@@freetibet1000 - and that means non-clinging to non-clinging, too. The ideal method is no method at all. But one must embrace method (form) to practice no-method (formlessness). So there are simply no words--right? Wrong, a method of non-method requires practice, and so there are need of words. But....
I've come to the conclusion that the biggest mistake I made during my spiritual journey has been to listen to others. Not only did this trigger comparisons whereby I was never good enough, but I finally realised everyone's quest and experience is their own. Much of what a spiritual teacher teaches is influenced by their own experience, whereas we are all called and given experiences uniquely our own. I now realise I probably wasted decades thinking this is not it, or that can't be right, just because it didn't line up with what a teacher had taught. It wasn't until I let all of that go, that there was a spiritual stirring inside.... something that was uniquely true to me that had been crowded out or buried under the layers of words, dogma and ideology that was actually foreign to me. Yes, listen to teachers, but not at the expense of sacrificing what is intuitive, pure and simple that has its source within, not from the world. I have come to understand that the only journey involved is the journey clearing the mental clutter and of turning inward.
Thank you for putting into words what I've been sensing for a long time - me, my own path, my own teachings and realisations that are only valid and relevant to myself, that there is no one fits all concept or teaching - 🤯🤯 the mind is blown (took me quite a while to realise this my power for myself) ❤❤
The first lesson is often the most ignored there are Sheep they shag there are Wolves they devour the Sheep Then there Shepard's, who used to be Wolves But learned the objective truth , which makes them Shepard's The only Public Shepard in the last 500 years was Gurdjeff, the rest of the humans just mis interpret it all , mostly because they are Sheep and wolves trying to work out what the Shepard's are saying to each other
Spiritual pride is the last trick of the ego and I'm not even convinced it can be eliminated. I think everyone has to move at their own pace and without comparing yourself to anyone else. It's why I try not to follow any one "spiritual teacher" for too long. Everyone says the truth is within yourself and I think that's the least dangerous path to follow. I believe there is no hierarchy of souls. There is no superior or inferior, only differences with different strengths and weaknesses, and all are essential. Thanks for reminding me.
Some spiritual pride is needed to stand up against manipulative people. Pride is good, the problem is arrogance. Too many conflate pride with arrogance.
True enlightenment is not for the person it's From the person!!❤ We already know what it means to be a person with all the good- bad and ugly- how about trying on your True Self on a moment to moment basis!! ❤ Wow Jeff maybe in five years you will be singing Another tune! The Truth is still the Truth- it doesn't change when the person's perspective keeps changing! Truth is you are only playing a part in your dream with your dream character- wake up to True reality!❤
@tehbignicbro read a real proper old times Bible and stop repeating words from newer editions... Christ didn't say that . Read the real scripts and rethink your thoughts.
I was so disconnected to my body after my spiritual awakening and was so focused on Unity Consciousness. I felt like I had to kill my ego and felt a lot of shame and guilt because that wasn't happening. One day last year I just said I was done with this and that I am a human and I want to be here on this planet with all its intense feelings and experiences. All of the mundane human things are starting to bring me joy again. I am perfectly imperfect and the whole spiritual community is a huge turn off to me now thankfully. I still see God in each and every one of us and I'm thankful for my journey up to this point.
That’s an interesting insight. Thank you for that. I personally am not sure that I believe full enlightenment or awakening is even a real thing. We can get a glimpse of pure consciousness, and take some refuge in that. But permanently live in it? I am sceptical that that is real. I just see the “spiritual” path, by which I mean the Buddha Dharma, as a route to help reduce mental suffering or discontent that is caused by craving and aversion. It seems to me that clinging to some concept of a perfect enlightened state is clinging just as much as clinging to any other concept, and will therefore lead to mental suffering. I don’t know anything for sure of course, but it seems to me that you don’t need to be turned off by the whole spiritual community en mass. But being sceptical of anyone teaching some ultimate state is probably a good idea. Just taking it as a direction of travel, day by day, might be the middle path that is more realistic and manageable? But yeah, we will never stop being human. Never completely dissolve “conventional” reality. And that is a good thing. 🙏🏻
@@willmosse3684 fully agree with you! There is much suffering to be encountered in that pursuit. And there is a certain rejection of life as if there is a better place to be. I think some seek this as an escape from the fact that this might be all that we get, and death is the end of it all. To me this is an invitation to embrace all of ourselves, attachments included.
I went to a Mooji retreat in India years ago. I love Moojis teaching, but I was very surprised by the people there. They seemed to view him as some almighty leader that they wanted to get close to. One elderly lady there had been on the spiritual path all her life. From being a part of Oshos group. She could talk the talk, but she seemed very irritable. These people just seemed to have spiritual egos to me. Maybe bigger egos than people who don’t consider themselves spiritual. I decided it’s best to just not talk about it to people. Just stick to myself. Be present and keep noticing when the false self comes up. Also when I find myself thinking about enlightenment, just bring myself back to the present moment. Back to reality.
@@nicklewisofficial1487 But in case you really feel like it, you should become indifferent to his crowd. Mooji is not the message but only the messenger after all. He is the finger that points you to what is.
@@jennybengtsson1223 A true master would never station themselves above others. Mooji walks around like a holy man, and he makes sure to show this side of him to others, who then become mesmerised. He has nothing special to offer anyone - he is a half-baked wannabe. Creating a distance between teacher and student through the facade of holiness is a spiritual corruption and only creates more worshippers, admirers and followers. A true teacher is so unassuming you would never have the slightest idea about what they are unless you got close to them.
@@silverlake973 I have one of those, too, dear heart -- a keen, critical eye and sharp intellect -- so intent on seeing and exposing all that is unholy and contemptable in the behavior of others, and all that is unholy and contemptable within my self as well. Unfortunately, the only result that comes of employing that cunning lens, is soul sickness. Some of us continue on for decades, in blind ignorance of what we're doing to ourselves.... until the day comes when we notice that there is hardly any one left in our midst we can stand to spend time with... and the precious few whose presence we do enjoy are hardly interested in being in our company. And we notice that we feel irritable, and impatient and physically cold -- as if no warmth at all is flowing through our bloodstream, because it isn't! Because we have unwittingly severed the heart's flow. Don't wait that long, my sister. Don't subject yourself to all those years of needless suffering. All things we see are images we have made. All interpretations are inaccurate. Forgive all the characters, within and 'without'. They are not true. Only the one heart we all share is true. Forgive every character all its faults. Forgive all your own. Forgive yourself for dreaming up such a horrific world as this, and let Love gently lead you home.
Love this!!! If people are not aware and haven't done their emotional work on childhood wounds, emotional repression, etc. non-duality can be used to further emotional repression and other emotional issues that need to be addressed.
Your beliefs about nonduality is not non-duality but thoughts believed to be about nonduality. Nice religion you have made out of it with beliefs. You still just have only beliefs and you will never find anything but more of the same nonsense that thinking is. You cannot think and believe, and practice your way into nonduality. There is nothing you can do to get “there” as it doesn’t exist. It’s not even that word and all the thoughts about it. You are what’s being imagined. Jeff hates the truth, but that is also imagined as there never will be a Jeff or a truth to grasp and understand. 😂 Beliefs are always chasing after thoughts and they never actually get anywhere.
What I have perceived, is that the main ego mind has been reset to restart a new perception. In the Dream there are millions of egos, but not all are liberated from all the accumulated information. When one or two or three egos are being "liberated", there are more that will continue with the scripted story of the character, the egos will be replaced. That's why we can see that enlightened teachers are still in the human mode.
I am no more interested being enlightened. What I truly want is been wiped out of all the old accumulated information, so I can have a new restart. Well, that's what I had perceived.
@@carlavela7106 This biggest realization to me has been that you have always been "enlightened". It was never a state to "attain" but in fact one that you have always been.
That’s why beliefs are bad substitutes for experiences. Non-duality is not about denying your feelings and not embracing your humanity. It’s about realizing that you are not your thoughts and feelings. You’re the observer of them. It helps people get out of their heads. It’s not about being perfect, it’s about accepting that imperfection as part of the character you chose to play’s journey and growth so you don’t take inevitable distressing life events and the fleeting nature of happiness, youth, and health too seriously or too personally. I don’t think I would have believed or accepted non-duality as a belief system without experiencing an ego disillusion back when I was an atheist and ended up laughing the whole time on how short sighted I’ve lived my whole life identifying with my life story and forgetting that I created all of that! I would probably dismiss it as contradictory new age bullshit and a mere of wishful thinking lol I didn’t even know the term non-duality back then and had to search to understand what was that state of consciousness I have experienced where the separation between me and my environment almost didn’t exist and where I was not my strong opinions, fears, politics, wants or my look and where this realization that I am eternal and infinite came from. I was puzzled because that realization I’ve got during my ego disillusion was not a new information to me. It was just something I forgot. It was like how could I forget something that obvious. After that, I was so thankful to having a human body and thankful for being giving a chance to experience the taste of coffee and the look if my dog’s eyes and all the human things I didn’t appreciate before. Consciousness needs human forms to experience all of that little things we take for granted. Humanity is important. Don’t deny your humanity but also don’t think that it’s all you are.
You are correct. Many people who get into non duality get stuck by identifying with awareness and using it as a new identity to suppress and bypass their human “stuff”. There’s a tendency for the mind to reify (make things solid, grasp onto phenomenons as if they have an essence), whether that’s reifying “awareness” or “human” it’s actually just 2 sides of the same view in extremity/duality. By clinging onto “awareness” you are identifying with Being and Eternity. By clinging onto “no self” or “emptiness” you are craving for Non-Being and you skew your view to Nihilism, likewise, clinging onto “the human” is just another version of the same process of reification. You are neither awareness nor human, nor anything in between. The Middle Way transcends but integrates all of these views, is beyond but includes both existence and non existence, as you see clearly how all phenomenons from the most divine to the most mundane are co dependently arisen, thus empty of essence. This does not mean things don’t exist, but they don’t exist INDEPENDENTLY, and INHERENTLY. Im not trying to establish another view here on the intellectual level. This is merely a reminder to let go of grasping at the most subtle level experientially and sensorially.
Thank you both! This is very reassuring as this is what my intuition and life are telling me but it goes against the current “dogma” of non-duality going around.
I have been on this so-called "non-dual path" for two years now and I felt more and more cold and as if I just couldn't manage it. Your words reach so deeply into me and give me a feeling of warmth and connection and a liberating feeling. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for that.
Wow, I was a Jeff Foster sort of follower from way back to the early Conscious TV episodes time period. Jeff was sort of what I needed at the time. Now, decades later, he shows up again on my feed and its like he has come full circle. I owe Jeff a deep dept. of gratitude.
My sponsor from my 12 Steps fellowship started a few years ago going to retreats with Francis Lucille, she changed slowly in ways that made me feel uncomfortable, at times shaming me when I was grieving or upset with a personal issue. I had to distance myself from her, she is still very involved with his teaching going to his retreats several times a year. I love the way you engage with spiritual teaching, I am also doing Internal Family systems therapy which really embraces all our parts with love and compassion, no bad parts, the way to heal and embrace our shadows, not with shame. Thank you Jeff for speaking out. ❤
Sometimes feeling shame is called for. Just look at society. If one is causing harm, they should feel shame. Too many do not today. It's all about doing no harm as you do unto others as you'd have done to yourself.
Ditto regarding my journey, including 12 step recovery, the power of IFS work, and the crucial importance of not bypassing (which I tried to do for years). Spiritual growth for me is a necessary melding of the Infinite intangible AND the intimately messy personal content. Encountered Jeff's stuff 15 yrs ago, moved on, and had no intent of ever circling back to him again as I lumped him in the Awareness Bypass category. What a delight to witness the change. I work with a no bypass teacher now who mentioned Jeff a few times and I now find Jeff to be the teacher who speaks most directly to parts and to loving the beautiful mess. Such genuine heartfelt compassion!❤️
Extreme non dual teachers like Tony Parsons have a communication that there is nobody here or no individual and he believes that with conviction. Others come across with a similar message that is more gentle like Rupert, Francis and Mooji to name a few. Yet I believe they contradict that stance by saying things like "anger" just arises for nobody or for an individual...it just "happens". But as you may know from step 4 in the 12th step program of recovery (which i believe is a more accurate description of whats going on here with anger or resentment)....it points to that anger arises because of the belief that there is a SELF/ME/INDIVIDUAL/HUMAN/PERSON who either isn't getting their own way or something is happening to that SELF, ME, HUMAN, or PERSON that they don't like and therefore they get angry. So I believe that you cant have anger without the belief of being a person....it dont "just happen". I came to the conclusion just like Jeff has here that behind all the scenes, talks and satsungs...a lot of these non dual teachers actually are not free 100% of the time of the belief that they are an limited individual or person and i believe they forget at times and fall back into personhood. Even I can sit down for a whole hour or two at a meeting looking like the most spiritual guy on the planet. But I'm a different story when I have to go out there in difficult conditions to live the other 23 hours of the day. You have every right to get uncomfortable if your sponsor has drifted from the 12 step program because eventually they might try and convince you or themselves that they are not a person and so therefore there is no need a 12 step program or their fellowship anymore and then might end up relapsing. You do realise that even long term people in sobriety can get side tracked and go insane again? Personally, I like to take bits of non duality, Religion, Mindfulness and other resources just like taking "supplements" to add to my 12 step program....but NEVER to replace it. Hope this helps.
I too have spent ‘behind the scenes’ time with one of my favorite spiritual teachers/well known author and was disappointed he was not walking the talk. I no longer give my power away like that. Thank you for sharing this message.
Not my experience with non-duality at all. In fact, if anything it made me understand my humanity better. It made me a better person, a more in touch, aware person. Sounds like you went through a huge push to remove that humanity. Because all that you are as a human with all the ups and downs is perfect. Thich Nhat Hanh said everything that happens is an event. Don't label anything or any emotion as good or bad, just sit with it, have the feeling don't fight it. I would hate to end up like what you described, or like some of the people in the comments. But I can understand why it can happen. Sorry you had an experience on this path we all walk that wasn't what you thought it was going to be. Stay in the moment my friend, that's where everything is.
@@SchoolOf5 Because it's their experience and they're those who can manage to balance singularity and duality and accept it for what it is, I'm figuring it out rn and my friend who started before me gave up on it and it's her choice but it is also my choice to continue and navigate through life with spirituality and humanity, it just is and mind & body just is however I do struggle with emotions rn but I know I will find my way
@@danrt52i was going to say , yea non duality to me has never been about pure awareness. it’s simply that there is nothing behind appearance. and where this is experienced the most for lack of a better way to say it, is in the recognition that there is no separate thinker of thought, and therefore no separate entity to get anything. That the getting never happens. That when you really look at your experience, there’s just no separation. The appearance of separateness but not truly. So I know they’re a lot of people in the non-dual scene that are all about awareness, but that was not what it was about for me. It certainly was not about or is not about finding another identity as anything even awareness.. It’s more about, the illusory nature of identity. So the emptiness and the fullness are not two and that in my book is non-duality but of course these are all just words trying to describe what is. And no words will ever capture what truly is.
Thanks Jeff. I came to hear you and Matt Licata several years ago in London. As you started to speak a police siren went by and the look of annoyance that crossed your face told me you weren't really walking your talk. I know your path hasn't been easy but the depth of authenticity shining through this video is lovely to see. And you are so right, these paradoxes are the only real truths. Thankyou for sharing❤
Being authentic is probably the best way to be for ourselves and others.. no games, just being honest, with integrity is the easiest way of being. Thank you for this candid conversation
You summed up my comment. (I tend to be wordy) 😂 I completely agree.
8 місяців тому+19
After 17 years of meditations I quit even prolong sitting meditations. I realized I am an human now and I must go through this because I chose it that way. 😊 It doesn't mean my deep values changed but my attitude to the material life has to change. If I miss this point of my life so then I have to repeat this lesson over and over 🤦♀️ There is no other better way to bring "the light" to this world than to be a human with all humaness.❤
Thanks, Jeff. There's nothing like parenthood to drop you into your humanity! We are both and must live as both Awareness and human. Adyashanti and Bonnie Greenwell have both said that awakening allows soul to live more fully through a very HUMAN life. We are embodied and must respect that. I love that you named the piece about making Awareness a new identity. Such a risk on the non-dual path. Sometimes I feel like so many non-dual teachers need to just spend a week with a toddler to understand and thus ACCEPT their own humanness! To respect a child's humanness is part of how we LOVE them, so we must also accept that in ourselves.
This is why I ‘went’ from pure and solely non-duality to A Course in Miracles (Workbook). Because those teachings - also non-dual - are pointing to the only path: Love. It clearly states: Your task is not to seek for love, but only to find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it. I’m now at day 208 from the Course and I have grown humble. For the first time in my life I feel I’m really home now. ‘Service’ is the most human - and also spiritual - level you can get, trust me on this one. So my point is; It’s not that non-duality is wrong, it’s just not complete. Love is missing!
I absolutely love this!!! It reminds me of something Kenneth Wapnick used to say: ‘we are all far more human than otherwise.’ From all the beautiful things he taught us, this is the most valuable lesson. I tend to forget it sometimes. Thank you for reminding me with this video.😊
Thank you for this valued reminder Jeff; as st Frances of Assisi reputedly said, " we already are that which we seek" - makes sense I feel. Cheers, Ross
That is exactly, more than exactly what I needed to hear this morning as I woke up berating myself for the vulnerability that I showed others yesterday. Thank you so very much for bringing me back to my glorious self/Self❤️
Thank you SO much for this. I agree 100%. I have studied spiritual paths for literally 50 years and have pretty much seen it all. I came across non-duality about 3 years ago and have listened to talks by many of the current popular teachers. One thing that seems to be missing was the heart, the warmth, the gentleness, the humanity. The argument that "there's just nothing here" just doesn't land right with me. So, thank you. God bless.
Jeff, you saw through one of the pitfalls of neo nonduality. Not nonduality. Your new view is actually nondual tantra, embracing the human experience as also Divine. Infused by and rising out of nondual awareness, never being not nondual yet appearing as dual, and it is glorious.
That is exactly what occurred to me, as well. His quitting non-duality is actually quitting Neo-Advaita, not actual non-duality, whose teachings he has not truly understood.
Brave to talk about this. Seems like you used to mix up thoughts and concepts about nonduality with true nondual awakening. Some people want to become teachers before being awake. ❤
Such a good message! As a mostly blind person I could never find the money or courage to see/find a teacher. But there are 2 or 3 I have followed over the years, your one. The nihilism rocked my world as I start over again. Blessings!
I am getting to be an old woman and have been at this for 44 years. Probably my most shattering insight was that the I would probably never meet or know of a truly “wise”, “religious”, whatever term you want to use, person. That person will not talk about their mindset, or about what they have or have not done. I think there are people who do appear and speak but not to gather disciples or attention. They come only as a mouthpiece and are few and far between. You seem a bit younger than me so it’s natural along the way to realize that things are not always as we “think”. Bravo to you for seeing and letting others know that you don’t have all the answers. It is the most authentic and honest thing you could do. The ordinary is the sacred; the sacred is the ordinary. ❤
This is not a judgement, but I first became aware of this teacher many years ago and could not connect to him because he felt artificial to me. He did not ring true. In this video, I feel his heart and genuineness. He feels authentic, for the first time to me.
You saved my life with this video! Thank you! I so much needed this perspective too; after 15 years of searching and not finding, I was veeeery close to depression again. Ultimately, every nondual speaker is human, and we sholud not forget it is very possible they too have problems that were not adressed, and we have to listen to their message with caution, using critical thinking....But because they don t present both sides of the story (maybe because they too are very convinced of what they are saying), it s hard for us to be critical about this nondual message, and you torture ourselves with it (as much as our ego understands it) messing up our lifes, and....guess what? ...suffering even more! Sorry for the bad english😁
This is really interesting and makes a lot of sense. I found meditation post-trauma at around 40, prior to a diagnosis of ADHD with co-morbid autistic traits. It settled my anger and helped me see my thoughts so much clearer, which then led me to the diagnosis itself. I’ve recently found myself on an emotional rollercoaster of anxiety (which I think I was always riding but now I’m seeing it, it’s a bit harder). One awakening I recently had was that I had turned acceptance and letting go of toxic ambitions, by attempting to find a non-dual base, I was suppressing parts of what is essentially me, in human terms. This video has helped reinforce that I am okay to have wants and needs, without it feeling like I’m failing at something. Sorry if that’s a bit of a ramble. Good video and new subscriber!
What a profound and important teaching, thank you so much for this witness! It so great to have so many lessons about how to acheive more perfection with meditation, but the teaching about the limits we can become is just as important.
This is the journey. We start at a place with dim understanding of the journey and suddenly we find ourselves somewhere else. And the journey continues.
That was quality Jeff, just what I needed right now, thank you. I had this experience last week where I just disappeared again. It went on for 5 days and YES I was pure awareness and then it went away. I got so pissed that I became "me" again but that me is still it. Its ok to be a mess after being pure awareness. It's the same thing either way, it's hard to process but hearing from your perspective helps so thank you.
It depends on what experience you are pointing at. I think he is pointing on the experience of some so called non-dual teachers and so on and in that sense he is quitting the TOPIC of non duality. The experience of getting stuck in the experience of explaining reality to yourself and others, over and over again, to get comfortable with it. The only real way is through the heart and that is the next step. The path and the learning never ends.
You can’t quit or not quit “non-duality” life just is. The so called person has a lot of chatter and that can apparently take away the beauty and simpleness of what simply is. No concepts, only life.
Thanks for sharing this Jeff. It is such a pity that non-duality has become a dogma. True non-duality has to, 'by definition', embrace everything as part of the one awareness. Wave and ocean awareness🙂 In the deepest states, there is incredible reverence for everything...palpable. Embodied. There are too many people getting stuck in semi-aware states, which involve denial and avoidance of that next deepening, which is centered in the heart's awakening💝 I have decided to keep the term non-dual in my teachings...staying with the original meaning. Our humanness is our doorway. Blessings, Helen xx
Perfect. I have a friend who is deeply into the non-dual movement, who is constantly pointing out the illusion of everything. I nor longer try to engage with him on spirituality. I just quietly hold this perspective and love him and my human life. Thank you, thank you ❤❤❤
Totally agree... I was also sucked in the non-dual world... But came to realise... That the emotional hurt and trauma's from childhood were betrayed... The inner child and all the uncomfortable emotional memories need to be embraced... In the non-dual way it is actually re-traumatizing the inner child... The trauma started in the formative years by being ignored, not seen... Etc... And then in adult life... The uncomfortable inner child comes up... And then it is said... You don't exist... I'm gonna ignore you... In this way you can never become "enlightened"... Because it will never be a whole embodiment of our total being... There will always be fragmented pieces of yourself that are suppressed... Awareness IS all-inclusive...
@@Sasha-ty7dtthis is exactly what he was talking about.. It’s kinda disrespectful to just disregard what people say. But there is nobody right? This is an incomplete realization and leads to a one sided view. Whatever is arising in the moment should be honored. That includes the mind, emotions, the story, the body.
@@marjf149 you can honor what you feel to at the level you are I'm not disregarding anyone point of view but you cannot force someone to feel the exact same way if they don't feel the same way
I've never heard anything like this before because what you're describing here as "Non-duality", isn't actually Non-duality. The feeling "I'm special" is the mind, and the mind is pure duality. Doubts, fears and all feelings are Not supressed in true Non-duality, because the full spectrum of emotions are all a part of the One life, they are appearances or expressions of the One energy. It's all the one energy expressing itself, including the feelings of being 'p***ed off' ! So, of course non-dual speakers have issues, what does anyone expect, all radiant light and love? You said "I believed I was the most perfect and enlightened Human-Being on the planet"!!! Oh really? Do you know how utterly DUALISTIC and ego centred that is/was? How can you possibly say you were Non-dual or a Non-Dual speaker in the first place?!!! "I was separating my self from everyone else?" What? That's totally ridiculous and with sincere respect to you, it's obvious that you had pre-conceived and false ideas about Non-duality teachings! Jeff, I'm not trying to be nasty to you.. but I'll tell you this, all that you've said here is totally off and nothing to do with the true teachings of Non-duality at all!
Great perspective Jeff....life is just life and the best path to follow - not one we can get away from. I respect and resonate with this viewpoint...and have experienced the same as you. Would be great to connect one day and compare experiences.
I think you just misunderstood non-duality and took it on as a belief my man. Being human, enjoying life, feeling our emotions, seeing through the beliefs, having hobbies, having friends, this is all non-duality. But i also get what you mean about the "cult" part. Non-duality is what happens in our own hearts
Thanks for this. I found liberation a few years ago but i've still had some ego as well. It's good to know that even the great spiritual teachers have to deal with ego.
Ramesh Balsekar has great teachings on this. "Who Cares?!" He describes that the 'sage' is perfectly comfortable with themselves and others with all the imperfections, as they no longer see themselves or others as the doer of what happens.
Non-duality is not another point of interest to either choose to like or quit. It is not a belief system. It is an understanding that goes beyond belief systems. For one to say he or she is quitting Non-duality is a misunderstanding of the very teaching. Its alright, everyone is one their own journey and must follow the path however it unfolds. All paths lead to the ocean of infinite being eventually. But always remember, you cannot think yourself to it. Mind stuff and thoughts are the very barrier to the realisation of the Universal Self
Too many people are becoming teachers after having an awakening. This is probably true of most teachers these days. The awakening is just the beginning.
Beautiful shares Jeff. I’ve recently come to these same realizations in my life and it’s brought me to a much deeper connection with myself. I feel a sense of love and patience with myself I had never before experienced. Allowing myself to be whatever I am in each moment, allowing whatever is there to just be as it is without being attached to some rule that things need to be some other way. I enjoyed your video and appreciate you sharing so deeply.
Excellent pointers, Jeff, Thanks so much!! I agree that we should not make the goal of spiritual practice to be non dual awakening, enlightenment, the end of suffering, transcendent realization or any other kind of conceptualized perfectionism. Our goal should simply be to become more present(not perfectly present) for our lives, in the midst of suffering, not hiding from suffering, and to become a more loving person(not perfectly loving) and a more joyful person(not perfectly joyful). Otherwise, our lives will be mostly dissappointment and dissatisfaction. Nondual fixation is not much different from denial, avoidance and repression. Cheers!
What a relief to hear, so bravely given, this truth. Grateful for this. I have a few of your books, but this next level teaching is so progressive spiritual warrior!
Genuine reflections and confessions that a lot of people on a "spiritual path" need to hear. The problem is not with non-duality or any other spiritual concept, but the human ego attaching itself to a concept, and perpetuating and reinforcing its identity through that, as an easy way of escaping the personal issues that are still waiting for the person to face and overcome in order to become more truly loving and caring. Then what we get is increased egocentrism, using a spiritual identity as a mask.
Great jobJeff, I rode the non-dual train and was able to spiritually bypass all feelings, emotions, and traumas. But eventually found my non-dual perspective to be dual in nature, and in fact I was avoiding and shunning all of the natural human qualities and vulnerabilities everyone has. Non-duality at its core is summed up in the heart Sutra, which at its essence points to the need to not restrict or avoid anything. When you can love both sides of the equation, shit, and Shinola, then life becomes a great dance. No striving just loving.
We crave a "Truth" that allows us to feel 100% secure. We cannot stand the mistery... The lack of answers... We want to feel "we know"... To the degree we end believing some story, maybe it's a Jed McKenna story, or a Ram Dass story, or a Jeff Foster story... Letting go is the only possible answer.
Brother, thanks for sharing your experience. I AM PURE AWARENESS is pure identification, as is I am human or I am anything...the "I AM" sense is what is dropped with a true non-dual insight and shift. Identity in all forms is just a mind game, is just a thought. Has anyone here had that profound moment of non-dual insight that shifts your entire perspective and dispels the illusion of identity? It's beyond any teaching or perception really...beyond words - it's a merging with what's here and now without the mind's filters and no more escaping.. It's about embracing everything without getting tangled up in our thoughts. It's about truly feeling it all without running away. It's not about escaping reality but fully immersing ourselves in it. Once the true shift occurs, there is no longer a solid mechanism or anchoring point to continue avoiding and with this comes an immense trust in the ever-unfolding beautiful mystery.
Yeah this guy doesn't get it. There's non-duality of the individual sense gates. Like for vision. Instead of being a thing of subject and objevt, seer and seen. It becomes simply a visual field floating somewhere in space. A field of sensations. This has nothing to do with "perfection" or suppressing suffering. It's clear this guy just got super hard into philosophy. Meaning just _thinking_ about it. I'm sure he did real practice sometimes too. But just obscuring experience here and there. Most people need to put in the work to have a real breakthrough that will stay with them. In pragmatic dharma the initial shift is a peak experience. Like a psychedelic experience or a born again Christian. But first awakening comes from hard work and finishing that path. Stream entry or kensho, from Theravada and zen, respectively
@@randybackgammon890 You know, "awakened" is not the finish line. Words are tricky, even a word like "Path" suggests I am here and I need to "get there". And that is the trap. "Awakening", too, has many dimensions... We just keep - ach, the words are just not accurate, I was going to write "keep going" but again, this suggests precisely the opposite of being present, "here and now". I think in any field, the more you learn, the more you realize there is more to discover. Isn't that the fun in life?
Jeff Foster strikes me as a true Neo-Advaita entrepreneur and, given the comments and his 52.6 k subscribers, he’s having some success. What the talk seems to boil down is that Jeff is happy to acknowledge he was something of a fatuous ass as a ‘Guru’ for years, making a good living on the lecture circuit and hobnobbing with the ‘best and the brightest’ in Neo-Advaita culture. At some point he realized he had a highly reified understanding of enlightenment, mesmerized as he was by a certain ‘absolute’ identity, and with that realization a kind of liberation ensued, which he is now spinning into a second career as a ‘broken’ or ‘simply human’ guru. He actually admits that not all the gurus or nondual life coaches he came into contact with were highly flawed human beings incessantly and hypocritically recycling their ‘non-self’ ideology and posing as nondual deities. It seems he at least met a few who were easy going, even humble, open about the joys and vexations of operating in ‘human form’ in the manifest, and able to see that what is called ‘nondual’ is at best a kind of ‘dialectical’ understanding of life. Good for you, Jeff. As the comment section would suggest, a lot of people resonate with Jeff’s ‘confession’ of humanness. That’s sweet. And of course, I’m not ‘judging’ Jeff, at least in the sense he appears to be using the word (largely emptied of meaning). He seems like a fun guy, and I’d love to have a cup of coffee with him and listen to him ramble on about himself for a couple of hours. I might even have a few questions for him.
He seems to understand and advertising the humanity / spiritual road. But my gut asks why if so enlightened spend so much words claiming the "expert" position? Something rings incongruent. Narcissism? My judgement is my own sin.
100% true. Even the most elevated spiritual states mean very little if you do not know how to embrace your humanity and hold space for yourself and others when you are dealing with pain and suffering. A lot of what happens in Non-Dual communities is they become places to hide. Unless we have the courage to embrace our humanness alongside our infinite being-ness, we will never know how to be truly authentic. Thank you for voicing this so clearly Jeff. Much appreciated. 💜
Acting like one is enlightened does not lead to enlightenment. Exclude your humanity to embrace your divinity when you are ready. The mind clings to our humanity, perpetuates it, revels in it. It is very satisfying yet always leads us nowhere. Like working out on a treadmill, going through the motions of traveling yet going absolutely nowhere. The message of non duality to me was to stalk my ego, exposing it against what is, which leads to more and more situations where my mind shuts up and I experience the bliss of being choicelessly aware, leaving only compassion and a love of Being.
Kudos to you Jeff for being so vulnerable in sharing all that you have here. I followed one then another teacher of enlightenment, who bothfell from grace. Then I discovered radical nonduality and have been feeling more and more at ease ever since. And have been enjoying being human more and more. Nothing to become, or not become, or do, or not do. Already always wholeness. Even if I can't feel it. The part of me that wants some ultimate freedom, that feels something is missing is not a problem anymore. Or not much. Much more allowing happening, and much more allowing of not allowing. Ahhh. Feels good to be human.
Beautiful bealtiful. Thank you for vulnerability ❤ This is very synchronistic, because very recently I gave up the spiritual seeker that I was, I gave up all the concepts I learned from other beings that I thought were better and more perfect, more spiritual than me. And I simply decided to follow my intuition, my own inner wisdom and embrace all my humanity, all aspects. And paradoxically, I was embraced by a sense of unity, great joy and miracle. Then I realized that being human and all the aspects that are part of my humanity are a miracle in itself. When we deny, we suppress a part of ourselves, we are denying and avoiding the whole. The One. It's really when we go towards our greatest pains, wounds and fears, that we go towards ourselves, in essence. These pains, wounds and fears, and all aspects of our humanity, are the portal. I am so happy that we are collective awaking for this ❤
Somehow I felt the urge to watch this and I am happy I did. Just these last 2 months I have plonged once again into my search for my nonduality. And it didn't feel right. I felt less alive. Also I am struggling again with my wish to be what I am and my wish for enlightenment, that seem to be in contradiction with eachother. So, if they are true at the same time - my humanity and my nonduality- I feel so relieved! I will let it sink in now first. Thank you, Jeff Foster, for your honesty. I appreciate it a lot. ❤
Beautiful satsang, Jeff! Gentle, non-judgemental, & true. It reminds me of that line: "What if God was one of us, just a slob like one of us..." We don't have anything to prove...we have to do our best, be present, & spread as much love as possible.
8 місяців тому+14
Very humble and honest! I do feel the same. Thank you!
Beautiful message Jeff. Thank you 🙏 I suddenly can see how truly unique I am and that in allowing myself to be "less than" (feeling shame guilt etc) I am stopping my unique wave of God-force from truly expressing itself and truly Being.
I wouldn't frame it as the dark side of spirituality or Non-Duality, in any case that's the mind/ego which is falling into a trap. It's not the problem of the teachings, it's our inability to actually understand what the teachings are saying. When you truly have the breakthrough it doesn't make you less empathic, more distant, cold, etc. Look at the life of the Buddha, he achievement enlightenment and realize that there's actually no Self, that his persona is just an illusion, but he became one of the most compassionate human beings on earth, dedicating his entire life to helping others. I don't know your path and this is the first video that I'm seeing of you but it seems to me that you acquire this knowledge and make yourself into believing it rather than realizing it and when it didn't work after a couple of years trying you quit and then say that the path has a dark side. There is danger into misunderstanding the path but it not the path's fault. Look at the lives of the teachers, the Buddha, Swami Vivekanda, Ramakrishna, Ramana Maharshi, etc. They didn't act as better than anyone else, act as a distant or cold, lake of empathy, God complex or pefect complex. This only happens when you don't understand truly the teachings (I admit that actually having the insight is a very hard thing to do)
Hi Jeff, Thanks for highlighting my sister (Mary Ann) in one of your Instagram posts! How fun! You have been a beautiful influence in my life, and your writings are absolutely fantastic! Fun video on giving up on non-duality, lol! But I beg to differ with you on that we are 'human'... ha! Not! And a HUGE yes to the 'HUMAN EXPERIENCE!!!!' But humans we are not, like NOT!!! I am a professional psychonaut, specifically with K, and mostly listening and experientially learning from Alan Watts, who continues to surprise me with his everlasting insights! I invite you to reach out, because we as humans (not) have been brainwashed to think that these medicines should not be. And either we are counterculture or go along with culture, and either way, it's not good. From a wisdom perspective and how I like to describe this now: 'wake the fuck up' in the understanding that these substances are 'tools'! Just like you would never even remotely consider traveling from London to LA on a bicycle and a rowboat, but rather a car and an airplane! It would be NUTS to consider otherwise, like what planet were you born on!!! And we would never in our right mind justify not taking an airplane or a car because they are 'artificial' i.e., man-made, as if even that is possible! And yet, when we are provided with tools to experientially understand who we are, we think it is cheating if we don't utilize 'inner' tools like introspection and meditation. And like you, as much as the 'spiritual' teachers may have lovely distinctions, they refuse to leverage multi-billion dollar rocket ship type tools to access the inner depth of who we are! Absolutely nuts!!! And yet, it must be stated, you can't expect someone to get into a car without 'learning' how to drive it, the rules of the road, and so much more, or you could potentially kill yourself or others. Likewise, these tools are way, way, way more powerful than you can even conceptually imagine. They are truly keys to doors within our own houses that we have not ventured to open and discover the immense wonders that lie within them. Why? Because we fear what we are not familiar with, not what is dangerous! (i.e., we have no problem getting into a car that has thousands of explosions per second and 30,000 people die every year in the USA alone because we are familiar with the experience of driving). And if you have never walked into those 'dark' rooms and shined some light into these rooms (because 1. you did not know those rooms were there or 2. you knew they were there but because you were not familiar with them (you are too scared to unlock the doors) or 3. you had no idea that keys (tools) existed to enter those rooms), then that inherent 'fear' is sabotaging the very experience of being alive at the highest levels!!!
There’s no one to become anything after all, all I see is a thought wanting to become another thought like per-sue it. Make it into a goal, and goals makes one restless because they take one into a distant future.
Wow! Beautiful. It came straight to my heart💗I am incredibly grateful for sharing your experiences. You put it very clearly. I am also grateful for your honesty! I recognize myself in what you describe and that I also experienced Non-Duality as a new dogma, it stuck me. Your message also made it clear that I was not living that but was constantly pursuing concepts. It was more of an addiction that continued endlessly from the feeling 'I'm not good enough yet'. What a relief! I experience now that I find myself together with you as a unique wave in the sea of life. I have been following you since the book The Deepest Acceptance. To me your teachings are unchanged but every time I hear you they deepen. It's wonderful that you are there to remind us again and again of the embrace of everything!
Dear Jeff, you really speak from my heart and I could jump for joy listening to your words. Being on the path for almost 30 years, I feel so much like you describe in this video. It is so heartwarming to hear these thoughts from another person. So beautifully and lovingly expressed. Thank you Jeff, always happy to hear more from you. Shakti from Germany
Nonduality can never be dogma. Only concepts, words, and eventually thoughts can be dogma. "I am pure awareness" is a concept. It is a dogma. Nonduality, if truly understood, isn't a concept at all. ❤
Using "non-duality" as an evaluating, judging, comparing and finally separating concept is pure duality. Most people who are using the term "non-duality" from their ego perspective are completely lost in ideology and subjective delusion. "Non-duality" is a reference point and not something we can reach and therefore we should not identify with this. This kind of "non-duality" has nothing to do with spirituality because it lives in the domain of separation. Spirituality is "all inclusive" - without any exceptions.
One of the great poems of the Zen tradition ends with this description of the awakened state: “To be without anxiety about imperfection.”
That is profound
Yes, awareness resides in everything. Even within non-awareness there’s awareness. Letting go of all clinging is our only method.
@@freetibet1000 huh?
@@freetibet1000 - and that means non-clinging to non-clinging, too. The ideal method is no method at all. But one must embrace method (form) to practice no-method (formlessness). So there are simply no words--right? Wrong, a method of non-method requires practice, and so there are need of words. But....
What poem, if I may ask. There are multiple translations of many things, so it's not surprising I'm not familiar with this one
I've come to the conclusion that the biggest mistake I made during my spiritual journey has been to listen to others. Not only did this trigger comparisons whereby I was never good enough, but I finally realised everyone's quest and experience is their own. Much of what a spiritual teacher teaches is influenced by their own experience, whereas we are all called and given experiences uniquely our own. I now realise I probably wasted decades thinking this is not it, or that can't be right, just because it didn't line up with what a teacher had taught. It wasn't until I let all of that go, that there was a spiritual stirring inside.... something that was uniquely true to me that had been crowded out or buried under the layers of words, dogma and ideology that was actually foreign to me. Yes, listen to teachers, but not at the expense of sacrificing what is intuitive, pure and simple that has its
source within, not from the world. I have come to understand that the only journey involved is the journey clearing the mental clutter and of turning inward.
Thank you for putting into words what I've been sensing for a long time - me, my own path, my own teachings and realisations that are only valid and relevant to myself, that there is no one fits all concept or teaching - 🤯🤯 the mind is blown (took me quite a while to realise this my power for myself) ❤❤
The first lesson is often the most ignored
there are Sheep they shag
there are Wolves they devour the Sheep
Then there Shepard's, who used to be Wolves But learned the objective truth , which makes them Shepard's
The only Public Shepard in the last 500 years was Gurdjeff, the rest of the humans just mis interpret it all , mostly because they are Sheep and wolves trying to work out what the Shepard's are saying to each other
Amen❤
I heard a monk say that presence is the only practice.
I need to share this. ❤
Hearing this is saving me probably years of futility. Spirituality has to be simple, messy and loving. You expressed this so well.
This is one of the best videos I have seen in a long time.
Why messy?
Spiritual pride is the last trick of the ego and I'm not even convinced it can be eliminated. I think everyone has to move at their own pace and without comparing yourself to anyone else. It's why I try not to follow any one "spiritual teacher" for too long. Everyone says the truth is within yourself and I think that's the least dangerous path to follow. I believe there is no hierarchy of souls. There is no superior or inferior, only differences with different strengths and weaknesses, and all are essential. Thanks for reminding me.
Labels cause a lot of separation.
Some spiritual pride is needed to stand up against manipulative people. Pride is good, the problem is arrogance. Too many conflate pride with arrogance.
True enlightenment is not for the person it's From the person!!❤ We already know what it means to be a person with all the good- bad and ugly- how about trying on your True Self on a moment to moment basis!! ❤ Wow Jeff maybe in five years you will be singing Another tune! The Truth is still the Truth- it doesn't change when the person's perspective keeps changing! Truth is you are only playing a part in your dream with your dream character- wake up to True reality!❤
@tehbignic Praying for you.
@tehbignicbro read a real proper old times Bible and stop repeating words from newer editions...
Christ didn't say that . Read the real scripts and rethink your thoughts.
I was so disconnected to my body after my spiritual awakening and was so focused on Unity Consciousness. I felt like I had to kill my ego and felt a lot of shame and guilt because that wasn't happening. One day last year I just said I was done with this and that I am a human and I want to be here on this planet with all its intense feelings and experiences. All of the mundane human things are starting to bring me joy again. I am perfectly imperfect and the whole spiritual community is a huge turn off to me now thankfully. I still see God in each and every one of us and I'm thankful for my journey up to this point.
I am currently struggling with that
That’s an interesting insight. Thank you for that. I personally am not sure that I believe full enlightenment or awakening is even a real thing. We can get a glimpse of pure consciousness, and take some refuge in that. But permanently live in it? I am sceptical that that is real. I just see the “spiritual” path, by which I mean the Buddha Dharma, as a route to help reduce mental suffering or discontent that is caused by craving and aversion. It seems to me that clinging to some concept of a perfect enlightened state is clinging just as much as clinging to any other concept, and will therefore lead to mental suffering. I don’t know anything for sure of course, but it seems to me that you don’t need to be turned off by the whole spiritual community en mass. But being sceptical of anyone teaching some ultimate state is probably a good idea. Just taking it as a direction of travel, day by day, might be the middle path that is more realistic and manageable? But yeah, we will never stop being human. Never completely dissolve “conventional” reality. And that is a good thing. 🙏🏻
@@willmosse3684 fully agree with you! There is much suffering to be encountered in that pursuit. And there is a certain rejection of life as if there is a better place to be. I think some seek this as an escape from the fact that this might be all that we get, and death is the end of it all. To me this is an invitation to embrace all of ourselves, attachments included.
@@sourcehealing82 the more I read this the better it feels!
@@mikaelbirger yes, I agree 🙏🏻
I went to a Mooji retreat in India years ago. I love Moojis teaching, but I was very surprised by the people there. They seemed to view him as some almighty leader that they wanted to get close to. One elderly lady there had been on the spiritual path all her life. From being a part of Oshos group. She could talk the talk, but she seemed very irritable. These people just seemed to have spiritual egos to me. Maybe bigger egos than people who don’t consider themselves spiritual. I decided it’s best to just not talk about it to people. Just stick to myself. Be present and keep noticing when the false self comes up. Also when I find myself thinking about enlightenment, just bring myself back to the present moment. Back to reality.
Mooji's crowd is what keeps me from visiting Monte Sahaja
@@nicklewisofficial1487 But in case you really feel like it, you should become indifferent to his crowd. Mooji is not the message but only the messenger after all. He is the finger that points you to what is.
@@jennybengtsson1223 A true master would never station themselves above others. Mooji walks around like a holy man, and he makes sure to show this side of him to others, who then become mesmerised. He has nothing special to offer anyone - he is a half-baked wannabe. Creating a distance between teacher and student through the facade of holiness is a spiritual corruption and only creates more worshippers, admirers and followers. A true teacher is so unassuming you would never have the slightest idea about what they are unless you got close to them.
@@silverlake973 I have one of those, too, dear heart -- a keen, critical eye and sharp intellect -- so intent on seeing and exposing all that is unholy and contemptable in the behavior of others, and all that is unholy and contemptable within my self as well. Unfortunately, the only result that comes of employing that cunning lens, is soul sickness. Some of us continue on for decades, in blind ignorance of what we're doing to ourselves.... until the day comes when we notice that there is hardly any one left in our midst we can stand to spend time with... and the precious few whose presence we do enjoy are hardly interested in being in our company. And we notice that we feel irritable, and impatient and physically cold -- as if no warmth at all is flowing through our bloodstream, because it isn't! Because we have unwittingly severed the heart's flow. Don't wait that long, my sister. Don't subject yourself to all those years of needless suffering. All things we see are images we have made. All interpretations are inaccurate. Forgive all the characters, within and 'without'. They are not true. Only the one heart we all share is true. Forgive every character all its faults. Forgive all your own. Forgive yourself for dreaming up such a horrific world as this, and let Love gently lead you home.
There is nobody 😂
Love this!!! If people are not aware and haven't done their emotional work on childhood wounds, emotional repression, etc. non-duality can be used to further emotional repression and other emotional issues that need to be addressed.
Yes!! I have that experience. Shifting now❤
Me toooo.. is never late
@@angelebeauvera sameee
Your beliefs about nonduality is not non-duality but thoughts believed to be about nonduality. Nice religion you have made out of it with beliefs. You still just have only beliefs and you will never find anything but more of the same nonsense that thinking is.
You cannot think and believe, and practice your way into nonduality. There is nothing you can do to get “there” as it doesn’t exist. It’s not even that word and all the thoughts about it.
You are what’s being imagined. Jeff hates the truth, but that is also imagined as there never will be a Jeff or a truth to grasp and understand. 😂
Beliefs are always chasing after thoughts and they never actually get anywhere.
@@i-witnesstransparencynews7857 LOL, How does one become a Master Schmuck? I want to know.
I remember how much I wanted to be enlightened. Then I was enlightened to the fact that Im human.
What I have perceived, is that the main ego mind has been reset to restart a new perception.
In the Dream there are millions of egos, but not all are liberated from all the accumulated information.
When one or two or three egos are being "liberated", there are more that will continue with the scripted story of the character, the egos will be replaced.
That's why we can see that enlightened teachers are still in the human mode.
I am no more interested being enlightened.
What I truly want is been wiped out of all the old accumulated information, so I can have a new restart.
Well, that's what I had perceived.
@@carlavela7106 This biggest realization to me has been that you have always been "enlightened". It was never a state to "attain" but in fact one that you have always been.
Chop wood , Carry water , with a Peaceful Heart .
@@carlavela7106 "desire to be reborn" is what it's called, its the same delusion just as the previous sense of self you had
The real miracle is not to walk on water but to walk on this earth❤
walking on water is a fake miracle?
I so felt these words!❤
Nah. It's just a cliche nonsensical quote. Real miracle is walking on water. Everything can walk on earth
the real miracle is making people believe you walk on water
That’s why beliefs are bad substitutes for experiences. Non-duality is not about denying your feelings and not embracing your humanity. It’s about realizing that you are not your thoughts and feelings. You’re the observer of them. It helps people get out of their heads. It’s not about being perfect, it’s about accepting that imperfection as part of the character you chose to play’s journey and growth so you don’t take inevitable distressing life events and the fleeting nature of happiness, youth, and health too seriously or too personally. I don’t think I would have believed or accepted non-duality as a belief system without experiencing an ego disillusion back when I was an atheist and ended up laughing the whole time on how short sighted I’ve lived my whole life identifying with my life story and forgetting that I created all of that! I would probably dismiss it as contradictory new age bullshit and a mere of wishful thinking lol
I didn’t even know the term non-duality back then and had to search to understand what was that state of consciousness I have experienced where the separation between me and my environment almost didn’t exist and where I was not my strong opinions, fears, politics, wants or my look and where this realization that I am eternal and infinite came from. I was puzzled because that realization I’ve got during my ego disillusion was not a new information to me. It was just something I forgot. It was like how could I forget something that obvious.
After that, I was so thankful to having a human body and thankful for being giving a chance to experience the taste of coffee and the look if my dog’s eyes and all the human things I didn’t appreciate before. Consciousness needs human forms to experience all of that little things we take for granted. Humanity is important. Don’t deny your humanity but also don’t think that it’s all you are.
That is the sweetest and most authentic teaching I have heard in a long time. Thank you, love your humanness❤️
You are correct. Many people who get into non duality get stuck by identifying with awareness and using it as a new identity to suppress and bypass their human “stuff”.
There’s a tendency for the mind to reify (make things solid, grasp onto phenomenons as if they have an essence), whether that’s reifying “awareness” or “human” it’s actually just 2 sides of the same view in extremity/duality.
By clinging onto “awareness” you are identifying with Being and Eternity. By clinging onto “no self” or “emptiness” you are craving for Non-Being and you skew your view to Nihilism, likewise, clinging onto “the human” is just another version of the same process of reification.
You are neither awareness nor human, nor anything in between.
The Middle Way transcends but integrates all of these views, is beyond but includes both existence and non existence, as you see clearly how all phenomenons from the most divine to the most mundane are co dependently arisen, thus empty of essence.
This does not mean things don’t exist, but they don’t exist INDEPENDENTLY, and INHERENTLY.
Im not trying to establish another view here on the intellectual level. This is merely a reminder to let go of grasping at the most subtle level experientially and sensorially.
I couldn’t agree more.
Thank you both! This is very reassuring as this is what my intuition and life are telling me but it goes against the current “dogma” of non-duality going around.
I love how you described this. This is what I've experienced for sure.
I have been on this so-called "non-dual path" for two years now and I felt more and more cold and as if I just couldn't manage it. Your words reach so deeply into me and give me a feeling of warmth and connection and a liberating feeling. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for that.
Wow,
I was a Jeff Foster sort of follower from way back to the early Conscious TV episodes time period. Jeff was sort of what I needed at the time. Now, decades later, he shows up again on my feed and its like he has come full circle. I owe Jeff a deep dept. of gratitude.
I'm crying right now because I was so confuse and guilty and asking "God" to help me, and I found this video...what a relief.Thanks you
Ask and you shall recieve. Ask for all you need.
Even Ramana Maharshi said, "Be as you are." Very important message. Thank you.
Which refers to the "YOU ARE THAT", by Nisargadatta Maharaj.
Not "you" as personality.
@@PureAwareness76 Good answer
@@PureAwareness76or both
@PureAwareness76 Man, that's just philosophy. Whatever.
@@antonyirvine9338 he also said feelings mind and body you are NOT 🙂
My sponsor from my 12 Steps fellowship started a few years ago going to retreats with Francis Lucille, she changed slowly in ways that made me feel uncomfortable, at times shaming me when I was grieving or upset with a personal issue. I had to distance myself from her, she is still very involved with his teaching going to his retreats several times a year. I love the way you engage with spiritual teaching, I am also doing Internal Family systems therapy which really embraces all our parts with love and compassion, no bad parts, the way to heal and embrace our shadows, not with shame. Thank you Jeff for speaking out. ❤
Doesn't sound like Frances to me. Frances is very down to earth IMHO.
Sometimes feeling shame is called for. Just look at society. If one is causing harm, they should feel shame. Too many do not today. It's all about doing no harm as you do unto others as you'd have done to yourself.
Ditto regarding my journey, including 12 step recovery, the power of IFS work, and the crucial importance of not bypassing (which I tried to do for years).
Spiritual growth for me is a necessary melding of the Infinite intangible AND the intimately messy personal content.
Encountered Jeff's stuff 15 yrs ago, moved on, and had no intent of ever circling back to him again as I lumped him in the Awareness Bypass category.
What a delight to witness the change. I work with a no bypass teacher now who mentioned Jeff a few times and I now find Jeff to be the teacher who speaks most directly to parts and to loving the beautiful mess. Such genuine heartfelt compassion!❤️
Everyone is on a journey. It’s ok that this happened to her. It’s just the ego.
Extreme non dual teachers like Tony Parsons have a communication that there is nobody here or no individual and he believes that with conviction. Others come across with a similar message that is more gentle like Rupert, Francis and Mooji to name a few. Yet I believe they contradict that stance by saying things like "anger" just arises for nobody or for an individual...it just "happens".
But as you may know from step 4 in the 12th step program of recovery (which i believe is a more accurate description of whats going on here with anger or resentment)....it points to that anger arises because of the belief that there is a SELF/ME/INDIVIDUAL/HUMAN/PERSON who either isn't getting their own way or something is happening to that SELF, ME, HUMAN, or PERSON that they don't like and therefore they get angry. So I believe that you cant have anger without the belief of being a person....it dont "just happen". I came to the conclusion just like Jeff has here that behind all the scenes, talks and satsungs...a lot of these non dual teachers actually are not free 100% of the time of the belief that they are an limited individual or person and i believe they forget at times and fall back into personhood.
Even I can sit down for a whole hour or two at a meeting looking like the most spiritual guy on the planet. But I'm a different story when I have to go out there in difficult conditions to live the other 23 hours of the day.
You have every right to get uncomfortable if your sponsor has drifted from the 12 step program because eventually they might try and convince you or themselves that they are not a person and so therefore there is no need a 12 step program or their fellowship anymore and then might end up relapsing. You do realise that even long term people in sobriety can get side tracked and go insane again? Personally, I like to take bits of non duality, Religion, Mindfulness and other resources just like taking "supplements" to add to my 12 step program....but NEVER to replace it. Hope this helps.
I too have spent ‘behind the scenes’ time with one of my favorite spiritual teachers/well known author and was disappointed he was not walking the talk. I no longer give my power away like that. Thank you for sharing this message.
Name?
Not my experience with non-duality at all. In fact, if anything it made me understand my humanity better. It made me a better person, a more in touch, aware person. Sounds like you went through a huge push to remove that humanity. Because all that you are as a human with all the ups and downs is perfect. Thich Nhat Hanh said everything that happens is an event. Don't label anything or any emotion as good or bad, just sit with it, have the feeling don't fight it.
I would hate to end up like what you described, or like some of the people in the comments. But I can understand why it can happen. Sorry you had an experience on this path we all walk that wasn't what you thought it was going to be. Stay in the moment my friend, that's where everything is.
Thank you master.
@@SchoolOf5 Because it's their experience and they're those who can manage to balance singularity and duality and accept it for what it is, I'm figuring it out rn and my friend who started before me gave up on it and it's her choice but it is also my choice to continue and navigate through life with spirituality and humanity, it just is and mind & body just is however I do struggle with emotions rn but I know I will find my way
@@SchoolOf5 Because I think sharing information in this field is important. Why would you think I was trying to persuade?
@@danrt52i was going to say , yea non duality to me has never been about pure awareness. it’s simply that there is nothing behind appearance. and where this is experienced the most for lack of a better way to say it, is in the recognition that there is no separate thinker of thought, and therefore no separate entity to get anything. That the getting never happens. That when you really look at your experience, there’s just no separation. The appearance of separateness but not truly. So I know they’re a lot of people in the non-dual scene that are all about awareness, but that was not what it was about for me. It certainly was not about or is not about finding another identity as anything even awareness.. It’s more about, the illusory nature of identity. So the emptiness and the fullness are not two and that in my book is non-duality but of course these are all just words trying to describe what is. And no words will ever capture what truly is.
@@cytuber Master??😁
Thanks Jeff. I came to hear you and Matt Licata several years ago in London. As you started to speak a police siren went by and the look of annoyance that crossed your face told me you weren't really walking your talk. I know your path hasn't been easy but the depth of authenticity shining through this video is lovely to see. And you are so right, these paradoxes are the only real truths. Thankyou for sharing❤
Bhakti Yoga is where its at for me. It's just love. Loving ourselves, loving others. Loving god. Seeing it all as god.
Yup… Bhakti naturally leads to non duality. Non duality is not a teaching it’s a realization
Being authentic is probably the best way to be for ourselves and others.. no games, just being honest, with integrity is the easiest way of being.
Thank you for this candid conversation
You summed up my comment. (I tend to be wordy) 😂 I completely agree.
After 17 years of meditations I quit even prolong sitting meditations. I realized I am an human now and I must go through this because I chose it that way. 😊
It doesn't mean my deep values changed but my attitude to the material life has to change. If I miss this point of my life so then I have to repeat this lesson over and over 🤦♀️
There is no other better way to bring "the light" to this world than to be a human with all humaness.❤
Thanks, Jeff. There's nothing like parenthood to drop you into your humanity! We are both and must live as both Awareness and human. Adyashanti and Bonnie Greenwell have both said that awakening allows soul to live more fully through a very HUMAN life. We are embodied and must respect that. I love that you named the piece about making Awareness a new identity. Such a risk on the non-dual path. Sometimes I feel like so many non-dual teachers need to just spend a week with a toddler to understand and thus ACCEPT their own humanness! To respect a child's humanness is part of how we LOVE them, so we must also accept that in ourselves.
This is why I ‘went’ from pure and solely non-duality to A Course in Miracles (Workbook).
Because those teachings - also non-dual - are pointing to the only path: Love.
It clearly states: Your task is not to seek for love, but only to find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.
I’m now at day 208 from the Course and I have grown humble.
For the first time in my life I feel I’m really home now.
‘Service’ is the most human - and also spiritual - level you can get, trust me on this one.
So my point is; It’s not that non-duality is wrong, it’s just not complete. Love is missing!
I absolutely love this!!! It reminds me of something Kenneth Wapnick used to say: ‘we are all far more human than otherwise.’ From all the beautiful things he taught us, this is the most valuable lesson. I tend to forget it sometimes. Thank you for reminding me with this video.😊
Oneness is one-sided. That's why I love the expression "not one, not two." Thank you, Jeff, it's great to hear someone speak the truth for a change.
Thanks for sharing your 2 cent 😅
but three, is the magic number
@@tommurrell125 so is 125 tommurrell ✨️
@@larsstougaard7097 lol, nice.
@@larsstougaard7097 I’m afraid I don’t understand.
Thank you for this valued reminder Jeff; as st Frances of Assisi reputedly said, " we already are that which we seek" - makes sense I feel.
Cheers, Ross
That is exactly, more than exactly what I needed to hear this morning as I woke up berating myself for the vulnerability that I showed others yesterday. Thank you so very much for bringing me back to my glorious self/Self❤️
Believe me this will help many people more than you're thinking. Thank you for this video because this is honest and brave one to make!
Thank you SO much for this. I agree 100%. I have studied spiritual paths for literally 50 years and have pretty much seen it all. I came across non-duality about 3 years ago and have listened to talks by many of the current popular teachers. One thing that seems to be missing was the heart, the warmth, the gentleness, the humanity. The argument that "there's just nothing here" just doesn't land right with me. So, thank you. God bless.
There is just nothing here for the ego...!
Yes! Read A.H. Almaas, his latest books. The perspective of totality.
@@ultrafeel-tv Exactly!
I meant to say, NON duality.
So refreshing. Authentic, connected and genuine. Great video. ❤
Jeff, you saw through one of the pitfalls of neo nonduality. Not nonduality. Your new view is actually nondual tantra, embracing the human experience as also Divine. Infused by and rising out of nondual awareness, never being not nondual yet appearing as dual, and it is glorious.
That is exactly what occurred to me, as well. His quitting non-duality is actually quitting Neo-Advaita, not actual non-duality, whose teachings he has not truly understood.
Brave to talk about this. Seems like you used to mix up thoughts and concepts about nonduality with true nondual awakening. Some people want to become teachers before being awake. ❤
Such a good message! As a mostly blind person I could never find the money or courage to see/find a teacher. But there are 2 or 3 I have followed over the years, your one. The nihilism rocked my world as I start over again. Blessings!
Thank you for sharing this! I’m so grateful for this journey! I’ve been here and now I see more light!!! Love, compassion and light to all!❤
I am getting to be an old woman and have been at this for 44 years. Probably my most shattering insight was that the I would probably never meet or know of a truly “wise”, “religious”, whatever term you want to use, person. That person will not talk about their mindset, or about what they have or have not done. I think there are people who do appear and speak but not to gather disciples or attention. They come only as a mouthpiece and are few and far between. You seem a bit younger than me so it’s natural along the way to realize that things are not always as we “think”. Bravo to you for seeing and letting others know that you don’t have all the answers. It is the most authentic and honest thing you could do. The ordinary is the sacred; the sacred is the ordinary. ❤
This is such a wonderful breath of fresh air from all the spirituality-lite I see on instagram, etc. Thanks a lot for making this video! 🙏
This is not a judgement, but I first became aware of this teacher many years ago and could not connect to him because he felt artificial to me. He did not ring true. In this video, I feel his heart and genuineness. He feels authentic, for the first time to me.
You saved my life with this video! Thank you! I so much needed this perspective too; after 15 years of searching and not finding, I was veeeery close to depression again. Ultimately, every nondual speaker is human, and we sholud not forget it is very possible they too have problems that were not adressed, and we have to listen to their message with caution, using critical thinking....But because they don t present both sides of the story (maybe because they too are very convinced of what they are saying), it s hard for us to be critical about this nondual message, and you torture ourselves with it (as much as our ego understands it) messing up our lifes, and....guess what? ...suffering even more! Sorry for the bad english😁
This is really interesting and makes a lot of sense. I found meditation post-trauma at around 40, prior to a diagnosis of ADHD with co-morbid autistic traits. It settled my anger and helped me see my thoughts so much clearer, which then led me to the diagnosis itself. I’ve recently found myself on an emotional rollercoaster of anxiety (which I think I was always riding but now I’m seeing it, it’s a bit harder). One awakening I recently had was that I had turned acceptance and letting go of toxic ambitions, by attempting to find a non-dual base, I was suppressing parts of what is essentially me, in human terms. This video has helped reinforce that I am okay to have wants and needs, without it feeling like I’m failing at something.
Sorry if that’s a bit of a ramble. Good video and new subscriber!
What a profound and important teaching, thank you so much for this witness! It so great to have so many lessons about how to acheive more perfection with meditation, but the teaching about the limits we can become is just as important.
This is the journey. We start at a place with dim understanding of the journey and suddenly we find ourselves somewhere else. And the journey continues.
That was quality Jeff, just what I needed right now, thank you. I had this experience last week where I just disappeared again. It went on for 5 days and YES I was pure awareness and then it went away. I got so pissed that I became "me" again but that me is still it. Its ok to be a mess after being pure awareness. It's the same thing either way, it's hard to process but hearing from your perspective helps so thank you.
Did you really quit non-duality as the title says? It appears that you understand non-duality better after realizing your also a human being.
It depends on what experience you are pointing at. I think he is pointing on the experience of some so called non-dual teachers and so on and in that sense he is quitting the TOPIC of non duality. The experience of getting stuck in the experience of explaining reality to yourself and others, over and over again, to get comfortable with it. The only real way is through the heart and that is the next step. The path and the learning never ends.
Just dropping it as another concept ❤️
You can’t quit or not quit “non-duality” life just is. The so called person has a lot of chatter and that can apparently take away the beauty and simpleness of what simply is. No concepts, only life.
Spot on! "The cure for your pain is in your pain" - Jalaluddin Rumi. You are a beautiful human Sir!
Boring. Get out my head with this nonsense. Go be misogynistic somewhere else.
awesome.... just cures everywhere then, yet the world's never been sicker haha
@@projectbirdfeederman5491 that should be your clue that it's a horsheshit perspective. Poor Man's Opiate, this stuff.
Thanks for sharing this Jeff. It is such a pity that non-duality has become a dogma. True non-duality has to, 'by definition', embrace everything as part of the one awareness. Wave and ocean awareness🙂 In the deepest states, there is incredible reverence for everything...palpable. Embodied. There are too many people getting stuck in semi-aware states, which involve denial and avoidance of that next deepening, which is centered in the heart's awakening💝 I have decided to keep the term non-dual in my teachings...staying with the original meaning. Our humanness is our doorway. Blessings, Helen xx
Perfect. I have a friend who is deeply into the non-dual movement, who is constantly pointing out the illusion of everything. I nor longer try to engage with him on spirituality. I just quietly hold this perspective and love him and my human life. Thank you, thank you ❤❤❤
Totally agree... I was also sucked in the non-dual world... But came to realise... That the emotional hurt and trauma's from childhood were betrayed... The inner child and all the uncomfortable emotional memories need to be embraced... In the non-dual way it is actually re-traumatizing the inner child... The trauma started in the formative years by being ignored, not seen... Etc... And then in adult life... The uncomfortable inner child comes up... And then it is said... You don't exist... I'm gonna ignore you... In this way you can never become "enlightened"... Because it will never be a whole embodiment of our total being... There will always be fragmented pieces of yourself that are suppressed... Awareness IS all-inclusive...
I think this only applies if you believe you are the body mind...
who was born?
what inner child are you speaking about...
@@Sasha-ty7dtthis is exactly what he was talking about.. It’s kinda disrespectful to just disregard what people say. But there is nobody right? This is an incomplete realization and leads to a one sided view. Whatever is arising in the moment should be honored. That includes the mind, emotions, the story, the body.
@@marjf149 you can honor what you feel to at the level you are I'm not disregarding anyone point of view but you cannot force someone to feel the exact same way if they don't feel the same way
Hi Jeff, I'm Piernicola from Sardinia. I think you're a blessing for all of us. Thank you for sharing with us this journey. ♥️
I've never heard anything like this before because what you're describing here as "Non-duality", isn't actually Non-duality. The feeling "I'm special" is the mind, and the mind is pure duality. Doubts, fears and all feelings are Not supressed in true Non-duality, because the full spectrum of emotions are all a part of the One life, they are appearances or expressions of the One energy. It's all the one energy expressing itself, including the feelings of being 'p***ed off' ! So, of course non-dual speakers have issues, what does anyone expect, all radiant light and love?
You said "I believed I was the most perfect and enlightened Human-Being on the planet"!!! Oh really? Do you know how utterly DUALISTIC and ego centred that is/was? How can you possibly say you were Non-dual or a Non-Dual speaker in the first place?!!!
"I was separating my self from everyone else?" What? That's totally ridiculous and with sincere respect to you, it's obvious that you had pre-conceived and false ideas about Non-duality teachings!
Jeff, I'm not trying to be nasty to you.. but I'll tell you this, all that you've said here is totally off and nothing to do with the true teachings of Non-duality at all!
Great perspective Jeff....life is just life and the best path to follow - not one we can get away from. I respect and resonate with this viewpoint...and have experienced the same as you. Would be great to connect one day and compare experiences.
I think you just misunderstood non-duality and took it on as a belief my man. Being human, enjoying life, feeling our emotions, seeing through the beliefs, having hobbies, having friends, this is all non-duality. But i also get what you mean about the "cult" part. Non-duality is what happens in our own hearts
Thanks for this. I found liberation a few years ago but i've still had some ego as well. It's good to know that even the great spiritual teachers have to deal with ego.
Ramesh Balsekar has great teachings on this. "Who Cares?!"
He describes that the 'sage' is perfectly comfortable with themselves and others with all the imperfections, as they no longer see themselves or others as the doer of what happens.
Thank you for your realness and honestly. It takes big courage to admit to the change of the values. Your authenticy makes you trustworthy.
Brilliant that you are making more videos like this, thanks so much Jeff 🙏♥️🙏
There is no imperfection, other me ✊🏼 You are absolutely perfect in saying there is imperfection too. Everything is everything.
Non-duality is not another point of interest to either choose to like or quit. It is not a belief system. It is an understanding that goes beyond belief systems. For one to say he or she is quitting Non-duality is a misunderstanding of the very teaching. Its alright, everyone is one their own journey and must follow the path however it unfolds. All paths lead to the ocean of infinite being eventually. But always remember, you cannot think yourself to it. Mind stuff and thoughts are the very barrier to the realisation of the Universal Self
Thanks for your honesty, very refreshing ❤
If they're not acting like what they're selling us, then shame on them, I am judging them. Thanks dude, good video.
Thank you Jeff for sharing this ❤
Too many people are becoming teachers after having an awakening.
This is probably true of most teachers these days.
The awakening is just the beginning.
Far too many.
Beautiful shares Jeff. I’ve recently come to these same realizations in my life and it’s brought me to a much deeper connection with myself. I feel a sense of love and patience with myself I had never before experienced. Allowing myself to be whatever I am in each moment, allowing whatever is there to just be as it is without being attached to some rule that things need to be some other way. I enjoyed your video and appreciate you sharing so deeply.
Excellent pointers, Jeff, Thanks so much!! I agree that we should not make the goal of spiritual practice to be non dual awakening, enlightenment, the end of suffering, transcendent realization or any other kind of conceptualized perfectionism. Our goal should simply be to become more present(not perfectly present) for our lives, in the midst of suffering, not hiding from suffering, and to become a more loving person(not perfectly loving) and a more joyful person(not perfectly joyful). Otherwise, our lives will be mostly dissappointment and dissatisfaction. Nondual fixation is not much different from denial, avoidance and repression. Cheers!
Wonderful post Jeff. There's a new book in this.
Nondual fixation? that is an oxymoron.
@@SKLightenUpNow Stop saying non duality
What a relief to hear, so bravely given, this truth. Grateful for this. I have a few of your books, but this next level teaching is so progressive spiritual warrior!
Genuine reflections and confessions that a lot of people on a "spiritual path" need to hear. The problem is not with non-duality or any other spiritual concept, but the human ego attaching itself to a concept, and perpetuating and reinforcing its identity through that, as an easy way of escaping the personal issues that are still waiting for the person to face and overcome in order to become more truly loving and caring. Then what we get is increased egocentrism, using a spiritual identity as a mask.
Well said!!
Thank you for had quit and made this video ❤ it was deeply helpful
Great jobJeff, I rode the non-dual train and was able to spiritually bypass all feelings, emotions, and traumas. But eventually found my non-dual perspective to be dual in nature, and in fact I was avoiding and shunning all of the natural human qualities and vulnerabilities everyone has. Non-duality at its core is summed up in the heart Sutra, which at its essence points to the need to not restrict or avoid anything. When you can love both sides of the equation, shit, and Shinola, then life becomes a great dance. No striving just loving.
Thank you Jeff. Great Message. Which very much explains how things really are.
We crave a "Truth" that allows us to feel 100% secure.
We cannot stand the mistery... The lack of answers... We want to feel "we know"... To the degree we end believing some story, maybe it's a Jed McKenna story, or a Ram Dass story, or a Jeff Foster story...
Letting go is the only possible answer.
Wonderful, dear Jeff, because this is what I've been telling my viewers and readers for years. I'm happy for you. Best regards from Germany.
Brother, thanks for sharing your experience. I AM PURE AWARENESS is pure identification, as is I am human or I am anything...the "I AM" sense is what is dropped with a true non-dual insight and shift. Identity in all forms is just a mind game, is just a thought. Has anyone here had that profound moment of non-dual insight that shifts your entire perspective and dispels the illusion of identity? It's beyond any teaching or perception really...beyond words - it's a merging with what's here and now without the mind's filters and no more escaping.. It's about embracing everything without getting tangled up in our thoughts. It's about truly feeling it all without running away. It's not about escaping reality but fully immersing ourselves in it. Once the true shift occurs, there is no longer a solid mechanism or anchoring point to continue avoiding and with this comes an immense trust in the ever-unfolding beautiful mystery.
Yeah this guy doesn't get it. There's non-duality of the individual sense gates. Like for vision. Instead of being a thing of subject and objevt, seer and seen. It becomes simply a visual field floating somewhere in space. A field of sensations. This has nothing to do with "perfection" or suppressing suffering.
It's clear this guy just got super hard into philosophy. Meaning just _thinking_ about it.
I'm sure he did real practice sometimes too. But just obscuring experience here and there. Most people need to put in the work to have a real breakthrough that will stay with them.
In pragmatic dharma the initial shift is a peak experience. Like a psychedelic experience or a born again Christian.
But first awakening comes from hard work and finishing that path. Stream entry or kensho, from Theravada and zen, respectively
So do you regard yourself as awakened
@@randybackgammon890 You know, "awakened" is not the finish line. Words are tricky, even a word like "Path" suggests I am here and I need to "get there". And that is the trap. "Awakening", too, has many dimensions... We just keep - ach, the words are just not accurate, I was going to write "keep going" but again, this suggests precisely the opposite of being present, "here and now".
I think in any field, the more you learn, the more you realize there is more to discover. Isn't that the fun in life?
@@randybackgammon890 there is only that
Such an important message! Thank you 🙏
Jeff Foster strikes me as a true Neo-Advaita entrepreneur and, given the comments and his 52.6 k subscribers, he’s having some success.
What the talk seems to boil down is that Jeff is happy to acknowledge he was something of a fatuous ass as a ‘Guru’ for years, making a good living on the lecture circuit and hobnobbing with the ‘best and the brightest’ in Neo-Advaita culture. At some point he realized he had a highly reified understanding of enlightenment, mesmerized as he was by a certain ‘absolute’ identity, and with that realization a kind of liberation ensued, which he is now spinning into a second career as a ‘broken’ or ‘simply human’ guru. He actually admits that not all the gurus or nondual life coaches he came into contact with were highly flawed human beings incessantly and hypocritically recycling their ‘non-self’ ideology and posing as nondual deities. It seems he at least met a few who were easy going, even humble, open about the joys and vexations of operating in ‘human form’ in the manifest, and able to see that what is called ‘nondual’ is at best a kind of ‘dialectical’ understanding of life. Good for you, Jeff.
As the comment section would suggest, a lot of people resonate with Jeff’s ‘confession’ of humanness. That’s sweet. And of course, I’m not ‘judging’ Jeff, at least in the sense he appears to be using the word (largely emptied of meaning). He seems like a fun guy, and I’d love to have a cup of coffee with him and listen to him ramble on about himself for a couple of hours. I might even have a few questions for him.
Yes totally! I agree!
To get a hint of what for a direction Jeff is going as a teacher, have a look at which replies he 'liked'❤️ in this entire comment section.
He seems to understand and advertising the humanity / spiritual road. But my gut asks why if so enlightened spend so much words claiming the "expert" position? Something rings incongruent. Narcissism?
My judgement is my own sin.
100% true. Even the most elevated spiritual states mean very little if you do not know how to embrace your humanity and hold space for yourself and others when you are dealing with pain and suffering. A lot of what happens in Non-Dual communities is they become places to hide. Unless we have the courage to embrace our humanness alongside our infinite being-ness, we will never know how to be truly authentic. Thank you for voicing this so clearly Jeff. Much appreciated. 💜
Acting like one is enlightened does not lead to enlightenment. Exclude your humanity to embrace your divinity when you are ready. The mind clings to our humanity, perpetuates it, revels in it. It is very satisfying yet always leads us nowhere. Like working out on a treadmill, going through the motions of traveling yet going absolutely nowhere. The message of non duality to me was to stalk my ego, exposing it against what is, which leads to more and more situations where my mind shuts up and I experience the bliss of being choicelessly aware, leaving only compassion and a love of Being.
Kudos to you Jeff for being so vulnerable in sharing all that you have here. I followed one then another teacher of enlightenment, who bothfell from grace. Then I discovered radical nonduality and have been feeling more and more at ease ever since. And have been enjoying being human more and more. Nothing to become, or not become, or do, or not do. Already always wholeness. Even if I can't feel it. The part of me that wants some ultimate freedom, that feels something is missing is not a problem anymore. Or not much. Much more allowing happening, and much more allowing of not allowing. Ahhh. Feels good to be human.
Nonduality is not 'radical" if you understand what it really is.
Thanks, Jeff. Such an important message to hear. I appreciate you.
What a relief to hear you! ❤
Beautiful bealtiful. Thank you for vulnerability ❤
This is very synchronistic, because very recently I gave up the spiritual seeker that I was, I gave up all the concepts I learned from other beings that I thought were better and more perfect, more spiritual than me. And I simply decided to follow my intuition, my own inner wisdom and embrace all my humanity, all aspects. And paradoxically, I was embraced by a sense of unity, great joy and miracle. Then I realized that being human and all the aspects that are part of my humanity are a miracle in itself. When we deny, we suppress a part of ourselves, we are denying and avoiding the whole. The One. It's really when we go towards our greatest pains, wounds and fears, that we go towards ourselves, in essence. These pains, wounds and fears, and all aspects of our humanity, are the portal.
I am so happy that we are collective awaking for this ❤
Really wonderful Jeff. Thank you.
I’ve never heard you until this video came up and I so appreciate you observations and your groundedness.
if social media has taught me anything, its that people are absolute suckers for trends
Somehow I felt the urge to watch this and I am happy I did. Just these last 2 months I have plonged once again into my search for my nonduality. And it didn't feel right. I felt less alive.
Also I am struggling again with my wish to be what I am and my wish for enlightenment, that seem to be in contradiction with eachother. So, if they are true at the same time - my humanity and my nonduality- I feel so relieved!
I will let it sink in now first. Thank you, Jeff Foster, for your honesty. I appreciate it a lot. ❤
Good paradox territory.. I loved hearing once “you know you have stumbled on a great truth when it’s opposite is also true”
Beautiful satsang, Jeff! Gentle, non-judgemental, & true. It reminds me of that line: "What if God was one of us, just a slob like one of us..." We don't have anything to prove...we have to do our best, be present, & spread as much love as possible.
Very humble and honest! I do feel the same. Thank you!
Beautiful message Jeff. Thank you 🙏
I suddenly can see how truly unique I am and that in allowing myself to be "less than" (feeling shame guilt etc) I am stopping my unique wave of God-force from truly expressing itself and truly Being.
I wouldn't frame it as the dark side of spirituality or Non-Duality, in any case that's the mind/ego which is falling into a trap. It's not the problem of the teachings, it's our inability to actually understand what the teachings are saying.
When you truly have the breakthrough it doesn't make you less empathic, more distant, cold, etc. Look at the life of the Buddha, he achievement enlightenment and realize that there's actually no Self, that his persona is just an illusion, but he became one of the most compassionate human beings on earth, dedicating his entire life to helping others.
I don't know your path and this is the first video that I'm seeing of you but it seems to me that you acquire this knowledge and make yourself into believing it rather than realizing it and when it didn't work after a couple of years trying you quit and then say that the path has a dark side. There is danger into misunderstanding the path but it not the path's fault.
Look at the lives of the teachers, the Buddha, Swami Vivekanda, Ramakrishna, Ramana Maharshi, etc. They didn't act as better than anyone else, act as a distant or cold, lake of empathy, God complex or pefect complex. This only happens when you don't understand truly the teachings (I admit that actually having the insight is a very hard thing to do)
💯
Hi Jeff,
Thanks for highlighting my sister (Mary Ann) in one of your Instagram posts! How fun! You have been a beautiful influence in my life, and your writings are absolutely fantastic! Fun video on giving up on non-duality, lol! But I beg to differ with you on that we are 'human'... ha! Not! And a HUGE yes to the 'HUMAN EXPERIENCE!!!!' But humans we are not, like NOT!!!
I am a professional psychonaut, specifically with K, and mostly listening and experientially learning from Alan Watts, who continues to surprise me with his everlasting insights! I invite you to reach out, because we as humans (not) have been brainwashed to think that these medicines should not be. And either we are counterculture or go along with culture, and either way, it's not good.
From a wisdom perspective and how I like to describe this now: 'wake the fuck up' in the understanding that these substances are 'tools'! Just like you would never even remotely consider traveling from London to LA on a bicycle and a rowboat, but rather a car and an airplane! It would be NUTS to consider otherwise, like what planet were you born on!!! And we would never in our right mind justify not taking an airplane or a car because they are 'artificial' i.e., man-made, as if even that is possible! And yet, when we are provided with tools to experientially understand who we are, we think it is cheating if we don't utilize 'inner' tools like introspection and meditation. And like you, as much as the 'spiritual' teachers may have lovely distinctions, they refuse to leverage multi-billion dollar rocket ship type tools to access the inner depth of who we are! Absolutely nuts!!! And yet, it must be stated, you can't expect someone to get into a car without 'learning' how to drive it, the rules of the road, and so much more, or you could potentially kill yourself or others. Likewise, these tools are way, way, way more powerful than you can even conceptually imagine.
They are truly keys to doors within our own houses that we have not ventured to open and discover the immense wonders that lie within them. Why? Because we fear what we are not familiar with, not what is dangerous! (i.e., we have no problem getting into a car that has thousands of explosions per second and 30,000 people die every year in the USA alone because we are familiar with the experience of driving). And if you have never walked into those 'dark' rooms and shined some light into these rooms (because 1. you did not know those rooms were there or 2. you knew they were there but because you were not familiar with them (you are too scared to unlock the doors) or 3. you had no idea that keys (tools) existed to enter those rooms), then that inherent 'fear' is sabotaging the very experience of being alive at the highest levels!!!
I am a much happier person when I give up on the idea of becoming enlightened, liberated, non-dual, or really becoming anything.
There’s no one to become anything after all, all I see is a thought wanting to become another thought like per-sue it. Make it into a goal, and goals makes one restless because they take one into a distant future.
Wow! Beautiful. It came straight to my heart💗I am incredibly grateful for sharing your experiences. You put it very clearly. I am also grateful for your honesty! I recognize myself in what you describe and that I also experienced Non-Duality as a new dogma, it stuck me. Your message also made it clear that I was not living that but was constantly pursuing concepts. It was more of an addiction that continued endlessly from the feeling 'I'm not good enough yet'. What a relief! I experience now that I find myself together with you as a unique wave in the sea of life.
I have been following you since the book The Deepest Acceptance. To me your teachings are unchanged but every time I hear you they deepen. It's wonderful that you are there to remind us again and again of the embrace of everything!
Thank you Jeff for bringing us back to perfection AS IT IS in this moment.
Dear Jeff, you really speak from my heart and I could jump for joy listening to your words. Being on the path for almost 30 years, I feel so much like you describe in this video. It is so heartwarming to hear these thoughts from another person. So beautifully and lovingly expressed. Thank you Jeff, always happy to hear more from you. Shakti from Germany
Trust me. You’re not reinventing the wheel. You’re just recognizing one of the many common pitfalls in the conditioned mind labyrinth.
Don't trust this guy.
Anyone who says Trust Me … Don’t trust them.
@@craigtechno “To be clear”, that mostly applies to politicians lol.
@@AlexADalton I concur. You shouldn’t trust me. I’m one conflicted MF. Yet surprisingly, I’m not completely devoid of insight.
Nonduality can never be dogma. Only concepts, words, and eventually thoughts can be dogma. "I am pure awareness" is a concept. It is a dogma. Nonduality, if truly understood, isn't a concept at all. ❤
Thank you for sharing. It resonates so much. Have been feeling it but couldn't express or understand it so clearly. Deep gratitude
I have to sit with this freedom for a while. 🙃Thank you Jeff ♥️🙏🏻
Perhaps the most important teaching I've heard in a long time. Thank you.
Using "non-duality" as an evaluating, judging, comparing and finally separating concept is pure duality. Most people who are using the term "non-duality" from their ego perspective are completely lost in ideology and subjective delusion. "Non-duality" is a reference point and not something we can reach and therefore we should not identify with this. This kind of "non-duality" has nothing to do with spirituality because it lives in the domain of separation. Spirituality is "all inclusive" - without any exceptions.
Well said!
Beautifully said and spot on ❤