Simple is Best - Directness is an unwanted 'gift'.

The directness of 'pointing' to what is true - is usually unwanted, like a very practical gift on Christmas day. - The excitement of fancy, useless gifts is so much more attractive - but the fascination with them fades pretty quickly.
Simple is always best and many words do not necessarily make it easier and many books are published about all this. – Has any of it really helped?
How many hundreds of dollars have been spent on spiritual books that end up on a bookshelf gathering dust?
New Age Self Help books are a category that has a huge 'turn over' each year - a big profit for the publishers, the bookstores and the distributors - with a trickle back to the authors - the readers are short changed and the therapy goes on and on because the roots of belief are not cut through in the immediacy of Knowing Presence.
Most of that published stuff is band aid psychotherapy for dummies and focuses on the extra 'special personality' of the Teacher.
Endless concepts going around and around - hundreds and hundreds of teachers and groups - decades of it - is the world getting to be a better place?
The simplicity of what is true is always and ever available to each and every one of us - it stares us in the face everyday but we don't see it - we prefer fancy concepts and a spiritual life style with all the beads and bangles, chanting and yoga postures.
Are they anything more than delay tactics?
Avoiding what is obvious?
The absolute truth of existence is right here, right now - it does NOT depend on anything WHATSOEVER, least of all a concept.You cannot negate 'the fact of your own being' and THAT is the only fact that you can be absolutely sure of - That is what Bob Adamson pointed out to me some years ago - and I found out for myself that he is absolutely correct.
So direct - so obvious: It is so direct and so simple that the mind can't appreciate it because of its own complex nature of dividing and naming.
But KNOWING is in BEING and it is that immediacy that resonates with the clear pointing (which is of the same source KNOWING in BEING).Knowing in theory is just concept and story.
Well, to express it any clearer than that is near impossible and 'who' wants to know?
The mind, it seems, wants more and more information and its habitual 'bias' is not interested in simplicity because it is too sharp and cutting to the core for it's biased view.
So, much is written about it all - and if one is not 'on the ball' (as a writer or as a reader) it usually slides into complexities via the dualistic nature of language and words etc.

Basically it is very simple: -
We look for a conceptual matrix that will match up with reality and then we want to claim it for 'ME'.
Speaking in the usual relative terms, the flourishing concept that pervades the minds of most seekers is the concept that revolves around a ‘someone’ who is GOING to get something more than they already have.
That is the first step away from reality – but only for the mind.
Those who promise such an 'event' are just a part of the story – the seductive story about time and a special ‘event’ called ‘Awakening’ and then later they throw in another concept just to keep you on board the ship of fools and that concept is called ‘The final delivery’.

Final Understanding?

There is NOTHING final about it – The Non Dual has no beginning and no end – it is infinity itself. - Those who promote such concepts are teasing you with the old 'carrot before the donkey' trick.
They never GOT IT themselves!
(It is the easiest thing in the world to pretend that I have what everyone is looking for - but it is a lie and what is real - what this KNOWING reality IS, when discovered to be what I am, THAT cannot consciously lead anyone astray with concepts about 'how special I AM'. - The immediate taste of any such indulgence is bitter sweet and is cut off without delay - and that is why I know that these 'special teachers' are more or less complete frauds)
There own indulgence is just another story - a bullshit story, to be blunt and direct.
Ask them 'who is this one who got it?'
The concept of separation is obvious and the game of teacher-pupil is ridiculous and dualistic and in what we call Non Duality it does not need to be anything more than a brief appearance, while the message is delivered. - The delivery of the message evaporates the concept of separation and the teacher and pupil vanish- because they were only an appearance anyway.
That may be too much to take in, while the concepts of being a seeker are still floating around in the mind.

A Blunt Fact:

There never was and never will be anyone that ‘gets it’.
As long as a belief in that story remains active in the mind, you will go on searching to no avail and miss the simplicity of presence awareness.
Those that indulge in fantasy, they indulge your mind in a fancy belief that they ‘got it’ -
But the reality is that ‘they’ themselves are nothing but ‘another story’.
They appear to depend on all those complex student 'relationships' to keep their own concept of being an 'awakened one' alive in their own minds.
When all stories are vanquished, seen through or simply concluded or fade away – the ‘activity of knowing’ remains as (or is found to be) the underlying ‘ground’, which IS pristinely present – untouched and uncontaminated – and it is (was) present before the story started, during the whole apparent ‘duration’ of the story and AS the empty space of KNOWING that is revealed at the end of every story.
In the 'lasting presence' of ‘THIS ever present moment of realizing’ – this realization that I am this naked awareness, then the mind can be free to do what it likes and the energy of belief does not flow into the content of mind (in the old way) – so everything remains as it is – it is known to be 'all of the appearance' - every speck of what is known is an appearance in this space of knowing that I AM.
The sense of presence which we name as the 'I AM' is nothing but THIS wordless reality - presence awareness - non conceptual - non dual and it IS Oneness itself - and even the concept of ONE is not really present in it.
Looking back into so-called ‘time’, one sees and KNOWS that it was only the immediacy of presence taking the form of being the ‘energy of belief’ that flows into all those (past impressions) habitual concepts – it is THIS immediacy that makes them seem so real and substantial – and the ‘hidden’ lynch pin to it all, is the reference point ‘ME’.
And you never were that me, ever.

Beyond:
Beyond all that, this naked awareness is totally available right here and right now, without any need for any thought or any 'doing' whatsoever.
Drop all concepts and in one instant one has gone beyond the mind and all its content.
THIS profundity, THIS directness of self realization remains out of reach for those that refuse to drop their concepts.
- Fear is often the inhibitor.
- What am I if not this idea I have about myself?

Priceless:

The direct and immediate taste of being this naked awareness is priceless.
It is not for sale and it cannot be given to you by anyone, no matter how much you are willing to pay and no matter how profoundly spiritual the one who promises such nonsense appears to be.This directness, which is prior to thought, is what you ARE.
How strange it is that we need to be introduced to it - only because we have been ignoring it.
How difficult is it to be yourself?

Email to Gilbert -
I am writing to make a connection and also for any guidance you can send my way.
I am currently enjoying two of your CDs and your book 'Everything is Clear and Obvious'.
It seems that thoughts explain thoughts explain thoughts...but, there is no reality to the content but rather a belief in what is "thought".
Feelings and perceptions seem more real just as they are prior to labeling.
It appears that I am doing life as a human and that there is some distance from being an 'I' and 'not an I' - but that is not complete - perhaps, this too is only a believed thought.
As far as inquiry - I see that without thoughts, perceptions, feelings there is nothing - and, that none of this can exist without the background of awareness - This may all be mental and not clear seeing - but it resonates as true and exactly right.
I look forward to hearing from you. - Thank you – S - USA.

Gilbert Replies: Where this immediate 'seeing' (knowing) is happening, all is clear and empty - THAT is what you are - All the rest is concepts, ideas, images etc.
What you say in your email is reasonable and correct.
The mind is all we have, when it comes to putting things into words – in translating whatever the experience is.
The mind translates the experience-ING, which is always the primary movement.
The movement is the experiencing - at least you cannot separate these two aspects of presence. The mind usually translates it into what ‘has been known’, from the past.
That is, it translates it into ‘what WAS’ – which is only a concept from a dead past, so ‘what is’ seemingly becomes ‘what was’ in the instant of conceptualization – and belief in that re-presentation is what seemingly causes the problem.
In the apparent ‘life time’, many things are absorbed into the Knowing Essence of what you are.
In other words we learn stuff - and that ‘knowledge’ is spontaneously available, mostly without going looking for it, without 'thinking it out' - then there may be a laborious thinking process, which seems like a getting bogged down and that seemingly obscures direct cognition - but this sense of identification is only for the believed in entity, which has no substance at all - it is only belief.
All this is ordinary or should I say it has taken on a sense of the usual for me, not ME an entity - which is this apparent separate individual that the habitual thought tells me that I am.

Teaching:

In respect of there being a teaching, all I can say is that Bob pointed out many things and I kept coming back for more, because it resonated somewhere in me, and it sank in - then in my own direct experiencing, I saw what he was pointing out – many things were seen to be true in what he was saying – AND in that experiencing, which is and was void of any doubt, that direct experiencing was known to be 'my own' direct knowing - no longer mere theory or hearsay.
When ‘enough’ of this direct experiencing had taken place, it dawned on me, I discovered that I was no longer subjected to what the mind had been doing for so long - I was not IN IT any longer – I was and I remain right now, out of it - and there is no desire to go back into it and I also know it is impossible to go back into it, because it was only ever an appearance IN what I am.
And even though there can appear to be moments of being in it again, they do not last - and there is no lasting drama perpetuated internally - that is a vast difference to how things were - for how I sense(d) myself in this presence that I am – commonly called ‘me’.
One could say that this teaching is 'through negation', a seeming negation of what is not BY seeing what is - and in seeing what is not - which is the seeing of what has no foundation - except belief. - Remove the belief and what is left? - Presence - naked and vividly obvious.

Simple:

It is very simple - and yet so many pass over the pointers again and again - not realizing their potency. – They take delivery of all manner of troublesome concepts about themselves and they consistently ignore the profound ‘pointers’ that herald a freedom beyond description - that is a mystery. - So much seeking and NO finding - because they are looking in the WRONG place.

In my own case, I guess I was deadly serious about coming into a new understanding - and it was that intention that took me back to look more closely at it all - in a manner of speaking. Language does not lend itself well to discussing what is called Non Duality.

Well I trust this is something for you to read and contemplate.
I am pleased you are getting some 'value' from the CD's and the book - I think much of the potency that stuck me has been conveyed in them - and it appears to work for a few.
What needs to be realized is that you are already what you seek - in the right company that may reveal itself more potently.
Further more, one could say that it is all-real – and it is all-unreal.
What you are is reality. – There is no other reality than THIS reality right now – and reality is not what the mind translates it into – concepts etc.
What you ‘think’ you are is and can only be a concept and the fact is that there never was anyone that had an independent thought – and every thought appears out of the same source, instantly and spontaneously – (do you imagine that you choose your own thoughts?)
They appear instantly as 'unmediated phenomena' and THAT is what everything IS - in the appearance.
The concept, word or label is just a pattern taken from the past and placed on the present - it is not presence, except as presence as a concept, word or as a label – and they are not (ever) what they re-presents.
That is even logical (but rather an annoying fact for an intellectual).
What you are is non-conceptual - vibrant and living – Life itself.
All the rest is concepts.
Stay present as THAT Reality - and SEE that there is no choice in it and that it is not a 'doing' -you are THAT already and KNOW that it remains untouched.
Warm regards - gilbert

Too many words for something so simple - What is it all pointing to? - THAT Space of KNOWING that you already ARE.
Got it?
I should point out that many of the 'pointers' used here have come from my own profound 'hearing' of what Bob Adamson pointed out to me.
They are not empty words, as such.
I know the truth of them and I have made them my own - the direct experiencing of their profundity cannot be separated from what I am - There is a solid respect for the 'messenger' (Bob).
If someone pulls your head out of a bucket of mud and then gives you 'clear clean water' to clean yourself up with - a natural respect and gratefulness will surely be there for that one.
Read Bob's website - a do what I did - SEE through the whole thing.
Look into this thing with a keen interest - you will not regret it - I can assure you of that.

Knowing - just Knowing & 2 extra notes

News:
A new DVD on Bob is now available - it contains an excellent introduction to 'the teachings' and some comments from those present - however, I wish to point out that those present for the video session do not give an overall representation of a typical meeting at Bob's. - I recommend the DVD for anyone that wishes to introduce a friend to this teaching and to anyone who is still trying to grasp the teaching.
A new CD "At Bob's place" is also now available and this recording is also excellent. - Bob encourages those present to express their understanding and this will be of interest to many, I am sure. - Check Bob's website for the details of these and how to order them - they are only available through his website and a few selected outlets.

The T.S. Bookshop in Melbourne is now stocking Mark West's book "Gleanings from Nisargadatta" and a few of Bob's items also.

Today's note:
This knowing is ever-prior to all language and is not from the known realm of past knowledge.
It is direct and not of time, either past present or future.Knowing is through being (or in being) so 'the present' for being is this living presence - for the mind the present is merely a concept reflected in the mind (time).In other words, the 'present' in time, is not presence, except as a reflection.
It is a process of mind the present is named and projected back out onto the immediacy - but it is already 'past' due to the process ‘time’ of the mind.
It is a mere conceptual re-present-ation.
The intellect is calculating, measuring, comparing, it is slow and in process constantly.
What you truly are is intelligence and this is only ever 'of this instant'.
It is before any thought about time has a chance to obscure it.
Even so, for those who believe they are in the mind, that may be too subtle for them to grasp.
It can't be grasped at all - it simply is.
This is not significant because that 'knowing intelligence' that you are, is forever instantly here. - KNOWING is instant, unmediated cognition.
Can you truly negate the fact that the simple activity of 'knowing' is happening right now?
You cannot get behind this knowing presence and there is no need to - it is what you are.

How could you not know this?

So simple - so obvious.

SO, if this still does not have any impact on you -There is one factor that keeps the mind going around in circles - it is this: - In trying to use the mind to catch up to 'this immediate presence of being' (this KNOWING that you quite naturally are), all the mind can use is concepts and they are all from memory, from that which has already been named, so it is bound in its own processes - like looking into a mirror that only reflects the past - meanwhile the present is right here, as this all inclusive, all encompassing presence, which includes the mirror and all its reflections.
One must catch a glimpse of this mechanism of believing that the mind stuff is reality and see it over and over, until it loses its grip. - The power of that grip is actually a profoundly weak habit of fixating on the objective nature of what is known (past).
It has no power whatsoever and only seemingly obscures awareness.See what the mind is doing - be the subtle presence of wakefulness - be the seeing and drop all reference points - in this way one comes to know what one is.


Additional Note: - Also it can be mentioned once more that anyone, any teacher, no matter how wonderfully spiritual he or she is, no matter how many thousands of followers think his very footsteps are holy, if they (in their own ignorance) tell you that you have to DO some practice or wait for some special event to happen, they are doing you a massive dis-service and are being completely misleading - there are NO exceptions in this. - I don't give a fig whether his name is Sri Sri Whoopsi-Daisy or Lar-di Dar Dar, or whatever contrived name it may be - There is NO reason why any teacher that KNOWS the truth should NOT point directly to the FACTS.
Stories about time and deliverance are a sure sign of a profound ignorance and a thorough indulgence in a self-image.

The FACT is that there is NO time to wait - Totality - Reality is only NOW.

There is NO acquiring and NO 'getting' - There is NO practice to do and there is NO method to practice. - This is KNOWN completely and there is NO doubt right here and right now about this.These popular gurus and teachers will tell you a story - eg: "Yes you are THAT but you can't see it, so I am giving you these practices to do, so you can come to know that you are THAT".Or some such story - that is total bullshit.
They feather their own nest at the expense of those who they pretend to help.
It is deceit and nothing less than that.The realization is that all concepts, all phenomena, all practices and all methods are only appearances - and the pure knowing that you ARE is already pure, uncontaminated by any phenomena whatsoever. - Nothing has ever touched that and nothing can ever alter that.
It is what you ARE.

Just because the mind, with its dull apprehension can't 'get it' has nothing to do with it.

That conceptual stuff is in the mind only - it can't see or know anything at all.As the fixations with the mind and what it throws up is discarded, the clear knowing presence 'appears' to reveal itself - yet it was always present - just too subtle to notice because the noise of the mind and its restless activity seemingly covers it over.Once a good taste of this clear knowing presence is had, then the content of the mind does not appear as an obscuration.

The FACT is that no concept, no matter how subtle or how gross it may be, it can never truly obscure awareness.


- Everything 'appears' in THAT presence awareness.
Too simple - too obvious.

'Who' would 'think' it so?

It is very simple, so very simple!

Well, they come from far away with stories of a 'very special state' to be achieved, by following their very special instructions - instructions that only they know and understand, because they are so extra special and so awake. - Seekers fall for the same old garbage over and over and they get caught in complex games of the mind and feelings. - Endless neediness and the hunger for that special 'someone', that special teacher to be their beacon of guiding light. - The seeker ignores their own 'light of immediate knowing' and ignores the present evidence available in the 'right here, right now' and that clear evidence is shoved aside, in preference for a bunch of second hand, grandiose glossy concepts.
To be rather blunt, which Australians often are, 'franchised truth' merchants from America, selling ‘awakening’ are nothing but charlatans. – It is all money down the drain.
If all you want is to feel special, join an elite group of some sort.
These fortunetellers, gypsy scum, are ‘on the make’ and they are full of themselves and their own stinky ‘special-ness’.
Now you may imagine that I have an issue with these 'teachers' - and it sure looks that way - but as far as I am concerned, they are just another part of the silly spiritual parade - entertaining for a few moments but they are all empty of any value whatsoever.
Basically they are NOT what they pretend to be....once you know that, what harm can they do? - All these words are just thoughts appearing in the mind. – They are not binding in this mind in any way whatsoever. – Words are totally known here, to be insubstantial.
Do you see that yourself? - Truly see it? - No point in deluding yourself about it.
Any attachment to any (provocative) words (for the reader) may bring up feelings, states or attitudes – but one can see that none of it is truly binding at all, except seemingly so as belief goes into them and the reference point that they are judged from is engaged, believed in – the ‘me’ – the sense of separation.
This will always ‘cause’ a problem until it is seen clearly, seen that NO thought, sacred or profane, has any power at all.
It is only 'in the appearance' of substance, that the mind 'takes sides' creating a seeming biased mindset and so it appears that through belief one enters into a conflicting internal drama.

But is it true? - Do you really disappear into that stuff?

I have written many controversial notes on this website and often there has been ‘trouble’ from it, expressed to me via emails.
Even though I repeatedly point out the ephemeral nature of words, the 'hangers on to sacred beliefs' keep swallowing the bait, missing the point, which is their habit - seeking itself is a habit.

There is a point to this - it is not mere entertainment or provocation.
The point is this: - Can you read this with an open mind, and cease to be caught in the reactions of the mind? - even when it appears that I myself am 'appearing' to be caught in it?

Basically it is very, very simple and because it is so simple, everyone misses it.
Let’s see what happens as you read through this. – By the end of it, I am guessing the bait will have been snapped up and an automatic reaction comes into play. – The whole point is to witness the automatic and in that witnessing, know that you are not that reaction.

Okay, so here we go. - Stay alert, if you can.
Thoughts appear in the mind. - The mind is nothing other than thought, image, concepts and ideas etc. – The clear nature of mind is actually awareness – non-conceptual awareness. Through habit one ‘goes with’ the thoughts and so one seemingly becomes those thoughts – that is what I call 'identified consciousness' – it is belief.
The energy, which is an aspect of one's natural presence, seemingly creates a time realm of past and future, plus for most, a fleeting awareness of the present.
Some occupations require, a more or less, complete attention to the present.
It is only when the mind is diverted away from the present immediacy, into theoretical ‘time’, that problems or inner conflict can appear. - They appear in the mind and flow back into the worlds as behavior and so they are a self feeding mechanism - and the 'evidence' supports more belief. - It is a bit like a worm eating its own tail - saying 'Life is suffering - ouch! it surely hurts'.

The unease in the mind, the conflicting reference points are nothing but content of mind and they have no substantial existence in the clear and present evidence of what is immediate, in what is, right now.
If the mind activity is stopped, awareness does not disappear - in fact an open view is clearly present. - That is not some 'state' that comes or goes.
It is the nature of awareness itself.
In that moment of clear open cognition you have gone beyond all conditioning, all notions about time and everything is clear and obvious, without any thought, label or concept.
This profundity is easily passed over because it is subtle and the mind is used to grossness, flags and whistles blowing.
All that is necessary is to get a really good taste of this clear spaciousness and to know that what I am is this awareness - an awareness of this spaciousness, free from all mind content and in that knowing, which is knowingly present and active, the habitual biases of the mind cease to grab, they cease to drag you into any time realm.
(For the stubborn types, the mind may well 'throw a tantrum'. - Watch it - be vigilant.)

So in this spaciousness, one is no longer floating about, one is, as though pinned down into the now.
And in that stable view, one watches the river flow. – All the content flows through without being fixated upon, without being internalised into a drama - and in that, quite naturally without thinking about it, one no longer 'gives' any of it any sense of identity - It is not 'what I am'.
The habitual tendencies are ignored and in the ignoring of them, they slip away – like hungry dogs, when these 'dogs of war' realize they will not get any nourishment here, they move on.
We use metaphors and symbols to point at that which is otherwise indescribable.

Awake:
One realises that I am awake. - I am not the content of mind, never was, never will be.
In being this wakefulness, there is no need to play guru or set oneself up as a teacher.
It may certainly unfold that way.
In the true and simple knowing of this profundity of clear seeing, there is no ego sense and no desire to set oneself up as someone special - to do so would set off 'an alarm bell' so loud it would wake the dead.
In this wakefulness, there is absolutely NO need (for anyone) to create conceptual realms about time and deliverance, methods or practices. - Such things belong to the mind and they have no place in immediate being, except as concepts and a concept has no independant existence, no matter who expresses it. - If anything is sacred, then everything is sacred. - If everything is sacred, then why do we need the word and what could it mean?
It is all concepts, and all stories are merely pedagogical, a mere transient 'means', if not then they are simply false information.
Speaking in the relativity of time, the introduction to one’s own natural state is nothing but this immediacy. – The pointing IS the immediate and this is relentlessly immediate. – It can’t be anything but this immediacy. It is the time bound mind that must step aside and that may take a little time. We are talking hours here, not years or decades. - Those who say that you need to do certain things, purify the mind and body are speaking nonsense and they are ignorant and the awakening they advertise about themselves is really a self-promoting rumour and nothing but that. In Australia, we have visiting gurus from America bringing time bound concepts about deliverance and fancy practices.
These teachers or gurus are just facsimiles or ‘bad photocopies’ and they are nothing but a pest. – But the ‘spiritual public’ have no discerning discrimination and they are drawn to these charismatic characters like flies. – They will, no doubt, get enticed into the admiration of that ‘special’ person, that someone who promises to give them what they seek. - An empty promise that has no substance, whatsoever!
There is no 'more' consciousness available in any of it, no more than there is in a pile of horse manure.
The 'pathway of acquisition' is a dead path and it will keep the mind caught in slavery, a slave to ‘time’ itself and to the guru that depends on keeping his flock caught in time, bound into his concepts about ‘how it should be’.
Make no mistake, these teachers are ‘clever’, they know the lingo far better than most and they know how to use it to entrap the seeker.
Turn around and leave these false teachers to their own devices (which by the way, don't work).
Oddly enough, a clear teacher may spend decades unknown, seemingly in obscurity. – He is not concerned with self-promotion - he is totally free from time and has no need to push himself onto anyone.
Those that do find their way to him are fortunate.
He does not emphasis or even talk about 'the future' except in passing – his 'pointing' is always back to this present moment and it is that clear 'message' which ‘strikes’ at the core essence of what one IS. - That is totally immediately available - no time stories are needed or wanted in this.
Words are potent things, it seems. – With a few words, one can set the neck hairs up on end, on those special spiritual seekers, those who have not seen through words – those who are still stuck ‘in process’. – To point out the uselessness of ‘process’ is unbearable for them. – They habitually ignore the immediacy of 'their own presence' and the fact that awareness is untouched by the content of mind. – They can't see this because they are caught in their own concepts about the future and that limitation is not in being - it is only in the mind.
The natural compassion of 'a true teacher' relieves the mind of the seeker from all notions about time.
However, the seekers are ignoring the obvious. - Shake them, wake them, they refuse to budge – so thick is the identified consciousness.
No harm done to anyone.
So, I can tell stories too, I say, "Spit the dummy now, go home Yankee Doodle - and take your stories and your special atmosphere of ‘franchised truth’ with you. – We don’t need any of it. We already have Coke, KFC and MacDonald’s – we don’t want any more franchised nonsense here.
Franchise banners that say ‘Truly awakened being’ – what a load of bollocks – awakened being - my ass! - Conceited Brat, more like it.
Only after you have truly set free all your bound up followers in America, only then can you come here. – Then we will sound the trumpets and lay down the red carpet for you and sing your praises – but not until you stop telling ‘whoppers’, stories about your awakening and about ‘time’ and deliverance. In Australia, our folk heroes are Bushrangers and Poets.
God Bless America! ‑ Fortunately most Americans a decent folk but the competitive atmosphere allows only the pretentious wanky types, the philanderers, to rise above the ordinary.
Biased opinion is of the mind.
What is your feeling right now? Are you disturbed by a few words? Like it, don't like it - it is just words.
You are still aware, still present. Whatever 'state' is happening there right now, it will pass – that which does not change is reality. Do you have to cling to it? – Or is it effortlessly present? Awareness is simple, unbiased, no dual, ever-present.
Ordinary awareness is the key and this is always 'the immediate nature of awareness', it IS, before the mind adds its 16 different flavours and secret herbs. Some say to me, why bother having a go at these charlatans?
It is fun and like everything, it only appears and disappears - what I am is not touched by it - and the same can be true for the reader - that is the point - one that is consistently missed UNTIL it is SEEN. - That is the point. - Any 'apparent method' is valid as long as it is seen. No harm done to anyone.
Anyway – you want some practical advice - here it is: - Drink more clean water; eat decent healthy food with lots of nutrients. - Have some fresh carrot juice regularly and take some Brahmi powder for a week or two.
Be conscious of how you treat the body – it is a vehicle of consciousness – it is a gift – look after it and it will serve you well.
Avoid those franchised food outlets, those fast and fatty foods, which only fatten the pockets of the rich and put an extra layer of fat on yourself. - It is a bad deal - good money for second-rate scraps with very little food value in it. If they had any integrity, they would not offer inferior ‘food stuff’ to the public. - I bet they don't eat their own produce, except for some press gathering.
The big corporations and governments are basically unconscious, mechanical machines, naturally self-serving and power, growth and profit are their main concerns. - No point in preaching to the converted, so I will now let it go and like all thoughts, it will vanish, only to spring back when someone gets upset or wants to praise my feeble efforts to awaken those who imagine that they are already awake or some such nonsense.
Everything is valid in 'the appearance' yet all reference points are invalid - because they are only 'mind content' - ephemeral points in space, which have no substance or independence from the primary awareness, which is WHAT you ARE.
Everything is awareness - appearing to be 'this and that'. Knowing that is what makes the difference and the difference is only in the mind - awareness remains untouched.

New expression on 'The First Instant'

Other notes below this one may be more easily comprehended, than this one, for some.

What are you? – A name, a body in a time and place – ‘space time patterns’ appearing and disappearing? - An activity? - In what?
The first instant of being is this existence right now. - It is not a ‘series of instants’ all lined up in chronological order. - This first instant does not lead off into ‘a future time’ and it does not slip away into any thing called ‘the past’. - This first instant is the ONLY instant there is. - It is absolutely stable. - This fact is a most extremely obvious fact, so obvious no one notices it.
All motion arises within this first instant, which is absolutely stable and beyond stillness or movement – it contains all qualities, including stillness and movement.
In the realization of this the false identity evaporates and all that remains is 'That which ever is' - THIS first instant.
All there is, is this ‘presence of knowing’ in which 'time and space' appear and yet these qualities of time and space do not create anything with any substance that is independent of, or apart from, this first instant – which is absolutely stable as ‘what is’.
This all encompassing existence is the only true identity that there can be – it is existence itself. – This existence that you are right now is it – yet the mind cannot appreciate this fact, because the mind can only deal with its own content, non existent ‘things’, concepts, ideas and all manner of ephemeral mind stuff.
– The question may arise: - What am I? - Not, who am I? - What am I?

Can you get behind that space of knowing where thoughts appear?
Any answer can only ever arise in this 'space-like awareness' that I am – THIS is existence itself.
How could you or anyone be anything ‘outside’ or ‘independent’ from THIS?
Could there be any separation between the source of existence and existence itself?
Everything that you think you know, every object that has ever appeared and every moment that has ever seemingly ‘come and gone’ has never been anything other than THIS.
– We name it as ‘right now’ and the dullness of mind misses this profound presence – this vivid existence.
We make a big deal out of a concept called ‘enlightenment’ and then place it in ‘the future’ as a faint possibility.
The only wakefulness that there is, is nothing other than this vivid presence - right now.
Every being that has walked or will ever walk upon this planet Earth, or any planet anywhere, throughout all the eons, has never, is, nor will ever be anything other than an appearance that ‘has’ – ‘is’ – or ‘will’ appear in this time-less first instant of now. - Obvious!

Are you an appearance - or are you this existence, which contains all the possible states of being - this most surely is this stable being presence - this stability that never changes, in which observations appear in and AS this conscious presence, right now?

In the mind you can appear to be so many things. - Which one is true?
In being, you are, most undoubtedly, this vivid presence, this existence, which cuts through all mind stuff and is always prior to the 'buying into' the concepts - it is prior to all concepts, and prior to any concept about there being anything other than THIS.

THIS ‘moment’ is absolute presence – and you are this.
There is no possibility that you could not, not be This.
This is so extremely obvious it is misses by the habituated attention, which is a seeming entity caught in its own 'space' and 'time'.
This is obvious – Drop all concepts for an instant and SEE what is obvious.
It is extremely subtle yet so very obvious.
In going beyond the mind (mind is time), in 'returning' to what is absolutely stable, the subtle sense for the mind, is that one re-discovers THIS first instant and in THIS there is a realization, for the mind, that THIS changeless pure seeing - pure knowing ‘is’ and can only ever ‘be’ my true identity.

In THIS there is no ‘other’ – it is One without a second.

Any difficulty in comprehending what is being expressed here is simply due to the intellect, which cannot embrace what is beyond its capacity. – The intellect is a rudimentary instrument, meant for practical living.

KNOWING:

Knowing , the activity of knowing, is actually (from) beyond the intellect.
There is only knowing – the intelligence that you truly are, is KNOWING (right now) – not a knowing of ‘this or that’ – just knowing – present tense.
In the seeming ‘processes’ of mind, in the attempt of approaching its own source, time itself vanishes and in that immediate realization ‘time’ is known to be simply a concept. – This is obvious.
It is the knowing of all that is – This is obvious.
Any doubt, about this or about anything at all, any thought, image, concept, state of mind, can only ever be an appearance, a movement in THIS first instant of existence.
The concept that there is something called a ‘mind’ is also an appearance in THIS.
The false identity cannot arrive ‘here’ – the true identity never leaves ‘here’.
Do you have a choice?

This first instant is this actuality, this self-realizing factor - this presence right now.
It is only the mind that places limitations on this and tells a story and a story is about time - while THIS presence is not in time at all.
The realized one does not chase after seekers. - There is no need to 'push' anything onto anyone. It could be said that those who find the realized one are responding to a call from within themselves, a resonation and this appears as a lucid transparent being, stepping beyond the mind and over the seeming threshold to their own natural presence.

It was once said: “Stop pretending to be what you are not - and simply be what you are”.
It only needs to be heard once.

The error is only a repetition - a mechanical life - a 'wooden life' of belief.

The basic error is in belief - which is a repetition of patterns in mind.
In holding onto 'old' second hand stuff, we miss what is so obvious, what is so clearly obvious - and 'we go with' what the mind throws up from the past and we believe that that is reality.
We are taught with a basic assumption that ‘addition’ is the way to success. - If we do such and such, we will be successful and we will attain what is desired.
When the desire is satisfied, it springs forth with new vigour, wanting more and more.
The image of being a spiritual 'person' is a 'major' obstacle - one that is skirted around endlessly - because it is so confronting to face the fact that that image is only just an image and nothing more than an image. - If that image of yourself is your 'major concern' then you best leave this note right now - there is nothing here for you.
(There are plenty of teachers who cater for the enhancement of the self image - You can find them easily enough, because they look very special and behave in a most sacred manner.)

What we are taught - mechanically by those who don't know: -

The simplicity of what is true is not found by addition – ‘what is’ is revealed through the negation of ‘what is not’. - Unconscious belief is recognized for what it is not - by that which ‘is’ - by conscious presence. – Everything appears in wakefulness – absolutely everything – objects, sounds, thoughts, ideas, images and any thing you can conceive of – it ALL appears in or on that wakefulness that you are.
It is not individualised or personal. – It is the habituated mind that attempts to personalize the impartial presence of natural wakefulness. – In that mind game, there is no way out – except to stop and see – see from a clear space of knowing – see that everything does appear in this clear wakefulness. – In this knowing presence the whole charade evaporates – taste this long enough and the mind will never again trap your into the realm of belief.
– Knowing transcends every belief – there are no exceptions in this.
The story about a journey, 'a spiritual journey' is erroneous and has only a pedagogical value, a value which is only realized in the moments of its dissolution – in the actuality of seeing through the mind’s stories and in the knowing them for what they are, or more correctly, for what they are not. – In seeing them disolve, one knows that they have no being whatsoever – they are stories and they are all about ‘time’ – thus they exist nowhere but in the mind, as content of mind. – They only have an apparent life because they are believed in.

In SEEING: -
In the elimination or the seeing through of conceptual frameworks, which are only mind constructs, the ground of simplicity reveals itself naturally as ‘that’ which is seeing. - Some believe, quite erroneously, that this is achieved by meditation or in some method of quietening the mind. - That is a subtle belief and the concept of ‘time’ is woven throughout its fabric.
- It is believed that through some activity, however subtle it may be, one can achieve the prescribed goal. - That basic assumption is actually an obvious error, it is an ignoring of what is already present – an ignoring of one's own natural state of wakefulness.
- This error is extremely common simply because the natural state is not detectable for the mind as an objective ‘thing’ - it is the seeing-knowing - forever unseen and unknown as an object.
THAT, that wakefulness, is what you are, it is your own ‘self’, which this actual seeing happening now – knowing is happening now.

The mind is always adding and subtracting:

What is added to that is concepts and so it appears that one gets diverted away from immediate knowing, into a realm of concepts – but is it true – have you ever ‘gone’ anywhere? - Have you truly been lost in concepts? - As long as there is a search for the natural state, how can you possibly find it? – It is not an objective ‘thing’. - In the effortless 'retention of being conscious' (for the mind) in this moment, in not going with whatever the mind is presenting, in staying in and as this immediacy of presence awareness, then this knowing presence that you are, includes the knowing that it can never be known as an object, simply because the ‘place’ of knowing and of seeing is known to be empty.
It is empty - yet full of ‘what is’ – what is, is forever fresh and new. - There is no attachment, no time, no duration, no separation in that clear space of knowing. - This is totally radical for the mind and beyond its capacity. - The mind has no being and knowing is actually from beyond body and mind. - Therefore, in this actuality of knowing, in this conscious presence, there is an 'all inclusiveness', it is known that everything is ‘an appearance’ and that all of it is insubstantial. – There are no exceptions.
- Practitioners of traditional spiritual methods can only rationalize these points, whenever they come up.
– The problem is ‘time’ and investment – basically it is all belief and as long as there is a resistance to going beyond the mind and its beliefs, then that mind will perpetuate its erroneous beliefs, ad infinitum.

What substance has it got? : -

In seeing that everything has no substance, (the intrinsic nature of phenomena is emptiness) what possible meaning can the practices of purification have, except for a belief, a ‘me’ who is attached to those practices? - The blockage is obvious and I see it so often in ‘seekers’ – the resistance is almost palpable. – All one can say is ‘Don’t believe in what I am saying - take a look yourself – there is no water in the mirage’. – It is the investment in believing in a self-centre – an image - that is the problem.
'Who' is interested in investigating that?
It appears that only those who experience intense suffering are willing, as a last resort, to take a look. – Then, in taking a close look, ‘hey presto’ – the suffering vanishes.
- As the old saying goes - “You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink”.

- The one essence appears as the whole – the multiplicity. - It is undifferentiated. - This 'singular essence' is not (spiritually) biased. - The beings appearing within it are not segregated into angels and devils. - Everyone is THAT essence and however they appear (to you) to be, whatever their behaviour appears as, in the moment, it cannot be separate from the essence that it is the expression of.
- Who is to judge? - Who is to condemn? -It is the misunderstanding of ‘men’ that has contaminated religion. - It is the ignorance of men that has introduced ‘Thou shalt not’, which is nothing more than a political manoeuvre. - Yet it is all just happening in the appearance of ‘things’.
Common belief:
Some say that the relative life of being ‘someone’ is real – that the ‘person’ is real. -That is merely a belief – an un-investigated belief and to base one’s understanding on an un-investigated notion is nothing but ignorance. - But the mind does not want to ‘go too near the truth’ because it begins to fall apart and to become transparent.
- When the mind is transparent, what is left of ‘me’?
- Only conscious presence and the mind cannot make that into anything with a concept. - Conscious presence does not need a concept – it is non conceptual – it is the potency of presence itself. ‘People’ imagine that they can be cured from their ‘personal mess’ by psychology.
– All of it is valid - but only ‘in the appearance’, as that which is transient and that is the story of ‘me’ – it is not ‘being’. No matter what anyone says, psychology is a mind maze of endless postulations. Any argument about that is just another postulation, held by an intellect.

The imagination most commonly believed in, is that through the mind I will find an answer. That is not an issue, in this discussion, when it comes to practical, everyday ‘stuff’ but when we approach ‘the big questions’ of why I suffer? - Who am I? - What am I? – ‘The truth’ is hidden from us. - Why? Because the truth, if we can use that word at all, is actually what we truly are.
Are you seeking whatever you truly are - your own authenticity?
You are already that - how could you not be that?The word ‘truth’ is interchangeable with ‘presence’.

Reality is the totality of what is.

The appearance is 'what appears to be' and that is also an aspect of 'what is'.

The elusive obvious: -

What is most obvious is this clear presence that I am, that you are, yet it is bypassed over and over. - How can that happen? - It is simply because of a mere concept – an ephemeral appearance in the mind. - It is one that has been adhered to, without question and so it is a habit, unnoticed because the common mind has no place for it in language except for the concept of zero or emptiness.
Who wants to enter into that emptiness?As the mind approaches emptiness, it dissolves into that emptiness – yet what you are does not vanish – what you truly are, is still present, shining. - This ever present shining, presence awareness, is not negotiable, it cannot be negated. - One this is re-discovered it remains invisible and although one cannot see it in oneself, one can recognize it in every being, no matter how dim it may appear to be shining, it is there.
- The limited conceptual beliefs have no power to put that light out or even to obscure it.

When the ‘news’ is heard, in hearing the message, that shining presence is resonating and its potency is an immediate response, is the experience of an expansion of conscious presence. - It is an elimination of beliefs.The habitual patterns of belief will re-appear as a flowing back over the clear wakefulness but once enough of a taste 'has been had', nothing can stop the expansion into this ‘all inclusive presence’ – this natural awareness – this natural state.
The mind will certainly 'appear' to 'try' and regain its old habitual grounds - but it cannot stand up on its own - it has NO being whatsoever.- The concepts of being separate cannot stand up to conscious presence. - Nothing is achieved anyone.
All you can say is that there is no doubt in this natural presence - you know that there is nothing wrong with right now, even if you do think about it.

There are zero degrees of separation in what you ARE.