Why do people talk so much about themselves and Why we 'hear' inner speech in our heads?

Why do people talk so much about themselves?

[Excerpted from:  Scientific American, Mind & Brain, Mind Matters, July 16, 2013]

"The ability to communicate—with almost anyone, about almost anything—has played a central role in our species’ ability to not just survive, but flourish. If you’re like most people, your own thoughts and experiences may be your favorite topic of conversation.  On average, people spend 60 percent of conversations talking about themselves.

Why, in a world full of ideas to discover, develop, and discuss, do people spend the majority of their time talking about themselves? Recent research suggests a simple explanation: because it feels good.

In an initial fMRI experiment, researchers compared neural activation during self-disclosure to activation during other-focused communication. Three neural regions stood out. Self-disclosure resulted in relatively higher levels of activation in areas of the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) generally associated with self-related thought. The two 

remaining regions identified by this experiment, however, had never before been associated with thinking about the self: the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and the ventral tegmental area (VTA), both parts of the mesolimbic dopamine system.

These newly implicated areas of the brain are generally associated with reward, and have been linked to the pleasurable feelings and motivational states associated with stimuli such as sex, cocaine, and good food. Activation of this system when discussing the self suggests that self-disclosure, like other more traditionally recognized stimuli, may be inherently pleasurable—and that people may be motivated to talk about themselves more than other topics.

In a follow up study, answering questions about the self always resulted in greater activation of neural regions associated with motivation and reward (i.e., NAcc, VTA) than answering questions about others, and answering questions publicly always resulted in greater activation of these areas than answering questions privately.  Importantly, these effects were additive; both talking about the self and talking to someone else were associated with reward, and doing both produced greater activation in reward-related neural regions than doing either separately. These results suggest that self-disclosure—revealing personal information to others—produces the highest level of activation in neural regions associated with motivation and reward, but that introspection—thinking or talking about the self, in the absence of an audience—also produces a noticeable surge of neural activity in these regions. Talking about the self is intrinsically rewarding, even if no one is listening.

*****

Why we 'hear' inner speech in our heads:

[ Excerpted from: Psychological Science, 16 July 2013 ]

Whether you're reading the paper or thinking through your schedule for the day, chances are that you're hearing yourself speak even if you're not saying words out loud. This internal speech — the monologue you "hear" inside your head — is a ubiquitous but largely unexamined phenomenon. A new study looks at a possible brain mechanism that could explain how we hear this inner voice in the absence of actual sound.

In two experiments, researcher Mark Scott of the University of British Columbia found evidence that a brain signal called corollary discharge — a signal that helps us distinguish the sensory experiences we produce ourselves from those produced by external stimuli — plays an important role in our experiences of internal speech.

Corollary discharge is a kind of predictive signal generated by the brain that helps to explain, for example, why other people can tickle us but we can't tickle ourselves. The signal predicts our own movements and effectively cancels out the tickle sensation.

And the same mechanism plays a role in how our auditory system processes speech. When we speak, an internal copy of the sound of our voice is generated in parallel with the external sound we hear.

"We spend a lot of time speaking and that can swamp our auditory system, making it difficult for us to hear other sounds when we are speaking," Scott explains. "By attenuating the impact our own voice has on our hearing — using the 'corollary discharge' prediction — our hearing can remain sensitive to other sounds."

Reboot The Story By Vincent Flammini

Reboot The Story by Vincent Flammini

[Vince Flammini is not unknown to our readers.  (The earlier Post is here ).  He has been keeping the shutters down at his blog site, Just Rest, for some time. He felt that there were many people disseminating so much of Non-dual stuff already and so he went into a silent mode.

I am happy he is active again under a new format.   He is orienting now his Non-dual insights and wisdom to benefit everyone more directly as a Consultant and Counselor with a down to earth approach.  His teaching will focus on equipping people in the 'everyday' life with actionable tools that prove to be 'practical and useful for daily living'.  He has a new Web Site up and working (at least the important navigation buttons do).  The site is well-designed to look simple but attractive, spacious and unintimidating.

I am grateful to Vince for his ready consent to let me reproduce here his latest write up. He is magnanimous to add:   "... use anything that I write, with or without attribution. None of it is really mine anyway! I just want to help people find more satisfaction and ease in their own life - it makes for a nicer, kinder planet."  Here is 'Reboot the Story' - his advice to Joe - on the benefit of rebooting ourselves -- like we shut down the computer and restart it when we find it locked up in a loop. Vince can be reached at: vflam2@gmail.com  -- ramesam.]

Reboot The Story by Vincent Flammini

I had an interesting conversation with a client recently – I’ll call him ‘Joe’. He is a really bright, accomplished man who has everything in the world going for him, except…

Like the rest of us, Joe has his spots that are sticky for him – covered with Velcro – you know, those places where everything sticks and hangs us up? Joe’s Velcro pretty much carpets the area of romantic relationships in his life. He can get very stuck in his thoughts about what a current partner thinks or doesn’t think about him as well as what that person’s actions might mean about him. The last few times I’d seen Joe, he felt upset and was suffering over a relationship. Joe was caught up in a lot of thinking about the relationship: Was it really good for him? Did the other person feel the same about him as he did about her? Why did he continue to put up with the inconsiderate behavior of the other person? Was he addicted to relationships? Was he codependent? How was this related to his unfulfilling relationship with his father? Should he hang around and see if the relationship would work or should he call it quits? Was he doomed to these kinds of mistimed relationships for the rest of his life? Was he the problem?

While the variables might differ (it might not be relationships for you but maybe it’s money or kids or work or sex or meaning or in-laws or, or, or…you get the idea) we can certainly recognize ourselves in the way Joe’s mind continues to spin and bubble. In telling the story of the relationship, Joe was attempting to find an answer. Trying to find an answer to a problem in our usual, habitual thinking is like trying to find your socks in the refrigerator. No matter how hard you look or how many containers you move, it isn’t very likely you’ll find them there.

The reality is that our thinking is usually a mess (more about this in another article!). Imagine that each thought is a tree in a forest. As we walk through the forest looking for the right trail, we keep bumping into more and more trees – after a while, they all begin to look the same. That is equally true for our own thinking. To paraphrase Einstein (badly), looking for a new understanding to an old problem amongst all of our old, habitual thinking – the very thinking that ‘produced’ the ‘problem’ in the first place – is almost always a losing proposition. That is exactly what Joe was doing. And, not only was Joe looking for a new tree amongst all of the ‘old growth’ he was also planting MORE trees and then wondering why he kept running into trees!

A thought occurred to me as I listened. I asked Joe what would happen if I stopped him in the middle of his work (it is very complex, exacting, and detailed) to ask him about this issue? He stopped for a moment and reflected and then said, “I would need to reboot. None of that thinking would be in my awareness at all and I wouldn’t be feeling upset. But, I know that once I started thinking about it, I would have to find where I left off in the story and then reboot and I would start feeling miserable again…Oh my God, this is all a story I’m telling myself and I’m suffering as a result of my own story!? I’m creating my own suffering with all of this!?” To say the light went on is an understatement. Joe had been feeling a good deal of anxiety and suddenly said, “It’s like the movie just ended and the lights have come on. I don’t feel any anxiety right now. It feels like it all just drained out of me!”

What is happening in us 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year from cradle to grave is exactly what Joe realized in that moment. The principle of Thought comes to life via the principle of Consciousness. We mix the two and create our moment-to-moment experience of life. It’s what we’re all always doing – playing a movie in our mind and seeing it as real – that is the nature of the interplay of Thought and Consciousness. Seeing this can save us from a lot of unnecessary suffering.

Does this mean that Joe will never get caught up in his movie about relationships again? Not at all. We all get caught up at times. However, once we have realized it in real time, our natural wisdom takes over. We end up on a learning curve that takes us deeper and deeper into really seeing how our moment-to-moment experience is constructed, and though we might get hoodwinked by the movie now and then, we won’t stay fooled forever.

Added on June 22, 2013:

Question:  Often times even on "Reboot", the same line (thought) comes back  - like a broken record - and one is stuck again.  What if the system is not digital but an old phonograph?

Vince:  Yep. That happens, too. Still just more thinking. What difference does it make if it's the same thought? I'd wager that even thoughts that repeat don't repeat constantly. There is always other thinking in the mix. But, even if not, the dynamic is the same - another thought appearing in nothing... and disappearing in nothing ... and appearing in nothing ... and disappearing in nothing ... ad infinitum...

Resting back as 'nothing' provides immense relief regardless of the size, shape, thickness, color, smell, feel, intensity, or frequency of the particular thought. This 'No-thing' is our birthright - who we are - what we are - our natural state of wisdom/intelligence/being. I have found that people with whom I’ve worked diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) still benefit significantly when they see this.

Dealing With That Uncomfortable Feeling of "Hurt"

Three Sages Advice On Dealing With That Uncomfortable Feeling of "Hurt":

Question:  How does one who understood Non-dual Oneness manage 'relationships' with others in the mundane day to day world -- especially in situations of annoying actions/words; avoidable remarks, unfair judgments etc. of 'others' and the inevitable reactions they produce within one's body? 

Even if we justify or explain away  all such things to be nothing but another manifestation of Oneness, all of it looks to be a drain on energy!

Peter Dziuban:  

What has been most helpful "here" is first, to recognize that anything that appears to be done/said in that way is done out of ignorance of who they really are.  And that seeming ignorance is no fault of their own.  The behavior isn't condoned, but the apparent individual isn't condemned for it either.  Then, all you can do is forgive and be Love.  That's all. 

Eckhart Tolle: 

How do I respond to another's pain-body (hurting me)? (7 min)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=AcYrm7h86Rk

Rupert Spira:

How to Deal with Abusive situation - some one attacking verbally or behaving in a hostile way (4 min):
http://non-duality.rupertspira.com/watch/how-to-deal-with-abusive-situations

If someone said something that is hurtful, it helps finding who you are:(13:40 min):

http://non-duality.rupertspira.com/watch/going-to-the-heart-of-an-emotion

Crumbling the 'cookie' that covers up the uncomfortable feeling (about 12 min):

http://non-duality.rupertspira.com/watch/being-with-uncomfortable-feelings

Teaching The Truth And Nothing But The AbsoluteTruth

Teaching The Truth And Nothing But The Absolute Truth

There is neither dissolution nor creation, none in bondage and 

none practicing disciplines. 

There is none seeking Liberation and none liberated. 

This is the absolute truth.  

– Gaudapada Acharya (7^th Century C.E.)

"A Taste of Death - Thirty Days with UG in Gstaad,Switzerland"   was the title of a small book that Mr. Mahesh Bhatt, a popular Movie Director in India wrote almost a couple of decades ago. It described his experience of spending a month with the anti-Guru Guru, Mr. U. G. Krishnamurti. [UG left his body six years ago on this day (22 March).]

Actually no one can experience 'death.'  For death is a non-entity. A pure imagination of another imagination.  This another imagination is what "I", "you" and every one is.  

This imagination thinks that there is a "me" in here, it has some definite  well-defined describable and identifiable attributes – a name, a form, a qualification, a set of likes and dislikes, a 'will' to do things, a birth, an age and life (in one word a ‘personality’).  It is happy wallowing in the imagination of its possessions, ownership and doership. It is scared all the time that this imagination may “end.”

But “end” it must, because all imagination is nothing but a “thought.”

No thought is permanent.  Thought is like a vibration. It comes and goes. 

It is always on the move. It is itself the movement. It has only a limited time (life) span.

The “ending” of the thought in a way that it does not come back is called as “death.”

“Death” is the end of the ‘personality.’

So the ‘person’ is dead scared of death. And the 'person' in the personality has developed all sorts of ‘tricks’ to avoid his/her end, the inevitable death. One of those tricks is a continuity by believing in after life, rebirth, ‘spirituality.’

It is said about UG that he “scarcely offers hope, his candid statements seem to show many the mirror. He has therefore been referred to as 'the anti guru', the 'un-guru', the 'seer with no solutions', 'the thinker who shuns thought'.”

UG once said :  “People throw questions at me like they would stones at dogs. Like the dog, my response is also to bark. I am merely barking, which you translate into meaningful language.”

*****

Imagine that you have, instead, the words of a loving tall fatherly figure and not the scary ‘bark of a dog.’ Imagine that he is tenderly holding your hand and taking you on a long walk explaining to you how your very questioning, your very anxiety to continue yourself as a ‘separate entity’, a person,  creates a world out there separate from you.

Peter Dziuban in Plano TX, Aug 2011
(Pic. Credit: Bart)

Then you would have got an idea of Peter Dziuban, a truly tall towering personality amongst Non-dual Teachers, both metaphorically and literally.

And do you know  the word ‘peter’ shares the same root as ‘pitr’ in Sanskrit meaning father!

[Past Posts on Peter's Teachings:  See here,  here and here .]

Peter is preparing a series of short self-help Manuals that can guide the seeker in understanding the Non-dual Oneness that "you already are" through "Gedanken experiments" one can perform for oneself.  The first one titled "Simply Notice" is expected to be out soon.

*****

Hilde is my friend I am proud of. She had a taste of her ‘death’ when Peter conducted recently one of his very rare six-day long retreats.  No wonder, she finds it very difficult to describe her experience. On my insistence she has this to say:        

Hilde at Peter's Intensive

"Not sure why it is so difficult for me to put the Non-dual topics into words, maybe because it doesn't feel adequate.  However, I have been putting down some thoughts on my impressions of the Intensive. 

This was the first time to attend a retreat like this - 6 days!  It was an "intensive" where the topics all flowed back to the major theme of "This is Life's Life".  Peter went through many different descriptive terms and ideas to dissolve separation and duality:  Historylessness, Timelessness, and Distancelessness,  We did a good amount of “undoing” the illusions that are taken as reality.

The discussions truly centered around Life itself  -- How can it be stopped?!  It cannot be!  Thought cannot keep Life from Being itself totally and fully.  This point was expanded upon in a number of ways, for example, with distancelessness , there is nothing between Life and Itself.  Although Life extends everywhere, it is still Right Here.  That is so powerful!  

Also, the historylessness of Life was pointed to.  Because Life is NOW, aliving as this aware presence.  And with timelessness, there is no past, even as what appears to have been  centuries ago in time, does not exist . 

And this one….What a relief!  There is no separate person that needs to "get it', or who is separate from this Life.  There is only this Life Living Itself unstoppably and inescapably. 

What has really stuck with me since returning home is the point that nothing can or needs to be done by the individual to either get more Presence or become more Present.  The tendency to believe that thoughts can push away Presence or that searching for Presence needs to happen just does not hold any water!  How can Present Aliveness be blocked by thoughts, feelings, circumstances?  It cannot.  Any kind of duality/separation cannot impede Life.  Something that keeps coming up since the retreat is to continue practicing the suggestion of reversing the perspective of “me” observing from the vantage point of the body to looking from outside toward the body and environment.

Every one of the participants was very clear and added a lot with their comments and insights, so it really was a group get-together.

There is a lot more to talk about for a six day intensive.  Would highly recommend listening to some of the recordings that are available!”

*****

Peter  has been so kind and benevolent to share freely links to some of the tapes of the recorded conversations that happened during the retreat. (Please see the Note below re: the links).

Peter gesticulating  All That Is is the "Now"
(Pic. Credit:  Bart)

Please Note: 

Peter regrets to inform that effective 29 Apr 2013 the links to the audio tapes are not anymore available owing to some technical problems.

We are fortunate that his Talk (32 min) on "Softness of Life" at Science and Non-duality Conference 2012 is available here from May 2, 2013:
http://fora.tv/2012/10/27/Peter_Dziuban_Softness_of_Life_Science__Nonduality

How come we see a changing world and not The Immutable Brahman?

Question: How come we see a changing world and not The Immutable Brahman?

ramesam:  The manifestation of the Non-dual, Attributeless, Immutable  and Eternal Consciousness (= Brahman) as the impermanent ever changing world (multiplicity) in a sense is an “explanatory gap” from a strict rationalistic point of view. Why the apparent world has that specific structural and textural variability as observed and did not arise in some other pattern (e.g. 'utopian' model or without the predator-prey struggles)  is, perhaps, the ‘weakest link’ in the Advaita siddhanta (theoretical framework).

Having said so, there are a number of ways to resolve the 
‘One --> many’ problem. I shall list here several metaphors just to answer the “appearance” of the world part without getting into the bigger questions related to why and how of “creation” itself (origin of the universe).

1.  Scriptural view: The Upanishads (e.g. Chandogya, Taittiriya) state that the undifferentiated changeless “That” desired to become ‘many.’ Because of the observed ‘change’ in the state, one may post facto deduce that a ‘power’ must have caused it. The name given to that power is mAyA. mAyA has no, ontologically speaking, independent existence. It is not ‘sat’ (real).  But it wrought a change. Hence it is not non-existent either.

In other words, it is the indefinable, not-real-but-also-not-unreal  power of mAyA that gives raise to the false appearance of the world.

This type of modification of the immutable Oneness into multiple forms is described by the scriptures as vivarta (Sanskrit word which can be translated as ‘changeless change’). The resultant product (appearance of the world) is placed in the category of real-unreal or mithya.

One can never locate or find an entity mAyA anywhere. The scriptures narrate through several stories the futility of searching for mAyA. Therefore, admittedly, ‘mAyA vAda’ is an explanatory artifact.

Ignorance on your part: The scriptures invoke ‘ignorance’ (avidyA) also to explain the manifestation of the variegated manifold. Ignorance arises with your forgetfulness. When a thought arises in you, you tend to forget your true nature and you will ‘run’ (metaphorically) with the thought. Thus you ‘ignore’ your True Self (of being Brahman). The ignorance tentatively, in effect, ‘veils’ what you truly are. When you forget thus who or what you truly are, you begin to see multiplicity instead of Oneness.

Other models: There are many other explanatory devices one comes across in the scriptures to elucidate the appearance of a world based on the concepts of ‘karma’ (as an effect of past actions), ‘divine play’ (a game played with no purpose), ‘anAdi’ (cyclic operation with no known point of origin) etc. etc. 

In Reality (with a capital ‘R’), the apparent world that is perceived is comparable to a dream. It lasts as long as the dreamer believes in it and does not wake up from his/her dream.  So the world is described to be no more than a “Flower in the sky” (gagana pushpa) or a “Castle in the air” (gandharva nagari).

What has to be fundamentally appreciated is the Advaitic philosophical truth that the very question of “why” (under the assumption that there has to be a preceding ‘cause’ for ‘what I see as a changing world’), makes the world to arise! In the absence of a ‘thinker’ asking such a question, ‘Whatever-Is-There’ simply IS. And that ‘Whatever-Is-There’ is Brahman. It is beyond the scope of the present space here to expand the intricate philosophical doctrine involved.

2.  “Throb in the Blob” Metaphor:  I proposed this metaphor in my Post of 23 Sep 2012 to answer essentially the same question but formulated slightly differently. 

Imagine a homogeneous isotropic indivisible infinite shapeless Blob that has awareness. Say a small throb occurs somewhere within it. The throb is a movement. The movement takes the shape of a wave with crests and troughs. Space is required for any movement to take place. Movement also necessarily involves time for the change of position from one place to the other. So along with the throb, space and time are simultaneously engendered.

Fig.1.  The mind and sensory organs act like a prism
in showing an illusory manifested manifold (After R. Spira, 2008).

As the Blob looks through the oscillatory movement (i.e. The Blob being aware, it is aware of itself), variegated, colorful and multiple shapes appear to it, much like the one uniform white light passing through a prism  gets refracted into multicolored spectrum. (See Fig. 1 and Fig. 2.)  Also bear in mind that all this is taking place somewhere within the Blob itself and not anywhere outside the Blob because there is no ‘outside’ to the Blob.  The ‘Beingness’ of the Blob gets refracted as space and ‘Eternity’ as time by the vibration. 

Fig. 2. Sensory Organs superimpose their own qualities
on to the Attributeless Consciousness (Visualization to R. Spira's explanation). 

In the above metaphor, the Blob is Brahman; the throb is a thought; and the colorful spectrum is the world. The ‘throb’ represents the thought of the “desire to see.”

The throb vibrates like a ripple. It raises and falls. With each rise of the thought, a world is generated. With each ending of the thought, the world is dissolved.

If there is no throb, there is no thought.

If there is no thought, there is no world.

The moment the throb (thought) rises, so does the world. The moment thought dissolves, the world too ends. Hence the appearance of the world happens from moment to moment.

Dennis Waite pointed out (in a private e-mail) that even language (when we try to communicate the Oneness) may act like a prism and create duality because language by its very structure is dualistic.

3.  The Computer Screen Metaphor:  Another good way to understand the multiplicity is the analogy with the computer screen.

Suppose there is a picture on the screen. When you look at the picture, apparently you see the colorful girl, the running water, green trees, red flowers etc.  But where is the screen? Has the screen disappeared anywhere? Whether it is the tree or flower or river, it is all screen only. At one pixel position, the screen takes the form of a flower and at another pixel it appears as river. But has it ever stopped being the screen whether you see a tree or water or whatever? Irrespective of the form it takes, it is always screen only. The picture on the screen temporarily veils the screen, but the screen does not disappear anywhere nor the screen stops being what it is. You are always and everywhere looking at the screen only unless you are absorbed in the content of the picture element forgetting the screen.

So also everything that appears is Brahman who tentatively appears at that point in that shape when you begin to look at things using your mind (and senses).

The everlasting screen is comparable to Brahman. If you ‘misidentify’ yourself with one of the characters on the screen or ‘non-apprehend’ the screen wherever you are, you do not see the screen, but you keep seeing the other picture elements. 

4.  The Forest and the Trees Metaphor: There is One Brahman alone and no second ‘thing’ (ekameva advitIyam). Therefore, Brahman has infinite freedom and none  who can impose restraints or controls on Brahman. So Brahman can appear in any form It chooses.

Then automatically it means whatever is appearing is Brahman only. So what you may call as the ‘world’ is nothing but Brahman. It cannot be any other thing!

Let me give you a small example. I say there is a man only here and nothing else.

But you may say, “I find two hands hanging down a torso which is standing precariously on two slender awkwardly shaped pillars. There is a round thing on the top of this structure with some holes, two small shiny moving balls covered by lids etc.  I see many things there but not a man.  Where is the man?”

The obvious thing is that you are looking at Brahman but you are fragmenting it into several parts and seeing the different parts. The entire thing is Brahman only. You are missing the wood for the trees!

Isavasa Upanishad says ‘isaavaasya midagam sarvam’ (what there is around is permeated by Brahman only), Chandogya Up. Says ‘neha nAnAsti kincana’ (there is no multiplicity here).

5.  The Eye can’t see itself:  You see with your eye; but the eye cannot see itself. Similarly, the seer can never become the seen. The moment a thing is ‘seen’, there has to be someone different there who is the seer. Right?

You are yourself Brahman (the Seer like the eye). Then how can you see yourself?

Let me give you an example. Suppose you are a drop of water. You want to find out what an ocean is. So as a drop of water you enter the ocean. What happens? Can the water drop see the ocean as a separate thing sitting out there away from itself? The water drop in the ocean loses its identity. It is as much the ocean as what is around.

Frustrating though it is, you (i.e. the one who thinks (s)he is this body-mind seeing a world out there using his sensory organs) can never see Brahman. He will see a world only.

In fact the sensory system of the human body is so built that it is sensitive to notice ‘change’ only. If there is no change, the neurons in the brain become ‘adapted’ and fail to perceive anything, (For example: have you been feeling the shirt on your back until I point out now to you?) 

6.  Looking makes the world to arise:  Brahman becomes the world the moment you look at It.

To look at a thing, you have to position yourself away from what you look at. That means you create space and distance between you and the thing you are looking at. That in turn means, you think that you are separate from the thing being looked at.

In other words, the sense of separation actually comes first and then you are able to look at a thing. When the sense of a separate ‘me’ here looking at a thing there arises, the ONE Brahman gets divided into two – “I” here and the “world” there. If there is no sense of separate ‘me’, there is no “I” here and a distant “world” there. All are One.

7.  Mind as Mirror:  Suppose you want to look at your face. How do you do it? You use a mirror. Without a mirror or some reflector, you cannot see your own face. Similarly, when Brahman gets a thought to look at itself, the ‘thought that I am separate’ comes. This ‘thought I am separate’ has the name ‘mind.’ Mind works as the mirror. So Brahman looking at himself through mind, sees his reflection – which is called the world.

The mind works with the assistance of the five senses. The five senses pass on their own qualities to what is observed (like colored filters painting their own color). As a result the one Brahman appears as multiplicity.

8.  Limitation of the Apparatus:  Suppose you are sitting in  a closed room and looking out through a small narrow window. Obviously then the view you get will be limited. It is so because of the inherent limitation or defects in the apparatus you are using to look at; but it is not a limitation of what is out there.  The mind and the sensory organs you use are inadequate to show the infinite Brahman and provide you fragmented views broken as per the senses – something visual, some part auditory, yet another part tactile and so on instead of the one “Whole.”  So you think what is seen is divided into parts attributing the limitation of the instruments of perception to what is seen.

A common example given in the Vedanta is appearance of ‘two moons because of defective vision in the eye’.  Though there is actually only one moon, a short-sighted man sees as if there is more than one moon in the sky. So your inability to perceive the unchanging Oneness of Brahman is because of the limitations of your mind and the sensory organs.

9.  The Moth and the Flame Metaphor: Thought is basically incapable wrapping itself around the conundrum of changing changelessness of Brahman like the proverbial moth rushing into the flame for a taste of it. The brilliant exposition of Rupert in this less than 8 min Video clip titled "Reality is neither Changing nor Unchanging" captures this well. 

EAT MY WORDS BY JEFF FOSTER

EAT MY WORDS
By Jeff Foster

[Jeff Foster with his ever alert eyes and infectious laughter is a dynamic and young Non-dual teacher very popular in the West.  He used to deliver the message of "No one there" with a bang a few years ago. He admits his teaching style has changed now, thanks to the interactions with people he has been having.  It is not merely the style that has changed. There is much more to it, perhaps even the focus. 

The striking contrast in Jeff's response now and in mid-2009 to starvation and hunger speaks volumes about this shift. His message of 16^th Dec 2012 is reproduced below. What he said in 2009 can be seen here. I am deeply indebted to Jeff for his kind permission to let me post his message at our Blog and also for the love and affection with which he readily gave the consent – ramesam.]

EAT MY WORDS

Jeff Foster at FaceBook on 16 Dec 2012:

"Imagine this.

You're a spiritual teacher. A ragged child, starving hungry, shivering in the bitter cold, comes up to you. She asks you why there is suffering in the world, and if we have any control over our lives. ...

But you didn't hear what the child was really asking, did you? You played your role as "spiritual teacher" perfectly, yes, but the situation may have required something totally different, and in your rush to hold up an image, you just may have missed something essential.

We can get so lost in our spiritual stories, can't we. And sometimes we can forget that the one in front of us just needs a warm meal, a bed for the night, some practical help - the human touch. And then, maybe, when their basic needs are met, they may be open to something else, who knows. But that is all future-thinking. What is here, right now?

You give her a long lecture about the ins and outs of consciousness, the perfection of 'what is', the paradox of the Absolute and the Relative, the benefits of awakening to your true nature. You tell her the story of your own awakening, how your life changed beyond recognition many years ago, how deeply at peace you are right now, how you are changing your student's lives. 

You remind her about the illusion of choice, about how in reality there is no past and future, that there is only Now. You tell her about suffering, how ultimately it is all an illusion, how we only suffer when we are at war with life, when we push away thoughts and feelings and sensations, when we stop seeing 'what is' right in front of us in the moment. You insinuate that she should accept 'what is' and stop her storytelling.

The child walks away. You feel satisfied - you spoke the Truth, without compromise. You have just contributed to that child's awakening. Or so you think.

Remember, that child cannot eat your words. She will still starve if she is not fed. Words will not stop her from freezing to death tonight. Was she really asking for more words? Is that what the situation was really calling for?

Teaching is not preaching, nor is it regurgitation. It is alive. It emerges from seeing - from deep sensitivity to the one in front of you. Deep listening. Meeting truth without agenda. And a willingness to drop any 'image' you are carrying, even the image that you are a teacher with the answers.

Right now, are we able to really listen?"

Inquiring into Compulsion - Is Spirituality too an Addiction?

Inquiring into Compulsion - Is Spirituality too an Addiction?

We are making an exception this month for our Blog Post as 2012 comes to an end. 

Instead of an article as usual, I am presenting a Video Link to an intro on "Compulsion Inquiry" by Scott Kiloby.

Scott needs no introduction to the Non-dual seekers.

I have a widget** appearing regularly on the right hand side of this Blog giving a link to the "Unfindable Inquiry", a sharp tool devised  by him about a year ago to discover to our amazement that there is no "self", a solid 'me' sitting anywhere inside us.

[**  --  The Widget referred to has since been closed by me. The link does not appear anymore.]

As the year 2012 culminates, his message, on how we become slaves to one addiction or other unconsciously, and how our body gets triggered by subliminal signals of our addiction going below the detection limits of our radar, is quite timely.

Yes, spirituality too can be an addiction -  a 'pious' aim anchoring on which we would like to attain that unfettered, unlimited, unbound, and infinite Freedom of who we Truly are. We are not conscious how this 'apparently noble' addiction could itself  be the Trojan horse for the 'ego', the very thing we misidentify with and still keep carrying it in some corner within our body unable to drop it. Scott's device helps expose all such hidden crannies and that very exposure evaporates the ghostly ego.

Compulsion Inquiry (9.5 min):  Click here

A Demo (about 32 min, just posted by Scott (21 Dec 2012)):  Click here

There is also a new Web site just for the inquiries, along with a video demonstration of the UI.

[Some of the links to Scott's site may not be working now as he updated the info and modifed his web site.]

*****

Maybe you had already seen these Audio/Videos; Even so quite worth watching again:

Non-dual Yoga Therapist Ellen Emmet: The Body of Presence - (Video 28 min):
http://bcove.me/qrwl7pr6

Non-dual Teacher Peter Dziuban (Video 6.5 min): Notice Like An Astronaut:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFra0OwtD5M

Non-dual Teacher Rupert Spira:  True Meditation never ends (Audio - about 48 mins):

http://non-duality.rupertspira.com/listen/true-meditation-never-ends-meditation

Professor of Neuroscience Bruce Hood: The Self Illusion ( Video - less than 30 min):
http://brucemhood.wordpress.com/2012/09/21/buddha-bombs/#comment-7103 

Actor Thandie Newton:  Tells the story of finding her "otherness" (Video - about 14 min):
http://www.ted.com/talks/thandie_newton_embracing_otherness_embracing_myself.html


Wishing All Our Readers

Seasons Greetings and
Best Wishes For a Happy And Prosperous
New Year

Brain activity during a trance state

Brain activity during a trance state

"Researchers at Thomas Jefferson University and the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil analyzed the cerebral blood flow (CBF) of Brazilian mediums during the practice of psychography, described as a form of writing whereby a deceased person or spirit is believed to write through the medium's hand. The new research revealed intriguing findings of decreased brain activity during mediumistic dissociative state which generated complex written content.

Spiritual experiences affect cerebral activity, this is known. But, the cerebral response to mediumship, the practice of supposedly being in communication with, or under the control of the spirit of a deceased person, has received little scientific attention, and from now on new studies should be conducted," says Andrew Newberg, MD, director of Research at the Jefferson-Myrna Brind Center of Integrative Medicine and a nationally-known expert on spirituality and the brain.

The researchers found that the experienced psychographers showed lower levels of activity in the left hippocampus (limbic system), right superior temporal gyrus, and the frontal lobe regions of the left anterior cingulate and right precentral gyrus during psychography compared to their normal (non-trance) writing. The frontal lobe areas are associated with reasoning, planning, generating language, movement, and problem solving, perhaps reflecting an absence of focus, self-awareness and consciousness during psychography, the researchers hypothesize.

Less expert psychographers showed just the opposite-increased levels of CBF in the same frontal areas during psychography compared to normal writing. The difference was significant compared to the experienced mediums. This finding may be related to their more purposeful attempt at performing the psychography. The absence of current mental disorders in the groups is in line with current evidence that dissociative experiences are common in the general population and not necessarily related to mental disorders, especially in religious/spiritual groups. Further research should address criteria for distinguishing between healthy and pathological dissociative expressions in the scope of mediumship."
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-brazilian-mediums-brain-trance-state.html

Full Article at PLOS:  
http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0049360

Desire for Liberation

Desire for Liberation

Question by Mr. Q-- :  I was going through your blog, it is beautiful. What is the relevance of the methods prescribed by the ancient scriptures in the present day?  Trying to emulate them leads us no where I guess.

ramesam: Thank you for the comment about the Blog.

I am inclined to think the same way as you expressed about our ancient scriptural stipulations / eligibility conditionalities. After all, they were developed to cater to a populace that had no present day informationbase, schooling systems, civic and other facilities and knowledge.  A reasonably educated individual in the present day would have had a mind already trained in the abilities like focusing, unbiased analysis and purposeful inquiry. Even Sankara declared that “Chittasya sudhaye karma.”  So the final message on Truth can be more direct and devoid of the unnecessary burden of mysticism and weightage given to ritualistic procedures.

Mr. Q-- : What I mean to say is that mind is the cause of duality and however refined it may get, it cannot comprehend Non-duality. I have read Mandukya karika of Gaudapada. Undoubtedly it is very bold and forthright. But it speaks from the Absolute state and we are just speculating based on assumptions – sort of indulging in conceptual thinking. I was in the monastic order of an ashram.  Now I am back home and would like to know more.

I have read many books and heard so many people. It has sharpened my intellect but it has not stopped my thinking machine, self-talking or has not dissolved my ‘self.’ I can talk about love, bliss, no mind, no self etc. But that’s my knowledge. When I am ruthlessly honest with myself, I discover how lonely I am craving for love.

ramesam:  Undoubtedly you are at that intensive phase of inquiry that everybody goes through.  You have already sharpened your mind through the various techniques followed by you and I suppose it is ready to take up serious Self-inquiry.

As you are well aware, the real understanding of the Truth is NOT the result of any action - like more meditation, rituals, yoga etc.

The simple message is, you must have heard it, “you are already That which you are seeking.”

The question then comes to the mind: Why do I still feel as if I am missing something? Why is there no full satisfaction?

Well, the answer is: You are That (tat tvam asi).

Putting it in more words:

The nirguna Brahman has the freedom to manifest in any form.

At this moment, It has manifested as that sense of a "lack” – the lacking may be ‘craving for love or feeling of loneliness’.

So that very sense of missing something, absence of satisfaction at this moment is Brahman. You are That only.

It is not that Mr. Q-- is sitting here and he possesses this sense of dissatisfaction. There is no Mr. Q-- at that moment separate from that sense of lack at this moment.

Or let us look at it this way:

That feeling of 'lack' is after all another "thought." You have noticed that thought. Do not own that thought and begin claiming, “It is my feeling.”

Like all thoughts, it will also go away. A new thought will come. Do not hang on to any of the thoughts. Also do not make an effort to push it away or annihilate it. You are not different from that thought at that moment. So you cannot annihilate yourself.

Suppose there is a particular image on the computer screen. Is the image different from the screen? It is the computer screen only appearing as that image at that moment. Next moment there will be a different image. The screen is always there as the base for all images. The screen does not own the image or keep it as its possession. The screen itself does not change - it continues to be itself and also it remains as itself (the screen) in the gaps where the image is not there. The screen does not hold on to any image. It lets all images to appear and also lets them go. You are like the screen. The thoughts, feelings and even the world are like the images on the screen.

A feeling of "lacking something" has appeared as a thought because of some stored information in you (somebody's teaching or some fancy idea about liberation being an ever happy state etc.).  You are trying to obtain that non-existing (unreal) undefined expectation of an "ever-happy aroused state" by pushing away what you are in the "NOW."

By this effort to push away that thought, you are giving more energy to that thought to sustain itself.

Just simply notice that thought which gives you a sense of "lack."

Do not have anything to do with it. Do not even think about it.

Just be aware of it like you are aware of the sounds from the street. And leave at that.

You never bothered yourself what sounds are coming from the street. You do not pay attention to them. You do not stop or desire to change them. Sounds come and go away. So treat the thoughts also similarly.

Just as the sounds have no value, the contents of the thought (good, noble, mean, bad etc.) have no value. You do not have to invite a good thought or get rid of a bad thought. Nothing to invite or reject. Whatever arises at the moment, you are that.

This is an important stage and if this is understood, that is the END of seeking.

(The Posts on Annette Nibley and Conversations with a Living Gaudapada at this Blog deal with this aspect. Please read these two Posts also).

Mr. Q-- : Thanks for writing at length. I agree with what you say about discontent that a spiritual seeker goes through. But in my case I would say I am not at all a spiritual seeker. I have all kinds of mundane tensions, need to earn money to be financially independent. I would like to say that I am more curious than being a seeker. I have observed that the mind uses everything to perpetuate ego.

ramesam:  You are obviously at a turning point in your life - you left the monastic life and looking for a job etc.

The important point is that you see your state very clearly yourself. You are watching your thoughts rather than getting carried away by the thoughts. That is very good.

We need not talk about spirituality. "Seeking" does not mean spirituality.

You said that you were just curious. Curiosity also requires sincere "inquiry."

You also said that you do observe the observer-observed-observing. Who you think is that observer?

You have all these thoughts about yourself, your name, age, desire to settle down, the knowledge gained from your studies at the monastery. Added to these are your feelings, hurts, opinions, doubts, uncertainities etc.

All these are in the mind as thoughts. So the bundle of all these thoughts together define what is known as Mr. Q--.  That makes up your personality. There is nothing wrong with this. It is quite natural to have all such thoughts as long as you have a body.

Now this Mr. Q-- is not happy about all these thoughts. He wants to avoid these thoughts and stop them. But notice that these are another bunch of more thoughts! These thoughts are not different from earlier bunch of thoughts for which we have identified with the name Mr. Q--.

Do you see the funny part? One set of thoughts identify themselves as Mr. Q-- and another set of thoughts now behave as if they are not Mr. Q--. But they are all Mr. Q-- only. They are all together your personality - including bodily needs like food, lust etc.

This bunch of thoughts called Mr. Q-- is seeking now to have a different set of thoughts. It is all a game of thoughts.

So the important thing is not to  identify yourself with any of these thoughts. It is not a question of stopping the thoughts. Thoughts don't stop (except in deep sleep).

But you are watching the thoughts. Be always the watcher and not the thoughts. So remember yourself always as the watcher of thoughts.

I am sure, you know all this verbally. You have to start digesting and assimilating it by practicing. Verbal understanding is not enough. If you understand verbally, it will remain only as another thought. So you have to constantly practice to remember that you are the watcher and not the thought that you watch.

So leave all spirituality. Let this part be clear.

Mr. Q-- :  How about the cause and effect relationship?

ramesam: It will be easy to understand when once the earlier material is clearly grasped – that you are the watcher like the constant unchanging computer screen which appears as one image or another from moment to moment..

You know how a thermometer works. It can measure temperature only at the given moment.

It cannot tell you the temperature that was 5 minutes back or 3 days ago.

It also cannot tell the temperature of tomorrow or one hour after.

It always measures in the 'now.'

Similarly, your consciousness also works always in the "Now."

Consciousness has no past or future.

Even if you think of, say, your meal of yesterday or going to school when you were 5 years old, it is clearly a thought about yesterday or an incident when you were 5 yrs old. It is from the memory of the past.

The memory appears as an image in the mind in the "Now."

Image in the mind now means, it is also a thought.

Even if you think of future, it is also an image - a thought in the mind.

Your consciousness detected the thought about the past or about the future. But the detection is happening in the "Now" - like a thermometer sensing the temperature .

So really speaking, your consciousness did not experience the past or future but it experienced (detected) a thought occurring in the now, in the present moment.

Like the thermometer, your consciousness also does not have a past or future.

Hope it is clear so far.

You know already that you are not your visible physical body.

You know already that you are not your mind. 

You are your Consciousness. And Consciousness can work only in the Now like a thermometer.

Agreed?

If you think that there is a cause that has given raise to an effect, it will always take time for the cause to change into an effect.

The cause will come first and the effect later. So a time period is involved between cause and effect. Like cause in the past, an effect in the present or in the future.

Consciousness does not have past or future. It IS always in the Present Now as explained above. You are your Consciousness. You have no past or future.

How can then Consciousness see any cause that possibly happened in a past -- after all a 'past' does not exist for Consciousness – remember that Consciousness only knows Now, no memory of past for It?

If you 'think' there was a cause and you see the effect now, it is the mind as memory showing an image of the past. You as Consciousness observed the image or thought in the Now.

So when you, Consciousness, have no 'time period', how can there be a cause in the past and its effect coming later?

Only a memory thinks about past and an imagination thinks about the future. And these are all thoughts detected or seen by Consciousness in the Now.

You or your Consciousness is what is in the present. You are always "eternally" in the present.

Life is what is present. Do not live in the past. Living in the past is like living in memory - can you live in memory? You cannot be alive now if you lived in memory only!

Further, Consciousness is all that exists like the computer screen.  The screen is one though there may be many images. We can talk of a relationship only when there are at least two entities. A discussion on the relationship between cause and effect can be there only if these are two existing entities. But multiplicity is an imagination only, imagined by the mind. What really IS is One Consciousness only. There are no causes, effects and relationships. Therefore, we need not talk of a relationship between a non-existing cause and effect.

You may also like to see here where I discussed "causality" in response to another question.