Non-duality is the fastest path to spiritual bypassing of all spiritual practices, imo. I've been on both ends of the spectrum - one is filled with peace and love, where no words are needed or generated; the other is dissociative and disturbing, just a mis-step away from very human, very real mental states like depression and anhedonia. Along the journey, i feel we need to allow for pain and grief to arise and be processed, and incorporate physically grounding practices so we don't get lost in our head, or repress emotions and detach prematurely from our human experiene. Self-inquiry can so easily turn into compulsive mental behaviour and grasping if we're not careful. Staying grounded, spending time with people, remembering that I'm still a human being, were things what helped me out of that dissociative, nihilistic state of mind. Stay safe, fellow travellers.

@theodorurhed

Жыл бұрын

Relate to this 100%. I fell into that ocd-like trap of always checking my thoughts and senses, spiraling out into disassociative states. What in the end really brought me back was looking closely at things. Like literally looking really close at natural objects, mostly plants and trees. I could sense a pull there, a vibrancy of realness, if I stuck with the sensation it sucked me right out into the other end. Suddenly everything was so vivid and alive. It seems much more preferable, but also happens to put my person into a childlike vulnerable state, which perhaps is not unideal, but also scary. Not entirely sure where to go from here though. Haven't really explored the deep body sensation a la chakras so maybe that's something.

@jose6183

Жыл бұрын

Thank you for saying this.

@Magik1369

Жыл бұрын

I agree. Both sides of the One and Many or Personal Soul and Transcendent Self must be fully integrated or Realization is partial or delusional. It's all too easy to skip over the Love part, especially for deeply wounded souls. Becoming a loving and actualized person is far more difficult than experiencing the witness in meditation.

@AnnHelle

Жыл бұрын

​@@Magik1369 well said. In my experience, states of deep peace and equanimity can only arise when a capacity for spiritual (as opposed to romantic) love is cultivated, which only arises when wounds and traumas are healed, or at least healing; and wounds can't be healed when we're looking the other way or bypassing them altogether.

@Nicksparks-nb3qp

11 ай бұрын

I completely disagree

This video explains a lot of questions I couldn’t articulate. The business of sitting around saying there is no one was appealing at first, then I could tell my ego was starting to use it as another way to identify. The waiter analogy is helpful! Along with several other pointers here. 💥🙌🏻💪🏻

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

2 жыл бұрын

Yes! I’m glad you saw this early, it can really become and who fixation, believing there is no one to have an ego 😅😅

@Jivanmukta84

Жыл бұрын

The owner of ego is the ego itself apparently. Both ego and owner of ego are illusionary constructs created by thought. What you are is beyond the mind, beyond ownership and doership. just as a side note.

I keep revisiting this video and can’t get my head around it.

@JamesSwartzShiningworld

2 ай бұрын

No wonder, there isn't any systematic teaching provided.

OMG YES!!! It seems so clear that “awareness” has no meaning without “of” and I have been getting frustrated trying to strip everything out except “pure awareness”! And even trying to turn awareness onto itself. Yet there is some sense I call “being online” that feels like it’s there even when there are no thoughts or sounds or visual experience. But there is almost always some sensation….

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

2 жыл бұрын

I might call that consciousness :)

@robertjsmith

2 жыл бұрын

@@SimplyAlwaysAwake i suppose its about not getting caught up in the words,i like to use the word awareness,maybe you could do a video about nihilism,thanks

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

2 жыл бұрын

@@robertjsmith check out the video “the awareness trap”

I’ve been in this awareness trap for a long time apparently. Another great video - thank you!

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

2 жыл бұрын

Glad it was helpful!

You're so right about the statement that there's no doer and how it can become a concept .I have a history of addiction and so i had to do a lot of work with therapists.Shadow work is something that helped me a lot to clear up the garbage i dragged with me .A lot of people in the non duality scene are just repeating empty words and defend their actions as things who are just apparently happening .Thanks for another great video .

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

2 жыл бұрын

While I wouldn't wish addiction on anyone, you learn a hell of a lot about the mechanism of self delusion going through it. Your words are spot on here.

@LiliBoloney

3 ай бұрын

I had to overcome/am overcoming a people pleasing addiction and I also see some of the Non-Duality-community as parrotlike humans, looking for realisation in empty concepts they repeat and feel like they are good humans because of using those "holy" words.

Decisions, will, are what appears ..... there is no decision maker .... I am the "will", the will itself ... the appearance as conscious being. Conscious writing

@Koryogden

2 ай бұрын

Lately I had a paradigm shift to say "I am (process)" instead of the original I am me

@birgit8996

2 ай бұрын

@@Koryogden The point is, who had a shift and who knows about it?😉

you so clearly and self-evidently show how easy it is to turn awareness into a concept, it's kind of scary how subtle it is.

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah at first it was a strange experience to talk to no one , whereas to talk to people has always been simple and flow. I suppose it’s a skill like anything else. Good to hear from you.

@aureliafox2924

2 жыл бұрын

@@SimplyAlwaysAwake “it’s a skill like anything else” - unrelated to the answer but exactly what I have been telling my students all year! “It’s a skill and, like any skill, can be practiced!” - it’s so personal 🙏

@aureliafox2924

2 жыл бұрын

@@SimplyAlwaysAwake the skill thing I say about everything 🤪 that wasn’t supposed to sound like I was referring to awakening and like I have students for that 😆 no

@aureliafox2924

2 жыл бұрын

Michael - I was just going to comment that I completely agree with what you said and how you said it 😂😇

@robertjsmith

2 жыл бұрын

Awareness is a concept,its not an inherently real thing

wow this is mind-blowing, so advanced, i'm so small so immature in this self exploration

At 2:40 what u said about the Neo advaita teachers is spot on! I happened to comment on one such a video by Nargis non duality and she blocked me. And ironically in that video she was talking about equanimity.

Wow, that was fast ;-) Thank you, I appreciate this, though I think my language used in earlier comments that prompted this video gave an inaccurate impression of where I'm at (for what it's worth). There's no vastness, no witness, no sense of awareness as a substratum. There's an obvious awareness _aspect_ to all experience, but it's completely direct and grounded in sense data. It's just that this sense data happens to include an ongoing subtle unease or tension, like a partially blocked current. Also, there's not a belief in non-doership. I was never seduced by the b.s. of that whole neo-Advaita scene, which I'd barely been acquainted with when the awakening and shift happened in 2011. There's just an inability to get motivational traction or leverage to do any of the self-inquiry and contemplative practices that led up to the initial shift in the first place. It's probably less about agencylessness, and more just a simple lack of interest or desire. In this respect, it's worth noting that I'd been a serious weightlifter up until that time, but after the shift I completely lost interest in lifting and have never taken it up again. I also found that I could no longer work full-time, and have had to drop to a two- or three-day per week schedule ever since then. I also became homeless for a time as a result of not being able to work full-time. So the lack of volition isn't just about "spiritual" pursuits (a distinction I also don't recognize anymore). Something got removed or neutralized when the shift happened ten years ago, and it's impacted my life across the board ever since. If that other shoe is going to drop realization-wise, it seems it'll have to happen randomly, with no active participation on my part.

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

2 жыл бұрын

I understand. I think your case falls more in the second sense I alluded to in the video, it is not obviously awareness as such, it is just the overarching feel of what you are describing it has a definite signature to it. Perhaps I could say skewed to the masculine or dis-integrative aspect. It may be grounded in the senses, but there is still some subtle self sense left for there and that is reifying awareness of/ dualistic construct to various degrees. When any remaining self-apart is seen through it becomes quite different than this, specifically in the intimacy aspect, spontaneity and most importantly clarity and lack of inherent view. I've seen it many times and I went through it myself. Sometimes it just has to sink in over time bc this is such a subtle fixation. I would encourage looking for any avoidant tendencies however, esp. in the emotion body. It may not be obvious in initial looking, so inquiry can be helpful there. Maybe that's helpful or maybe not. Also the video was referring to this area more broadly and wasn't all specific to you, just pointing out some of the aspects that can come into play :)

@_PL_

2 жыл бұрын

@@SimplyAlwaysAwake Thank you. I agree for the most part, particularly about the continued subtle (and even not so subtle) presence of self in all this. Also, your mention of the masculine/disintegrative aspect is true, as a second awakening glimpse happened not long after the first, and it was a clear recognition of emptiness or nonexistence. It was just a glimpse, though. It had an impact, but didn't dissolve the apparent veil ongoingly. And probably, as you also say, there's some avoidance issue behind the complacency with what's been revealed so far. It'll be interesting to see if there's any further movement on that front. Anyway, thanks again for being so available and helpful, it's really appreciated.

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

2 жыл бұрын

@@_PL_ you’re welcome.

I am glad you addressed this because even though all this is new to me, its something that I heard a lot and thought there was a issue with it. The awareness trap is a good name for it.

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah it turns out to be simply another thought/ paradigm, which can be very fixating at deeper stages of realization.

"You will not find awareness in your direct experience" - Excellent. This statement resonates with what I've been finding lately when I sit down to meditate or when I am bopping around in life. My current understanding (subject to change): Awareness is implied by the fact-of/manifestation-of experience; although there is a knowing quality to experience, I have been unable to point to any separate experience as 'awareness'. To put it differently, awareness can't be smelled, tasted, seen, felt, heard, or thought, yet there is a meta-cognitive knowing that is self evident in relation to all arising experience. What is that self evident knowing? That's a great mystery, isn't it?

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

2 жыл бұрын

You see clearly :)

@aureliafox2924

2 жыл бұрын

You speak clearly, too, thank you for putting your seeing in words! 🙏

Thank you for putting these video's online. I found your channel at the exact right time!

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

10 ай бұрын

You’re welcome

The best 17 min talk on spirituality hands down. One has to be midway atleast to understand the depth of what this man has said. Thank you.

Thank you for your honesty and integrity.

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

2 жыл бұрын

You're welcome

Remembering Alan watts often arriving to the conclusion that all goings-on end up as a double bind

I really just come for the tshirts. This is my favourite to date. 💛🌲🌙

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

2 жыл бұрын

lol

Wonderful. I have most certainly been falling into the Awareness Trap. And you are so right about the "there is no chooser, no agent, so don't bother" anomoly. Thanks.

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

2 жыл бұрын

:) Working directly with the sense fields per the non-duality playlist will be helpful :)

Once again, this sharing, is what I so much needed to hear at this moment. Infinite gratitude is still not enough to express my deepest feeling. Bless you Angel o 💙 Please, keep on slapping the shit out of my mind.

Thank you 🦋

Wow! This is so powerful and beautiful and helpful! Just wow! You are doing a tremendous job! So unique and So brilliant! Thank you!

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

2 жыл бұрын

Glad it was helpful!

This is a very good video, I watch dozens of videos a week, and this is the first I've come across addressing this very subtle distinction. Great post! From my perspective, I would think most, at some point, reach a place where this clarity is very much needed...certainly true in my 'personal journey' (using common language for ease of understanding).

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

Жыл бұрын

yes exactly, its a common one and it's so subtle it's quite easy to overlook

Thank you so much for sharing. 🙌

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

2 жыл бұрын

You’re welcome

Hello. Had to pause the video around 6:00 because the reminder to remove the term "awareness" is appreciated. You may have mentioned that we cannot "experience" awareness. Again, thank you for the reminder, because to experience anything means that such "anything" is outside of you or even to describe the "experience" implies there was an experiencer. As you already mentioned there is "no doer," thus, there is no experiencer. It, the indescribable, can not be described. Any attempt to describe is akin to describing color red to a blind person, who never seen or knew what color it is. It, the unescapable, can not be escaped. Any attempt to escape is futile or hopeless as such is akin to the sun escaping the light. Thank you for the first 6 min of the video. 😊🙏

I had a dream once in which I was enlightened. I was walking on a street. Felt great! There was a feeling to it and a sense of power. I've experienced that state once on psilocybin and at times if i stand up too fast and there is a moment in which Im conscious but without any content or reference. Granted I don't black out. Its an in-between state much like a hypnagogic state and the sense of power that accompanies it comes from this stillness.

Yikes! I have recently been wondering about this exact topic. Thank you for your help! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

This is subtly profound and profoundly subtle. This seems along similar lines of getting caught up believing the words, rather than looking for one's own.

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

2 жыл бұрын

Yes... very important not to discount one's direct experience in favor of a belief, ideal , or someone else's description.

Transcendental Idealism. This whole video describes transcendental idealism by Immanuel Kant very well. Also, sentient awareness experiences both, making choice with free will, and the distress from the exertion of effort given to make the choice (an experience created by the existing self). It's like, why do I exist here, if the mechanisms of a human can do everything without me anyway? Those mechanisms are working for other living existing things, that have similar functions, and I am not them, so why do I exist, experiencing absolutely everything? non dual experiencing. This is more of a severe detriment than ability, as he even describes here, there is no sense of Self observing the Self. There is no sense of other. For me, this means I can not process and reconcile trauma on my own. I need another real sentient existing person to connect with me and witness my pain. My Self, isn't fooled by the illusion of reality, but because people can exist as other, at a certain conscious density (3D), The living existing self, "realizes", that the sense of observer observing self, already exists without effort to create it, here on earth, in reality (because I know and feel what lies outside existing, which is ideas, transcendental idealism, literally). I found a good description of this experience here from the spiritual community, only a matter of time, till I find the scientific based discovery of this same thing. This is a pattern I have, part of PTSD. Yes, spiritually awakening is my most severe trauma by far. A mortal human doesn't deserve to experience things that do not exist. Why the hell is that possible? I would not wish to burden someone with the experience of not existing, while being actively fully infinitely alive at the same time. There is no way to live life, commit to life, engage in the experience of life, when one sees behind the stage curtains, while the performance is still playing.

@youarewhatyourelookingfor4496

7 ай бұрын

Adyashanti said “keep in mind, you might not like waking up.” That stuck with me.

This has been so very helpful. Thank you

Would LOVE TO SEE some guided SELF INQUIRY methods and step by step walk throughs with some common stumbling stones.

I can't thank you enough for lighting a flame within my soul to continue this wonderful path to inquiry and realization... The awakening retreat was the best decision that I've ever made toward this "searching for answers" adventure that this earthly life is about! As you mentioned it gets really hard to put these feelings into words but sometimes I feel words just pop out of my mind with certain fluidity and ease... I miss you and sweet Violet a lot! Please keep posting videos ( love them all) and keep us in the loop for any other retreat adventures that come up! 🙏❤❤❤🤗

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

2 жыл бұрын

I will!

“Awareness is a subtle thought “ 🤯

i love ur videos so so much 🙏 so grateful u exist : )

Thank you! 💜💫

Thank you Angelo! I love your videos (some I have to watch a few times... you unpack too much info too fast!!) :))) Some words from Nisargadatta on Awareness & Consciousness: 'Awareness is primordial, it is the original state. Beginning-less, endless, uncaused, unsupported, without parts, without change. Consciousness is on contact. A reflection against the surface. A state of duality. There can be no consciousness without awareness, but there can be awareness without consciousness, as in deep sleep. Awareness is absolute. Consciousness is relative to its content. Consciousness is always of something. Consciousness is partial, and change-full. Awareness is total, changeless, calm and silent. And it is the common matrix of every experience.' (From 'I am That')

Thank you. Paul

Sounds like he is describing me. Been stuck here for a while now, realizing it more deeply lately.

Reality is Realization 💯

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

2 жыл бұрын

yes!

For the last couple of weeks, "find awareness in experience", causes spasming. That is, turning attention to sound, and then realisation of sound or being heard or hearing (dualistic language is limited), it causes spasms. Before during meditation this would not happen but now it does and it is recent. Outside of this, awareness IS the "experience" or realisation, it is the sounds, sights, smells, etc. And in this realisation, there is no time. This realisation is realisable but abiding by it in an ever present manner is another matter. It's very clear what it is not: if you're getting triggered, if there's still ego-driven responses, etc. attachment is still there. I wrote this before I saw your full video but this is what you mean by equanimity. As far as doership, I've been a long time materialist and still am to a degree and the universe has always been nondeterministic. There is no doer and all choice is probabilistic per QM. This is just how the universe unfolds. If you combine quantum indeterminacy with chaos (nonlinear dynamics) it's pretty clear it's all the butterfly effect. No spirituality required and this is provable by mind. It appears some of the non-spiritual philosophies like existentialism get to the same point.

You say " you will not find awareness in your direct experience...awareness is a subtle thought"......so what do you make of the complete absorption into the knowing silence, which you might also call 'awareness', that exists between thoughts? I don't mean the subtle witnessing of that knowing silence, but the full immersion in and as it.

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

2 жыл бұрын

Good question I would call that consciousness, it is the “stuff” of knowing, with or without a thought. Also the experience of I Am. Or pure being. It is consciousness rigpa. That is the first major movement of realization. Beyond that is where the awareness trap can come into play :)

Thank you very much for all of your sharing. The fact that experience is KNOWN is fascinating, mind exploding. Knowing that experience is known, is just a different phrasing of "aware of awareness" in my understanding? I am assuming the term gets confusing when trying to find the knowing or awareness as an object? Both terms are the mystery in itself that cannot be pointed at, but just simply are the constant unchanging of all our experience.

🙏🙏🙏

Thank you! Do you have a post awakening playlist or similar? This type of lecture is very helpful. Thank you. 🙏💜👍

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

2 жыл бұрын

yes, emotion and shadow work, equanimity, non-duality nad no-self all address post awakening. Others do as well but may not be exclusive

Hi Angelo, I'm here from your most recent video. Thank you for directing me to this video. Perhaps I shouldn't get too caught up on the concepts, but I'd like to know if I'm moving in the right direction. I used to think that meditating would help me create space between my (true) self and my thoughts, emotions, etc... which was the goal of liberation-essentially identifying as a separate awareness that sat back peacefully with a clear separation from suffering. But now I'm starting to realize that awareness is just a thought. Without the labeling of "awareness" there is no actual awareness, and all that's left is sensation/experience. Am I getting closer? Also, if this is the case, I found that being aware of and separate from my emotions helped me in managing more difficult ones; would merging/sinking into emotion serve as a more effective way of managing them, in your opinion? Or is there really no difference outside of thought between the two processes? Also, the part where you started describing infinity literally left me hypnotized for what seemed like 15 minutes. I had to sit in silence as I was in complete awe from the realization that the infinite existed right here in front of me in infinite detail of what is misconceived to be a finite experience.

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

2 жыл бұрын

That is important for the first big movement (awakening/kensho). However from here on I recommend letting go of those paradigms and prtacticing as I pointed on your last comment. The equanimity and non-duality playlists have a bunch of simple exercises.

Great video thanks. You never mention cessations. Do you think they are a necessary part of awakening?

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

2 жыл бұрын

Someone asked me about this recently, I wasn’t familiar with Theravada and their use of the word. Based on what I read first cessation is roughly equivalent to what I call first awakening or kensho or stream entry.

Wonderful, thank you 🙏🏼 Just yo be clear, when you use the word “consciousness” you mean some form of “thought” is that correct?

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

2 жыл бұрын

check out the consciousness playlist : )

🙏🥰🙏

thanks, Angelo for bringing this up. I am curious what is your take on the consciousness vs awareness debate. In the Buddhist tradition, consciousness is used very loosely, and for example in the Vajrayana tradition is seen as dualistic by its nature. On the other hand, awareness or "pure awareness" is seen as beyond the dualistic state and is considered the essence of realization. I am aware this discussion can easily end up in an intellectual debate, but it can be very confusing for those on the path, non-native speakers etc, as these terms are often used in different traditions. Are we dealing with conceptual/language conflict, or there is more to this?

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

2 жыл бұрын

Often it is a language issue bc people use the terms loosely often and they are subtle. Specifically consciousness as unbound experience isn’t clear until after awakening and even then it often takes some time to recognize what it is. Nisargsdatta made clear distinction between awareness abd consciousness where consciousness is basically the I Am sense and awareness is a far subtler knowing that does not even require self awareness at all. Like being in deep sleep. One could say they find evidence of awareness everywhere in this way like an electron is aware of a proton. When I say consciousness I mean the thought gate (in Buddhist terms). The stuff thoughts are made of (and after awakening it becomes clear that also the stuff you and the world are made of). When people talk about awareness as the ultimate position, everything is seen from formless awareness, or it being “all there is or ground of being” or even when their experiential insight is skewed toward the nothingness aspect (this is not the same as emptiness /sunyata), I usually try to point in the way I do in this video to cii oh study true non-dual realization and finally anatta/liberation. The deeper realization goes the more subtle the fixations, but the more important they are to clarify. This one on particular can be quite sticky bc it seems there is nothing left to do but go more into bare awareness. Like trying to further dissolve one’s experience, but what is required is somewhat the opposite experientially speaking. So one simple pointing is to look into experience/presence and see if you can actually find something outside of the senses and thought. If you find awareness look into it’s nature directly and see if it is actually apart from the senses themselves. This paradoxically leads to deeper insight.

@branimir9881

2 жыл бұрын

@@SimplyAlwaysAwake i remember being in the "observer" trap, and i thought this is it, this is the essence of realization, yet the reality hits me and the suffering came back, which signaled more work to do. Agree with you, we need concepts to point out, but when the realization deepens all concepts collapse, ultimately the "reality" is free of any concepts.

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

2 жыл бұрын

@@branimir9881 yes it’s amazing how deep this rabbit hole goes… but indeed there are twists and turns and surprises along the way. As it deepens tho it is so worth it :))

@branimir9881

2 жыл бұрын

@@SimplyAlwaysAwake totally worth it!

💜

I see an awareness aware of consciousness but if awareness is also a thought , then consciousness is aware of itself?

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

2 жыл бұрын

Yes!!

for me, I'm at the point where I've become so spiritual that it's consumed my life and has become torment. Everywhere I go I see only myself and my awareness and other people don't even feel like people anymore, and every time a thought comes reminding me of that hundreds of times a day.

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

11 ай бұрын

Have you worked with the I Am sense?

@darkcylander

11 ай бұрын

@@SimplyAlwaysAwake I don't know what you mean, was that talked about in this video? I don't remember.

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

11 ай бұрын

@@darkcylander it may help.

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

11 ай бұрын

@@darkcylander kzread.info/dash/bejne/foh92tF7kc7Lqso.html

Each video is very helpful, like a piece of the puzzle being retrieved... Some musings on the idiosyncrasy of self-realization came to mind that I am compelled to type out. Despite everything "having buddha nature", I wonder why the practical results of human self-realization as we know it (dropping away of suffering and subject-object relationship) are so different than the natural state of animals. Dogs are very natural, for example, but they still seem to suffer and to have some small degree of expectation, craving. Maybe it's an inability of the self-reflection that language creates? It seems like there is no "seeing-through the experience" for animals - I'm just conjecturing based on observation and feeling. That vietnamese monk who set himself on fire without flinching (and apparently without feeling any pain) seemed to see through the nervous system, but any animal feeling such pain would surely agonize. In norse mythology, the runes (language) were acquired by odin from the norns, beings who rule fate by writing runes at the roots of the world-tree Yggdrasil. Language is magical. Runes being used to predict the future - and also to create it. In the book of Genesis, the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil" is what leads to the fall of Adam and Eve, but as God says, "if they eat from the tree, they will become like us." The fall is what allows for the ascension, and without this fall into duality, would unity be possible? The tree standing at the center of the garden, like a Mandala, in Jungian terms pointing to the archetypical "Self". If I recall correctly, when God says the line I mentioned, the name used was "I Am" (YHWH), which kabbalistically is even more interesting to explore. In Egyptian mythology, Thoth is the scribe of the gods, and also the patron of magic and science. Science being very much linked with writing and knowledge. Alan Moore points out how (almost?) every God associated with magic, from various mythologies, were also the patrons of writing. Thoth, Hermes, Odin... Logos, the Word. Jesus self-realizing as a son of God is the "Word made flesh". In evolutionary terms, language enables us to have a sort of "separate evolution" - while most animals have their knowledge and experience transferred mostly through genes (as far as science seems to know), we can write things down and accumulate knowledge exponentially, each generation amassing knowledge on how nature works, how to efficiently gather natural resources, and - how to "self-realize", how conditioning comes about and how to drop it away and so on. Maybe language is at the core of this capacity to drop away suffering. It just struck me as odd how "being natural" affects humans differently, apparently. I really enjoy exploring symbolism, and in this case, it is clear how different mythologies (including the Bible) allegorically point towards something beyond language.

Whoaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Still can't understand how to do inquiry without it turning into a thought, it always turns into a voice in my head saying "who's the one looking?". Then I interrupt that with another voice "thats a thought" and then I loop back again and again.

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

2 жыл бұрын

Instead of starting with asking who’s the one looking you can just go silent and observe waiting for any thought to arise. Also in the book chapters on inquiry and awakening I give very specific instructions on how to inquire without leading to thought answers..

Angelo, when is one liberated? I was hoping that it'd all be done with the first shift (which hasn't happened to me yet), but all these layers and all these stages are making me wonder when exactly it's over. Would one be done with worry about death (and rebirth, if that concept makes any sense, at least from the perspective that I perceive it, being an entity that thinks itself separate) once the first shift is done, or are these further stages of inquiry required to actually dismantle further remnants of the ego? You speak of further shifts after the first shift, Adyashanti speaks of "embodiment" of realization, one hears words like "sahaja" in the Advaitic tradition. Are such stages necessary for liberation?

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

2 жыл бұрын

Liberation is truly the end of personal suffering. The mind will get bogged down and defeated thinking of all the stages etc. One needs only show up in this moment and attend to what is happening right here (not what we think is happening but the actual). The rest will take care of itself. Inquiries can be helpful. For that first shift self inquiry or inquiry into the nature of thought and the thinker in direct experience is key. After that one can take up inquiries intro non-dual and equanimity. Then the only thing that is left is the subtle self-sense. It will take a few years, but it's well worth it even if it takes 50 years :)

@mrraamsridhar

2 жыл бұрын

@@SimplyAlwaysAwake thanks a lot Angelo! I have zero doubt about the fact that it's going to be worth it. Well, at least, I'm confident that any other pursuit, irrespective of how inevitable, isn't worth it. Several are utterly unavoidable, so I'm not fighting with them but just living along. This is something that promises to be something else, and I don't think there's anything better than this, so I don't mind if I die trying this, alongside the pointless pursuits. I do hope it happens soon though:)

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

2 жыл бұрын

@@mrraamsridhar I love your sincerity

@mrraamsridhar

2 жыл бұрын

@@SimplyAlwaysAwake thanks a lot Angelo:). And a big thanks for your videos and your patient responses to the thoughts and questions we flood your comments' section with. Raam

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

2 жыл бұрын

@@mrraamsridhar my pleasure :)

Just like attachment to duality causes suffering, what you describe is due to attachment to non-duality. Both must be relinquished, in order to be truly and completely enlightened.

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

2 жыл бұрын

Attachment to formlessness indeed does occur but it is a very subtle fixation. This is not to be confused with attachment to a watcher state/formless awareness which a lot of people call non-duality but it isn't.

@NBT2469

Жыл бұрын

@@SimplyAlwaysAwake Yes. Both form and formlessness are traps. The latter is called Emptiness Sickness or Zen Sickness.

I am totally stuck in this but I have no idea how to get past this

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

Жыл бұрын

Check out my non duality playlist for approaches. And/or the 6th fetter playlist

Hi Angelo. Can you give me an example of a "non-conceptual thought". Thanks

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

2 жыл бұрын

A mental image is a simple and common example.

😍🌻🌷🌿💐🙏

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

2 жыл бұрын

🌈🌙💜🐶🔥

genius

Ah. There is no chair. 🪑 Thanks Angelo. What a beautiful mystery - everything feels to be a synchronicity.

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

Жыл бұрын

Very good! A wonderful koan is this: Mumankan case 4: The Case: Wakun complained when he saw a picture of the bearded Bodhidharma: `Why hasn’t that fellow a beard?’ Mumon’s comment: If you want to study Zen, you must it with your heart. When you attain realization, it must be true realization. You yourself must have the face of the great Bodhidharma to see him. Just once such glimpse will be enough. But if you say you met him, you never saw him at all. The Verse: One should not discuss a dream In front of a simpleton. Why has Bodhidharma no beard? What an absurd question!

@CasenJames

Жыл бұрын

@@SimplyAlwaysAwake Thank you, Angelo.

@reicrystalline2506

Жыл бұрын

there is no chair, there is no sore butt cheeks,

I say, this chappy has interesting things to communicate.

The diamond sutra should help some get more clarity or intuitive on this matter of nonduality.

@reicrystalline2506

Жыл бұрын

cuts through like a diamond i hear

Dude I just turned 52 and have been on the path for a decade, but I’ve seriously been half assing it due to some monkeys on my back (addiction). I need to find an opening

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

2 жыл бұрын

LFG

@TheNoSuchThingPodcast

2 жыл бұрын

@@SimplyAlwaysAwake what’s LFG mean?

yup, I've even come across one rampant non-dual experiencer who claimed that another non-dual speaker/experiencer is describing a fictional state, lol (as though to invalidate it). Found that hilarious. To me they were talking about the same thing XD

@Nicksparks-nb3qp

11 ай бұрын

Sounds like your talking about this guy

If there is no awareness, what is it within, that can direct attention?

I'm thinking we often give language (symbols) the same status as awareness.

How is that possible i can see everything clearly but still hooked up the story? Best way the hide someTV hing out open i guess?

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

2 жыл бұрын

This is very common experience after some experiential insight. While it can be frustrating, it is necessary. We have to work through some conditioning. Yet the truth is clear is it not? This is the dance of the relative and absolute. It is also the entry point into equanimity. This means becoming aware of our reactions to experience and empirically testing whether a reaction is necessary, automatic, or we can remain in the restless gap until the restlessness subsides.

A few years ago my KZread recommendations were all Tony Parsons, this is the first non-duality video I've seen since. Non-Duality - nothing to it.

So there is a doer then? There is someone that’s seeking, someone that’s doing the doing? You mention in other videos that there isn’t one and now it’s the other way around. Did you change your mind about this and why?

@keegandonlen4933

Ай бұрын

He isn’t saying there is a doer. There has never been a doer and never will be a doer. What he is saying is that if this realization hasn’t fully occurred or if something feels incomplete. Then you will probably have to “do” something about it instead of trying to bypass it by fabricating a realization you haven’t fully had.

5:15 😮 9:38 😮😮

Contradiction?

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

2 жыл бұрын

Realization gets more and more paradoxical is it deepens. I write a chapter on paradox in the book. With that said, there are perceptual filters that can be addressed and dissolved which deepens experiential insight. Even to the point of liberation. That is ultimately why I do this, for those who really won’t rest until personal suffering ends at all levels. This is possible I’m this lifetime. I’ve seen it many times now and it continues to happen.

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

2 жыл бұрын

@S P identity is an illusion ultimately. This becomes crystal clear with liberation. “In this lifetime” is a conventional designation for communication, like you and me and I and referring to time etc.

looking forward to an AI non duality speech

So losing the sense of doership does not result in one becoming homeless or out of control? xd thanks heavens :) It's probably my worst fear going in this direction (probably this realization isn't going to dawn for quite a while but still)

How about - being aware of awareness while consciously feeling the heart chakra breathe the body? Seems to work lol ❤

So is the experience of unbound awareness an illusion?

I disagree with this neo-fashion of declaring Awareness doesn't exist. Of course Awareness exists and it is all you can see right now. While you might mistake it for things, emotions, perceptions, thoughts (what you call 'consciousness') - all of this exist in Awareness, because of Awareness, and is 'made of' Awareness. Those who hold Awareness as a belief are well served by your effort to make them notice it's just a belief. But for those (are we so few?) who are able to discern what is what and what it's not, Awareness (as the ground of Being) is so obvious it doesn't need any proof.

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

Жыл бұрын

You are exactly voicing the awareness trap. No offense but it’s a stage, and yes I understand it absolutely appears as self obvious, primary ground of being. All I can say is there is good news here because your insight can go a lot deeper. I think it’s great that there is always more to discover.

@Nicksparks-nb3qp

11 ай бұрын

​@@SimplyAlwaysAwakeand yet all you do is criticize

I with the body alltoghether had become Silent,,,,,that îs my coment,,,

What is attention?

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

Жыл бұрын

Look at a tree. No look at your shoe. That change in what you are aware of is the movement of attention.

@Mathewmatics86

Жыл бұрын

@@SimplyAlwaysAwake true, but attention itself is like directed awareness. Whatever attention is can shift between any sense... Not sure what I'm getting at,,,, 😆

@Mathewmatics86

Жыл бұрын

@@SimplyAlwaysAwake i guess i mean, if awareness is only a thought,,,,what the hell is directed attention when thought is gone.

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

Жыл бұрын

@@Mathewmatics86 indeed, it is an afterthought and a relative term

I'm so tired of guided meditation let's see some guided self inquiry videos

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

2 жыл бұрын

YES!!!

@Freeman-ij5xy

2 жыл бұрын

God I hope you make some about some common snags. I want to "look" deeper by questioning some presumptuous beliefs, but could REALLY use some guided practices. Please 🙏 💓🥺 please produce something to this effect. And not a guide on "how to" but rather guided questioning ITSELF ........WITH you. Doing it together. Not instructions on how, but taking my hand and asking WITH me, like how a father might ask his boy a question about himself to help the boy to look inward deeper. And thanks you for all you tremendously generous work. It has been wholly helpful.

Ok, this may be confusing to some because there is Zen teaching mixed with Theravada practitioners, for example, where there is the case of Cessation, the 9th jhana, the highest state of meditation, wherein one does experience pure awareness, or 'am-here-ness'. A total disconnect from consciousness. And knowing physics, one understands that no spacetime or weight means zero dimensional. No contraction/expansion. No texture/form/formlessness. No calm/restlessness. No vastness or non-vastness. No measure possible. No experience except emptiness, but of course, awareness is aware of the emptiness. A firm knowing that nothing is left of the universe or spacetime. No mind or body or consciousness of any kind, nothing rooted in any of these things, beyond a fully aware sleep state, firm knowing of the total obliteration of the material universe and spacetime. No trace remaining. If you returned 5 million years from now in whatever form, it would be no surprise. Sense of 'am here', without brain or thought or words, exists. But one also knows that tied to awareness is an instantaneous non-brain knowing (like conscience), and a power of intent (an ability to direct awareness). Eg, there is a non-brain knowing that any intent connected with the body will bind one back into it. So, it's confusing to hear that awareness cannot exist apart from consciousness and the senses. Also, it seems more proper to include all roots in mind+body as a form of consciousness. Even a sleep state, or coma. I often say, this oneness Non-Duality stuff is new-agey nonsense. There always is something observing, even if it is zero dimensional, and the observed, even if it is emptiness. But I guess this is wrong. Maha Bua describes things like this: Stream Entry, Cessation, Kensho: Self in an empty room. Arahantship, full Enlightenment, Liberation: Nobody in the room anymore. It's like Lao Tze said: a million words waste themselves on it. Native Americans, final knowledge: the center is everywhere, it's in each one of us. QUESTIONS: 1. Why are you bound to your flesh? 2. What is bound to your flesh? 3. Can you experience the surface of Jupiter? Why not? What can you experience that others can't? 4. What experiences? 5. If I say 'raise your hand', what decides to do it or not? What prevents you from lying, stealing, rape, gossip, and murder?

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

2 жыл бұрын

Too intellectual, as per your other comment, I would begin to let go of the knowledge and effort and really settle in to what is undeniable in your experience (beyond thought/concept). This will alleviate the vast majority of your quandaries :) Your mind is sharp, but it is no match for reality, there is a giving in that has to happen.

Turiya...Are you awake while sleeping, dreaming and deep sleep. If that's never been a direct experience 24/7 for people, they are no qualified to be non dual teachers. That's my opinion

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

2 жыл бұрын

With clear and through non-dual realization one is lead directly into anatta so there is no "you" that is either awake or asleep regardless of state of consciousness. States of consciousness are experienced as boundless clarity regardless of formulation, yet the ability to differentiate is preserved as well.

@alankuntz6494

2 жыл бұрын

If there is no you what is awake? Have you experienced witnessing 24/7.Yes or no? That's all I want to know.

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

2 жыл бұрын

@@alankuntz6494 awakeness is awake

@SimplyAlwaysAwake

2 жыл бұрын

@@alankuntz6494 The sense of a watcher collapsed completely. So no witness. No one and nothing apart to witness anything. It’s an illusion. It is the way thoughts make it appear. So there is no witness to witness anything for one second, for one hour, or for 168 hours (24x7).

@alankuntz6494

2 жыл бұрын

@@SimplyAlwaysAwake Some there is witnessing or it couldn't say that.

This is actually a big deal