For the “seasoned treading traveller” that we are, the spiritual hamster wheel is often looked at with humour and irony, if not frustration. We may have concluded at an intellectual level – or through occasional deep insights or glimpses - that “it is vain to seek there and far away what always and already is here and near, being effortlessly all what we seek”.
But as soon as we let go of the search and come to rest, the thought comes up that hopefully one day in the future: “Bingo, we shall get it!” Here we are back happily or miserably to the tread mill, feeling in bondage of this illusory separate self. “Hope springs eternal”, whereas this is a completely hopeless case. So now, forget hope!
It sounds like a paradox. There is nothing to do as there is no one to do anything in the first place, yet a plan that could prove fruitful is“Work hard!”, tells us Bart Marshall, in the documentary “Closer than close”.“The Self is near and the way to it is easy. All you need doing is doing nothing” Nisargadatta Maharaj
As Didier tells us: “Work hard” practically means a very specific type of doing, that is stopping entertaining separation."Doing nothing" is actually equivalent to "doing nothing harmful, ever".
Follow our other precious picks of the day:
If you have never watched Dan pronounce the word Tiruvanamalai, this is your chance to laugh at him, and perhaps at ourself!
One extract from Rupert Spira:
“Don't spend your life trying to get rid of an illusion, it is a waste of a life time...To see that what you are is not the separate limited self, is it clear to you that you are the one that is aware of your experience? If you were to turn your attention to that one, where would you go, which direction?”
And another from Unmani: from 7:30 onwards
“Are we a seeker? A spiritual person having spiritual experiences? Whatever identity you seem to get, it is still only temporary, it is still OF the world.”