The FREEDOM Blog

I know I'm not always big on links and such, but I ran into these two and loved them both: The first is funny, but exceptionally true. For those of you who are apparently in my age bracket (or thereabouts) you remember when the "News" meant something. I confess that I first saw this link on Leno, who played this cartoon from JibJab, the makers of such comic satirical hits as "This Land". It's called, "What We Call The News" and the link is http://www.jibjab.com/what_we_call_the_news It is a hysterical yet sadly true commentary on what we call important news. Anyway, just something to enjoy! The second video is at the website: http://www.becomingme.com/ and is itself called Becoming Me, based on the children's book of the same name. It is a brief description of the author's idea of how all "This" came to be manifested, but reflects what most philosophies (and mystics) consider to be a 'True' understanding. But in any cas...

Two books have come across my desk (which is really the table next to my couch), but that I would like to recommend: The first is Byron Katie's new book, A Thousand Names for Joy. Using her husband, Stephen Mitchell's translation of the Tao Te Ching, Katie takes just a line or two from each of the 81 verses and then expresses her own recognition. Although she makes reference to her process, "The Work" and gives instructions in the back, this is primarily simply the beautiful expression of Pure Presence. The Second is Dennis Waite's new book, Back to the Truth: 5000 years of Advaita . If you are interested in a deep and rich understanding of classical Advaita (non-duality) this book is bound to become the classic. (And not just because he quoted us numerous times.) He differentiates the various paths of Advaita from it's Upanisadic origins up to the present day; extensively and clearly expresses the various aspects of Advaita; and backs it up with extensive qu...

For years I have spoken on, and written, about Self Inquiry, but I'd like to make a clearer distinction. There are two basic facets of Self Inquiry: 1. The direct recognition of Self, and 2. The letting go, or deconstructing of that which is NOT the Self, specifically, the beliefs. 1. The direct recognition can best be described through the teachings of Ramana (the inquiry "Who am I?) or Nisargadatta's abiding as 'I Am'. The consistent and continuous practice of these methods, point us directly at that which precedes our thoughts and beliefs. It is the discrimination between what is sat and asat, or real and unreal, or permanent and impermanent. The focus of attention is not on the objects of awareness, but on the recognition that You ARE the awareness itself, without bounds or constrictions - formless. Generally, in going through this process, we 'drop' into this recognition, realize our freedom, and for moments, hours, or even days, there is just what I...

Conditioning - subtle and pervasive. We can call it belief or ideas, mental constructs, habits, it really doesn't matter. The point is that it appears to be there, points upon which we fixate. We believe we ARE or we are NOT enlightened. We believe that there can only be one or ten or fifty enlightened people on the planet at any given time. We believe that everyone is already enlightened. It doesn't really matter what the fixation, whether it is a 'good' one or a 'bad' one - in some way it is still holding us to an angle of vision, a perspective. The question is, "Who the hell said it had to be this way or that way???" People are constantly quoting someone or some scripture to me to prove their point, as if I give a damn! Sure, I love quotes as much or more than the next person. I collect them like stamps or coins, but I also recognize that they give a flavor, they point a direction. I never take them as unalterable Truths. "It takes three mill...

"The mind & body happen to you because you find them interesting." - Nisargadatta Maharaja I saw this quote and loved it. It doesn't matter how you find it interesting - it's just that it is more interesting than the alternative: the emptiness. So when it comes to the body, and particularly, when it comes to the mind, it doesn't matter if we hate it, or love it, or love to hate it, or hate to love it, or, well, you catch the drift, it's downright interesting. We'll look at every aspect of it. We will analyze it until we're blue in the face. But let it go? Ignore it? Inquire what precedes it? These are not our first choice. I once heard an interview on the radio with Fred Rogers...you remember him, Mr. Roger's Neighborhood. In this interview, he was pointing out how powerful silence is, and how we have an aversion to it. He then proceeded to stop talking for only about 10 seconds, but it was the longest 10 seconds I had ever heard (or not heard)...

The title above really says it all, but it recently popped into my head, and I rememer singing this song (Me and My Bobby McGee) and that wonderful line - "Freedom's just another name for nothing left to lose." These days, however, most people think of freedom as nothing more to gain - in other words, that freedom comes through getting more and not losing everything. Freedom (Enlightenment) comes not by gaining, but by losing everything that is personal, or rather the personal identification with it. There's a wonderful story in Yoga Vasistha where a king goes to the forest to renounce everything. He becomes more and more austere, giving up his hut, his clothes, eating less and less (all the suggestion of his teacher) who keeps saying "Renounce more, renounce more". Finally he can think of nothing else to renounce. The teacher says to him, "You have failed to renounce the one thing that really needs to be renounced - your mind." You see, it is the...

How long can you rest as 'I Am'? Perhaps you'd like to take a moment to try it now...simply resting as that sense of I-Am-ness. Go ahead...I'll wait........... Well? How did you do? Judgments perhaps? There are always two things happening: 1. Is the actual thing happening, and 2. Is the story about what's happening. The problem is that we normally focus on the story about what is happening. This even includes our thoughts. So, for instance, in the exercise above, you may have had thoughts, and then you proceeded to have numerous thoughts ABOUT those thoughts. So, like anything, there are two things happening...in this case, the first is that there are thoughts that are happening, and then we proceed to feed those thoughts by having thoughts ABOUT the thoughts. These initial thoughts are generally harmless. They simply arise, like the sun. But because we impart supreme importance to our thoughts, we then judge them, or believe them, or chase after them, or rational...