Notes
advaitism.com

Some thoughts in progress.

IT isn't about YOU becoming enlightened.
IT isn't about YOU becoming awakened.
IT isn't about YOU gaining awareness.
IT isn't about YOU being in the here and now.
IT isn't about YOU entering a state of higher consciousness.

IT isn't about YOUR consciousness.

What is IT for a bird?
What is IT for a tree?
What is IT for a rock?
What is IT for YOU?

IT is that which is.

Do you have more than one stream of consciousness in your mind?

How do you know?

An oft used example in Non-Duality is that we are like a child on a ride in an amusement park with a steering wheel that isn't connected to anything. Thus, if we steer in the direction the ride is going anyway, then we appear to be in control. But if the ride won't take us where we steer, then we think we need to learn how to steer better. Some suggest that we have a better understanding of existence when we see that our steering wheel is not connected to anything.

Not exactly on the same topic, but a similar example might be used within the content of the play to see a source of much frustration. Sometimes in an amusement park ride everyone in the same boat has their own steering wheel. Naturally, in the ride, none of them are connected. But what if ALL the steering wheels were connected and a computer averaged which way everyone was turning to determine the actual course of the ride? (There are actually some virtual reality type rides in some of the newer amusement parks that DO work this way!)

Think of your awareness as just one member of a "steering committee" in your mind. You'd then have some say in what actions you will take (where to steer your ship), but not the only say. If you want your ship to go in a certain direction, you must convince enough of the others on the "steering committee" to head in that direction. Thus, you may be more effective setting the direction by working on the other members of the "steering committee" than trying to turn the wheel harder.

Think about how this might work in your own life. Think about when you want to do something, but also DON'T want to do that thing. Who is it that wants to do that thing? Who is it that doesn't want to do that thing? What is it that you end up doing? Who wins the battle over which way to steer? Why?

There aren't steps, but let's pretend there are.

1) To cease suffering, learn to stop being taken in by the illusion.

The root cause of suffering is wanting things to be other than they are.

Examine for what ultimate purpose do things need to be different than what they are.

If everything in the universe could be ultimately changed to the way you want it to be, would that have a permanent impact on you that would last for all eternity? If not, would it have a permanent impact on your children or others that you care about that will last for all eternity? Would changing the world to be the way you want it to be have any permanent impact on anyone or anything for all eternity?

If you believe that all your efforts to change the world will not be permanent and last for all eternity, then is it still important to exert such efforts? This is not an argument to convince you that it is not important to make such efforts. Rather it is a question to ask yourself of why you make such efforts to change the world to be the way you'd rather it be if the results of such efforts are impermanent.

If in the end the results of any efforts you make to change the world to be the way you want it to be are washed away in the eons of time, does it make sense to worry about changing the world to be the way you want it to be?

Some come to the conclusion that expending great efforts to change the world are worth it even if they only lead to temporary happiness for themselves, those they care about, or others. But if you refuse to be happy until you change the world to be just the way you want it to be, then you may have a very long wait and be suffering for a very long time.

The first illusion to overcome is to understand that the world does not have to be the way you want it to be in order for you, for those you care about, or for anyone to find happiness. It is an illusion that the world must be a certain way for anyone to find happiness.

There are all sorts of people that are happy at times or suffering at times. It does not matter if they are wealthy or poor, famous or unknown, wise or ignorant, talented or untalented, smart or stupid. There is no particular way the world must be before we have the requirements to be happy.

If we want to end suffering in our own lives, then we must break ourselves of this illusion that the world must be the way we want it to be before we will allow ourselves to be happy. If you want to help your children to be happy, those you care about be happy, or others to be happy, all you can do is help them see through the illusion that the world being the way they want it to be is not a prerequisite to happiness.

2. Looking for the "I".

3. Figuring out the purpose of existence.

4. Understanding the Non-Duality of Existence.

Pre-verbal vs. Non-verbal brain functioning. Pre-verbal brain functioning is a bit of a misnomer. We are born with non-verbal brain functioning. Animals have non-verbal brain functioning. After we develop verbal brain functioning, our non-verbal brain functioning continues to operate for the remainder of our lives. We just don't seem to notice it because it is our verbal brain functioning that defines what we usually mean by "what we are thinking".

Much of what guides our lives, desires, fears, etc. is all non-verbal. Our verbal thinking tells us that we are our verbal thinking. But that is not what we are. Our verbal thinking is just language symbols that arise in our brains. The source of them is from lower non-verbal levels. Thoughts are just the end product of our non-verbal brain functioning turning concepts into verbal symbols.

Verbal symbols are far from perfect representations of our non-verbal brain functioning, but they do help us to communicate with others, and even to apply logic to our decisions. But when we make decisions, there are often a lot of factors that come into play, many of which may be non-verbal. Hence, why we sometimes come to conclusions and actions that are not always logical, but they usually do represent our actual desires.

Our non-verbal brain functions are very powerful but by definition are difficult to explore and explain.

Sometimes you want to scream and run out of the movie theater.
But once you realize it is just a movie,
that nothing can harm you,
and that there is no you in the movie to be harmed,
you can walk back in and enjoy the rest of the movie.

When considering the death of the self there are only two possibilities:

Either the self will eventually die and
there is nothing we can do to avoid it;

Or the self will never die and
there is no need to do anything to avoid it.

What is the point of worrying what will become of our self?

There is either no way to avoid eventually coming to harm or
there is no way to ever come to harm.

There is either nothing that can be done or
nothing that need be done, or both.

Of the numerous bizarre ideas in modern spirituality, probably my least favorite is the notion that you bring your sickness on yourself. The suggestion is that when one's understanding is wider and more expansive then sickness doesn't arise, or if it does, it is seen as irrelevant. We are told that all we have to do is "let go" or "see rightly" and all will be corrected. This means that if you're sick, you're an idiot. Not only are you sick, but you're spiritually flawed on top of it, which is a truly ugly notion.

Compassionate/Understanding vs Intolerant/Demanding

An
intolerant/demanding person will be
intolerant/demanding of a
compassionate/understanding person. A
compassionate/understanding person will be
compassionate/understanding of an
intolerant/demanding person.

The Language Archive, a play by Julia Chao, World Premiere directed by Mark Brokaw, South Coast Repertory, Segerstrom Stage, March 26 - April 25, 2010.

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