You earned my respect when you said you do not charge for your teachings. Recently I experienced ego death, self realization, enlightenment whatever name you choose to give it. It was quite by accident and I was very confused and afraid at first. I was no one, I was an illusion etc. When I went looking for someone to explain things to my new "non-self" I found everyone was making thousands upon thousands of dollars a year while claiming to have over come materialism. This made things even more difficult. Thank you for teaching what you have found to be true freely so others might understand.
Hi Christy me. Great that you have had a strong awakening experience, "quite by accident". As is typical, you were "very confused and afraid" as you hadn't really prepared for such a dramatic happening. If you go to "Show More" under any of my youTube videos, you'll find links to all of my work, all free in some format. Suggest you read my first book "Happiness Beyond Thought: A Practical Guide to Awakening" @ preview.tinyurl.com/bslfll8 (free download) to give you some background and understanding and practices of all types. There are lots of other resources as well for you to explore. If you look under "About" on my website, www.happiness-beyond-thought.com, you'll see my email address. As you explore the work, and begin practices, as you encounter difficulties, send me an email and we'll work on them. stillness
Thank you so much for your kindness and offer of help and thank you for the free book. I'll read it and don't be surprised if I do email you with questions. I looked into spirituality for many years and I always avoided Eastern Religions because they preached that there is no self. Then one day I read an article by a monk who said the same. Half out of curiosity to find out who I was and half to spite him at the time I asked myself the question "Who am I?" A while later after deducting all the things I knew I wasn't I came to the realization that I was no one. Thanks again for your help I will not take it for granted.
Wow, your comments on relationships is right on Gary. My wife couldn't understand me any longer, I lost all desire for relations. She became very abusive verbally but I lost even the necessity to defend myself. It became obvious that after 25 years, at 59 years of age I had to walk away. I gave her almost everything, I still wish her well of course. My relationships with my children is great but I view them no longer as possessions. I feel no real emotions about any of this, I just know that as Bhagavan said; "in the end all will be well by you. " I live a very blissful life now in a tiny old house. My job was done as this ego. I feel empty in a peaceful way. Thank you Gary.
Hi elmarko52. It is useful to remember that being as you now are, is the most helpful and useful thing that can be done for "others". This has been stated by Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta and others, including Adyashanti, and detailed in Robert Wright's recent "Why Buddhism is True". As Ramana said: Public speeches, physical activity, and material help are all outweighed by the silence of those absorbed in the Self. They accomplish more than others. stillness
I had a kundalini awakening during a very long duration through the dark night, once it happened it seemed like anxiety and stuck thoughts, simply dropped off. I know me, I know my mind. When this happened I was bewildered, days went by, My mind remained clear, I felt light, like living with a toothache, then nothing. I started to research this profound light, everything was resonating with awakenings , it’s been a year now, I communicate by listening to videos just like these. I lost friends , a family member through this. Looked at me like I’m a nut. My whole person changed. I can’t even remember what an over flowing, busy mind feels like anymore. I can see how this can disrupt some peoples lives, it’s a big adjustment for the others around you. Probably a good thing I was completely single and alone through this. Thank u for the upload.😊
"All matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves." -Bill Hicks
I’m abiding in the present moment as well, found it accidentally trying to reprogram my mind to remove thoughts that were causing my own suffering using meditative practice as a tool for neuroplasticity. Did not expect this would happen. Initially it was a total bliss out, and I just rested there for a bit (the Covid landscape was useful for being a homebody). Took a couple of months to figure out what it was, found Eckert Tolle, Alan Watts describing what I knew. Then found a few other teachers. Thank you and it has been lovely listening to your perspective which reflects my experience here.
I know exactly what this is like it almost makes other people difficult to understand but the detachment of false self is such a liberation where even death becomes a toothless tiger.
15:00 cypher took the blue pill, if it was offered before you that you can go back and enjoy the ups and downs of life it may be tempting... ive often thought about aspects of this being given back and having friends again and anxieties and desires but i may not be fully converted yet also i may not speak from the same place as Mr Weber
what an amazing person. After years of trying to be present and mindful I suddenly feel more awakened then ever before. I love the fact that Gary doesn't take money for his teachings. That's an additional evidence that his ego died. My thoughts haven't stopped yet but somehow now I know what should I do to get there. Thank you.
Hi Alex Ossipee. Great that you found the video useful. Appreciate the feedback. If you look under "Show More" under any of my youTube videos, you'll see links to all of my work, all free, unless you want Amazon to print it for you. Any net profits go to kids in south India. stillness
"Infinitely loved, infinitely precious" These were the words i heard spoken over and over in a lucid dream while i was held in love. Terrible things were going on on the earth, but i knew how much i was loved regardless . Out of the terrible suffering i saw on earth i saw a man walking , coming out of the dust . He "walks like Jesus on the earth." Those were the words, the arising of the new human consciousness. It was beautiful, amazing and all i felt was love.
Hi John. Yes, empirical science, where every hypothesis is tested, is very different from "some of the other stuff doing the rounds". As Einstein said "It is the most precious gift we have". stillness
There are some really good points made here. I had a momentary experience as a teenager during a type of meditation where the objective was just to observe thoughts. At first I was trying to stop them, then realized that wasn't possible through an act of overt will so I just started watching them. After a while, maybe a couple weeks of a couple hours a day, there was a point where there was a realization in a wordless way that word based thought had stopped. What I know now was that the "I, me, my" was what had actually stopped. Then after that there was a rather extreme experience followed by a strong fear based response including elevated heart rate, sweating, or the typical extreme fear based responses. I "heard" a voice simply scream "HEY" in an almost animalistic way. This wasn't some disembodied voice, didn't feel like it was another entity or whatever and I don't remember feeling a presence or whatever. It was just this sudden loud animalistic scream that scared me to the point I haven't gone back despite "knowing", in the same way I "know" I have a right foot, that I can get back there with a fairly simple, but not easy, process. At some point in the video was a mention, or some previous ones I have been watching recently, there was a mention of how this default network seems to have come online in our species about 70k years ago and how we basically need an operating system upgrade. I hypothesize that we are a species with ptsd and amnesia. There is genetic evidence that suggest there are a genetic Adam and genetic Eve that we all descend from(unlikely that existed in the same time/location btw) that lived around 150k years ago which suggests a genetic bottleneck, if you will, around the bottoming out of the "ilionian glaciation" period. Around the same time as he suggests this default network came online in our species there was a large drop in global ocean levels during the subsequent "wisconsin glaciation" period and that may suggest another event/bottleneck and that this coming online was a survival strategy similar to how some victims of various forms of severe abuse will "depersonalize"/"derealize" and effectively disassociate their sense of self from the event, their body, etc. Maybe some common ancestor(s) used this default network system as a similar but an almost inverted strategy to cope with the extreme event that may have happened during that time period. This kind of makes sense if you look at families with histories of abuse and mental health issues over several generations. Having said all this, there is now this feeling that is almost like a feeling of an obligation where I feel like I now have to get back on that path/in that mental state/place and that the larger reason has almost nothing to do with me but rather with our species reaching a tipping collectively were everyone else is just kinda brought along for the ride, if you will, or something similar to the concept of "herd immunity". I don't want to sound like an "the end is nigh" doomday person but if we assume that the past of our planet is in some way a reflection of the future of our planet then according to historical data we're close to reaching historical peaks in ocean levels, co2 levels, lows in ice core levels, and again if the past is a reflection of what is to come then there could be another genetic bottleneck type event coming. Which could be seen as an end of one cycle and the start of another. Maybe this time an effective strategy could be, depending on the context, to use both the task network and the default network, similar to a flock of birds or school of fish, to solve the problem vs the only default "I, me, my" network. If say 3 people of equal strength can lift 100lbs each then, unlike most would intuit, the combination of the 3 people can lift a good deal more than 300lbs. This combinatorial effect applies to many areas and could be thought of as being enhanced in some way by the use of this default network. I've come to this kind of realization that each body, each persona within that body, etc can be thought of in a similar way as what we label as color. People who speak a language that lacks the color blue are unable to tell what we can clearly see as some shade of blue from what they have for the concept of some shade of green. There is only one spectrum of light and these concepts of color are projections that limit our biologically limited sense off sight even further. These limitations can be useful in a similar as the saying "all models are wrong but some are useful"(probably misquoted) and how, interestingly, random forest decision trees are still really effective and efficient machine learning techniques
Hi Joao Roberto. There was no "reply" under your comment, so i'll post the answer. The 14th century Japanese Zen monk was Bassui, the author of the famous "Dharma Talk on One Mind" which you can get a .pdf of if you just google the title. he is also very prominent in the Zen classic "Three Pillars of Zen" by Philip Kapleau. As far as pain in the body, the pain is useful to tell us where there is a problem...what i focus on is the stories we make about the pain, which is what causes our suffering. If i am suffering from a pain, i ask "To whom does this pain arise?" or ask with the Byron Katie or Sedona Methods what the story is that i have about the pain. These methods are covered in the blogpost "Surrendering the 'I', letting go of suffering" (URL for blog under "show more" above). stillness
I have to wonder if what you're saying in this video would still hold true if put to the test. you say you have no fear because there is no "i' there - what do you think would happen if you learned your child has cancer? you really believe you won't feel fear there?
I really appreciate this interview. Is my introduction to you Gary. This plain spoken humility and sincerity without a lot of the presentation drama sometimes found in this knowing is very much appreciated. I'm working on a salon or small gathering for friends and their friends which will explore creativity - as "artists". Your words at about 2:29 - 3:15 get right at what we are exploring. For us it is exactly the Genjo Koan actualizing, but not as a creativity puzzle to be solved. I'll definitely refer our group to this clip. Many thanks Gary.
Hi A FreshLife. Great that you found the interview useful and are using it w/your gathering. BTW, if you look under the video and click "Show more" you'll see links to free book downloads, blog, website, interviews, etc. that might also be useful. "Actualizing the fundamental point" as the Genjo Koan teaches, is what it is all about. Best w/your gathering. stillness
I find the same experience. I took particularly interest in how he talked about the decline of sexual desire after the awakening. I, too, could see what was going to happen to the human instrument after enlightenment, particularly how desires and motivations would drop away. I also notice that the concern of judgment and criticism has also dramatically dropped away. After enlightenment everything changed for me and has never changed back. And as he said in the end, enlightenment really is the only way to save the world from itself.
Hi EndofMusic. If you recognize that there is no free will and that we have no control over anything in our lives, as discussed in the blogpost "There's no free will...accept it, attack it, hide it or ignore it?" @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2016/09/theres-no-free-willaccept-it-attack-it.html, you'll understand that you really had no choice to not watch hardcore porn. In working w/folk, i tell them that the words "should" or "shouldn't" really have no meaning as that presupposes an ego/I that has control, which isn't what the neuroscience compellingly demonstrates is false. There is a lot of porn addiction now, and the amount of aggregate bandwidth that it consumes during a day is staggering. Now with VR porn, it will be even more difficult to tear oneself away. The blogpost "How the changing brain changes our pleasures into addictions" @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2015/01/how-changing-brain-turns-our-pleasures.html goes through how addictions of all types - porn, social media, meditation, news, competition, etc. are created neuroscientifically and some approaches for unwinding them. An important understanding is that the brain runs a pleasure/pain comparison on pleasures to see which ones are "best". However, it overweights pain 5X pleasure for evolutionary survival purposes. Pain includes longing, craving, need for improved versions, etc. If you're going to move away from an addictive pleasure, focus on the pain of your current addiction and the pleasure of an alternative. The blogpost "Aleppo, Trump, Berlin, Orlandos, Nice...what can you do?" @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2017/01/aleppo-trump-berlin-orlandos-nicewhat.html gives some advice on how to let go of social media and news addictions. stillness gary
Hi Jim Freedom. That is the big promise from mindfulness folk that is never fulfilled. i have been in peer-reviewed studies @ Yale on experienced meditators with the leading mindfulness/Theravada/Vipassana practitioners in the U.S. Nonduality/self-inquiry produced dramatically different and better outcomes. The article "The Neuroscience of Suffering and Its End" @ psychologytomorrowmagazine.com/jeff-warren-neuroscience-suffering-end/ discusses this in some detail. The video "Does Mindfulness Lead to Persistent Nonduality" @ ua-cam.com/video/6UI0Tpfz_8g/v-deo.html goes through this weakness of mindfulness. The blogpost "What nonduality is (bliss) and isn't (no bliss) @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2016/10/what-nonduality-is-bliss-and-isnt-no.html describe what can happen with nonduality/self-inquiry. Mindfulness just can't get there. The problem with mindfulness/Vipassana is that there is no deconstruction of the "I", so what happens after decades years of such practices, and i work with many Vipassana practitioners, is that a powerful ego remains that is strongly identified with its prowess at being mindful. If you watch, you will see that there is someone, forever, being mindful, of "activities that are not healthy for you". There may be some improvement in symptoms, but there is no solution to the core of the unhealthy "activities"problem, which is the "doer" who does those activities, so the suffering will continue. That is why so many Theravada/Vipassana teachers are now incorporating self-inquiry into their teaching. stillness and an end of suffering
Hi EndofMusic. Whatever partner(s) you are destined to find, and what will happen with them, is out of your control, as is whether any of what has manifested in response to your questions will interest you or impact your actions in any way. One clear lesson from the recent US Presidential election is that our lives are not under our control, ability to predict, or even imagine all of the future consequences. That extends to countless activities by millions of folk impacted by those changes. Just be open to, and let go, into the fact that you are not in control, and don't fight against the flow...just go with it. stillness
Well, Gary, that is not my personal experience. I don't trust studies done by people who will, if challenged, admit that they don't know what they are talking about. Mindfulness is only a step in a direction, it is not the whole journey. Vipassana is also only a step, and important first step, but still only a step. Yes, people can practice mindfulness or Vipassana for decades and still not become enlightened...that takes more desire than the Buddhist dogma will allow.
Beautifully said and done! Congrats. Also noticed intense decline of sexual desire and desireS of all sorts...Traveling lighter and lighter. Still dealing with some issues, but trying to se the root of it : the dethroned "I/me"! Muitissimo agradecido!
Hi +Michael Rivadavia. Yes, the falling away of sexual desire, and all desires, is a great surprise to folk, but is almost uniformly experienced as folk get farther along in their awakening process. Interesting that it doesn't change the intensity of the sexual experience, only the desire, longing and craving for it. IME, one of the great, unexpected, rewards of this process. stillness and letting go
+Gary Weber "Arrived" at this 'point in perception', totally through an "intellectual" way of "thinking" ( using words in quotation for lack of better ones. Another aspect : words cannot express what they would in other situations. Lots of blanks when emitting concepts). No experience whatsoever with any drugs.Only brain chemicals.No meditation either.At least the intended one. In Brazil now. Thinking about a trip to Peru to "experience" ayahuasca. Any suggestions?
Hi +Michael Rivadavia. i also have only used "brain chemicals", but have done a lot of meditation and yoga of all sorts. Suggest you contact Rich Doyle whose e-mail address is under "show more" in any of our dialogue videos. he has a book primarily focused on his ayahuasca experiences and how it changed his life and is a "go to" source for many media sources and forums for an intelligent, logical, informed perspective. stillness
Gary....This was beautiful and loved hearing your exclusive narratives. Thank you for making this video. Tears welled up @11:40 after hearing 'When I surrendered totally, I was totally held'. Isn't meditation then a device to get to this state of total surrender, because most of us are so well programmed to return to our egoic-self time and again? In other words, when meditation matures, it becomes like that virus that would infect and crash this old program!!!!
Hi +Sidtube10. Great that you found it useful. The "When I surrendered totally, I was totally held" was amazing to "me", and i heard about it later in the Bhagavad Gita, but it was unexpected, and often brings tears as well, just at the wonderment of it. Every day unfolds with so many unbelievable serendipities. Getting to "total surrender" is what the latter stages of the nondual awakening process is all about. How far one gets is determined by whether the strength of your desire to awaken can overcome your many attachments and fears. The blogpost "Letting go of your attachments to awaken...why/how/when" @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2014/06/letting-go-of-your-attachments-to.html lays out the process. As far as the virus, it turns out that the brain is on "our" side in this...if we give it enough examples of stillness, presence, oneness, no matter how short, it will recognize it has an alternative solution to the stress, anxiety, fear, and depression. It will then move towards that until, at some point, it is clear that the brain is now in control of the process, and will not be denied. It is the ultimate virus, but a great one. stillness
I would also like to comment on the section where you discussed whether or not "everyone" can be in this state. As someone who understands the unity of opposites, it is my perspective that the tension created by the differences is directly related to maintaining the momentum of being.
Hi Panendeism Enformationist. Great that you found it useful, and are sharing it w/your group. BTW, if you look under "Show More", you will find many links to free book downloads, articles, blog, website, interviews, etc. stillness
Gary's appearance on" Buddha at the gas pump" is well worth a look, it's much longer than this and both Rick and Gary answer a lot of common perceptions and misconceptions about non duality.
Hi John Smith. Gratitude for the comment as the BATGAP discussion does expand on several key "misconceptions" on nonduality. JIC, if you look under "Show More" in any of my vids, you'll see links to all of my work, all free in some format. stillness
Thanks for the words of encouragement to push on, i know deep down inside i have not a choice, and aside from that theres nothing i'd rather do than to do so but again thank you for the encouragement, it get alittle lonely out here on the raw and ragged edge
Hi Richard. Great that you found it useful, encouraging and generated a sigh of relief. JIC, links to all of my stuff, all free in some format, are under "Show More" above. stillness
3:29 the woman on the panel, was laughing before he even said the word sex I think she must be clairvoyant? Perhaps because it said that he mentioned it, and then they ask him to elaborate?
28 years w/acim and 14 years of aa.. I began my 'seek' at the age of 11.. so at this point my ego is very well educated and uniquely above the world and those in it.. oops.. ND is a little door in the corner which I stumbled upon by way of Lisa C and Paul H.. Once I squeezed into the door I realized that there was no way back.. I bless my 'seek' and let it go with great relief.. I drop the black shroud gratefully and am 'born again' at 65 lol.. go figure.. Thank you
Hi Bill Bacon. Great that Lisa and Paul were so useful for you. It is worth remembering the words of Harada Roshi, one of the great Zen teachers of the 19th and 20th century who was quoted in Philip Kapleau's seminal book, "The Three Pillars of Zen" as saying "What these people fail to realize is that their enlightenment is capable of endless enlargement." After over 35,000 hrs of meditation and yoga, enlargement continues... stillness
Gary, I love your teachings! Spirituality for the modern scientific mind! You bring me inspiration! I hope you keep teaching. Also, put your books on Kindle so I can get them here in Thailand :)
Hi Ryan. If you look under "Show More" in any of my youTube videos, you'll see links to all of my work, all free in some format, including downloadable versions of "Happiness Beyond Thought" and "Dancing Beyond Thought". my new book, "Evolving Beyond Thought : Updating Your Brain's Software" is currently only available as hardcopy from Amazon. Surprising you can't get it in Thailand direct from Amazon as folk in Australia and Tasmania, and all over Europe, get copies quickly. Great that you are finding the work so useful. As far as whether "i" keep teaching, like everything else, that is whatever "the Universe" manifests. i have no sense of creating any of this work...it all just happens. "Evolving Beyond Thought" was a complete surprise... stillness
I have experimented with similar methods before, I even downloaded and read your book a while ago, I did quite a few of the practices described there. What is troubling me this time around is that it has all become to easy, not trough realisation and "hard work" but trough the medication I eat (amphetamines) BUT after months of taking these stimulants I have began to feel this way unmedicated as well.. I feel that i'm closer than ever before with or without drugs. I can have somewhat linear thought sessions. throughout this time I have rarely meditated or thought about these kinds of issues, yet I still think that your book and videos where the resources that made the biggest impact on me! I needed some time "not" thinking about it to make some of the "truths" seem reasonable to me. Perhaps I will never "go all the way" but I'm happy with the moments of clarity i have now. But what me satisfies me the most is not the moments of total silence, its everyday life where I have freed myself from a substantial amount of useless babble. Thank you Gary for all of the wonderful resources!
Hi Xzrt Pysx. Great that you have seen so much progress, freedom and clarity, particularly in everyday life, which is the real test. The brain does take the self-inquiry questions "off line" and continues to work with them, once they are strongly engaged. So even if you feel like there is nothing happening, the brain may be continuing to wonder "Where am I?", What is this?, etc." The more time that is spent in the moments of clarity, the more data and time the brain has to work on creating a different neural network to support its growing clarity. It's like learning how to ride a bicycle; it's trying to find the best possible way. The brain doesn't want to be frantic, stressed, anxious, depressed, etc. Before, it may have not even believed it was possible. Now that you have shown it what is possible, it has found it likes it and will keep working to make it clearer, simpler and deeper. Great work. stillness
Thank you. I will look for more of this interview, I found the laughter both interesting and confusing. I have been in situations where people could not help laughing, or falling asleep, or even completely forgetting what was said, when they are flooded.
Hi Gibran C Pointers. Great that you found it useful. BTW, if you look under "Show More" you will see links to free book downloads, interviews, blogpost, website, etc. stillness
Dear Gary, It's truly amazing how your wisdom is radiating likes waves...I understand what you say like I am actually saying it! I can't wait to check more on your ''case'' ! Very well aware that I wish more people to understand that subject! Shri Krama Lei Kathmandu
Hi Shri Krama Lei. Trust all is well in Kathmandu. If you want to see more of this "work", if you look under "Show More" above, you'll see links to all of my work, all free in some format. stillness
This really is a great clip, Gary. I've watched some other clips with you - all very interesting, but now and then a bit difficult for non-academics (and non-native English speakers) like me. But this one I'll really bookmark. I'm reading your books also at the moment, and am especially working with the 'vigraha naham' (and so on...) chant, which is very powerful. Also, somewhere (I don't remember where) you mention that the thought-less state is in fact the state that the brain/mind prefers... I'm really beginning to experience (albeit for short intervals, now and then) how true this is. Thanks (and I hope you will be coming to Belgium or the Netherlands again, somewhere in the not-so-far future... ).
Hi Marc. Great that you found the clip useful. Re chants, i now have a soundcloud channel where all of the chants are gathered and if you go to my website (link under "Show More") above you'll see .mp3 s of all of the chants under "MP3 downloads" on the front age. The latest blogpost (again link under "Show More") "How the changing brain turns our pleasures into addictions" has a lot on how the brain plastically reconfigures itself to deconstruct the "greatest addiction", our addiction to our I/me/my. It then creates a more holistic neural structure, while we "grieve" for the I/me/my, and then dopaminergically reinforces the new structure so that it is the most pleasurable alternative. As the Buddha allegedly said, paraphrasing, if meditation wasn't ultimately more pleasurable better than sex, there would be no meditators. Great that you are experiencing that. re returning to Belgium or the Netherlands, we'll see what the Universe manifests, stillness
Gary Weber Thanks, Gary, for the tips (chants and blogpost). The addiction to the 'I' (and esp. the ongoing blah-blah in the head) is indeed the greatest and toughest one. But it's becoming weaker - thanks to the teachings of you and others. Keep up the good work!
Can a severely sensitized brained person from anxiety issues, possibly see through the illusion. Or does this require a relaxation etc from anxiety problems, before brain could possibly see there is no 'me' ? ☺️ Thank you
Hi Pretheesh. The good thing about self-inquiry, is that asking simple questions like "Where am I?", "What is this?", or "Who hears?" is that it will work directly on "anxiety problems" if you persist in doing it. Just set aside 35 minutes a day to do it, and then ask it 5 to 7 times during the day for about 2 minutes. The brain quickly discovers that these self-inquiry questions are complex and don't have any simple answer, and perhaps no answer at all. If you watch throughout the day when you meet different folk or do different tasks, you will see that there is no single "Pretheesh", but hundreds or thousands of them that are all different depending on the situation. It is also useful to watch carefully and see if 1) you consciously think up your thoughts, and 2) you think up what you say. If "you" don't think up your thoughts, or what you say, then why do you think you are in control? If you understand that you aren't in control, that really changes the situation for the "I"s/"Pretheeshes". This work is simple, all it takes is persistence and careful watching. Trust this is useful. stillness
@@GaryWeber Dear gary, how to do during that 35 minutes ? Just sit still,if there is a thought appears,then ask the simple questions,if there is no thoughts,then still? Could I use your "guided meditation" and follow your guided?
Hi luo dabin. Yes, if you go to the "Guided Meditation" playlist @ ua-cam.com/play/PLuH37Fyz9VEMrD8dcreiCNKGROGlOENhL.html you'll see 6 examples of very different approaches. As you'll see, you always start the session with some "breath awareness", like counting your exhales from 1 to 10 until you can do it without losing your place. If you can, follow where the exhale goes at the end of each breath and feel the next inhale arise. These are about 20 minutes so you would expand on them to fill the 35 minutes. you can also, after picking your inquiry question, the best of which, IME, are "Where am I?", "What is this?", and "Who hears?" or any other approach which you found in my first book "Happiness Beyond Thought" (free download link under "Show More" above), and begin by asking the question. All of these will generate some response, and often a stillness gap while the brain searches frantically for an answer. When a response comes, then ask the question again. Don't get drawn into trying to answer the response/reaction. Just do the question. Trust this is useful. stillness gary
Hi Gary, thank you for sharing your experience. I had a question concerning the nondual experience and drugs. There are certain drugs where people that consume them pretty much describe their experience exactly the way that you and other nondual teachers describe the "new-found state". The people that use those drugs talk about the dropping away of the self etc. etc. ---really close to identical to what you say. I know that in nonduality , if this awakening experience has happened, those people talk about a dimension different than the mind, or out of the mind etc. But Knowing that on the other hand a physical substance that people consume can mirror the nondual experience, how could an "awakened" person know that it is simply not a different "mind mode" ---one that simply happens rarely but yet still a mind mode. I know in buddhism and nonduality and other spiritual teachings it is often described that the new state is beyond mind, non physical etc. ----but how come then that consuming a physicial substance can mirror that?
Hi Andreas D. The difference is in "persistence". With the serotonergic psychedelics, the same subnetworks in the Default Mode Network are shut down as there are with persistent nonduality. The same loss of senses of a "self passing through time" and "self and others" are experienced. This gives the classical "now, now, now" and "Everything is One" mystical experiences. There is some excellent research on this which is discussed in the blogpost "Magic mushrooms work like meditation? The latest science" @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2012/03/magic-mushrooms-work-like-meditation.html. However, with persistent nonduality, it is an ongoing state, not a transitory experience. Psychedelics don't give the brain a chance to "learn" how to do it "all by itself", which is how one gets a persistent experience. Flooding it with exogenous chemicals temporarily makes this impossible. The same chemistry and pathways are used in both instances. Trust this is useful. stillness
Thank you very much for taking the time and responding to my question. After reading the link that you provided with great interest, I feel however that my initial argument has been rather strengthened. The research that you provided (and other research that I am aware of) shows that you can persistantly alter your brain function through meditation (like you said yourself). All research seems to support that.However , many awakened beings have previously said that the "new found state" is something other than the mind/etc. --> giving it a more mystical tone, something beyond mind and brain etc.If I look at the research and the link that you provided, it seems rather that if you train your brain in a certain way (through meditation), you arrive at the "oneness" experience etc. However, my conclusion is that there would be nothing mystical about it, rather that through meditation you got to a different mode of brain function. Now I can understand that previous "enlightened" people, when they arrived at these experiences through meditation, they would interpret it in a mystical way (as they would arrive at a complete new way of functioning and couldn't make sense of it because there was no knowledge of neuroscience etc.) Today however I just don't understand the conclusion or interpretation of many non-dual teachers. Given the neuroscience behind all this, shouldn't it be said that: "Today we know that persistent meditation can significantly alter brain function and give you a more peaceful way of experiencing existence." I just don't see how the majority of nondual teachers and practicioners make this something otherworldly. Thanks again Oh and one final question that has really come up over and over again for me: In psychiatry there is the condition of depersonalization disorder....you probably know of it anyways but if you read about it , it pretty much mirrors the type of experience that awakened people describe (loss of the self etc.), with one significant difference however: The people that experience depersonalization disorder are usually vastly distressed by this experience and sometimes even traumatized, needing days, weeks or months and sometimes years to recover from that experience. Doesn't that somewhat point to the fact that your response to losing the "I" is highly conditioned. Like if you have never heard of meditation, eastern spiritual wisdom etc. you may find the experience highly disturbing. But if you have been conditioned to "experience the experience" as something desirable, you will find it blissful. If losing the "I" or awakening was the "natural" state that Maharshi and other awakened people talk about, shouldn't all people experiencing the loss of the "I" find it ultimately positive, peaceful and blissful? My basic point or question here is this: To me, taking together science, psychiatry and everything I have read about eastern spiritual wisdom over the past 10 years as well as my experience in meditation etc. --> to me there is nothing mystical or otherworldly about all this: As a child growing up you get conditioned to think in terms of "I" , "me" and "mine" --> in Buddhism, non-duality etc. you overwrite that conditioning and get reconditioned to weaken those neurological networks concerned with the I and subsequently you interpret your experiences in that new conditioned way....I just don't see how this is otherworldly or shows you the "true reality" etc. @@GaryWeber
Hi Andreas D. On your one final question, yes that is correct, how disturbed one is by the "awakening" experience is all a matter of conditioning and what it's being called and by whom. The blogpost "Are our mystical experiences psychotic?...key indicators" @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2015/09/are-our-mystical-experiences.html discusses how what is described by the psychologists/psychiatrists now as "depersonalization/derealization" disorder fits exactly into the definitions from the widely accepted Hood Mysticism scale. What is now a (billable $$$) state, as it is in the new DSM definitions of disorders, created by their own psychological community, is basically the same as what is widely defined as "mysticism". Even the chairman of the committee drafting the DSM V definitions is alarmed by such re-classification actions. He stated: "Psychiatric diagnosis is facing a renewed crisis of confidence caused by diagnostic inflation. The DSM-5, the recently published fifth edition of the diagnostic manual, ignored this risk and introduced several high-prevalence diagnoses at the fuzzy boundary with normality. The already overused diagnosis of attention-deficit disorder will be even easier to apply to adults thanks to criteria that have been loosened further." Trust this is useful. stillness
Thank you Gary for taking the time and answering my questions. I truly find it great that you care enough and take the time to do so. Sorry for getting back so late. As for the "Depersonalization Disorder" thing. My point in that regard was that, if I go by eastern mysticism or buddhism etc., the "new found state" is always described as "something else". As "non-mind" , "beyond-mind" etc. ---the fact however, that people that "lose the I" due to some circumstance in life or just spontaneously (while knowing nothing of eastern wisdom), become highly distressed by it points (at least to me) to the fact that even in or during or through that experience, it is still the mind that is functioning, conditioned and responding. English isn't my mother tongue so maybe I cannot express myself clearly, but I find it odd that if this was truly "beyond mind" , you would need to be previously conditioned in a certain way to interpret it in a blissful way. Basically that previous conditioning (or lack thereof) decides whether you become blissful or traumatized. I find it odd to imagine that a human being has allegedly found a "state outside the mind" but needs the interpretation of the mind to feel good or bad about it. To me , this circumstance, rather points to the fact that all buddhism, mysticism etc. boils down to is finding a more pieceful way of exisiting through altering brain function by meditation and other tools (which is a very worthwhile goal anyways). The way I see it , there is the traditional "me"-way-of-functioning. The "me" brain, which provides the well-known ups and downs of life. The other way of functioning is the "nondual me-less brain functioning" which for previously properly conditioned people results in a seemingly peaceful and blissful way of existing. However, both of them are conditioned ways of existing, conditioned brains and minds. If you look at mysticism and eastern wisdom , it is always said that the "me-way-of-functioning" is a conditioned state, while the "non-me-way-of-functioning" is the "natural" or "unconditioned" state. I just think modern neuroscience and things like Depersonalization disorder really contradict that way of describing this subject.@@GaryWeber
Wow, althought the speaker claims he has no thoughts I find great clarity of thought here, not like the most nonduality mumbo-jumbo you come across leaving you with more questions and confusion than before.
Hi Jaanus. Interesting comment. Actually, that is what the latest neuroscience tells us. The blogpost "you don't consciously think up what you say...new research" @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2014/05/you-dont-consciously-think-up-what-you.html discusses exactly that. If you watch carefully when you are speaking, you'll see the same thing. The speaking just manifests, and then the brain comes in soon afterwards and critiques it. If you get a very still and quiet internal platform from doing this work, there is much less interference and a better "signal to noise" ratio, as the interminable, emotionally-charged, self-referential, "blah, blah" is gone, so what does emerge is much more coherent. BTW, if you look under "Show More" above, you'll find links to all of my work, all free in some format, so that you can do it as well. stillness
Hi +emma franklin. Congrats...that wasn't hard was it? Great that you found the video useful. JIC, you want to be even MORE enlightened, there are lots of links under "Show More" above to all of my work, all available free in some format. stillness
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Hey! I love the way you explain non duality! I have a question (having two daughters myself) . You say we need to get a new operating system, I completely agree. So what about your daughters? Do they have this new operating system running? How do you teach them? Is being lost in thoughts for years a necessary part of the process? Can they grow up into your way of seeing the world?
Hi Alex Trusk. An insightful comment. Many of the "non dual persons" are merely reciting a script that they have learned about something they haven't really experienced, so they go slow to make sure they don't say the "wrong thing". It is also designed to make you feel that this is something profound that has to be said reeeaalllllyyy sloooowwww. If someone wears the right clothes, hairdo, speaks reeally slooow, has a "spiritual name", etc., most listeners are conditioned to believe they must be a spiritual, "enlightened" folk. The documentary Kumare @ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumar%C3%A9 shows how easy it is to fool people. If one is speaking from an ongoing present reality and their own direct experience, they don't need to do any of that. stillness gary
Hi john atkinson...it really is a "Duh...". That is, at some level, a fundamental challenge with this work. It is so simple that folk can't believe that it could be so powerful and produce "uncaused happiness". It is amazing that Western philosophy, with a few exceptions, never looked at, and investigated, the reality of the subject. It focused only the innumerable and constantly changing objects, emotions, stories, etc. JIC, if you look under "Show More" in any of my vids, there are links to all of this work, all free in some format. stillness
Hi Gary. Thank you for being you. Do you have any life advice for me? I’m a 22-year-old who currently lives on an egalitarian commune. I want to pursue a better path, but I’m not exactly sure what I should focus on. I am going to do a 10-day Vipassana retreat, and also live at a Buddhist monastery for some time (perhaps indefinitely). I also want to finish graduating from college for my parents’ happiness. Other than that, I want to realize nonduality and live a good life. Advice? Thank you again for all you do.
Hi Ryan Bergen. The most important thing is to realize that we are not in control of these lives, at any level, so any "long range planning" is of no value. It is a hard thing for most folk to accept. If you want to listen to some videos on the subject, the playlist "Free Will, Control, Predetermination" @ ua-cam.com/play/PLuH37Fyz9VEOnY_lUcblS8aI0hF7oNMj6.html will give you a good grounding. The blogpost "The impossibility of 'free will'...scientifically and logically" @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-impossibility-of-free.html has a lot of the science behind this conclusion. You can also do three simple experiments to see for yourself: a) See if you consciously think up your thoughts before they occur. b) See if you consciously think up what you say before you say it. c) Write down in the morning exactly what you expect to do that day, and see if any of it happens as you expected. There is also Einstein's perspective: Questioner: How did you make your amazing discoveries? Einstein replied: "I claim credit for nothing. Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end, by forces over which we have no control. It is determined for the insect, as well as for the star. Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper." There is a similar perspective from Ramana Maharshi: Questioner: "Are only the important things in a person's life, such as their main occupation or profession, predetermined, or are trifling acts also, such as taking a cup of water, or moving from one part of the room to another? To which Ramana replied: "Everything is predetermined". Whatever is destined to happen in your life is what is supposed to happen...you'll know because that is what happened. Just surrender into what manifests, and see what happens "all by itself". Trust this is useful. stillness
@@GaryWeber Thank you very much for the response. Your words ring true to me. I became a "hard determinist" (which I initially arrived at through studying science and philosophy) about a year ago. I've had many tremendous, sometimes crushing realizations in the past few years. I can see how hard it is for most people to accept things like determinism and inherent emptiness. I've tried talking to some family and friends, but it's like they completely shut out the ideas. I also recall a time when I had this moment of revelation: I suddenly felt much more convinced that nature, myself- all of it- was completely predetermined as mental imagery showed me all of evolution happening in a split second. It was quick and I don't recall tons of detail, but I saw elephants walking and plants growing and I just *felt* the determined nature and the emptiness behind it. I wasn't exactly startled about the emptiness, but it was a heavy realization. It's made me view relationships with others differently. Yet I am still very stuck in the ego, still very concerned about what these empty others think of my empty self. Wonderful quotes you've provided. I especially love the Einstein one. Just now, the Ājīvika come to mind. I haven't studied them much but I recall learning of them when I was obsessively studying determinism. Thanks again for your kindness and advice. I am confident in myself. I have no idea what my predetermined life will look like, but I think I will end up making use of my existence well. Peace to you.
Hi Diego Ostuni. What happens is that you see them, perhaps for the first time, without your past stories, expectations, disappointments, etc., just as they truly are, in this moment. Can you do that? The videos "Upgrading your mental operating system" @ ua-cam.com/video/EK8pcUt4gio/v-deo.html and "The End of Suffering and the Default Mode Network" @ ua-cam.com/video/oX1IFUDNtto/v-deo.html discuss this in detail. What we call "love" or "compassion" is typically just "reciprocal altruism". The blogpost "Is your compassion all about 'you'?" @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2015/07/is-your-compassion-all-about-you.html discusses this. your attachments to your wife or family, or to your car, house, etc., are what causes your suffering. The blogpost "letting go of your attachments to awaken...why/how/when" @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2014/06/letting-go-of-your-attachments-to.html goes through this and gives you some approaches for lessening or losing those attachments. It is also useful to realize that we don't have "free will", or "control" over our lives, nor does anyone, including our wife and kids, or your friends, or frenemies, or the jihadists, or the saints. The blogpost "There's no 'free will'...attack it, accept it, hide it or ignore it?" @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2016/09/theres-no-free-willaccept-it-attack-it.html. stillness gary
Let's say you have a date for a future engagement. Like the conference in which you were speaking in this video. At some point you had to say to yourself "I have a speaking engagement on such and such date"....if you knew of the date the day before and had it planned, plane tickets, hotel booked..you had to have a thought knowing of the plan of the future engagement therefore you would be thoughts of what wasn't happening (the future date). I can get with the idea of non identification of thought, but thought has to be present in order for one to function. I'm confused about the claim you make of having no thoughts....
Hi J LaReaux. Yes, it is confusing how one can function fully in the world "without thoughts". Basically there are two different brain networks, one which generates the "blah, blah", problematic self-referential thoughts and the other that generates the non-problematic planning, problem-solving and analysis thoughts. If we have a task that is fully engaging us, then we stay in the non-problematic network. If we have no such task, then the control circuitry in the brain quickly shifts to the problematic network. It is the difference between "How do i get to the Interstate?" and "How the #$@%# am i ever going to get to the f******* Interstate?". They have very different energies and the brain can recognize that difference and, with some practice, shut down the problematic network, so that even when we get switched there, it is quiet. The video "What 'no thoughts' means...3 different kinds of thoughts" @ ua-cam.com/video/WnWxCgiZfrc/v-deo.html explains this. The companion video "What types, and patterns of thoughts do you have? What can be done w/them?" @ ua-cam.com/video/HuJmqF_r46o/v-deo.html gives some helpful background. Trust this is useful. stillness gary
Gary Weber Thanks for the response! I'm going to watch those videos now. It seems to me that what you're describing is a state where the default mode network is basically offline???
Gary Weber I've read studied the works of Nisargadatta, Ramana, Douglas Harding, Paul hedderman, Robert Adams etc. Intellectually, I feel I have a decent grasp of Advaita, but the narrator of mind persists. I have found your guided meditations extremely helpful lately. As a long time spiritual seeker it now seems as though I should be able to "call off the search". It seems that I am what I've been looking for and it's always been that way. As Huang Po said, "you cannot use the Buddha to seek the Buddha". You cannot use light to seek light..you cannot use mind to seek mind. I no longer feel the need to attend vipassana retreats. I find that rigorous spiritual practice like meditation only reinforces the meditator. I still have a personal daily meditation practice because I enjoy it as opposed to seeking enlightenment. My interest in thoughts has decreased dramatically but they are still there. It's somewhat like the Tibetan saying which is something like thoughts are like burglars entering an empty house...ordinary mind. I have to ask you, what was the asana which brought you to your current state? I realize that it would likely not have the same effect on me but I'm very curious nonetheless. Thank you for your time and thoughtful (or non-thoughtful,lol) comments. It is rare that someone like yourself takes interest in helping others via UA-cam....
Hi J LaReaux. Great that the guided meditations have been useful. However, as long as there are self-referential thoughts, there is a "self" to generate them, and self-inquiry and letting go practices need to continue until they are gone. Only then does one achieve persistent nonduality and lasting uncaused happiness. As far as the asana in which the page turned, that is meaningless as you surmise. Some folk woke up kicking a stone against a bamboo fence, others visiting "pleasure houses", others stepping off a curb to get on a bus, etc. stillness
Hi Gary I’ve read a comment of yours that a lot of authentic Zen centers are shutting down due to things like apps that encourage just 5 minutes of practice a day. I was wondering if you knew of any monastery like places in America where one could stay if one was down and out. This means having no money and the shirt on your back with only the intention to awaken. Thanks for the response.
Hi John Smith. Dai Bosatsu Zendo (DBZ) @ zenstudies.org/dai-bosatsu-zendo/ was where i did several retreats under Eido Roshi Shimano, and was "passed" by him. However, Eido was subsequently removed for having sex with female students...there were lawsuits and counter lawsuits. His successor, Shinge Sherry Chayat, who i haven't met, has gotten excellent reviews. If you go to their site, you can see under "Work Study" many options for exchanging work for fees. DBZ has a spectacular setting and magnificent Zendo above a lake. you might also c/o Springwater Center @ www.springwatercenter.org/ where i spent many retreats with the late Toni Packer, who passed me and told me i could teach. It is less rigorous than DBZ and the recent reviews from folk there are "mixed" on the current leadership. Most Zen centers have "work for fees" arrangements as they want diligent interested folk even if they can't afford the fees. Trust this is useful. stillness gary
Gary, Does mindfulness aid in self enquiry? I think it does. Either way, I liked self enquiry quite more. It took me a lot of time to understand it, but now it is very clear, and there is no going back to religious practices and mindfulness. Thanks for your literature, blog and videos. I still wish we can meet sometime.
Hi Talat Khan. Yes, mindfulness is useful as a practice to learn how to watch the contents of consciousness. i use it to start my guided meditation videos. However, it doesn't get folk to a persistent state of bliss and free them from suffering. Only self-inquiry and letting go practices, used together, can do that. Great that the work is useful for you. Folk do come to visit me. If you're ever in eastern US, particularly NYC, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore/Washington, D.C., Boston, etc. there is a bus that stops not far from my house. stillness
THIS is exactly what is looked for. Unfortunately, when there is a 'me' there is also the desire and drive for 'satisfaction' which, time after time, never satisfies. THIS refers to everything. There is nothing satisfying to the 'me'.
Hi Testa. Yes, it is like your other question. To have it be more "permanent" requires thousands of hours of diligent self-inquiry and "letting go" practices. It is all a matter of perseverance. As Ramana Maharshi said "The successful few owe their success to their perseverance. Persevere, persevere, persevere". stillness
"My view of the brain is that it is a "transceiver" for Universal Consciousness." -Gary Weber. Is it all one or is there something outside tuning in? Does surrender just happen or do you make it happen? How do you get out of your own way when you say there is no one there in the first place.
Hi +Luiz F Dos Reis. The direct perception is that "All is One" and that we are all part of It/Her/Universal Consciousness as She evolves through us. Whatever happens to "us" is whatever is useful for Her evolution - as one level of "challenge" is solved, another manifests of a more challenging level. As long as there is an "I" still remaining, it needs to consciously surrender whatever attachments, stories, or apparent identities remain. It just doesn't "just happen". How could something/someone else surrender for you? The Byron Katie and Sedona methods described in the blogpost "Surrendering the 'I', letting go of suffering" (URL under 'show more' above) as well as self-inquiry is how it is done. Unless you clearly have done the deconstruction work, you will still believe that the "I" exists. It is a phantom, just an artifact of a software program, but it is a persistent and closely-held illusion. It needs to be clearly known as such to recognize that it was an illusion all along. stillness
Gary, in relation to humanity's operating system- how is 'we need to do something' compatible with 'everything is being taken care of/the universe runs itself without our help/I-we am-are not the doer(s)' [my words, borrowed from others...]?
Hi Dan eM. Those "operating system" words emerge, completely out of my control (see video "you don't think up what you say..." and blogpost "you don't consciously think up what you say...new research" - URL under 'Show More' above). This is apparent to anyone who watches carefully what happens in any day and sees that they could predict none of it. Somehow, everything is being done by something else/the Universe. There is no one there, really, to worry about, or try to maintain "compatiblity" or "consistency". "my" work, blog, videos, books, articles, presentations, etc., really happen w/o any "doer"...it all comes from "no where". i am continually amazed at what manifests. There is lots on this in our new book "Into the Stillness" which is a record of spontaneous dialogues between Rich Doyle and i. we had no idea what the subject was going to be, nor what emerged in any of them, nor when it would finish. That is the reality, strange as it seems.
Gary Weber thanks Gary for taking time to respond. I guess my real concern, same as for the majority of the people that got a taste of this alternative reality is the 'paralysis' that I feel when the realization that I am not the doer [since I am not (the illusion of) this body-mind but the awareness of it and of the world] sinks in. I can bring my attention to being aware of things that are happening/coming into this awareness but can't understand how could the awareness take any action by itself. Thus how is being aware compatible with stepping out of the observation state and moving into taking initiative in doing something as a result of a need for action to fill some lack [which is just an illusion as the consciousness is perfect- complete/no lacks]. As the awareness should not be able to identify any lacks, who is identifying them? It only can be the body-mind. I guess the two need to enter into some form of harmonious relationship where awareness allows/concedes little things to the body-mind but never ceases control. Perhaps that the only situation when awareness can initiate doing by itself [and pass it onto the body-mind] would be as a result of the 'will of God' being infused into it.
Hi Dan eM. When the page turned and the "I" fell away, it was clear that i had never done anything, nor could i now do anything. At the time, i had 1000 folk working for me in four research labs w/a $250mm budget, so it was curious to see what would happen. i just went to work that day and everything continued as always, but w/o any internal narrative or a "doer", "all by itself". i also saw that the Universe was massively complex and highly interconnected, as well as highly ordered, and i was experiencing all sorts of serendipities that were very fortuitous but impossibly improbable. i just had no way to explain it unless there was something much more powerful than i was that was able to know and direct "everything" perfectly. our contemporary physics demonstrates, and many mystical texts have postulated it, that there is a Universal Field that penetrates everything. we don't know if it is uber-intelligent, but it is clear that it is omnipresent, and it is certainly at least as intelligent as we are and "conscious", as we could hardly have attributes that the Field itself didn't have. It is clear that every detail in my life is being "done" by something else, so i, somewhat logically, attributed that to the Field. That's where i am on how it all gets done. stillness
Gary Weber well, i'd like to be jealous on having it all coming to you so easily, Gary but i realize that, once we accept this reality as real Life, each one has his/her own 'life details being done by something else' [which i prefer to call God]. In my case God's will appears sometimes harder to swallow but then stillness teaches me that there's no-body who has to swallow anything, things just are/happen and all is one- no doer, no happening, and no receiver... so i guess i have no reasons for being jealous because there's no i and no you :), only I... anyway, cheers to the illusion too! :)
Dan eM As far as "it all coming to you (Gary) so easily", it is useful to remember that i spent 25 years and 20,000 hrs of meditation and yoga before it happened "so easily". stillness
Hi, Gary, I'm curious what exactly you mean by "giving up the attachment" on your two daughters. What changed, just the fear and uncertainty factor? That is, in surrendering you relinquished the false idea that you can "control" and that you let what is be what it is? Love, joy, delighting in their presence/well being, must surely exist, just in a less personalized form?
Hi +ashikansetsu. The delay in responding is because i have been traveling and been "off line". What changed was that i no longer have an agenda, bias or "something they really need to understand" when i am with them. They don't have to conform to some model that i might have had on how they should "turn out" and how they have "failed" or "might have done better", etc. i am just fully present for them in that moment for however i might be useful for them. It puts the interaction and relationship on a totally different and more open basis that is more beneficial and useful for everyone. stillness
@@GaryWeber what if your (now an adult) child using drugs? how does one let go? some days i feel more de-touched than others, but now there is a grandchild involved. it seems wrong to do nothing
Hi Luiz Bomfim. It was all the doing of Universal Consciousness..."i" had nothing to do with it. If you are curious, there is much more material under "Show More" above, all free in some format. stillness
Hi Gary, I have been following a lot of things to really understand who am I? I have been meditating, reading things etc. just a few days ago, i was able to consciously experience that whatever I see, perceive etc everything is happening within me and feels like there is one straight line or blank page where everything takes place. But now i dont understand non-duality , I imagine it by hearing that it is the consciousness itself taking forms and not different from it that means if I am seeing something, I am that image itself but then I dont understand if things really exist? People around me are for sure real. How do I experience everything as one, is it really just a concept? What is no dual experience and what is experiencing everything as one? I am sorry, if my question is not so straight, if you understood my doubt, please respond in whatever way you can. Thanks!
Hi Natish Dubey. your practices have worked and now you've had a classical nondual experience which you could never have predicted exactly as it occurred, no matter how many times you had read about it. There is no intellectually "understanding" nonduality...it is inherently experiential and "unimaginable". As with the experience you just had, don't try to intellectually try to conceive of how to produce it, as you will be wrong. Also, forget the experience you just had and don't bother trying to reproduce it, because it only happened because "you" weren't there. Just go back to your practices and see what happens. stillness
Gary Weber thanks a ton for your response! 😊 based on my level, if you can, please provide link of any video of yours that you feel might push me forward in my path. Again, thanks a lot.
Hi Nitish. As far as videos, here are some useful ones: "Reality, nonreality, thought types, self-deception", "Oneness, What Is It? How does it arise? What does it mean?" "Nondual Awakening Meditation - Doors of the Mind" "Social media, thought types, reality, devotion" They aren't videos, but you might find these blogposts useful: "How our brain creates a useful version of reality...latest neuroscience" @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2015/12/how-our-brain-creates-useful-version-of.html and "What is really 'real'? What does 'nothing is real' mean?" @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2013/07/what-is-really-real-what-does-nothing.html. This will give you a better background in where those strange experiences come from and how the brain creates them. stillness
Any idea that the loss of the sexual desire might largely be a function of the age. I agree that for (most) men the sexual desire and ability start waning after the age 40 and might survive largely, only as a 'mental preoccupation' after the age 50.
Hi TOA. Yes, that was certainly considered. However, the "page turned" for me in my mid-50s and the "self-referential" desires fell away sharply. i have also worked in the last two weeks w/folk in their 20s, 30s, and 40s who reported the same phenomena. It is also important to recognize that the Darwinianly-encoded, sexual-recognition and enjoyment process is unimpeded. Even "after" i could clearly recognize a female shape as different from a male shape, but there was just no "post-processing" or "pre-processing" of endless, mental narrative, that really generated the exaggerated craving, longing, "need", memories and stories. If sex manifests, it is enjoyed totally and "purely" in the moment, "now, now, now" w/o any storyline, performance worries, insecurity, etc. What manifests is totally different, and of a whole different character from "business as usual" w/o any sense of "what worked last time". What does occur is that it falls away as it is significantly just less desirable than the typical pleasure level reported for persistent nonduality. Plus sex has more "issues", in most folk's experience, than does persistent nonduality. On a pleasure/pain ratio basis, sex loses out. stillness
Gary Weber Two things which in general, are considered "bad" - do arise in me from time to time - anger and lust (sexual attraction, sexual desire). I can't say I have fully understood either of them. Sometimes, they arise before I have had a chance to see them arise and build up.
TOA (Transmission of Awakening) Hi TOA. As described earlier, the sexual "attraction" part is evolutionarily-encoded and, IME, is not worth creating a "suppressor/doer" to try to shut it down, as it usually creates a bigger problem a.k.a religions and pedophilia. The sexual "desire"/longing/lust/craving part can be shut down as you deconstruct the "I/ego", again, IME. When the self-referential thoughts fell away, the "desire" part of sex fell away. As the brain spends more time in Stillness, it likes it, and pumps out many neurochemicals to make it so pleasurable you won't leave. Before long, sex just doesn't measure up, particularly as Stillness doesn't have the "complications" and "downsides" of sexual relationships. Anger is also complicated. Again, there is an evolutionary part which is encoded, automatic and very quick...so quick you can't get "in front" of it - on the order of xy milliseconds, evolved to protect us in dangerous encounters with lions, and tigers and bears and enemies from the nearby tribe. The post-processed part, which is "rage/revenge", etc. as with sexual desire, can go away with self-inquiry as the story-maker ego/I isn't there to crank-up the energy. It is the difference between being angry at being caught off-guard in being cut off (dangerously) in fast traffic, and then chasing someone for miles down the road and then shooting them with your shotgun as revenge. If it's any consolation, the Dalai Lama and the famous Zen monk, Thich Nhat Hanh, (nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize) admit they have "anger" problems. There is a useful blogpost "How do i deal with anger? i can't meditate it away" on my blog - URL shown above under "Show More". Trust this is useful. stillness
Gary Weber Thanks, Gary! Great to hear from you. Thanks for sharing your wise words. I liked what you said above a lot and I see a great value in this approach. Possibly, anger and lust are like gray hair, we may or may not like them, but, they are there. Learning to accept them and manage them might be better than wishing that they weren't there. If long-time, accomplished meditators and practitioners loving-kindness like Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh, gets angry, the task might be even harder for the ordinary folks. I think I still don't have a strategy, policy or rule to deal with them or manage them and I am often caught off-guard by the anger or lust. Sometimes, I have gone 10-12 days without ever getting angry and I have thought, wow, it seems now I am beyond anger and then I blow without my knowledge and my bubble breaks :-) Lust is a little stranger. It changes my relationship and dynamics with young attractive women. Sometimes, I do OK by imagining them to be my sister, other times, I forget to do so :-) I thought as I age it would go away. Not sure, if it is true or not. I guess the time will tell. Thanks again for your response!
Hi cspace1234nz. Yes, brilliant, that is the real question and one of the great practices. With that question, feel your way back into that "experiencer" and see if you can find where/what/who it is? There is an "object"...stillness, your hand, your arm, your leg, the chair, etc., but there is a "subject" experiencing it. you cannot be both the object and the subject, so the object cannot be you. you must be something else. What/who/where are "you"? Can you find it? It is also useful to see if a) you think up your own thoughts, b) you think up what you say, and c) you can predict your next ten thoughts, and d) you can predict exactly what is going to happen to you today. Trust this is useful. stillness
Gary I have a question? Being spiritual seekers we believe that there is no duality in existence.. Then how can we talk of being joyful and blissful all the time?
Hi +Ramdas Chakraborty. When you move from believing "that there is no duality in existence" to actually living in nonduality, you will find that all there is is bliss, stillness and uncaused happiness. The process of nondual awakening is to move from hearing someone else's story about nonduality, which in many/most cases is just something they have heard from someone else and are parroting, or something they only briefly experience, to where it is your own direct, lived, natural, ongoing reality. Focus on eliminating your own suffering by letting go of your attachments, including the attachment to the "I" and its stories, fears, promises and excuses, and if you are diligent, you can answer your own question beyond any doubt or equivocation. stillness
"everybody is the divine dancing" Hmmm.. No doubt, there are many ways to express non-duality but no amount of talk or description will make a difference unless we experience it directly. There is talk ABOUT non-duality ad nausea-um but not much on how to realize it directly.
Consciousness is happening within itself by supposing itself to be what it is not and goes on to mis-experience/live its own supposition of itself. That's it.
Hi Gary, I enjoy hearing your wisdom. I wanted to ask you if you are familiar with meeting god face to face? When I say "god" I'm referring to the true self. God's "face" is the famous cloud of light with beams coming from it spoken of throughout the Bible, ancient Egypt and Alchemy. The moment of seeing it is called divine union. I ask because of its prominence in the ancient past as the moment of true self recognition and realization. It seems to be commemorated throughout the ancient past as the point of physical existence. It would be interesting to hear your thoughts on this if you have any.
Hi Phil. As long as there is someone seeing God's "face", however resplendent, they are different from "God", so it is duality and really isn't "divine union". Being totally absorbed in God, so that there is no difference from God, nothing that remains as "Phil" discrete from God, is "divine union", which is nonduality. you have had a powerful, deep, and wonderful experience, but let go of it, and as Ramakrishna said, "Go further" until there is nothing but God everywhere. stillness
thanks for your response Gary. I appreciate it. I must let you know that before the cloud experience, which seems to be recorded in many places, I had the oneness experience you seem to mention. Stillness came first. My explanation is the same as in Kabbalah, "God wished to perceive God" so God being one and totality there is a need for the individual to perceive the true self as if separate from the only one as if that is the true miracle. I hope this makes sense to you. Thanks again.
If God is perceiving God then there are two Gods, a perceiver and one being perceived. That is where whoever wrote that got to, but it is not "divine union". If there is truly "union", there aren't that's what "union" means. The Abrahmic religious texts, including the Kabbalah, however sublime, maintain that separation, as they don't recognize the possibility of you becoming one with God, or fully absorbed in God. you have to move out of the dualistic texts into the nondual ones if you want to see that possibility recognized. It's all through the Bhagavad Gita, the most popular nondual text. stillness
Hi EndofMusic. There is a lot of confusion between the psychologists and their psychopathological conditions as defined in their most recent Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM -5 @ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DSM-5 ) and mystical, nondual states...in fact they are exactly 180 degrees out. Many other more common conditions like ADD/ADHD and now Autism Spectrum Disorders are so broadly defined, that as the chairman of the DSM - 5 committee said, virtually everyone will fit in something in DSM - 5. As this is the manual through which the psychologists can bill insurance, and they create the manual, there is much opportunity for distortions to occur. The blogpost "Are our mystical experiences psychotic?...key indicators" @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2015/09/are-our-mystical-experiences.html goes through an extended discussion on a new psychopathologized category of DPDR or "Depersonalization/Derealization Disorder" (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depersonalization_disorder) which is exactly what virtually all mystics have experienced through the ages. i live in DPDR. As far as whether BPD (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borderline_personality_disorder) or ASPD (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisocial_personality_disorder) would preclude awakening, it would depend on exactly which characteristics were manifesting and how severe they are as to whether it would affect someone's ability to awaken. There are clearly psychopathologies that require professional treatment, and possibly adjustments to the brain's neurochemistry to deal with them, and if one is totally nonfunctional, dangerous to others, unable to care for their children, etc., professionals need to be engaged. However, there are many folk who need to read through the blogpost check list to see if that is a likely situation, or if it is more likely you're experiencing something the psychologists just don't understand and have never experienced, which is, IME, magical and "full of wonder" and bliss, and why we do this work. stillness
Hi Arjuna 1. Great that you found the answers useful. JIC, links to all of my stuff, all free in some format, are shown under "Show More" above. stillness
Gary Weber Thank you Gary.. you are a gift to the ones who will listen cause you can explain it very clearly.. i will continue to follow your foodsteps. I myself can disciminate the different voices inside.. i find out that thinking like "speeking" is my real self.. suddenly coming thoughts and emotions/feelings are not that "speeking" thoughts, so i can seperate them.. i totally stoped believing in any of them.. it gives me more and more freedom.. but it is so hard, cause they catch you when you are unconsience.. and if you have a job and two children it is hard to stay concience but i manage it more and more!
Hi Arjuna 1. Yes, the two types of thoughts feel very different. The "problem" thoughts feel very strong, emotional and sticky. The ones that aren't a problem, don't feel that way, like asking where the highway is. The problem ones do catch you if your attention wanders. Like you, i had a job and two children, but i got up every morning and meditated and did some yoga, and then put self-inquiry questions, like "Where am I?" into my day for a minute or two whenever i had a cup of tea, every other hour, etc. It is helpful for many folk to put a reminder app on their smartphone to be reminded 5 or 6 times during the day to take an "inquiry" break. It has a strong effect on the brain. stillness
Gary Weber Yes, this is true.. at the moment the reminder (stopwatch) is like: "oh it's getting to much, and i feel not good, i need a break" and then i go for meditation and feel that feelings and get quiet.. it is like a drug right now to me.. very ironic, i really need the silence.. but i know i have to go back and do the "dharma".. maybe the noice of the children and that all is pushing me to that silence.. i am really a silence junky, when i think about it. i can sit for hours in the forest and do nothing.. that is so great.
Hi +Srinivasan Ananthan. Great that you found it useful. JIC, links to all of my stuff (all free in some format) are under "Show More" above. stillness
With no I or personal self, there is no longer a need or reason to defend your self from or argue with your partner or "others". This will be quite disturbing & confusing to an egotistic partner who still needs to win arguments & BE RIGHT - no matter what!
Hi Nathan C. "My thoughts which are called 'blah, blah'", although "Blubbler" is also appropriate. It is a term that i use a lot. you might find the blogpost "Electric shocks rather than 'blah, blah'...new research" @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2014/08/electric-shocks-rather-than-blah.html interesting. There are also lots of links under "Show More" for all of my material, all free in some format, JIC. stillness
Hi Lee. i'm not a philosopher, but many aspects of what i understand as "Stoicism" (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoicism), are very similar. i dislike philosophical labels, as they invariably encompass many different things to different philosophers, hence the endless arguing and micro-parsing of seemingly minuscule meanings of obscure words. If you look @ Ramana Maharshi's "Talks" @ selfdefinition.org/ramana/Talks-with-Sri-Ramana-Maharshi--complete.pdf, his "Upadesa Saram" in the Text section of my first book "Happiness Beyond Thought" @ preview.tinyurl.com/bslfll8 (free download) or his "Who am I?" @ www.sriramanamaharshi.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/who_am_I.pdf that's the philosophy. "Upadesa Saram" is actually taught as a comprehensive "short course" in advaita at major advaita centers. stillness
Hey Lee, I think the concept of "ataraxia" or freedom from disturbance in the Stoic school is something that one can somehow link to the non-dual or spiritual idea of detachment from the phenomenal and temporary world. Stoics had the ideal image of the sage as someone who was "free from disturbances", and just a glimpse of Ramana one would imagine that the stoics would have labeled him as one of their own great "sages" as well :)
Hi jonathon. Great that you found it so useful. JIC, if you look under "Show More" above, or in any of my youTube videos, you'll see links to all of my work, all free in some format. stillness and uncaused happiness
Re the Kali Yuga, "We need to do something or our species won't exist". Why do any of us have to do anything if we don't exist? This seems like ego again. I don't get it. In other words, if our species goes, is that not what the oneness wants?
Hi +End Factory Farming. If you have been following this "work", you would realize that there is no sense of ownership of anything that manifests or is said. This is not just true for "me", but for everyone. If you look @ any of the videos that Rich Doyle and i have done, like the recent "Choosing, intuition, serendipity, free will", we are very clear in that whatever we say is entirely spontaneous, unrehearsed, and emerges from "somewhere else". Our recent book, "Into the Stillness: Dialogues on Awakening Beyond Thought" was done totally spontaneously and just manifested "all by itself". The same is true of the other two books, "Happiness Beyond Thought", and "Dancing Beyond Thought" (free download links under "show more" above). you might also find the blogpost "you don't consciously think up what you say...new research" (URL under "show more" above) useful. This is some careful research that demonstrates that no one thinks up what they say. you might also just try the experiment to see, for several minutes, if you think up your thoughts, or do they just emerge by themselves. On the philosophical side, as my direct perception is that everything is One, and the Oneness dances everything, then what i say/write and what you say/write are also Her speaking/writing, so it is obviously what the Oneness wants to have expressed. Perhaps She wanted "my comment" on the species needing to "do something" as a warning to all the other parts of Herself to wake up. Folk have then asked me why She doesn't just fix everything if She's so powerful, which, since everything is evolving in "the Universe", including Herself, and we are Her evolutionary "sock puppets" being moved around through all sorts of "learning experiences" for Her, it wouldn't be adaptively useful for Her to fix everything. Trust this is useful. stillness
The character never did anything, there's no free will, zero. Things just seemingly happen all by them selves.. in the dream, source is pulling all the strings. Just sit back and enjoy the ride best you can.
Hi Deb Dobbin. you have a different definition of "awakened" than do the major awakening traditions. If you see the blogpost "Who else believes 'no thoughts' is the goal of meditation" (URL for blog under "Show More" above) you'll see how broadly having no thoughts is the goal as described by Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta, Patanjali's yoga sutras, the Bhagavad Gita, Dogen Zenji, the Tao Te Ching, Dzogchen, Bhante G, ayahuasca master Paulo Roberto, J. Krishnamurti, Paramahansa Yogananda, the Yoga Vasishta, etc. you may be a member of the school of "Enlightenment is whatever you want it to be", so you define it by whatever point you were able to reach, but you can go much further if you want to be really awakened. stillness
Hi swingtrade2. Great questions, and if you are really serious about wanting to personally know the answers, use them for your own self-inquiry practice. Who is that "thinks up" what they say? What is it that thinks up what it thinks? Do you think up your own thoughts? When you're with friends, do you think up what you say before you say it? Does the same "swingtrade2" show up for every meeting w/others, or is (s)he different with every different relationship? stillness
No one is talking to no one. "Though you have eaten the whole day through, see that not a grain of food has passed your lips." Huang Po. And Po would be first to say that no Po said it. Same as Buddha: "I spoke for forty years. No one talked and no one listened.: Perception is responsible for the paradox. When man sees that man is an idea, peace on Earth. For if no thought, identify the enemy. A young boy asked Socrates: If I am not the thinker, what should I do? The reply: :Just go on thinking that you think.
swingtrade2 . Who says that it is not a person? What is this "I" that is prior to any idea? Where does this statement "There is an experiencing, but by no one" arise from? What perceives this experiencing? These just sound like the recitation of the standard neo-advaita script. As you are intent on reciting it, w/o really responding to any questions, there is no point in continuing this discussion. i would encourage you to see if your script isn't actually strengthening your ego. Many neo-advaitans use this script, and to some extent hide behind it, to great advantage to get fame and fortune, but, IME, very few really speak from now, presence and openness. stillness and surrender
Hi InsaneToothFairy. Yeah, it's just like that... FYI, if you look under "Show More" in any of my vids, you'll see links to all of "my stuff", all free in some format. stillness
Thank you Stillness, I’d like to share with you that i also had found that “letting go”. I suffered incredibly and one day tried magic mushrooms, I had this notion that if I didn’t let go I would go mad, so I did more and more and yes I would be held more and more until all the sudden I was just gone- pure ecstasy, love, how good life could be, no more social anxiety. I carried this letting go over to past my shrooms experience and my life immediately started taking drastic turns , the problem is I tried to understand what I was doing (to solidify) and perhaps improve (I loved doing things so amazingly well, or more like letting things do themselves better than “I” could ever), I’m not as good anymore and run into a lot of frustration I became depressed because all I could find around was mindfulness and all sorts of if u will “lower level” things, this took me down from that “level” as u said; very cruel (got worse and worse). One of the happiest moments was when I found you - someone who found the same thing and actually took it further and further. So is this more like letting go of control? Of what? From my experience it just feels like throwing yourself of the cliff and letting what ever happen happen. Thank you if you took the time 🤗(Im 18 btw)
There is non dual. Thats what you read and then becomes copy paste new in thing. Its light and darkness battle. You just won the light darkness battle in just you but return to a job you will have it again. That battle doesnot stop till planet cosmos has darkness.
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You earned my respect when you said you do not charge for your teachings. Recently I experienced ego death, self realization, enlightenment whatever name you choose to give it. It was quite by accident and I was very confused and afraid at first. I was no one, I was an illusion etc. When I went looking for someone to explain things to my new "non-self" I found everyone was making thousands upon thousands of dollars a year while claiming to have over come materialism. This made things even more difficult. Thank you for teaching what you have found to be true freely so others might understand.
Hi Christy me. Great that you have had a strong awakening experience, "quite by accident". As is typical, you were "very confused and afraid" as you hadn't really prepared for such a dramatic happening.
If you go to "Show More" under any of my youTube videos, you'll find links to all of my work, all free in some format. Suggest you read my first book "Happiness Beyond Thought: A Practical Guide to Awakening" @ preview.tinyurl.com/bslfll8 (free download) to give you some background and understanding and practices of all types.
There are lots of other resources as well for you to explore. If you look under "About" on my website, www.happiness-beyond-thought.com, you'll see my email address. As you explore the work, and begin practices, as you encounter difficulties, send me an email and we'll work on them.
stillness
Thank you so much for your kindness and offer of help and thank you for the free book. I'll read it and don't be surprised if I do email you with questions. I looked into spirituality for many years and I always avoided Eastern Religions because they preached that there is no self. Then one day I read an article by a monk who said the same. Half out of curiosity to find out who I was and half to spite him at the time I asked myself the question "Who am I?" A while later after deducting all the things I knew I wasn't I came to the realization that I was no one. Thanks again for your help I will not take it for granted.
Wow, your comments on relationships is right on Gary. My wife couldn't understand me any longer, I lost all desire for relations. She became very abusive verbally but I lost even the necessity to defend myself. It became obvious that after 25 years, at 59 years of age I had to walk away. I gave her almost everything, I still wish her well of course. My relationships with my children is great but I view them no longer as possessions. I feel no real emotions about any of this, I just know that as Bhagavan said; "in the end all will be well by you. " I live a very blissful life now in a tiny old house. My job was done as this ego. I feel empty in a peaceful way. Thank you Gary.
Hi elmarko52. It is useful to remember that being as you now are, is the most helpful and useful thing that can be done for "others". This has been stated by Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta and others, including Adyashanti, and detailed in Robert Wright's recent "Why Buddhism is True".
As Ramana said:
Public speeches, physical activity, and material help are all outweighed by the silence of those absorbed in the Self. They accomplish more than others.
stillness
Thank you Gary. I truly appreciate your responses and your sharing.
thanks,you are so inspiring!
I want to acheive what you have , how can i do it ? Im in so much pain because of myself
I feel you
I had a kundalini awakening during a very long duration through the dark night, once it happened it seemed like anxiety and stuck thoughts, simply dropped off. I know me, I know my mind. When this happened I was bewildered, days went by, My mind remained clear, I felt light, like living with a toothache, then nothing. I started to research this profound light, everything was resonating with awakenings , it’s been a year now, I communicate by listening to videos just like these. I lost friends , a family member through this. Looked at me like I’m a nut. My whole person changed. I can’t even remember what an over flowing, busy mind feels like anymore. I can see how this can disrupt some peoples lives, it’s a big adjustment for the others around you. Probably a good thing I was completely single and alone through this.
Thank u for the upload.😊
This is a wonderful talk from Gary Weber. He speaks with such clarity. Beautiful stuff.
Thank you, Gary.
"All matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves." -Bill Hicks
Hi Nihil. Good quote from Bill Hicks. On the mark. JIC, links to all of my work, all free in some format, is under "Show More" above. stillness
I’m abiding in the present moment as well, found it accidentally trying to reprogram my mind to remove thoughts that were causing my own suffering using meditative practice as a tool for neuroplasticity. Did not expect this would happen. Initially it was a total bliss out, and I just rested there for a bit (the Covid landscape was useful for being a homebody). Took a couple of months to figure out what it was, found Eckert Tolle, Alan Watts describing what I knew. Then found a few other teachers.
Thank you and it has been lovely listening to your perspective which reflects my experience here.
I know exactly what this is like it almost makes other people difficult to understand but the detachment of false self is such a liberation where even death becomes a toothless tiger.
So well put. Nice and clear and easy to understand. Thankyou
15:00 cypher took the blue pill, if it was offered before you that you can go back and enjoy the ups and downs of life it may be tempting... ive often thought about aspects of this being given back and having friends again and anxieties and desires but i may not be fully converted yet also i may not speak from the same place as Mr Weber
what an amazing person. After years of trying to be present and mindful I suddenly feel more awakened then ever before. I love the fact that Gary doesn't take money for his teachings. That's an additional evidence that his ego died. My thoughts haven't stopped yet but somehow now I know what should I do to get there. Thank you.
Hi Alex Ossipee. Great that you found the video useful. Appreciate the feedback. If you look under "Show More" under any of my youTube videos, you'll see links to all of my work, all free, unless you want Amazon to print it for you. Any net profits go to kids in south India. stillness
"Infinitely loved, infinitely precious" These were the words i heard spoken over and over in a lucid dream while i was held in love. Terrible things were going on on the earth, but i knew how much i was loved regardless .
Out of the terrible suffering i saw on earth i saw a man walking , coming out of the dust . He "walks like Jesus on the earth." Those were the words, the arising of the new human consciousness. It was beautiful, amazing and all i felt was love.
I love how you approach this from a scientific perspective. It's a wonderful change from some of the other stuff doing the rounds.
Hi John. Yes, empirical science, where every hypothesis is tested, is very different from "some of the other stuff doing the rounds". As Einstein said "It is the most precious gift we have". stillness
There are some really good points made here. I had a momentary experience as a teenager during a type of meditation where the objective was just to observe thoughts. At first I was trying to stop them, then realized that wasn't possible through an act of overt will so I just started watching them. After a while, maybe a couple weeks of a couple hours a day, there was a point where there was a realization in a wordless way that word based thought had stopped. What I know now was that the "I, me, my" was what had actually stopped. Then after that there was a rather extreme experience followed by a strong fear based response including elevated heart rate, sweating, or the typical extreme fear based responses. I "heard" a voice simply scream "HEY" in an almost animalistic way. This wasn't some disembodied voice, didn't feel like it was another entity or whatever and I don't remember feeling a presence or whatever. It was just this sudden loud animalistic scream that scared me to the point I haven't gone back despite "knowing", in the same way I "know" I have a right foot, that I can get back there with a fairly simple, but not easy, process.
At some point in the video was a mention, or some previous ones I have been watching recently, there was a mention of how this default network seems to have come online in our species about 70k years ago and how we basically need an operating system upgrade. I hypothesize that we are a species with ptsd and amnesia. There is genetic evidence that suggest there are a genetic Adam and genetic Eve that we all descend from(unlikely that existed in the same time/location btw) that lived around 150k years ago which suggests a genetic bottleneck, if you will, around the bottoming out of the "ilionian glaciation" period. Around the same time as he suggests this default network came online in our species there was a large drop in global ocean levels during the subsequent "wisconsin glaciation" period and that may suggest another event/bottleneck and that this coming online was a survival strategy similar to how some victims of various forms of severe abuse will "depersonalize"/"derealize" and effectively disassociate their sense of self from the event, their body, etc. Maybe some common ancestor(s) used this default network system as a similar but an almost inverted strategy to cope with the extreme event that may have happened during that time period. This kind of makes sense if you look at families with histories of abuse and mental health issues over several generations.
Having said all this, there is now this feeling that is almost like a feeling of an obligation where I feel like I now have to get back on that path/in that mental state/place and that the larger reason has almost nothing to do with me but rather with our species reaching a tipping collectively were everyone else is just kinda brought along for the ride, if you will, or something similar to the concept of "herd immunity". I don't want to sound like an "the end is nigh" doomday person but if we assume that the past of our planet is in some way a reflection of the future of our planet then according to historical data we're close to reaching historical peaks in ocean levels, co2 levels, lows in ice core levels, and again if the past is a reflection of what is to come then there could be another genetic bottleneck type event coming. Which could be seen as an end of one cycle and the start of another. Maybe this time an effective strategy could be, depending on the context, to use both the task network and the default network, similar to a flock of birds or school of fish, to solve the problem vs the only default "I, me, my" network. If say 3 people of equal strength can lift 100lbs each then, unlike most would intuit, the combination of the 3 people can lift a good deal more than 300lbs. This combinatorial effect applies to many areas and could be thought of as being enhanced in some way by the use of this default network. I've come to this kind of realization that each body, each persona within that body, etc can be thought of in a similar way as what we label as color. People who speak a language that lacks the color blue are unable to tell what we can clearly see as some shade of blue from what they have for the concept of some shade of green. There is only one spectrum of light and these concepts of color are projections that limit our biologically limited sense off sight even further. These limitations can be useful in a similar as the saying "all models are wrong but some are useful"(probably misquoted) and how, interestingly, random forest decision trees are still really effective and efficient machine learning techniques
Hi Joao Roberto. There was no "reply" under your comment, so i'll post the answer. The 14th century Japanese Zen monk was Bassui, the author of the famous "Dharma Talk on One Mind" which you can get a .pdf of if you just google the title. he is also very prominent in the Zen classic "Three Pillars of Zen" by Philip Kapleau.
As far as pain in the body, the pain is useful to tell us where there is a problem...what i focus on is the stories we make about the pain, which is what causes our suffering. If i am suffering from a pain, i ask "To whom does this pain arise?" or ask with the Byron Katie or Sedona Methods what the story is that i have about the pain. These methods are covered in the blogpost "Surrendering the 'I', letting go of suffering" (URL for blog under "show more" above). stillness
+Gary Weber Thank you so much, i will search for that. stilness
+João Roberto Whats your "byron katie" for atma vichara ? self repeating this, is actually very helpful, thanks!
I have to wonder if what you're saying in this video would still hold true if put to the test. you say you have no fear because there is no "i' there - what do you think would happen if you learned your child has cancer? you really believe you won't feel fear there?
I really appreciate this interview. Is my introduction to you Gary. This plain spoken humility and sincerity without a lot of the presentation drama sometimes found in this knowing is very much appreciated. I'm working on a salon or small gathering for friends and their friends which will explore creativity - as "artists". Your words at about 2:29 - 3:15 get right at what we are exploring. For us it is exactly the Genjo Koan actualizing, but not as a creativity puzzle to be solved. I'll definitely refer our group to this clip.
Many thanks Gary.
Hi A FreshLife. Great that you found the interview useful and are using it w/your gathering. BTW, if you look under the video and click "Show more" you'll see links to free book downloads, blog, website, interviews, etc. that might also be useful. "Actualizing the fundamental point" as the Genjo Koan teaches, is what it is all about. Best w/your gathering. stillness
Again thanks Gary. I will check it out!
I find the same experience. I took particularly interest in how he talked about the decline of sexual desire after the awakening. I, too, could see what was going to happen to the human instrument after enlightenment, particularly how desires and motivations would drop away. I also notice that the concern of judgment and criticism has also dramatically dropped away. After enlightenment everything changed for me and has never changed back. And as he said in the end, enlightenment really is the only way to save the world from itself.
Hi EndofMusic. If you recognize that there is no free will and that we have no control over anything in our lives, as discussed in the blogpost "There's no free will...accept it, attack it, hide it or ignore it?" @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2016/09/theres-no-free-willaccept-it-attack-it.html, you'll understand that you really had no choice to not watch hardcore porn.
In working w/folk, i tell them that the words "should" or "shouldn't" really have no meaning as that presupposes an ego/I that has control, which isn't what the neuroscience compellingly demonstrates is false.
There is a lot of porn addiction now, and the amount of aggregate bandwidth that it consumes during a day is staggering. Now with VR porn, it will be even more difficult to tear oneself away. The blogpost "How the changing brain changes our pleasures into addictions" @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2015/01/how-changing-brain-turns-our-pleasures.html goes through how addictions of all types - porn, social media, meditation, news, competition, etc. are created neuroscientifically and some approaches for unwinding them.
An important understanding is that the brain runs a pleasure/pain comparison on pleasures to see which ones are "best". However, it overweights pain 5X pleasure for evolutionary survival purposes. Pain includes longing, craving, need for improved versions, etc.
If you're going to move away from an addictive pleasure, focus on the pain of your current addiction and the pleasure of an alternative. The blogpost "Aleppo, Trump, Berlin, Orlandos, Nice...what can you do?" @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2017/01/aleppo-trump-berlin-orlandos-nicewhat.html gives some advice on how to let go of social media and news addictions.
stillness
gary
Hi Jim Freedom. That is the big promise from mindfulness folk that is never fulfilled. i have been in peer-reviewed studies @ Yale on experienced meditators with the leading mindfulness/Theravada/Vipassana practitioners in the U.S. Nonduality/self-inquiry produced dramatically different and better outcomes. The article "The Neuroscience of Suffering and Its End" @ psychologytomorrowmagazine.com/jeff-warren-neuroscience-suffering-end/ discusses this in some detail.
The video "Does Mindfulness Lead to Persistent Nonduality" @ ua-cam.com/video/6UI0Tpfz_8g/v-deo.html goes through this weakness of mindfulness. The blogpost "What nonduality is (bliss) and isn't (no bliss) @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2016/10/what-nonduality-is-bliss-and-isnt-no.html describe what can happen with nonduality/self-inquiry. Mindfulness just can't get there.
The problem with mindfulness/Vipassana is that there is no deconstruction of the "I", so what happens after decades years of such practices, and i work with many Vipassana practitioners, is that a powerful ego remains that is strongly identified with its prowess at being mindful.
If you watch, you will see that there is someone, forever, being mindful, of "activities that are not healthy for you". There may be some improvement in symptoms, but there is no solution to the core of the unhealthy "activities"problem, which is the "doer" who does those activities, so the suffering will continue. That is why so many Theravada/Vipassana teachers are now incorporating self-inquiry into their teaching.
stillness and an end of suffering
Hi EndofMusic. Whatever partner(s) you are destined to find, and what will happen with them, is out of your control, as is whether any of what has manifested in response to your questions will interest you or impact your actions in any way.
One clear lesson from the recent US Presidential election is that our lives are not under our control, ability to predict, or even imagine all of the future consequences. That extends to countless activities by millions of folk impacted by those changes. Just be open to, and let go, into the fact that you are not in control, and don't fight against the flow...just go with it.
stillness
Well, Gary, that is not my personal experience. I don't trust studies done by people who will, if challenged, admit that they don't know what they are talking about. Mindfulness is only a step in a direction, it is not the whole journey. Vipassana is also only a step, and important first step, but still only a step. Yes, people can practice mindfulness or Vipassana for decades and still not become enlightened...that takes more desire than the Buddhist dogma will allow.
So Jim, you think yourself to be enlightened ??
surrender and acceptance. nice interview sir.appreciate very much.
Beautifully said and done! Congrats.
Also noticed intense decline of sexual desire and desireS of all sorts...Traveling lighter and lighter. Still dealing with some issues, but trying to se the root of it : the dethroned "I/me"!
Muitissimo agradecido!
Hi +Michael Rivadavia. Yes, the falling away of sexual desire, and all desires, is a great surprise to folk, but is almost uniformly experienced as folk get farther along in their awakening process. Interesting that it doesn't change the intensity of the sexual experience, only the desire, longing and craving for it. IME, one of the great, unexpected, rewards of this process. stillness and letting go
+Gary Weber On target...
+Gary Weber "Arrived" at this 'point in perception', totally through an "intellectual" way of "thinking" ( using words in quotation for lack of better ones. Another aspect : words cannot express what they would in other situations. Lots of blanks when emitting concepts).
No experience whatsoever with any drugs.Only brain chemicals.No meditation either.At least the intended one.
In Brazil now. Thinking about a trip to Peru to "experience" ayahuasca. Any suggestions?
Hi +Michael Rivadavia. i also have only used "brain chemicals", but have done a lot of meditation and yoga of all sorts. Suggest you contact Rich Doyle whose e-mail address is under "show more" in any of our dialogue videos. he has a book primarily focused on his ayahuasca experiences and how it changed his life and is a "go to" source for many media sources and forums for an intelligent, logical, informed perspective. stillness
+Gary Weber Always thankful.Muito obrigado!
Gary....This was beautiful and loved hearing your exclusive narratives. Thank you for making this video. Tears welled up @11:40 after hearing 'When I surrendered totally, I was totally held'. Isn't meditation then a device to get to this state of total surrender, because most of us are so well programmed to return to our egoic-self time and again? In other words, when meditation matures, it becomes like that virus that would infect and crash this old program!!!!
Hi +Sidtube10. Great that you found it useful. The "When I surrendered totally, I was totally held" was amazing to "me", and i heard about it later in the Bhagavad Gita, but it was unexpected, and often brings tears as well, just at the wonderment of it. Every day unfolds with so many unbelievable serendipities.
Getting to "total surrender" is what the latter stages of the nondual awakening process is all about. How far one gets is determined by whether the strength of your desire to awaken can overcome your many attachments and fears. The blogpost "Letting go of your attachments to awaken...why/how/when" @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2014/06/letting-go-of-your-attachments-to.html lays out the process.
As far as the virus, it turns out that the brain is on "our" side in this...if we give it enough examples of stillness, presence, oneness, no matter how short, it will recognize it has an alternative solution to the stress, anxiety, fear, and depression. It will then move towards that until, at some point, it is clear that the brain is now in control of the process, and will not be denied. It is the ultimate virus, but a great one.
stillness
So informative thank you. I'm not even sure why i'm drawn to this but i am.
Hi lifesabuzzwhoopwhoop. Great that you found it useful. you were drawn to this because your Inner Truth/Guide/Source brought you here. stillness
Thank you, Gary. I have shared this video with our group, as this is directly related to our worldview.
I would also like to comment on the section where you discussed whether or not "everyone" can be in this state. As someone who understands the unity of opposites, it is my perspective that the tension created by the differences is directly related to maintaining the momentum of being.
Hi Panendeism Enformationist. Great that you found it useful, and are sharing it w/your group. BTW, if you look under "Show More", you will find many links to free book downloads, articles, blog, website, interviews, etc. stillness
Gary's appearance on" Buddha at the gas pump" is well worth a look, it's much longer than this and both Rick and Gary answer a lot of common perceptions and misconceptions about non duality.
Hi John Smith. Gratitude for the comment as the BATGAP discussion does expand on several key "misconceptions" on nonduality. JIC, if you look under "Show More" in any of my vids, you'll see links to all of my work, all free in some format. stillness
Thanks to you Gary Weber sir !!
Thanks for the words of encouragement to push on, i know deep down inside i have not a choice, and aside from that theres nothing i'd rather do than to do so but again thank you for the encouragement, it get alittle lonely out here on the raw and ragged edge
1:04 Bassui Tokushō took me a few searches but i found the name
Thank you Gary...very encouraging!!!...a sigh of relief!
Hi Richard. Great that you found it useful, encouraging and generated a sigh of relief. JIC, links to all of my stuff, all free in some format, are under "Show More" above. stillness
3:29 the woman on the panel, was laughing before he even said the word sex I think she must be clairvoyant? Perhaps because it said that he mentioned it, and then they ask him to elaborate?
28 years w/acim and 14 years of aa.. I began my 'seek' at the age of 11.. so at this point my ego is very well educated and uniquely above the world and those in it.. oops.. ND is a little door in the corner which I stumbled upon by way of Lisa C and Paul H.. Once I squeezed into the door I realized that there was no way back.. I bless my 'seek' and let it go with great relief.. I drop the black shroud gratefully and am 'born again' at 65 lol.. go figure.. Thank you
Hi Bill Bacon. Great that Lisa and Paul were so useful for you.
It is worth remembering the words of Harada Roshi, one of the great Zen teachers of the 19th and 20th century who was quoted in Philip Kapleau's seminal book, "The Three Pillars of Zen" as saying "What these people fail to realize is that their enlightenment is capable of endless enlargement."
After over 35,000 hrs of meditation and yoga, enlargement continues...
stillness
Gary, I love your teachings! Spirituality for the modern scientific mind! You bring me inspiration! I hope you keep teaching. Also, put your books on Kindle so I can get them here in Thailand :)
Hi Ryan. If you look under "Show More" in any of my youTube videos, you'll see links to all of my work, all free in some format, including downloadable versions of "Happiness Beyond Thought" and "Dancing Beyond Thought".
my new book, "Evolving Beyond Thought : Updating Your Brain's Software" is currently only available as hardcopy from Amazon. Surprising you can't get it in Thailand direct from Amazon as folk in Australia and Tasmania, and all over Europe, get copies quickly.
Great that you are finding the work so useful.
As far as whether "i" keep teaching, like everything else, that is whatever "the Universe" manifests. i have no sense of creating any of this work...it all just happens. "Evolving Beyond Thought" was a complete surprise...
stillness
I have experimented with similar methods before, I even downloaded and read your book a while ago, I did quite a few of the practices described there. What is troubling me this time around is that it has all become to easy, not trough realisation and "hard work" but trough the medication I eat (amphetamines) BUT after months of taking these stimulants I have began to feel this way unmedicated as well.. I feel that i'm closer than ever before with or without drugs. I can have somewhat linear thought sessions.
throughout this time I have rarely meditated or thought about these kinds of issues, yet I still think that your book and videos where the resources that made the biggest impact on me! I needed some time "not" thinking about it to make some of the "truths" seem reasonable to me.
Perhaps I will never "go all the way" but I'm happy with the moments of clarity i have now. But what me satisfies me the most is not the moments of total silence, its everyday life where I have freed myself from a substantial amount of useless babble.
Thank you Gary for all of the wonderful resources!
Hi Xzrt Pysx. Great that you have seen so much progress, freedom and clarity, particularly in everyday life, which is the real test. The brain does take the self-inquiry questions "off line" and continues to work with them, once they are strongly engaged.
So even if you feel like there is nothing happening, the brain may be continuing to wonder "Where am I?", What is this?, etc." The more time that is spent in the moments of clarity, the more data and time the brain has to work on creating a different neural network to support its growing clarity. It's like learning how to ride a bicycle; it's trying to find the best possible way.
The brain doesn't want to be frantic, stressed, anxious, depressed, etc. Before, it may have not even believed it was possible. Now that you have shown it what is possible, it has found it likes it and will keep working to make it clearer, simpler and deeper. Great work. stillness
Thank you. I will look for more of this interview, I found the laughter both interesting and confusing. I have been in situations where people could not help laughing, or falling asleep, or even completely forgetting what was said, when they are flooded.
Hi k8eekatt. Great that you found it so useful. Don't understand your "when they are flooded", but I get the idea. stillness
Thank you, Gary.
Hi Gibran C Pointers. Great that you found it useful. BTW, if you look under "Show More" you will see links to free book downloads, interviews, blogpost, website, etc. stillness
1:44 Can someone in the comments describe if they’ve experienced it a sweet deep still presence
Dear Gary, It's truly amazing how your wisdom is radiating likes waves...I understand what you say like I am actually saying it! I can't wait to check more on your ''case'' ! Very well aware that I wish more people to understand that subject! Shri Krama Lei Kathmandu
Hi Shri Krama Lei. Trust all is well in Kathmandu. If you want to see more of this "work", if you look under "Show More" above, you'll see links to all of my work, all free in some format. stillness
This really is a great clip, Gary. I've watched some other clips with you - all very interesting, but now and then a bit difficult for non-academics (and non-native English speakers) like me. But this one I'll really bookmark. I'm reading your books also at the moment, and am especially working with the 'vigraha naham' (and so on...) chant, which is very powerful. Also, somewhere (I don't remember where) you mention that the thought-less state is in fact the state that the brain/mind prefers... I'm really beginning to experience (albeit for short intervals, now and then) how true this is. Thanks (and I hope you will be coming to Belgium or the Netherlands again, somewhere in the not-so-far future... ).
Hi Marc. Great that you found the clip useful. Re chants, i now have a soundcloud channel where all of the chants are gathered and if you go to my website (link under "Show More") above you'll see .mp3 s of all of the chants under "MP3 downloads" on the front age.
The latest blogpost (again link under "Show More") "How the changing brain turns our pleasures into addictions" has a lot on how the brain plastically reconfigures itself to deconstruct the "greatest addiction", our addiction to our I/me/my. It then creates a more holistic neural structure, while we "grieve" for the I/me/my, and then dopaminergically reinforces the new structure so that it is the most pleasurable alternative. As the Buddha allegedly said, paraphrasing, if meditation wasn't ultimately more pleasurable better than sex, there would be no meditators. Great that you are experiencing that.
re returning to Belgium or the Netherlands, we'll see what the Universe manifests,
stillness
Gary Weber Thanks, Gary, for the tips (chants and blogpost). The addiction to the 'I' (and esp. the ongoing blah-blah in the head) is indeed the greatest and toughest one. But it's becoming weaker - thanks to the teachings of you and others. Keep up the good work!
Can a severely sensitized brained person from anxiety issues, possibly see through the illusion. Or does this require a relaxation etc from anxiety problems, before brain could possibly see there is no 'me' ? ☺️
Thank you
Hi Pretheesh. The good thing about self-inquiry, is that asking simple questions like "Where am I?", "What is this?", or "Who hears?" is that it will work directly on "anxiety problems" if you persist in doing it. Just set aside 35 minutes a day to do it, and then ask it 5 to 7 times during the day for about 2 minutes.
The brain quickly discovers that these self-inquiry questions are complex and don't have any simple answer, and perhaps no answer at all. If you watch throughout the day when you meet different folk or do different tasks, you will see that there is no single "Pretheesh", but hundreds or thousands of them that are all different depending on the situation.
It is also useful to watch carefully and see if 1) you consciously think up your thoughts, and 2) you think up what you say. If "you" don't think up your thoughts, or what you say, then why do you think you are in control? If you understand that you aren't in control, that really changes the situation for the "I"s/"Pretheeshes".
This work is simple, all it takes is persistence and careful watching.
Trust this is useful.
stillness
@@GaryWeber Dear gary, how to do during that 35 minutes ?
Just sit still,if there is a thought appears,then ask the simple questions,if there is no thoughts,then still?
Could I use your "guided meditation" and follow your guided?
Hi luo dabin. Yes, if you go to the "Guided Meditation" playlist @ ua-cam.com/play/PLuH37Fyz9VEMrD8dcreiCNKGROGlOENhL.html you'll see 6 examples of very different approaches.
As you'll see, you always start the session with some "breath awareness", like counting your exhales from 1 to 10 until you can do it without losing your place. If you can, follow where the exhale goes at the end of each breath and feel the next inhale arise.
These are about 20 minutes so you would expand on them to fill the 35 minutes.
you can also, after picking your inquiry question, the best of which, IME, are "Where am I?", "What is this?", and "Who hears?" or any other approach which you found in my first book "Happiness Beyond Thought" (free download link under "Show More" above), and begin by
asking the question.
All of these will generate some response, and often a stillness gap while the brain searches frantically for an answer. When a response comes, then ask the question again. Don't get drawn into trying to answer the response/reaction. Just do the question.
Trust this is useful.
stillness
gary
Hi Gary, thank you for sharing your experience. I had a question concerning the nondual experience and drugs. There are certain drugs where people that consume them pretty much describe their experience exactly the way that you and other nondual teachers describe the "new-found state". The people that use those drugs talk about the dropping away of the self etc. etc. ---really close to identical to what you say. I know that in nonduality , if this awakening experience has happened, those people talk about a dimension different than the mind, or out of the mind etc. But Knowing that on the other hand a physical substance that people consume can mirror the nondual experience, how could an "awakened" person know that it is simply not a different "mind mode" ---one that simply happens rarely but yet still a mind mode. I know in buddhism and nonduality and other spiritual teachings it is often described that the new state is beyond mind, non physical etc. ----but how come then that consuming a physicial substance can mirror that?
Hi Andreas D. The difference is in "persistence".
With the serotonergic psychedelics, the same subnetworks in the Default Mode Network are shut down as there are with persistent nonduality. The same loss of senses of a "self passing through time" and "self and others" are experienced. This gives the classical "now, now, now" and "Everything is One" mystical experiences.
There is some excellent research on this which is discussed in the blogpost "Magic mushrooms work like meditation? The latest science" @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2012/03/magic-mushrooms-work-like-meditation.html.
However, with persistent nonduality, it is an ongoing state, not a transitory experience. Psychedelics don't give the brain a chance to "learn" how to do it "all by itself", which is how one gets a persistent experience. Flooding it with exogenous chemicals temporarily makes this impossible. The same chemistry and pathways are used in both instances.
Trust this is useful.
stillness
Thank you very much for taking the time and responding to my question. After reading the link that you provided with great interest, I feel however that my initial argument has been rather strengthened. The research that you provided (and other research that I am aware of) shows that you can persistantly alter your brain function through meditation (like you said yourself). All research seems to support that.However , many awakened beings have previously said that the "new found state" is something other than the mind/etc. --> giving it a more mystical tone, something beyond mind and brain etc.If I look at the research and the link that you provided, it seems rather that if you train your brain in a certain way (through meditation), you arrive at the "oneness" experience etc. However, my conclusion is that there would be nothing mystical about it, rather that through meditation you got to a different mode of brain function.
Now I can understand that previous "enlightened" people, when they arrived at these experiences through meditation, they would interpret it in a mystical way (as they would arrive at a complete new way of functioning and couldn't make sense of it because there was no knowledge of neuroscience etc.)
Today however I just don't understand the conclusion or interpretation of many non-dual teachers. Given the neuroscience behind all this, shouldn't it be said that: "Today we know that persistent meditation can significantly alter brain function and give you a more peaceful way of experiencing existence." I just don't see how the majority of nondual teachers and practicioners make this something otherworldly. Thanks again
Oh and one final question that has really come up over and over again for me: In psychiatry there is the condition of depersonalization disorder....you probably know of it anyways but if you read about it , it pretty much mirrors the type of experience that awakened people describe (loss of the self etc.), with one significant difference however: The people that experience depersonalization disorder are usually vastly distressed by this experience and sometimes even traumatized, needing days, weeks or months and sometimes years to recover from that experience. Doesn't that somewhat point to the fact that your response to losing the "I" is highly conditioned. Like if you have never heard of meditation, eastern spiritual wisdom etc. you may find the experience highly disturbing. But if you have been conditioned to "experience the experience" as something desirable, you will find it blissful. If losing the "I" or awakening was the "natural" state that Maharshi and other awakened people talk about, shouldn't all people experiencing the loss of the "I" find it ultimately positive, peaceful and blissful?
My basic point or question here is this: To me, taking together science, psychiatry and everything I have read about eastern spiritual wisdom over the past 10 years as well as my experience in meditation etc. --> to me there is nothing mystical or otherworldly about all this: As a child growing up you get conditioned to think in terms of "I" , "me" and "mine" --> in Buddhism, non-duality etc. you overwrite that conditioning and get reconditioned to weaken those neurological networks concerned with the I and subsequently you interpret your experiences in that new conditioned way....I just don't see how this is otherworldly or shows you the "true reality" etc. @@GaryWeber
Hi Andreas D. On your one final question, yes that is correct, how disturbed one is by the "awakening" experience is all a matter of conditioning and what it's being called and by whom.
The blogpost "Are our mystical experiences psychotic?...key indicators" @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2015/09/are-our-mystical-experiences.html discusses how what is described by the psychologists/psychiatrists now as "depersonalization/derealization" disorder fits exactly into the definitions from the widely accepted Hood Mysticism scale.
What is now a (billable $$$) state, as it is in the new DSM definitions of disorders, created by their own psychological community, is basically the same as what is widely defined as "mysticism".
Even the chairman of the committee drafting the DSM V definitions is alarmed by such re-classification actions. He stated:
"Psychiatric diagnosis is facing a renewed crisis of confidence caused by diagnostic inflation. The DSM-5, the recently published fifth edition of the diagnostic manual, ignored this risk and introduced several high-prevalence diagnoses at the fuzzy boundary with normality. The already overused diagnosis of attention-deficit disorder will be even easier to apply to adults thanks to criteria that have been loosened further."
Trust this is useful.
stillness
Thank you Gary for taking the time and answering my questions. I truly find it great that you care enough and take the time to do so. Sorry for getting back so late.
As for the "Depersonalization Disorder" thing. My point in that regard was that, if I go by eastern mysticism or buddhism etc., the "new found state" is always described as "something else". As "non-mind" , "beyond-mind" etc. ---the fact however, that people that "lose the I" due to some circumstance in life or just spontaneously (while knowing nothing of eastern wisdom), become highly distressed by it points (at least to me) to the fact that even in or during or through that experience, it is still the mind that is functioning, conditioned and responding. English isn't my mother tongue so maybe I cannot express myself clearly, but I find it odd that if this was truly "beyond mind" , you would need to be previously conditioned in a certain way to interpret it in a blissful way. Basically that previous conditioning (or lack thereof) decides whether you become blissful or traumatized. I find it odd to imagine that a human being has allegedly found a "state outside the mind" but needs the interpretation of the mind to feel good or bad about it. To me , this circumstance, rather points to the fact that all buddhism, mysticism etc. boils down to is finding a more pieceful way of exisiting through altering brain function by meditation and other tools (which is a very worthwhile goal anyways).
The way I see it , there is the traditional "me"-way-of-functioning. The "me" brain, which provides the well-known ups and downs of life. The other way of functioning is the "nondual me-less brain functioning" which for previously properly conditioned people results in a seemingly peaceful and blissful way of existing. However, both of them are conditioned ways of existing, conditioned brains and minds. If you look at mysticism and eastern wisdom , it is always said that the "me-way-of-functioning" is a conditioned state, while the "non-me-way-of-functioning" is the "natural" or "unconditioned" state. I just think modern neuroscience and things like Depersonalization disorder really contradict that way of describing this subject.@@GaryWeber
If there is no one there then there is no one to let go or surrender.
Hi Testa. Yes, exactly but it takes a lot of self-inquiry and letting go practices to have "no one there". stillness
Thank you for the video Mr. Weber. Can someone tell me the name of the 14th century zen monk that was referred to at the beginning?
Wow, althought the speaker claims he has no thoughts I find great clarity of thought here, not like the most nonduality mumbo-jumbo you come across leaving you with more questions and confusion than before.
Hi Jaanus. Interesting comment. Actually, that is what the latest neuroscience tells us. The blogpost "you don't consciously think up what you say...new research" @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2014/05/you-dont-consciously-think-up-what-you.html discusses exactly that. If you watch carefully when you are speaking, you'll see the same thing. The speaking just manifests, and then the brain comes in soon afterwards and critiques it.
If you get a very still and quiet internal platform from doing this work, there is much less interference and a better "signal to noise" ratio, as the interminable, emotionally-charged, self-referential, "blah, blah" is gone, so what does emerge is much more coherent.
BTW, if you look under "Show More" above, you'll find links to all of my work, all free in some format, so that you can do it as well.
stillness
17:40 the heck is a kali-uga ?
The Kali Yuga is a concept from Hinduism, one of four very long eras that cycle--the one where order falls apart
It sounds wild to me to hear someone say that thoughts stopped.
To me it’s very simple. Yourself is out here. What’s on the inside?
Wow..I am enlightened
Hi +emma franklin. Congrats...that wasn't hard was it? Great that you found the video useful. JIC, you want to be even MORE enlightened, there are lots of links under "Show More" above to all of my work, all available free in some format. stillness
Hey! I love the way you explain non duality! I have a question (having two daughters myself) . You say we need to get a new operating system, I completely agree. So what about your daughters? Do they have this new operating system running? How do you teach them? Is being lost in thoughts for years a necessary part of the process? Can they grow up into your way of seeing the world?
Nice to hear a non dual "person" who does not talk fucking slow
Hi Alex Trusk. An insightful comment. Many of the "non dual persons" are merely reciting a script that they have learned about something they haven't really experienced, so they go slow to make sure they don't say the "wrong thing".
It is also designed to make you feel that this is something profound that has to be said reeeaalllllyyy sloooowwww.
If someone wears the right clothes, hairdo, speaks reeally slooow, has a "spiritual name", etc., most listeners are conditioned to believe they must be a spiritual, "enlightened" folk. The documentary Kumare @ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumar%C3%A9 shows how easy it is to fool people.
If one is speaking from an ongoing present reality and their own direct experience, they don't need to do any of that.
stillness
gary
Thank you for the friendly sarcasm peace
In a way it is so simple...if you remove the "self critic" or at least dumb him/her down happiness comes
Hi john atkinson...it really is a "Duh...". That is, at some level, a fundamental challenge with this work. It is so simple that folk can't believe that it could be so powerful and produce "uncaused happiness".
It is amazing that Western philosophy, with a few exceptions, never looked at, and investigated, the reality of the subject. It focused only the innumerable and constantly changing objects, emotions, stories, etc.
JIC, if you look under "Show More" in any of my vids, there are links to all of this work, all free in some format.
stillness
Thank you for your reply gary...great videos and great speaker@@GaryWeber
Basic Wisdom....Inspiring to seekers......
Hi +Max Bruno. Great that you found it useful...stillness
Gary articulates well I totally relate
Hi Gary. Thank you for being you. Do you have any life advice for me? I’m a 22-year-old who currently lives on an egalitarian commune. I want to pursue a better path, but I’m not exactly sure what I should focus on. I am going to do a 10-day Vipassana retreat, and also live at a Buddhist monastery for some time (perhaps indefinitely). I also want to finish graduating from college for my parents’ happiness. Other than that, I want to realize nonduality and live a good life.
Advice? Thank you again for all you do.
Hi Ryan Bergen. The most important thing is to realize that we are not in control of these lives, at any level, so any "long range planning" is of no value. It is a hard thing for most folk to accept.
If you want to listen to some videos on the subject, the playlist "Free Will, Control, Predetermination" @ ua-cam.com/play/PLuH37Fyz9VEOnY_lUcblS8aI0hF7oNMj6.html will give you a good grounding.
The blogpost "The impossibility of 'free will'...scientifically and logically" @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-impossibility-of-free.html has a lot of the science behind this conclusion.
You can also do three simple experiments to see for yourself:
a) See if you consciously think up your thoughts before they occur.
b) See if you consciously think up what you say before you say it.
c) Write down in the morning exactly what you expect to do that day, and see if any of it happens as you expected.
There is also Einstein's perspective:
Questioner: How did you make your amazing discoveries?
Einstein replied: "I claim credit for nothing. Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end, by forces over which we have no control. It is determined for the insect, as well as for the star. Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper."
There is a similar perspective from Ramana Maharshi:
Questioner: "Are only the important things in a person's life, such as their main occupation or profession, predetermined, or are trifling acts also, such as taking a cup of water, or moving from one part of the room to another?
To which Ramana replied:
"Everything is predetermined".
Whatever is destined to happen in your life is what is supposed to happen...you'll know because that is what happened.
Just surrender into what manifests, and see what happens "all by itself".
Trust this is useful.
stillness
@@GaryWeber Thank you very much for the response. Your words ring true to me. I became a "hard determinist" (which I initially arrived at through studying science and philosophy) about a year ago. I've had many tremendous, sometimes crushing realizations in the past few years. I can see how hard it is for most people to accept things like determinism and inherent emptiness. I've tried talking to some family and friends, but it's like they completely shut out the ideas.
I also recall a time when I had this moment of revelation: I suddenly felt much more convinced that nature, myself- all of it- was completely predetermined as mental imagery showed me all of evolution happening in a split second. It was quick and I don't recall tons of detail, but I saw elephants walking and plants growing and I just *felt* the determined nature and the emptiness behind it. I wasn't exactly startled about the emptiness, but it was a heavy realization. It's made me view relationships with others differently. Yet I am still very stuck in the ego, still very concerned about what these empty others think of my empty self.
Wonderful quotes you've provided. I especially love the Einstein one. Just now, the Ājīvika come to mind. I haven't studied them much but I recall learning of them when I was obsessively studying determinism.
Thanks again for your kindness and advice. I am confident in myself. I have no idea what my predetermined life will look like, but I think I will end up making use of my existence well. Peace to you.
I have a question. If you are not attached to a person you love like your children or your wife. What happens?
Hi Diego Ostuni. What happens is that you see them, perhaps for the first time, without your past stories, expectations, disappointments, etc., just as they truly are, in this moment. Can you do that?
The videos "Upgrading your mental operating system" @ ua-cam.com/video/EK8pcUt4gio/v-deo.html and "The End of Suffering and the Default Mode Network" @ ua-cam.com/video/oX1IFUDNtto/v-deo.html discuss this in detail.
What we call "love" or "compassion" is typically just "reciprocal altruism". The blogpost "Is your compassion all about 'you'?" @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2015/07/is-your-compassion-all-about-you.html discusses this.
your attachments to your wife or family, or to your car, house, etc., are what causes your suffering. The blogpost "letting go of your attachments to awaken...why/how/when" @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2014/06/letting-go-of-your-attachments-to.html goes through this and gives you some approaches for lessening or losing those attachments.
It is also useful to realize that we don't have "free will", or "control" over our lives, nor does anyone, including our wife and kids, or your friends, or frenemies, or the jihadists, or the saints. The blogpost "There's no 'free will'...attack it, accept it, hide it or ignore it?" @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2016/09/theres-no-free-willaccept-it-attack-it.html.
stillness
gary
Let's say you have a date for a future engagement. Like the conference in which you were speaking in this video. At some point you had to say to yourself "I have a speaking engagement on such and such date"....if you knew of the date the day before and had it planned, plane tickets, hotel booked..you had to have a thought knowing of the plan of the future engagement therefore you would be thoughts of what wasn't happening (the future date). I can get with the idea of non identification of thought, but thought has to be present in order for one to function. I'm confused about the claim you make of having no thoughts....
Hi J LaReaux. Yes, it is confusing how one can function fully in the world "without thoughts".
Basically there are two different brain networks, one which generates the "blah, blah", problematic self-referential thoughts and the other that generates the non-problematic planning, problem-solving and analysis thoughts.
If we have a task that is fully engaging us, then we stay in the non-problematic network. If we have no such task, then the control circuitry in the brain quickly shifts to the problematic network. It is the difference between "How do i get to the Interstate?" and "How the #$@%# am i ever going to get to the f******* Interstate?".
They have very different energies and the brain can recognize that difference and, with some practice, shut down the problematic network, so that even when we get switched there, it is quiet.
The video "What 'no thoughts' means...3 different kinds of thoughts" @ ua-cam.com/video/WnWxCgiZfrc/v-deo.html explains this. The companion video "What types, and patterns of thoughts do you have? What can be done w/them?" @ ua-cam.com/video/HuJmqF_r46o/v-deo.html gives some helpful background.
Trust this is useful.
stillness
gary
Gary Weber Thanks for the response! I'm going to watch those videos now. It seems to me that what you're describing is a state where the default mode network is basically offline???
Hi J LaReaux. Yes, it is "deactivated". The neural centers which make up the network are just not connected to each other.
Gary Weber I've read studied the works of Nisargadatta, Ramana, Douglas Harding, Paul hedderman, Robert Adams etc. Intellectually, I feel I have a decent grasp of Advaita, but the narrator of mind persists. I have found your guided meditations extremely helpful lately. As a long time spiritual seeker it now seems as though I should be able to "call off the search". It seems that I am what I've been looking for and it's always been that way. As Huang Po said, "you cannot use the Buddha to seek the Buddha". You cannot use light to seek light..you cannot use mind to seek mind. I no longer feel the need to attend vipassana retreats. I find that rigorous spiritual practice like meditation only reinforces the meditator. I still have a personal daily meditation practice because I enjoy it as opposed to seeking enlightenment. My interest in thoughts has decreased dramatically but they are still there. It's somewhat like the Tibetan saying which is something like thoughts are like burglars entering an empty house...ordinary mind. I have to ask you, what was the asana which brought you to your current state? I realize that it would likely not have the same effect on me but I'm very curious nonetheless. Thank you for your time and thoughtful (or non-thoughtful,lol) comments. It is rare that someone like yourself takes interest in helping others via UA-cam....
Hi J LaReaux. Great that the guided meditations have been useful.
However, as long as there are self-referential thoughts, there is a "self" to generate them, and self-inquiry and letting go practices need to continue until they are gone. Only then does one achieve persistent nonduality and lasting uncaused happiness.
As far as the asana in which the page turned, that is meaningless as you surmise. Some folk woke up kicking a stone against a bamboo fence, others visiting "pleasure houses", others stepping off a curb to get on a bus, etc.
stillness
Hi Gary
I’ve read a comment of yours that a lot of authentic Zen centers are shutting down due to things like apps that encourage just 5 minutes of practice a day. I was wondering if you knew of any monastery like places in America where one could stay if one was down and out. This means having no money and the shirt on your back with only the intention to awaken.
Thanks for the response.
Hi John Smith. Dai Bosatsu Zendo (DBZ) @ zenstudies.org/dai-bosatsu-zendo/ was where i did several retreats under Eido Roshi Shimano, and was "passed" by him. However, Eido was subsequently removed for having sex with female students...there were lawsuits and counter lawsuits.
His successor, Shinge Sherry Chayat, who i haven't met, has gotten excellent reviews. If you go to their site, you can see under "Work Study" many options for exchanging work for fees.
DBZ has a spectacular setting and magnificent Zendo above a lake.
you might also c/o Springwater Center @ www.springwatercenter.org/ where i spent many retreats with the late Toni Packer, who passed me and told me i could teach. It is less rigorous than DBZ and the recent reviews from folk there are "mixed" on the current leadership.
Most Zen centers have "work for fees" arrangements as they want diligent interested folk even if they can't afford the fees.
Trust this is useful.
stillness
gary
Gary, Does mindfulness aid in self enquiry? I think it does. Either way, I liked self enquiry quite more. It took me a lot of time to understand it, but now it is very clear, and there is no going back to religious practices and mindfulness. Thanks for your literature, blog and videos. I still wish we can meet sometime.
Hi Talat Khan. Yes, mindfulness is useful as a practice to learn how to watch the contents of consciousness. i use it to start my guided meditation videos. However, it doesn't get folk to a persistent state of bliss and free them from suffering. Only self-inquiry and letting go practices, used together, can do that. Great that the work is useful for you.
Folk do come to visit me. If you're ever in eastern US, particularly NYC, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore/Washington, D.C., Boston, etc. there is a bus that stops not far from my house. stillness
THIS is exactly what is looked for. Unfortunately, when there is a 'me' there is also the desire and drive for 'satisfaction' which, time after time, never satisfies. THIS refers to everything. There is nothing satisfying to the 'me'.
Don't you think that for most people the shift is not as "permanent" as it has been with you, but that they oscillate from non- dual to dual?
Hi Testa. Yes, it is like your other question. To have it be more "permanent" requires thousands of hours of diligent self-inquiry and "letting go" practices.
It is all a matter of perseverance. As Ramana Maharshi said "The successful few owe their success to their perseverance. Persevere, persevere, persevere".
stillness
Totally bliss!
Hi Bhagavan Narayana. Great that you found it useful. Gratitude for the feedback and interest in the work. stillness
"My view of the brain is that it is a "transceiver" for Universal Consciousness." -Gary Weber.
Is it all one or is there something outside tuning in? Does surrender just happen or do you make it happen? How do you get out of your own way when you say there is no one there in the first place.
Hi +Luiz F Dos Reis. The direct perception is that "All is One" and that we are all part of It/Her/Universal Consciousness as She evolves through us. Whatever happens to "us" is whatever is useful for Her evolution - as one level of "challenge" is solved, another manifests of a more challenging level.
As long as there is an "I" still remaining, it needs to consciously surrender whatever attachments, stories, or apparent identities remain. It just doesn't "just happen". How could something/someone else surrender for you? The Byron Katie and Sedona methods described in the blogpost "Surrendering the 'I', letting go of suffering" (URL under 'show more' above) as well as self-inquiry is how it is done.
Unless you clearly have done the deconstruction work, you will still believe that the "I" exists. It is a phantom, just an artifact of a software program, but it is a persistent and closely-held illusion. It needs to be clearly known as such to recognize that it was an illusion all along.
stillness
Gary, in relation to humanity's operating system- how is 'we need to do something' compatible with 'everything is being taken care of/the universe runs itself without our help/I-we am-are not the doer(s)' [my words, borrowed from others...]?
Hi Dan eM. Those "operating system" words emerge, completely out of my control (see video "you don't think up what you say..." and blogpost "you don't consciously think up what you say...new research" - URL under 'Show More' above). This is apparent to anyone who watches carefully what happens in any day and sees that they could predict none of it. Somehow, everything is being done by something else/the Universe.
There is no one there, really, to worry about, or try to maintain "compatiblity" or "consistency". "my" work, blog, videos, books, articles, presentations, etc., really happen w/o any "doer"...it all comes from "no where". i am continually amazed at what manifests.
There is lots on this in our new book "Into the Stillness" which is a record of spontaneous dialogues between Rich Doyle and i. we had no idea what the subject was going to be, nor what emerged in any of them, nor when it would finish. That is the reality, strange as it seems.
Gary Weber thanks Gary for taking time to respond. I guess my real concern, same as for the majority of the people that got a taste of this alternative reality is the 'paralysis' that I feel when the realization that I am not the doer [since I am not (the illusion of) this body-mind but the awareness of it and of the world] sinks in.
I can bring my attention to being aware of things that are happening/coming into this awareness but can't understand how could the awareness take any action by itself. Thus how is being aware compatible with stepping out of the observation state and moving into taking initiative in doing something as a result of a need for action to fill some lack [which is just an illusion as the consciousness is perfect- complete/no lacks]. As the awareness should not be able to identify any lacks, who is identifying them? It only can be the body-mind.
I guess the two need to enter into some form of harmonious relationship where awareness allows/concedes little things to the body-mind but never ceases control.
Perhaps that the only situation when awareness can initiate doing by itself [and pass it onto the body-mind] would be as a result of the 'will of God' being infused into it.
Hi Dan eM. When the page turned and the "I" fell away, it was clear that i had never done anything, nor could i now do anything. At the time, i had 1000 folk working for me in four research labs w/a $250mm budget, so it was curious to see what would happen. i just went to work that day and everything continued as always, but w/o any internal narrative or a "doer", "all by itself".
i also saw that the Universe was massively complex and highly interconnected, as well as highly ordered, and i was experiencing all sorts of serendipities that were very fortuitous but impossibly improbable. i just had no way to explain it unless there was something much more powerful than i was that was able to know and direct "everything" perfectly.
our contemporary physics demonstrates, and many mystical texts have postulated it, that there is a Universal Field that penetrates everything. we don't know if it is uber-intelligent, but it is clear that it is omnipresent, and it is certainly at least as intelligent as we are and "conscious", as we could hardly have attributes that the Field itself didn't have. It is clear that every detail in my life is being "done" by something else, so i, somewhat logically, attributed that to the Field.
That's where i am on how it all gets done. stillness
Gary Weber well, i'd like to be jealous on having it all coming to you so easily, Gary but i realize that, once we accept this reality as real Life, each one has his/her own 'life details being done by something else' [which i prefer to call God]. In my case God's will appears sometimes harder to swallow but then stillness teaches me that there's no-body who has to swallow anything, things just are/happen and all is one- no doer, no happening, and no receiver... so i guess i have no reasons for being jealous because there's no i and no you :), only I...
anyway, cheers to the illusion too! :)
Dan eM As far as "it all coming to you (Gary) so easily", it is useful to remember that i spent 25 years and 20,000 hrs of meditation and yoga before it happened "so easily". stillness
Hi, Gary,
I'm curious what exactly you mean by "giving up the attachment" on your two daughters. What changed, just the fear and uncertainty factor? That is, in surrendering you relinquished the false idea that you can "control" and that you let what is be what it is? Love, joy, delighting in their presence/well being, must surely exist, just in a less personalized form?
Hi +ashikansetsu. The delay in responding is because i have been traveling and been "off line". What changed was that i no longer have an agenda, bias or "something they really need to understand" when i am with them. They don't have to conform to some model that i might have had on how they should "turn out" and how they have "failed" or "might have done better", etc. i am just fully present for them in that moment for however i might be useful for them. It puts the interaction and relationship on a totally different and more open basis that is more beneficial and useful for everyone. stillness
@@GaryWeber what if your (now an adult) child using drugs? how does one let go? some days i feel more de-touched than others, but now there is a grandchild involved. it seems wrong to do nothing
thank you!
Hi Luiz Bomfim. It was all the doing of Universal Consciousness..."i" had nothing to do with it. If you are curious, there is much more material under "Show More" above, all free in some format. stillness
Hi Gary,
I have been following a lot of things to really understand who am I? I have been meditating, reading things etc. just a few days ago, i was able to consciously experience that whatever I see, perceive etc everything is happening within me and feels like there is one straight line or blank page where everything takes place. But now i dont understand non-duality , I imagine it by hearing that it is the consciousness itself taking forms and not different from it that means if I am seeing something, I am that image itself but then I dont understand if things really exist? People around me are for sure real. How do I experience everything as one, is it really just a concept? What is no dual experience and what is experiencing everything as one? I am sorry, if my question is not so straight, if you understood my doubt, please respond in whatever way you can. Thanks!
Hi Natish Dubey. your practices have worked and now you've had a classical nondual experience which you could never have predicted exactly as it occurred, no matter how many times you had read about it.
There is no intellectually "understanding" nonduality...it is inherently experiential and "unimaginable". As with the experience you just had, don't try to intellectually try to conceive of how to produce it, as you will be wrong.
Also, forget the experience you just had and don't bother trying to reproduce it, because it only happened because "you" weren't there.
Just go back to your practices and see what happens.
stillness
Gary Weber thanks a ton for your response! 😊 based on my level, if you can, please provide link of any video of yours that you feel might push me forward in my path. Again, thanks a lot.
Hi Nitish. As far as videos, here are some useful ones:
"Reality, nonreality, thought types, self-deception",
"Oneness, What Is It? How does it arise? What does it mean?"
"Nondual Awakening Meditation - Doors of the Mind"
"Social media, thought types, reality, devotion"
They aren't videos, but you might find these blogposts useful:
"How our brain creates a useful version of reality...latest neuroscience" @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2015/12/how-our-brain-creates-useful-version-of.html and
"What is really 'real'? What does 'nothing is real' mean?" @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2013/07/what-is-really-real-what-does-nothing.html.
This will give you a better background in where those strange experiences come from and how the brain creates them.
stillness
Gary Weber thank you very much!
Hi Nitish. Great they were useful. stillness
Any idea that the loss of the sexual desire might largely be a function of the age. I agree that for (most) men the sexual desire and ability start waning after the age 40 and might survive largely, only as a 'mental preoccupation' after the age 50.
Hi TOA. Yes, that was certainly considered. However, the "page turned" for me in my mid-50s and the "self-referential" desires fell away sharply. i have also worked in the last two weeks w/folk in their 20s, 30s, and 40s who reported the same phenomena.
It is also important to recognize that the Darwinianly-encoded, sexual-recognition and enjoyment process is unimpeded. Even "after" i could clearly recognize a female shape as different from a male shape, but there was just no "post-processing" or "pre-processing" of endless, mental narrative, that really generated the exaggerated craving, longing, "need", memories and stories.
If sex manifests, it is enjoyed totally and "purely" in the moment, "now, now, now" w/o any storyline, performance worries, insecurity, etc. What manifests is totally different, and of a whole different character from "business as usual" w/o any sense of "what worked last time".
What does occur is that it falls away as it is significantly just less desirable than the typical pleasure level reported for persistent nonduality. Plus sex has more "issues", in most folk's experience, than does persistent nonduality. On a pleasure/pain ratio basis, sex loses out.
stillness
Gary Weber
Sounds good. Thanks for your reply, Gary!
Gary Weber
Two things which in general, are considered "bad" - do arise in me from time to time - anger and lust (sexual attraction, sexual desire). I can't say I have fully understood either of them. Sometimes, they arise before I have had a chance to see them arise and build up.
TOA (Transmission of Awakening) Hi TOA. As described earlier, the sexual "attraction" part is evolutionarily-encoded and, IME, is not worth creating a "suppressor/doer" to try to shut it down, as it usually creates a bigger problem a.k.a religions and pedophilia.
The sexual "desire"/longing/lust/craving part can be shut down as you deconstruct the "I/ego", again, IME. When the self-referential thoughts fell away, the "desire" part of sex fell away. As the brain spends more time in Stillness, it likes it, and pumps out many neurochemicals to make it so pleasurable you won't leave. Before long, sex just doesn't measure up, particularly as Stillness doesn't have the "complications" and "downsides" of sexual relationships.
Anger is also complicated. Again, there is an evolutionary part which is encoded, automatic and very quick...so quick you can't get "in front" of it - on the order of xy milliseconds, evolved to protect us in dangerous encounters with lions, and tigers and bears and enemies from the nearby tribe.
The post-processed part, which is "rage/revenge", etc. as with sexual desire, can go away with self-inquiry as the story-maker ego/I isn't there to crank-up the energy.
It is the difference between being angry at being caught off-guard in being cut off (dangerously) in fast traffic, and then chasing someone for miles down the road and then shooting them with your shotgun as revenge.
If it's any consolation, the Dalai Lama and the famous Zen monk, Thich Nhat Hanh, (nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize) admit they have "anger" problems. There is a useful blogpost "How do i deal with anger? i can't meditate it away" on my blog - URL shown above under "Show More".
Trust this is useful. stillness
Gary Weber
Thanks, Gary! Great to hear from you. Thanks for sharing your wise words. I liked what you said above a lot and I see a great value in this approach. Possibly, anger and lust are like gray hair, we may or may not like them, but, they are there. Learning to accept them and manage them might be better than wishing that they weren't there. If long-time, accomplished meditators and practitioners loving-kindness like Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh, gets angry, the task might be even harder for the ordinary folks.
I think I still don't have a strategy, policy or rule to deal with them or manage them and I am often caught off-guard by the anger or lust.
Sometimes, I have gone 10-12 days without ever getting angry and I have thought, wow, it seems now I am beyond anger and then I blow without my knowledge and my bubble breaks :-)
Lust is a little stranger. It changes my relationship and dynamics with young attractive women. Sometimes, I do OK by imagining them to be my sister, other times, I forget to do so :-) I thought as I age it would go away. Not sure, if it is true or not. I guess the time will tell.
Thanks again for your response!
Who is it that's experiencing the stillness ?
Hi cspace1234nz. Yes, brilliant, that is the real question and one of the great practices. With that question, feel your way back into that "experiencer" and see if you can find where/what/who it is?
There is an "object"...stillness, your hand, your arm, your leg, the chair, etc., but there is a "subject" experiencing it. you cannot be both the object and the subject, so the object cannot be you. you must be something else. What/who/where are "you"? Can you find it?
It is also useful to see if a) you think up your own thoughts, b) you think up what you say, and c) you can predict your next ten thoughts, and d) you can predict exactly what is going to happen to you today.
Trust this is useful.
stillness
Would love to hear the full talk
Hi Eddie. If you look under "Show More" above, you'll see it is @ ua-cam.com/video/er-OSE-7-JRE/v-deo.html.
Much appreciated Thank you Gary very inspiring discussion
Great you found it useful, Eddie. There is lots more under "Show More" above w/links to all of my work, all free in some format. stillness
Thank you so much
Thank you.
Gary I have a question?
Being spiritual seekers we believe that there is no duality in existence.. Then how can we talk of being joyful and blissful all the time?
Hi +Ramdas Chakraborty. When you move from believing "that there is no duality in existence" to actually living in nonduality, you will find that all there is is bliss, stillness and uncaused happiness. The process of nondual awakening is to move from hearing someone else's story about nonduality, which in many/most cases is just something they have heard from someone else and are parroting, or something they only briefly experience, to where it is your own direct, lived, natural, ongoing reality.
Focus on eliminating your own suffering by letting go of your attachments, including the attachment to the "I" and its stories, fears, promises and excuses, and if you are diligent, you can answer your own question beyond any doubt or equivocation. stillness
"everybody is the divine dancing" Hmmm.. No doubt, there are many ways to express non-duality but no amount of talk or description will make a difference unless we experience it directly. There is talk ABOUT non-duality ad nausea-um but not much on how to realize it directly.
Consciousness is happening within itself by supposing itself to be what it is not and goes on to mis-experience/live its own supposition of itself. That's it.
Hi gireesh. Yes, that's it. stillness
Hi Gary, I enjoy hearing your wisdom. I wanted to ask you if you are familiar with meeting god face to face? When I say "god" I'm referring to the true self. God's "face" is the famous cloud of light with beams coming from it spoken of throughout the Bible, ancient Egypt and Alchemy. The moment of seeing it is called divine union. I ask because of its prominence in the ancient past as the moment of true self recognition and realization. It seems to be commemorated throughout the ancient past as the point of physical existence. It would be interesting to hear your thoughts on this if you have any.
Hi Phil. As long as there is someone seeing God's "face", however resplendent, they are different from "God", so it is duality and really isn't "divine union". Being totally absorbed in God, so that there is no difference from God, nothing that remains as "Phil" discrete from God, is "divine union", which is nonduality. you have had a powerful, deep, and wonderful experience, but let go of it, and as Ramakrishna said, "Go further" until there is nothing but God everywhere. stillness
thanks for your response Gary. I appreciate it. I must let you know that before the cloud experience, which seems to be recorded in many places, I had the oneness experience you seem to mention. Stillness came first. My explanation is the same as in Kabbalah, "God wished to perceive God" so God being one and totality there is a need for the individual to perceive the true self as if separate from the only one as if that is the true miracle. I hope this makes sense to you. Thanks again.
If God is perceiving God then there are two Gods, a perceiver and one being perceived. That is where whoever wrote that got to, but it is not "divine union". If there is truly "union", there aren't that's what "union" means. The Abrahmic religious texts, including the Kabbalah, however sublime, maintain that separation, as they don't recognize the possibility of you becoming one with God, or fully absorbed in God. you have to move out of the dualistic texts into the nondual ones if you want to see that possibility recognized. It's all through the Bhagavad Gita, the most popular nondual text. stillness
Thanks Gary. Very kind of you to answer.
Hi EndofMusic. There is a lot of confusion between the psychologists and their psychopathological conditions as defined in their most recent Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM -5 @ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DSM-5 ) and mystical, nondual states...in fact they are exactly 180 degrees out.
Many other more common conditions like ADD/ADHD and now Autism Spectrum Disorders are so broadly defined, that as the chairman of the DSM - 5 committee said, virtually everyone will fit in something in DSM - 5. As this is the manual through which the psychologists can bill insurance, and they create the manual, there is much opportunity for distortions to occur.
The blogpost "Are our mystical experiences psychotic?...key indicators" @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2015/09/are-our-mystical-experiences.html goes through an extended discussion on a new psychopathologized category of DPDR or "Depersonalization/Derealization Disorder" (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depersonalization_disorder) which is exactly what virtually all mystics have experienced through the ages. i live in DPDR.
As far as whether BPD (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borderline_personality_disorder) or ASPD (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisocial_personality_disorder) would preclude awakening, it would depend on exactly which characteristics were manifesting and how severe they are as to whether it would affect someone's ability to awaken.
There are clearly psychopathologies that require professional treatment, and possibly adjustments to the brain's neurochemistry to deal with them, and if one is totally nonfunctional, dangerous to others, unable to care for their children, etc., professionals need to be engaged.
However, there are many folk who need to read through the blogpost check list to see if that is a likely situation, or if it is more likely you're experiencing something the psychologists just don't understand and have never experienced, which is, IME, magical and "full of wonder" and bliss, and why we do this work.
stillness
thank you so much, what the name of the zen monk of the 14th century ? beautiful watch haha. How does you deal with the pain in the body ? thank you!
+ikke Ru i found "the mud and water", downloading...
Great answers... very nice..
Hi Arjuna 1. Great that you found the answers useful. JIC, links to all of my stuff, all free in some format, are shown under "Show More" above. stillness
Gary Weber
Thank you Gary.. you are a gift to the ones who will listen cause you can explain it very clearly.. i will continue to follow your foodsteps.
I myself can disciminate the different voices inside.. i find out that thinking like "speeking" is my real self.. suddenly coming thoughts and emotions/feelings are not that "speeking" thoughts, so i can seperate them.. i totally stoped believing in any of them.. it gives me more and more freedom.. but it is so hard, cause they catch you when you are unconsience.. and if you have a job and two children it is hard to stay concience but i manage it more and more!
Hi Arjuna 1. Yes, the two types of thoughts feel very different. The "problem" thoughts feel very strong, emotional and sticky. The ones that aren't a problem, don't feel that way, like asking where the highway is. The problem ones do catch you if your attention wanders.
Like you, i had a job and two children, but i got up every morning and meditated and did some yoga, and then put self-inquiry questions, like "Where am I?" into my day for a minute or two whenever i had a cup of tea, every other hour, etc. It is helpful for many folk to put a reminder app on their smartphone to be reminded 5 or 6 times during the day to take an "inquiry" break. It has a strong effect on the brain.
stillness
Gary Weber
Yes, this is true.. at the moment the reminder (stopwatch) is like: "oh it's getting to much, and i feel not good, i need a break" and then i go for meditation and feel that feelings and get quiet..
it is like a drug right now to me.. very ironic, i really need the silence.. but i know i have to go back and do the "dharma"..
maybe the noice of the children and that all is pushing me to that silence..
i am really a silence junky, when i think about it. i can sit for hours in the forest and do nothing.. that is so great.
excellent excellent excellent
Hi +Srinivasan Ananthan. Great that you found it useful. JIC, links to all of my stuff (all free in some format) are under "Show More" above. stillness
He's describing a pathological case and view rather than anything which could be related to enlightenment.
With no I or personal self, there is no longer a need or reason to defend your self from or argue with your partner or "others". This will be quite disturbing & confusing to an egotistic partner who still needs to win arguments & BE RIGHT - no matter what!
Hi Jim, Sounds like the voice of direct experience, which i can also attest to. stillness
"My thoughts which are called Blubbler?" What?
Hi Nathan C. "My thoughts which are called 'blah, blah'", although "Blubbler" is also appropriate. It is a term that i use a lot. you might find the blogpost "Electric shocks rather than 'blah, blah'...new research" @ happinessbeyondthought.blogspot.com/2014/08/electric-shocks-rather-than-blah.html interesting. There are also lots of links under "Show More" for all of my material, all free in some format, JIC. stillness
is this the same as stoicism?
Hi Lee. i'm not a philosopher, but many aspects of what i understand as "Stoicism" (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoicism), are very similar. i dislike philosophical labels, as they invariably encompass many different things to different philosophers, hence the endless arguing and micro-parsing of seemingly minuscule meanings of obscure words.
If you look @ Ramana Maharshi's "Talks" @ selfdefinition.org/ramana/Talks-with-Sri-Ramana-Maharshi--complete.pdf, his "Upadesa Saram" in the Text section of my first book "Happiness Beyond Thought" @ preview.tinyurl.com/bslfll8 (free download) or his "Who am I?" @ www.sriramanamaharshi.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/who_am_I.pdf that's the philosophy. "Upadesa Saram" is actually taught as a comprehensive "short course" in advaita at major advaita centers.
stillness
Gary Weber thank you for the thorough reply.
Hey Lee, I think the concept of "ataraxia" or freedom from disturbance in the Stoic school is something that one can somehow link to the non-dual or spiritual idea of detachment from the phenomenal and temporary world.
Stoics had the ideal image of the sage as someone who was "free from disturbances", and just a glimpse of Ramana one would imagine that the stoics would have labeled him as one of their own great "sages" as well :)
wow thanks
Hi jonathon. Great that you found it so useful. JIC, if you look under "Show More" above, or in any of my youTube videos, you'll see links to all of my work, all free in some format. stillness and uncaused happiness
Re the Kali Yuga, "We need to do something or our species won't exist". Why do any of us have to do anything if we don't exist? This seems like ego again. I don't get it. In other words, if our species goes, is that not what the oneness wants?
Hi +End Factory Farming. If you have been following this "work", you would realize that there is no sense of ownership of anything that manifests or is said. This is not just true for "me", but for everyone. If you look @ any of the videos that Rich Doyle and i have done, like the recent "Choosing, intuition, serendipity, free will", we are very clear in that whatever we say is entirely spontaneous, unrehearsed, and emerges from "somewhere else".
Our recent book, "Into the Stillness: Dialogues on Awakening Beyond Thought" was done totally spontaneously and just manifested "all by itself". The same is true of the other two books, "Happiness Beyond Thought", and "Dancing Beyond Thought" (free download links under "show more" above).
you might also find the blogpost "you don't consciously think up what you say...new research" (URL under "show more" above) useful. This is some careful research that demonstrates that no one thinks up what they say. you might also just try the experiment to see, for several minutes, if you think up your thoughts, or do they just emerge by themselves.
On the philosophical side, as my direct perception is that everything is One, and the Oneness dances everything, then what i say/write and what you say/write are also Her speaking/writing, so it is obviously what the Oneness wants to have expressed. Perhaps She wanted "my comment" on the species needing to "do something" as a warning to all the other parts of Herself to wake up.
Folk have then asked me why She doesn't just fix everything if She's so powerful, which, since everything is evolving in "the Universe", including Herself, and we are Her evolutionary "sock puppets" being moved around through all sorts of "learning experiences" for Her, it wouldn't be adaptively useful for Her to fix everything.
Trust this is useful.
stillness
Gary Weber
Thank you for the thorough and thoughtful reply.
Changing - sounds like becoming...
The character never did anything, there's no free will, zero. Things just seemingly happen all by them selves.. in the dream, source is pulling all the strings. Just sit back and enjoy the ride best you can.
oh this is so ah, well... Gary thoughts still arise for most who have awakened.. so do desires... sex gets better with many...
Hi Deb Dobbin. you have a different definition of "awakened" than do the major awakening traditions. If you see the blogpost "Who else believes 'no thoughts' is the goal of meditation" (URL for blog under "Show More" above) you'll see how broadly having no thoughts is the goal as described by Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta, Patanjali's yoga sutras, the Bhagavad Gita, Dogen Zenji, the Tao Te Ching, Dzogchen, Bhante G, ayahuasca master Paulo Roberto, J. Krishnamurti, Paramahansa Yogananda, the Yoga Vasishta, etc.
you may be a member of the school of "Enlightenment is whatever you want it to be", so you define it by whatever point you were able to reach, but you can go much further if you want to be really awakened. stillness
who is there to be surprised if no one here? who learns to understand?
Hi swingtrade2. Great questions, and if you are really serious about wanting to personally know the answers, use them for your own self-inquiry practice. Who is that "thinks up" what they say? What is it that thinks up what it thinks? Do you think up your own thoughts? When you're with friends, do you think up what you say before you say it? Does the same "swingtrade2" show up for every meeting w/others, or is (s)he different with every different relationship? stillness
No one is talking to no one. "Though you have eaten the whole day through, see that not a grain of food has passed your lips." Huang Po. And Po would be first to say that no Po said it. Same as Buddha: "I spoke for forty years. No one talked and no one listened.:
Perception is responsible for the paradox.
When man sees that man is an idea, peace on Earth. For if no thought, identify the enemy.
A young boy asked Socrates: If I am not the thinker, what should I do?
The reply: :Just go on thinking that you think.
swingtrade2 Ah yes, wise sayings by others, but what do you say? What is your own personal experience?
Person is an idea. I am prior to any idea. There is an experiencing, but by no one.
swingtrade2 . Who says that it is not a person? What is this "I" that is prior to any idea? Where does this statement "There is an experiencing, but by no one" arise from? What perceives this experiencing?
These just sound like the recitation of the standard neo-advaita script. As you are intent on reciting it, w/o really responding to any questions, there is no point in continuing this discussion. i would encourage you to see if your script isn't actually strengthening your ego. Many neo-advaitans use this script, and to some extent hide behind it, to great advantage to get fame and fortune, but, IME, very few really speak from now, presence and openness.
stillness and surrender
lisa cairns awesome
The girls Trippin lol
Hi InsaneToothFairy. Yeah, it's just like that...
FYI, if you look under "Show More" in any of my vids, you'll see links to all of "my stuff", all free in some format.
stillness
Thank you Stillness, I’d like to share with you that i also had found that “letting go”. I suffered incredibly and one day tried magic mushrooms, I had this notion that if I didn’t let go I would go mad, so I did more and more and yes I would be held more and more until all the sudden I was just gone- pure ecstasy, love, how good life could be, no more social anxiety. I carried this letting go over to past my shrooms experience and my life immediately started taking drastic turns , the problem is I tried to understand what I was doing (to solidify) and perhaps improve (I loved doing things so amazingly well, or more like letting things do themselves better than “I” could ever), I’m not as good anymore and run into a lot of frustration I became depressed because all I could find around was mindfulness and all sorts of if u will “lower level” things, this took me down from that “level” as u said; very cruel (got worse and worse). One of the happiest moments was when I found you - someone who found the same thing and actually took it further and further. So is this more like letting go of control? Of what? From my experience it just feels like throwing yourself of the cliff and letting what ever happen happen. Thank you if you took the time 🤗(Im 18 btw)
GOD does it better ❤️
Gary ‘no bullshit’ Weber 😉
There is non dual. Thats what you read and then becomes copy paste new in thing. Its light and darkness battle. You just won the light darkness battle in just you but return to a job you will have it again. That battle doesnot stop till planet cosmos has darkness.
Not sure how losing sex drive is attractive to anyone? sounds unhealthy?
Lot of self-deception in these teachers, and massive projections among the listeners.
magical thinking garbage