Nonduality
Is The World Real? Reflections on Change and Illusion
Is the world real? Why is it said by non-dualist teachers and sages of Advaita vedanta that the fact that the world of phenomena, of the senses and perception, is constantly changing, shows that it is illusory, whereas reality is unchanging, permanent? I asked this of Francis Lucille once. I said, “A candle flame is…
Read MoreDoes Consciousness Ever Die?
Does Consciousness Ever Die, Disappear or “Go Under”? Q: If I am consciousness (which I know I am)… and, if consciousness gets lost under General Anesthesia, what does it mean regarding my “life”? When am I ever born and when do I die? Or, is consciousness more like a function, a process… like digestion and…
Read MoreFree Will: The Question Arises in the Answer
“As long as individuality lasts there is free will. All the scriptures are based on this fact and they advise directing the free will in the right channel. Find out to whom free will or destiny matters. Find out where they come from, and abide in their source. If you do this, both of them…
Read MoreNotes on Liberation and Free Will
Just by getting your (little) self out of the way you become a blessing to the world – you don’t have to do anything. But if your self is still in the way, then there is something to do – some form of “working on yourself”, such as observing one’s thoughts and reactions. I’m reluctant…
Read MoreOn Beyond UG Krishnamurti
Where UG Went Wrong UG Krishnamurti (not to be confused with Jiddu Krishnamurti, his nemesis) wanted to have his cake and eat it too: be a materialist and cynic and point out the mess and violence of human society, its inherent conflict which arise from our inner duality, yet say he is not in conflict…
Read MoreWhat is Real? Sailing On The Sea Of The Unknown
“…a non-mental [material] world is inevitably abstract.” – Bernardo Kastrup “No question can be there regarding the time, place and cause of the origin of this world, for these themselves are part of the world, for these themselves form parts of the world. The question seeks to have an explanation of the whole in terms…
Read MoreMatter and Acceptance
Matter and the world is an abstraction. What we actually know, directly, is awareness, consciousness, Being, whatever you want to call the nameless formless we Are: what every thing appears in; the continuity behind the change, the solid ground behind the appearance of a body, mind and world. Physicists haven’t been able to find matter…
Read MoreThe Four Seals and Buddhism in a Nutshell
A while ago I wrote an article about the lyrics to a song I loved, Ott’s Jack’s Cheese and Bread Snack. I didn’t know it at the time, but the lyrics are known as the “Four Seals of Buddhism”, or “The Four Dharma Seals”. I’m not a Buddhist, not a Christian, not an Advaitan, I’m…
Read MoreOn Beyond Back-To-Nature Philosophies
Listening to a popular “animal communicator”, I realized the core issue with what she was saying. While I appreciate what they do with specific animals and species, and it touches my heart deeply (I love animals, and plants, and minerals…), there is an assumptions and an attitude about humans and the planet and Life and…
Read MoreOn Beyond Thinking – How To Be Present
How to be more loving and happy and at peace? Be more present. To what is real. How to be present? Quiet down the thinking, the mind, without introducing the doer. Don’t try and stop thinking. Just observe benevolently (with curiosity if it’s there). The doer can’t squelch (forcefully silence or suppress) the doer –…
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