Archive for April, 2010

Greg Goode and Direct Path. Interviews by Scott Kiloby.

April 10, 2010

Greg Goode is the author of Standing As Awareness

Scott Kiloby is a teacher himself whose unfettered, full seeing approach is widely recognized. Scott’s newest book is Reflections of the One Life: Daily Pointers to Enlightenment

Scott Kiloby talks to Greg Goode about the Direct Path. A four part series with Greg Goode, where Scott Kiloby becomes Greg’s student (along with being the interviewer) so that Greg can explain the direct path. This is a rich path that leaves no stone unturned!

Listen to these step by step directions from Greg on standing as awareness itself: http://kiloby.com/kilologues.php

Busting Loose from the Business Game, by Robert Scheinfeld

April 9, 2010

I’m enjoying this book by Robert Scheinfeld, Busting Loose from the Business Game. I’ll write a fuller review in the near future.

This book is nonduality for regular guys. Take your basic guy who’s working for a living, a guy who’s into sports, family, his friends. A guy who can’t figure out how to live like his rich boss who definitely isn’t any smarter than he is. A guy who doesn’t know or care about spirituality or anything in any depth except maybe golf, football, or hockey or his work, his car, or his outdoor grill. This book is nonduality for that guy. It’s not really a (stereotypical) girl’s book. It’s a guy’s book with references to tools, drilling, and sports.

It’s a radical book. Scheinfeld gradually builds up to the confession that business is made up. Not only business and every aspect of it, but your entire life, your work, your family, everything you value. Scheinfeld shows the reader, step by step, and with great patience and practicality, how to stop “pushing the river”, how to let go and allow … existence or whatever you want to call it … run things.

The author says to live your life reactively. Let the world unfold and respond simply and directly. He shows you how to do that. Scheinfeld admits that when you begin this process of busting loose from the business game, or the game of life, you could expect some difficult challenges and that the process could take two or more years to stabilize.

I still have a couple chapters to read, but I like what Scheinfeld has written and the world of nonduality or self-realization he is putting together.

I recommend visiting the Amazon site and “looking inside” the book. You can read the introduction, but more importantly read the index to see the depths this book strikes:

Amazon.com site for Busting Loose from the Business Game.

What are you watching tonight: American Idol or The Buddha?

April 7, 2010

Choose your entertainment:

9PM EST on FOX: American Idol

8PM EST on PBS: The Buddha

Nonduality proved in the laboratory

April 6, 2010

One of the descriptions of nonduality says that things appear to be highly individualistic while, at the same time, being non-separate. That is, things are separate and non-separate at the same time.

Quantum physics has now demonstrated this paradox…

And it’s all because of a tiny bit of metal — a “paddle” about the width of a human hair, an item that is incredibly small but still something you can see with the naked eye.

UC Santa Barbara’s Andrew Cleland cooled that paddle in a refrigerator, dimmed the lights and, under a special bell jar, sucked out all the air to eliminate vibrations. He then plucked it like a tuning fork and noted that it moved and stood still at the same time.


Read the entire article.

The experiment puts to rest Lao Tzu’s claim that “those who know do not speak; those who speak do not know.” Or at least it requires re-interpretation of what Lao Tzu said. Turns out you can do both at the same time. Understanding that things both move and remain still, can help in understanding nonduality, religion, and metaphysics, which is to say that it can help you understand yourself: “Who am I?” or “What am I?”

Why was I told we can’t grasp nonduality?

April 6, 2010

The following is from Google Answers:

Question:

Why was I told we can’t grasp non duality?
For the last couple of years the concept of duality has been undermined in my mind. Perhaps by the grace of God the true nature of things is being revealed to us. I mentioned this to my friend who told me to stop thinking about non duality since humans are not capable of understanding it. Is he right?

Two Answers:

your friend is very wrong…..

Had it not been for the breath of life, there would be no understanding… no reasoning.. no movement… no goals…. no purpose…..

Humanity is certainly capable of understanding……

But, duality is necessary!! Even with God……

The spirit (from man = sperma “the living thing”) and the body (from woman = the shell “the empty thing”) must meet to become whole…..

without one or the other, there is no life…….

Duality is necessary….. without duality, there is no whole…..

Someone once asked:

what is:
1+1……

I say, it is whole….. 1 is only half of the whole picture…. once the other 1 is present, then the two can be whole…..

Once together, they create a whole life……

Without duality, each is searching for another 1…….

your sister,
Ginger

—————————————————

Non duality as in the elimination of the subject-object distinction? Well you wouldn’t be able to ‘grasp’ that, now would you? Or if you mean some kind of mystical enlightenment, that would be a thing to be experienced, not understood, right?

—————————————————

I wonder if the name of the contributor of the second answer is “Fred.” Fred and Ginger. Certainly they are dancing together:

Leap! The Movie is only $10 this Easter weekend.

April 3, 2010

Good Deal: Leap! The Movie is only $10 this Easter weekend. Click here.

On applying mindfulness practices to the care and maintenance of toddlers, by Dustin LindenSmith

April 3, 2010

The following was published in the Halifax Shambhala Banner Newsletter, April 2010:

http://www.halifax.shambhala.org/banner_10/banner_april2010.pdf

On applying mindfulness practices to the care and maintenance of toddlers

by Dustin LindenSmith

I’ve been a full-time, stay-at-home dad since 2004; first with our daughter who’s seven, and now with our two sons, 2 and 3 years old. With both of our boys now firmly in the terrible twos, I’ve found myself questioning if I’m destined to keep any shred of my sanity by the time they reach school age.

Many toddlers require nearly constant supervision. They’re quick to shun their basement playroom full of safe toys, games, puzzles and train sets, choosing instead to empty the kitchen cupboards and drawers of the most breakable and delicate contents; to relieve the filing cabinet of its most important papers; or to raid their sister’s doll house and toy chest of her most prized treasures.

Child-proof drawer and cabinet locks no longer pose a challenge. Even our upper cupboards are accessible now they’ve discovered how to use the lower drawers as stairs to reach counter height. Cooking raises distinct challenges; I’m constantly on the watch to avoid potential cuts or burns arising from their sudden, unexpected appearance at the cutting board or stovetop. As beautiful and inquisitive as they can often be, they’re also indefatigable and incorrigible; nearly all of our verbal instructions to them are ignored as a matter of course. My wife and I refer to them not infrequently as our pair of Tasmanian Devils.

It is exactly these qualities which remind me that rearing children can be a most fruitful spiritual practice. I realize that the greatest frustrations in my day-to-day life arise from my children not acting according to my expectations. Even when my expectations are reasonable — say, not climbing directly onto our gas-fired stovetop to investigate the contents of a boiling pot — these boys still manage to dash them just by acting upon their utterly normal, curious impulses. When they erupt in a screaming tantrum because I’ve yanked them away from the computer keyboard which they’ve just decorated with a permanent marker, I have come to understand that their angry outbursts are a natural response to what they perceive as an unwanted and abrupt halt called to their ordinary investigations of the world around them. In their minds, I am the one with a problem — not them.

Meditation and mindfulness practices help us to train our minds to accept our lives just as they are in this moment; even the stuff that apparently drives us crazy. The wisdom of extremely young children is that they always live inherently in the present moment, never concerning themselves with what happened an hour ago or what might happen an hour from now. Whenever I successfully align my own expectations with that kind of time frame, I find myself instantly living more harmoniously with my sons.

I turn my attention regularly to my breath and on bringing my awareness back into the moment. I can imagine what it must feel like to be them: to be surrounded by giants who have complete control over their every move; to be forcibly removed from the only activities and places they haven’t yet fully explored; and to have little or no language skills with which to express their true desires at any given moment. When these glimpses of realization occur, the compassion I feel for them stops me in my tracks. It makes me squat down to their level to find out what they really want at that moment. It makes me realize that I can hold off on washing these dishes for a few minutes to play a short game with them. It reminds me that I can even let them help me measure out the ingredients for that night’s meal, accepting that I’ll need to do more clean-up than usual after the fact.

In short, I need to suspend my own expectations for the way I think things should be, replacing them with acceptance for the way things are. It’s a profound spiritual teaching, and I didn’t even need to go on retreat to learn it. I just happened to pick it up in my own kitchen from my very own toddler gurus.

Dustin LindenSmith is originally a jazz tenor saxophonist by trade, but he also worked as a market research consultant and an IT project manager throughout his 20s and early 30s. Born in Regina and raised in Calgary, he studied music at McGill
University and settled happily in Halifax with his wife in 1996. He has been a student of yoga and Eastern meditation for 15 years.

Dustin partnered with Jerry Katz to bring nonduality to “the
people” prior to the advent of Nonduality.com and the Nonduality Movement over the Internet.

Beyond Lucid Dreaming and Waking

April 2, 2010

While it is fascinating to dream lucidly, that is, to be aware that you are dreaming and to be able to manipulate your environment — whether sleeping or awake — it is not a recognition of your natural self. It’s a recognition of your cool self.

The natural self, the Self, is stillness. It is dreamless sleep and dreamless waking.

Instead of trying to experience a lucid dream, upon lucidity in a dream, be still. There’s nothing to chase, nothing to manipulate. Carry this stillness to the waking world, to the greatest extent possible. In this way you will come to your natural way of being.

Spiritual Dimension Found Missing: Report

April 1, 2010

Nondual Metaphysics Laboratories Press Release
CERN Switzerland April 1, 2010

Since its first activation, the Large Hardon
Particle Collider has been the reason for
much speculation, and even fear, as several
prominent Particle Physicists have proposed
serious ‘side effects’ resulting in unwanted
consequences, such as the instantaneous
disintegration of planet Earth, swarms of
tiny black holes, or even the opening of gateways
to other dimensions, releasing malevolent
entities such as robo-skeletons or invisible
nano-zombies.

Dr Gene Poole
, director of metaphysical
investigations, has ruled out the above
doomsday scenarios as at least highly
unlikely, if not impossible. Based upon
his meticulously collected and compiled
data, and simulations performed using
ranks of ultimate supercomputers, he has
instead found a rather unexpected
consequence to the operation of the LHC;
the mysterious vanishing of the entire
dimension of ‘spirituality’.

In this excerpted interview with Dr Poole,
we attempt to discover the implications of
this puzzling disappearance:

NML: Dr Poole, we have read your latest
report, but we fail to understand how this
will impact our lives. Can you explain?

GP: Certainly. I have discovered the utter
obliteration of all things spiritual. What
follows from that, will eventually cascade
into what will be major life-changes for
everyone who exists. And for the first time,
everyone will actually, in fact, exist.

NML: Are you saying that unlike before,
our existence is not a mere factor of
memory-in-consciousness, but has
become (pardon the expression) mere
meat and blood and so-on?

GP: Exactly so. Somehow, by means of
these experimentations into base
cosmology, we have inadvertently erased
or deleted the very dimension of spirit,
leaving only mortality. We suddenly have
become ‘meat cars colliding in the night’,
to paraphrase the great Dr Robert Crumb.

NML: And this is different than before… how?

GP: Well, advanced spiritual adepts have
always reported by means of their highly
developed awareness, various and sundry
dimensions which the ordinary person is
not aware of, even if directly informed.

But now, my communication channels
are flooded with reports that even the
most-high swamis and channelers have
found absolutely nothing remaining of
those glorious realms of spirit. They are
getting basically a ‘blank screen’ when
they attempt to make contact with
previously known factors of consciousness.

NML: That does sound alarming! And try
as I may, I can find no difference for myself
in those regards, never having made such
contact as those adepts, in spite of having
attended numerous workshops, and so on.

GP: Exactly. It is in fact, as though such
hidden dimensions have never even existed
at all.

NML: This would seem to put the ordinary
person on-par with even the most exalted
gurus and teachers.

GP: And so it is. Even the Pope is now just
an ordinary guy. Thousands of years worth
of recorded spiritual stories, lessons and
scriptures have become irrelevant. In our
new mortal incarnation, such things are best
used as fuel to heat our homes, rather than
as metaphorical carrots dangled inches from
the hungry mind of the seeker.

NML: Wait, I think I am feeling something. Or
that something is missing. Some difference,
anyway. How do you account for this change?

GP: All I know, is that this change occurred
during the last run of the LHC. Many of the
scientists on the scene at the time, those
close to the machine itself, reported a sort
of disappearance of previously sensed but
vague, ‘background hallucinations’, and then
realization of a new level of untrammeled
rationality. One woman reported a sensation
akin to the sudden absence of an itch she
was unaware of having.

NML: How can we confirm this absence?

GP: Well, it is obviously too late to confirm
the presence of the spiritual, for it is now
gone, and maybe for good. So without that
sample, we cannot prove the absence of it,
either. I think it is safe to conclude that the
rank-and-file will notice very little change
internally, but we have still to observe the
outward manifestations of this deletion.

NML: What could that look like?

GP: There are several areas to watch. Take
televangelists, for example. They will
notice nothing different, and they will
thus continue pushing their financial
agendas. But their target audience will
suddenly feel no compulsion to watch
or listen, and least of all to send money.

We already have received several reports
of individuals who during prayer, suddenly
break out in raucous laughter and begin
crying in great relief, stating the irony that
‘my prayers have finally been answered’.

NML: I see. I guess we could say that now,
we can get on with our materialistic,
selfish lives, unburdened by superstitious
hopes and fears.

GP: Indeed, it seems so. But we must
remember that as social humans, we still
live under structures of civil laws, and
so now, lacking spiritual guidance, we
must regulate ourselves by means of
prudence and rationality. Fortunately,
we are no longer prey to the millions
of lies which have claimed our minds for
untold thousands of years.

NML: Would you say that the sudden absence
of the spiritual, may actually have a liberating
effect?

GP: I think so, but it may take a while for
this to sink in. Most of us have been in the
habit of giving over our self-regulation to
extrinsic rules as stated by spiritual authority.
And now, there is no such authority. This is
the change, in part. And we have to ask;
of the millions who were harnessed by such
now-nonexistent authority, how many will
be desperately seeking some sort of substitute
authority? Now that divine control is no longer
a factor, will people be able to take up their
own reins?

NML: That is a stunning question, now that I
think about it. If we take the spiritual out of the
equation, will the questions of ‘free will’ and
volition be re-explored?

GP: I can only hope so, but nothing is certain,
but the utter lack of any factor of spirituality.

NML: I hesitate to ask, but what does this say
or do, about our concepts of ‘God’?

GP: Obviously, most of that is ‘down the tubes’,
as they say. There is no evidence to support
the concept of ‘God’ now, but was there ever?
Or was it simply made-up, a fantasy, from the
beginning?

NML: Yes. Will ‘faith’ now be seen as a form
of insanity?

GP: Probably so, but in the meantime, we can
start planning to convert all churches, mosques,
and other ‘houses of worship’ into confinement
institutions for the faith-afflicted, well before
they begin to run amok in even greater numbers
than today.

I think I can predict a great wave of suicides, as
the faith-afflicted are confronted with the sudden
lack of ‘afterlife’. This will be lamented, but at least
there will be no fear of hell, nor the temptation
to get to heaven by killing people. Entire armies
of those loyal to faith can simply lay down their
weapons, and start life anew.

NML: Do you foresee economic consequences to
this sudden shift?

GP: Yes, especially in the trinket-and-doodad
industries, as well as in the market for scripture,
be it in print, airwaves, or DVD-ROM. And we
can expect benefits also, as churches and even
the entire Vatican are converted into grand hotels,
public markets for garden produce, public
health clinics, and so on.

NML: This may seem ridiculous, but what about
the devil? I am sure that a lot of faith-afflicted
will pronounce this event as ‘his satanic work’.

GP: They may work themselves into a frothing
fury of frenzied fear, but they will soon see that
there is nothing supernatural happening at all,
for good or evil. I can hope that they will eventually
see that all good or evil come from humans, not
some supernatural agency, which by the way,
have all recently expired, if they ever even existed.

It looks like now and forever, we can safely ignore
everything and anything ‘spiritual’, and walk away
not fearing any ‘smiting’ by gods, demons or
spirits. There will be no more cases of ‘possession’,
nor spiritual healings, no more shrines or alters,
except to the nature of the human, and the actual
universe.

NML: So, we are born, we live a life, and then
we die. End of story. Is that it?

GP: In a nutshell, yes. I want to remind that there is
potentially much pleasure, and love, and enjoyment
during that life before death. Maybe the idea of
limited life will be a good thing, no? I mean, if people
finally realize that ‘this is it’, they may begin cooperating
to bring about heaven on Earth, at last. This has always
been within our power, but the ‘religious authorities’
would run their concept of ‘sin’ and ‘afterlife’ and then
we were just too scared to act in our own behalf. But
as of yesterday, nobody has to be scared any more.

NML: You sound as though you are an authority
on pleasure itself. Is that so?

GP: Yes, I am. I hold 3 Doctorates of Hedonic Engineering.

NML: Are you now conducting researches in that area?

GP: Indeed we are. So far, there is no documentation
regarding the upper limits, if any, of the experience
of pleasure, joy and bliss. Our experiments are designed
to bring a volunteer to the highest possible state of pleasure,
by application of various stimulation, relaxation, drugs,
and so on. I cannot reveal much of this now, but eventually
our institute will publish many papers and Youtube videos
of such ecstatic states.

And without the imaginary boogyman of spiritual
retribution, anyone is now completely free to experience
pleasure, with no limits. In our labs, such freedom has
resulted in spectacular changes in outlook and the vision
of a much better future.

NML: I for one, look forward to viewing your research
data, Dr Poole! But have you noted any side-effects?

GP: Well, if you consider deep sleep and good appetite
as ‘side effects’, then yes. But no, so far, pleasure is not
found to be dangerous, except for the routines devised
years ago by ‘behaviourists’ such as BF Skinner and his
ilk. The ‘suicide by pleasure’ brain-wired monkey idea
has been tried and found to be ridiculous. We use only
natural methods and substances in our research, not
holes drilled into the skull.

NML: Thank you, Dr Poole, for a most enlightening
interview.

==GP==

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