpone your seeing. Your actions are getting in the way of your realizing what is directly before you. So just take a calm breath, have a cup of coffee or tea, and just sit with these pointers. Allow them to direct you to what is immediately available.

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This understanding is a kind of hushed astonishment.

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There is no causation in transcendence. You do not perform a certain asana or engage in a particular meditative practice for x-number of minutes, and then this understanding occurs. Your natural state is there even before either of those actions are done or even thought about!

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Transcendental meditation and mindfulness may help you to lower your blood pressure and superficial levels of stress, but they do not lead to self-realization. The latter is a deep understanding and recognition of your natural state. With that said, enjoy TM and mindfulness, if you like. Ditto any form of meditation. Enjoy what you enjoy!

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The question that spiritual seekers are quick is ask is, "How do I meditate?" But a deeper and more fundamental question is, "How do I by-pass meditation altogether?" Or even better, "How do I discover that my natural state has nothing to do with meditation whatsoever?" You are pure awareness at this moment. So any pursuant activity after the fact is simply comical.

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There is no need to bring "unity to diversity." For there is no actual diversity.

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It is not enough to say that you have "stopped believing the story." There is still some personal action going on, with someone stopping something. Also, where does the stopping leave you? In your case, it appears to be a void, a kind of nothingness. I know that Buddha apparently stopped at the nothingness. But that does not leave you with a full understanding of things. That only comes with recognizing this beginningless presence of awareness that is, at once, unwavering and ever-serene.

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 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.

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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.