The 'Presence' that you ARE.

The more direct the message is, the less there is for the mind to play with.
This is why the direct message is not popular - the average 'seeker' just wants fancy concepts to embellish their belief system with. - There is very little here for those 'seekers'. - This is not about being popular or famous. - It is about 'pointing' to what is true - without elaborate stories for the mind to play with. - A 'pointer' when 'heard' will stop the mind in its tracks - and pure cognition will come to the fore.
There is no teaching and no teacher. - In the appearances of things a teacher and a teaching appear. - Gurdjieff says: "Beware of someone who wants to teach you something" and he also says: "The power to change oneself lies not in the mind". - Nisargadatta says "You are not the body, you are not the mind". - Bob Adamson says: "There is no answer in the mind". - The imaginary journey that I believed I was on was demolished, apparently with the aid of such 'pointers'.
But there was a definite resonance that rose up like the dawning sun. - ACTUALLY 'Hearing' what was (is) being pointed out was the key element.


The mind is time - time is mind - mind is 'me' - the 'me' is a seeming separate 'event' - and the believed in 'seeker' gets seemingly trapped in a circle, adding more and more 'events' or experiences to that 'me' - imagining that it will 'grow' and suddenly burst into a new and wonderful state of being.
All states of being are contained in the WHOLE.
What you truly are is all-inclusive - nothing is excluded - I am THAT. - The mind through thought differentiates oneness into fragments, like a cracked mirror.


The presence is knowing - the knowing is presence.

Could it be that the apparent ‘problem’ is the labels we put on everything.
We label something quite automatically and then we seem to believe that we understand it. - We call those labels ‘knowledge’.
However, ‘Knowledge’ is memory and it belongs to the past, which is dead and gone.
The essential life of any knowledge is the immediate knowing.
Without knowing, knowledge is nothing at all or at best some dried ink on some paper tucked away on a bookshelf.
‘Knowing’ is the unceasing presence of cognition.
Even in deep sleep, if someone knocks loudly enough, that cognition will stir and the waking state will arise in and on that ‘knowing presence’.
‘Enlightenment’ is a label, a word. - On its own it is harmless.
It is what we add to it that takes us off into a mind realm, a dream, a dream of whatever those added concepts ‘create’ in that mind realm.
It, what we have termed enlightenment is so simple and ever so completely available right now.
This being 'here' and that being 'there' is - ONE BEING.
There is no separation.
The efficient use of words can bring one (the mind) back to the immediate and obvious fact of BEING. - Being is not a concept. - The concept of being is a concept.
The concept of 'awareness' is a concept - one that can easily be mistaken for awareness. - That erroneous belief is an obvious misunderstanding, one that many get stuck on.
The concepts we have about what being is are all merely concepts 'appearing in being', on awareness.
We seemingly cover over that naked being-ness with all manner of conceptual notions and the only ‘time’ that covering over is happening is NOW.
Yet is really seeing that, the covering over ceases. - That should be highly informative.
There is no past where my being is covered over – no accumulation of conceptual goo smothering my being-ness.
In ceasing to add more and more notions onto this presence right NOW – so the naked being-ness reveals itself ever present clear and present nature NOW.
As the ancient text says: "Stop thinking and talking and there is nothing you will not be able to know."
Knowing IS.
You cannot not be THAT – this knowing right now.
The mind translates this into its 'learned labels' and words and we imagine that that is some valuable knowledge – and it binds us (me) into a conceptual realm.
You are not the concepts about 'this or that'. You are not a concept, full stop.
Do you not recognize the directness of this pointing?
Compare it with any other so-called 'teaching' – they lead you off in the mind with more and more conceptual notions about some special state to be attained in the future. - It is not much more than a tourist package sold to you by a travel agent.
No matter how subtle those gurus concepts are, they are all about ‘time’ and the future.
This direct message is about right here, right now.
Stop ignoring THIS.
A simple price to pay – yet seemingly so difficult, and all because of habit (the past seemingly imposed onto the present).
Habits can be broken but not if they are indulged in.
Keeping seekers on the path is the easiest thing to do.
'Getting them to SEE' that they are not what they think they are, that they are not bound at all, is an impossible task, without an impulse from ‘within’. YET seeing does not need to be taught - SEEING is happening.
There is no separation and in 'seeing that fact', the boundary of a 'within' or a 'without' is found to be non existent.

All the drama of being a seeker is a temporary 'condition'. - The friction that builds up in that imaginary boundary (that is the 'me') collapses the boundary and no separation reveals itself naturally because it IS already present as a fact.


Email:

Hi Gilbert,

The question I have at the moment is that whilst I am already that which I seek - it appears to me (or my mind) that in a state where I recognize the I Am that I Am, instead of considering myself the ego or mind, there has been a change in perspective. - What seems a paradox to me then is that I seek that change of perspective where I know myself as I Am - experience it, truly realize it - aside from merely conceptualizing it all in the mind as I do at present.

Is there such a sudden transition of perspective which I have termed 'self-realization', or is that not the nature of it? - And if not, how then does the change of perspective occur - what is it that changes to result in this new perspective, if there is no change to be sought?

Cheers, Daniel.

Reply:
One of the most direct ways of pointing to this is this: - There is only ONE 'seeing' happening. - The so-called 'me' cannot see. - The 'me' is a concept plus a series of translations in the mind, a story about a believed in 'entity'.
When the 'me' is truly seen through or seen for what it is - you do not disappear - your erroneous beliefs will disappear, because they all hang off the 'me' or are referred to that 'me'. - Without that reference point 'me' - everything remains 'as it is'.
If you can see this as a fact, directly and immediately for yourself - it is truly enough 'to break the iceberg' and it will melt back into its origin - 'water'.
In other words, in the mind content there will always appear to be an endless series of paradoxes - for the 'me' - tossing back and forth its apparent alliance with one side and then the other. - The paradox disappears when the 'me' is revealed for what it is - the mind is restless until the 'me' is seen clearly to be nothing but a concept, a habit of belief.
Have a look. - Isn't the 'me' merely a reference point in the mind? - It may appear to be threatening to even contemplate this but it must be done, otherwise it will just continue to plague you like a parasite. - Recognizing the 'me' to be merely a concept, just that alone is enough to bring the 'house of cards' tumbling down. - The fictional drama of that 'me' has no intrinsic value or integrity and it will fall apart in the face of 'present evidence' ('what is' the actuality of now) of what is true - Reality.
The use of the concept 'me' is not 'the enemy' - it, like 'the mind', needs to be understood clearly.
Imagination is where the trouble enters into the picture - or simply the belief in what is imagined.
There is no great event - no great enlightenment to be attained. - All talk of such a 'thing' is nonsense but it is exceptionally enticing for the mind and many 'teachers' appear to use that fact as their 'trump card' - all in the appearances of duality - 'gurus and devotees'. - No harm done - yet it keeps 'the seeker' seeking endlessly.
A gnawing unease arises consistently - because that 'me', the self-center, has not been seen for what it is.
Start from the FACT that you are THAT naked presence-awareness.
The concept of progress, process and method is undercut instantly.
There is no time but now - presence. - The apparent 'process' of time is an appearance - which when closely examined reveals itself as non-existent - merely a concept.
All these 'things' that are sort after are merely conceptual notions one has attached some imaginary importance to, without questioning their validity or if they are real.
So much fuss about enlightenment - the carrot that keep the donkey plodding along.

In the worldly sense of things, it is the perfect business 'product' - 'enlightenment' - you can't see it, can't prove it - but you can 'sell it' without ever running out of supply - and get very good money in the bargain - an exchange for mere ideas and enhanced beliefs - which by the way are all equally invisible.
We enslave ourselves to imaginary futuristic 'events' or 'possible states of being' - (dreams) - all the while we are ignoring THIS presence NOW, in favor of ‘an Ideal’ - one that we have been told of - told of by some innocent 'guru' or by some unscrupulous scoundrel - either way it does not matter.
We believe in some dream, a dream of some possible way things could be, some 'other-ness' and in giving that our attention we ignore our true nature - 'being present and aware right now'. - The completeness of this revelation is a 'seeming event' that can appear nowhere other than in this presence. - We particularize 'events' and 'create' a dualistic paradox, one that cannot be solved. - It must be dismantled consciously - that is one way of putting it.
It may be said that the Universe is a Singularity, ONE event - or that nothing is truly happening - 'No Thing' is happening. - The mind can't deal with such concepts.
Yet in Seeing-Knowing it reveals itself as No Thing - everything is still 'happening' and without a reference point to judge it from - nothing is happening.
The 'peace beyond all understanding' is THAT. - One may call it 'no mind'.
The mind is time - time is mind - mind is 'me' - the 'me' is a seeming separate 'event' - and the believed in 'seeker' gets seemingly trapped in a circle, adding more and more 'events' or experiences to that 'me' - imagining that it will 'grow' and suddenly burst into a new and wonderful state of being.
All states of being are contained in the WHOLE.
What you truly are is all-inclusive - nothing is excluded - I am THAT. - The mind through thought differentiates oneness into fragments, like a cracked mirror.

As for the practical side - it is SO SIMPLE no one BELIEVES it possible........and yet it is POINTED out over and over and over and over - yet few seem to 'get it'.
'Who' could get it? - It is what you ARE.
The simplicity of it all is just too subtle for the grossness of 'grasping consciousness' or mind.
The key:
SEEING is happening - it is already SO.
Knowing is already SO.

The mind translates what is appearing in the 'mind' (quite naturally) as concepts – it is conceptualization - and they are believed to be real - hence the apparent trouble.

DROP thought - even if only for a moment and the perspective you 'imagine' to be somehow attainable or 'somewhere else' or as something you need to acquire - is ACTUALLY found to be here now - AS IT ALWAYS IS. - Is- ness - or 'what is'.

So, Bob says that the only way out of the mind is FULL STOP ('period' is the word used in the US)

In stopping thought - you do not fall apart - you do not disappear.....

At first it may appear to be very subtle and we 'miss it' -
Keep dropping thought (as often as you can, whenever the impulse arises) and a taste of the subtleness will (appear to) emerge.
Then one sees, without a doubt, that I am THAT - that pure being, seeing, knowing.
Thought cannot encapsulate it - never could and never will.

Naked SEEING - Naked Awareness.......

The habitual 'ego', the 'me' - is not interested in THIS.......
So that is why Nisargadatta says: One must be earnest or sincere.......
The ego only pretends to be sincere and that ‘story of me’ just goes on and on, ‘metamorphizing’ (new word ‘I’ invented) continually - until it is recognized for what it is. - Pure Intelligence cuts through the illusion of 'me'.

Most teachers have conditions placed upon their message - usually it is 'time' and 'some event to come'.
The direct (and unconditional) message can be delivered by any (true and clear) messenger – it is all about the ‘presence’ that you ARE – it is not and can never be about any ‘becoming’ (Process or method).

The mind will state its case - bring up endless arguments just so it can continue to 'run the show' - but it never existed and it has NO power whatsoever. - It is all belief only.
Isn't it time (now) to stop the game? - Be singularly earnest and honest with and FOR yourself - stop this madness of chasing ones own tail, like a crazy dog.

Warm regards - Gilbert.
Please send your comments and/or questions to gilbert.schultz AT gmail.com - replace AT with @

Beyond what you call yourself

The Urban Guru Cafe is a 'Radio' program site where you can stream any of the 12 programs on line or download them onto your ipod or mp3 player. - The programs are professionally presented and are all 'aimed at' presenting the direct message (on Non Duality).
If by some chance you have not listened to any of these programs as yet, let me encourage you to do so.

You can also direct any of your questions or suggestions to the producer through the contact details on the site itself. - To check it out, click on these following words: Urban Guru Cafe


If we can postulate for a moment, that there is an absolute truth, an absolute reality, then it is surely even logical that it must be present throughout ALL 'time and space' - throughout ALL the universe and throughout ALL eons. - And so, even logically, it must be present right NOW. - It must permeate All Being - which of course includes 'your own being' right now.
Such a revelation may fill the mind with wonder.
This 'ultimate truth' permeates everything and nothing is excluded.
The mind, with its limited intellect, cannot capture it with a concept.
That Ultimate subtle fact is this immediate livingness that you are - it is the 'hum of being'. - In looking for it with the mind, we miss it. - It permeates ordinary awareness. - Silent and relaxed in being and also every activity, every movement within this vastness - this endless array of galaxies - everything that there is.
This living presence is its own activity of knowing - a knowing of everything, without a single exception and without ever moving away from THIS ever present 'now'.
There is NO separation that comes between this Knowing and the appearances of all that 'appears to be'. - One Being. - You are THAT. - There is no possibility that you could not not be THAT.

Let me share part of an email from a friend in the USA.
We were 'talking' about the direct message, this reply came:

I find this direct message in its unadorned elegance marvelously unpopular in general here. - actually less than unpopular - usually 'actively discarded'.
The self-promoters and folks willing to play the guru game are dominating the field, for the most part. - If there is no special enlightenment offered, no exotic Eastern terminology, no groovy guru on a platform, no retreats in which to look for mating opportunities and to hobnob with rich yuppies and fellow eternal seekers - then there is really not much interest in the straight and direct message.

"Franchise Paradise" is not about the truth - it is about money, sex and groovi-ness, obviously.

Comments or questions can be sent to me at gilbert.schultz AT gmail.com - replace the AT with @

The fine lines on the back of the contract usually tell us some things that we need to know but so often over look. - Here below is some of that 'fine print'.

* certain conditions apply


Please sign here...................................................

Witnessed by.......................................................


.....................
FINE PRINT

Taking delivery of the idea of being a sufferer is 'the catch'.
The ’story of ‘me’ IS the bondage of self.
See that, that ‘you’ does not register anything at all - it can’t because it is only an idea, see that, that concept about a ‘you’ registers spontaneously, the same as ALL impressions register.
No one can ‘get behind’ that spontaneous registering (cognizing) that KNOWING Presence.
All these thoughts appear ‘on (or in) awareness’ - there is no ‘entity’ there.

(to paraphrase Shakespeare) “no right or wrong, good or bad - but thinking makes it so” (makes it seemingly so).
...............

The current notes are on the following page. Meanwhile, here is an extract from The First Instant book (published 2004), a manuscript written several years ago, at a time when the message was flowing out of my elbows on onto my computer keyboard. Attempts to get the book published failed, for various 'reasons', so I published myself. This message that is written about consistently is not about any popular ideas or about seducing anyone into new beliefs, fancy concocted Philosophies or endless mind traps. - Here is that extract.

"Beyond what you call yourself"

In the bondage of appearing to be a limited being, an individual, there is a desperation, a trying to hang onto 'things' that are not there - here. - They are all concepts and mind projections. - You imagine terrifying things and you scare yourself to death with them. - You dream of pleasant things that are nowhere to be seen in the actual present evidence. - You dream a stream of dreams and you flutter about in imaginary worlds of past and future. - Anxiety is a regular visitor.
When all obscuring factors are seen through, the portal of what we can call 'Awakened Mind' opens fully - all is seen and the apparent 'believed in' substance of your dreams of separateness vanishes - forever - never to be believed in again. - They may still appear in a transparent form in mind, like a visiting butterfly in the garden - but they are known instantly for what they are.

In naked awareness there is no 'becoming'. - No coming or going, for it is non-dual awareness. - All that comes and goes is merely an appearance. - Everything appears in exactly the same way. - I cannot say what the difference is because it is actually undifferentiated and the problems did not exist in the first instant.
‘I am’, you are, this ‘first and only instant’. - At no point can any ‘I’ or a ‘you’ leave this. All manner of things appear and disappear in this first instant. - None of these appearances last. - All are transient. - The ‘master’ may appear to bring you back conceptually to this first instant (which you have never left). - Because he lives entirely from this first instant, his speech arises directly from it. - He is not speaking from any platform in mind. - His words may seem profound.

This profoundness is the living vibration of unobstructed expression. - It is expressed from and as the immediate knowing, it is a reciprocating resonance in yourself. - It is not some memorized thing that he is telling you. - He is the knowing of what he says.
You may believe that you come and go from this immediate presence. - It is not so. Only conceptually do you appear to depart from this first instant. - The remembering and the forgetting are just mind stuff. - All is as it ever was. - Yet it never was, is, or will be anything other than this first instant. - You are That.

Even though many things are repeated here in this text, direct cognition is unobstructed. - Our habitual way of being is full of repetition.
When the 'apparent shift' takes place, from habitual mind-stuff and recognized things into direct and immediate knowing, then this taste will not leave you. - It cannot leave you because you are this direct knowing and you have always been THAT.
You are in fact, nothing but this. - (Where is the doubt?)
The innate knowing of this is it (also). - The content of this immediacy seemingly arises within an experiential realm (mind) and this is nothing but direct cognition.
It is nothing but this. - It never splits into two.

Know it for yourself!
It is all immediate and never anything else but immediate (There is no ‘ever’ or ‘never’ - ‘past’ or ‘future’ in this). - All of the mind realms, words, images and concepts are nothing but this. - The dualistic mind cannot sit quietly with the non-dual.
‘You’ are taken beyond the dualistic mind. - To go beyond the mind you simply rest in open awareness.

Beyond what you call yourself
Within what you call yourself,
Is this vastness of direct cognition,
Unlimited
Unchanging
Untouched by anything.
The words are pointing at it
All that appears is it
Appearances never move or stray from it
The essence in what is seen
And the essence in what is seeing
are One.
All there is is Knowing.
Even what you call ‘mind’ is nothing but it
knowing.
When you look for mind, all you find is direct knowing
- cognition.


Because it is all there is - and because there is nothing other than this, there is nothing to compare with it. - So you do not notice its significance in what you call ‘mind’. And yet your very ‘seeing - knowing’ is nothing but this.

This knowing does not come and go
It is vast like the ocean
Does the fish notice the clear water?
No water - no fish
The water is full of fish
The fish is full of water
Not two.

See that what you truly are, in essence, which is this direct cognition, do not move - you are not this movement. - You ‘know’ because of this movement. - There is only knowing happening. - The immediate intelligence energy is the pure potentiality of this movement. - You are the movement of knowing - You are That.
I AM THAT.

- fin.

The expressions happening here today have not changed all that much since 'then' - maybe a little clearer these days- some may say a lot clearer. - This First Instant book may be re-printed with slight changes in the text at some point. - I have had just a few of it printed recently because someone requested it. - Email me at the above address if you wish to purchase one.

No concept can ever be the SEEING-KNOWING

NEWS: A few copies of The First Instant have been re-printed. Anyone interested in getting a copy, please write to me at - gilbert.schultz AT gmail.com- Replace the AT with @.


Note: Anyone who has not listened to the interviews with Mark West and wishes to do so: Click HERE.
Mark West is the 'author' of "Gleanings from Nisargadatta" a book of clear notes from Maharaj's meetings in Bombay in 1976-77. - An excellent record of the 'teaching'.
You can order the book by clicking HERE.

Today's note:

The major religions all point at Non Duality.
One can usually find clear evidence of this in the opening statements of their teachings. However, this is usually bypassed and everyone gets into the endless stories about ‘personal stuff’.
One without a second means exactly that.
There is no duality in Non Duality.
There never was any ‘entity’ ever – at no ‘point’ in any ‘time’ was there ever any ‘entity’ freed from bondage or caught in any phenomena whatsoever.
Seeing this FACT is the liberation of the idea of being a ‘self’.
It is called Self-Liberation. - But get this point clearly: It is not a ‘self’ that is liberated.
It is liberation from the 'idea' of being a 'self'.
That fact alone pulls the rug out from underneath just about every teaching there is.
There is NO separate individual to be liberated or not.
This can't be included in popular teachings because it would send them bankrupt very quickly. - Their 'high maintenance' 'capital' is based on a fraud, any way you look at it.
How long, how many years has your guide kept you 'on the Path'?
Why? - Because he or she does not really know the truth of it - they have not been liberated from the concept of 'me' themselves. - Why else would they tell stories about time and laborious work? - Blah, blah, blah.
So........
'Who' is it that is treading the Path to 'self-liberation'?
Being IS.
'Becoming' never arrives at BEING. - It remains as a conceptual construct - a bondage for an erroneous believed in character 'ME'.

The natural function of seeing is happening.
In that seeing it can be quite easily cognized that there is no ‘self-center’.
Where that is seen from is a clear and empty space – some call it ‘space-like awareness’.
All of the drama of religions and the personal search is due to an ignoring of our natural state. - It is extremely simple – but the habit of believing is ‘seemingly’ hard to break.
As long as I take myself to be a ‘person’ then the liberation from ‘self’ remains elusive.
Expressing a clear message about this requires clear intelligence.
Intelligence that is burdened by a bias called ‘me’ is never clear.
Many so-called ‘teachers’ speak with a heavy bias and it is this bias of ‘me’ that actually makes them popular – because the ‘seeker’ can remain in its 'state of seeking' and not have to confront the fact that the ‘me’ is a fiction – even though it is this same ‘me’ concept that is the sufferer and the seeker, that fact is not exposed clearly.
Extremely contorted compromises are observable in the relationships between many gurus and their devotees.
Some are absurdly manipulated contortions full of suffering.
The direct message bypasses all such messy relationships.
No one is contracted into time bound service.
The clear message is delivered over and over until it is ‘heard’ and ‘acted upon’.
Hence forth, the message is no longer needed – but it is still expressed for those ‘others’ who are still ‘searching’.
Even that ‘situation’ is a mirage.
‘Who’ does not see this?
Seeing is happening.

Here is an extract from the comments page, on recent program, from the Urban Guru Cafe Podcast site:

'My' reply to a posted question:

1. Reading happens. - The words have been learned - no entity there. - All that happens is a recognition ‘happens’ - it is clearly seen that there is no one in the thinking - the ‘thinker’ is merely another thought - thinking spontaneously appears and disappears.
This must be seen and recognized - it is useless as a concept only.
2. Can you separate the ‘reading’ from the thoughts that arise from the reading?
Decisions are seemingly made - don’t take my word for it - HAVE a look - SEE if you can find a decision MAKER. - There is not much point looking for conceptual support for the habitually identified mind pattern called ‘me’. - You wont find any. - All that seemingly happens is that we keep propping up a fabricated self-image. - It is not a small point to say that ‘most seekers’ have no wish to see through ‘the bondage of self’. - There is just too much invested in it - and lots of stories of ‘progress already made by that ‘entity’.
We build our ‘house’ on ‘the shifting sands of the mind’ - or a castle in the air - all ‘made of’ concepts.
That is the old saying “Build your house on the ROCK” - ‘Rock’ symbolizes ‘what is true’ or Truth. - “Know the truth and the truth will set you free” etc.
Beliefs need to be questioned - or they will bind the mind in ‘endless time’.

‘We’ ‘think’ we are so important within our erroneous beliefs.
‘We’ chisel our definitions and cling to insubstantial ‘things’ that are only transitory appearances ‘in the mind’ - There is no ‘mind’ apart from thought - so it is more correct to say these transitory appearances, thoughts, concepts and images ALL appear nowhere other than ‘in or on’ awareness.
Has any one of them ever stayed stuck in the head or mind? - No.
They may appear to go around and around but they all disappear without one exception.
Have a look now.
Don’t they all disappear from view when you really look?
Understanding is in BEING - not the mind.
BE - just BE.
Stop trying to ‘become’ something ‘other’ than what you ARE.
Be what you are.
It is very, very simple - yet so FEW actually take a good look at the believed in self-centre.
While taking a good look for that self-center, ask yourself this: “Where am I seeing FROM?”
The arguments that are often put forward are all ‘postures’ taken in the dualistic nature of mind, a posture taken by a believed in entity.
This is so obvious. - If you are so convinced that this ‘decision maker’ exists - then why not ‘decide’ right NOW to investigate the ‘me’? - And SEE IF it is true and real.
Don’t get me wrong - I am not being rude - just being direct. - ‘People’ don’t like direct because is disturbs the illusions of that imaginary ‘entity’.
Then they complain that they just don’t ‘get it’. - It is ‘too difficult’ etc.
Endless blah, blah, blah is not going to bring anything fresh and new.
This moment is fresh and new - is that not so very, very obvious?
So many extremely direct pointers, free of time stories, are available and ’seekers’ expect to be spoon fed, or roasted pigeons to fly into their mouths, while they lay back in a hammock in the sun.
All it takes is ONE clear view of the fact that there is NO ‘me’ there - and the whole story of me dissolves.
It will arise again but it has lost it intensity - it can’t grasp ‘you’ because you have seen through it. - Where are you SEEING from?
It is not from a concept in the mind.