Sunday, October 27, 2013

Sitting in silence, doing nothing in particular

Sitting in silence, doing nothing in particular


It's nice to take a break sometimes from all the methods, techniques, theories, ideas, conceptual maps, and spiritual pathways we attempt to follow, which ironically are leading back to Nothing.

Of course, the mind, also known as the egoic personality, loves progressive spiritual paths, and all other forms of progression- from New Years resolutions, list making, affirmations, to meditative spiritual pathways. The reason being is that a future is ensured, thus ensuring the survival of the mind or individual personality that we have taken ourselves to be. We now have a reason to continue, a purpose in life, something to aim for, and an identity to live.

Unfortunately, there is no end to progressive paths. Very few, if any people we know or read about don't seem to attain Enlightenment, Buddhahood, Self-Realization, or The Big Mac. This isn't to say that those who do follow arduous paths don't often come across wonderful personal experiences.. new states of consciousness, blissful experiences, and pure clarity. It happens... for a short time. Then back to the path.
Interestingly, those rare people who did seem to attain "The End" in this life, by accident or experimentation, often come across as the simplest of people. They are content to teach or not, and give out the simplest of advice, such as "Be quiet.", "Investigate yourself.", "Be mindful of yourself.", or "Abide in your being-ness".

It's a real treat to be able to set aside 15 minutes, or whatever time one has, and just sit somewhere comfortable, eyes closed, with the intention of having no intention to do anything. Likewise, just sitting in silence, or keeping quiet produces the same effect.

This isn't commonly taught in spiritual schools. How could it be? There would be one class and one instruction taking about 15 minutes. Yet whole movements have grown out of this little seed-like action. The Quaker (Religious Society of Friends) is one such movement, starting in the 17th Century, and still exists today. As one of my own pet favourite groups to visit- anyone from any background can visit a Quaker meeting, and just sit in silence for an hour in the company of others. No instructions, no guiding, no teaching, no advice. Simple, yet profound. I have never come from a meeting where insight didn't manifest in some shape or form.

As individuals though, we have access to all we need to perform this little activity- our own presence and some uninterrupted time. The usual meditative advice applies, being alert and relaxed, upright and in a quiet area. Yet apart from this, the delight of sitting with no instruction, no purpose, and no doing, can really form the seed for profound transformation coming totally from within rather than without.






3 comments:

  1. I just dit (oops, I mean sit but I like to leave the mistakes because, how can I dit?) every day and let the mind notice the limitations of thought as it tries to impose it's ideas of identity and value on itself. It is an open never ending attempt to close perceptions into assumed to be real and defined something or other. I also do mantra throughout the day as "commanded"(just kidding), no suggested, by my teacher. He says the mantra works like an antivirus. I see it as replacing thoughts with nothing in particular because I mostly don't notice the meaning of the words. This seems to have a "cumulative effect" on the usual sense OF being. What I call any sense of difference from my usual sense of being can only be noticed in what seems to be time oriented sense and in retrospect. Now I can put it to "my" mind, how can I have a different sense of being when now there is always some sense of being? By letting this kind of open inquiry take it's course, the attempts of thought to close in on particular identities and values gets undermined. "Thought's own" attempt to validate "being" as known in a particular way (it's own closed way)isn't allowed to be proud but instead remains open. I realize sometimes that this inquiry is a never ending search but at least it's an open, not closed search. This, along with reading stuff by Nisargadatta and Rupert Spira and others, like stumbling onto this blog, there is a gradual deepening or emerging of a sense of Real Being that can't be known as anything in particular yet absolutely is undeniable. The truth of what I am and everything is is getting it's own evidence that I and everything is Nothing In Particular. Nisargadatta has said this "about" himself. But there's no "about" about it. Kind of like pure self evidence. Ramakant Maharaj calls it Selfless Self. By the way he is planning to be in the Baltimore, D.C. area in September for a while and to see and hear him and meet with him is free. If you read his book "Selfless Self" ahead of time (or at least a good portion of it), it is extremely likely you can receive the Mantra which is of great importance to me. You'll also get to meet one of Ramakant's foremost students who I consider brilliant,John Richards. We have weekly on line meetings that get posted to youtube which you might be able to find. I participate but haven't gone back to find them myself but maybe by searching youtube and Ramakant discussions you might find them. I didn't know I was going to be mentioning this when I started this post. Back to what I was saying, even if I/we/you observe any perception it's become evident to me that I can't find anything that is strictly particular. Every border and or feature of anything is sharing it's "self". Absolutely nothing is ONLY. I see now that only "nothing in particular" is love, truth, beauty and freedom. I wanted to share this because I love being nothing in particular. In fact I did a search for "nonduality nothing in particular" and it brought me here. More or less power to ya. Seeya.

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  2. I found that by putting "Tuesday Talk Ramakant" in the youtube search you get the talks. The lineage of Nisargadatta and Ramakant Maharaj don't charge anything. When I tried to donate it wasn't accepted. After all how or why would I charge myself for telling myself about myself?

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  3. Thanks for the comments, Keith. I know that some students of Nisargadatta (and Ranjit Maharaj) find that Sri Ramakent is a great teacher and resource. For myself, I didn't feel an attraction to him, but it's different for everyone. It would be well worth visiting one of his tours to the US (unfort he doesn't visit Australia). Best..

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