The assumed separate person

Our mind, based on misunderstanding, assumes we are a separate person apart from reality. Then we seek a path, practice, goal and so on. But the problem is a creation of thought. Without the thoughts, is there a problem!? The concept on which all other troubling concepts is based is the notion of the separate “I”. The one with the problem (the “I”) is the problem itself! Until this is seen, the seeking, suffering and doubts cannot help but go on. How can an illusory character let go of an illusion which is, in fact, itself? - John Wheeler

The ego is a concept. . .

The ego is a concept, an assumption. It is merely an idea. What is that idea? It is the notion that you stand apart from the deeper reality of things as an independent and autonomous self, a limited being. As you look into this matter, you find that this assumption proves to be entirely false. So the ego simply evaporates due to discovering its non-existence. There is no “ego death” needed or possible, because there is no ego present to die. - John Wheeler

Letting go of dualities

See the perfection. . .

The third thing

Not effort or
the absence of effort,
neither choice nor
the impossibility of choice,
neither self nor not self,
neither nothing nor something,
neither emptiness nor form,
neither unborn nor born,
the third thing... - John Astin

Concentration

Why does it matter
where I look,
or how long my gaze
remains there
when everything
I behold is That,
this unspeakable
Mystery
that lives
as everything? - John Astin

All bets are off

I have not overcome suffering, because such a statement presumes there is an “I” who has attained such a state. However, a looking did not happen to find the “I”. No such thing was found to exist. All belief in it ended precisely then. Not for “me”. The belief just ended. I make no claims about what “I” have attained. If I ever find an “I”, I might be able to say something about it. Until then, all bets are off! - John Wheeler

Clarifying who you are. . .

Clarifying who you are and resolving suffering are the same movement, two sides of the same coin. All experiences (thoughts, feelings and objects perceived) arise as appearances. But there is something in you that does not arise or appear. Yet it cannot be denied because it is what you are. Initially this is simply pointed out as the sense of being, which is present and aware. Notice this as the constant presence through which all experiences naturally flow, like a river. Then you are no longer being swept along by the current of events. You remain rooted in a solid source. Suffering and problems are seen for what they are — mental phenomena, mere images passing through the light of awareness. Your home is in and as that non-conceptual awareness. You no longer experience yourself as a limited self bound by imagination and concepts. - John Wheeler

What are we to do?

Ah, we would if we could! Isn’t that the game that is the spiritual search? To give up? To surrender, to relax into Being, to plunge back into the no-thing?

But here’s the point: it’s always turned into a doing, isn’t it? “I need to give up! Why haven’t I been able to give up yet!?”. And so the game goes on. The mind will turn anything into a doing. It will even turn a not-doing into a doing, and spend the rest of its life trying to do that! Trying to do nothing! Oh, the wonderful games the mind plays, trying to save itself. It really doesn’t want to die. And so it creates all these terrifying stories about death. And it keeps itself going. Always seeking, always wanting, always hoping. Always fleeing from an illusory past, aiming towards a made-up future. - Jeff Foster

Unconditional

That which we seek is, by definition always something else, is it not? Whatever we are looking for is always some other time, always some other place. We are never seeking the state we are for that state is already present! And though we traverse the inner and outer worlds in search of that elusive “something else,” there will never be a “something else.” There will always be only this. . .

Now, it would be easy to hear such a message and then try to put an end to all the searching. But of course, the effort to not look for something else is to look for something else. The struggle to be free of the search and “accept what is” is, ironically, to turn away from what is, to turn away from the experience of “not-accepting.” But turning away from what is and seeking out some other experience or state of mind is to simply seek out some other experience or state of mind. In other words, it is not actually a problem. It is simply the way life moves, simply what is. . .

So, what would become of the search if there were no effort to end it? What would happen to the experience we call “seeking” if all the spiritual manipulations and strategies to make it disappear were to cease? . . . - John Astin

"Powerful" experiences

. . . So-called “powerful” experiences are really no more important or worthy of attention than seemingly less powerful or significant ones. The mind’s tendency is to divide the world up, to split reality into what it likes (and thinks is worthwhile and desirable) and what it dislikes (and sees as less worthwhile or desirable). There are those experiences mind deems to be meaningful and extraordinary and those it considers to be quite ordinary, maybe even meaningless. But presence or awareness - the mystery that is awake - does not see the world this way. It is radically and unconditionally open to things and experiences, as they are, regardless of their particular taste, texture, or feel. This that is Awake sees beyond the mind’s preferences. It recognizes that every moment is a gift, every moment the miracle, not just the ones that match our particular preferences and desires. - John Astin

Spiritual work is not a prescription

It may well happen that your life will be of arduous spiritual work but one single moment of clear seeing puts an end to it. Also, it may be revealing to know that that conclusive freeing insight or understanding has been recorded to happen through people who are not spiritually conditioned at all — people who are not in any kind of 'spiritual way'. This alone reveals that what we call spiritual way is simply a conceptual construction and not a prescription for one to follow. This insight alone may make the belief in the self-center crumble and leave you bare and free as you are. - Felipe Oliviera

Interview with Jan K

Here is a short and cogent extract from an interview with Jan Kersschot:

Jan Kersschot: Life is a good movie: you don’t realise you’re in a movie because everyday life looks so real. That’s why I call it a daydream. But when you have a good look at what this person really is, you may discover that it is a concept. I think it is one of the greatest discoveries you can make in life, really seeing that the ego is an idea that appears in the mind. What you think you are is built up by hearsay and memory.

Interviewer: It’s a label.

Jan Kersschot: Yes, it is just an image appearing on the screen. It is not “you” watching the movie, the movie is being watched by the Light and your ego or personality is just one of the thousand images that appear on the screen every minute. While you read these words, you are convinced that there is a person – you – who is reading them. There is indeed a sense of “you” around. We believe it’s something solid but in fact it’s an image that pops up. Not always, but let’s say regularly. There is also a sense of letters forming words – and these sentences having a meaning. So you believe you are reading these words right now. This means that both the text as well as the sense of “you” are being witnessed. What is the witness of both your “me” and the words? Who or rather what is the final witness? It is the Light that makes your movie shine.

Interviewer: That is my higher self then.

Jan Kersschot: No, not all. Don’t try to claim it for yourself. Please be accurate here. The idea of a higher self or soul is again an idea in the mind, it is just another image appearing in the daydream. There in only one Light. And that is not “your light” or “my light.” You as a person appear in It as an image, that’s all. What you really are is that Light, not the individual. There is only one of it: it is timeless and borderless.

John Wheeler

In the end, you see that your being is not a matter of work or effort. You are what you are. Your ever-present self is not the result of a process. Work and striving are in time, but what you are is already here. So it is hard to see how relying on time or effort could help you arrive at what is timeless and naturally present. This is about something so simple that we constantly overlook it due to assuming it is complicated. That is why many a seeker gave a good laugh when the basic point struck home. If you have been striving and struggling with this, it might be time to ponder on who is doing all that work! Certainly not your real nature. Then who — and why? That is why the question "Who am I?" is so potent. It immediately exposes the root of the issue, which is the nebulous sense of self at the core of our seeking and suffering. A little bit of looking and the bottom falls out straight away. - John Wheeler

Effortlessness

Effortlessness is not something that can be attained by effort.
No-mind is not a state that can be achieved by the mind.
Peace cannot be achieved by striving. - David Carse

Seeking unravelled

But then, in a moment of grace, something else revealed itself. It was suddenly seen that the entire experience of seeking was being sustained by one simple belief, one idea that was holding the whole thing together: “This should not be here. Seeking should not be happening.” That was it, one little thought…

And in the instant that was seen, the whole thing fell apart. Seeking unraveled itself, for it was so obvious that it was only the resistance to seeking, the very effort to become free of it, that was keeping it alive. For what is seeking when there is no resistance to it? What is resistance like when there is no resistance to it? What are fear, and anxiety, and insecurity when there is no idea that those experiences should be other than they are (or if such ideas are present, there is no idea that such ideas should somehow disappear)?

What happens to the experience we call “suffering and separation” when there is no effort to liberate ourselves from it? - John Astin

Pathless Path

The path to God, the path to ultimate reality is as Krishnamurti said, a "pathless path." In the end, there is no path to the ultimate because there is only the ultimate. Everything is made of That, the source and suchness of all things - every tree, every person, every flower, every atom, every star - all of them made of the same ineffable mystery, the wetness in every wave...

We may imagine that we are on a journey back to God, but how can there be a journey to something that is everywhere and everything? We walk to our temples and mosques, our churches and synagogues, our yoga centers and meditation cushions, to find God, to find Truth, but what is sought is already present, present before the first step is ever taken, and present as that very step. What is sought is here before the first thought ever arises to seek It, and It is here as that very thought. Truth is present, before the mind ever imagines it has been lost. But Truth is also the imagining, God seeking God...

We seek God but there is no escaping God for there is only God, only Spirit dancing as everything that is seen, everything that is touched, everything that is felt. We search for something else that will make us happy, some other experience or moment, but the happiness and freedom we seek is already here as this - this experience, this state of mind, this moment. Every breath, every sensation, the clarity, the confusion, the seeking, and the end of seeking, all of them God, all of them the Truth, all of them, enough. - John Astin

Spiritual versus non-spiritual

The central claim of mysticism from every tradition is that a complete, whole, and flawless reality underlies and creates the more obvious and apparent concrete and dualistic world.

If this claim is actually true, and not simply a nice-sounding namby-pamby bullshit platitude, then clearly that reality of Wholeness and Perfection underlying existence is always present and is not limited to certain times, places and activities that the mind accepts and judges as "good".

This means that all dualistic value judgments over which occupations, which people, and which moments in life are spiritual and which are lacking in spirit, are simply a slightly more subtle form or manifestation of materialism. True spirituality is timeless, non-dualistic, universal, and always present right now, regardless of whatever mind-labelled judgments are made against what is happening.

A passing illusion

The spiritual path is a passing illusion based on two illusions — time and "me". A concept based on two concepts. A compelling act in a play, nevertheless, completely imagined. Believe in time and there is a place to go. Believe in "me" and there is a traveler. Beyond belief and disbelief, beyond a conceptualized individual existence there is the ever-presence of our being. Beyond these words and through your eyes shine the utter simplicity of your freedom.

Suffering, doubt and seeking can end. Our ever-present non-conceptual being is unchangeable in any way therefore needless of any spiritual work or help. Seeing though the self-centeredness created solely in thought reveals the vehicle for seeking, doubt and suffering as absent. Nothing is wrong. You have been Innocence and Perfection from the start. - Felipe Oliviera

Looking in all the wrong places

Non Duality is simple – there is nothing more simple.

Nothing that can be said will ever reveal Oneness. – It is already clearly obvious in natural seeing. - All that can happen for the so-called individual, is that the mind ceases to project its old belief patterns – and in that ‘moment’ the natural oneness of everything is registered clearly on awareness. – Oddly enough this is always happening but it is not noticed.


– Some laugh their heads off at seeing the simplicity of it all and at the fact that it was always here and so obvious. – This, when merely 'heard about' can be very annoying ‘for the mind’ and a habitual frustration buzzes about in the mind - more activity that keeps the mind busy. – No one can predict how this natural effortless seeing will miraculously reveal itself – and is it true to say that it ever does? - To suggest that it will reveal itself is actually a bit of a trap – an erroneous trap for the mind.


The simple fact is that seeing is always happening.


Where are you seeing from?


That simple seeing is completely natural and in itself there is no seer and nothing seen. – The so-called ‘seer’ and the objectively ‘seen’ along with all that the mind appears to do, labels naming, stories etc - it all appears 'in the seeing' – seeing is 'prior' to it all - seeing is a constant and the seen is transient appearances. - That may seem to be too confronting. - It isn't. - It appears as liberation - for no one.


There is no one that ‘starts’ seeing and no one that ever stops seeing.


Seeing and knowing are the very same pure functioning. – Understanding is the same.

One without a second.


In chasing after some great understanding, one is 'seemingly' giving the mind a complex maze that can never be solved. – That is frustrating for the mind - like the whole spiritual game is frustrating. - When the game is dropped and some authentic looking into happens there 'appears' a 'turning point'. . .

The ‘honest down to earth teacher’ never pretends to ‘have something special’ there is no game being played.

Just a relentless ‘pointing’ the so-called ‘seeker’ back to the bare facts of presence awareness. – It so happens that such ‘teachers’ are rare and they do not go about promoting themselves and giving grand lectures or making people pay extraordinary prices for their teaching.

What is true is simple - it is always simple – and that simplicity is usually too boring for the average ‘seeker’ – if only because these ‘seekers’ have filled their minds with expectations and images of ‘how things should appear to be’. - A guru who 'looks the part' is not necessarily genuine and yet that is how things are playing themselves out - in the 'appearance'. - Gilbert Schultz

End of the Search

We may acquire concepts and techniques to work on negative emotions and imagination, to still the mind. To try to be present is the spiritual fashion of the century. Those techniques and efforts must all have effects on a relative level: experiences change and new ones arise and subside. But the fundamental search for peace and absolute understanding about our being/existence remains as that search does not end as the result of the use of those concepts and efforts. The fact remains that while efforts are made without the fundamental knowledge of 'who' or what power is making the efforts the search for freedom is perpetuated ad infinitum — more teaching is required, new techniques, more knowledge, more experience; perhaps another teacher or another lifetime will do the trick.

The absolute end of the search does not depend directly on spiritual work. This is so because all spiritual work including the feeling of its need pertain to the realm of experience and concepts; to the realm of relativity. How can the absolute resolution of our spiritual search and endeavors be found in the relative and everchanging world of experience? All we can say for sure in relation to spiritual work is that it happens. And that there are effects that appear and disappear. We can never assert that it creates an absolute and permanent effect. It simply is not possible — the very nature of creation, is impermanence. The permanent lies in another realm altogether.

The knowledge/cosnciousness of our being is ever present. It is not part of or result of creation. It has no location, no time, no beginning or end, no limit, no center or self to radiate from. It has always been present throughout our life but was overlooked while the imaginary was ascribed an absolute value it does not have.

When the knowledge/cosnciousness of our being is recognized in absolute and undeniable terms spiritual work with the aim to 'my' freedom ceases and a particular kind of imagination is eradicated. With the belief in the separate self eradicated truth remains and shines on and through all perception and conceptualizing, allowing these not to be taken as the only reality — allowing the imaginary not to be taken as truth. Thus our true self is revealed in its absolute needlessness. . .

Existence, our being, the consciousness of our being is not a concept. It is the consciousness/existence itself and the concurrent knowing of this as our identity. This is not a passing experience that can be defined or described. It is the ever-present background to all experience. Experience has relative value and has nothing to do, in causal terms, with knowing the self and the peace that comes with abiding as this knowingness.

The peace of self-knowledge arises concurrently with the ceasing of the striving to save or liberate something that does not really exist: the imaginary self we refer to during our daily endeavors. Until our spiritual teachers point clearly at what we truly are and reveal clearly what we are not; until the question 'who am I?' is answered in our hearts; until grace manifests as the seeing through of that imaginary self there will not be peace and imagination will be running the show. . . - Felipe Oliviera