A message from Charlie

Here is a message from Charlie Hayes, on the subject of clear pointing. Much thanks for his no BS approach to all of this.

"Any sense of some identity with a problem (such as 'energetic contraction') or some need for an 'event' (such as some describe) keeps the seeker seeking. It took three years (after first talking with John and then traveling to Australia to be with 'Sailor' Bob) for me to really clarify this and to see that these "teachers" were not really delivering a pure, simple message. My standard (and this is my own and only my own standard) is represented in the five recent Podcasts on my site, with John Wheeler.

In the past I have interviewed (or been interviewed by) many others, some of who have great pointers to offer, but I find that after a few years of 'seasoning' (for want of a better term) that DAMN FEW ACTUALLY deliver the quality of pure message that Bob and John are offering. My message has been refined over the years (as Bob's was and is) to better mirror the reality of the FACT that your Being is already free and no event is needed to 'resolve any issue' nor is there any such real thing as a seeker with problems or issues ... IN ACTUAL FACT.

Bare Naked presence is simply NEVER missing! Until THAT gets clearly pointed to ... and finally 'noticed' ... well, the BS can go on for a very long time.

That said, there is NO 'problem as such' with ANY expression: There is gold in them there hills, even if the hills themselves are covered with dead trees (false concepts)... if one can learn how to dig the gold can be mined. BUT: Why would anyone endorse or promote a teacher type who has a 'professional spiritual teacher' game going? And who muddies the water with unnecessary conceptual "spiritual noise?"

I say that the original message of there being only already freedom, that who we are is that freedom and absolutely nothing is needed to "attain" what is ALREADY fully present here and now... for absolutely everyone.... that most usually gets distorted, in the typical "spiritual marketplace", not because there is malice aforethought, but because the 'teacher' does not REALLY understand what works, which is simple pointing devoid of conceptual baggage!

One last thing: to make the claim "there is no person THEREFORE there is nothing to be done is a flat contradiction to what the true sages (i.e. Ramana, Nisargadatta) have pointed out. What there IS to be done is a cogent investigation into what is REAL and the discarding of any and all concepts of identity. The cleaner the pointers the quicker that happens, in my experience.

Just my take. And none if it is to be believed, accepted, or taken on board as some 'truth'. The truth that is told is NOT The Real Truth full stop! The simpler the pointing the more potent and THAT is why so few expressions get linked at present on my site. Willy-nilly linking to any half-baked teaching is in this view (outside all viewpoints) a disservice. That said, again there ain't nothin’ wrong here there or anywhere. But I am a big fan of discrimination, in the vein of Adi Shankara and those of that ilk, currently Bob, and John Wheeler. Sorry to say, I find damn few others who stick to the real message with no baggage!

If the adherent to some ‘professional spiritual teachers’ really listen again to Podcast #5 I feel something one may still be a bit blind to can be recognized about all this... Anyway, being alive, awake, and the infinite possibility of communication, transformation and absolute freedom, I AM that I AM, and so are YOU... and THAT is ... LOVE!
Enough said. Let's pull the plug now."

Your friend in Freedom,

Charlie

Clear or not clear? Who's the authority?

Is this a clear, uncompromising expression of nonduality? What about the other sites I've read? What about all the apparent discrepencies between teachers, teachings, or non-teachers and non-teachings? How can we know what's trustworthy and what isn't?

The whole dilemma and apparently problematic questions arise from not seeing clearly what we are, right now. The mind loves to categorize, compare, accept and reject. It doesn't matter who's clear, as long as what we are IS. The mind can debate its important issues forever.

As a seeker, I compared teachers and teachings and tried to find air-tight parameters as to who was clear and who was not. In the end, I just trusted my own intuitive knowing, as I had really done all along. What's the point of debating in duality, when we are already the uncompromising nondual reality itself? This message isn't clear, what you ARE is the clarity itself.

Much Gratitude

This message is all about gratitude to those that shared the simple and obvious. It's only fair that I recognize those that told it to me straight. The following are clear and direct pointers to the divine love that we are.

Charlie Hayes- www.theeternalstate.org
Tony Parsons- www.theopensecret.com
John Wheeler- http://thenaturalstate.org
Jeff Foster- www.lifewithoutacentre.com

Check out the bloglist at the bottom for more potent pointers.

It's all too much

A common feeling for me as a seeker was simply the "too much-ness" of life. Waking up to another day was heavy and dreary at times, as I fought tooth and nail to make something happen to get my life working properly. Desperate seeking through whatever means I deemed "hopeful", including the dreaded and sought after enlightenment. I really never wanted enlightnemnet as it really is, only my version of it. The real deal was always too much for "me" to handle.

Life, as it is, is enlightenment. Sadly, there's no room for anyone seperate in it. So there are no enlightened people, but no unenlightened ones either. It's too much for the mind to handle, and it doesn't need to.

This is the big break for the mind. It breaks itself trying to understand this, and ultimately the seeing puts the brakes on the seeking. This is the case right now, in seeing that this is enough, but not "too much."

Simple Experiments

Try to find your centre, right now. Is it in the head, or somewhere in the stomach or chest? Where, exactly? Look directly into the supposed central "me-ness," then look for the centre of that.

Close your eyes, and try to find what shape you are. Where do you end? Open your eyes, and do the same. Where does what you call "you" end, and the "other" begin? What about the point where they meet, who is there at that place?

Gaze into your eyes in the mirror. Who is seeing what, and what is the awareness that contains it all?

Find the most real thing in your experience, right now. What's the most stable, solid, and reliable "thing" where you are right now?

Look into that troublesome loop of thoughts and feelings, and see if there's anyone being tossed around in there. Notice that you are the sky, in which the maelstrom or the peaceful weather can occur.

Stop a moment and see the show, as the show. Thoughts, feelings, notions of self-hood or non-selfhood all appear and disappear. You don't.

True Believer

How many thoughts have you had in the last 5 seconds that were true? Which of your many complex and spiritualized belief systems can stand up to naked investigation? How much "you-ness" can survive a head on and direct look? This pointing is not meant to create believers, martyrs, fundamentalists, or arguments. It's meant to dismantle the notion that there is anyone, to have anything to do with anything, spiritual or otherwise. Primarily, it's a pointing to what is true, but beyond belief. What is, right now, is naked, invisible and can be sensed intuitively as real. It requires no belief, and no believ-er. What you are, is what is always being pointed to.

How many young kids need all these words to be what they are? What you are in deep sleep is exactly what you are now. See what comes and goes, and know that you are behind and beyond.

No one needs to still the mind or the emotions. Seeing that they come and go, it's obvious that You do not.

No blame, no excuse.

The human mind is very good at certain things. It can point the finger anywhere it wants, and be right, every time. It can excuse itself from all fault and wrongdoing, and justify every action. Or it can turn on itself and become a mechanism of self-loathing, collapsing into depression. The dysfunctional nature of the mind is seen through, by seeing that "you" are not a product of the mind at all. Who would choose all of the adverse effects that thought so readily spits out? Even to say "the mind" gives too much credence to a faculty that is completely dependent and subservient to what we really are. In seeing that I am the changless awareness in which thought happens, there's no longer anywhere to put the blame, even on "me". There's also no excuse for not seeing clearly, because there are no obstacles to what we are. During the search I would blame circumstances, people, and whatever I came across as to why I was still seeking and suffering. There's no fault in any of this, but the ball is in our court at all times. To see what we are, right now, or to suffer the effects of being what we are not.