Nonduality Blog

“Turn on, tune in, drop out.” Did Timothy Leary have it backwards?

The following is from the Wikipedia:

“Turn on, tune in, drop out” is a counterculture phrase coined by Timothy Leary in the 1960s. The phrase came to him in the shower one day after Marshall McLuhan suggested to Leary that he come up with “something snappy” to promote the benefits of LSD. It is an excerpt from a prepared speech he delivered at the opening of a press conference in New York City on September 19, 1966. This phrase urged people to initiate cultural changes through the use of psychedelics and by detaching themselves from the existing conventions and hierarchies in society. The phrase was derided by more conservative critics.

“The phrase is derived from this part of Leary’s speech: ‘Like every great religion of the past we seek to find the divinity within and to express this revelation in a life of glorification and the worship of God. These ancient goals we define in the metaphor of the present — turn on, tune in, drop out.’”

Now consider what nondualist Tony Parson invites. The following was posted to the Nonduality Highlights today:

“Drop asking ‘why’ and simply become totally involved in the absolutely wonderful miracle of life just as it is, right here, right now. Can you not see that whatever has just happened for you at this moment has never happened before and will never happen again? It is totally unique and fresh and innocent, and it is here and then it isn’t. Isn’t that just great?”

Seems like Tony is saying first to drop out: “Drop asking why…”

Then he’s suggesting you “see” the moment for what it is, or tune in.

Finally he asks you to value the moment to be turned on to the moment. If follows that you will “turn on” others to become inclined to drop out.

Using Leary’s terms, those three invitations might be re-phrased as, “Drop out, tune in, turn on,” the reverse of what Leary declared.

Dropping out is the main step. It means to stand free of the thousands of trances that compete for your mental space.

Then you will be able to tune in or “see.” See what? God, creation, the structure of reality.

Finally, when you value this seeing, you will turn on, which means to naturally express it (perhaps silently, perhaps through some creative effort), send it forth, cast the light of it in all directions, emit the perfume, turn-on the world, whichever metaphor you prefer.

To walk on Nonduality Street, rather than Psychedelic Boulevard, discriminate. That is, when you read a book or do a spiritual practice or walk through the park, be aware that you are dropping out and not merely turning on. If a practice or a person makes you feel high or blissful, you are turning on. If in the presence of a person or practice you see the nothingness of everything, that “all is vanity,” then you are dropping out.

Dropping out is only the beginning. Often fear sets in and the process stops and one settles for a glimpse of the freed mind, which is better than not having had a glimpse.

Remember the chant of the nonduality generation: Drop out, tune in, turn on. Or does that put you in a feel good trance? Well, no one ever said there’s a winner in the nonduality game.

God Is an Atheist: A Novella for Those Who Have Run Out of Time, is going to be published in June. You can pre-order now. I categorize it alongside Richard Beymer’s Imposter.

Even if you’re not sure about the literary handling of nondualism, but you support the nonduality genre, then please consider reading this work.

The review

This gavotte of literary styles and daydreams compels you to become a partner and leads you to an understanding of God that is beyond belief.

One moment the writing reminds me of the wild-eyed Richard Beymer caught in the fantastic world knot of “contrived identity” in his book Impostor.

Next moment I see the shoes of a sensible philosophical warrior.

Then I recognize the humor of two best friends sitting in a booth at a deli late at night, lots of that, and…

…stream of consciousness machine-gunning at a flock of popular culture icons, literary icons, spiritual icons: kantkafkawalmartpenisenlargersdrpeppergodscarlettjohanssen. The parts I like the best are when the author is ranting, going stream of consciousness, writing quickly, not being too careful. There’s not enough of it in the book. The appearance of care is meant for the non-fiction. Fiction could be more reckless and risky, and the care less evident. It takes a lot of care to be careless, yes;

beautiful self-consciousness of a frustrated author giving hell to his editor for what she did, does, or wants to do to his writing;

turning the story inside out so that the reader becomes the co-star of the book;

a little bit of Ramana bashing, which is fashionable. If you meet your contrived identity on the road, bash it. Although I wouldn’t call it bashing as much as removing the aura of saintliness from Ramana in order to make enlightenment more accessible. Certainly Ramana was a saint, but we’re not, yet we can still get enlightened;

and stories, my favorite being the one about Eddie Buddha, the cousin of G. Buddha. Eddie was never remembered because he did not leave his wife and kid and renounce the world. He hung around. He went to delis at night with his best buddy. The following paragraph I found warm to the touch. Either the author is a good actor or this reveals something about the writer:

“I wanted a life like Eddie Buddha’s that was clear, straightforward, regular and unfettered by the dogma of belief. I wanted a life that was compelling, which is an interesting word, meaning undeniable, gripping, but I wanted it compelled by truth. Compelling is the force exerted from the future into the past as organized by our mind. There is nothing compelling other than what you actually express, nothing before, nothing after.”

God, truth, is always what it’s all about, no matter what these writers in the nonduality genre are talking about. It’s all about how it is said though, and the author says it well.

God Is an Atheist: A Novella for Those Who Have Run Out of Time

Missouri is a hotbed of nonduality. Here are a couple very recent articles mentioning nonduality in Missouri’s mainstream media.

From the Kansas City Star:

Eighth-century mystic has teachings for today (excerpts)

Shankara’s key insight was that reality is “non-dual,” ultimately undivided. The Sankskrit term for this school of thought is Advaita.

For Shankara, there is no real difference between the individual person and the “conscious principle underlying and sustaining the universe” called Brahman — God, Nishpapananda said.

“This means that in the highest mystical experience, the world disappears completely. There is no subject or object in this experience; only the divine reality is. In the West mystics like … (the Christian) Meister Eckhart, among others, had this experience,” Nishpapananda explained.

The perception of divine reality within the mystical experience can be compared to awakening from the illusion of a dream.

I asked how one can achieve liberation from the illusion that things are separate from the divine.

Nishpapananda replied: “Christ put it most succinctly: ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.’ A pure heart is without desire or enmity. Purity comes from sustaining a moral course while pursuing secular goals. The Sanskrit term is dharma.

Read the entire article (not very long) at www.kansascity.com/255/v-print/story/607546.html

Columbia (Missouri) residents learn to relax through yoga nidra

No downward dog or tree pose here. In a Columbia yoga nidra class, it’s even perfectly acceptable to doze off.

In Columbia, yoga nidra is gaining popularity among students and hip professionals, and it has also been used to help soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder.

…

Richard Miller, director of a non-profit organization dedicated to the teaching of yoga nidra, has repackaged it as iRest for U.S. soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

His Center of Timeless Being in Petaluma, Calif., conducted several studies to measure the impact of iRest on the mental health of these soldiers, as well as on the homeless.

The center’s first study at Walter Reed Memorial Hospital in West Virginia in 2006 showed that practicing iRest dramatically lowered levels of stress, depression and anxiety in the soldiers.

After the study was complete, Miller said, the hospital invited a teacher from the center to create an ongoing program for soldiers there.

Miller also worked on two studies in Petaluma that measured the effects of iRest on the homeless and came to the same conclusion.

In Columbia, registered nurse Terry Wilson has been conducting pilot studies to investigate the effects of iRest on college students. The studies have yielded positive results.

Even individuals facing the daily grind of work and family find yoga nidra a successful way to unwind, relax and learn something about themselves.

“We all have had these experiences where people curse us to believe that we are a certain way,” McRae said. “But with yoga nidra, you realize you are something more.”

Beyond the actual practice of yoga nidra is an underlying convention known as non-dual philosophy that enables individuals to see themselves as part of the bigger picture, not as a single entity, McRae said.

“Non-dual philosophy means that we are not separate, we are the same,” he said. “If you and I really are the same thing, whatever I do to you, I am doing to myself.”

Read the full article.

Richard Miller’s website is nondual.com .

I read that actress Meg Ryan introduced Eckhart Tolle’s book, The Power of Now, to Oprah. Tolle is only one of the excellent communicators of nondual teachings. There are many others. The huge majority is very little known in the world.

As this blog unfolds there will often be the mention of one or another teacher of nonduality, as there already has been such mention.

For now, I want to give you access to listings of hundreds of teachers, sages, and gurus. Many are living and accessible to you. Some are living and not so accessible. Some are reclusive. Many are dead, some are legendary or mythical, but their works and the works about them are tremendously valuable.

By giving you access to hundreds of alternatives to Eckhart Tolle, do I want to overwhelm you? Yes, sort of. I want to convey abundance.

I want you to realize that an intimacy with the teaching of nonduality is not rare. I want to show that the universe, or at least the bookstore, is offering you almost endless ways of “getting” the teaching of nonduality. I want nonduality, nondual, nondualism, to be your new household words.

Here are the links that will introduce you to scores, perhaps hundreds, of nondual teachers. I need to emphasize that each teacher speaks in a different way, emphasizes different aspects of the teaching of nonduality. Some of the following links will try to clarify those aspects for each teacher.

Sarlo’s Guru Rating Service - Rich with teacher listings, ratings, opinions, and supported by a very active email forum.

Some Teachers of Advaita - Dennis Waite’s fine, carefully constructed list of teachers with brief commentary, photos, quotations. An important Advaita/nonduality site.

Ramana and Other Advaita - The original list of teachers.
Some excellent writings.

Teachers, Gurus, Realizers, Confessors - Valuable list that formed the foundation of most other lists of gurus, however no longer kept up to date.

Builders of Culture - Eric Paroissien’s commendable list with photos and links.

Divine Inspirators - Many Indian sages that few have heard of. Video clips too.

Strictly Spiritual - Includes ratings of gurus and teachers; actively kept up. Good message board. Informative articles.

Satsang Worldwide - Access living teachers by clicking on a map of the world. Very well done site.

I highly recommend devoting as much of your life as possible to the teaching of nonduality in the way that is right for you, regardless of what teacher or books you are drawn to.

I have no single individual to recommend for everyone. You must discover the right teacher, readings, and approach for yourself.

To stay in touch with the teaching of nonduality, three doorways will lead you into the big world of nonduality:

– read this blog often.
– subscribe to the daily free letter, Nonduality Highlights.
– explore the links at Nonduality.com

Additionally, my book, One: Essential Writings on Nonduality, brings a selection of diverse writings. I designed the anthology to give you practical guidance in realizing your nondual nature, and to demonstrate how various scriptural works and self-realized people describe nondual reality. You can also buy the book off the shelf at most large Borders Stores.

And write me if you have questions.

Since I posted the first part of this article on January 9, 2008, Eckhart Tolle and his particular teaching of nonduality have been raised in public consciousness.

In the earlier article I asked whether Eckhart Tolle was as strong a brand as Deepak Chopra. At this point it is clear that the name Eckhart Tolle is a very strong brand. A few months ago I might have thought that “The Now” was a stronger brand, but I no longer think that. Although the Deepak Chopra brand goes back decades, in current times Eckhart Tolle is as strong or stronger a brand name.

Also in the earlier article I felt that the Ken Wilber name was a stronger brand than the Peter Fenner name. I don’t think that’s as true any longer. Fenner’s Radiant Mind — the book and course — is becoming more well known. And I feel it is easier to find one’s way from Tolle to Fenner, while not so easy to find a bend in the Tolle road that leads straight to Wilber.

The other update is about the 9choirs.com site. It has improved its look and name and thereby strengthened its branding. Now the site is called SoulsCode: Everyone’s a guru. I like the site and branding much better, although I still don’t easily grasp its focus or niche.

There are hundreds of other examples in the nonduality field that could be discussed in terms of branding. I’m only giving my impressions and have no hard evidence to back them. My main purpose is to get you to think about the business of nonduality in terms of branding. The question you might ask is whether you are optimally branding your work in nonduality.

Nonduality needs to be run as a business in order to communicate it worldwide. Take the most low-profile nondual people in the nonduality racket, for example a guy like david carse who doesn’t teach, doesn’t encourage personal contact, doesn’t even copyright his popular book, Perfect Brilliant Stillness: beyond the individual self: he still has to run a business, ship books, advertise, deal with publishers, printers, distributors, banks, etc.

And I have to say, if david has a brand it is david carse himself, the reclusive Vermont carpenter who writes brilliantly about the nondual state and claims no ownership of his writing. What a job of branding!

Yesterday I spent the afternoon with Dhyan Dewyea, author of Beyond the ‘I’: Notes on Waking Up to Oneness.

What’s left is always an impression, not so much the conversation or what was said, but the impress of ease, the smile that sparkles, the making of things simple, the direct gaze undirected.

There’s only a very limited meeting with anyone by email or phone. Much time can be saved by meeting a person one-to-one. With email, a few letters are exchanged, weeks or months go by, another email is exchanged. By sitting silently with someone, those gaps of weeks or months might be filled in a second or two, as the binds which shape themselves into questions unravel and dissolve.

If you read Dhyan’s book, feel free to email her. If you like the email exchange, arrange a phone interaction. If you like talking to her on the phone, try to meet Dhyan in person. I don’t see where she is identified with the nondual trends or groups of current times, which I liked about her. Here is an excerpt from Dhyan’s book:

The End of Longing

This self realization is not just another nice, powerful, or intriguing state like some of the ones which can happen on the inner journey. It does not go away. This is why it is not a state, because a state can change into some other state. Being at source is the precondition for all states. States belong to the manifest person. The source precedes all manifestation and is the same undivided One that underlies everyone and everything, whether it is known or not.

All this amounts to a qualitative and distinct leap in perception; as if the perception is moved from the head to the feet for the first time. But the body and its operating systems, its personality features, may not change — awakening is not about change.

There are people who might say ‘you had a spiritual experience, good for you.’ No, this is not another experience in a long succession of life experiences. An experience implies that there is an experiencer and something that is experienced — it belongs to the level of duality. There is no experiencer and nothing experienced in this. The experiencing, the observing, the watching subject, all fall back into pure subjectivity (another term for source). There is no one there anymore to have an experience.

Beyond the ‘I’: Notes on Waking Up to Oneness.

Also visit Dhyan’s personal website: beyond-the-i.com

Dr. Kriben Pillay has published a new book: Nondualism & Educational Drama and Theatre: A Perspective for Transformative Training.

Dr. Pillay lives and works in education in South Africa. He is an activist opening the door and leading people into the room of nondualism. It’s never easy. I hope that if you have an interest in both education and nondualism, as well as human freedom and creativity, that you will investigate this work.

Very brief excerpt:

The scope of this study is encapsulated in the following three questions:

1. In what way does nondualism as critical theory bring about greater theoretical precision to the practice of educational drama and theatre?

2. Can the experiential dimension of nondualism radically extend the practice of educational drama and theatre?

3. Can educational drama and theatre be used as a tool in effecting the traditional, ontological concerns of the experiential dimension of nondualism?

Here’s another excerpt that gives some perspective to the treatment of nondualism itself.

“Nondualism will be explored within the concept of multivalence, in contrast to much of Western thinking that is built up on binary oppositions or bivalence. Much of our education, even in the arts, is bound to a mind-set that sees the world in terms of this or that, black or white. Nondualism is concerned with a world as a continuum where the finality of binary opposites makes way for the relativity of multivalent perspective.”

Dr. Pillay notes that the field of educational drama and theatre has come under threat, especially in Britain. Underlying this is the sense of comfort and security people feel when they view the world as black and white, rather than in grey, even if such a view is, in a creative and freely human sense, crippling.

Read more from Nondualism & Educational Drama and Theatre: A Perspective for Transformative Training, and order it at www.lulu.com/content/1994623

Keywords:

* Theory U
* Transformative Training
* Educational Theatre
* educational drama
* nondualism

I’ve Noticed Shadows

I’m not familiar with the literature of lucid dreams, so I don’t know where this confession fits into it. I’m good at dreaming lucidly. But, like being awake, it is what it is and there is nothing I’m so interested in manifesting or changing.

However, I’ve noticed in dreams places of long and deep shadows. I’ve been meaning to walk into those dark places during a lucid dream. The other night I finally explored one of those deep, dark shadow places.

The Dream

I was in a garage — going somewhere, doing something — and I had just turned a corner. I looked behind me and saw not far away a long, deep, and very dark shadow area. Since I was lucid in the dream I thought what the heck and walked back into the shadow.

It was nothing more than a dark space in which I could not see! I walked back into the light in order to continue the dream.

The Nature of the Dark Place

However, the dark place was very peaceful too. It was the experience of awareness alone. Some people experience all their dreams from that place. It may be black as night, or have a cast of dark blue. It is the experience of awareness itself.

It seems that all dreams are edged by darkness. If you’ve never seen that darkness, I’m sure you sense it. That darkness marks the limit of the dream, the place where the play of inner light ends. So by all means, if you wish go beyond the world of the dream, look for the deep shadow area and enter it. This is not the Jungian shadow world. It has nothing to do with repression. It’s different, as explained below.

The End of the Dream Is Everywhere

What is the parallel in the waking world? What is the dark, deep, shadowy area of the world in which you are right now? How do you move beyond the everyday and into awareness itself?

That’s done by being aware that you are aware. That can also be done during a lucid dream, of course, at any point in any dream. That deep, dark shadow is everywhere. The end of the dream is everywhere, though it may be perceived as distant in some way.

The distance may be perceived as psychological, as something yet to be achieved. It may be felt as geographical, as being represented by a teacher who lives away from you. It may be physical in dream space, as the place of darkness I walked toward.

Clearly, distance isn’t real. If there is only awareness, there is no separation from it. There appears to be movement toward or away from awareness, but there isn’t any movement, just as in a dream nothing moves or fundamentally changes.

Do You Value the Dream or the Source of the Dream?

What’s important is what you value. If you value the dream and all the events occurring in them, then have fun. At least I am sure you will pay some attention to your pure existence or awareness. If you value awareness, then you will also be active in the dream world, but you will always know the dark, potent, wordless ground of reality.

This Darkness is Dark Because It Has Burned the Eyes That Would See The Light

Perhaps you are asking why darkness is used for the depiction of awareness and not light. This darkness is prior to the light. It is not the shadow side of Jungian psychology. It is not a shadow that hides repressed things.

The light of the dream comes out of this kind of darkness that I’m talking about. That’s how bright this darkness is. It is beyond seeing or knowing. There are no more eyes to be burned by this brightness. So it appears to be dark.

How To Discover That The Light Comes Out of The Darkness

If you doubt it, just enter that dark space in the lucid dream and then manifest a dream situation. You will see light form in the darkness and take whatever shape you want. Then you will get all caught up in the manufactured shapes. But if you remain lucid, you will see those shapes for what they are: absolutely nothing. But don’t let that keep you from enjoying that hot fudge sundae!

Those who have been into the new spirituality, also known as non-duality or nondual spirituality, for the last several years, recognize Eckhart Tolle as only one of the very good communicators within that spiritual niche.

His communication or expression of nondual spirituality (or nondualism) is neither greater nor lesser than many other men and women. It’s different. All the versions of the teaching of nonduality are different.

I would like to suggest that there are ways to supplement the works of Tolle. There are other voices, other ways of saying what Tolle is saying.

I want to recommend one author today. Chuck Hillig. Chuck wrote a classic book that has been praised by Deepak Chopra, Dan Millman (The Way of the Peaceful Warrior), The Los Angeles Times, and numerous others. That book is Enlightenment for Beginners. Chuck has written three other books that will take you further in your understanding of your true nature and the reality of the world.

To find out more about Chuck’s books, please visit this page.

If you have the time, also investigate the sponsors’ links in the column on the left hand side of this page. There are many excellent offerings and good people within the “new spirituality” of nonduality. Please leave comments or write me privately if you have any questions.

This is a review of A Guide to Awareness and Tranquility, by William Samuel

Biography: A Baker from Alabama

William Samuel never received the attention he deserved because he wasn’t part of the Zeitgeist of the 60s and 70s. Unlike his contemporary, the popular Alan Watts, Samuel was not involved in psychedelics, Zen, the Human Potential Movement, San Francisco spiritual subculture. Nor was Samuel associated with TM, the music of the times, Woodstock, or war protests. Bill Samuel live in Alabama, for gosh sakes, where he owned a bakery. He spoke simply and in an old-fashioned manner about awareness or God, basically.

Yet Samuel spoke a very modern nondual message. In fact, let’s face it, he was, and probably still is, ahead of his times.

A Teacher of Teachers:

It’s not to say William Samuel never had a following, even though he didn’t encourage it: “Most tenacious among those beliefs is the insanity that one must be either a leader or a follower. Allness leads what? Singleness follows whom?” He was considered a teacher’s teacher. With a genius IQ and a gift for communication, “he would get the most earnest and dedicated students of Truth. Quite a number of Taoists and Buddhists had found William’s message and came to study–even some who were called Masters.” Samuel saw fierce action in World War II, studied with a Taoist monk, traveled around the world seeking spiritual truth, was the first American to sit with a sage in India who would become world famous. (The information and quotations in this paragraph are from a short biography of Samuel at williamsamuel.com.)

Like Walking on Beach Stones:

This book is collection of brief letters, conversations, lectures, writings. They are organized into chapters, yet each short selection stands alone as a confession of awareness, as awareness, from the Identity of peace and tranquility.

Every book has its own texture and this one is like walking on a beach carpeted with smooth but hard and not comfortable beach stones. It’s not easy to walk on such a beach. At the same time there’s a pleasure in stepping onto each stone, compressing it into the stones and sand beneath and finding that you stand on a place of interest and substance.

Each writing is like that: compact, hard, and substantial. It’s not an easy, flowing stroll over the stones. But each writing is also sure and satisfying in its wholeness and firmness.

Besides confessions or claims that there is only awareness, Samuel addresses many practical issues. He brings the practical and the confessional together.

Confessions of Awareness and Tranquility:

First let’s look at the confessions, claims, reports, descriptions of awareness and tranquility.

“Awareness is who we are! Awareness itself! We are not the ego, the personality or body, who says Awareness is ‘mine.’ THAT is the incorrect identity, the ‘old man,’ the ‘liar from the beginning,’ the ‘deceiver,’ the devil himself. THAT is the one to be ‘put off.’ That is the one to ‘come out from … and be ye separate.’”

“Tranquility is ever present as our very Identity. It is always ‘here,’ but we cannot be very well aware of it while battling the external picture, and we cannot be aware of it at all while believing that Identity is dependent upon, and dictated to, by a world of ‘things.’”

“Many have come here thinking the discovery of Identity is to be an ‘illumination.’ Oh, how many times we have talked about that! Well, it is an illumination, but it has nothing to do with wild or unearthly emotions. It has to do with a joy quite beyond sensation.”

Practical Advice:

Samuel covers many worldly topics, including the ones illustrated below: charity, materialism vs spirituality, and racism.

Question: What are my obligations to other people? That is, as Awareness, what are my obligations to images and objects of perception?

Answer: From this standpoint, we have no obligations to other people. We simple do all that seems to be the sensible, honest thing to do. We do this while aware that the Identity ‘they’ are is That which is being this Self-same Awareness. What ‘they’ call miracles appear everywhere for everyone to see.

“In order to see Truth as Truth is, it is only necessary to be the Truth one already is – and cease from the false identification, from the one who uses, manipulates and ‘possesses’ Truth. … ‘But how do I do this?’ … We do this by simply being motiveless Awareness only – which, among other things, is to perceive without opinions (judgments), without saying ‘this is good’ and ‘that is evil,’ ‘I like’ and ‘I don’t like.’ Inevitably, the first step is to end judgment, then to perceive that our real Identity is Awareness itself, not the ego-container. It is as simple as this. Words cannot tell of the wonders that become apparent when this effortlessness is put into practice.”

“The proof is not things! Never! If it were, the United States would be overflowing with saints. Doctors would treat only the poor. The judgment that the presence of ‘things’ is ‘proof’ of one’s understanding is only the other end of the same dualistic nothingness that claims a lack of health, wealth or harmony is real! Do not be trapped into believing that the presence (or absence) of ‘things’ is either proof or disproof of Suffiency, Tranquility, Being.”

It was Alabama in the Sixties. Samuel wrote the following in this book: “About the judgment and classification of people: about color, nationality and religion. Ultimately everything boils down to the fact that Reality is all and that personality, racial identification, body-ego and the like are nothing.” Two full pages of writing follow that opening statement. Who is ready to hear that now, let alone forty years ago in the South?

Samuel covers other topics: attending church, grief, depression, business, money, death, love.

Refers to the Teachings of Christ:

Though this book is not a work of nondual Christianity, Samuel does show how his teaching of awareness and tranquility is supported by Christ’s teaching:

In a discussion on the limitations of positive thinking, Samuel writes, “’Who by taking thought can add one inch to his stature?’ Jesus asked. ‘Take no thought…’ said He. We have done with all personal thinking, positive and negative alike!”

“We need only insist on being tranquility to feel tranquility! ‘Ask and it shall be answered. … behold, I come quickly,’ says the Comforter. Reader, try for yourself and discover that this is so.”

You will encounter Christ not infrequently during your walk along this stony beach.

Dear Abby:

William Samuel plays Dear Abby in answering people’s letters about life problems. To a wife who is distressed that her husband does not share her interest in Truth, Samuel reminds her that “We are in the beholding business, and not in the business of judging how certain images are supposed to act or respond. To free them of such obligations is to find ourselves free of any dependence upon them for our happiness.”

Humor:

“Those who mistakenly identify themselves as the old man – that silly spectre – inevitably spoof themselves into playing the role of the Spook Inspector. In addition, they find themselves being the spurious spectator of other Spook Inspectors; Spook-self, self-spooked, or, Spectre-self completely spoofed. Of course, all of this is a fantastic fantasy of farcical foolishness, false, from the first, and powerless – but funny, after it is seen for what it is.”

“If we are to discover the Tranquility that is already our here-and-now-Identity, we simply must – and effortlessly can – stop attempting to play the part of that stumbling, fumbling, bumbling, trembling, untranquil, phobia-filled phantom called the ‘old man,’ the judge.”

I hope you now have a sense of the beach full of smooth rocks which this book is. Perhaps the tide will come in and wash you away.

A Guide to Awareness and Tranquility, by William Samuel

Excerpts, ordering info, other books by the author.