Peter Ralston On LOVE - Newsletter Response

[Breakingthewall]

4 hours ago, Grateful Dead said:

don't understand your problem with the teachings of non-duality. I find Neo-Advaita aimless as well. But true non-duality dissolves barriers and opens you up to the Absolute. It is one of many ways that make it possible to bring the mind into harmony with reality. The goal is to see the light everywhere, until the seen and the seer dissolve into one another and only eternity remains. 

4 hours ago, Grateful Dead said:

 

The point is being open to the true nature of everything, that we are closing with our psychological structure. How does Advaita or non-duality address this? By establishing that everything is the same essence and that the self is an illusion. It's something you create through mental activity.

Who is this "you" that creates the separate self through mental activity? A foolish ignorant who has made a mistake? Or perhaps billions of years of evolution from complex molecules to the stable process of unimaginable complexity called human? Who says that's an illusion? Why? It isn't; it's the structure that reality is now taking, giving rise to the fact of perceiving itself.

Enlightenment is ceasing to perceive only the mirror of the psyche and perceiving the Absolute, and Advaita practitioners are in a mistake. They say that the Absolute is pure consciousness. The Absolute is the total source, the absence of limits that lives because it has no limits and that manifests in universes, dimensions, and everything that is possible.

To open yourself to it, denying what exists by calling it an illusion is an obstacle, and saying that everything is one is irrelevant. If you are in total silence, the illusion, the absence of two, etc., all become irrelevant; it is simply "I am," completely devoid of content.

And there, an action can occur: the opening to the totality. This won't happen because you think everything is one because you aren't thinking anything; it will happen because your heart, in its essence, is such that without articulating it, it says: I surrender to whatever comes, to torture, emptiness, death, total nihilism. I give myself . Kill me. It has to turn its emotional gears for a moment so that they align on that frequency, for a moment.

It doesn't have to be like that all the time, but it needs to have that tendency, and at a given moment, that tendency materializes in a moment of total surrender. All of this has zero relation to the ego being an illusion and all that.

Then if the openess happen, all the structure begin a mutation to become transparent, millimeter by millimeter the movement is to less density instead to more density, until the source starts to be your reality, you become more transparent little by little because it's a total change that can't happen in only a moment 

Edited 16 hours ago by Breakingthewall

[Grateful Dead]

42 minutes ago, Breakingthewall said:

Who is this "you" that creates the separate self through mental activity? A foolish ignorant who has made a mistake? Or perhaps billions of years of evolution from complex molecules to the stable process of unimaginable complexity called human? Who says that's an illusion? Why? It isn't; it's the structure that reality is now taking, giving rise to the fact of perceiving itself.

On a relative level, it is indeed true that evolution is a highly complex process. But you yourself say that you want to open yourself up, to what? To the Absolute. This means that, right now, in this very moment, you are not open to it; and what does that imply? That you are trapped in an illusion, a construct of reality that does not correspond to what really is.

42 minutes ago, Breakingthewall said:

Enlightenment is ceasing to perceive only the mirror of the psyche and perceiving the Absolute, and Advaita practitioners are in a mistake. They say that the Absolute is pure consciousness. The Absolute is the total source, the absence of limits that lives because it has no limits and that manifests in universes, dimensions, and everything that is possible.

I, too, view the Absolute as boundless. But you regard it as the force that manifests itself in universes, whereas I see it as eternal, formless, motionless peace - the Source. The world of form, space, and time, all of this comes to pass when the formless is projected by a mind that believes in separation. Therefore, if we retrain the mind so that it ceases to believe in separation as, for example, as taught in Advaita Vedanta, it becomes open to receiving the Absolute.

46 minutes ago, Breakingthewall said:

And there, an action can occur: the opening to the totality. This won't happen because you think everything is one because you aren't thinking anything; it will happen because your heart, in its essence, is such that without articulating it, it says: I surrender to whatever comes, to torture, emptiness, death, total nihilism. I give myself . Kill me. It has to turn its emotional gears for a moment so that they align on that frequency, for a moment.

I do agree with you that simply thinking "everything is one" accomplishes nothing. Radical surrender is necessary. However, it doesn't have to be as violent as you describe it. You can also do it gently and with joy. For me, Absolute Reality revealed itself completely only once, and that was when I was listening to music, singing along to the song with total exuberance, and surrendering myself to it completely. That was the moment when grace revealed itself.

50 minutes ago, Breakingthewall said:

Then if the openess happen, all the structure begin a mutation to become transparent, millimeter by millimeter the movement is to less density instead to more density, until the source starts to be your reality, you become more transparent little by little because it's a total change that can't happen in only a moment 

I agree with that again. The opening is merely the beginning. Integration is a slow process of becoming transparent. It happens on its own, but if you follow a clear path, you waste less time.

[Breakingthewall]

2 hours ago, Grateful Dead said:

This means that, right now, in this very moment, you are not open to it; and what does that imply? That you are trapped in an illusion, a construct of reality that does not correspond to what really is.

That would be like saying that being at home is false and that going to the mountains is real; it's a confusing mental map. 

I'm not closed to the unlimited btw, lately it's becoming like normal in some extent. The point is not falsehood vs truth, it's closeness vs openess. 

What I meant before with psychedelics was getting states of total dissolution, I did some from then, I think I'm done with psychedelics for a while

2 hours ago, Grateful Dead said:

The world of form, space, and time, all of this comes to pass when the formless is projected by a mind that believes in separation. 

this is the idea that reality is illusory. The absolute is not peace or emptiness, is power, vitality. Formless doesn't exist, when you talk about formless you are talking about a form that is not a square or a circle, but has properties, the property of existing, and that implies everything 

The space and time will pass and another combination will appear. It's not that the mind believes in separation, it's that is closed by the inherent emotional density of being human. the mind can see the flow of the existence and become one with it because the mind is the flow of existence, you don't need to believe in separation to perceive the dance of reality , the flow that happens is real. It's not false, it's just the manifestation or the unlimited that is always happening 

Anyway, when you say believing in separation maybe you mean this, but I think its not believing, it's closeness that happens for fear. Being human is difficult 

2 hours ago, Grateful Dead said:

Absolute Reality revealed itself completely only once, and that was when I was listening to music, singing along to the song with total exuberance, and surrendering myself to it completely. That was the moment when grace revealed itself.

Then you perceived that was not formless, was grace as you said. It's an affirmative property, is positive in the sense that is. 

2 hours ago, Grateful Dead said:

The opening is merely the beginning. Integration is a slow process of becoming transparent. It happens on its own, but if you follow a clear path, you waste less time.

For me the point is being open to what reality is always at least in some extent, if not life is total shit. Nothing worths if you are closed. I get sad, in lack, isolated , miserable. Then you are careful to not close yourself. 

Edited 12 hours ago by Breakingthewall

[Grateful Dead]

7 hours ago, Breakingthewall said:

That would be like saying that being at home is false and that going to the mountains is real; it's a confusing mental map. 

That's not what I'm saying, I mean what you described further down. If you're closed off, then you're living in an illusion and life is torture. If you live with openness, then you're not trapped in mental constructs but in harmony with what is, in the flow of life. My point here is not about different locations, but rather about the depth of perception. It would be more like me saying: fear is an illusion and only love is real. I know you'll say, but fear is not an illusion; it's the product of billions of years of evolution. But this evolutionary program is only necessary as long as you perceive yourself as a separate, temporary organism.

7 hours ago, Breakingthewall said:

I'm not closed to the unlimited btw, lately it's becoming like normal in some extent. The point is not falsehood vs truth, it's closeness vs openess. 

What I meant before with psychedelics was getting states of total dissolution, I did some from then, I think I'm done with psychedelics for a while

Okay, yes, what I meant by openness before was complete dissolution. What you mean now is living with an open heart, which I think is the best thing one can do. Total dissolution happens on its own; you can't force it.

Why are you now done with psychedelics? I mean, because you recently said it was very beneficial to you.

7 hours ago, Breakingthewall said:

The absolute is not peace or emptiness, is power, vitality

It's not that the mind believes in separation, it's that is closed by the inherent emotional density of being human

Anyway, when you say believing in separation maybe you mean this, but I think its not believing, it's closeness that happens for fear. Being human is difficult 

If you say that closeness stems from fear, then that's exactly what I mean when I say that closeness arises from a belief in separation. Why does someone experience fear and close themselves off? Because they perceive themselves as a separate, vulnerable being who needs to protect themselves from the world.

8 hours ago, Breakingthewall said:

Then you perceived that was not formless, was grace as you said. It's an affirmative property, is positive in the sense that is. 

For me, formless doesn't mean empty, cold, dead, or nothingness. I'm expressing that absolute reality has no boundaries, shapes, or coordinates in space; it is absolutely free, indefinable. Grace has no physical form; you can't draw a line around it. Yet it is indescribably positive, pure life itself, perfect presence, so good that just a breath of it transforms millions of years of evolution. And in this boundless freedom lies a peace so profound that nothing can disturb it.

8 hours ago, Breakingthewall said:

For me the point is being open to what reality is always at least in some extent, if not life is total shit. Nothing worths if you are closed. I get sad, in lack, isolated , miserable. Then you are careful to not close yourself. 

Yes, I completely agree with you. If the system closes itself off in defense, then I see it as being trapped in an illusion, namely the illusion of separation. Understanding and dismantling this defense mechanism is the daily practice whenever something arises that triggers it.

[Breakingthewall]

3 hours ago, Grateful Dead said:

For me, formless doesn't mean empty, cold, dead, or nothingness. I'm expressing that absolute reality has no boundaries, shapes, or coordinates in space; it is absolutely free, indefinable. Grace has no physical form; you can't draw a line around it. Yet it is indescribably positive, pure life itself, perfect presence, so good that just a breath of it transforms millions of years of evolution. And in this boundless freedom lies a peace so profound that nothing can disturb it.

Totally agree, the problem for me are the terms illusion, false, true, etc. when I got interested in spirituality I read all this stuff and it didn't help at all, and I see the effect of that paradigm in people and its clear that leads to confusion and closure 

3 hours ago, Grateful Dead said:

Why are you now done with psychedelics? I mean, because you recently said it was very beneficial to you.

12 hours ago, Breakingthewall said:

For a while I mean. If you do often you reach a point where you do DMT of anything and you get more closed than don't doing, then it's time to stop

3 hours ago, Grateful Dead said:

you say that closeness stems from fear, then that's exactly what I mean when I say that closeness arises from a belief in separation. Why does someone experience fear and close themselves off? Because they perceive themselves as a separate, vulnerable being who needs to protect themselves from the world.

Do you see? That's the problem for me. They feel vulnerable because they really are. There is not a belief in separation, it's real. You could say that in essence everything is the same reality in different expressions relating at all levels, but at the level where we operate, the separation is real.

You don't want to be enslaved or locked in an Iranian prison. If a non-dual teacher comes along and tells you that being gang-raped daily in a Congolese prison is the same as being rich and doing whatever you want, and that this is awakening, the best thing to do is tell him to go to the Congolese prison himself to get more awakened. Those ideas only lead to confusion, are a denial of the reality 

Edited 1 hour ago by Breakingthewall