Prime Post: Rooting Out Your True Nature via Direct Inquiry, Part 1
Also, check out this directly related video:
The Foundations of Nondual Inquiry
.
Rooting Out Your True Nature Through Direct Inquiry
Part One
Self-inquiry
by
Fred Davis
.
I want to start out by drawing an imaginary line between “Self-inquiry” and “nondual inquiry.” I am splitting this visible hair because direct inquiry is so often misunderstood, and I’d like to make it a little more accessible to the average adherent. There are some confusing and conflicting views concerning this topic floating about the nondual Web. So let’s see if we can move in the other direction and perhaps have a bit of fun on the way.
We are probably going to end up doing both types of inquiry anyway, but I think it’s helpful to think of what I am here terming “Self-inquiry” and “nondual inquiry” as two specialized forks of the Direct Inquiry path. I have “woken up” at different times from using both, so I’m a big fan of the pair. In the short-term I’d suggest fixing your attention on one means or the other and then pursuing that fork with utter abandon. Don’t worry about “who it is” that is going to be doing or not-doing it; you’ll just get mired down in mental philosophy, which I’ve noticed is not usually very helpful.
As I see it, Self-inquiry is the best tool to bring about initial awakening, and what I’m calling “nondual inquiry” is the most direct means I know of for the clearing process that will inevitably follow an initial awakening event–provided that Awakeness is not just out for a thrill ride but genuinely wants to maintain the delicious nondual view through that particular unit.
The unit has absolutely zero control over that objective. Oneness does what it does, the unit does what it does, and you watch them both. I know that sounds conflicting, but I am taking the view of your truest True Identity, meaning that which is prior to consciousness. An easy way to think of this is that Whatever-It-Is-That-You-Are can report the presence of a sense of being. Try it right now.
The attention that just noticed that sense of being, or failed to and says that it couldn’t, or didn’t try and says that it can’t or won’t, can only offer those views because it has first said “I am.” Immediately thereafter, the statement “I Am” is modified to say, “I am in the world.” The first statement is true, and the second one is not. “I Am” has simply developed (through the means of a sentient being) a sense of being in the world, which is quite another thing than actually being in the world. In sessions I am forever pointing out the difference between a sense of truth and actual truth.
Fundamentally, there is no world into which “I Am” can put roots. No problem. I Am instantly creates one, complete with every element and detail. This is instantly followed by deepening misidentification as soon as I Am (Consciousness) makes the claim that the divine It is inside of the mundane it. Precisely the opposite is the correct position of things.
The two methods of inquiry work to see through the ego idea by taking two similar but distinctly different paths. In Part 1 I’ll cover “Self-inquiry,” and in Part II I’ll cover what I’m here calling simply “nondual inquiry.” Towards the end of Part II I’m also going to include a brand new method of nondual inquiry that I’ve been having terrific success with in student and client sessions. I also use that method to work on the usually subtle, but nonetheless habitual and occasionally troublesome sense of a Fred that arises here. I’ve never said that I’ve graduated from anything.
In fact, in a recent satsang I shared a story with my students about how Awakeness slipped into misidentification and was blind to it by way of present presidential politics. This happened even though “I knew” better. The one who thinks it knows something is always ego. I, in fact, belong to a small club of similar units whose shared animating presence knows only that it knows nothing. Knowing you know nothing is a big leg up in both life and spirituality. Really.
Socrates said it, I’m just repeating it. So go blame him if you have trouble digesting or accepting this. Fredness is very big at accepting credit for lovely things, but not so quick to accept responsibility for anything that sucks. Sound familiar?
As the Conscious Awakeness operating through this body continues to clear and seek the seeing of arisings that I am not awake to, I notice that I continue to find them. Units have their own way, and it’s abundantly clear to me that their way is so quick and slick that misidentification, whether deep or shallow, nagging or profound, can affect anyone at any time. So long as there is a body, there is the opportunity for it to fall for dream lullabies as surely as Ulysses was drawn to the island of the Sirens.
To genuinely believe even one single thought–any thought—is to pull at the string that can potentially unravel the whole sweater. All thoughts arise through a perceived center, and thus no thought is true. None. It only takes one belief to create a believer, and once that believer is again roaming the earth, you may be sure that it will streak down the nearest rabbit hole in search of the fabled Wonderland of More. Nothing’s written in stone, and as these streaks become less and less common, their length is continually truncated, and the “way out” becomes a good deal less confusing, but the potential for slipping into a coma is always there. Or here, as it were.
In the way that I’m speaking of this so-called “practice” of Self-inquiry, I always (except for typos!) spell it with a capital “S.” This would chiefly be because nothing exists other than this Self. Pretty simple, is it not? That capital “S” is a conscious acknowledgement that the teaching occurring through this dream body is in fact the Self talking to the Self about the Self and the mechanism of the Self’s very own dream. That ubiquitous, divine, radiant Self–otherwise known as Consciousness, Awakeness, Awareness, God, Tao, Holy Spirit, Presence, Brahman and so on–is suffering a case of mistaken identity.
It’s key for you to see that it’s not the Sue or Bob character who is doing this dreaming. What you may think of as “your unit” is not doing the dreaming. Sue and Bob, in fact, are the dream, the dream of a personal me which simply does not and cannot exist. There is only “I,” there is no “me” to be found anywhere. On the relative level that unit physically exists as a body without a story. On the universal level that unit doesn’t exist at all. At the nondual level, which is all-inclusive, it does and it doesn’t, dependent upon the present view.
Authentic spirituality is not an either/or path. It’s a both path.
To help make it clear, when I speak of this Awakeness or Consciousness, I am speaking of the Awakeness that’s always already here, which includes this very space in this very moment. It (You) is not some noun-like physical presence continually eluding your watchful seeker’s eye, it is That by which the eye can be watchful. It (You) are not the ear that hears, but That by which the ear can hear.” [I’m paraphrasing the Bhagadvita in those two statements.]
You are Awakeness Itself. While enjoying the perks and enduring the blows of manifestation, Awakeness experiences a sense of being. There is simply a feeling that I, this very sense of an “I” that is both writing and reading this I article, am here. This “I” is That which Sri Ramana Maharshi called the “I-I”, the one and only “I”. The “little i” is simply a misunderstanding. There is no little “i”.
You can’t deny You have a sense of being, because it would take the use of the sense of being to report that You “didn’t have it.” This sense of being does not equal You, but neither is it other than You.
Again, there is only the one “I,” no matter who says “I,” and as a student pointed out to me last week, even if it is not said, there is still only one “I.” I’m not speaking of the “I” that functions as a “me.” The term “me” automatically indicates a not-me, and thus fails to pass the nondual test. The nondual test is expressed through the Math of One, which I will explain below.
Teachers, including this one, have used the terms “Big I” and “little me” in an impossible attempt to “explain” the paradox of the relative, universal, and nondual views. That teaching has it’s place. However, at the level I’m presently speaking both from and to, that whole notion would be seen as a red herring–utter nonsense roping you to the world of thought.
The Math of One says that whenever the term “Oneness” is used, then incredibly enough, apparently unbelievably, that term is referring to a singular experiencing which we call manifestation. All of manifestation. Which includes the manifested body through which its animating presence is reading this article. Yes! The central equation of the Math of One looks simple and easy, and is simple and easy, although it stumped the author of this piece for 24 years. Here it is: the Math of One says simply that 1 = 1. Count them. 1.
If you can fully grasp what’s been said in the last paragraph, and dutifully follow the large and obvious bread-crumbs to the ramifications of that concept, then you will wake up right now. In this moment. There are no lines and no waiting. It might be worth your going back and rereading the preceding paragraphs a time or two. Mull them over for a bit. Use them as a sort of Zen koan. What is really being said there?
I hadn’t intended to drop that little stick of dynamite into this article, but I notice that I have. Once again I see that Fredness certainly gets to cast a vote for its preferences about what’s going to be written here. However, I can’t help but notice that just as in the case of everything else, Fredness’ vote doesn’t count.
I know there will be at least two parts to this article, but there may be more.
I have no way to know. I’ll send out a flyer when I put one up.
August 17, 2016 @ 11:55 pm
Yes……………………………………………this is all there is………………yes..
August 17, 2016 @ 11:58 pm
Yep, This is IT, not-Bob.:-)
August 18, 2016 @ 1:59 am
Little stick of dynamite make big “boom.”
August 18, 2016 @ 2:10 am
You’re welcome. 🙂
August 18, 2016 @ 9:49 am
Wow, Fred. This is the single-most helpful combination of words I’ve seen strung together in a long time….
August 18, 2016 @ 10:27 am
Thank you very much. I’ve been working very hard on this thing for about two weeks, had no idea it was going to grow into whatever it’s growing into. I feel very, very good about it.
August 18, 2016 @ 10:54 am
Oh my, I, as you, did it !!!!!
August 18, 2016 @ 12:38 pm
Hey, Jane! Thank you! It’s a sharp arrow, I think. 🙂 Come to satsang sometime!
August 18, 2016 @ 1:53 pm
WOW!! Big meal to digest!! Rereading necessary. SO glad to have it. Thank you!!!
August 18, 2016 @ 2:00 pm
Hi, Joyce!
August 18, 2016 @ 3:44 pm
Hi Fred! 1=1. Awesome!!! For those of us who weren’t lucky enough to attend the satsang you’re referring to, is there any chance you could share with us how Awakeness briefly slipped into misidentification by way of present presidential politics? I feel like I relate to this anecdote all too well, even though I haven’t heard it yet! :]
August 18, 2016 @ 4:21 pm
Hey, Mike! Thanks for the cheese. I’ll send you a link to the satsang where I discussed that. You have 24 weeks to go!
August 18, 2016 @ 8:31 pm
Hi Fred. And there is no time, no past or future – only ONE NOW! NOW! I just realized that ?I? have been under the illusion that ?I? will wake up in the future – – – – after I get certified as a Living Inquirer (did that) – – – after I fully engage in the Headless Way (did that) – – – after I completed Bentinho Massaro’ s Trinfinity Academy (did that).
But to become AWAKE NOW, I only and must have to notice that I am already Awake Now, Aware Now, Aware of Awareness and all its wonderfully delightful and scary and dramatic arisings – politics, wars, anger, joy, love, democracy, birds, non-dual teachings, breath, death – – – life.
Thanks for the reminder – hope to see more of you again. With much love and appreciation, the One expressed thru Carter.
August 18, 2016 @ 9:05 pm
Hey, Carter! It’s great to hear from you again! You woke up with me in 2013–TWICE!–but the seeking habit kept on rolling anyway. Carter just couldn’t give up searching for “More”. “The bear went over the mountain to see what he could see.” Here’s another ticket to the dance for you. Come to satsang, durn your hide, and this time STAY FOR THE DANCE!!
Love,
Fred
August 19, 2016 @ 12:35 am
I’ll be there this Sunday, Fred. No head, no feet, but lots of heart. Much love, Carter.
August 19, 2016 @ 9:24 am
Good job! See you then, pal.
August 19, 2016 @ 4:48 pm
Hello Fred! Great post. We haven’t talked in a while, but I have been following you on your website. You made two related statements I’d like to reinforce. The first was that the Self with a “capital ‘S’ is a conscious acknowledgement that the teaching occurring through this dream body is in fact the Self talking to the Self about the Self and the mechanism of the Self’s very own dream. The second was that “there is only the one “I,” no matter who says ‘I'”.
This was a point I had been hung up on for a while, but has now been resolved or ‘cleared up’. How subtle the point is, but how difficult to realize. The thoughts that the “me” thinks are not separate from that which thinks them, which is not separate from the awareness (oneness; divinity) that is aware of them. Or, put another way, oneness uses the tools of this body and mind to know and realize itself. This body and this mind (and all of its thoughts) are just oneness expressing and manifesting itself, whether in ignorance or in full knowledge of its own divinity.
And when that is realized, seeking ends. Richard Wolfe once wrote: “It is only when the ‘me’ is realized to be the absolute that the absolute will be known.”As you and others have said, the seeker really is the sought! The trap is thinking that the “I” is somewhere other than just here or something other than itself right now. Hilarious.
With warm regards,
Vince
August 19, 2016 @ 5:00 pm
Very good, Vince! You get an A+! Consider coming to satsang.
August 20, 2016 @ 1:05 pm
Too funny, Fred! Thank you for the reminder about the Sunday satsang’s. “See” you soon.
August 20, 2016 @ 1:09 pm
🙂
August 19, 2016 @ 10:27 pm
…being of few words….OMG, Yes!
August 20, 2016 @ 1:15 am
Thank you, Barb. It was remarkable even to write it. See you Sunday!
All love,
Fredness
August 20, 2016 @ 10:35 pm
Fred, this sensation just arose that, while 1=1, this isn’t the whole story…that there remains another nut to be cracked. This pestering sensation reminds me of Paul Harvey and a “rest of the story.” Am I bonkers?
August 20, 2016 @ 10:43 pm
Hi, George. Let me answer in a general sort of way. I’d prefer you to examine this closely yourself, or with me, but the comment board is not the place to discuss this.
The famous Buddhist Heart Sutra says that emptiness is form, and form is emptiness. In that case the math would be, paradoxically, 1=0 and 0=1. Kick that around a bit.
Consider coming back to satsang, George. 🙂