The mind, rational thought, language and words, in and of themselves, are not a problem. The mind and words are helpful when used appropriately, with an understanding that the map is not the territory.
Attachment to the mind is a problem.
“As the heart pumps blood, the mind pumps thoughts. They’re going to arise, the question is, what is your relationship to those thoughts?” James Wood
We cannot conceptualize the Absolute, however, that does not mean we ought to stop attempting to clearly, honestly articulate our experience and what we understand about the teaching so far.
I really enjoy connecting with others who are interested in finding out what’s true. However, if you have been following the comments here, you may have noticed that the discussion can get unnecessarily snarky, even insulting.
For me, debate has great value – the ones who disagree with me help me get clear about what I am saying by calling me out on illogical or confusing formulations. It’s great! It helps me think from different angles. I am not trained in formal debate, but I am aware that there are standards – i.e. it’s not ok to make a claim that you cannot (or refuse to) back up with evidence.
For example, telling a writer that she is ‘using her mind’ is a pretty vague and unclear assertion. First, how can you know that I am (only) using my mind? Why do you think that? Where is your evidence? What does it mean when you say I am ‘using my mind’? What are you accusing me of? What exactly is the problem? And come on now, no thank you to insulting remarks.
There is a saying I like, ‘the truth is no respecter of persons’. I don’t do the ‘it’s all good’ thing very well and I won’t congratulate you for being confusing. I like clear, direct communication (even though I am not always good at it). I am writing to share my experience of what it is like to study directly with a True Teacher. And I am here because I am very interested in how you live and understand the teaching on freedom from suffering.
If you say something that doesn’t make sense to me, I will ask for clarification. I may ask a question about something that is very obvious to you. I am not the sharpest person around. You may have to repeat yourself or say it a different way.
If I ask a question or call you out on something, please know I am sincerely trying to understand (with all my faculties) what you are saying and why. And if you do not give clarification, or still do not make sense, I won’t agree with you.
Recently, I asked a question on another blog and my question was deleted. I don’t know what happened with that, it could have been a technical glitch, but if the writer deleted my question because he didn’t want to explain what he was saying, I am not impressed. It strikes me as unethical to put out information (or opinion), especially in this venue, if you are not willing to answer to questions about it.
For this blog, I assure you, I want to know if you don’t understand what I write. I will respond to you to the best of my ability (and we still may not understand each other, and that’s ok).
I do not claim to have all the answers and I am more than happy to hash it out, respectfully. I am willing to be wrong about anything I say. What I offer here is the understanding I have come to by way of asking my primary teacher lots of questions and studying other teachers’ expressions of the teaching on freedom from suffering.
Svaha 
Aly~ I appreciate you so much for sharing in such a public space. I find your writings both supportive and inspiring, and especially helpful for my situation since I don’t currently have much support for this work in my local community. The internet is certainly an effective way to reach out to people and connect with others, but sometimes I wonder if it is the best venue for communicating triggering material ~ especially since it is so easy for people to be dishonest and disrespectful. I think your blog is very bold and beautiful, and I appreciate that you are engaging your readers so directly and honestly. Thank you!
Blessings,
Angela
Hi Angela, wow, thank you for your very kind words. I’ve been having a lot of fun here. And, I really like the debate part ;) I hope you get a chance to come out again so we can meet in person! hugs!
Hi Angela, one more thought in response to your comment. This is definitely a challenging way to communicate. But also, it seems like if we were all in a room together, we could get distracted by each others’ appearances and personal styles. We might decide not to talk to each other, or get busy enjoying chit chat, food and drink or whatever is going on – and it’s possible that we would never get around to talking about these things at all… I am grateful for the stripped-down, direct communication that is possible in this venue, and grateful that you and others are here :)
Hi Aly, if you are talking to me, I deleted the post itself because I was not happy with it, which I do all the time, I delete and re-work posts constantly and make no bones about it, as far as I know comments go with posts, so that is the simple answer, nothing more sinister than that.
As the journal owner and writer I do as I see fit, which may include ignoring comments or not publishing them, that responsibility and right I see as resting with the blog writer, others do not always publish or respond to my comments and generally I take no offense to this.
As for the comment itself left by you, I can discuss it here or anywhere, but I must admit, I tend to see the word “awake” used by many Teachers as a evasive term. I can talk about why that is. Another problem I saw likely to arise is it would require me to deconstruct “Buddhism”, (which is not really my strength or interest) on some level, and further I did not want to undermine your own Teachers position which would tend also to arise. Can you understand why I do not want to go down that road?
So I did leave a very short answer, before becoming unhappy with the whole post and letting it go. Yes there is a certain laziness in this and also the wish to avoid conflict. I would rather us be allies than competitors. So unless you push the point I will tend to not engage in dialog that may only lead to conflict rather than ease-fullness. More a “lover than a fighter”, if you like. All the best Aly!
Hi Nitram, I was referring to you, not talking to you. I was using what you did as an example of what I have decided I will not do. For me, once something is written and posted, I will deal with whatever ensues because of it.
I apologize for not contacting you directly before I mentioned it, but I didn’t know how to contact you, and I intentionally did not say who I was talking about.
Believe me, I generally do not care if a blogger doesn’t answer my comments, but your post bothered me A LOT and I wanted to know more. You wrote something like (paraphrase) – if a person says they are spiritually awake or enlightened, they are not.
That is a pretty big bomb to drop. Then the post vanished. The question I posted was: ‘Didn’t Adi Da say he was spiritually awake?’
I want to go down that road with you!
For me, I do not (necessarily) feel a lack of ‘ease-fullness’ when I disagree with someone and I do not feel that we are in conflict. I feel you as a fellow student of Adi Da and I want to know how you interpret what He said. I really want to know why you said what you said in that ghost post.
Hi Aly, here is the original post, It was written in the mood of “writing to myself” rather than any other.
In the first sentence I have emphasized “their” or the sense of ownership as false and not possible.
In the second sentence, I refer to Transcendental Being as being absolutely overwhelming to the conditional ego-I and not something that can be held onto but only yielded to, this is often alluded to as ego death, I also mention the primary ego knot.
In the third sentence I satirize the modern teaching school as being not given up to Divine Reality but only viewing as ego’s (or still in a separate state) in relative safety. So it may have a slightly different meaning to how you originally perceived it…
Title : Transcendental Being or Realization, is not a little thing
“Anyone who speaks of being awake or illumined and speaks as if that is “their” condition is a best (or with the very best intention) only compassionate, but still deluded. Transcendental Awakening could never be held or achieved by a “self”, not ever.
Anyone who has felt even a little of the full force of Universal Life, knows it is not a small current that can be directed like a garden hose. Transcendental Being is more like a massive wave, that is currently being interpreted by the “ego” which is none other than the primal knot of fear at the causal root, as “all of this”.
The “awakened ones” of this current era, are like children who have poked a hole in the fence and see something vast out there, but remain safe behind the fence, and may then point it out to others.”
Thank you for putting this up! Even though you were writing more to yourself, putting it online definitely had an impact, on me at least :) You mentioned ‘the “awakened ones” of this current era’, are you saying there are no valid teachers alive now?
Well it depends what you mean by valid teacher, I just wrote a post on odd teaching sources and mentioned Lobsang Rampa as an influence, a man who wrote of a fictional life in Tibet and yet had quite an influence on me in my youth, so that points to the sometimes symbolic or metaphorical shape of “Teacher” and “Teaching”. Another influence was Carlos Casteneda’s ; Don Juan the fictional Shaman. I had another living teacher Swami K. of the Bengali Tantrik school, he was a very unusual man on the one hand full of “tall stories”, yet with a demonstrable spiritual force beyond what his limitations appeared to be. So there will always be teaching sources and influences coming into your life, if you remain open to them (and perhaps even if you are not) As for valid teachers in the sense of the post quoted, I really have no idea, I have not come into the company of any or been moved by the Teaching of any, that’s not to say none are of “transitional value” or useful in other ways, I am sure there are some good valid teachers currently appearing but not living or teaching from the *Ultimate Reality* which possibility has a paradox in it, that I am only beginning to become aware of.
Hi Nitram, thank you very much for sharing your perspective. I agree that teaching can and does happen all the time, and comes in all forms, to the degree that I’m paying attention. For me, a ‘valid’ teacher, a True Teacher, is one who is liberated/spiritually awakened/enlightened. I use those terms to mean the same thing – one who is awake, free of suffering/dissatisfaction. These individuals are extremely rare. The ones who are currently embodied and liberated (and communicating about it) are really extra rare. Again, thank you for being here. I look forward to hearing more from you.
Aly, I agree that communicating in writing can be very intimate and direct. In fact, I often experience the greatest depth with others through our written dialogue. It’s interesting how automatically the ego mind surfaces, judges and positions itself when dealing with appearances and personalities. Even in the space of a workshop it can be difficult dealing with all the ambient mental activity. It’s nice to have all that stripped away here, as you say!
I look forward to meeting you too! Surely we will meet at some point, since we are both so deeply devoted to the same Teaching. :)
Blessings,
Angela
Aly if you like reading try these online books by Adi Da here
http://www.beezone.com/AdiDaBooks.html
if you have not already read “The Knee of Listening” or ‘The Method of The Siddhas” these are classic books, though presented here in a very raw form, later versions are much more elaborate, but they are the ones that influenced me to this day, here
http://www.beezone.com/AdiDa/KneeofListening/book/tableofcontents.html
http://www.beezone.com/AdiDa/Method/methodindex.html
talk later..
Awesome! thank you! It’s great to know these incredible books are available online.
The Method of the Siddhas is absolutely one of the very best, I mean one of the very very best books I have ever, ever read! I don’t remember when I read it for the first time, but last Christmas I received a really beautiful 1973 edition of it as a gift! :) It’s the one from the site you linked to, with the gorgeous black and white photo of Franklin Jones on the cover. For any one interested in learning how to relate to an embodied, liberated individual – The Method of the Siddhas is the book for you!
I read The Knee of Listening this past year, a later version. It too was amazing, it spoke to me very deeply, and during the time I was reading it, I met Adi Da in three really significant dreams. (maybe that sounds odd, but oh well :) Thank you for sharing these links!
Much to share there Aly, as far as dreams go, I mention it here, this is a very common experience and has little to do with whether the person has sympathy for Ad Da or not
http://adidacausal.wordpress.com/2008/10/04/adi-daknee-of-listening-1971part-1/