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    Q: What is it?

    A: "Nondual inquiry" is way of coming tounderstand how experience is actuallynondual even now. It doesnt give youbetter experiences, it gives clarity thatexperience *is* your very Self. Nondualinquiry demonstrates how experience issweetly unbroken, because your Self isunbroken sweetness.

    Nondual inquiry is an investigation into thenature of experience, the world, body andmind, life and death. Other terms for itinclude self-inquiry, analytic meditation orkoan study, or a Socratic dialog towardsself-knowledge. "Nondual" means "not-two," which implies there is no truemultiplicity of phenomena. At theconclusion of the inquiry, gone theimpressions that there are separate anddistinct things, gone is the feeling of a gapbetween seer and seen. Gone is the anxiety

    "What are Nagarjuna,Shankara, Hui Neng, Ramana,

    and Nisargadatta talkingabout???"

    Nondual InquiryFAQ Two Common Blocks

    Why do it? (1) FetishizingEnlightenmentMore about thissweetness?

    Comparing yourself to published stories

    How do you do it? Irony

    Soundsintellectual...

    (2) Belief in theindependence of physicalobjects

    Do I check myprogress? Don't self-checktoo often

    The spectator view

    Do I need ateacher?

    Questioning thespectator view

    Where does thiscome from? Is this babble?

    Where does it lead?FREEDOM -- The always-alreadyalternative

    But I've heard,"There's nothing todo."

    Prescriptive vs.descriptive

    Nondual Inquiry FAQ

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    caused by these impressions and feelings.And gone is the sense that there was ever aego, activities or attributes in the firstplace. One common way to express this is"Nothing ever happened."

    Q: Why do it?

    A: Most people do it for one of two reasons.

    (i) It alleviates suffering. That is, inquiry isdeeply therapeutic. This is agreed upon byall the worlds most beloved saints, sagesand philosophers, Eastern and Western,religious and secular. Even a little bit ofnondual inquiry makes everyday lifesweeter and more peaceful. There isspontaneous acceptance and equanimity.

    (ii) For some people, the inquiry generatesits own sweetness, quite apart from anylater benefit it might bring to the inquirer.

    Q: Tell me more about this sweetness.

    A: Its a warmth that resembles the familiarand perhaps thrilling feeling of returninghome where you are loved. When this ishow nondual inquiry feels, its somethingyoud rather do than anything else. Andbecause it requires no books or equipment,and no particular physical posture like thelotus position, it can be done almostanywhere.

    People who feel drawn this way can findthemselves involved in inquiry throughoutthe day or night when the mind is nototherwise occupied. Theres an Indianphrase, "Your head is in the tigers mouth."It refers this inquiry not letting you go untilthe sweetness is indistinguishable fromexperience itself.

    Q: How do I do it?

    A: Theres a wide variety of ways this can bedone. You inquire deeply into what life is,what experience is. You focus not on how tohave a comfortable life or desirableexperiences, but rather on the nature ofthese things. Are they really what theyappear to be?

    Q: It sounds intellectual, like being in a

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    college philosophy class.

    A: It neednt be. If its done only as anintellectual exercise, youre right, its aboutas relevant as another term paper. Butactually, those who do nondual inquiry findthemselves irresistibly drawn to it, almostas if life depended on it. As a child andyouth, I found myself in this strangeundertaking, years before I ever knew therewas a term for it. It felt like a grandadventure, carrying me towards the secretsof the universe. Thats how I thought aboutit, but I was like 11 years old at the time!

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    Q: How do I know if I'm making progress?

    A: Ultimately, its senseless to speak ofprogress, there is truly no movement, noinquiry, and no one really performinganything. But while you are drawn to thisinquiry, it *will* seem like you are going fora goal, and it will be very difficult not tocheck for progress.

    But dont check too often. Dont checkduring the same moment youre doing theinquiry itself - save the checking for later.And when you do check, check yourbackground or average psychological state.Its the everyday level that counts. If youmust gauge, dont go by your peakexperiences, but rather from your baselineexperience.

    Here are several things that people noticealong the way....

    Am I becoming more peaceful?

    Is my heart opening?

    Do I find myself returning again andagain to this inquiry when the mind isnot otherwise busy?

    Has my sense of separation gottenmilder?

    Has the sense of sweetness spread tomore and more of my experience?

    Does a spontaneous joy arisesometimes, which I cant account for?

    Do I feel more connected to otherpeople and the world?

    Have I felt some of my mostcomfortable presumptions challenged?

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    Have I felt as though turned upsidedown or inside out by the inquiry?

    Are there issues in the inquiry that I feela resistance to confront? (Sometimesthis will happen. And ironically,wherever these attachments lie, andwhere inquiry will be most fruitful.)

    Would I rather know the truth of whatI am investigating than feel a certainway? This shift often happens later on,your inquiry has reached an entirelymore subtle level.

    Is the self-checking happening lessfrequently? Is my "progress" in theinquiry becoming less important? Is theinquiry itself showing up as its own"reward"? Is the notion of a separategoal starting to make less sense?

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    Q: Do I need a teacher or a guide?

    A: Not necessarily, though you might findsome helpful pointers from guides whohave traveled these byways before you.Pointers can be found through books,friends, gurus, teachers, counselors,parents, children. Even a flower can serveas a pointer. The more you feel thequestion, the more youll be inclinedtowards a teacher.

    Q: Where does nondual inquiry come from?

    A: Its most commonly found in the worldswisdom traditions. Most of the worldsgreat religions have a mystical, esoteric orphilosophical side, which includes nondualinquiry. Christianity has its mystical side(including Rosicrucianism), Judaism hasKabbalah, Buddhism has Madhyamika, andIslam has Sufism. Nondual inquiry alsowears secular clothing, and can be found inthe hints left by Western philosophers,including Plato, Plotinus, Leibniz, Spinoza,George Berkeley, Brand Blanshard, LudwigWittgeinstein, or Richard Rorty.

    Q: And so, where does this inquiry lead?What is the endpoint?

    A: It leads to the end of fear and suffering. Itleads to the end of guilt, envy, resentment,

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    grudge-holding, self-doubt. It eradicatesthe scorekeeping impulse, the one thatmakes you wonder, "How does this stackup for me?"

    Along the way, nondual inquiry makeseveryday life more peaceful. Youll discovercontentment at times and events that mightotherwise have caused anxiety and self-doubt. Equanimity will be your familiarand beloved companion. And when nondual inquiry has reached itsconclusion, it is as though you "seethrough" the world. The sweetness of theinquiry has spread throughout all ofexperience. You no longer feel separate andcut off from anything. Experience stopsseeming like it is filtered through a veil orscreen. Activity is free, open, and ever new.Instead of losing yourself and the ability tofunction, you gain the world and totalspontaneity. You come home, seeing thatyou never left.

    There are thousands of traditional ways ofdescribing this. The descriptions soundabstract, poetic and paradoxical, everythingfrom the universal "awakening" to Zens"having no more work to do" or Hinduisms"dancing with Shiva."

    These are pointers; none of it is literal. Whynot? Because you also see through the veryseeing - in this way the inquirydeconstructs itself. This sounds abstract, asthough theres nowhere to rest. Thats justthe point! All crutches and reference pointsare gone, and the joyful thing is that theneed for crutches is also gone!

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    Q: But I've heard teachers say "There'snothing to do." Trying to do anything cannever help the fundamental problem. Howdoes nondual inquiry square with this?

    A: As paradoxical as it sounds, nondualinquiry is actually one of the traditionalways to experience the truth of the "nothingto do" teaching! The ancient image for thisis using a thorn to remove another thorn,then discarding both.

    Prescriptive and DescriptiveThe "nothing to do" teaching expresses theinsight that the ego doesnt exist as it seems

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    to, and that any method undertaken by theillusory self cannot possibly lead to the endof this same illusory self. A knife cannot cutitself. The eye cannot see itself.

    There are two ways of understanding the"nothing to do" teaching, prescriptively ordescriptively.

    (1) The Prescriptive Sense In thebeginning, most people interpret thisteaching prescriptively. When you do, itsnatural to want to avoid any practice,method, inquiry, any doing at all. Why?Because you see all doings as falling backinto those same methods that cannotpossibly work. So what happens? When theyearning to search for the Truth arises, itgets blocked by the new faith in thisnothing-to-do teaching. Why expect a thiefto catch a thief?

    This of course leads to a paradox. To takethe teaching prescriptively is to take it as arecommendation for or against somethingto do ! You actively decide not to inquire ormeditate or read or whatever. Youre stillthinking in "doing-mode," and so you beginto do non-doing ! Its still a doing, but amore subtle and un-noticed kind. This is anatural and frequent misunderstanding ofthe teaching.

    (2) The Descriptive Sense Thedescriptive sense, in a nutshell, points tothis, that youre never doing anything, evennow. Doings are naturalized. There werenever any doings, ever. All supposed doingsare actually natural occurrences, analogousto the flowing of water or the falling of aleaf from a tree. So it doesnt matter howyour actions are described - washing thedishes, going to the store, or nondualinquiry - none of these is actuallyperformed by an agent. There are no trueactions, events or authors.

    The descriptive sense of the teachingfocuses on the emptiness (or essence-less-ness or non-independence) of all actionand all actors. It is a way to point to yourultimate freedom. That is, you are free frombeing limited as one who acts or decides.This freedom extends to all actions. It is apowerful teaching, and even a casualacquaintance with it can engender morepeace, less guilt and worry. No matter what

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    seems to be undertaken, no matter whatthe sense of effort, frustration,accomplishment, pride, or shameaccompanying an action, these aspects aresimilarly empty of substance and essence.They are not fixed and nailed down.

    This emptiness is wonderfully free andthorough. It is the nature of all things - allevents, activities, qualities, the self, and theworld itself, are equally freedom itself.Nondual inquiry, along with its results, isfree as well. So theres no reason not topursue nondual inquiry or any othermethod that arises. This is freedom andpeace.

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    FearAlmost any block can be traced psychologicallyto some kind of fear. Here are two common andunderstandable ways that fear expresses itselfduring the inquiry into the ultimate nature ofthings.

    (1) Fetishizing EnlightenmentOne of the linguistic features of the term"enlightenment" is that it stands for the veryhighest. In this way, its similar to the word"here." When Jane and Susan stand face to faceand utter the word "here," they are pointing todifferent geographical spots on the ground.Nevertheless, theyre using the word in anidentical sense, indicating co-location with thespeaker.

    "Enlightenment" is similar. Jane and Susanmight differ as to just which characteristicsconstitute enlightenment (Is it to no longerhave thoughts? Or to no longer believethoughts? Does it include the ability to levitate?To see into the future?) But as users of the term,Jane and Susan probably agree whatever thecharacteristics are, they indicate the highest, thesummum bonum. Therefore, as the highest,enlightenment is not something that one wouldtrade away for a gazillion dollars.

    This is precisely why fetishizing enlightenment isa misunderstanding. (But its almost inevitable,so the misunderstanding gets more and moresubtle as inquiry proceeds)) No matter what yourconception of enlightenment is, if you desire

    Two Common Blocks to Inquiry

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    enlightenment in order to serve a further goal,then youre fetishizing it. Youre making a tool, ajuju or lucky charm out of it. A tool to allow youto remain on the scene with all the comforts ofhome, but free from fear, insecurity, uncertaintyand problems. Ive known people who havesought enlightenment for many reasonsaccording to their beliefs, including: it wouldallow them stop their self-disapproval; it wouldimprove their romantic relationships; it wouldmake them famous and sought-after; it wouldimprove their career. Sometimes the reason forseeking enlightenment is explicitly held, as it wasfor a friend of mine who sought enlightenmentbecause her guru told her it would bring her thathotly-desired record contract.

    And sometimes the ulterior reason for seekingenlightenment is not as close to the surface. Onevery intelligent and experienced person told mehe was interested in knowing the ultimate truthof things. He confidently told me hed had 20years of Zen training and was well-prepared,closing in on the very end of things. I asked himwhy he was interested in the ultimate truth. Hesaid he just was, that it was all that was left forhim. I asked him how motivated he was, "Howbad do you really want to know?" and he said itwas the most important thing in life for him. Iwas starting to get a feeling about his take on it,and asked him, "If you had a choice, whichwould you prefer, (A) or (B): (A) to feel a life ofemotional bliss and neverending pleasantsensation, or (B) to know the truth?" He pausedfor about a minute, then replied: "They are thesame thing."

    He had cleverly fetishized enlightenment byidentifying it with his own goals. Accustomed ashe was to being in an intense spiritual context,he did the spiritually correct thing by seekingenlgightenment. But he "cheated," redefiningenlightenment to suit his purpose: emotionalwell-being. Being blissed-out certainly isnt howZen defines enlightenment!

    Not that there is a correct and incorrectnotion of "enlightenment." Thats just it, thereisnt. Its one of the vaguest terms in the Englishspiritual vocabulary, probably edging out "God"for the honor! The word is systematically vague.Its very vagueness and socially-constructednature are required to permit it to serve its mainlinguistic purpose: to express all of ones highestspiritual aspirations in a single word. Anddifferent people aspire to different things.

    Different traditions use the word in different

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    ways. Spiritual schools with an emphasis onpsychology will have a mentalistic-soundingdefinition, yogic schools will have a magical-sounding notion, and nondual paths will have aclever and abstract definition that seems to pullthe rug from under your feet. Even if severalschools seem to agree on the term, theirdefinitions arent really expressing a simpletrue/false sentence "Theres a cat on the mat."A more useful way to think about the word isas a window into the spiritual tradition. Thatis, the use of the term witin a tradition isreally a way of telling you what that traditionwants to go on record as advocating, as how itdesires to be known. And thats not all.Sometimes theres a secondary use made ofthe words primary linguistic function as asuperlative. That is, the word is sometimesemployed as a spiritual advertising slogan, anultimate aroma to sell a not-so-ultimate bit ofsomething else.

    Sometimes the very vagueness of the term"enlightenment" is taken advantage of. Itsused as a "sizzle to sell a steak." For example,do a Google search on "spiritualenlightenment" and look at the sites that comeup. Many of them are selling some book,technique, teaching or teacher."Enlightenment" becomes an advertisingslogan, capitalizing on the readersidealizations and fantasies, aimed at afinancial transaction.

    OK, so the term "enlightenment" is vague - soit serves a linguistic purpose.... Does thismean it really doesnt exist as a state, as a realthing? Is there no true referent to the word?This of course is one of the things investigatedin nondual inquiry, along with bodies, minds,cats and mats!

    Self-CheckingOf course some checking is helpful. There aretimes you might doubt whether the inquiry iseven worth it. But try not to interrupt theinquiry itself in order to check your progress.For example, if you do the inquiry in themorning, save the checking for the afternoon.Checking every month is better than everyweek. After you reach a certain confidencethat inquiry is for you, less checking carriesyou further than more checking.

    Why is that?

    Too much checking and self-monitoring iscounterproductive whether you are doing

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    nondual inquiry or learning ballroom dancing.Obsessive monitoring is based on wanting tobe safe and secure. It also breaks the flow. Italso creates another character like a subtlepsychological camera-operator. This characterwill at some point also need to be investigated.

    Lets say youre in dance class, and justlearned a hard move in a tango step. Try notto immediately assess how your ballroomskills are coming along. Try not to imagineyourself rocking this move on the ballroomfloor Friday night if you do, oops! Youveprobably just missed the next move in class!

    The Dalai Lama once said that its fine if youdlike to check the results of Buddhist practiceto determine whether youve become wiser ormore compassionate. "Sure, check! Onceevery fifteen years!"

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    Comparing yourself to publishedstoriesTheres another feature to the monitoringprocess. This is the search for wonderfulenlightenment stories, and the inevitablecomparison of your own experiences withwhat you read. "Do I measure up if I dont seea blue pearl? If I dont feel a cool breezecoming from the top of my head? If my bodystill has feeling?" It seems as though you haveto have the very same bells and whistles orelse you dont have "it." Projecting andcomparing like this are almost irresistible.They are an extension of the seeking processin the first place, a desire to want to make animprovement, to want to arrive and reside in asecure place.

    IronyThere are two ironies about this visualizing,monitoring and comparing process. First, theresult of the inquiry is never, ever what itsexpected to be. For example, its not as thoughthe end is equivalent to a super-high degree ofthe various "progress indicators" (more peace,more love, less separation). Its not a matter ofdegree at all. Theres a quantum differencebetween any point along the path, and theconclusion. Seen from "before," comparisonseems inevitable. But seen from "after," thereare no more comparisons or descriptions atall!

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    The other irony is that monitoring is notnecessary in order to be done, or to knowyoure done. Its not like driving on thehighway, where youll end up in the wrongplace if you miss your turn. There will be nodoubt when the inquiry is done. Its not amatter of assessing progress through acomparison to images. Actually, if there is stillmonitoring, the inquiry has not ended. Theend of this inquiry is also the end of self-monitoring.

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    (2) Belief in the independence ofphysical objects Why is this a block?What do I mean by "belief in theindependence of physical objects"? I mean thebelief that the desk or pencil pre-exists on itsown, outside the scope of awareness. And thatawareness uses the function of perception togo out and somehow reach the object,bringing the information back and into thescope of awareness.

    What kind of a block is that? Who could havemade that up! The belief that objects are reallyout there is as normal as brushing your teeth!

    But the belief in the independence of physicalobjects is responsible for the lions share ofour feelings of separation. For when webelieve that objects are separate from us, wealso feel separate from them. Thisseparateness amounts to the fundamentalduality between "me" and "not me."Separation shows up as a belief and a feeling.The belief says "objects are out there,independent of my awareness," and thefeeling is a disconnected, cut-off kind ofalienation, vulnerablity and suffering.Furthermore, this notion of separatenesspervades the thought-world too. The notion ofphysical separation actually serves as one ofour most powerful metaphors for "difference."When we think of one thing differing fromanother (whether its "blue" vs. "green" or"me" vs. "not-me"), we most often revert tothinking of them in spatial terms. Things aredifferent from each other, it is often thought,because they somehow occupy differentspaces. When the metaphor is seen through,when it is seen that nothing like physicalseparation can be the literal truth, things dontseem radically cut off from each other. I dont

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    see "myself" in terms of one location,absolutely cut off from "the world" supposedlyoccupying another location.

    There are two reasons I came to notice thisparticular belief as a sticking point. First,when I began my nondual investigation in asystematic way, I happened not to have thisbelief. Years previously, it had dissolved withthe help of one of the worlds great teachers(who worked relentlessly on this one point).So for my own nondual inquiry, it was smoothsailing past these particular rocky reefs.Second, having helped many others in theirinvestigation, Ive seen their journey hit rocks,and almost always in this same spot. Itactually happens relatively late in the processof a persons inquiry. Often when they thinkthey are past mundane physical things!

    The physical objects belief is related to thefeeling that I am the body, or somehow in thebody. We usually experience the world as aflipside of what we take ourselves to be.Normal as this belief is, its an impediment tonondual inquiry because it will always returnyou to feeling cut off from what you believe isnot-you. This "not-you" includes what youtake to be external, independent objects. Andno matter how many global, oceanic orcosmically connected experiences you have,you will always return to feeling cut off fromthese objects that you take to be independent.And what seems more resolutelyindependent than physical objects?

    Many people are able to feel globallyconnected much of the time, and haveacquired the belief that they are awareness ina world of awareness. But the unexaminedbelief that objects exist outside of awarenesswill always bring about the sneaking suspicionthat something is out there, cut off from meand unobserved by me. This can lead tovarious unpleasantnesses and anxieties,including the worry about whether I havechosen the right path, the correct inquiry. Partof the reason for this is that we think of thingsin terms of spatial metaphors. So in a vagueway, we might think of a path and a goal as"out there" like physical objects.

    So if the inquiry is taken far enough, youllbump up sooner or later against the questionwhether there are objects existing outside ofawareness. It is sometimes helpful to tacklethis one issue on its own.

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    The Spectator ViewThe conventional view, (often called thespectator view) says, "Of course there arephysical objects! What a dumb thing toquestion!"

    The spectator view is based on severalinterlocking parts:

    The part referring to you: according tothe spectator view, you are a kind ofspectator inside your body.

    The part referring to the objects:according to the spectator view, objectssuch as trees and cars are separate,independent chunks of material substancethat reside mainly outside the scope ofawareness, but which might come into thescope of awareness for brief periods oftime.

    The part referring to the process:according to the spectator view, heres howwe become aware of objects. We all learn itin school. Namely, trees, cars and otherobjects are out there, and you are in here.These external objects initiate a chain ofevents. This causal chain, which includeslight or sound waves bouncing off theobjects, might intersect with your bodyssenses. If so, this causal chain will sendsignals and information through yoursensory and perceptual channels. Theresult will be your awareness of the outsideobject.

    Questioning the Spectator ViewNondual inquiry examines each of theseassumptions. Each assumption turns out to beunwarranted. In spite of this, the assumptionsall contribute to our feeling cut-off, helplessand powerless. But do these assumptionswarrant belief? For example, if I am aspectator, what is the evidence for this? Is thebrain the spectator? What is it that knows andestablishes this? Do I see observe the brainobserving? Is there another brain observingthe first brain (this would need to be repeatedad infinitum...) Or perhaps my sepectator-selfis not the brain, but a tiny point of sentienceinside the body? Where would that be? Behindthe forehead? Can pure sentience have aphysical location? If objects Out There areunobserved, what is the evidence for this,

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    other than observation itself?

    This just sounds like babble. Isn't thespectator view true?This is precisely what the inquiry isexamining! Nondual inquiry isnt for the faintof heart. It helps to have some degree ofcourage to put yourself wholly into it withoutholding back, and to follow the inquirywherever it leads. Some confidence helps aswell, in this David and Goliath situation whereyou challenge long-held and popular beliefsand models.

    So what's the alternative? Freedom!The goal of this inquiry is not to come up withan alternate, more sensible model. Rather, thegoal is to see that all models are limiting.Models and structures are useful in buildingskyscrapers and flying airplanes, but they areexcess baggage when it comes to followingyour own experience to investigate the natureof things. Seeing through these beliefs freesyou from them and their limitations.

    And you wont run into walls either! The beliefthat you are an internal spectator separated bya gap from the world is not necessary for lifeto be lived. The belief in physical objects is notwhat prevents you from getting hit by a carwhile crossing the street. In fact, the entiretyof your experience becomes infused with anamazing smoothness. You will actually find iteasier to keep the body safe and healthy. Lifebecomes light and free, an amazing dance, aspontaneous celebration.

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