Duality is like a self-driving car—a car without a driver. It’s just driving around. Its programming is telling it where to go, where to turn, what to do. That’s the state of Duality: you living your life without you, without the driver. So, let’s picture that fully—the empty car just driving around, driving around, feeling …
Category Archives: Chats
The Process of Elimination
Using the process of elimination, we can find out who we are. Because if we erase enough things, eventually the only thing left is the person who is looking for this. We habitually assign ourselves qualities that are outside of ourselves—our minds, our thoughts. So, if you just start—this is what nonduality is like—if you start just taking those away, taking those away, ‘I’m not that, I’m not that, I’m not that,’ eventually the only thing left over is the person who is looking for this. So, jump-start the whole process. All that stuff—you’re not any of that. Who are you?
— Traditional Nonduality Teachings —
Traditional non-duality teachings are simply a process of subtracting what you are not from what you are. That’s why it’s Not Two. You just go, “I’m not this. I’m not that. I’m not this.” until…
— Who Came up With Nonduality? —
You’ve got to really hand it to the people who came up with the simple idea of nonduality. It means ‘not two.’ It doesn’t mean there’s not two things in the world; it just means that there’s not two of you. So, you can’t find yourself. You are the thing that finds anything that you look for. Trying to find yourself is something that’s not you because you’re the one looking. So, it’s this brilliant system that leads us, fairly painfully, down to a place of zero.
— Erasing Everything —
Here’s a non-dual trick, okay? If you erase everything about yourself—your mind, your thoughts, your perceptions, everything that’s ever gone on inside of your mind—erase it. Erase it down, down, down until you get to the point where nothing is left. The only thing left is the person who has been erasing.
Everything’s gone. You’re still there. That’s nonduality.
— Realizing the Truth —
If you’ve been told a lie and you suddenly realize the truth. You find out what’s really been going on? The everything that was associated with that lie goes away. Poof! It’s like you don’t have to piece by piece, work through every single thing.
As a matter of fact, it all starts making sense. It’s like, “Oh, no wonder! Ah, that makes sense!” Everything associated with the lie just crumbles away.
That’s exactly what happens when you find out who you are. You are not the lie.
6 Ways to Non Dual: Erasing
This week, we are working on six ways to non-dual. Today, we’re going to talk about erasing. This is the basic nondual exercise. This is the one that everybody talks about the most. We’re saying there’s not two . This means that everything you look at you erase it. Try to find yourself in your …
There is a You that is Not Two
There is a “you” that is not two. We tend to lose track of that in non-duality teachings. We can get caught in searching for this oblivious state of nothingness… and pure happiness… and all sorts of things like that. We forget the basic idea of Not Two: I am not my intellect. I am …
6 Ways to Non Dual: Math
Our number two way to find nondual is math. Kind of makes sense, right? Not Two… it’s very math like. Some really simple math will help us understand that there are not two things inside our heads. One of my favorite stories is a Zen story about ten guys, way back in the day. They …
Imagining Zero
It’s fascinating to think about zero because our minds are not designed to do this. It’s so easy to think about two of something. Like, imagine two colorful balls. They’re bouncing around. Two balls add another one. Imagine a third ball. So easy to do. Our brains are created to do this. In fact, what happens is that we so easily project ourselves out onto that picture. We can see those two balls. Now, imagine zero. Take away all the balls. Nothing at all. It’s a totally different experience when you truly see zero. The only thing left within your field of consciousness is you seeing that zero.
— Complete Zero —
If you imagine complete zero then everything is gone. The only thing left is the person observing zero. That’s you.
— There is Not Two of You —
There is only one of you; there’s not two of you. Have you ever wished that you were a clone, you know, so that you could get more things done? Divide into two? Well, right there is a moment of revelation. You just realized you’re just one. All you can do is all you can do. You are you. That’s nonduality.
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Nondual Nothing
When you hear about nothing in non-duality studies it’s talking about actually nothing: zero, nothing there, empty. Actual nothing.
— Think about zero —
Just for a second think about zero: the absolute lack of anything. Zero.
— Choose to see nothing —
If you can close your eyes and choose to see that nothing is there—zero. There’s absolutely nothing inside your brain, inside your mind. Nothing’s there. Zero. If you can choose to see that, then the only thing that’s left is you, who is looking at nothing. Step back into yourself, and now there’s only one you.