A NEW TEXT POST WRITTEN BY FRED: What Authenic Nonduality Is NOT About

WHAT AUTHENTIC NONDUALITY IS NOT ABOUT
(FYI, no one’s proofreading this and it’s late at night so you get what you get.)

Pardon me while I step onto my soapbox. Ahem.

The historical Buddha’s core teaching was as stunningly simple as it was earth-shattering. Above and beyond anything else, he taught, “There is no self.”

I invite you to notice that there is a period at the end of that sentence. There are no ifs, ands, buts, maybes, or pluses. “There is no self.” Period. That’s what he said. Don’t blame me.

As this teaching grows, I notice that I’m being offered more and more opportunities to stray away from the core teaching of nonduality as it’s being seen and lived here. I am constantly being offered alternative models for this teaching to take on:

“Fred, I just want your blessing if I make a few exceptions and modifications to this part, okay?”

“Say, Fred, how about a modest adjustment to this or that, please. I’m tweaking it this way (my way, you see) because then it lines up better with my own beliefs—the beliefs which I have conveniently forgotten consistently failed me for the last two or twenty years or fifty years.”

“Fred, I’ve been thinking about “this thing,” and it just doesn’t make logical sense to me. So I came up with this idea, and I want you to run it past you, because I just know it’ll be a big help.”

No. I won’t do it. That’s not okay. I’m not going to support it or bless it unless it’s seen to be more true than this teaching. I’ll be as polite with a student as the student’s demeanor allows, but I’m not going to even listen to it for more than a couple of minutes.

Authentic nonduality is not about manifesting goodies in a story of future for some imaginary self. If you want to “manifest” a Rolls Royce, or co-create a make-believe character’s make-believe destiny, have at it. I understand your position. I really do, because I did all that stuff 40+ years ago, and it was not ultimately satisfying, or I’d still be doing it.

These days I’m not-doing This—which absolutely, positively is not that—and “I” have found it immeasurably satisfying. Try to satisfy a unit for more than a few moments. You can’t; that’s just how they’re programmed.

Think of manifesting as a gateway drug. I’m done smoking it, but if you feel you need to do so I’m not going to press charges. Unless you call it nonduality.

Authentic nonduality is not about reincarnation. Fred Davis has not incarnated for the first time, so how in the world is he going to “reincarnate.” We’re back to that annoying truth: THERE IS NO SELF.

Authentic nonduality is not about bliss and holy happiness for a constructed character. If you feel you are dissatisfied with This-As-It-Is, then you need to find out who you really are. That One does not bitch and moan, I promise you. THERE IS NO SELF.

Authentic nonduality is not about becoming special. If a teacher is effective, then it’s only because they are content to be completely ordinary. You can check a good teaching unit’s pulse and it’ll almost surely have one, but I promise you there is no one home. And there’s no one there who’s going to die either. THERE IS NO SELF.

These things are part of the dream. Most if not all siddhis are as well. This teaching addresses and honors relativity just as it does the Absolute. But trying to “merge” one pretend-distinct thing with another pretend-distinct thing can’t happen. They are already the same thing, but Whose siddhis are they? Who is there to talk to the dead? If the dead can talk, they’re not dead. If one can see the future, it is visualization following personification.

I could go on and on here, but I’m guessing you’ve grasped the central point. I promised mySelf that I’d keep this post short so that I would be encouraged to come back and write more of them, maybe even regularly. Bye for now.

Love,

Fred