Everyone Is Going Conscious: Thank You Snowden

Solitude: The Straight Path

Most people are afraid of being alone for an extended period of time. Not speaking to or seeing anyone for a few days is not even an idea worth considering.

Yet solitude is a way to get to the heart of life. As our minds chat away in the world like up and down Pez dispenser heads, the reality of life is always flowing gracefully underneath, flowing as a deep and genuine intelligence at the heart of all existence. We miss it all the time because we are chat chat chatting away.

Conversations are perfect ego boosters, for they reinforce our ideas of ourselves and our ideas of the world. We look for agreement about what we are saying, so we can feel validated and feel as though we have somehow found REALITY, and that we are therefore in POSSESSION of something OTHERS don't have. The sheer ridiculousness of this process is seen quite clearly after one undertakes a block of solitude.

My first experience with solitude began in youth, as most children find moments when they are alone and have only their imaginations to play with. Then I became a farmhand for a farm in Northern California, where the owner of the farm would go away for weeks at a time and leave me alone on the remote property to caretake. And this is where I discovered the merits of being alone and not speaking with others for a large amount of time.

I went back to the city and smaller town life, and eventually the craving to experience even longer bouts of solitude overcame me, and I gave away all of my things and walked into the redwood forest for two months. I slept in a camp I set up high up on a ridge, about a 4 mile hike into the isolated woods, not a single person around to hear any shouts or screams. Just me and the woods.

This was fantastic. And two years later, I went back for a 5 month stint alone in the woods. This took me beyond thunder dome.

5 months in the woods alone is like wiping the windshield after a rain has passed. Sunny, clear, all is obvious.

Now I'm preparing to do a sabbatical of sorts and try a few years alone in the wilderness. Everything you let go in solitude makes you a greater gift to the world in general. Truth is all that matters, and this truth is life.

So, if you find yourself afraid of things like solitude or death or whatever, just go ahead and do some solitude. You'll find many things that were holding you back will fall away easily, such as the need for approval from others. You will take yourself out of the herd mind that Einstein spoke of, and no longer will you be at the mercy of public opinion and mass propaganda.

Knowing is being. But being is missed, so long as we're yap yap yapping.

I'll post more on solitude and potential places to disappear from civilization soon. Thanks for reading, now shut the fuck up and be.

Why Change is Easy When Your Parents Finally Die, by Wil Guilfoyle

People are reluctant to change, because to do so they would have to challenge previously held notions and beliefs shared by their own parents and perhaps their surrounding communities.

When we decide to drop old beliefs, this means we then become representations of challenges to the beliefs of others. Bible-belting parents look to their children who decide to drop these traditional beliefs as people destined for Hell. In essence, to drop the beliefs you and your parents share is to risk losing their love in some way.

Most are not willing to risk that love.

Thus it is only when people lose both parents that great change becomes possible. When there are no other people's expectations to live up to, transformation and letting go becomes a whole lot easier and happens a whole lot faster.

So the question is: Can you facilitate these circumstances without waiting for everyone around you to die? This is another benefit of meditation. You sit, and you sit with yourself. Over time, you settle into yourself, and become less reliant upon others to complete you in any way.

Then there are silent retreats. You go off on your own and remain to yourself for periods of time. Suddenly it isn't important for you to prove points, or be in agreement over beliefs. You may come to see that you are more happy when you are away from those who always stand firm in some belief or ideology.

It's okay to leave your whole life behind. You won't often hear this. But it is. It's okay to walk away from your family, friends, job, career, school, church, and country. You can leave it all behind if you want to. Many animals do. Many animals never see their parents or siblings ever again, after a certain age. And it's okay.

What isn't okay, is when people tell you that something is not okay, like I just did. So question everything. Question it all. And make Truth your highest concern.

All arguments and beliefs are relative, and therefore not absolute. What we are after is our own deepest Self, which is the absolute. It's so much bigger than the small ideas created by human minds for the last few thousand years with our increasingly more and more complex languages.

Let your parents die now. Dare to be the highest Truth there is. That's the greatest gift you can give to the world. That takes more courage than signing up to go shoot bullets into foreigners abroad and return back to this country scarred for life.

The Truth is more important than our deeply embedded indoctrination.

John Wheeler, Nonduality Pointer

  John Wheeler - The Natural State website

Sitting with John, we are concerned with one thing: Do I know who I am? 

We are here to discover who we are, nothing more. 

Enjoy John's books, audio talks, and even come to a meeting to sit with him and enjoy his pointers as he helps people see their true nature.

MEETINGS

Day/Time: Thursday evenings, 7:30 to 9:00 pm. Meetings are every Thursday, unless otherwise noted here. Location: Pacific Cultural Center (in the Studio). 1307 Seabright Ave, Santa Cruz, CA 95062.

Palo Alto, California

Day/Time: Two Mondays per month, 7:00 to 8:30 pm. Upcoming Meetings: May 20 June 3, 17 Location: Unitarian Universalist Church, Room #10. 505 East Charleston Road, Palo Alto, CA 94306. Update (July 14th, 2015: I was contacted by a gentleman who told me that nobody has heard from John Wheeler in awhile. I'm sure he's doing just fine and that he's just chilling and taking time to be. However, it appears his meetings in Santa Cruz are no longer happening. It wouldn't hurt to call the Pacific Cultural Center to see if he's resumed these meetings. They were always fun and a nice experience. There are countless other nonduality pointing peeps in the world, so there's no shortage. As always, just have a look at what is aware of the looking. Peace Update (September 7th, 2022) I remember hanging with John having rice bowls, and going to his talks, and also him playing guitar with my friend, Michael, who I loved to jam with.  The important thing I want to add is that we are all human beings, and sometimes human beings wish to be alone.  It is assumed that John wishes to be alone, and that the whole role of “teacher” is not necessarily one that is wanted or necessary in the least.  May John be happy and free, and may all of us.

Truth of Nonduality

 The following are three free and short audio talks about Nonduality by Tony Parsons, Lisa Cairns, and more:

 Urban Guru Cafe: Exploring What You Are

Tony Parsons lets the cat right out of the bag in the following brief chat:

Tony Parsons: Mind Hasn't Got a Clue

Lisa Cairns is a sweet and kind human, with a very direct way of pointing to...

What's the Deal?

Urban Guru Cafe, A Podcast about Nonduality

Urban Guru Cafe Podcast click here

This is a treasure trove of quick, precise, and diverse talks with various nonduality teachers the world over. The creative style in which this podcast is put together makes it all the more enjoyable.

So go ahead and stump your mind and find that you never existed:
Urban Guru Cafe