Advaita Post Volume 13 ,#Nr.13 - All your childishness disperses ...

June 27, 2012

--- All of your childishness disperses like the clouds - sunlight is everywhere ---

It's the same everywhere

*****

Go back to where you came from,
to That which precedes all forms and qualities.
You are That!

*****

Text satsang

From complexity to simplicity

From an Advaita talk with Douwe Tiemersma, Schiermonnikoog, June 1, 2012

See how the last ten minutes have gone for you here in the chapel: at first there was attention for all the things surrounding you, while you sat here, ready to start, chatting with others. Then you began to really sit and you could relax. Now you realize: yes, I've often sat here, actually, nothing has changed. Time disappears and a deep silence arises in which all those things which initially you found so important disappear. Only your own being-consciousness-bliss remains. And that is infinite. If you just relax you notice how close and natural it really is. In duality you are focused on the things surrounding you or on all kinds of mental objects. Then, the duality disappears. What remains is this non-dual sphere where there are no separations. You might say: do we need to go to Schiermonnikoog for that? You see how close it is. You are that. Be aware of this change in your orientation. You see that you have these different options. You see it very clearly: I can stay with myself while life can just go on. A non-dual sphere remains. In this non-dual sphere time and no-time, form and no-form, co-exist. The most important thing is to remain clear about your own situation, especially regarding your orientation. From your deeper - or higher - consciousness you can experience the differences in your orientation very clearly, even on an increasingly subtle level. If you don't do that, before you know it you're back to thinking in the old way, looking in the old way, acting in the old way, in duality.

From this greater clarity you primarily notice the tendency to resume these old habits. When you notice this tendency early enough it's very easy to let go. So stay alert on this more original level. There is an infinity of space, there is silence, you are yourself, without interpretation. You remain aware of the whole. That means: you remain aware of yourself, physically too. Of course you notice what kinds of physical feelings are there, but you experience them within the great space. So you see what's happening, what your situation is. You remain aware of yourself, you remain aware of your own consciousness, you relax in it. Let this quality of your own consciousness increase. It is consciousness with a high intensity, without tension, but still with a high intensity, incredibly alert, clear. When that clarity disappears then you're back, just like that, to another level of limited consciousness, in duality. It's an increasing wakefulness on that higher level. From there you see that life doesn't need to change. Something happens, but only in a vertical sense. You become increasingly aware of your own self-being and then that appears to be so comprehensively great that everything else is absorbed within it and becomes transparent. So this is that other orientation. You're no longer concentrated somewhere in a limited self-being. That contractedness has come open. Experience this transition from duality to nonduality. From the complexity of things that are separate to the simplicity of unity. It's so easy if you just don't think about it. In the silence you open up. Be clearly aware within it so that it can stabilize. Just confirm: this is it, this is it, this is it. When your own sphere of being is infinite, there are no real distances. So too, there is no time.

I struggle with it when I'm open and have space for another, yet I still feel resistance. For example, I frequently think I'd like to have someone over for dinner, but then again, no.

You have already said it: I think, I struggle. If you just leave out thinking and return to the core of yourself. There is absolutely no time there, there is no distance, there is just openness. Focus on that. As long as you are still busy thinking you remain in duality and see the complexity and the wrestling. As soon as you notice it, a bell should start ringing: stop, I'm going in the wrong direction. First return. Of course it's very stupid to think that you can find solutions by continuing to struggle and think. You know that that doesn't work. You're at the wrong level. So you must stop thinking and wrestling. If you also know: when I return to myself, resting there in relaxation, there's an inner clarity which confirms that the problem's no longer there. Then there can also be an inner clarity for letting it continue, so that you don't return to that problematic spot.

(...)

In this space of consciousness you learn everything that you need to learn. All those old habits that have the tendency to reassert themselves: you see and release them. All your habitual pettiness, it certainly does come back, but you see it and let it go. All that childishness, you see it all and let it go. It dissolves and dissipates like the clouds. And sunlight is everywhere.

(...)

It's not about saying: you should do this and not do that, you should pursue this and avoid that. The main thing is to become acquainted with the dynamic of self-being in its limitations and limitlessness. That's all. You confirm that now and then there's a regression to narrowness. And you realize: actually, I know better. It's not bad that there's a regression, it's just stupid. You just don't know what's going on any more. Because, of course, everyone wants to be happy. But the way people go about it is often just plain stupid. That is ignorance, not knowing. But you know that you with your consciousness can return to the original openness that is always there. It remains increasingly stable there in a purer and more complete way. That's what it's about and we agree to it for the rest of the week. OK?

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