Awareness!

[Ananda]

namaste friends,

i haven't been such a big advaita (non duality) reader for the last 7 to 8 months but 4 days ago i was drawn to this book named "Awareness by Anthony De Mello” who is a Jesuit priest by the way. (http://www.amazon.com/Awareness-Anthony-Mello/dp/0385249373)

I recommend this book heartily for everyone, it will shake the hell out of you and maybe give you some good wake up to reality slaps along the way.

Now the reason why I am posting about this book here and not in the Books, Websites, Audio… forum is because I have never been so much touched by advaitic thought until now and I think the reason for that is due to the practice of deep meditation which has really cultivated inner silence within me as it seems.

putting some of that pure advaitic thought into practice like being aware of the here and now hasn’t been so alive until now i mean i knew the whole deal intellectually and I’ve done a lot of extensive reading on advaita and have putten it into practice 2 to 3 years ago and am still doing so until today to a certain degree but now it's clarity it's here something has changed and is changing still and that something is more real than intellectual...

And the thing is working like in my deep meditation except that the present moment\\the now the voice of the people around me everything is the mantra in daily activity and when I flow with my thoughts then I suddenly snap out of it and come back to be in the now like the way we snap out of thoughts and come back to be with the mantra in an automatic way.

and trust me it's pretty clear to the extent where i don't know how to explain it but it's here now and pretty mindfull and everything is more alive and it feels really sweet.

But I hope this practice of awareness won’t lead me into any overloading symptoms since it seems to be working like mantra meditation and in case it does I’ll warn you guys unless someone else has been here before and would like to warn everyone early on.

light and love,

Ananda

[karl]

The bit I read seemed odd. 'I would rather have happiness instead of...'. Well, sorry, but you can have happiness right now, that's everyones right. It's not quantative as you can never know just how much happiness you are having.

From the short bit I read it sounds like the 'tough love' approach. Somebody letting you know exactly what is what, in other words 'your asleep and it's time to wake up' equates to 'you got yourself into this mess and now it's you that needs to get out of it. Is that about it?

If it is, then it's common sense. it will work well for some and not for others .You need a measure of humour when intoning this sort of straight talking.......for those in the therapy line a book called 'provocative therapy' by frank farrely covers similar ground in face to face situation (its not for the novice practitioner or keen amateur as the ideas and techniques sound very harsh from an external point of view and need using with a large measure of finesse and fun).

[Ananda]

hi karl,

quote:it will work well for some and not for others .

agreed on that... it's waking up from the programing we had in the society we live in it's a return back to the basics you may say.

and i am sharing this book because i benefited from it tons as it seems, i don't know why but the awareness i mentioned above seems to be still going on with me today as well.

i am here present and i know that this isn't enlightenment or anywhere near but it's new and interesting as if i woke up from hypnosis or day dreaming and it feels really realy good and alive.

by the way i always like reading your posts even though i might disagree with some of them but still you are offering an interesting angle.

kindest regards,

Ananda

[Ananda]

oh and about the happiness part in your post, you obviously misunderstood it if it's in the chapter "on the proper kind of selfishness."

the book is all about realizing the happiness we already have right now here with us and saying what you said really surprises me bcz i don't know where you have found that.

and by the way this book is all about would you rather be right or enlightened?

[Parallax]

Hey Ananda,

Thanks for this post. I had heard of Anthony de Mello, but so far had not read any of his stuff. Looked him up on Wikipedia and read some of his quotes...I must say I am intrigued!!

A few de Mello quotes I enjoyed (not necessarily from the Awareness book):

"As you identify less and less with the "me," you will be more at ease with everybody and with everything. Do you know why? Because you are no longer afraid of being hurt or not liked. You no longer desire to impress anyone. Can you imagine the relief when you don't have to impress anybody anymore? Oh, what a relief. Happiness at last! You no longer feel the need or the compulsion to explain things anymore."

"If it is peace you want, seek to change yourself, not other people. It is easier to protect your feet with slippers than to carpet the whole of the earth."

"Spirituality means waking up. Most people, even though they don’t know it, are asleep. They’re born asleep, they live asleep, they marry in their sleep, they breed children in their sleep, they die in their sleep without ever waking up. They never understand the loveliness and the beauty of this thing that we call human existence. You know— all mystics— Catholic, Christian, non-Christian, no matter what their theology, no matter what their religion— are unanimous on one thing: that all is well, all is well. Though everything is a mess, all is well. Strange paradox, to be sure. But, tragically, most people never get to see that all is well because they are asleep. They are having a nightmare."

And last but not least:

"I'm going to write a book someday and the title will be I'm an Ass, You're an Ass. That's the most liberating, wonderful thing in the world, when you openly admit you're an ass. It's wonderful. When people tell me, "You're wrong." I say, "What can you expect of an ass?"

I'm going to pick up a copy of Awareness right after I finish Yogani's Self-Inquiry book...

Thanks Ananda!!

[Ananda]

a great choice of quotations, and in some of them there is an answer to brother karl as well.

god bless you dear Parallax and thk you for the morning laughs and go for it this book is very much worth it.

oh and Yogani's books are all gems of wisdom as well, they are like food to the soul[^] and really after a few months of deep meditation you will see a change while identifying with advaitan thought it will become more alive more real in the now and the past or the future won't nagg us a lot from enjoying our present moment.

namaste brother, and a salute to Anthony for being such a good straight forward ass[].

Ananda

[Ananda]

quote:“It is a great mystery that though the human heart longs for Truth, in which alone it finds liberation and delight, the first reaction of human beings to Truth is one of hostility and fear!”      

talk about ego defense[]

[Sparkle]

Thanks brother Ananda for bring up De Mello, here is another quote;

"Let's suppose, for example, there is an enormous wind outside and I want the people in my country to get an idea of what an American gale or hurricane is like.  So I capture it in a cigar box and I go back home and say, "Look at this."  Naturally, it isn't a gale anymore, is it?  Once it's captured.  Or if I want you to get the feel of what the flow of a river is like and I bring it to you in a bucket.  The moment I put into a bucket it has stopped flowing.  The moment you put things into a concept, they stop flowing; they become static, dead.  A frozen wave is not a wave.  A wave is essentially  movement, action; when you freeze it, it is not a wave.  Concepts are always frozen.  Reality flows."

[YogaIsLife]

Hi, interesting thread.

This guy speaks nicely about awakening but does he advocate any practice? Obviously he is passionate about other people waking up but how, does he advice, one can get awakened?

Hope he is not just one of those that just scream at your face: "AWAKE!". Although this is necessary and can definitely fuel one's Bhakti it can also be insufficient. To read a whole book on how I am asleep and I must awaken sounds a bit boring to me as I already know that...Nothing bad with an occasional reminder though, I agree so I might check out this book!

[Ananda]

namaste dear Sparkle,

thk you for the quote and it's always a pleasure to be in the presence of your silence.

[Shanti]

I love listening to Father Anthony De Mello.

His talks have so much loving and so much truth.


You can listen to him.. here is a playlist of his talks.

[Ananda]

quote:Originally posted by YogaIsLife

Hi, interesting thread.

This guy speaks nicely about awakening but does he advocate any practice? Obviously he is passionate about other people waking up but how, does he advice, one can get awakened?

Hope he is not just one of those that just scream at your face: "AWAKE!". Although this is necessary and can definitely fuel one's Bhakti it can also be insufficient. To read a whole book on how I am asleep and I must awaken sounds a bit boring to me as I already know that...Nothing bad with an occasional reminder though, I agree so I might check out this book!

Oh yes my friend[],

in the mentioned above book he gives more than one technique and includes meditation.

plus he has other books which teach meditation and contemplative prayer....

and he doesn't say that you'll just be awake, no it's not like that but he speaks about awareness (mindfulness) as a main technique for bringing forth true self realization in due time or getting us closer to it.

plus the guy is a jesuit and these guys do a lot of spiritual practices and retreats...

so yes purification is involved and this fellow isn't against it as it seems; he is pro spiritual practices.

and he is a lot into teachings or transmition of knowledge in silence and i've kind of benefited from that bcz truely when you read that book (speaking for myself and for some other people whom i read there testimonials and reviews here and there after i finished the book) a presence is felt a very powerful one which shakes you up and a silent seed seems to be awakening...

you can say that this guy is a lot like Yogani, in putting spiritual practices and deep inner silence into paper.

and if his stuff wasn't special i wouldn't recommend it for others[]

it's really funny i started reading for this guy a few days ago and here i am playing as an advocate for him.

yet it's worth it, he payed me more than my fair share of Aha....

but just to put a little sign as a reminder, i don't think i would've reacted the same to this book if it hasn't been from the purification i already accomplished from Yogani's AYP.

kindest regards,

Ananda

[Ananda]

we cross posted Shanti[], thk you very much for the audio will take a look for certain.

but let's just pray his vids will make my connection speed a bit more awakened.

[YogaIsLife]

Thanks Ananda for your kind reply!

Now I am definitely gonna check this guy out! I already seen that the book Awareness is in the library here so it is the next I'll borrow! Thanks!

Thank you also Shanti for the video links. Looks really interesting!

Oh...It's a wonderful life!

[Ananda]

you are most welcome brother.

namaste