nonduality

People around the world are seeking peace of mind. The field of psychology in which I trained is all about helping people arrive at and achieve peace of mind.

What I realized very early on in my experience of working with other psychologists is that they don’t arrive at peace of mind. They sometimes experience peaceful moments and psychology is good at getting rid of disturbing thoughts, but experiencing peace that passes all understanding is something that psychology isn’t very good at.

Psychology taught me things, but it didn’t teach me how to have peace beyond the mind. That’s where it – and so many things around the world – end up failing. They seek peace in that which is naturally disturbed – the mind.

What happens is that shortly after we’re born, around the age of two or three, we start having … Read More »

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#48 Enlightenment-The 3 Realities vs. The Nonduality of Spiritual Enlightenment

When we answer the question “Who are we?” we might have so many ideas about who we are and we just assume they’re correct. But now we’re going to explore them and perhaps even change them.

For centuries people thought the world was flat until scientists proved that the world was actually round. It appears flat to most people, and the reason why we think it’s round today is because we’ve been taught that. Even though when we look out it seems very flat, we know it’s actually round.

Let’s look at our own assumptions and view the world differently, with eyes of enlightenment. First, we can explore time. We think that time has a history to it: there’s the past, future and present. But all we can ultimately know at this present moment is that the past and future are in … Read More »

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#47 Enlightenment-How to Discover Spiritual Enlightenment

When I was in graduate school working on my PhD, I remember I was taking a course in child psychotherapy. On the first day of class, the professor stood up and said, “We are always going to have child abuse throughout the world. Always. So what are we going to do?”
At the time, the professor was considered to be one of the top child psychologists in the world, so you couldn’t easily dismiss his statements as being that of an odd professor. But if like me you’re a lover of history, you’ll see that throughout history there have always been wars, famines, cruelties, and a constant onslaught of human tragedy.

What I see as new people enter the world of pursuing spiritual enlightenment is that they wonder “Well, what about the world? How do we change the world? If we focus … Read More »

Focus on What is Permanent: The World of Nonduality

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#46 Enlightenment-Spiritual Enlightenment & The Ghost Experiment

What Happens During Spiritual Enlightenment: You are the Ocean, not the Lotus Flower

When I was about 12 years old, I really wanted a minibike for my birthday. It just had one gear and went about 15 to 20 miles per hour. But I knew that if I got this minibike I’d be the happiest boy around. When I finally got it, I rode it all over the place. I especially rode it in my backyard. Round and round I rode, and I was in heaven. I thought “Life is so wonderful.” For a little while, it was.

But this feeling didn’t last long. I then went onto my next desire. I just kept searching externally for things that would make me happy. But they didn’t. None of them could, because they were impermanent and transitory. They changed and anything that changes will come – but then it will also go away.

I was searching … Read More »

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#45 Enlightenment-Ending Our Suffering By Spiritual Enlightenment & Nonduality

Our minds love to label things. From a very young age we start airing our opinions, such as by saying, “We like this,” “We don’t like that,” “That’s ugly,” “That’s beautiful,” or “That’s disgusting!”

Language is a mental tool based on opposites, and it is used by the mind. Once we start speaking and labeling, the mind separates ourselves from that which is. In reality, however, there just is. Once we label it, we separate ourselves from it because when we label something we are really taking away from what it really is. Words carry distinctions and oppositions. But in reality, what is exists beyond words and descriptions. It is indescribable even though that word is trying to describe something.

The best way to understand what is is to just be. We can best experience what is through silence; through silent awareness, … Read More »

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#44 Enlightenment-Spiritual Enlightenment is About Living Life with Childlike Wonder

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#43 Enlightenment-Spiritual Enlightenment & Awakening to Our Infinite Self

What is the key factor of waking up and discovering who we are?

In many ways, it’s very simple but it can be extremely difficult to do. When we’re around the age of two or three, we start identifying with things. For instance, we like and dislike certain things, we realize who our parents and grandparents are, we take on a name, we take on a personality. The longer we live, the more solidified our egoic identity becomes. We start believing everything that we’re told. But we need to take a moment and really reflect on and think about what we have taken on.

When I was growing up I had a sister named Kim and when she got married she changed her name. She wasn’t Kim Puff anymore, but she became someone else. So who is she? Is she now this … Read More »

We need to become aware of the fact that we are, and everything comes out of who we are. All there is, is beingness. Silent awareness, things that can’t be described but what we are, and everything, is not two, non-dual, isness.

The universe in which we are living is more like a play. It isn’t really real. It’s merely a play and we’re not real as players in it. We’re just acting our parts or being acted, and the only thing that is permanent is our awareness, our witness of our playing our part. We’re the actor, director, playwright, lighting, background scenes; we are everything. But what we remember is our own beingness. We’ve forgotten our full beingness of being everything that’s a part of the play.

There are many decisions we need to make throughout our lives. If we awaken … Read More »