Four Steps to Non Duality

You've read all the Non-Duality books and have been going to non-duality speakers for years. You still have not got this.

Can Awakening be Lost?

Awakening is knowing who I am - which is oneness and non duality. And this knowing cannot be unknown, cannot be lost.

Can Words Express Non-Duality?

There is a problem that all non-duality teachers come against. How can you express what is essentially indescribable?

Who Chooses What You Think?

Who chooses the images that appear in your mind when there is no conscious recognition of choosing? Who chooses what you think?

Is There a God Spot in the Brain?

Is there a God Spot in the brain and will this cause you to get non-duality?

Is There a Separate Self?

There is is a sense of aseparte self, an appearance of a separate self, and this is what we need in order to function in this world.

Is Awakening The End of Attachment?

The mind is sometimes like the fire - it can rage and burn. Allow it to be, observe its games. None of this is happening to you.

Lessons From Krishnamurti Standing Alone

Now, having come to the end of seeking, I understand what seeing Krishnamurti standing alone means.

What Goes On In Your Brain Mind?

You live in a world that you call reality. It certainly looks real, but this world is in fact constructed by you.

Who Owns Your Life?

"No," I replied, I'm going to the cinema to see a film starring Jimi Hendrix." My fellow devotee looked shocked

Do You Need To Go to the Extreme?

When the Self disappears, so does doubt and with it the fears and anxieties that inhibit the human potential, both physical and mental.

What Happens When You’ve Gone?

I saw this interview with a lady who claimed to have had a spiritual awakening. During her awakening Princes Diana came to her as an ambassador of the dead to reveal that we survive after death. One inescapable truths is that everything is impermanent.

Try to Find Your Self

: Image by sunjaec via Flickr

One things that non-dualists says is that there is no separate self.

How does the mind get around that one? It seems so obvious that you exist. Every time that you use the word ‘I’, you are establishing that you exist as a single standalone entity.

So let’s find the I. Can you find the I without the content of the I? What I mean by this is that, when you use the word I, you are generally referring to an experience. You say:

I am hungry
I will get back to you on that one
I feel sad
I will think about that

Can you find the ‘I ‘stripped of all the thoughts and feelings? Sit in a quiet place, eyes closed, allow thoughts to come and go. If you do this for a while you may find that thoughts slow down, even stop. At this point get a sense of the I. Observe the I. You may be successful in this. But then the question arises, what is it that is observing the I? Then concentrate on what it is that is observing the I. Then find out what is it that is observing the observing of the I. If you can do this for a while, going back and back into the various I’s, it will feel like two mirrors facing each other where you see an endless series of reflections, each smaller than the preceding one.

Though you get a sense of identity and act as if you are a seprate individual, you cannot find this individual. You cannot observe yourself, as observation implies two parts – the observer and the observed. Can your individual self be split into two – what you observe and the thing that is doing the observation?

Philosophers like David Hume, Plato and Aristotle have thought wrestled with this issue of separate identity. I am not recommending that you agonise over this. It is sufficient to be aware of inability to find the self.

If you are interested in finding out truth for yourself then it helps to question all of your assumptions including the fundamental one that you exist. If, on the other hand, you may want to indulge in comforting new age type beliefs and meditate, chant, peace dance, channel, go on shamanic journeys, then these certainly will make you feel good. But how many of these ways really start to unravel your fundamental beliefs? Few go this route as it can be uncomfortable, even painful.

Are you prepared to let go of every single belief that you hold dear? Can your soul be stripped bare, so that no content is left? How far down this rabbit hole do you want to go?