Cut to the Chase

Cut to the Chase

Your latest letter was written over five days, you said. I’m required to be more brief. There are a couple of aspects of the nondual realization which seem to be discovered only with the greatest difficulty, by most everyone. The first is that the revelation, of the empty truth, is discovered to be unimpeded by time. Why? Because the seeker is that which is sought. There is nowhere you need to go, and nothing you need to do in order to be connected to that which is the source of all that is. This omnipresent actuality, this unbroken Presence, is so thoroughly immersed in everything that it is everything. Therefore you—despite who you purport to be—are That. Being That, you will not, at any other time, be nearer to That. Whether or not you acknowledge your “true nature,” you are That. So, being That this very moment, time is irrelevant. You need not, if you awaken to the fact, occupy yourself with a pursuit for the presence of the limitless actuality any longer: you cannot even escape That! The second matter is a recognition which is implicitly entwined with the first.

Described as being “nowhere that it is not,” it is effectually the actual essence of all that is. All formulated identities (each of which is merely a differentiated thought) are superficial, synthetic. No matter what we point to, its fundamental identity is reduced to That. Not anything comes into existence apart from infinite Presence, so the identity of all forms is subsumed in the formless Presence out of which they arise. Your assumed identity disappears,

dissolves, when the true nature of this totality is recognized. Whether or not you acknowledge this fundamental truth, “you” do not exist as a separate, independent entity. Nor does—and this is the key element—any “thing” else as a separately-identifiable reality. Each and every worddistinction falls into the maw, the void, of the formless totality. By whatever name we want to call that formless void, even that name is meaningless. What definition, for example, can you put into the word “God” when there is nothing but God? With nothing whatsoever that can stand in contrast, why even the need for such a word, a distinction (“distinct from”), as God—or any other title or designation: such as Void, Presence, That, Oneness, etc., etc.? The essence of the nondual realization, as Zen puts it, is that “there is not any thing on which to stand.” Nor anyone to stand upon it. Even the Void disappears when it is realized that no one ultimately exists to recognize the void!

When there is not anything but God, WHO is to make reference to God?

If such reference were to be made, only God could remain to make the reference.

You are That which refers to That. You are That in recognition of its Self. Every (so-called) small-s self is the capital-S Self—including your self. When you awaken to the fact that you are That, what is left of the “struggle” to find, or connect with God?

How could anyone or anything be apart from That which is defined as illimitable? This is the basic, vital issue. When it becomes clear that the “person” you consider yourself to be is a false identification, all of “your” past becomes irrelevant. All of your acquired knowledge is rendered useless. Matters that have to do with “my ego” are immediately resolved. Spiritual experiences, passing phenomenon, even “surrender” and “transcendence” no longer have any meaning at all. Who transcends, when there is no one apart from anything to begin with? What could one ultimately surrender to, when that which surrenders is what it surrenders to?

It is possible to cut to the chase, and to be finished with every spiritual teaching, by opening to the basic truth the teachers are offering: the “you” that you want to believe exists, really exists only as a self-imposed fantasy. In present awareness, it is possible to snap out of this fantasy.