The Seer

---

Inexplicably it comes. When you least expect it. For a reason you can never know. One moment you are striving, figuring, imagining, and then, in the blink of an eye, it all disappears. The struggle disappears. The striving ­disappears. The person disappears. The world disappears. Everything disappears, and the person is like a pinpoint of light, just receding until it disappears. And there’s nobody there to witness it. The person is gone. Only awareness remains. Nothing else. No one to be aware. Nothing to be aware of. Only that remains itself. Then it’s understood, finally and simply.

Then everything — all the struggle, all the striving, all the thinking, all the figuring, all the surrendering, all the letting go, all the grabbing hold of, all the praying, all the begging, all the cursing, too — was just a distraction. And only then is it seen that the person was, is, and ever will be no more than a thought. With a single thought, the person seems to re-emerge. With more thoughts, the world seems to re-emerge right out of nothing. But now you know.

The incarnation is nothing more than a thought. A thousand incarnations are but a thousand thoughts. And this amazing miracle of a mirage we call the world reappears as it was before, but now you know. That’s why you usually have a good laugh, because you realize that all your struggles were made up. You conjured them up out of nothing with a thought that was linked to another thought, that was then believed, that linked to another thought that was then believed. But never could it have been true, not for a second could it have actually existed. Not ever could you have actually suffered for a reason that was true — only through an imagination, good, bad, indifferent. The intricacies of spiritual philosophy and theologies are just a thought within Emptiness.

And so at times we talk, and I pretend to take your struggles seriously, just as I pretended to take my own seriously. You may pretend to take your own struggles seriously from time to time, and although we pretend, we really shouldn’t forget that we are pretending, that we are making up the content of our experience; we are making up the little dramas of our lives. We are making up whether we need to hold on or surrender or figure it out or pray to God or be purified or have karma cleansed — it’s all a thought. We just collude in this ridiculous charade of an illusion pretending that it’s real, only to reveal that it’s not. There is no karma. There is nothing really to purify. There’s no problem. There is only what you create and believe to be so. And if you like it that way, have at it!

But we cannot continue this absolute farce indefinitely. We cannot continue to pretend this game we play, indefinitely. It’s impossible. Everything comes back to nothing. And then it’s a bit harder to hold a straight face consistently for the rest of your life.

Transcribed from a talk given by Adyashanti in Pacific Grove, CA, June 9, 2006.

---

It was a great joy for Pearl and me to have Adyashanti and his wife, Mukti, as guests in our home, Gurukula, for almost a week earlier this month (Oct. 07). Adya, as he is known, hails from Northern California and had come to Perth, Western Australia, to give some satsang talks and a two-day intensive.

It soon became apparent that Adya and Mukti live in complete integrity with what they know and teach, and make no claims to ’specialness’ whatever. Nevertheless, you cannot be arround this charming couple for long without being impressed by their presence which seems to radiate warmth, depth, humor and a kind of unattached spontaneity.

At one point, in passing conversation, Mukti reavealed that Adya was quite a good cook — particularly in the area of pies and other desserts. Adya said he got most of his favorite recipes from his mother who apparently is noted for her culinary prowess.

Adya’s Perth events left us all glowing and more deeply grounded in love and truth than ever and we were planning a farewell dinnerparty at a friend’s place on our final evening together before Adya and his team flew on to the East Coast for the remainder of his tour. On hearing about this, Adya offered to make an apple pie for dessert, and of course, we readily accepted.

So, on the Monday morning after the intensive, Mukti made up a list of ingredients and we did a quick shop for them at our local stores. Then after an early light lunch, Adya and Mukti took over our small kitchen and set to work on the apple pie. To me, they sounded more like children playing hppily in a sand-box as they peeled the apples, conjured up the pastry and banged about with the cooking utensils. Thse sounds were followed eventually by the most fragrant aroma which issued from our oven and filled the adjacent rooms with a presence of its own. The pie looked wonderful when it came out of the oven and was set on a rack to cool.

Later, at the dinnerparty, when Adya’s apple pie was portioned out, tasted and consumed with lashings of whipped cream etc, all agreed that the taste was simply superb and somewhat distinctive owing to his inspired preference for ginger and cloves to spice up the apple filling. Before they left the next morning, I asked Mukti for a copy of the recipe which she kindly supplied with Adya’s ‘adjustments’. Now we can share the recipe with you, and if you care to try it out and live anywher near us in Perth, I’d be more than glad to sample a piece of your pie and let you know how close you got to the masterPIEce Adya cooked up in our tiny kitchen that day.

---

Makes one 9 inch (23 cm) pie.

Short Crust Pastry (Pate Brisee) Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups (350 grams) plain flour

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoon (30 grams) granulated white sugar

1 cup (226 grams) unsalted butter, chilled, and cut into 1 inch (2.54 cm) pieces

1/4 to 1/2 cup (60 - 120 ml) ice water

Apple Filling Ingredients:

2 1/2 pounds (1.1 kg) Granny Smith apples (about 6 large), peeled, cored, and sliced 1/4 inch thick (about 8 cups sliced) (about 900 grams sliced)

1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated white sugar

1/4 cup (55 grams) light brown sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

3/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons (28 grams) unsalted butter

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon (15 grams) cornstarch (corn flour)

Directions:

In a food processor, place the flour, salt, and sugar and process until combined. Add the butter and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal (about 15 seconds). Pour 1/4 cup (60 ml) water in a slow, steady stream, through the feed tube until the dough just holds together when pinched. If necessary, add more water. Do not process more than 30 seconds.

Turn the dough onto your work surface and gather into a ball. Divide the dough in half, flattening each half into a disk, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for about one hour before using. This will chill the butter and relax the gluten in the flour.

After the dough has chilled sufficiently, remove one portion of the dough from the fridge and place it on a lightly floured surface. Roll the pastry into a 12 inch (30 cm) circle. (To prevent the pastry from sticking to the counter and to ensure uniform thickness, keep lifting up and turning the pastry a quarter turn as you roll (always roll from the center of the pastry outwards).) Fold the dough in half and gently transfer to a 9 inch (23 cm) pie pan. Brush off any excess flour and trim the edges of the pastry to fit the pie pan. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator.

Then remove the second round of pastry and roll it into a 12 inch (30 cm) circle. Transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator.

Make the Apple Filling: In a large bowl combine the sliced apples, sugars, lemon juice, ground ginger, cloves, and salt. Let the apples macerate at room temperature for about two hours. Then, place the apples and their juices in a strainer that is placed over a large bowl (to capture the juices). Let the apples drain for about 15-30 minutes or until you have at least 1/2 cup (120 ml) of juice. Spray a 4 cup (960 ml) heatproof measuring cup with a nonstick vegetable spray, and then pour in the collected juices and the 2 tablespoons (28 grams) of unsalted butter. Place in the microwave and boil the liquid, on high, 6 to 7 minutes or until the liquid has reduced to about 1/3 cup and is syrupy and lightly caramelized. (Alternatively, you could place the juices and butter in a small saucepan and boil over medium high heat on the stove.)

Meanwhile, remove the top pastry crust from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes so it has time to soften and become pliable. Transfer the drained apples slices to a large bowl and mix them with the cornstarch (corn flour). Then pour the reduced syrup over the apples and toss to combine. Pour the apples and their syrup into the chilled pie crust. Moisten the edges of the pie shell with a little water and then place the top crust over the apples. Tuck any excess pastry under the bottom crust and then crimp the edges using your fingers or a fork. Using a sharp knife, make five 2-inch (5 cm) slits from the center of the pie out towards the edge of the pie to allow the steam to escape.

Cover the pie with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to chill the pastry while you preheat the oven.

Preheat the oven to 356 degrees F (180 degrees C). Place the oven rack at the lowest level and place a baking stone or baking sheet on the rack before preheating the oven. Place a piece of aluminum foil on the stone (or pan) to catch any apple juices.

Set the pie on the stone or pan and bake for about 45 to 55 minutes or until the juices start to bubble through the slits and the apples feel tender (not mushy) when a toothpick or sharp knife is inserted through one of the slits. Make sure to cover the edges of the pie with a foil ring to prevent over browning after about 30 minutes.

Remove the pie from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool for about 3-4 hours before cutting.

Serve warm or at room temperature with vanilla ice cream, yogurt or softly whipped cream. Store at room temperature for 2 to 3 days.

---

In the Sept/Oct Advaita Fellowship Newsletter, Wayne Liquorman writes:

I am periodically taken to task for not having a teaching style more like some of my preceptors - most notably, Nisargadatta Maharaj. Maharaj was famous for speaking from the standpoint of the Absolute. He would say things such as, “I was never born and I will never die” and “I am awake even when I am asleep.” Such assertively non-dual statements sometimes had the effect of shocking his listeners into a profound, transcendent Seeing.

I am sympathetic to this approach but I have rarely been comfortable using it. I feel much more at home when I am meeting my listeners where THEY are…most of them believing that they were born and will die and that they are asleep while asleep. From this point of “obvious” truth we can then proceed to examine the more profound, underlying nature of this “one” who lives and dies and sleeps.

No one can deny that there is EXISTENCE here. The nature of that EXISTENCE can (and has been) debated endlessly. But this EXISTENCE is self-proving. It is not a philosophical debating point but a self-affirming Truth. It is here at the center when you pull off the onion-like layers of your apparent self - the self that lives and dies and sleeps and wakes.

We are the victims of our beliefs. When you “believe” the pointers of a teacher such as Maharaj the inevitable result is a kind of nihilism in which all that is apparent (including yourself) is denied as meaningless and illusory. When you believe the pointers of a teacher such as myself the inevitable result is the sense of having a progressively deeper and truer knowledge about the nature of Existence.

So pick your poison. With a little luck…either one will kill “you.”

With much love,
Wayne

---

The times of not knowing are so often seen as something to get through and get out of, but to live there permanently is what is being asked of us.

It is a place of rich and potent aliveness. The incredible anything-can-happen openness that is so fertile with possibility is not a problem to be solved by the mind.

This is exactly where Love flourishes, and where we interfere less with Love’s own agenda. This is the place that Love, the universal oneness that we truly are, is most able to express itself in the world.

It is where our lives are generated by Love, without our minds having to figure out first what needs to be done. This essential openness where we suspend our personal agendas and ideas is like the infinite wellspring from which spontaneous activity can flow.

Our actions then happen in a way where we find ourselves in each moment knowing what to do, and then whatever we do, our doing magically fits with a scenario larger than our personal knowing could ever comprehend.

From Chapter 22 of Life Beyond Belief, Everyday Living as Spiritual Practice, by Alice Gardner.

---

I feel I owe our regular readers an explanation about why there have been so few postings to The Seer lately. The main reason is that over the past couple of weeks, my eyesight has dwindled to almost nothing. The irony of this happening to the moderator of a blog entitled, The Seer, is not lost on me, but of course, the seeing done by any seer has very little to do with one’s eyesight.

How are you writing this, you may ask, if you can’t see? Well, I’ve been using a program named Zoomtext which magnifies screens for users with limited eyesight and I’ve now got it turned up so that it fits only a couple of words on the screen at a time and, of course, I’m using the high contrast setting — white text against black etc. In the next week or so, I hope to upgrade Zoomtext to the voice version which ’speaks’ the text as it is typed etc.

If you’re curious to know why my eyesight failed so suddenly, the explanation is fairly straight forward. For the past 16 years or so, I’ve been relying on corneal transplants (or grafts) since I injured my eyes in a workplacel accident. My last transplant was done ten years ago and gave me useful sight most of that time, but a few weeks ago, the transplant (in my only good eye) came to the end of it’s life. I’m now on the list to have another transplant which will probably happen in a few months. As much depends on the condition of the recipient eye and the tissue match, it’s hard to predict the outcome of such operations, but when you have only light perception, any improvement is welcome.

Some of you may know that my lovely wife, Pearl, is also legally blind and has had, for the past seven years, the help of a beautiful golden Labrador guide-dog, named Skye. Before my first successful transplant, I was as I am now for many years and over that time had the help of four different guide-dogs. So when my sight went downhill so quickly this time, I wondered if Skye could guide me as my other wonderful dogs had done in the past. With Pearl’s agreement, I took Skye (or she took me) for a spin around the block and found that Skye worked just as well for me as she did for Pearl. So now, Skye is getting a bit of extra walking in which is fine as Pearl has to spend a lot of time at home studying and conducting her counselling work.

We are very blessed to have a caring community of satsang friends around us who are helping with our practical needs in a variety of ways. We have just had a marvellous time with Adyashanti and Mukti who stayed in our home during their visit to Perth. We had good numbers at the satsang talks and the intensive and a host of community members served as volunteers to make sure it all ran smoothly. Adya’s teaching, of course, was breath-takingly clear, lucid, direct, compassionate and immensely profound without being abstract in any way. Our involvement with these and his other Australian events was another reason why The Seer has been on hold these last few weeks.

These recent difficulties wth my eyesight have drawn my attention even more to That which is changeless amid the changefulness of our life experience. Inwardly, there is ever the pure beingness of our essential nature while outwardly, the human form is always becoming and moving from one state or situation to another. The Formless that I am and you are is already and always complete, while the manifestation is always in the process of completion. For me, the inner darkness shines with a beauty and splendour that makes the loss of visual perception trivial by comparison. I have discovered, that losing one’s eyesight certainly matters, but it doesn’t matter absolutely. It’s not that one retreats into the shining darkness, so to speak, but that this shining from the Source transfigures and illuminates every experience of life, pleasant and unpleasant, so that it is all encourntered and felt as the unfolding of the One. From this perspective, it is more adventure than adversity.

Thank you for your patience and understanding. I’ll try to keep you up to date with developments in my situation as often as I can and explore ways to include other items of interest as before.