The Seer

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Recently I saw an interview on television with Jane Goodall who in 1960 began studying chimpanzees in East Africa. Her mentor, the archaeologist and anthropologist Louis Leakey, was interested in whether chimpanzees and humans exhibit similar kinds of behaviour. If they do, this would support archaeological evidence indicating we share a common ancestor.

During the interview Goodall spoke about an occasion when she was walking through the bush with one of the chimpanzees she was studying and getting to know. After a while they stopped and she offered the chimpanzee a piece of fruit. Looking her in the eyes he took the fruit, dropped it, then squeezed her hand - then got up and carried on down the path. Goodall was so astonished she just sat there for a while, taking in what had happened.

It seemed obvious that although he had refused the food, he wanted her to know he was grateful. He didn’t want to hurt her feelings. It was just how a human being might have responded.

She then described another scene. Some evenings the chimpanzees would gather by a waterfall. They didn’t go there for any practical reason – they weren’t going there to drink or eat or sleep. It seemed they were simply going to look. As they looked they swayed from foot to foot, as if they were dancing.

Jane imagined that for them the water cascading down was a mysterious, awe-inspiring thing for “it was always flowing in, always flowing out, and always there”. In the face of this magical vision, what did they do?

They danced!

Her picture of the waterfall is a perfect description of the present moment – things are always flowing in to this timeless awareness, always flowing out of it, and always present in it. Though what is in the emptiness is always changing, yet there’s always something in it. How amazing.

What is your (human!) response to the miracle of this moment, the miracle of sounds, colours, sensations and all the rest, given in this timeless emptiness?

I love to dance!

Richard Lang

For information about Jane Goodall:
click Here

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Enjoyment of what you are doing, combined with a goal or vision that you work toward, becomes enthusiasm. Even though you have a goal, what you are doing in the present moment needs to remain the focal point of your attention; otherwise, you fall out of alignment with universal purpose.

Make sure your vision or goal is not an inflated image of yourself and therefore a concealed form of ego, such as wanting to become a movie star, a famous writer, or a wealthy entrepreneur. Also make sure your goal is not focused on having this or that, such as a mansion by the sea, your own company, or ten million dollars in the bank.

An enlarged image of yourself or a vision of yourself having this or that are all static goals and therefore don’t empower you. Instead, make sure your goals are dynamic, that is to say, point toward an activity that you are engaged in and through which you are connected to other human beings as well as to the whole.

Instead of seeing yourself as a famous actor or writer and so on, see yourself inspiring countless people with your work and enriching their lives. Feel how that activity enriches or deepens not only your life but that of countless others. Feel yourself being an opening through which energy flows from the unmanifested Source of all life through you for the benefit of all.

From: A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle

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Here’s a great Chai recipe from Mooji who gives satsang in the UK.

The preparation in Presence of this recipe can be as delicious as the Chai itself.

Ingredients:
3 or 4 assam tea bags, ( or 3 teaspoon of loose assam tea)
3 inches piece of ginger, peeled and crushed or grated,
1 or 1 and a half stick of cinnamon, loosely crushed,
1 flat tablespoon of black peppercorns (crushed),
1 inch of natural vanilla stick or 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence, (optional)
6 or 7 sticks of cloves,
5 pods of green Cardamom (crushed),
2 whole star anise,
1 full teaspoon fennel seeds,
1 full teaspoon aniseed,
a half teaspoon of ground nutmeg brings in a warm, caribbean flavour,
3 or 4 cups of soy milk or cow’s milk (Mooji uses soy),
brown sugar or honey to taste,
3 cups of water.
Place all dry ingredients, except the assam tea, in a sealed container and shake well to blend. Leave for a few hours or overnight to ‘mature’.

Bring water to boil. Add the assam tea and boil for 5 minutes. Add masala chai blend from container and boil for 15 minutes then turn down flame and simmer for another 15 minutes.

Now add milk of choice and bring again to the boil, watching carefully to ensure chai does not boil over by reducing heat quickly just before it does. Repeat 2 or 3 times. This process ‘thickens’ the chai and gives a rich and creamy taste. (This is not necessary if you’re using full cream milk!).

Sweeten with brown sugar or honey to taste. Strain tea and serve hot. Sprinkle a pinch of cinnamon powder on top (optional). Enjoy! (Serving five to seven)

Ps: For those who like their chai extra spicy, Mooji suggests adding more black pepper. He also recommends using organic african ginger which is much hotter and dryer than the usual kind you find in most markets. Try looking in afro-caribbean food shops.

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Question: Does any appearance (thought, feeling, sensation, object, state or experience) exist independent or separate from presence-awareness?

Comment: Everything that we ever know or experience appears within presence-awareness. You have never had a single thought, feeling, sensation or any other experience outside of awareness.

In other words, this presence-awareness is the necessary precondition for anything else to be. Without this conscious presence nothing else is.

Because objects of experience and the presence of awareness are never known independently of each other, they must be, in essence, the same undivided substance or principle.

Just as waves are nothing but water or gold ornaments are nothing but gold, so are all appearances nothing but that one undeniable beingawareness. All that appears, including the seeker him or herself, is only that.

From, You Were Never Born by John Wheeler

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Not long after I noticed that the respected non-duality Web site www.advaita.org.uk/ described the Melbourne-based ‘Sailor’ Bob Adamson as “arguably, the greatest non-duality teacher alive”, Rosemary and I were planning an outback 4WD trip into central Australia, and I figured that as we would already be about 70% of the way to Melbourne — why not spent some time with Bob.

Bob went to India and spent the whole of 1976 with Nisargadatta Maharaj, the great Indian Teacher, and has been teaching in Australia ever since. Transcripts of Bob’s talks in book-form have been published and are available from Gurukula.

Bob, who is now 79 and gives three talks per week at his own home in Deepdene, about 6 km east of Melbourne. In A Hitchhikers Guide to the Universe by Douglas Adams, the answer to the question “What is the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything” turns out to be 42. If you catch a train (streetcar) from the CBD to alight right outside Bob’s place -­ you will be getting off at tram stop 42!

While we were there the average attendance was about 15. Bob’s talks are quite informal and these are followed by questions from the attendees. Bob then responds and dialogues begin and often a lot of fun too. Bob said that it normally takes people about 7 talks to get to grips with his teaching, and fortunately, this just happened to be the number we attended.

Bob is also available for private talks to personally help clear up any doubts or misunderstandings on the teaching, and both Rosemary and I had two sessions with him each. We found these very helpful indeed.

Bob uses the analogy that the sea usually looks blue, but if you ask someone to go and get a bucket of blue water from the ocean — they will just laugh. They know that seawater is not blue and are not fooled by the illusion that it is.

We, though, have a sense of a separate self — the so called “little me” — but it is an illusion too, it’s insubstantial, there’s no Aliveness at its core, and it is comprised totally of thoughts. It’s apparent power comes ONLY from the belief in it, but what happens if that belief crumbles?

The answer is that self centered thinking falls away, and with it, personal problems and mind-made suffering. The “me” drops out of the equation, just like the blue water. There is no belief in it any more. It has lost its power. Thoughts still come and go — and that is fine. They are just the passing content of awareness.

Bob talks a lot about the investigation into finding out if there really is a “me” there. Nothing can be found apart from the Aliveness that you are. If that occurs and there is no “little me” there — was there ever a “me” there? It is the direct SEEing of this that is the key.

The common thread of all the great teachings is the non conceptual recognition of our true nature. The seeing that the separate entity that we take to be ourselves does not actually exist in any substantial way is one part of it. The othr part is the actual direct recognition of our true nature — and the alleged “me” is the primary barrier to this.

Bob stresses that this is not about enlightenment, awakening, or self-realization, not about an “attainment” as there is no-one there to “achieve” anything.. No blinding flashes, no “fireworks”, no visions, no eternal ecstatic bliss, not this, not that — just the understanding and the end of seeking. The tram, so to speak, stops right Here, right Now.

Rosemary and I left Bob’s place and continued out journey back to Perth, via northern Queensland, and the Northern territory -­ the “short cut” home. We discussed Bob’s teaching every day and every night and it was our central focus from the time we left Melbourne ­ all the way home. And still is.

You might want to check out Bob’s Web site

Mike Graham

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“One day I will be free of the ego.” Who is talking? The ego. To become free of the ego’s control is not really a big job, but a very small one.

All you need to do is be aware of your thoughts and emotions — as they happen. This is not really a doing, but an alert seeing. In that sense, it is true that there is nothing you can do to become free of the ego’s domination.

When that shift happens, which is the shift from thinking to awareness, an intelligence far greater than the ego’s cleverness begins to operate in your life. Emotions and even thoughts become depersonalized through awareness.

You are the light of Presence, the awareness that is prior to and deeper than any thoughts and emotions.

Eckhart Tolle

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As an awakened Presence living upon this earth, you are silent, present, loving, accepting, and allowing. You are compassionate. You are utterly without fear or judgment.

You are free of all the traumas and limitations of the past and you are free of all anxiety about the future. You are peaceful, still, and calm. You are clear and strong. You are empowered from within.

You are responsive and spontaneous. You are grateful and generous, and you live in constant awareness of the extraordinary abundance of this world.

You exist in Oneness and you feel the living Presence of God in all things present. You walk lightly upon the earth and your life is a demonstration of integrity and grace.

But, when you are caught in the world of the mind, and you are functioning as an ego upon this earth, you have become something less than the awakened Presence I have just described.

From: Journey into Now, pp 51. by Leonard Jacobson

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Awakening is a shift in consciousness in which thinking and awareness separate. For most people it is not an event but a process they undergo.

Even those rare beings who experience a sudden, dramatic, and seemingly irreversible awakening will still go through a process in which the new state of consciousness gradually flows into and transforms everything they do and so becomes integrated into their lives.

Instead of being lost in your thinking, when you are awake you recognize yourself as the awareness behind it. Thinking then ceases to be a self-serving autonomous activity that takes possession of you and runs your life.

Awareness takes over from thinking. Instead of being in charge of your life, thinking becomes the servant of awareness.

Awareness is conscious connection with universal intelligence. Another word for it is Presence: consciousness without thought.

The initiation of the awakening process is an act of grace. You cannot make it happen nor can you prepare yourself for it or accumulate credits toward it. There isn’t a tidy sequence of logical steps that leads toward it, although the mind would love that.

You don’t have to become worthy first. It may come to the sinner before it comes to the saint, but not necessarily. That’s why Jesus associated with all kinds of people, not just the respectable ones….

Awakened doing is the alignment of your outer purpose — what you do — with your inner purpose — awakening and staying awake.

Through awakened doing, you become one with the outgoing purpose of the universe. Consciousness flows through you into this world. It flows into your thoughts and inspires them. It flows into what you do and guides and empowers it.

Not what you do, but how you do what you do determines whether you are fulfilling your destiny. And how you do what you do is determined by your state of consciousness.

From the book, A New Earth, by Eckhart Tolle

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It (Awakening) is as if the Godly dimension of you, which is a silent and awakened Presence of love, acceptance and compassion, encounters and embraces the human dimension of you, which has been journeying through time and has had to endure all the pain of separation that is an inherent part of that journey through time.

If you continue to condemn the human dimension of yourself, which is less than perfect, then who is the one condemning? It is not the awakened Presence, for that dimension of you is completely without judgment. It is just a part of the ego, splitting off to condemn itself.

It might sound somewhat self defeating, but actually, it is exactly what the ego wants. The energy of judgment keeps you bound within the world of the mind, where the ego is in control.

The ego thrives on judgment, condemnation and rejection. It gets stronger in the face of such negative energy.

But if the ego is embraced with love, acceptance and compassion, it has no defense to that. It does not know what to do. Eventually it will simply relax and surrender.

There is no greater power than the power of love, which arises from Presence. It overcomes all resistance and aggression.

by Leonard Jacobson. To read the complete article, >Click Here