Liturgies

Taken from The Art of original thinking by Jan Phillips.

“Humanity is being taken to a place where it will have to choose between suicide and adoration,” wrote the Jesuit priest and paleontologist Teilhard de Chardin. The fate of the world, of every child in the world, is in the hands of those of us who populate it, and we are each at that choice point, each responsible every day for actions that move the tipping point one way or another. The matter of original thinking now is an urgent one, as it is time to think anew, to weave the findings of Myths: Dispelling the Old, Defining the New science—of our true interconnectedness, our profound and universal indivisibility—into new myths and stories that feed our souls and inspire acts of adoration.

One of the most revered scientists of all time, Albert Einstein, believed likewise. He wrote:

A human being is part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings, as something separate from the rest. A kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from the prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. The true value of a human being is determined by the measure and the sense in which they have obtained liberation from the self. We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if humanity is to survive.

Hi Everyone,

I’m Carolyn. If I haven’t met you as yet. Good morning.

The reading just then speaks of a new way of thinking that has been emerging in the world, one that is more universal and reflecting of the connectedness of the entire human and non-human family. This new way of thinking, as I understand it, is an integrated approach to spirituality and it rests on the ancient wisdom teachings of non duality.

At the outset I would like to say whilst we enquire into this mystery that we all are, nobody to date really knows what it really is.

Rumi says “There are 3 ways to approach the mystery of the divine, the first is through prayer, the second is through meditation and the third and most important is via conversations”. I am very grateful to be part of this amazing community that provides this container for us all to explore the true meaning of our lives from wherever we are on that journey. So thank you...

Today I am going to attempt to give you a glimpse into the concept of non-duality as I understand it and how it has helped me to experience moments of freedom and thereby live a happier, fuller and more enlivened life in the last few years. Then taking non dual consciousness and putting it into an evolutionary context with the hope of making some sense of the crisis situations on so many fronts  that we face as a global family.

So firstly what is non duality? It simply means, just that: non dual – not two. It comes from the ancient Indian Vedic teachings of the Advaita  Vedanta where “Advaita” is a Sanskrit word that means “not two”. In other words “Oneness”.

So in a nutshell, non-duality is simply Oneness, one with “god”, the mystery, universal intelligence, love, source — whatever you want to call it. One with each other.

I first came across non duality seven years ago when I was facing a very challenging time in my own life.  I remember sitting on my verandah in a state of total frustration having tried everything my limited mind could, to improve my situation. I felt like I was hitting my head against a wall. I broke down, cried profusely actually sobbed for a good 1 hour or so and then finally at the end of it put my hands up in the air and shouted out loudly, “I give up! I surrender! Take me and do whatever you want with me!” Lucky there were no neighbors around!

I truly surrendered to the divine in that moment of helplessness. For the rest of the day and from then on I would often experience moments of bliss. A feeling of just being carried. That all would be well. In fact, I had this sense that all was already well despite the seemingly opposite circumstances that surrounded me at the time.

Soon after that, I came across a book written by an Indian philosopher , Jiddu Krishnamurti who writes on non duality and  when asked once how he would sum up his entire teachings he replied, “I don’t care whatever happens.”

He meant that he was ok with whatever happened. He did not judge it as good or bad, happy or sad. He just saw it as it was. He experienced the feelings that the incident evoked in him and then had this ability to just drop them. Thus freeing him to look at his situation from a birds eye perspective you may say and therefore giving him the ability to deal it with much more clarity and maturity than if he was emotionally caught in it.

So how do we start to experience this way of being when from the time we were young we have been taught to otherwise? The need to be right, to be apologized to, holding onto anger, resentment, feeling rejection, jealously; “I’m not good enough, not capable enough” (that was my hot favourite), and so on and so forth and slowly letting a these fixed ways of being, rob us of other truly magical experiences that pass us by in the meanwhile.

I’d like to share with you all a couple of exercises that have helped me grasp the understanding of non-duality.

The first exercise helped me understand who or rather what I was which I believe is the key to experiencing non duality, so if you would like to engage in it that would be good and if not that’s good too

So if you close your eyes and watch out for the next thought. Imagine that it is coming from the outside of your right temple going across your forehead and out the left temple.

I am going to wait a few moments while you do that. You might notice that no thought is coming while you are watching out for it. And if your eyes are closed what is it that is doing the watching then, it feels like it is somewhere behind me or to the side, I’m not sure. It feels like it has no boundaries and is definitely not tangible. It’s what we call awareness, spaciousness that which is always there, indestructible and always free.

I realized that I was simply that spaciousness, which had no boundaries, also referred to as consciousness. And if I am that spaciousness and you are that spaciousness, that spaciousness is what pervades everything in the entire cosmos, we are therefore all connected. And whatever affects one, directly or indirectly, affects all. Therefore every action and reaction of every one of us counts.

Continuing to breathe gently and feeling into that spaciousness available to us in every moment through the eloquent silence of our breath.

So my very first insight was that I was simply that spaciousness, in which all of my life was arising.

Sometime later I chanced upon another exercise that helped me further understand non duality in a way that I could integrate it into my life.

This one invited me to look at my life as though it was a movie.

If I went to a movie and it was a sad story, or a comedy it would make me cry, or be happy. That sadness or happiness would linger on for a few hours perhaps. But then the next day I would be back to normal, available to experience whatever came along without yesterday’s feelings affecting today’s experiences.

So if I were to consider my life to be like a movie in which this physical body “Carolyn” is the main character (made it to Bollywood) and I, (the spaciousness) am watching it, just as I was watching out for that thought. Then, if something sad happened, for example my marriage broke down. I would allow myself to feel the sadness of it, then realize I had the ability to drop it and allow myself to experience other aspects of my life as they came along like being with my kids or coming here.

It does not mean that I am running away from my situation, it just allows me to not get sucked into it and thereby I can deal with it with much more clarity.

Of course I very often catch myself thinking that I am my body and my mind and the rest of it but then as soon as I feel any sense of fear, emotional pain, sorrow ... I immediately know that I am identifying with the self, this physical body  ‘Carolyn’. And all I do is just stay with it as I would at the movies. If I saw a sad scene at the movie.... I wouldn’t run out? But then very soon I can drop it and again remember that I am that ‘spaciousness’ that love. Indestructible and always free.

Integrating non-duality into my life has really helped me live my life in a way that allows me to fully participate in it more and more without worrying about the outcome or being concerned about what anyone thinks of me. It has allowed me to be authentic in my relationships and this has been the most rewarding of them all.

My most recent insights into  the mystery has come from  modern day mystic and philosopher Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory where he suggests that all of life is there to be experienced in all of its fullness . In fact whatever it is we are afraid of or tend to avoid is exactly what we need to go towards. Also known as shadow work.

Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory suggests that spirituality is an integration of all aspects of our lives and in a nutshell it is not about transcending the body but rather embodying the transcendent. In other words realizing and experiencing our “Godness” here in this physical plane especially in the midst of our trials.

For what could our world look like if every one of us felt whole, complete and interconnected?

Being activists from a place of love is what is needed at this time of crisis. We need transformational change. And that can only happen when we start to recognize that every one of us however we may appear, good or bad is nothing else but love, that spaciousness. Indestructible and always free.

Studies have shown that crisis precedes transformation to a higher order.

Eminent futurists believe that the crisis situations we are all facing today on so many fronts as a global family could be heralding the death of a separated way of being and moving into a resurrection, a spiritual renaissance, a sense of Oneness, which will lead us towards a more sustainable and compassionate future. Many scientists believe we are evolving as a species. The only difference is that this time we, human consciousness, not Darwinian natural selection, is in the driving seat. Tasting non-duality and understanding our interconnectedness at a profound level leads to the realization that the thoughts and actions of everyone, everyday count in this time of transition.

I ‘d like to end on a poem by Rumi titled Awake.

AWAKE! The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don’t go back to sleep.   You must ask for what you really want. Don’t go back to sleep.   People are going back and forth across the doorsill. Where the two worlds touch. The door is round and open. Don’t go back to sleep