PRIME POST: The Blind Men and the Nondual Elephant: (or) Why YOU Are Not Awake Right Now

The Blind Men and the Elephant, Wall Relief, Thailand

NEWS

Welcome! Let me share a little news before we go to the new post. Single-session, one-off Awakening Sessions are again available. Not long ago I was completely exhausted and attempted to set up a new structure so that I could do fewer of them. Well, God had other ideas, and I’m not one to argue with my employer. My employer’s primary job description for me–helping fellow travelers recognize their True Nature–has again been made quite clear to me and thus the thrust of this teaching going forward will again be placed on those seemingly magical Awakening Sessions.

The Universe may still have to hit me on the head with a hammer to get my attention, but I’m proud to say that at least it no longer has to do it twice.

Second, I’ve been experiencing challenges with my YouTube account. I have a brand new deluxe computer, a brand new deluxe router, and a brand new deluxe camera, so it’s not the equipment. The good news is that the quality of video I’ll be producing will be higher–everything is very crisp and clean compared to what I did with the old set-up. But I’ve had to buy a video editing suite, and I don’t have the first clue on how to use it. I’ll just breeze through that 139-page manual, and I’ll be back up in running just as soon as my brain stops bleeding.

And now to our post…

.

The Blind Men and the Nondual Elephant
or
Why YOU Are Not Awake Right Now

.

Most of us already know the famous story of the blind men and the elephant.
For those who don’t or who’ve forgotten, here’s what my edited version of
the Wikipedia entry has to say about it.

.

The Tale Itself
In various versions of the tale, a group of blind men (or men in the dark) touch an elephant to learn what it is like. Each one feels a different part, but only one part, such as the side or the tusk. They then compare notes and learn that they are in complete disagreement. The stories differ primarily in how the elephant’s body parts are described, how violent the conflict becomes and how (or if) the conflict among the men and their perspectives is resolved.

In some versions, they stop talking, start listening and collaborate to “see” the full elephant. When a sighted man walks by and sees the entire elephant all at once, they also learn they are blind.
.

The Lesson
The story of the blind men and an elephant originated (interestingly enough) in the Indian subcontinent from where it has widely diffused. It has been used to illustrate a range of truths and fallacies; broadly, the parable implies that one’s subjective experience can be true, but that such experience is inherently limited by its failure to account for other truths or a totality of truth. This applies even in the case of the sighted man. If he were deaf, for example, he would not hear the elephant trumpet. At various times the parable has provided insight into the relativity, opacity, and inexpressible nature of truth.
.

As I See It
It occurred to me recently that this tale wonderfully illustrates the current nondual spiritual marketplace. Each of the blind men is an archetypal seeker. Each has already “got hold of” a part of Reality, and they are all trying to experience the whole thing. In the background, like a Shakespearean Chorus, is a group of spiritual teachers who are shouting encouragement and pointers. These are good teachers, they are themselves clear, and they are calling out everything they can think of to aid the blind men.

However, every single one of the blind men thinks that every pointer he hears called out is especially for him, so they move around in an excited circle, constantly changing positions, grabbing this, squeezing that, trying all sorts of stuff, but still never experiencing the whole elephant. They “dig a hundred shallow holes” but never a single deep one.

These seekers have confused activity with progress. It’s a common confusion. A hamster may be endlessly engaged in the activity of turning its wheel, but it’s not making any actual progress. Our seekers are collecting more and more ideas about the elephant, but once again, the end goal is as elusive as ever–nobody’s really getting anywhere.

.

The Nondual Twist

There is a special version of the elephant story that’s reserved particularly for those of us involved in Nonduality. You may not have heard this twist, so I’ll go ahead and share it. In the nondual version of this story, the blind men are not actually blind. They simply have their eyes closed and are pretending to be blind. Some of the teachers are even hollering out for them to open their eyes. This is the one pointer that’s meant for everyone, yet it’s the one pointer the blind men ignore. Why don’t they open their eyes? Because they think they’re blind!

Somewhere along the way each of them witnessed a thought that said, “You’re blind.” Rather than allowing that thought arise and fall harmlessly, they caught hold of it. Each of them declared this empty, universal thought to be their thought. This declaration makes this thought feel important to them and perhaps more significantly trustworthy. After all, your thoughts are all suspect, but my thoughts? Gospel, every single one of them.

We always believe what we think we are thinking–provided it’s negative, of course. We know we can’t trust the rising thoughts that tell us foolishness like:

All is well.
I’m okay as I am.
It’ll all work out in the end.

These thoughts we ignore in favor of the ones that are already going around in our heads, the ones that say, “Something’s gone wrong, and it’s just going to get worse–especially for me.” Now there is a trustworthy thought. “Doom is right around the corner, I’m sure of it.” Ahhhhhh. We’re used to suffering, so now we’re back in our comfort zone.

.

The Traps

In working with hundreds of clients, and having gone through this whole process myself, I’ve found a multitude of “reasons” why people are not awake right now. These four are at the top of the list, but they are by no means all of them. There’s plenty where those came from.

1) The insistence on taking the character to the Awakening Party.
Every client I’ve ever had has been caught in this endless loop, and I was as well. If you’re not awake right now, you are caught in it too–I guarantee it.

One of the key “reasons” that people who come to me are not already experiencing Reality As It Is, is the same reason I didn’t until I did. We want to take our characters to the Awakening Party.

I believed that Fred should be allowed at that blessed event. After all, good old Fred had put in so many years and time, effort, money and attention (notice the combination of an entitlement and victim story), that it was only right that Fred should be allowed to attend, complete with pointy hat and party whistle. 

There was, however, a fatal flaw in that story. The moment that Fred shows up at the Awakening Party, the party is over. The presence of Fred guarantees the absence of Conscious Awakeness. And the presence of Conscious Awakeness guarantees the absence of Fred. We can have this cake, or that cake, but just like Momma told us, “We can’t have our cake and eat it too.”  The thing that wants to walk across the graduation stage and pick up its diploma–for all the world to see–never will.
.

2) The precious victim story.
Most and maybe all people also have a version of the victim story–the difference is only a matter of degree. The unwillingness to let it go of this “I’ve been wronged/they did this and that to me/what I’m going through isn’t right” is a guarantee of continued delusion. We want to keep this story more than we want to wake up to Truth. Until we don’t. At that point, instead of asking “Why me?” we’ll graduate to the true position of “Why not?”

[Note: Our victim story can even extend to our spiritual story, so be alert.]
.

3) The story of being right.
Once again, the need to “be right” is almost universal. And once again, it’s nearly impossible for the mind to get the mind out of it. First off, few of us lack the sheer willingness to give this up. Secondly, we don’t have the objectivity. And third, we simply don’t know the truth.

And ALL of these “reasons” fall under a single heading, which is that we are believing thoughts. We are believing thoughts, and we are not yet ready to “unbelieve” them. The bottom line is that we are unwilling–at this moment–to tell ourselves the truth. We want to stay in our story more than we want to wake up. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that. We do until we don’t.

Everyone reading this has either already told themselves the truth or is well on the way to doing so. You don’t end up here by happenstance. Many who tell themselves the truth will then fall back into denial–I did any number of times. That’s okay, too. It is what it is until it isn’t. Lose any guilt, shame, or blame about your “spiritual behavior” or your “present spiritual condition.” They are absolutely without value.

Let’s do realize that when I suggest you are “close” that I’m speaking of what I call “the package”—DNA patterns, memories, habits, desires, etc.–that clearly move up the line from one unit to another. We can trace both your DNA and mine back to ancient Africa, so this is neither guesswork nor mysticism. This is science. Something moves. So, given that “your package” has been on the path for thousands of years, you can “have your head in tiger’s mouth” and still not wake up for 200 years. Everybody eventually will, but I’d take little personal comfort from that.

You might want to lend yourself a hand.

And don’t fool yourself; don’t wait for that Special Invitation to Awaken to arrive via the Virgin Mary. We have all already received the invitation any number of times. Up until now, most of us have said, “No.” Awakeness CAN override a “no,” but it rarely will. Still, place no limitations on Awakeness. It is beyond imagination, beyond the mind, beyond logic.

.

4) The lifestyle trap.
As we become long-term seekers, then the people we allow ourselves to get really close to are also often long-term seekers. And we all make a silent agreement. “Since none of us really expect to wake up anymore anyway, let’s make spirituality our end, and not our means. But let’s do it right. Let’s wear flowy clothes, go vegetarian, and enjoy some retreats in exotic locations. Cool. And deadly.

Even if we do happen to have an awakening, if we’re not willing to go our own way, to walk our own often solitary path, then we may have a social problem. We broke the rules, we shattered the Silent Code. We woke up, and that’s just not cool. Now you don’t fit in with your friends any longer. They will not only not care about your awakening, few if any will even believe you. However, if you act swiftly enough, you can deny your awakening and try to fit back in. There will be some who are disgruntled, but eventually the wound will heal, and you’ll be back at the art openings with all the rest of chic spiritual crowd. The same thing can happen with the people you’re sharing a tent in the desert with, so don’t think it’s just a “California thing.”

.

Getting past the traps.

This has been sort of a preview of how I make a living. In Awakening Sessions, one of the key things I have to do is figure out the blocks. What thoughts are coming up that the client is believing? What story are they telling themselves? Why have they heretofore been unwilling to tell themselves the truth? How can I best make the truth of how things are so incredibly clear–for them–that they’ll be unable to turn their head from it? How can I best help them come to see the Most Obvious Thing, help snap them out of the divine hypnosis that’s keeping them from noticing That Which Can’t Be Missed? This is why it’s The Living Method of Awakening. Every client is different, and so is every session.

Speaking of believing our thoughts, it’s always been implied–often stated outright–that coming to recognize our True Nature is quite difficult. If we find ourselves drawn to that quest, then collective wisdom will direct us toward some mystical tradition–Sufism, Zen, Advaita Vedanta, Christian mysticism, or what have you. Maybe that was so, and maybe it’s still so for almost all of the world. But I can state with absolute confidence that for the great majority of the people who are attracted to this teaching, my experience is that coming to recognize your true nature is just not that difficult. Either it’s not or I’m a fraud: it’s just that simple. Because every week, five or six days a week, I’m out there in the WiFi world helping people come to see who they are. No problem.

The challenge is in getting people to accept what they see. I say that, because most of the people in this crowd have seen their True Nature at one time or another, perhaps many times. And then, damn it, it just went away. The next day, we’re not even sure if it really happened. Back to the cushion we go. “Maybe next time I’ll really get it!”

.

The Living Method Solution

Asking the mind to free you from the mind is simply asking too much. It ain’t gonna happen. That doesn’t mean one can’t wake up by luck or grace, but let’s tell ourselves the truth about how often that happens. Chances are strong that it hasn’t happened to you, or if it did it has since passed. There’s a lot to be said for abidance.

What I’ve discovered over the past two years is that almost nobody will tell themselves the truth about Truth if they can avoid it–even if they want to wake up. Thus, in an Awakening Session I arrange things so that you essentially can’t avoid the truth. A small percentage manage to hold firm in denial, but not many. So what actually happens? What I’ve found out is that almost nobody will accept who they really are until they have first seen to their own satisfaction what they are not. So through a series of inquiries and investigations that last about 90 minutes, we do neti neti (not this, not that) on steroids. In the Christian tradition this is known as via negativa–the negative way. I imagine some of the other great traditions have a similar path for the contrary seeker.

Once you know what you are not, I’ve found that there’s a short window of opportunity for me to present what you are. The Truth is nearly always seen and is then accepted on a sliding scale, the scale being contingent upon the willingness of the client to tell themselves the truth. Very often the openings are quite clear, sometimes amazingly clear, and sometimes less clear. Regardless, once the elephant has been seen, few will go back to blindly grabbing trunks and tails.

.

Fred Davis
August 29, 2014

3-Minute Video

A Quick Look at What Happens
in an Awakening Session with Fred