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The
Texture of Being:
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1 ADVAITA (meaning ‘not two’ in Sanskrit) is not a difficult philosophy to begin to understand intellectually. It is a non-dualistic perspective and outlook on life, which reveals the fundamental underlying unity of all things, and is realized through direct experience. Reading a few books on the subject should clarify for most people, what the basic approach is. However, intellectual knowledge about Advaita is only the first step towards a more integral understanding. Advaita is known as the Direct Path, because it does not get bogged down with philosophical and theological issues. Instead, it approaches reality directly, free from concepts. This it does by abandoning the intellect beyond a certain point in the enquiry. Of course, this approach is not confined to the world of Hinduism and Advaita, but is clearly visible in the Dzogchen teaching of Tibetan Buddhism, in Zen, Sufism, Taoism and in many other traditions.
Advaita takes us beyond subject-object duality, where there is no observer to observe a world of objects outside of itself. The observer and the observed become one. The mind no longer separates itself from the world that it inhabits, but relates in a more integral way with it. In reality it is all in the seeing. When the mind no longer isolates itself from the world, it begins to experience the world more on the level of feeling than intellect. This opens up a whole new way of Being. Underlying everything that we think we are, there is a basic oneness that we share with all creation. This is often referred to as ‘our true nature’. But it is not an object like any other object. It is ungraspable and indefinable, and yet it is the fundamental ground of our Being. It is our essence, our spirit of oneness with the universal. The intellect
can never understand what our true nature is. If we don’t step
out of the intellectual prison, we can never know what freedom is. The
intellect functions always within the realm of what is already known
and stored in memory. This means that it can never be fully creative
or explore what might be beyond the bounds of what it knows or believes. This attitude has isolated us within a virtual world of our mind’s own making. It is the prison from which we strive all our life to break free. One of the ways in which we learn to break free is by listening to others who have done so. Of course, these so called ‘others’ are not separate from us. They appear in our human vision to be physically outside of us, but in reality they (the teachers and the teachings) are not separate from us. They carry the resonance of our common true nature and stimulate the awakening of our inner intelligence.
Subject and object are passing apparitions. They appear to be separate, but only in time-bound awareness, in duality. In the Advaita approach we go to the core of what we are, to the essence, which is not the creation of the intellect, and cannot be grasped by the acquisitive mind. It is also not the realization that comes at the end of a process, so there are no devised methods, no rituals, to take us there - because ‘there’ is not somewhere outside of ourselves, in some other place in time and space. We cannot grasp what we already are - we can only Be it. That which grasps and that which is grasped are not what we truly are. This we can only realize in the silent emptiness of our true nature. But even to say that we are ‘our true nature’ or ‘consciousness’ is to objectify what we are - which is to deny it. This is why we must take our understanding deeper, to the feeling level, and not try to capture it with the mind. We must always be aware that our use of language is limited, is only representational. Krishnamurti used to say “the word is not the thing”, a table is not the word ‘table’. The word is only a symbol, something which hints at something else, but cannot fully convey the meaning or significance of it. So, we must be careful not to get trapped in words and definitions.
We must be careful not to become hypnotized by words. Every teacher uses his or her own particular language. We never reach the heart of a teaching by hanging onto the words, imitating the words and thinking that we understand everything from those words. When we really understand, we begin to use our own language, our own expression - we no longer stick to formulas and phrases that our teachers used. Spiritual understanding is not something which comes from the head, from the intellect - it comes from a deep feeling-level understanding. It is something which we contact, or touch, with our whole being, because it is not separate from us. And when we touch it with our whole being, the way that it expresses itself is through the language that is natural and particular to us.
There are times when it is necessary to go away from the world, to retreat and go deep into oneself in a quiet environment. However, the real challenge is to live in the world with ordinary people - with anger, fear, desire and all the emotions going on around one. How do I respond to these emotions? Do I put up a wall, do I react, do I become aloof? It is easy to sit on the top of a mountain, breathing the fresh air, taking in the vast panorama, and thinking that one has got it. It’s great to stand on the seashore watching the sun going down, with no cares in the world. But the test is in living in the world, working to pay the rent or mortgage, bringing up the children, struggling with the finances - and still being able to live the understanding at a deep feeling-level. This is not to say that one has to do all this. Everyone’s situation is different. But there is a need for challenge. Otherwise, the understanding may be only in the head. One may even be able to convince others that one has really got it, even though one may have always avoided challenging situations. In living Advaita, we are no longer pushed and pulled by the emotions. We stand back, not because we are fearful or want to be in control, but because we are no longer hypnotized by what is apparently going on around us. In living Advaita, we no longer see the world in terms of ‘myself’ and others - we no longer live the subjective life, in that sense. Instead, we live more from emptiness, from silence, from our true nature, and the ‘person’ that we have always thought ourselves to be, takes a back seat. There is nothing extraordinary about this. This is how we can all live, given a certain amount of inspiration and direction. The whole concept of ‘self’, which society very much believes in, is based on the illusion of permanence. We see ourselves as permanent, separate and distinct individuals, even though life, spiritual traditions and modern science tell us otherwise. The body-mind that we think we are is a continuously changing and evolving energy system that is anything but permanent, separate or distinct. There is in fact nothing fixed about it. After sixty, seventy or one hundred years everything finally and totally falls apart anyway. We spend our whole life accumulating experience, possessions, wealth, fame, and then we are nothing. So there is nothing at all permanent about us. Advaita is very clear from the start, that ‘I’ as a person, as an individual, am an illusion. Now, this doesn’t mean that ‘I’ am not a living manifestation of the One Universal Life. It simply means that I need not get caught up in believing that I am something which I am not. In staying with the understanding of what we are not we can truly be what we are. This is what liberation is about - liberation from the illusion that we are a something and a somebody.
The language of non-duality is very easy to play about with. The challenge is to live it. No one is more special than anyone else. Given the right tools, it is easy for anyone and everyone to begin to unfold from within themselves the truth of their true nature, to actually live this Advaita philosophy. It is something very down to earth, simple to understand and not difficult to implement, if one is earnest not to live in limitation and suffering. We have all been conditioned for so long into believing that we have no power, that we need to obtain it out there in the world, in our bank account, in our car, our job, our house, our status in society, our experiences in life, from our guru, and it is not so easy for us to psychologically break free of this strong and sustained conditioning. The simple teaching from Advaita is that there is no need to break free, because we are, in our essential nature, already free.
You are not who you think you are - a limited bodymind mechanism existing in isolation from everything else. You are, in yourself, the essence of life. You are the wind blowing through the leaves of the trees; you are the fire in the volcano, the stream coursing its way through the narrow valley, the earth rising up to meet the sky in the form of a tree or a flower; you are the rock of ages. Yet for now you are also a man or a woman, exploring for a while the limitations of humanity, thought and the power of love and truth to take you beyond your temporary human condition. Never think for a moment that you are merely a bank clerk or an electrician. These may be what you do, but inside and beneath all this, you are completely without limitation, free - for now and all eternity. To believe otherwise is folly.
It
is with the ‘feeling’ that we truly WE CAN, as an occasional experiment, stop what we are doing at any moment to just be receptive, to listen, to look and to feel the silent emptiness out of which all activity springs. We can become aware of our thinking, active, mind and stand back from it, let it rest in the silence, open our eyes to the vibrancy of each moment. If we can take the time to be receptive in this way, we become aware that there is an aliveness pervading the very air that we breathe, every thing that we see, hear and feel, and we become aware almost of the very texture of Being itself. Some people call this meditation. Others call it contemplation. But we don’t necessarily need to formally practice it at regular times in our life, for it is there awaiting our presence whenever we remember to simply stand back from our activities. As we become more and more familiar with being receptive in this way, we find that our thinking process naturally begins to convert to a feeling process. By ‘feeling’ we are not talking about emotion, but a more tactile sense in which we ‘feel’ things at a body level, in the nervous system. It has nothing to do with ‘my feelings’, and there is nothing personal in all this. It is not something that I can claim ownership of or personal credit for. It just is.
‘Going into the feeling’ is an expression that describes how it is possible to live the non-dualistic life. This is not only an idea - it is something that each of us can experience here and now. If it remains just an idea, then it means absolutely nothing. We take the experiences of every day, every moment, and bring them into the body, into the feeling. It is with the ‘feeling’ that we truly understand and comprehend. The mind understands very little, because it is usually disconnected from reality. It has its own script, which just keeps running despite what happens around it. In ‘feeling’ something, we are being fully receptive to it, we accept it, we listen to it completely, we taste its flavour and smell its perfume.
When someone is angry with you, feel the vibration of that anger, listen to it, get to know it, don’t condemn it, don’t shy away from it. What does it feel like for you? Do you feel hurt or fearful in its presence? Just become acquainted with what you feel in the presence of anger. When desire or fear arise in you, just watch what is happening, see where they are coming from and what results from them. What do they feel like in your body? What happens to them when you breath out and in several times? In going into the feeling, in all situations, with everyone and everything that one comes into contact with, soon one finds that one is standing back from life rather than pushing oneself forward into it. One is beginning to listen to what life has to say, to receive experiences fully and to move closer to an integral understanding of life rather than living from a disconnected intellectual perspective or from a perspective that is merely reactive.
In living from the feeling, one is truly awake, fully conscious. Everything is seen, everything is felt, life flows without any sense of inhibition or restriction. But the world is always seeking to pull you in, tie you up, take you away from the feeling, lead you into unconsciousness, into the emotional. This is the play of life - the great illusion.
When someone asks you if you want to go for a walk, do you automatically say ‘yes’, even though you may be in the middle of doing something else and not quite ready for a walk? Or do you stay in the feeling and say precisely what you are feeling, which may be that ‘yes’ you would like to go for a walk but only after finishing what you are in the middle of doing? Quite often we may simply adjust to what others want simply because we want to please, for whatever reason, or because we may feel lonely on our own. In staying with the feeling, not just in simple situations like this but in all situations in life, we allow ourselves the possibility of being truly fulfilled in what we are doing. Staying with, and feeling, the loneliness can also empower us. Moving away from the loneliness merely roots it deeper in our mind and reinforces the fear behind our habitual response to it.
As we begin to live more in the feeling, we also become more acquainted with and trusting in the silent emptiness that underlies our often busy lives. Instead of fleeing from the empty feeling, one realizes that the emptiness is the place that refreshes and renews us, that really cleanses our mental and emotional aspects. It is not that we necessarily go into the emptiness as a practice - it simply becomes our new automatic response, and we begin to live from the silent emptiness. We don’t have to force or struggle with ourselves to return to the silence when we have moved out of it, because we learn that it is good for us, that we feel alive there and function more effectively. It is like having a shower to cleanse and refresh our body. The mind is cleansed by showering in the silent emptiness. If we shower in this continuously, then there is no place in us for any psychological dirt or dust to cling.
It is important to understand the difference between ‘feeling’ and ‘feelings’. ‘Feelings’ are a personal, emotional response to life, which is a perspective that is deeply rooted in duality, therefore perpetuating any suffering that we may be enduring. ‘Feeling’ is not personal. It is more functional than anything. It allows us to gauge situations clearly, without the bias of personal input. It allows us to stand back from personal involvement in situations and to go deeper into the true nature of things. It is a much more subtle level of contact with life, and liberates us from the suffering that is the outcome of living in our feelings, in our emotions, in the personal. There is, in reality, nothing ‘personal’ about our life. Through our repetitive thinking processes and our emotional involvement, we have temporarily created this virtual entity that we call ‘me’ or ‘I’. Life knows no ‘me’ nor ‘I’ - it exists purely in our imagination. When we learn to live from the feeling, rather than from ‘feelings’, we truly begin to live a realistic life. Until such time, we are living in a dream - a dream that very soon passes and is gone forever. Chapter 3 BEYOND THE DOER
In
entering into the ‘feeling’ IN MOST our activities in life, we take on the role of ‘doer’. We think of ourselves as some kind of fixed, permanent, controlling entity, capable of doing this and not doing that, at will. Of course, this would appear to be an accurate view of the way things are. The more established we are in our society, the more power, influence, wealth and sense of control we have - or so it seems. When we say ‘I’, most of us are referring to an image we have of ourselves, which will be all wrapped up with our personal experiences and conditioning in life, our inherited tendencies, our status in society, our success or failure and our sense of well-being. We have this image of ourselves, which is unique to our own mind, which is what we think we are - and from this, we act out our life. We walk or push our way through life, wilfully believing that we have the power to ‘do’, to control and manipulate life into fitting in with our desire to be in charge and make decisions. In this frame of mind we struggle our way through life from youth to old age. But what happens to this ‘doer’ at the end of a life? What happens to all its achievements and acquisitions?
In reality, there is nothing fixed or permanent about any human being. It is like the computer suddenly taking pride in all the information it has recorded on its hard disk. Whatever it does will always be within the limitations of the operating system and programmes that are installed on it. But the real beauty of the computer lies in its ability to accommodate many different possibilities. Neither the data recorded nor the programmes themselves mean anything more than what they are. The hard disk of the computer is like the silent emptiness of our true nature, which underlies all the content (operating system, programmes and information) of our consciousness. The batteries or electric power are Life itself, empowering us to Be, bringing light to consciousness.
Acting from the ‘doer’ you are merely acting from repetition. There is nothing new or creative about anything that is born out of the ‘doer’ mentality. It is an illusory character which your mind has created as a concept in order to perpetuate itself. Question this and fear arises, or anger, to dispel and discredit that which threatens the continuance of this ‘doer’. You, as the doer, are always doing things in order to maintain your belief in your own existence. The ‘doer’ is an habitual response of the mind. It (which you might also call ‘ego’ or ‘self’) is neither bad nor good in itself - it is merely a habit. Clearly, from a spiritual or scientific perspective, there is no substance to the ‘doer’, to the ego. It manifests in the world for a period of time and then is gone. Even in its apparent life, it never has any fixed point and is continually modifying itself. But, the underlying sense of ‘I’ that it feels throughout its fluctuating life refers ultimately only to the fundamental ground of its Being, to the silent emptiness of its true nature. There is nothing ‘personal’ in all this. Nature, life and the universe do not acknowledge what we call the ‘personal’. Whether you are born as Jesus Christ, the future King of England or as an anonymous poverty stricken individual in Africa, you are merely a temporary bubble in the vast ocean of existence. Your story may be quite extraordinary, but ultimately it is of little consequence in the overall scheme of things.
So, what is it like entering into the feeling of being the doer? We need to feel it through in order to understand this in a non-intellectual way. Is there not always a tension and anxiety connected to the feeling of being the doer? Why do we need to sleep at night? Is it not because we would go completely mad if we were stuck in the ‘doer’ mode continuously, every day and night of our lives? Without the refreshment that comes from going into deep dreamless sleep most of us would quickly become completely desperate, confused and dysfunctional. Dreaming may continue to unravel the mysteries of our daytime consciousness, but dreamless sleep gives the mind a daily relaxing shower from our true nature. The ‘doer’ is a contraction, a limitation, a prisoner of the mind. We are fixated by this non-entity, and this fixation causes tension and anxiety in all that we ‘do’.
Imagine the quality and depth that comes from a mind that is not burdened by the sense of being a ‘doer’. Such a mind flows like water, like poetry. Creativity exudes continuously from such a mind. The sad fact is that we all have such a mind but don’t realize it because we are so hypnotized by our belief in ‘the doer’. It is as if we have deliberately cut ourselves off from what we really are. Someone points it out to us, and we either dismiss it or agree, but still continue cutting off. In entering into the ‘feeling’ of what it is like being a ‘doer’ we become more conscious of the unconscious repetition of what is happening. This awakens us into more frequent awareness of feeling ourselves as the doer. New patterns become established in the mind, which eventually grow into a more constant awareness, on a feeling level. We then find ourselves nearly always in a ‘standing back’ position, feeling out each and every situation, thought, emotion and habitual act - not as a practice, but as a real, living, spontaneous wakefulness.
It is important, if we wish to enter sanity rather than insanity, not to make much of our growth into a deeper, more feeling-level awareness. It is a normal, natural development of human potential. The moment that the ‘doer’ reappears to grasp and own this ‘impersonal growth’ it becomes ‘personal growth’ and something apparently special. However, to live from the ‘feeling’, from our true nature, is nothing unusual or special. It is only strange that so few human beings ever cut through the hypnotic influence of society and the historic past, which prevent us from living from the feeling, from the silent emptiness of our true nature. ©
Roy Whenary, 2004 |
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| ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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Copyright:
New Earth Publications, 1999-2009. PlanetLightworker.com is published
by New Earth Publications, | |||||||||
Roy
Whenary lives and
works in the English West Country town of Totnes, near Dartmoor, England,
amidst beautiful rolling hills, and close to the rugged South Devon
coastline. He lives with his partner Daniela Coronelli, who is a teacher/practitioner
of both Shiatsu and a body movement practice known as ‘Amerta
Movement’ (inspired by the Indonesian teacher Suprapto Suryodarmo).
(see her website: 