Beginner Mind

According to the author, the ultimate truth is that no one exists, or as he puts it, "there's nobody home." All there is, is Consciousness. There's nothing ground-breaking about his message but it's the way in which he expresses it that stands out for me. Have you read "Perfect Brilliant Stillness" yet? At the risk of being a broken record, I highly, highly recommend this book. The author has actually made it available for free these days so there's no reason not to check it out.

No prob! Enjoy.

Bingo. If you are moved to make a difference in the world, then that's a perfectly appropriate thing to do. If you're inclined to hang back and watch all this messiness unfold, that's a perfect expression as well. The author isn't saying that making a difference in the world is wrong, but rather, he's just saying that such efforts have nothing to do with spirituality/awakening. It's perfectly fine to make a positive difference in the world... Just don't spiritualize it. I highly recommend "Perfect Brilliant Stillness" for those who haven't read it. Best book on non-duality I've encountered.

I just posted a similar topic before I noticed this one... I'm with you, OP. So many sages have told us that everything is perfect the way it is. The world doesn't need to be improved. The world as currently constructed is a natural, perfect happening, as natural and perfect as anything else in nature.

I started a topic just like this a few days ago. I'm 100% with you. If you just observe the body's functioning and see that you are not beating your heart, growing your hair or toe nails, etc., it's obvious that we are not the doers. But as Ramesh Balsekar used to say, we have to act as if we are the doers, even though we aren't. That's how daily living unfolds.

Definitely not my book. I wish I was enlightened enough to write a masterpiece like this.

Has anyone read this book? It's available for free. As the author writes: "This book, and the thoughts and concepts expressed here, are not copyrighted. They are not 'mine.'" Tony Parsons has given his stamp of approval on this book, among others. Here it is if you're interested. Enjoy!

Love is something that has come up in my awareness lately due in large part to Leo and this community. All this talk about love has made me realize how closed my heart has been over the years. Whether it was the absence of my father, or failed relationships, I don't know. But something has prevented me from really loving fully. I used to think that enlightenment would be the ultimate key to happiness. But lately I've begun to wonder if the real key to happiness has been staring me in the face all along. Maybe what I've truly longed for above all else, is love. Is love the key to a fulfilled life?

We have all lived our lives with the mistaken belief that we are in control of our actions. But over the centuries, the great sages have told us that we are in fact not responsible for our actions. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says: "The self, deluded by egoism, thinketh: 'I am the doer.'" Ramana Maharshi said: "The present difficulty is that man thinks he is the doer. But it is a mistake. It is the higher power which does everything and man is only a tool." Even Leo has mentioned that we are not the doers in his video, "Enlightenment Experience Explanation & Key Lessons". There is tremendous freedom available in realizing that you are not the doer. With this realization comes the dropping away of guilt for so-called mistakes, for you see that your "mistakes" were not your doing. Feelings of hatred towards others dissolve as well, as you see that no one has really ever done anything harmful to you. As Ramesh Balsekar said: "Events happen. Nobody does anything. All things happen exactly as they are supposed to happen, according to the will of God." The heart is beating by itself, hair is growing by itself, even thoughts are appearing by themselves. From head to toe, it is obvious that we are not the doers. So, why is it that we cling to this false sense of doership?

I hope you're not suggesting that he leave this community simply because he doesn't agree with you.

I don't doubt what you're saying, but I'm not quite there yet. To me, there's definitely still a "me" here. It's possible that my current focus on non-doership is more of a temporary phase, a necessary step along the staircase to the realization of no-self. Who knows? But for now, I'm satisfied with realizing I'm not the doer.

Yes, there is the danger of someone using this teaching as an excuse to act unconsciously. One might say, "I'm not the doer, therefore I can pick up a machine gun and kill a bunch of people." But, the question is, is such action truly in your nature? Is it really in your nature to grab a gun and murder someone? Chances are, probably not. A less extreme example would be someone who hears this teaching and says, "I'm not the doer, therefore I'm going to just sit on my couch and do nothing for the rest of my life." But, again, is it really in your nature to do that? Chances are, there are other inclinations you have. Goals and desires that you will find yourself pursuing according to your nature. At the end of the day, all we have to do is follow our natural inclinations, while realizing that those inclinations are actually the will of God... And not our doing.

Did non-doership dawn on you prior to waking up, or was the realization a byproduct of waking up?

Legend. Yes. The belief in being the body brings with it the belief that we are in control of the body's functioning. Perhaps cultivating the witnessing position is the remedy for this? True. The conditioning of being the doer has been drilled into us from a very early age. Breaking free of that conditioning is not easy. An ego that realizes its powerlessness doesn't necessarily have to fall into a victim mentality. There can be the understanding that, "I am not the doer, but nonetheless I must act out the natural inclinations of this body-mind organism." Indeed. There was an author by the name of Wei Wu Wei who wrote about non-doership quite a bit, heavily influencing the teachings of Ramesh Balsekar who came later. Yes. The question might arise, "If I am not the doer, then how do I live my life?" The answer is, simply do whatever it is that you feel you should do. Follow your natural inclinations.

Too much texting is a turn off for women. You should only use your phone to set dates with her.

Your boyfriend sounds pretty immature.

My bad, I must've missed that post. Thanks for your answer.

@Vedashri

@winterknight Do you think that a real, embodied realization of non-doership is sufficient for enlightenment? There was a spiritual teacher named Ramesh Balsekar who made this claim. For him, enlightenment is simply the end of suffering, and the end of suffering is the realization that you are not the doer.

@Vedashri According to Ramana Maharshi, animals do make spiritual progress just like humans. In fact, there was a cow named Lakshmi that Ramana claimed was fully enlightened.

Your English is excellent for a non-native speaker. And I'm not surprised that you don't like the Course. After all, it's all about forgiveness and love, your most hated topic.

Agreed. I think this is probably one of the main reasons why the book came to be created in the first place.

I was introduced to it through the work of Gary Renard. There's a lot of wisdom to be found in the Course, but I can't take it seriously as a legit path because some of the ideas in it are just too difficult to believe. For example, the Course suggests that the universe was created as a result of unconscious guilt that we feel for having separated ourselves from God. This just seems silly to me. Also, according to Gary Renard, Jesus didn't feel any pain on the cross. Like, literally, zero physical suffering. That's just too difficult for me to believe.

This may have been posted already but it's a pretty good one: A Zen master visiting New York City goes up to a hot dog vendor and says, "Make me one with everything." The hot dog vendor fixes a hot dog and hands it to the Zen master, who pays with a $20 bill. The vendor puts the bill in the cash box and closes it. "Excuse me, but where’s my change?" asks the Zen master. The vendor responds, "Change must come from within."

Agreed. I like the way Ramesh Balsekar expressed it: Everyone acts according to their genes and conditioning (neither of which we have any control over).