There is a tendency amongst speakers on non duality to say that once you have “got it” then that’s it. You are liberated, awakened and have reached the final frontier as far as spirituality is concerned.

I disagree. Once you have realized the oneness, seen that there is no separation, no duality of you and the rest of the universe; then you have certainly reached the end of seeking.  You then have the opportunity to embark on another journey – the journey to enlightenment.

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How does a non-dualist spend Christmas?

I’m  spending a day with my family: eating good food, drinking fine wine, opening presents, taking the dog for a walk in the snow, playing silly board games. A normal Christmas I suppose.

What is the meaning of Christmas?

As I am not a Christian then I do not have religious feelings about Christmas. For me, Christmas has no meaning. It is there to be enjoyed. Indulging in pleasurable experiences needs no reason.

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I used to be dissatisfied with my life so I became a spiritual seeker. I thought that enlightenment was the missing jigsaw piece that would complete my life. Most spiritual seekers come from a point of dissatisfaction. This can take the form of low self esteem, feeling like an outsider, or somehow knowing that there is something missing from life.

If you become awakened, then the dissatisfaction goes, the spiritual seeker has gone. Now what do you do? Read more

Are you a spiritual seeker? If you are then it is a strange state to be in.

I used to be a spiritual seeker. I cannot remember making a choice to be one. Spiritual seeking appeared to be an instinct that started when I was a teenager.

I was bought up a Christian and became a bell ringer at my local church when I was 14 years old. After I rang the bells on Sunday morning, I used to sit in the church and listen to the sermons.  I often heard the words soul and spirit in the sermons, the prayers and the hymns. I began to ask myself the questions:

• What is the soul?
• What is the spirit

I suppose this was the start of spiritual seeking. The church did not seem to have the answers to these questions, so I left Christianity and turned to the East whose message was:

‘You have a soul and a spirit and through spiritual practices you can experience what they are.’

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Can awakening be lost?

I was in my bed reading a spiritual book when suddenly it felt that I knew exactly what the teacher was communicating. I had got ‘it’. I was in an altered state of consciousness and I experienced such happiness. I emailed my spiritual teacher who declared that I was awake. After years of spiritual seeking I had ‘arrived’.

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Do you have to be a saint to awaken?

Many people believe that to awaken you need to be some sort of saint. In preparation for awakening some sort of purification is necessary. You follow rules of conduct in the hope that they will get you closer to enlightenment. Usually these rules involve abstinence:

• No alcohol
• No sex
• No meat
• No going down the pub with your friends
• No wild parties
• No cheating or lying

This is the image of the enlightened person that is portrayed a lot in the East where gurus are seen as holy saints whose morality is beyond reproach. Sometimes these gurus perform questionable acts such as having sex with a devotee, or amassing great  wealth whilst their followers live impoverished lives.

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Can spiritual practices enlighten you?

A long time ago I followed a guru who taught me that the spiritual practices that he prescribed would take me to enlightenment. These practices consisted of:

• Meditation first thing in the morning and last thing at night
• Satsang – attending spiritual talks every evening
• Service – Usually fund raising for his organisation or cleaning the already spotless ashram
• Darshan – Spending vast amounts of money on flights and hotels in order to see the guru, bow down before him, and give him an envelope with as much money as I could afford.

After several years of this spiritual practice I was not enlightened and gave it all up!

So is there any advantage to  spiritual practices?

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I have listened to and met lots of spiritual teachers. There are a many of them out there. Although they say that they have the ‘truth’, they do not all agree on what the truth is.

So how do you decide which spirtual  teacher is for you?

I classify teachers into 4 groups:

• The theorists
• The half-way-up-the-mountainists
• The authoritarians
• The gotits

Let me explain:

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I used to be unhappy and dissatisfied with life and thought that enlightenment was an escape route to being happy all the time. I spent much time with spiritual teachers and found that they were not always happy and had many concerns. They could:

• worry about money
• get mad
• be impatient
• be disappointed if not many turned up for their spiritual discourses

Awakening is not an escape from unhappiness. It is a shift in the relationship to thoughts and feelings.

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Be here

Is enlightenment a myth or reality?

Many years ago I met a guru called Maharaj Ji who introduced me to the idea of enlightenment which I understood was:

• A state of permanent bliss
• A state with no mental problems
• A state where no karma is created

This concept of enlightenment appealed to me. Who would not want permanent bliss?

I was told that if I practised the spiritual discipline known as ‘Knowledge” I could reach this state within a few years.

So I commenced a life of meditation, attending spiritual discourses known as Satsang and serving the community of Guru Maharji followers who called themselves premies (which means lovers of God).

After a few years of this life I reviewed where I was. How close was I to this state called enlightenment? Read more