Monday, March 29, 2010

No Practice, No Method

Q: Came across your blog, you are seeing oneness. I would like to ask what advice you recommend. I found that
simply abiding in the I AM or I knowing seems to be on the correct path, Especially following the advice of Nisargadatta. Say now a question arises, "Who witnesses this "I"?", who is the seer, etc, there are obviously no answers that mind can bring forth. Is it more a thing of persisting and being earnest in
the enquiry until 'eventually' the I AM leaves?

How long did you need to practice self-enquiry before you realized? I know this is a poor question and wont yield any sort of value
to me, just more interested in knowing what you went through up until the point you realized.


A: There is no path or practice. Just know that the I AM is your true nature. It is not the words "I AM", what are the words "I AM" pointing to?

You know with certainty that you are here. How is it so certain (100%, unquestionably certain) that you exist, that you are awake, that you are present?

What effort does it take to be awake?

How could you not abide in this I-AM-ness?

Does this I AM ever change?

Does this I AM ever come and go? Do you ever phase in an out of existence, even if you would, you would KNOW(ing) this!

Therefore, this I AM never leaves. This is not "I am an individual"

The belief that you are an individual, separate entity naturally falls away when it is seen that "name" is just an ephemeral thought.

When the thought "name" is not, I AM (ALWAYS) IS.

Yet, the thoughts "name", "me", "I" floats in and out....like a cloud in the sky.

No one is witnessing this....thoughts float in and out naturally....

Notice that "name" has been entangled with the body-mind. How do you know the body-mind right HERE and NOW?

Isn't it the KNOWING?

The activity of KNOWING is Self-Knowing

BE(ing) the KNOWING.....and how could you not?!?!

HA!

8 comments:

No One In Particular said...

Hi Jason, I've added a long-overdue link to your blog over on mine.
Really enjoyed this entry. No one is listening, ya know!

Jason Swanson said...

Hahahaha!

Unknown said...

Nice stuff Jason. We need everyone possible to share the message of simplicity. Far too many have been conned into believing it is an almost herculean task to come to know and abide as who we truly are. And, the era of the almighty guru holding the one and only key is hearing its death knell. Awakening can be for everyone, once our cynicism is seen for the phantom that it is.

M.B. said...

Dear Jason,
Dear all,

I have a tricky question. I understand everything about the Awakening, after many years of searching who I am.

The question:
Who decides the changeover to enlightenment? To Peace? To joy? It seems this is outside our control.
Is it a grace?

Thanks in advance.

Jason Swanson said...

MB,

Thanks for writing.

It seems like you are eagerly awaiting a grand awakening which is contingent upon an "if...then...." proposition. Something along the lines of: "If I meditate long or hard enough, I will then become enlightened."

There is nothing to get and nothing to receive. What you ARE is what is being pointed to over and over again. You ALREADY ARE That.

That silent, wordless I-am-ness is ALWAYS present (not in the future or past). Always right Here...happening Now.

Whatever experience happens, comes and goes in this Presence-Awareness. Whether it is the birth of a child, the loss of a job, a tree falling, the crack of thunder or something "mystical", is just another experience that is transient.

Being is unwavering, immutable and unquestionable. It is not a hypothesis becomes all thoughts come/go in that Awareness.

Thoughts are floating through....appearing to no one....

There is no "doer" of actions, and individual, sepearate entity is merely another concept that floats through. Pause thoughts, notice that your Presence is unaffected. YOU remain (as ALWAYS).

If there is no "doer", how is this all happening?

Life is expressing itself, perfectly, spontaneously and effortlessly.

With no one there to "do" any of this, who would be there to suffer?

Have a close look at your questions, embedded in these questions assumes the presence of an individual person that is already there, and this person is going to "get" enlightened. This is a futile task--there is no person.

What we take to be a person is a cornucopia of thoughts that are associated with a single thought "I".

"I" need this, "I" need that. "I" hate this, "I'm" such a moron....

Boil all of the psychological suffering down and notice that it is always contingent upon that singular concept.

But you are not a thought. That thought "I" is just another thought. There is not a person (or "I") that is always present. "I" is a concept that comes and goes.

There is not already a person there looking at the concept "I"!

In the recognition that "I" is only imagination, everything associated with "I" is immediately recognized to also be imagination. A "peaceful" person doesn't really apply because "I" is imagination.

Set aside imagination. Pause thoughts and take a look at what is really happening.

There is no evidence of a person there. None.

Nothing can be put into words that can really describe what you ARE.

Seeing is happening....is about as close as we can come.

No seer, no seen, just SEEING.

BE the SEEING.

M.B. said...

Dear Jason,
I understand what you are trying to point to. This is an understanding. This is not my «personal» experience. Many beings have understood but did not realized. The Self – what we are - is Sat-Chit-Ananda according to the Tradition and many realized beings (Ramana, Nisargadatta...).
If I am already the Wholeness I seek, why do I still experience Sadness? And so on.
It is not so simple to abandon all spiritual research.
The understanding does not lead to the realization.
I feel lost. In any case, it is the mind, certainly.

Many thanks.
Mouloud

Jason Swanson said...

MB,

Let's setup a conversation via Skype.

M.B. said...

Many thanks, Jason.

Mouloud