The Seer

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Years ago, I discovered a new way to look at the world — a new way to think, a new position from which I could view the universe — and that position let me see beauty and wonders that were not apparent to the old way, to the old position, to the Old Think.

Well now, this new way to think, this way to view the world seems wonderful and marvelous to me. At the time it happened I was absolutely certain it was virgin and pristine and that it never before had been seen by anyone. I’ve since learned that this experience is awaiting everyone and will for each come as it did with me, with the absolute conviction that it’s unique and new ….

God is light. Light is a beautiful synonym for what God is. You may have heard of Lucifer — Lucifer, the devil … the word Lucifer means the bearer of light, the one who carries light. And, according to the Bible myth, that Lucifer was thrown out of heaven, damned to an eternal darkness.

Lucifer is the idea that we are the ‘bearers’ of light. Lucifer is the idea that we are the ‘custodians’ of this awareness right here, right now. Never was there a bearer of life, never a bearer of light.

We are life, we are light and we let go the Lucifer, the deceitful nature of us that would say, “This is my life to do with as I please; this is my destiny to live as I choose.” We let all that foolishness go — just to be light, to be life that is the Godhead shining.

From a transcribed talk (Woodsong Series #7) given by William Samuel at his home — Woodsong, in Alabama, USA, in April, 1980

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Eckhart Tolle, the well known author of “A New Earth” and “The Power of Now”, has been the catalyst who, without knowing me personally at all, has been the one that changed everything.

I somehow figured out in the year 2001 that I was always in either the past or the future, and wasn’t really very much in the present at all. Because that didn’t seem like a good thing, I set out in my usual way to figure things out and I searched “living in the present” at amazon.com. Up came “The Power of Now” along with a selection of other books. I ordered two other books too, not knowing, but don’t even know what those books were now. I was so taken with “The Power of Now” that I’m not sure I ever read them.

“The Power of Now” seemed so clearly to be coming from the same source that I was experiencing as the source of my personal guidance, which I understood intellectually to be my own Self, but which I was yet unable to experience as such. To have a book so clearly coming from that source was absolutely riveting.

I tried to register for a retreat with Eckhart Tolle in October of 2002 but it was already full with a huge waiting list in February when I tried to register. By some stroke of luck, by August I was given a space and was pleased yet also I remember being kind of confused. I couldn’t understand why I was going, because I thought he had already said it all in a book, so why was I going? What more could I possibly be expecting?

When it came time to go to the retreat, I mostly remember just sitting there with a great big silly grin on my face, totally being delighted by Eckhart’s way of being with us. There were 450 of us in the big hall at Omega Institute, and it was just a matter of sitting there and listening to Eckhart for five days. In between his talks I was just very quiet. Somehow between the beginning and the end of that retreat, something irrevocably changed for me. I was immersed in bliss, and knew that everything that I had ever wanted as a spiritual seeker had now arrived, and there was nowhere else to go. Somehow it seemed that Eckhart Tolle had handed it all to me on a silver platter.

My old life ceased operating the way it had before, but there was a long way to go to learn how to live from this new place. All sense of need or lack was gone and everything not only appeared to be perfect as it was, radiating with love and life, but that also pervaded me and made it so that any personal problems appeared to have vanished.

Of course, Eckhart Tolle knew nothing of this because he personally hadn’t done anything, although it took a while for that to sink in. It was the awakeness (the One life) that was speaking through him that somehow woke me up. He is such a clear, clear channel. I owe him an infinite debt just for being so clear, and for being there at the right time for me. It felt so incredibly grateful to Eckhart but even at the same time I could see that it wasn’t him. It is the awakeness that I owe (call it God if you will, the Self with a capital S, or Life with a capital L). The awakeness that took him, took me also.

It has been over five years since this happened and it has not faded or wavered at all. All that changes is how much of a commotion the “me” is making at any given time, which may or may not be obscuring the perfect unity underneath. The underlying foundation never wavers at all, but steadies whatever is happening in my personal life. And when I give it the space, it lives life through me, as me.

by Alice Gardner, author of “Life Beyond Belief, Everyday Living as Spiritual Practice” (now available from Clearsight)

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We rarely make book recommendations in fiction, but you might find this odd new book from Sentient Publications of interest: God Is An Atheist: a novella for those who have run out of time.

The author, N. Nosirrah is a writer and philosopher who asks his readers to question their existence, God’s existence, and in particular, Nosirrah’s existence. He has said that those who understand his writings have no need to meet him, those who do not have no reason to meet him, and those who need to meet him have no need to read his writings.

A profoundly funny romp through religion, spirituality, and the contemporary clash of cultures of belief, with special attention to the human obsession with knowing what can’t be known. Nosirrah provokes just about everyone as he describes a world where God is on the run from Islamic extremists, the Pope announces he shares a bed with Richard Dawkins, and Buddha’s son disappoints by getting enlightened instead of becoming a doctor.

To say this novella is strange might give the reader a way to relate to it, but in fact, nothing will shift the burden away from the reader. In its pages, the world is bent around the reader’s mind until either the mind itself begins to bend, or indeed, breaks. A book without plot, characters, structure, or obvious purpose, this is an endless descent into the netherworlds of a dystopian mind. If a thousand monkeys typing endlessly would eventually produce all great works of literature, then God Is an Atheist (ISBN 978-1-59181-072-8) is their first draft.

Click on the link to see an amusing YouTube book trailer for God Is an Atheist. (Not available from Clearsight)

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When Tesshu, the famous medieval samurai swordsman, was young, he visited one Zen master after another. Once he went to visit Master Dokuon and told him triumphantly that all that exists is empty, there is no you or me, and so forth. The master listened to all this in silence. Suddenly he snatched up his pipe and struck Tesshu’s head with it. The infuriated young swordsman would have killed the master there and then, but Dokuon said calmly, “Emptiness is surely quick to show anger, is it not?” Tesshu left the room, realizing he still had much to learn about Zen.

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When Andre Previn was a very young pianist and a whiz-kid in Hollywood, there was a suggestion that he should give a performance of the Gershwin Piano Concerto with the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra conducted by the formidable Hungarian exile, George Szell. But Szell was not so sure. So Previn flew to Cleveland to convince him and was ushered into Szell’s apartment.

The conductor glowered at him across the table and said, “Mr Previn would you be so kind as to play the solo part for me.” Andre Previn replied, “Certainly … but where is the piano?” Szell said, “There is no need for the piano — just play it here on the top of the table.” So Previn set to and fingered the entire solo part of the Gershwin piano concerto on the table while Szell watched fascinated.

At the end there was a pause, and Szell said: “No, no, very sorry, long journey, waste of time, very sad, no.”

Andre Previn paused for a moment and then said, “I can only tell you it sounds a lot better on my table at home.”

Now listen to another prodigy, Nathan (cellist, age 11) gracefully commenting on Saint Saens’ “The Swan” … beautiful!

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Q) What you say about Being aware of where you are and of what you are feeling, sounds like Mindful Meditation; why do you not call it this?

A) Because I do not meditate and I do not want to encourage people to become regimented, sitting for a few hours a day meditating only to be unconscious the rest of the day. Instead of practicing Mindful Meditation, why can you not simply be mindful, and leave out the meditation? Otherwise it becomes about the meditation and not about the mindfulness, which is why you asked the question.

It doesnt really matter what you do, as long as you are conscious while you do it. That is, assuming you are trying to be more conscious.

From Q&As by Nick Roach

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Most of us recognize or strongly suspect that we are more than simply a body. Seekers, like almost all people, have the conviction or maybe a simple belief that they are something more real or profound than the lump of protoplasm seen in the mirror. The body tells us that we are hungry, but if we are fasting, the mind can override the body’s repeated calls for food. If we are a marathon runner, and our muscles ache along the way, the mind’s determination can overcome the body’s call to stop running and rest. Thus, we may be forced to conclude that we are a “something” beyond the body that is far less tangible than the body. We find ourselves holding the belief that we are the mind, or a center of awareness located somewhere in the head, that has both the mind (“my” mind) and the body (“my” body).

In the mind, we generally find our existence as more real and alive. We identify with the mind, or our mental experience, and further identify the experience as the self or “I.” We become totally involved and get carried away in what appear to be “our” thought processes and the drama of life. Very few people ever suspect or discover that a realm exists beyond the mind and mental experience.

“Mind stuff” consists of worded thoughts, thought pictures, memories, dreams, visualizations, and ultimately, our entire experience. With sufficient effort, we may be able to witness and catalog our thoughts. In Richard Rose’s terminology, we can become a Process Observer. That
is, we become someone who identifies — not with the body or with the thoughts and emotions passing through the mind — but with the awareness that is able to witness both the body and the thought processes that transpire in the mind. In essence, we become or find ourselves to be an awareness that is beyond both the body and the mundane mind as we know or conceive it.

The description of this condition pales in comparison to the sudden and stunning realization that we are watching our thought processes. Momentarily, we become an awareness that is far superior to our ordinary, day-to-day, way of being in the world. This change in perspective
generally only comes after an intense period of meditation, in which we attempt to examine our thoughts as the subject matter for meditation.

Those who find themselves suddenly able to witness their thought processes may revel in this newfound ability to “be the Watcher.” They may mistakenly believe that the goal is to spend more and more time watching their thoughts until they become “self-aware” throughout all their waking hours. As desirable as this condition may seem, it is only a step along the way to the discovery of our true Essence.

What is the next step? What can or should we do once we recognize thought-forms as reflections, or objects, in our field of awareness? We have found that thoughts arrive, and if we are diligent, we can witness them as they pass before our awareness. We reside in or identify with the awareness that witnesses thought. At some point, we will realize that thought is inescapable while we are in a human body.

Even those who have Become, or entered into Union with the Absolute, return to a thinking mind, albeit with a vastly different perspective. Any sense of a personal self is left behind when entering the timelessness of the Absolute. Upon return to the mundane world, the mind again becomes active, and the thought processes come back to life with all their confusions, conundrums, and comparisons. Unfortunately, we have no alternative while living in this relative world of polar opposites.

by Paul Constant and Michael Casari

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Delicious soups are a feature of the lunches enjoyed by workshop attendees at Gurukula. Here are a few quick soup tips that you may or may not have seen before:

Vegetables added to a soup taste better if you saute them in a little butter first.

Did you know that Lettuce loves fat: Fat can be removed from hot soup by floating a large lettuce leaf on the surface. Another way to eliminate fat from soup and stew is to drop ice cubes into the pot. As you stir, the fat will cling to the cubes. Discard the cubes before they melt.

You can camouflage the burnt taste from your soups & Stews by pouring the liquid gently and carefully into a clean pan and flavor it with curry powder or mustard or some chutney.

Salty Soup - Place a raw potato in the bowl & it will absorb the extra salt.

Thickening for the Soups - Put instant mashed potato and gravies to thicken. Stir thoroughly and Keep on adding as much desired.

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I see what a wonder you are.
You are infinite potential playing at being a person.
You are the mystery of life made manifest.
I celebrate you.
You are different from me and yet we are one.
And it is only because we are both separate and the same that we can love one another.
That’s beautiful!

From Lucid Living by Timothy Freke
A series of videos of a talk Tim gave on lucid living in Bath, England, has just been uploaded to youtube. They are truly inspiring and you can check them out >Here.

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The Infinite Smile Sangha, in California, is offering a helpful mp3 talk by Michael McAllister, spiritual teacher and author of “Awakening in This Life: A Guide for those Climbing the Mountain of Spirit” on Welcoming Negativity. To hear or download this talk, >Click Here