What is it that has already happened?
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Awareness is not something that is "above" us or at some fairytale location. Nor is it chronologically arrived at. Somehow, those ludicrous ideas are ingrained within our spiritual psyche—all the while we are the thing itself, immaculate presence.
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There is no "price" to pay for being a genius. Why does there have to be psychopathology associated with this? All the books, magazines, and movies want to portray such individuals in this very manner. But like self-knowledge, genius is thoroughly ordinary on one level and fully radiant on the other.
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Self-realization is amazingly simple. We complicate it because we think it is an intellectual, methodological or even ritualistic endeavor; and it's none of those things. It is merely seeing who and what you fundamentally are at this very moment and not at some future date. Besides, the "future" is just a thought and projection, which, because of the attention you give it, causes you to bypass the obvious.
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When some nondual teachers are asked by seekers, "What to do?," they often answer, "Do nothing." But that response doesn't work for me. A far better reply would be, "See that there is nothing to do." Because when that is perceived, you are cognizing presence directly.
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There is no true detachment from things or ideas or the world except through self-knowledge.
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Being creative should be intrinsically motivating. That is, there should be a natural and inner joy in doing what you do. The energy to explore your medium is innately there, which goes to give the art intricacy and the artist fortitude and perceptiveness. And this is true for any field—from writing and proofreading to knitting and performing music. The medium does not matter.
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Being creative should be intrinsically motivating. That is, there should be a natural and inner joy in doing what you do. The energy to explore your medium is innately there, which goes to give the art intricacy and the artist fortitude and perceptiveness. And this is true for any field—from writing and proofreading to knitting and performing music. The medium does not matter.
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(From phone consultation) You don't have to "Get back to the Beginner's Mind." The Beginner's mind is always there. You never move from it. It's simply a natural and elemental functioning going on that you neither have to tamper or merge with. Further, the mind is not the answer. Awareness is. So why isn't your focus there? You think that you have to do something to your thoughts and thinking in order to become self-realized. But all of that is wasted time and energy. Go ahead and do those things, if you like. It's of no consequence to me. You have to discover the waywardness of your actions for yourself. You really have to come to the certainty that, "Wait, a minute. I'm being an idiot here."
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(From phone consultation) Most teachers these days can't give you anything but quotes—quotes either from popular TV gurus or from some badly translated ancient text. These teachers are hard-pressed to speak directly about themselves or generally about nonduality because they are not self-realized themselves. So they pretend to be blissfully silent, for fear that they will say something inept or completely wrong. And they always do! They get so many of the details wrong. You can't listen to them for any extended time before they start to reveal their fundamental ignorance about the whole matter of self-knowing.
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Sorry, presence has no way or method to itself. The immediacy of it automatically negates both techniques or progressivism. You are awareness, so there is nothing to attain, and no technique in which to engage. See the elemental beauty of that. We are speaking about something that is directly before and within you at this moment. This very moment! It is your natural state. So technically, you can neither hope to get it or hope to get out of it!
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You ask if spirituality is evolutionary? Well, I suppose it could be, given that your question is about "spirituality." Nonduality, however, isn't cumulative in the least. Yes, you come to the point where the cliff is there, but you neither see it coming or actually jump from it. You are in the air before you know it, and are simply left there. No more cliffs, no more leap.
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Presence is neither welcoming or loving. Even to say that it is benevolent is to shrink-wrap it into an easy and readily-labeled conceptuality. Nothing that you can say about it is ultimately true. For it is the vastness behind all words, deeds, actions, and appearances. It never alters or acts. Right here and now, what is it within you that has all of those qualities?
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Focusing on personal growth is attempting to improve an illusion. You are not your ego, your physicality, or your sense-of-self. You are nonconceptual reality. Become clear on that, and all the other matters of life (personal and spiritual) will eventually balance out.
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You say your guru said to "Remain with Consciousness as much as you can." How can you possibly do that? I don't mean to be critical of your teacher here, but her words don't make sense. Consciousness, which is a temporary sense of self, comes and goes. By its very nature, it is constantly changing, coming and going. How can you possibly "remain with it"? It is doing what it is supposed to do; you take no part in it. Why even bother to be focused on consciousness anyway? It, among other things, allows us to walk, talk, function, and interact with one another. Why not permit it to operate without interference? Again, it is doing what it does, helping us to interrelate to one another, to live our lives as agreeably as possible with one another and the planet. Bottom line, you are awareness, not consciousness. Your teacher's priorities are all wrong, I'm afraid.
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News & Info
Precisely That: Reflections Upon Enlightenment is available on Amazon. Go to the above link.
Precisely That: Reflections Upon Enlightenment is available on Amazon. Go to the above link.
To buy the book directly from the publisher, click on Lulu Press
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Rodney's previous book, The Only True Life: Living from the Natural State, can be purchased from Amazon by clicking on the above link.
Or you can buy the book directly from the publisher, Lulu Press
"Rodney is on the way to becoming a nondual megastar. His books and pointers are amazingly direct, original, and beautiful—immersing you in your own Beingness. In little time at all, he has taken nonduality and made it his own." — Lori W., U.K.
Susan Ferguson is a talented artist, writer, and book reviewer, who lives in the gorgeous, green hills of North Canterbury, New Zealand.
You may read her review of The Only True Life at her beautiful Web site: Metaphysical Musing:
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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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"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 America 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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"In Fully Present, Rodney 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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"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 $45 donation will be greatly appreciated.
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This blog is now updated twice a month.
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