Can THIS immediate presence be postponed?

If you have not done it already then check this out - click here. - The Urban Guru Cafe - a podcast 'radio' style program packed with 'direct pointers'.

There are many website on Non Duality but few that I feel an inclination to recommend. - There is a list of recommended ones on my Links Page on the main website. - One highly recommended site is Bob Adamson's site. - Another is Randall's site.

Randall is a young fella who 'fell out of the mind's trap' - He is 'on the ball' and is clearly expressing things well - check it out he has some 'new tech' stuff happening also. - Click here to visit his blog.

Regular Notes:

Email: Hey Gilbert.
I just finished the e-book of yours,"Everything is clear and obvious"....Wow! - I don't know but, well, after that, there is no need to read anything. - I have never read a text before where IT is possible to happen.

There appears that there is a 'reason' why non-duality will never be popular. - It's because it leaves you with nothing, and now....who wants that?

Well, Osho once said that you have got to put some sugar on the truth , otherwise nobody will take it.

Anyway, thank you for the e-book. - I am going to read it forever. - I am 'behind' the lines.- regards Roshi

Reply:

Hi Roshi, The e-book is clear and precise with NO sugar. - One could say that that is intentional, even though I do know that if I added some sugar it would be a lot more popular - but my 'privacy' would then be crowded by seekers wanting more and more sugar. - It is interesting to note that Osho had hundreds and hundreds of followers around him constantly, yet few ever got to speak with him 'one to one'.
Osho put lots of sugar on the truth - he was seductive a story teller - a very popular one - popular because of his charisma, the sugar and his ability to entertain and make seekers swoon in a 'temporary' blissful state. - The seduction and the devotional aspect is so sticky and binding for the mind and 'heart'....and 'ego' sense.
Charismatic teachers seem to collect seekers, not set them free. - Only a clear teacher has freedom to move about without being surrounded by seekers, decade after decade. - How this situation is mistaken for a way to freedom is mystifying. - When speaking with such devotees, it is obvious how fragile their beliefs are and how the truth is avoided at all costs.

Osho collected many stories from many traditions and was also an accomplished student of philosophy etc. - He had a bright intellect, that is for certain.

My comments may offend a few, (nothing new in that) and the fact that the 'thing' that is offended is actually the obstacle that keeps them bound - that 'factor' is the thing that needs to be investigated. - Old ideas and old attachments are stale - they keep one from SEEING what is immediately obvious.

I have enjoyed some of his writings many years ago – today I see that he is very clear at times and at other times his words are expressing confusion and so they are merely entertainment for the mind. - So many of his devotees are still wandering about seeking without finding. - I know of none that ever went beyond seeking.

There is ONLY this moment of KNOWING - and even the notion that there is a 'moment' is just another concept, an 'appearance' IN this 'knowing' that I AM – The truth is that I AM THIS unchanging presence.
The unfolding patterns of life do not stop - the emptiness is full and IT over flows and appears as THIS immediate LIFE and what you ARE is the KNOWING of it – so you are prior to all appearances.
Yes, you are behind it all - beyond it all - but there is nothing you can say about it in objective terms - all expressions are spilling out of that space of knowing - you are THAT.

In listening to your own voice, can you find where the words are arising from?

Please feel free to write whenever you wish.

Warm regards - Gilbert.

P.S. The e-book mentioned is download-able from the main website - top right hand side of screen.

Second email from Roshi:

Hi Gilbert!
I have a question about the statement Bob says: “Start with the fact that you are that”.
But how can you start with "that" if you don't Know (aware of) That? - If you are you are already there?

That statement has a tremendous importance for me, it's a way to go around the concept of me - may be!

Roshi

Reply:

Yes. - It is a tremendously pertinent statement - the same as "I AM THAT".
The simple fact is that what you truly ARE does not have to go around the concept of ME.
NO STEP needs to be taken in any direction - all 'directions' are only conceptual and all lead AWAY from THIS fact of BEING.
YOU are present and aware! - Or more correctly expressed - There is PRESENCE 'before' any thought arises.
(Also- During the thoughts appearance and after its disappearance) - that is SO because presence is timeless - appearances are transient.
Some of my associates in this Non Duality 'thing' get hooked on specific details, like the difference between Consciousness and consciousness (Big C, little c).
All that stuff is just not necessary.....and it is conceptual. - There is no having to "first see this before you can see that". - Pure SEEING is happening 'before' the mind realm kicks in, with all its conceptual stuff. - KNOWING that fact is so immediate and so obvious - but no spiritual empire can be built upon what is TRUE.
All spiritual empires and reputations are built upon conceptual differences and preferences etc.
All such 'things' are transient! - There are NO exceptions whatsoever - no matter what ANYBODY says!!!
What you truly ARE cannot be a transient appearance - a thought, an image or concept, mood, state or whatever.
It is so Clear and Obvious, no one sees it - because they approach it from a place of ignorance - as a conceptual form, ME, and that is NOT the living presence - not the real, not the I am-ness (presence).
So to start from the fact that you are THAT is simple - drop all conceptual frameworks and just BE - SEE and KNOW – Know-ING THIS presence without boundaries, without conceptual prerequisites – IS not through the mind – it is before what the mind translates it as.

It is so simple, everyone misses it - because they are believing that they are a 'person' and that person is trying to become 'something' - something that they are not and can never be - they have an idea of what it is they want to become.
It is an IDEA only.
Use your own innate discrimination - whatever resonates in the 'heart' - in the being, that is usually true.
What resonates in the intellect, or resonates with the imaginary spiritual self-image or only in the head, is usually just dream-like, unreal.

Nisargadatta says - "Stop pretending to be what you are NOT and don't refuse to Be what you ARE".


P.S.
There is no point in getting hung up on any words and their meaning.
Sacred and profane are equal at the so-called 'point' of their arising.
That 'point' is empty space - there is no 'person' there - just pure knowing.
At the heart of every expression is the Non Dual 'state' of being and non being.
Every expression is THAT no matter 'who' expresses it.
There in that appearance, it also appears that some point 'away' from the heart of it all and others point straight back at it.
The 'judge', the 'judgement', the 'jury' and the 'sentence', is all 'of the mind'.
.......................................................................................................................................................................

The false cannot stand up to the investigation.



Sri Siddharameshwar Maharaj

Quote: - "Duality is due to two 'entities' - the 'seer' and the 'seen'."


Notes:

THIS immediate presence is all there is - it cannot be postponed or escaped from, except seemingly in the mind-scape of duality.
Where are you seeing from?
Is that 'place' not clear and empty?
Is there any duality in it?
It, that space-like awareness is where the thinker appears and disappears.
The seeing, the knowing is non dual - it knows itself.
The so-called 'mind' cannot recognize its birthplace - its own origin - it can only label it with learned words and ideas.
- Gilbert.

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An email received:

Hi Gilbert,

I must first inform you how much I enjoyed the podcasts which were recently posted on the Urban Guru Cafe. - Absolutely brilliant and lucid pointers! - Please thank the producers for this invaluable help.

I am at a seemingly frustrating junction (for a lack of a better word) on this pathless path. I've read everything that I've been able to get my hands on in English (Ramana, Nisargadatta, Bob, your works) and it has been extraordinarily helpful. - But, I've reached a point to where I've realized that all reading is fruitless. - I don't care to read anymore (or for much of any book for that matter). - I might read a paragraph here and there from time to time, but I fully understand that I won't "get it" from reading, nor will I if I meditate, chant or any other practice.

There is nothing to be said, there is nothing to be done for realization, this is certain. From this conclusion, - I've been going about my role in life and "playing the part" in the comedy lovingly, doing what's needed of the moment without regard to the results - living quite peacefully and happily. - The call home is very strong, but living in this manner is postponing the HERE and NOW.

Recently, I have been brutally honest in my self-inquiry; mindful of all thoughts and actions.- I am starting to notice more periods of clarity - moments that don't have labels or feelings.- It is much like being an invisible video camera.

Self-inquiry is mentioned by many to be one of the most direct paths to realization because it points to correct understanding. - This method seems to be the most effective for me - but this seems like it is becoming another practice, like meditation, where I devote hours of time and postpones the NOW. - Intellectually, I understand that if I truly want it NOW it will reveal itself in THIS MOMENT.

Could you please help clarify this issue?

Jason

Chicago, USA

Reply:

When we say that we intellectually understand something it is highly misleading for ourselves and everyone else. - What can be recognized is that this clear presence of knowing, which is 'understanding' is 'a-priori' - BEFORE the intellect (comes into play). - The intellect is 'of the mind' (process) and understanding (how it is known here) is an aspect of awareness – awareness is non-dual and mind is dualistic.

This discrimination between awareness and what we call ‘mind’ (thought, image, concept and ideas etc) is necessary.

Self-realization has been made into a BIG DEAL and that in itself ‘creates’ a problem that cannot be solved (for the mind).

This so-called 'moment' THIS moment right now is self-realization just AS IT IS.

How could it not be? - and for whom is it not self realization?
The whole universe in this instant - THIS INSTANT is that movement of self-awareness - it is self-aware - there is no other awareness!
There is a long standing habit , which is 'going back' (so-called going back) to 'when' the mind first took on a belief that 'I am not that' - separation - me and not me.
THAT moment is truly THIS moment (No time-No separation - One presence) and so in THIS moment one can be free of that habit (or any habit) just by SEEING what the mind does and knowing that what you truly are not that habitual activity. -Anything seen is an appearance IN or ON awareness. - You are awareness - there is nothing else.
If you let the mind rest on nothing at all - in BEING the SEEING and nothing other than THAT immediate function-ING (seeing), then everything is recognized to be an appearance - EVERYTHING, thoughts, states, the body, the world and the universe all APPEAR in that KNOWING space.
We have simply ignored the obvious and have 'gone' with the thoughts, believing that they are real.
What is REAL is unchanging and it is empty of all qualities except for that KNOWING.
So, even though individuals attempt to be self realized, that is impossible because it can only be relative and so it is limited.
The one who has realized THIS - that sense of individuality has almost totally dissolved into the KNOWING and never returns as a believed in 'entity' and yet the body and mind continue as the functioning expression of THAT self-realizing ONE. The realization is that I AM THAT - that ONE without a second.

Radical, in the terms of worldly things, and yet it is the only true nature there is.

The individual, trying to 'do' something in order to 'gain' liberation, is a trap and it is something that can never bring the result desired. - The FORM can never become the FORMLESS. - It can only ever APPEAR and DISAPPEAR. - This can be seen very easily in the nature of things. - Have a look.

(Those who pretend to be individuals that have been liberated through some 'action' are fools - even though they may be highly regarded by other fools and held up as great teachers etc. - They may 'know the spiritual teaching inside out' and yet they 'teach' only their own arrogance - ignorance and so no one really finds freedom with these teachers - all they can do is pretend to have found it - just like their teacher. - These short stories I tell about ignorant gurus are not necessary! - so forget them.

The ONLY way out of the messy business of seeking is in NO MIND.
Gurus usually feed the seeker with endless concepts and that is slavery to concepts.
It is never ending.
Meditation is useless because it takes on a mechanical nature very quickly and it nearly always includes a fixation, an idea of a meditator and then lots of concepts are added onto that 'me'.
Just SEE that the living intelligence that you ARE is the very thing that imparts meaning to all that you read, see or hear.
The stress of seeking dissolves naturally as this SEEING recognizes itself as beyond everything.
This 'knowledge' is not popular simply because it dissolves the habitual grasping identity.
How many can bare that?
Everyone has the possibility if only they hear the clear message because that resonation uncovers the courage to be what one is.
Stay with what resonates with you - in this presence of being aware just relax into an open view. - Drop all concepts and just be.
Do this as often as possible and everything will reveal itself.
As soon as there is any sense of grasping that subtle resonation will appear to disappear.
Some say that one must be earnest and it does appear that way in many cases.
When the mind is one pointed, many distractions will naturally stay away.
Make a space in your life for this - it is the only purpose there is - not a 'purpose' for someone or some-thing - it is simply a space in which one can recognize what is real in yourself. - Once discovered, you will not be able to name it or describe it - but that KNOWING is unmistakable.

Warm regards - Gilbert.