the ? that gave us non-duality, Advaita

October 11, 2005

We are locked in our dreams. No matter how absurd the dream gets we

cannot figure out, in the dream, that we are dreaming. (unless it is

part of the dream)

What about life?

How absurd, surreal or unreal does life have to get

before I/you/we can figure out that it cannot be real?

October 11, 2005

Nisargadatta , " Gene Polotas " <semmin@e...> wrote:

>

> We are locked in our dreams. No matter how absurd the dream gets we

> cannot figure out, in the dream, that we are dreaming. (unless it is

> part of the dream)

>

> What about life?

>

> How absurd, surreal or unreal does life have to get

> before I/you/we can figure out that it cannot be real?

>

In a dream we can wake up and know we are dreaming (so called lucid

dreaming). Similarly, spiritually awake people talk about the waking

state as being like a dream compared to the enlightened state. Who

knows, how many " waking up " from one level to the next is possible?

I have speculated about the idea that this whole planet is unawakened.

And if I remember correctly, some famous person said: " Humanity will

wake up from this world as if from a bad dream " . That's why I don't

trust anyone in this world. Even people, like Ramana Maharshi, Eckhart

Tolle, Nis e t c who say " they " know the awakened state, frankly I

think they are talking bullshit. Sure, they seem to have seen

SOMETHING beyond the ordinary wakened state, but they are/were still

trapped in Plato's cave, like we all are, imo.

It could be that there only one " dreamer " , and all the universes are

" just " dreams in the One Mind. This means that there are no other

people. Then no one has been born, and no one has died. Ever.

al.

October 11, 2005

Nisargadatta , " anders_lindman "

<anders_lindman> wrote:

>

> Nisargadatta , " Gene Polotas " <semmin@e...> wrote:

> >

> > We are locked in our dreams. No matter how absurd the dream gets we

> > cannot figure out, in the dream, that we are dreaming. (unless it is

> > part of the dream)

> >

> > What about life?

> >

> > How absurd, surreal or unreal does life have to get

> > before I/you/we can figure out that it cannot be real?

> >

>

> In a dream we can wake up and know we are dreaming (so called lucid

> dreaming). Similarly, spiritually awake people talk about the waking

> state as being like a dream compared to the enlightened state. Who

> knows, how many " waking up " from one level to the next is possible?

>

> I have speculated about the idea that this whole planet is unawakened.

> And if I remember correctly, some famous person said: " Humanity will

> wake up from this world as if from a bad dream " . That's why I don't

> trust anyone in this world. Even people, like Ramana Maharshi, Eckhart

> Tolle, Nis e t c who say " they " know the awakened state, frankly I

> think they are talking bullshit. Sure, they seem to have seen

> SOMETHING beyond the ordinary wakened state, but they are/were still

> trapped in Plato's cave, like we all are, imo.

>

> It could be that there only one " dreamer " , and all the universes are

> " just " dreams in the One Mind. This means that there are no other

> people. Then no one has been born, and no one has died. Ever.

>

> al.

>

One person today who has seen beyond Plato's cave is David Icke:

http://www.nrfiles.netDavid%20Icke%20-%20Truth%20Vibrations%20Part%203.mp\

3

Is David a nutcase, or is it we " ordinary " people who are trapped in a

dream? Was Nisargadatta a nutcase, or did he point to limitless being?

October 11, 2005

Nisargadatta , " anders_lindman "

<anders_lindman> wrote:

>

> Nisargadatta , " anders_lindman "

> <anders_lindman> wrote:

> >

> > Nisargadatta , " Gene Polotas " <semmin@e...>

wrote:

> > >

> > > We are locked in our dreams. No matter how absurd the dream gets we

> > > cannot figure out, in the dream, that we are dreaming. (unless

it is

> > > part of the dream)

> > >

> > > What about life?

> > >

> > > How absurd, surreal or unreal does life have to get

> > > before I/you/we can figure out that it cannot be real?

> > >

> >

> > In a dream we can wake up and know we are dreaming (so called lucid

> > dreaming). Similarly, spiritually awake people talk about the waking

> > state as being like a dream compared to the enlightened state. Who

> > knows, how many " waking up " from one level to the next is possible?

> >

> > I have speculated about the idea that this whole planet is unawakened.

> > And if I remember correctly, some famous person said: " Humanity will

> > wake up from this world as if from a bad dream " . That's why I don't

> > trust anyone in this world. Even people, like Ramana Maharshi, Eckhart

> > Tolle, Nis e t c who say " they " know the awakened state, frankly I

> > think they are talking bullshit. Sure, they seem to have seen

> > SOMETHING beyond the ordinary wakened state, but they are/were still

> > trapped in Plato's cave, like we all are, imo.

> >

> > It could be that there only one " dreamer " , and all the universes are

> > " just " dreams in the One Mind. This means that there are no other

> > people. Then no one has been born, and no one has died. Ever.

> >

> > al.

> >

>

> One person today who has seen beyond Plato's cave is David Icke:

>

http://www.nrfiles.netDavid%20Icke%20-%20Truth%20Vibrations%20Part%203.mp\

3

>

> Is David a nutcase, or is it we " ordinary " people who are trapped in a

> dream? Was Nisargadatta a nutcase, or did he point to limitless being?

>

Okay, I must admit, that this is also pretty much beyond Plato's cave:

http://www.cygnus-books.co.uk/features/new-earth-eckhart-tolle.htm

Eckhart Tolle

Earth, 114 million years ago, one morning just after sunrise: The

first flower ever to appear on the planet opens up to receive the rays

of the sun.

Prior to this momentous event that heralds an evolutionary

transformation in the life of plants, the planet had already been

covered in vegetation for millions of years. The first flower probably

did not survive for long, and flowers must have remained rare and

isolated phenomena, since conditions were most likely not yet

favourable for a widespread flowering to occur. One day, however, a

critical threshold was reached, and suddenly there would have been an

explosion of colour and scent all over the planet – if a perceiving

consciousness had been there to witness it.

An awakening power

Much later, those delicate and fragrant beings we call flowers would

come to play an essential part in the evolution of consciousness of

another species. Humans would increasingly be drawn to and fascinated

by them. As the consciousness of human beings developed, flowers were

most likely the first thing they came to value which had no

utilitarian purpose for them, that is to say, was not linked in some

way to survival. They provided inspiration to countless artists,

poets, and mystics. Jesus tells us to contemplate the flowers and

learn from them how to live. The Buddha is said to have given a

'silent sermon' once during which he held up a flower and gazed at it.

After a while, one of those present, a monk called Mahakasyapa, began

to smile. He is said to have been the only one who had understood the

sermon. According to legend, that smile (that is to say, realization)

was handed down by twenty-eight successive masters and much later

became the origin of Zen.

Seeing beauty in a flower could awaken humans, however briefly, to the

beauty that is an essential part of their own innermost being, their

true nature. The first recognition of beauty was one of the most

significant events in the evolution of human consciousness. The

feelings of joy and love are intrinsically connected to that

recognition. Without fully realizing it, flowers would become for us

an expression in form of that which is most high, most sacred, and

ultimately formless within ourselves. Flowers, more fleeting, more

ethereal, and more delicate than the plants out of which they emerged,

would become like messengers from another realm, like a bridge between

the world of physical forms and the formless. They not only had a

scent that was delicate and pleasing to humans, but also brought a

fragrance from the realm of spirit. Using the word 'enlightenment' in

a wider sense than the conventionally accepted one, we could look upon

flowers as the enlightenment of plants.

En-lightenment

Any life-form in any realm – mineral, vegetable, animal, or human –

can be said to undergo 'enlightenment'. It is, however, an extremely

rare occurrence since it is more than an evolutionary progression: It

also implies a discontinuity in its development, a leap to an entirely

different level of Being and, most important, a lessening of materiality.

What could be heavier and more impenetrable than a rock, the densest

of all forms? And yet some rocks undergo a change in their molecular

structure, turn into crystals, and so become transparent to the light.

Some carbons, under inconceivable heat and pressure, turn into

diamonds, and some heavy minerals into other precious stones.

Most crawling reptilians, the most earthbound of all creatures, have

remained unchanged for millions of years. Some, however, grew feathers

and wings and turned into birds, thus defying the force of gravity

that had held them for so long. They didn't become better at crawling

or walking, but transcended crawling and walking entirely.

Since time immemorial, flowers, crystals, precious stones, and birds

have held special significance for the human spirit. Like all

life-forms, they are, of course, temporary manifestations of the

underlying one Life, one Consciousness. Their special significance and

the reason why humans feel such fascination for and affinity with

them, can be attributed to their ethereal quality.

Once there is a certain degree of Presence, of still and alert

attention in human beings' perceptions, they can sense the divine life

essence, the one indwelling consciousness or spirit in every creature,

every life-form, recognize it as one with their own essence and so

love it as themselves. Until this happens, however, most humans see

only the outer forms, unaware of the inner essence, just as they are

unaware of their own essence and identify only with their own physical

and psychological form.

In the case of a flower, a crystal, precious stone, or bird, however,

even someone with little or no Presence can occasionally sense that

there is more there than the mere physical existence of that form,

without knowing that this is the reason why he or she is drawn toward

it, feels an affinity with it. Because of its ethereal nature, its

form obscures the indwelling spirit to a lesser degree than is the

case with other life-forms. The exceptions to this are all the

new-born life-forms – babies, puppies, kittens, lambs, and so on. They

are fragile, delicate, not yet firmly established in materiality. An

innocence, a sweetness and beauty that are not of this world still

shine through them. They delight even relatively insensitive humans.

So when you are alert and contemplate a flower, crystal, or bird

without naming it mentally, it becomes a window for you into the

formless. There is an inner opening, however slight, into the realm of

spirit. This is why these three 'en-lightened' life-forms have played

such an important part in the evolution of human consciousness since

ancient times; why, for example, the jewel in the lotus flower is a

central symbol of Buddhism and a white bird, the dove, signifies the

Holy Spirit in Christianity. They have been preparing the ground for a

more profound shift in planetary consciousness that is destined to

take place in the human species. This is the spiritual awakening that

we are beginning to witness now.

A new imperative

Is humanity ready for a transformation of consciousness, an inner

flowering so radical and profound that compared to it, the flowering

of plants, no matter how beautiful, is only a pale reflection? Can

human beings lose the density of their conditioned mind structures and

become like crystals or precious stones, so to speak, transparent to

the light of consciousness? Can they defy the gravitational pull of

materialism and materiality and rise above identification with form

which keeps the ego in place and condemns them to imprisonment within

their own personality?

The possibility of such a transformation has been the central message

of the great wisdom teachings of humankind. The messengers – Buddha,

Jesus, and others, not all of them known – were humanity's early

flowers. They were precursors, rare and precious beings. A widespread

flowering was not yet possible at that time, and their message became

largely misunderstood and often greatly distorted. It certainly did

not transform human behaviour, except in a small minority of people.

Is humanity more ready now than at the time of those early teachers?

Why should this be so? What can you do, if anything, to bring about or

accelerate this inner shift? What is it that characterizes the old

egoic state of consciousness, and by what signs is the new emerging

consciousness recognized? It has become imperative that these and

other essential questions are answered, because today, humanity is

faced with a stark choice: Evolve or die. A still relatively small but

rapidly growing percentage of humanity is already experiencing within

themselves the breakup of the old egoic mind patterns and the

emergence of a new dimension of consciousness.

What is arising now is not a new belief system, a new religion,

spiritual ideology, or mythology. We are coming to the end not only of

mythologies but also of ideologies and belief systems. The change goes

deeper than the content of your mind, deeper than your thoughts. In

fact, at the heart of the new consciousness lies the transcendence of

thought, a newfound ability of rising above thought, of realising a

dimension within yourself that is infinitely more vast than thought.

You then no longer derive your identity, your sense of who you are,

from the incessant stream of thinking that in the old consciousness

you take to be yourself. What a liberation to realize that the 'voice

in my head' is not who I am. Who am I then? The one who sees that. The

awareness that is prior to thought, the space in which the thought –

or the emotion or sense perception – happens.

Ego is no more than this: identification with form, which primarily

means thought forms. If evil has any reality – and it has a relative,

not an absolute, reality – this is also its definition: complete

identification with form – physical forms, thought forms, emotional

forms. This results in a total unawareness of my connectedness with

the whole, my intrinsic oneness with every 'other' as well as with the

Source. This forgetfulness is original sin, suffering, delusion. When

this delusion of utter separateness underlies and governs whatever I

think, say, and do, what kind of world do I create? To find the answer

to this, observe how humans relate to each other, read a history book,

or watch the news on television tonight.

If the structures of the human mind remain unchanged, we will always

end up re-creating fundamentally the same world, the same evils, the

same dysfunction.

A new heaven and a new earth

The inspiration for the title: A New Earth came from a Bible prophecy

that seems more applicable now than at any other time in human

history. It occurs in both the Old and the New Testament and speaks of

the collapse of the existing world order and the arising of 'a new

heaven and a new earth'. We need to understand here that heaven is not

a location but refers to the inner realm of consciousness. This is the

esoteric meaning of the word, and this is also its meaning in the

teachings of Jesus. Earth, on the other hand, is the outer

manifestation in form, which is always a reflection of the inner.

Collective human consciousness and life on our planet are

intrinsically connected. 'A new heaven' is the emergence of a

transformed state of human consciousness, and 'a new earth' is its

reflection in the physical realm.

Joseph.

October 11, 2005

-

anders_lindman

Nisargadatta

Monday, October 10, 2005 11:21 PM

Re: the ? that gave us non-duality, Advaita