You and awareness are the very same thing. This fact is simply not being recognized.
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Kundalini surges and seeing auras are on the same level as blissful meditative states. They are all experiences. They have no causal relationship to awareness—your true identity. So basically, they are just a waste of time. If they occur, so be it. Merely see them for what they are (passing appearances), and continue with your investigation into the actuality of your natural state.
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The first step to enlightenment is to see that there are no steps whatsoever, and that there is no one to get enlightened.
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Chuang Tzu (c.369-286 BEC) said that "Easy is right." And nothing could be less challenging than perceiving your natural state. It is what you are existing as as you read these words. The issue, however, is that presence is so close that we bring our attention to everything but it! And that everything runs the gamut from body and thoughts to feelings and personality. Having had this pointed out to you, there is now more of an ease and an understanding regarding the matter. A clarity, if you will.
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Think of awareness as consciousness without movement—that is, consciousness without thoughts, emotions, memories, or any notions of yesterday, tomorrow, and even the present. Though that is a rough approximation of presence, it may help you to discern what is being pointed to, which is a felt, aware stillness.
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Why are you attempting to soar and be "transcendent" when you are already the sky?
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When you talk about being on a path or a journey, there is an inherent delaying action in all of that. For you are not only saying that self-knowledge requires considerable time (and therefore experiences, exhaustion, and tedium), but that you hope to get something that you do not already possess. So the very first step on your spiritual path will be a false one. And if your first step is in error, your subsequent steps will be too because you will be going in the wrong direction!
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Excerpt from Phone Consultation: Neither affirmations nor visualizations are needed for self-knowledge. To engage in either is to say that you are something (your body, thoughts, mind, etc) that you most certainly are not. Any deeds to directly "reach" or "attain" enlightenment (or whatever label you want to use) are doomed to failure. There are just so many things wrong with that picture that we cannot be gone into here. Just rest assured that self-knowing is far simpler than engaging in any of those activities. Far simpler. Even as we are talking right now, you are already what you are seeking. Awareness is what you are. Yet, you are seeking awareness! I say that not to chastise you, but to help you to see the beauty and the simplicity of nondual inquiry.
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Stillness cannot be cultivated. It can only be understood.
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Nonduality is not really a "shortcut" to self-knowledge. For a shortcut implies that there is still some time or distant, however short. But your essence is wholly nondual. It is not even oneness, but rather a whatness that never alters in the least. Awakening to this reality is merely a matter of noticing what it is about you that is always present, that is always the same. There is a very real constant within you, and nothing could be more tranquil or exquisite.
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There are numerous ways in which you can come to this understanding: Direct recognition, inference, pointers, ordinary daily events (the Zen disciple and Chinese official Chao-pien awakened in his office one afternoon after hearing "a sudden clash of thunder"), etc. But every single one of those things involved a pause. It is key to this whole dynamic (or non-dynamic) of self-knowing. And the pause should happen naturally. You do not instigate it. In fact, you will clearly see that there is no you to initiate it. It just happens. The important thing to note is that the pause is occurring, and that the pause is presence itself. Again, the pause is presence itself. There are no steps here—just a hushed and placid suddeness to the entire recognition.
To buy the book directly from the publisher, go to Lulu Press
"Great book, gems on every page!"— David Janssen, U.K.
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This blog appears every other Sunday.
News & Info
State of Wonder: Awakening to Presence can be purchased from Amazon by clicking on the above link.
And for the Amazon Kindle version, click HERE!
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JUST IN ~ Feel free to check out Jimmy Dabrowski's beautiful and downloadable MixTape. Jimmy's a great guy, and I am honored to be one of the nondual authors in his collection.
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This blog appears every other Sunday.
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Fiona Robertson interviews Rodney on Nic Higham's NONDUALITY NETWORK!
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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 other Sunday afternoon, Eastern Standard Time.
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