Here Now - (& email)

Words come .....and words go.
Moments come ......and moments go.
Hours come ......and hours go.
Days come ......and days go.
Months come ......and months go.
Years come ......and years go.


If you look closely and if you hold that looking for a little longer than you normally do, you will see beyond doubt that you have never gone anywhere and that you are indeed present and aware - seeing is happening - knowing is happening. - There is no going away from THIS.

Happy new moment?

Whatever the 'content' that appears to 'arrive' with each moment, it will pass and the moment remains as what you are. - You can't get out of it.
Nothing to lose and nothing to gain.

The spiritual aspirant imagines that there is something that can be added (or lost) to that which is their natural presence of awareness.
From this basic erroneous belief, all the practices and methods hang like pieces of string flowing in the breeze.
These beliefs appear to be extremely stubborn for so many and they persist for as long as there is no thorough investigation of what is naturally here and now.
Without their infamous ‘journey’ (to nowhere), their story (in time), they feel naked. - They do not realize that that same nakedness contains an utter freedom from all conceptual notions.
In one fraction of a moment, in that naked awareness, what one truly is may reveal itself to the mind. - Devoid of any ‘entity’, there is no claim or ownership and so even though this view may strike a loud chord that reverberates through the whole organism, once the mind flows back to its habitual terrain and its notions of reality (dream) the habitual identified ‘form’, the ‘me’, does not know how to benefit from the so-called ‘event’.
Many have tasted such views and the personality has built an image of being a guru from the memory of it. – There are some well known examples, one I heard just a few days ago being interviewed on the Radio. – The conceited attitude was evident in the first words uttered by this guru. – A friend was also listening and he said “My god, she is totally up herself”.
He had never heard of this guru before. – I said “Do you want to listen to it all?”
“No thanks” was his response.
Why are these gurus so popular? - Because they serve the ego of the seeker so well and they put themselves forward as an example of a self realized being, shamelessly and without reservation. – It is glaringly obvious that their whole ‘teaching’ is just the usual worldly nonsense of self promotion and egoistic preening. – Even though they steal the usual concepts from more reputable teachers the whole persona has a conceitedness which I find rather pathetic. – They all seem to hold up Ramana Maharshi as their ‘idolized one’. – I doubt if Ramana would have ever let them into ‘The Hall’ for more than a few minutes without demolishing their self importance.
Well, all this controversial nonsense is useless. – If the investigation is not done, what is the point of all these practices? - Ramana himself, according to the records, directed ‘seekers’ directly to the self inquiry. – Nisargadatta did the same.
If you are still wandering about, seeking, ask yourself this: “Why do I delay this thorough investigation of the self?”
It only needs to be done once.
As one Tibetan Buddhist expressed it so directly and in so few words:
“Self Liberation through SEEING with Naked Awareness”.
Or as Bob Adamson says:
“What is wrong with right now, if you don’t think about it?”

Email Question:
Dear Gilbert, - What is happening here is Amazing! - It is unfolding in so many wondrous ways (to coin a phrase from You). -It appears that the one dominant fear has to do with having enough money. - I have not worked to any real degree in almost 2 years. - I would like to change careers from Art Director and graphic designer, to a facilitator of The Work of Byron Katie. - Or even more so, to win the lottery, win huge in Las Vegas or by some other means that would allow me the Freedom to do whatever I choose to do. - I have been reviewing the many (I can't believe how many) emails we have traded, and it is obvious to me that you have never led me astray (in them).
I ask you in this instant, what is your advice regarding this matter?
Also, I followed the advice on your site: "If you look closely and if you hold that looking for a little longer than you normally do, you will see beyond doubt that you have never gone anywhere."
I remember what it says on the cover of "I AM THAT" regarding Nisargadatta's claim that it is not important that the body should last long. - And that it will slip off like a discarded garment. - I wonder what happens when this body dies: - Do I have to go through this entire thing again, as a baby, from scratch? - Many fears arise. - At this point, any words of comfort you might provide would be extremely helpful. - Love and Respect – Robert.


Robert, There are apparently two views.
The First view is not 'a view' at all - it is simply the pure function of SEEING. - (It is the potentiality or omnidirectional seeing, with no 'seer' and nothing 'seen'. - However such statements will halt the mind of most readers.)
The 'other view' is from the apparent point of view of an individual, an habitual standpoint in mind and is accompanied by whatever the mind has acquired.
- That 'point of view' is also associated with an identification with being the body. - In Hindu it is referred to as Nama Rupa. - Name and form.
So how to discriminate between these apparent two views?
– Seeing is happening. – The ‘Name’ cannot see. - The form cannot see – it is an apparent instrument of cognition - but since we apparently cannot ‘get out’ of the body, we cannot dissolve that attachment to it. - 'Who' is it that sees?
We canno find the seer. - We cannot deny that seeing is happening.
We can know the habitual identification with the body for what it is.

If one 'goes back' in the direction of seeing - (which is actually Omni directional) - beyond the space immediately behind the eyes - one experiences as an empty space -

The true nature of mind is clear and empty.

Ramana Maharshi would say one should ask the question "who am I?"

Actually one does not even have to do that - Just SEE that this space is vastly empty -
(Clearer than an abandoned church or synagogue - Ha!)
See how easily, even the most minute movements of mind are seen.
Notice the concepts of a 'seer' may arise. - It also 'slips away' un-noticed.
In that pure naked seeing there is no form, no entity, no one with any substance.
(Gate Gate)
If there is no one there NOW - and you see that ever so clearly - could there ever have been anyone there, ever?

Yet it appears that there is - most of the time.
INVESTIGATE these 'things'.
Millions waste time on meditation and secret methods to no avail.
What I am suggesting is direct and immediate.
(Do it and throw your guru of 'practices and promises', promises of 'future deliverance' away).
I am offering this with no payments due. - I don't even ask you to wait for another moment. - No fees. - No glorification of 'ME' as being a superior being.
There is not even an 'I' that offers this opportunity.
You just need to investigate.......hold your attention long enough to see that you are none of these 'things' that you have taken yourself to be and it is 'done'.

One way attention is what we call identification.
It is as if the mind is pinned down in the head.

All of the senses are there as instruments -
Without that living, pulsating intelligence, which is 'behind' it all - it would all amount to nothing. - It is No Thing appearing as everything. (Not two)

Such news can strike fear into the hearts of the bravest men - That is the drama of life.

Love it. - Witness it all.
What to do? - Opportunities come - they go. - Some are taken up and other not. - You imagine that you can choose and do - and as in a dream, you can - But as in a dream you cannot control all that is happening - Life lives you - as you (not two) - and as all apparent others (not two).

I and the Source are ONE - and yet it is clearly evident that there is not even One - as such. - (Know that there is No one that wants to go there! - not even as a conceptual notion - those who say they do are crapping on)

Find out what is beyond the minds activities - It is as though one must come to the place of where seeing is happening - and not fall back into the vast emptiness - and not get pulled forward into the vast emptiness of the drama of life - (It is AS though...is what I said).
‘Who’ wonders what will happen when the body drops or slips away?
This is the mind only – and the mind is time. – Knowing is timeless and always immediately present. – Simple.

You are the timeless, deathless spirit. - Naked Awareness.
It was never born. - So it can never die.
Where is the doubt about this?
See that any doubt can only be a thought, a feeling, that appears in the mind.
Whatever appears, disappears and that which remains is timelessly present.
It is Knowing what is. – The mind is occupied with ‘what is not’ – a dream.
Nothing ever stays in the mind - it can't. - It may circle like a rat around some cheese but it will go - and in its going, make room for the next rat - ad infinitum -you are not that rat or any rat, thought, feeling or state of affairs.
Seeing is not obscured by anything at all. – The open view is always present.
The one caught in the mind is just another pattern. – See it for what it is.

You are present and aware. Full stop.