NON-DUALITY ADVAITA LIBERATION
Next London Meeting - 18th July 2000
(No meeting in August)
You can see interviews with Richard, Tony Parsons,
Jeff Foster and others on
www.conscious.tv
click on 'non-duality'
To read extracts from Richard's books, click on Book Extracts. To order, go to foot of home page.
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Interview with Richard by Tom Carter of www.consciousmindevents.com
Tom Can you explain what non-duality is ?
Richard Non-duality is a description of the seeing that there is only Oneness, or rather an attempt to describe this, as an actual description is impossible. The seeing of Oneness can only occur when the sense of being a person, an individual living a life full of choices in a separated world, falls away. When this happens, the self is seen to be empty, the individual is seen to be an emanation of consciousness, and 'you' and 'I' are seen to be the light in which everything arises. The relationship between the apparent individual and Oneness, or Being itself, is the same as the relationship between a wave and the ocean. The wave is the ocean waving; you and I are Oneness 'personing'.
This has been described in many spiritual traditions, from Advaita to Zen, yet it belongs to none.
The seeing of Oneness either happens or it doesn't. Nothing that the false self can do, no practice or reading of spiritual texts, will enable it to see that it is false. I do not give recommendations, but if I did, in the face of this immense hopelessness, I would recommend that we relax. This is it. This is the entirety. This is already the promised paradise. Samsara and Nirvana are one so we may as well relax and enjoy it.
Tom How did you arrive at this view point or awakening?
Richard This is not a point of view. A point of view is an idea which emanates from the mind. The mind can never see or realise non-duality although it may comprehend or miscomprehend many concepts about it.
Awakening and liberation are either seen or they are not seen. Here they are seen, but that's not important. In any case, being awake and being asleep are the same thing, but that cannot be known while we are asleep. The awful paradox is that there is no such thing as liberation but that cannot be known until there is liberation. The mind has a tendency to collapse around such a paradox.
Tom Has it been a positive force in your life?
Richard No, because I do not have a life. Actually, no one has a life, but until liberation is seen it will be felt that there is a person who owns their life and has responsibility for it.
Nevertheless, although liberation has no necessary implications, there is a tendency for certain changes to take place when Oneness is seen. For example, a certain level of neurotic feelings may drop away and there may be more relaxation and presence. Time is seen through, so there will probably be less guilt and regret about the past and less anxiety about the future. The disappearance of meaning, purpose and hope can also be a great blessing and so can the end of searching. So this character has a preference for being awake.
Tom Can people learn to wake up to the idea of Non Duality, or is there just awakening and it either is or it isn't seen.
Richard People can learn about Non-Duality, but we cannot wake up by learning. Learning is a function of the mind and the mind cannot help us to awaken although it may fervently believe that it can. That is the nature of the mind.
Tom In 'The Book of No One', are you giving a description when you say “There is no one”? Do you mean we are just experiencing things happening but we have no control over them, as if we are observing the mind of God through each other?
Richard “There is no one” is not a philosophical statement, it is a literal description of what is seen in liberation.
We do not experience things happening, because there is no 'we'. Things happen, and these may include the sensation that they are happening for 'me', a person. This sensation ceases when liberation is seen.
This communication is often misunderstood as stating that we have no control. That is not what I am saying at all. I am saying that there is no control because there is no person, which is altogether different.
If you want to describe Oneness as God observing itself, I think that is a lovely metaphor, but I tend to avoid such language myself because the word 'God' can set too many hares racing across the Western mind. This is because in the West, we tend to think in terms of a personal creator God. In the East, the language used about God is much closer to the language used about non-duality.
Tom What are your insights into death? What happens to us? Do we continue in any form?
Richard Death is the end of the dream of separation. In liberation and in death (which are the same thing) it is seen that there is no person, there is only Oneness.
Nothing happens to us in death but that's all right because nothing is happening to us now. There is no 'us'.
We are not continuing right now, so we do not continue after death. There is only Being.
Tom If non-duality is seen, do your choices still matter, the choice to be good or the choice to be bad, depending on what you determine to be good and bad?
Richard There is no one who makes choices. There never was anyone who made choices. A person may feel that all kinds of choices matter and may consider them to be good or bad in all sorts of ways but this is seen through in liberation when the person falls away.
Tom If you were a murderer and you awoke to non-duality would you remain a murderer? If you were a kind and loving person before you awoke, would you still be kind and loving afterwards?
Richard There are no rules. Non-duality excludes nothing. As soon as we exclude something, we are back in duality – we have non-duality over here and something we have excluded from it over there.
Nevertheless, if the impulse to commit murder came from a neurotic or psychopathic tendency, it is quite likely that this would drop away in the seeing of Oneness. And if the impulse to be kind and loving came from a compulsive and neurotic need to be needed or liked, what is often called 'co-dependency', that also might drop away in liberation.
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A brief introduction to Non-Duality
In liberation it is seen that the individual that we think we are is simply an appearance. At our heart and at the heart of everything is undifferentiated Being from which all differences appear. There is no self, no individual, no person.
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The most common misconception about liberation is that it is something an individual can gain. But liberation is a loss - the loss of the sense that there ever was a separate individual who could choose to do something to bring about liberation.
When it is seen that there is no separation, the sense of vulnerability and fear that attaches to the individual falls away and what is left is the wonder of life just happening. Instead of meaning there is a squirrel motionless on a grey tree trunk, legs splayed, head up, looking straight at you. Instead of purpose there is the astonishing texture of cat's fur or the incredible way an ant crawls over a twig.
When the sensation that I am in control of my life and must make it happen ends, then life is simply lived and relaxation takes place. There is a sense of ease with whatever is the case and an end to grasping for what might be.
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Many teachers of non-duality suggest that there is someone who can do something to heal their sense of separation; in other words that there is a person who is able to discover that they are not a person. The absurdity of this idea is often camouflaged by highly complex and subtle thinking.
Teachings about non-duality frequently present the seductive idea that liberation can be realised through an evolutionary spiritual path. This has no actual connection with non-duality but it can offer us a convincing, although meaningless, story about it.
From this story arise the many paths, doctrines, techniques, gurus, teachers, mantra-salesmen, workshops and groups which make up the spiritual bazaar.
Any way of searching may lead to a person being more comfortable. That is fine but it is all that you get - a person who is more comfortable in their prison. If you are in prison, it’s far better to be comfortable but that doesn’t get the person out of the prison they perceive themselves to be in.
Nothing will get the person out of their prison because the person is the prison. When the person drops away, it is seen that there never was a prison in the first place.
Then it is seen that ‘I’ and ‘you’ are the light in which everything arises.
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“Richard's description of what has been seen in liberation is both eloquent and down to earth. His direct, uncluttered and concise expression can be readily identified with and speaks directly to that knowing which is beyond seeking.”
Tony Parsons on ‘I Hope You Die Soon’.
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Richard lives in England on the border of West Kent and East Sussex.
You can contact Richard by e-mailing
richardsylvester@hotmail.co.uk
Or by phoning
01892 549312
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If you would like to order a copy of
'The Book of No One' (242 pages) for £14.80
(£13.45 + 1.35 p. and p.)
or
‘I Hope You Die Soon' (117 pages) for £9.35
(£8 + £1.35 p. and p.)
or both books for £20
including post and packing
please send a cheque to
Richard Sylvester
The Old Stables, Sandrock Road,
Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN2 3PR
'I Hope You Die Soon' is also available in German as
'Erleuchtet - und was jetzt?'
and in French as
'J'espere Que Vous Allez Mourir Bientot'
For more information go to
www.randomhouse.de/ansataintegrallotos/
www.loriginel.com
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