Reality exists just as much with as without the mind of man.
Reality existed just as much before man walked this earth as it does today.
If good and evil did not exist before man walked the earth, do they exist today?
If perfection and imperfection did not exist before man walked the earth, do they exist today?
Without one to formulate concepts, do concepts exist?
-- Brian William Drisko, 17-Jan-2011 0959 bwd@advaitism.com
Think about your dreams.
You don't seem to have any control over the people and places in your dreams.
You don't seem to have any control over what they say or do or what happens next.
And yet, all the people and places in your dreams are all YOU!
Everything that happens is all created by YOU!
You and all the people, settings, and actions in your dream are all YOU.
What is Non-Duality about?
It is understanding that existence is like your dreams.
Though you don't seem to be everyone, every place, every thing, and every action,
you are.
Just like in your dreams
where you seem to not be the people, places and events but still are;
existence is like that too.
You seem not to be the other people, places and events in life,
but you are.
-- Brian William Drisko, 29-Aug-2010 1753 bwd@advaitism.com
How can one awaken or find enlightenment?
Can a character in a novel find the ink on the page?
In the story of the novel a person goes up to a Sage and asks:
"How can I find the ink on the page?"
The Sage replies: "You ARE the ink on the page."
-- Brian William Drisko, 17-Dec-2009 1600 bwd@advaitism.com
The trick is not in understanding who you are, but who you are not.
Don't try to cease thinking; Cease trying to think.
-- Brian William Drisko, bwd@advaitism.com
Once you go through the gate, you will find there was no gate to go through,
and no You to go through the gate.
Awakeness already is, but we overlook it. Though awakeness is already us, it can not be comprehended. It is easier to see the pointers than what they are pointing to. Fortunately, there is no need for us to understand awakeness; no more than there is a need for it to be understood by a bird, a tree, or even a rock.
-- Brian William Drisko, 22-Dec-2009 1530 bwd@advaitism.com
The words are doing the best they can but there just isn't a vocabulary for it.
-- Brian William Drisko, 22-Dec-2009 1419 bwd@advaitism.com
We are all Advaitins and we all practice it correctly.
-- Brian William Drisko, 27-Nov-2009 1523 bwd@advaitism.com
Alan Watts:
AlanWatts.com /
AlanWatts.org /
Audio Collection
Science & Nonduality /
Books, Video, Audio, Podcasts
A Skeptics Approach To Non-Duality /
On Being Adopted
CafePress.com Advaitism Online Store
Related Websites of Interest:
LatterDayBuddhism.com
and
How To Make Your Life Work -Or- Why Aren't You Happy?
By Ken Keyes, Jr. And Bruce (Tolly) Durkan
The 12 Pathways to Unconditional Love & Happiness
Links:
Wiktionary
/ Kamat Glossary
/ Advaita.org
/ Advaita.org.uk
Amazon.com
/ TheOpenSecret.com - Tony Parsons
/ AlanWatts.com
Endless Satsang with Nirmala - Advaita Spiritual Teacher
Quantum Physics for Dummies (YouTube):
1 of 2
/ 2 of 2
/ More Links
Zen Center of Orange County (CA)
/ MyZen.tv
/ More Traditional Advaita Links
Love Means Not to Be -
A Zen-inspired short film about finding the extraordinary in the ordinary.
What is Advaitism? Advaitism is very simple, but maybe not so simple to explain. At its root, "Advaitism" means "not two". It is based on the "non-dualist" school of Vedanta founded by the 8th century Indian philosopher Sankaracharya. Some may consider what is proponed here to be "neo-advaitism" as explanations are kept simple, free of religious jargon and free of superfluous beliefs and practices. Advaitism is the realization that existence is non-dual. That is, you are not separate from anything else in existence. It is ALL you!
-- Brian William Drisko, 15-Oct-2008 1053 bwd@advaitism.com
Ramana Maharshi, Ramesh Balsekar and Nisargadatta Maharaj are the more famous contemporary voices about what I would call pure Advaita. Advaita Vedanta on the other hand is a religion with an entrenched swami class, with rules and rituals that, to my mind, are completely superfluous to the essential teaching.
Even though the Teaching itself is quite austere and unornamented, there exists within it the potential for tremendous passion. The notion that everything that exists is an aspect of God is actually a very passionate, sexy teaching. It's saying that the flowers, the juices in your body, the urges in your being, the excitement, the fear, the life, the death, and all these qualities that exist are aspects of the incredible presence of God.
-- Wayne Liquorman in NEVER MIND - A Journey into Non-duality, pgs 131-132
And you will realise at long last that yes, of course, you are that Nothingness, and you always have been. With utter clarity, it will be seen that Nothingness is the essence of it all, the reason for it all, the cause of it all, the beginning and end of it all, for all eternity and beyond. And there will be great laughter, and great lightness.
And you will laugh at even these thoughts, which like all thoughts are just pointless mental noise. And you will come to rest in the simplicity of being, in the obviousness of present-moment awareness. You will come to deeply accept what life throws at you now, now and now. You will have found your true home, and nothing will ever be able to hurt you again.
-- Jeff Foster in LIFE WITHOUT A CENTRE - Awakening From the Dream of Separation, pg 141
A Summary:
Non-Duality is the nature of existence.
Duality is the nature life. All life forms act as if existence was
divided into an inside and an outside. This is the illusion of Duality.
Non-living forms do not act as if there is an inside and an outside.
Each life form seeks to perpetuate itself and to remain in the delusion of duality. To perpetuate
itself, each life form must obtain nutrients, must avoid being destroyed, and must renew itself
in ways that adapt to its changing environment. The last item is done through reproduction, the
process of creating similar copies of itself some of which may be more suited to changing
circumstances.
Dukkha is the motivating force of life that provides each life form with a sense of disquiet that
things are not right just as they are. It provides a sense that action must be taken. There is a
feeling that more nutrients must be obtained, dangers to existence must be avoided, and action must
be taken that will result in copies of itself being created.
But in life forms with higher levels of brain power, it becomes more likely that phantom needs
will be imagined. The life form imagines it needs far more nutrients than actually necessary to
sustain its life and that there are far more dangers to its life than really exist. The drive
to reproduce can be magnified and distorted out of context into expending great time, energy
and resources to attract others of the opposite gender, or even the same gender.
Dukkha becomes a constant state, a seemingly endless state of disquiet where nothing is ever
right and nothing is ever enough.
A better understanding of the True Non-Duality nature of existence can help to reduce Dukkha.
First is understanding that the illusion of Duality is a natural property of being alive
that can not be escaped. Second is understanding that most of the Dukkha that we experience is
created by our own thoughts. We imagine we need far more than we actually do need to sustain
healthy and satisfied lives including fulfilling the natural drive of life forms to bring future
generations into existence. A better comprehension of how little is actually needed to satisfy our
drives as living beings can reduce the Dukkha that can often seem to permeate life.
.... (This Summary Concept Is A Work Still In Progress)
-- Brian William Drisko, 02-Apr-2011 1822 bwd@advaitism.com
Quotes About Advaitism:
The Aim Of Inquiry
/ The Inadequacy Of Words
/ Suffering
What Am I?
/ The Illusion
/ Purpose
/ Seeking
/ Awakening
/ Acceptance
Other Quotes
Alan Watts:
AlanWatts.com /
AlanWatts.org /
Audio Collection
Science & Nonduality /
Books, Video, Audio, Podcasts
A Skeptics Approach To Non-Duality /
On Being Adopted
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