Yes, She does a great job, but then She does have superior intelligence, connectivity, and omnipresence working for Her and since She is everything it's not that hard. stillness
WOW! I'm so glad to hear from you again! Please do more videos. Hope to see you and Rich together again. I've been practicing self-enquiry for more than a year now using your advice. It's the most powerful spiritual practice ever. One year of this practice did more to me than 3 years of meditating. Also I got acquainted with the teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi after watching one of your videos. Thank you again.
Hi Alex Ossipee. Great that you have found the work so useful and most importantly, are practicing it diligently. Also great that you have found Ramana, a tremendous resource at the core of these teachings. There are three more videos already made, and two other major presentations already completed that should yield many more. It is, as you know, totally "whatever manifests", but so far, She is manifesting these. stillness
Hi Barbara. Great that the work is useful for you. JIC, if you look under "Show More" in this and any of my videos, you'll see links to all of this work, all free in some format. Will pass along the "thank you" to She who does it all...i do nothing. stillness
Hi Gary! I feel like sharing how grateful I am for all the stuff you are publishing both here, on your website and otherwise. I appreciate that you actually give guidelines for how to reach liberation, whereas some nondual speakers seemingly enjoy themselves immensely while maintaining that there is absolutely nothing you can do yourself to find enlightenment. I was already familiar with some aspects of self- inquiry, doing it every once in a while while meditating - like asking myself "who I am that is looking at the tree right now" etc. And I find some of your other suggested questions like asking yourself "where am I" works better for me at the moment - also because (as you state somewhere) the brain have a harder time cooking up an intellectual answer to this one. Whenever I do self-enquiry - which I do many times a day with the help also of a reminder on my smartphone, I feel more free and relaxed inside - and obviously I would like my brain to get a favor of states like this ;-) You - and at times also Rich Doyle - have created sich an abundance that can seemingly go on to find more new inspiration. So thanks again!!
Hi Jannik Bo Rasmussen. Great that you have found the work so useful. However, as you know, "i" honestly, really, don't do any of it, it just comes out of "nowhere"/off-line. we don't consciously think up our thoughts, or what we say. So the "rich abundance" really has no author, but the sentiment is appreciated nonetheless. Wonderful that you are incorporating self-inquiry into your day with your smartphone and are feeling more "free and relaxed inside". One of the great strengths of self-inquiry is that it fits well into a busy day, whatever one is doing. The more time that you spend in self-inquiry and letting go exercises, as described in this series, and in several blogposts and other videos, the better and better it gets. stillness gary
Thank you so much for the work you're doing, Gary. I've learned so much from you, and from your book. I'm meditating everyday, cause I'm sick to death of this goddam Default Mode Network. Let's get free!!
Hi Chris. Since i had nothing, really, to do with it, as She did/does it all, the thanks all go to Her. Wonderful that you continue to find the work useful. As you may have seen under "Show More", there are two more videos in this series already completed for which much gratitude goes to Suzanne Winters who did the editing, creation and .mp3 > .mp4 conversions. stillness
Hi kayumochi. Interestingly, the discussion on FB is just the opposite. This only manifested as audio, so it is what it is. It is great that you find Arunachala so beautiful...some folk have found that focusing on it, really allowed the presentation to go deeper. It has a great energy, which is why Ramana spent 50 years in, on, and around it. stillness
Thanks Gary for this insight, but my problem is why sometimes the experience doesn't last. I was standing in my kitchen when it hits me that I have always being me no beginning and no end. I am that I am. I felt an incredible sense of love and peace, but the kicker was it felt like someone turn off the radio in my head, it was dead silent. This experience continue for couple of days and the chattering started coming back slowly. My question is how do I get back since the experience happened on its own?.
Hi Edward Gyasi. Many, many folk have had those experiences, which then fade. That happens as there has been no preparation of the brain to support or stabilize such a surprising event (which the brain really likes compared to the usual chattering). The first thing is to forget about reproducing exactly what you experienced as it only happened because "you" weren't there, and "you" have no concept of how to create it. The next thing is to read a copy of my first book, "Happiness Beyond Thought: A Practical Guide to Awakening" (free download link under "Show More" above). Then read the blogpost "What is the 'Direct Path' to nondual awakening? What is self inquiry?" @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2012/08/what-is-direct-path-to-nondual.html and pick out a self-inquiry question to work on. i found that "Where am I?", "Who hears?", "When am I?" and "What is this?" as well as the typical "'Who am I?". Then set aside 35 minutes each day to ask yourself this question. There will be some resistance and "push back" from all of the established beliefs and programming. Continue with whatever question you pick for at least 6 weeks before considering using another one. you may find the Guided Meditation playlist @ ua-cam.com/play/PLuH37Fyz9VEMrD8dcreiCNKGROGlOENhL.html helpful in giving you some approaches and some idea of the timing and feel of the process. Also explore the other resources shown under "Show More" above. There is enough material that it is possible to DIY this. you will only be limited by your persistence and desire for awakening and an end to your suffering. The brain is on your side in this, but really in its own interest, as it doesn't like the anxiety, noise and fear that is in the chattering. Trust this is helpful. stillness gary
I don't know how to say thank you for the information that you share about yourself. Your expressions are scientific and easier for me to relate to. Please keep doing what your doing. I can see your compassion even though you don't claim that word. Thanks again and best of luck.
I am confused, in that I see how utterly compelling the aproach of self enquiry can result in the collapse of the self and the freedom of being that results from that collapse but after seeing Tony Parsons, well, the fly in the ointment is that from Tony's point of view what's left using this approach is still quite illusionary and still removed from the reality of what "is", so, is the spontaneous collapse of the self the same as the collapse gained through self enquiry, if so why would the former seem to have such a different point of view from the latter? Can non duality have two different branches? Any help Gary?
Hi john, Tony Parson has created great confusion around what nonduality is and isn't with his "neo-advaita". Tony's "spontaneous collapse of the self" didn't happen. The blogposts "What nonduality is (bliss) and isn't (no bliss)" @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2016/10/what-nonduality-is-bliss-and-isnt-no.html, and "Are 10,000 hrs needed for awakening?..." @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2013/06/are-10000-hrs-needed-for-awakening-no.html cover Tony's statements. In Tony's first book, "As It Is", he exhaustively details his many, many practices including "the deepest and most illuminating meditations, consumed the most recent and significant books...much enthusiasm into the latest therapies...spent a year doing an intensive residential course experiencing many key contemporary therapies mixed with Eastern meditations." Not what you would call "spontaneous". Then in walking across a park, Tony had an experience of Oneness. Tony says these were not connected, when mountains of neuroscience disagree. The brain is a physical organism that requires something like 10,000 hrs to develop "mastery" in anything...chess, high jumping, playing the violin, surgery, music, and meditation. Tony's "neo-advaita" is popular as "there's nothing you have to do to awaken" is what most folk want to hear. Tony and many others are serving up the same story..but it's not the reality. stillness
Gary Weber Thanks Gary that sheds light on the matter, being backed into a corner thinking that even awarness it's self (so to speak) was in cahoots with the self in propping up it's illusionary nature left no room to turn whatsoever, now I realise that the falling of that entire illusion may possibly negate everything that led upto it, even with the dismissal of awarness as no more than just part of the dream but that meditation and practise are the shoulders on which liberation stands, it may seem deniable to the liberated but that just may be one of those things that can never be understood from this side of the equation.
I like hearing from empiricists and people who speak from experience, but even this gentleman‘s talk has me confused on what the hell is going on he said he walked down the hill and saw happiness. All of a sudden that’s not something that an empiricist would explain and say, I guess the spiritual awakening seems to take over people in a way that they can’t explain, or at least not to others, who may not have experienced?
Good morning. It's hard to relate to the idea that there are multiple different "I"s. What I observe is that there is a thought/memory that references an I. "Sometimes", that thought is that there have been many of these self-referential thoughts in the past. This is a story, a thought, and there is no evidence outside of that thought that there is a past, an I, or that there were many different thoughts that came before that one. The thought is real as a thought, but the content and what is referenced in the thought is not what is being experienced.
Hi TheRevO. Watch as you go through a day and see if the same ego/I/TheRevO shows up for every conversation, when it changes from A+B, to A+C, to A+B +C, etc. Re "thoughts", the primary question is whether you consciously "think them up" or do they arrive "all by themselves". If you don't consciously think up your thoughts, why do you believe they are "yours"? stillness
In comparison to the rider and the elephant, I'm wondering how scientists have come up with the number 500,000. I am not awakened, and I watch the rider. Now I say, "The thing that I am trying to install has not double, not triple, not one hundred times but five hundred thousand times the power of this thing I observe.”That is incredible and incomprehensible. Does this mean awakening is like a "pop?" This ego cannot compare to anything that is the elephant, so the more you "leave it alone" and practice (meditation and self inquiry), the quicker it falls away. You can't do anything to train or prepare it for awakening. It just has to go.
Hi John Smith. If you go to the blogpost "Right-sizing your "I", understanding confirmation bias...new studies" @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2017/05/right-sizing-your-i-understanding.html you'll see how the scientists arrived at the 500,000 X number for the elephant vs the rider. It is basically comparing the different processing capability and speed of the "on line" rider to the "off-line" elephant. The technology to measure processing speeds has gotten very sophisticated, particularly for things like seeing, moving your hands, etc., which the "rider" is clueless about. your summary of "the more you leave it (the ego) alone...and practice (meditation and self-inquiry) the quicker it falls away", is correct. All decisions are made "off line" in the elephant, no matter how small. The blogpost "Self-inquiry vs the egos/Is" - How it works - the neuroscience" @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2018/05/self-inquiry-vs-egosis-how-it-works.html goes through the neuroscience. Trust this is useful. stillness
Is feeling insecure about something is also a manifestation of ego? Like, I'm very insecure about my height. I'm 5'5" and there is always some idea lingering inside my mind that I'm not good enough, and I'm so short. Even though I know scientifically, that human height distribution is given by a bell curve, and about 10% population is going to be shorter whatever may happen. And also, height is not some characteristic you have control over, it's 85% dependent upon genetics. Still, it feels like I will always be less than other people, huh. What's really the matter?
Hi Chaitanya Gaur. you're right on the statistics, and importantly you recognize that it is largely dependent on genetics. your feeling that "I will always be less than other people" contains the "problem"...the egos/Is (as "you" are really hundreds of different ad-hoc ones rapidly assembled for different situations, functions and relationships.). If you do self-inquiry as described in the blogpost "What is the 'Direct Path' to nondual awakening? What is self-inquiry?" @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2012/08/what-is-direct-path-to-nondual.html and "letting go" practices as described in the blogpost ""surrendering the 'I', letting go of suffering" @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2012/05/surrendering-i-letting-go-of-suffering.html you will weaken and decrease the numbers of egos/Is that are problems. It is also useful to remember that many successful and famous folk were "short"...Martin Luther King, Gandhi, Napoleon, Winston Churchill, Yuri Gagarin, Pablo Picasso, Voltaire, Beethoven, Elton John, Genghis Khan, Salvador Dali, Bob Dylan, Aristotle, Toulouse-Lautrec, Alexander the Great, and Isaac Newton. Trust this is useful. stillness gary
Hi Maria. The best approach is to use the automatic voice translators on your smartphone with "Speak and Translate" in iTunes and "Translate Voice Translator" in Google Play. Am working with a Spanish publishing house to produce a translation of my newest book, "Evolving Beyond Thought". i recognize the importance of Spanish translation, but the costs to convert all of the videos to Spanish is high and there have not been that many requests. stillness
Gary Weber Muchas gracias por responderme !, sería un gran aporte poder acceder a tu trabajo en español, pero porsupuesto comprendo lo que me explicas 🙏🙏🙏💞🕊
I was completely lost on this audio but I’m glad that others enjoy it
Grateful you posted these three recordings, Gary. Nice how She gets even distant elephants into rooms.
Yes, She does a great job, but then She does have superior intelligence, connectivity, and omnipresence working for Her and since She is everything it's not that hard. stillness
Love coming back to your recordings @Gary Weber! Immediatly calms down any ego confusion. I'd love to send you a personal question, is that possible?
WOW! I'm so glad to hear from you again! Please do more videos. Hope to see you and Rich together again. I've been practicing self-enquiry for more than a year now using your advice. It's the most powerful spiritual practice ever. One year of this practice did more to me than 3 years of meditating. Also I got acquainted with the teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi after watching one of your videos. Thank you again.
Hi Alex Ossipee. Great that you have found the work so useful and most importantly, are practicing it diligently. Also great that you have found Ramana, a tremendous resource at the core of these teachings.
There are three more videos already made, and two other major presentations already completed that should yield many more. It is, as you know, totally "whatever manifests", but so far, She is manifesting these. stillness
Thank you Gary, very grateful.
Hi Barbara. Great that the work is useful for you. JIC, if you look under "Show More" in this and any of my videos, you'll see links to all of this work, all free in some format. Will pass along the "thank you" to She who does it all...i do nothing. stillness
Hi Gary! I feel like sharing how grateful I am for all the stuff you are publishing both here, on your website and otherwise. I appreciate that you actually give guidelines for how to reach liberation, whereas some nondual speakers seemingly enjoy themselves immensely while maintaining that there is absolutely nothing you can do yourself to find enlightenment.
I was already familiar with some aspects of self- inquiry, doing it every once in a while while meditating - like asking myself "who I am that is looking at the tree right now" etc. And I find some of your other suggested questions like asking yourself "where am I" works better for me at the moment - also because (as you state somewhere) the brain have a harder time cooking up an intellectual answer to this one.
Whenever I do self-enquiry - which I do many times a day with the help also of a reminder on my smartphone, I feel more free and relaxed inside - and obviously I would like my brain to get a favor of states like this ;-)
You - and at times also Rich Doyle - have created sich an abundance that can seemingly go on to find more new inspiration. So thanks again!!
Hi Jannik Bo Rasmussen. Great that you have found the work so useful.
However, as you know, "i" honestly, really, don't do any of it, it just comes out of "nowhere"/off-line. we don't consciously think up our thoughts, or what we say. So the "rich abundance" really has no author, but the sentiment is
appreciated nonetheless.
Wonderful that you are incorporating self-inquiry into your day with your smartphone and are feeling more "free and relaxed inside". One of the great strengths of self-inquiry is that it fits well into a busy day, whatever one is doing.
The more time that you spend in self-inquiry and letting go exercises, as described in this series, and in several blogposts and other videos, the better and better it gets.
stillness
gary
Thank you so much for the work you're doing, Gary. I've learned so much from you, and from your book.
I'm meditating everyday, cause I'm sick to death of this goddam Default Mode Network.
Let's get free!!
Awesome video - I'm really looking forward to the next two.
Hi DafT. Tks for the comment. Great it was useful. The other two will follow soon. stillness
Thank you Gary.
Hi Chris. Since i had nothing, really, to do with it, as She did/does it all, the thanks all go to Her. Wonderful that you continue to find the work useful.
As you may have seen under "Show More", there are two more videos in this series already completed for which much gratitude goes to Suzanne Winters who did the editing, creation and .mp3 > .mp4 conversions. stillness
The photo of Arunachala is beautiful but I'd rather see your presentation.
Hi kayumochi. Interestingly, the discussion on FB is just the opposite. This only manifested as audio, so it is what it is. It is great that you find Arunachala so beautiful...some folk have found that focusing on it, really allowed the presentation to go deeper. It has a great energy, which is why Ramana spent 50 years in, on, and around it. stillness
Thanks Gary for this insight, but my problem is why sometimes the experience doesn't last. I was standing in my kitchen when it hits me that I have always being me no beginning and no end. I am that I am. I felt an incredible sense of love and peace, but the kicker was it felt like someone turn off the radio in my head, it was dead silent. This experience continue for couple of days and the chattering started coming back slowly. My question is how do I get back since the experience happened on its own?.
Hi Edward Gyasi. Many, many folk have had those experiences, which then fade. That happens as there has been no preparation of the brain to support or stabilize such a surprising event (which the brain really likes compared to the usual chattering).
The first thing is to forget about reproducing exactly what you experienced as it only happened because "you" weren't there, and "you" have no concept of how to create it.
The next thing is to read a copy of my first book, "Happiness Beyond Thought: A Practical Guide to Awakening" (free download link under "Show More" above).
Then read the blogpost "What is the 'Direct Path' to nondual awakening? What is self inquiry?" @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2012/08/what-is-direct-path-to-nondual.html and pick out a self-inquiry question to work on. i found that "Where am I?", "Who hears?", "When am I?" and "What is this?" as well as the typical "'Who am I?".
Then set aside 35 minutes each day to ask yourself this question. There will be some resistance and "push back" from all of the established beliefs and programming.
Continue with whatever question you pick for at least 6 weeks before considering using another one. you may find the Guided Meditation playlist @ ua-cam.com/play/PLuH37Fyz9VEMrD8dcreiCNKGROGlOENhL.html helpful in giving you some approaches and some idea of the timing and feel of the process.
Also explore the other resources shown under "Show More" above. There is enough material that it is possible to DIY this. you will only be limited by your persistence and desire for awakening and an end to your suffering. The brain is on your side in this, but really in its own interest, as it doesn't like the anxiety, noise and fear that is in the chattering.
Trust this is helpful.
stillness
gary
Missing the artwork and diagrams to match up with the descriptions. Any chance for a link to the video? Thanks.
Did you have continuous Bliss before the page turned for you Gary?
I don't know how to say thank you for the information that you share about yourself. Your expressions are scientific and easier for me to relate to. Please keep doing what your doing. I can see your compassion even though you don't claim that word. Thanks again and best of luck.
I am confused, in that I see how utterly compelling the aproach of self enquiry can result in the collapse of the self and the freedom of being that results from that collapse but after seeing Tony Parsons, well, the fly in the ointment is that from Tony's point of view what's left using this approach is still quite illusionary and still removed from the reality of what "is", so, is the spontaneous collapse of the self the same as the collapse gained through self enquiry, if so why would the former seem to have such a different point of view from the latter? Can non duality have two different branches? Any help Gary?
Hi john,
Tony Parson has created great confusion around what nonduality is and isn't with his "neo-advaita". Tony's "spontaneous collapse of the self" didn't happen.
The blogposts "What nonduality is (bliss) and isn't (no bliss)" @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2016/10/what-nonduality-is-bliss-and-isnt-no.html, and "Are 10,000 hrs needed for awakening?..." @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2013/06/are-10000-hrs-needed-for-awakening-no.html cover Tony's statements.
In Tony's first book, "As It Is", he exhaustively details his many, many practices including "the deepest and most illuminating meditations, consumed the most recent and significant books...much enthusiasm into the latest therapies...spent a year doing an intensive residential course experiencing many key contemporary therapies mixed with Eastern meditations." Not what you would call "spontaneous".
Then in walking across a park, Tony had an experience of Oneness. Tony says these were not connected, when mountains of neuroscience disagree. The brain is a physical organism that requires something like 10,000 hrs to develop "mastery" in anything...chess, high jumping, playing the violin, surgery, music, and meditation.
Tony's "neo-advaita" is popular as "there's nothing you have to do to awaken" is what most folk want to hear. Tony and many others are serving up the same story..but it's not the reality.
stillness
Gary Weber
Thanks Gary that sheds light on the matter, being backed into a corner thinking that even awarness it's self (so to speak) was in cahoots with the self in propping up it's illusionary nature left no room to turn whatsoever, now I realise that the falling of that entire illusion may possibly negate everything that led upto it, even with the dismissal of awarness as no more than just part of the dream but that meditation and practise are the shoulders on which liberation stands, it may seem deniable to the liberated but that just may be one of those things that can never be understood from this side of the equation.
I like hearing from empiricists and people who speak from experience, but even this gentleman‘s talk has me confused on what the hell is going on he said he walked down the hill and saw happiness. All of a sudden that’s not something that an empiricist would explain and say, I guess the spiritual awakening seems to take over people in a way that they can’t explain, or at least not to others, who may not have experienced?
Good morning. It's hard to relate to the idea that there are multiple different "I"s. What I observe is that there is a thought/memory that references an I. "Sometimes", that thought is that there have been many of these self-referential thoughts in the past. This is a story, a thought, and there is no evidence outside of that thought that there is a past, an I, or that there were many different thoughts that came before that one. The thought is real as a thought, but the content and what is referenced in the thought is not what is being experienced.
Hi TheRevO. Watch as you go through a day and see if the same ego/I/TheRevO shows up for every conversation, when it changes from A+B, to A+C, to A+B +C, etc.
Re "thoughts", the primary question is whether you consciously "think them up" or do they arrive "all by themselves". If you don't consciously think up your thoughts, why do you believe they are "yours"?
stillness
In comparison to the rider and the elephant, I'm wondering how scientists have come up with the number 500,000. I am not awakened, and I watch the rider. Now I say, "The thing that I am trying to install has not double, not triple, not one hundred times but five hundred thousand times the power of this thing I observe.”That is incredible and incomprehensible. Does this mean awakening is like a "pop?" This ego cannot compare to anything that is the elephant, so the more you "leave it alone" and practice (meditation and self inquiry), the quicker it falls away. You can't do anything to train or prepare it for awakening. It just has to go.
Hi John Smith. If you go to the blogpost "Right-sizing your "I", understanding confirmation bias...new studies" @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2017/05/right-sizing-your-i-understanding.html you'll see how the scientists arrived at the 500,000 X number for the elephant vs the rider.
It is basically comparing the different processing capability and speed of the "on line" rider to the "off-line" elephant. The technology to measure processing speeds has gotten very sophisticated, particularly for things like seeing, moving your hands, etc., which the "rider" is clueless about.
your summary of "the more you leave it (the ego) alone...and practice (meditation and self-inquiry) the quicker it falls away", is correct.
All decisions are made "off line" in the elephant, no matter how small. The blogpost "Self-inquiry vs the egos/Is" - How it works - the neuroscience" @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2018/05/self-inquiry-vs-egosis-how-it-works.html
goes through the neuroscience.
Trust this is useful.
stillness
Is feeling insecure about something is also a manifestation of ego?
Like, I'm very insecure about my height. I'm 5'5" and there is always some idea lingering inside my mind that I'm not good enough, and I'm so short.
Even though I know scientifically, that human height distribution is given by a bell curve, and about 10% population is going to be shorter whatever may happen.
And also, height is not some characteristic you have control over, it's 85% dependent upon genetics.
Still, it feels like I will always be less than other people, huh.
What's really the matter?
Hi Chaitanya Gaur.
you're right on the statistics, and importantly you recognize that it is largely dependent on genetics.
your feeling that "I will always be less than other people" contains the "problem"...the egos/Is (as "you" are really hundreds of different ad-hoc ones rapidly assembled for different situations, functions and relationships.).
If you do self-inquiry as described in the blogpost "What is the 'Direct Path' to nondual awakening? What is self-inquiry?" @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2012/08/what-is-direct-path-to-nondual.html and
"letting go" practices as described in the blogpost ""surrendering the 'I', letting go of suffering" @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2012/05/surrendering-i-letting-go-of-suffering.html
you will weaken and decrease the numbers of egos/Is that are problems.
It is also useful to remember that many successful and famous folk were "short"...Martin Luther King, Gandhi, Napoleon, Winston Churchill, Yuri Gagarin, Pablo Picasso, Voltaire, Beethoven, Elton John, Genghis Khan, Salvador Dali, Bob Dylan, Aristotle, Toulouse-Lautrec, Alexander the Great, and Isaac Newton.
Trust this is useful.
stillness
gary
where is this bazooey dharma talk on one mind?
Hi Chris, you can find it at www.thedaobums.com/topic/12089-zen-master-bassuis-one-mind/.
stillness
@@GaryWeber thank you!
Please translate in spanish! 😔🙏🙏
Hi Maria. The best approach is to use the automatic voice translators on your smartphone with "Speak and Translate" in iTunes and "Translate Voice Translator" in Google Play.
Am working with a Spanish publishing house to produce a translation of my newest book, "Evolving Beyond Thought".
i recognize the importance of Spanish translation, but the costs to convert all of the videos to Spanish is high and there have not been that many requests.
stillness
Gary Weber Muchas gracias por responderme !, sería un gran aporte poder acceder a tu trabajo en español, pero porsupuesto comprendo lo que me explicas 🙏🙏🙏💞🕊