Showing posts with label Scott Kiloby. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Scott Kiloby. Show all posts

 On the thread https://www.facebook.com/groups/AwakeningToReality/permalink/4869178826456842/?__cft__[0]=AZXLy48f2crzwUoMeB9-uZN1HGZJPvSYu8ahKztfQ8gaACwOtzakD1MQB79JhCzbcJxecXo43FiZSrbx7MDV1KL8-GIa5DWsUNhn6YV5YcFDPh1_gvZVH4QhsteI-7U4Ztr21GpUyFJCHI-lDvqapUEOdYB7OmJBVeI98Cur7RgL5-pYH5WUD9pPoUwpOnQN-LM&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R 

 

I wrote:

  • Yes but even vidya or rigpa is exhausted in the case of anatta. There is no unchanging awareness involved. Awareness if used as a word is merely a convention like weather.
    I wrote previously:
    “Particularly, phenomena is defined as objects with characteristics. That is why they are exhausted, but not pure appearances. As the Dzogchen texts and Malcolm explained, even rigpa/vidya as a knower is exhausted at the end of the path when the out-of-phase duality between vidya and dhatu collapses. There is no unchanging awareness
    ...
    Another interesting 'technical' point since this is DhO. There was a point in his retreat where Arcaya Malcolm Smith described how at the mature phase of Dzogchen practice, the 'vidya'/'rigpa' (the knowing/knowledge) is exhausted where the vidya and dhatu (something like knowing and field of experience) totally collapsed in a 1:1 synchrony (and he gestured two circles coming together), whereas before that point [the exhaustion of vidya] there is a sort of out of phase issue between vidya and dhatu....
    ... His student Kyle did inform me that it is the same as what I call anatta realization [which I realised almost 10 years ago, it is the same as MCTB's fourth path]. Also, Malcolm mentioned many people have the wrong idea that Vidya/Rigpa is some eternal thing that just goes on forever, but it too is exhausted later along with all other phenomena [although this is not annihilation as appearances/pure vision still manifest] (elaboration: http://awakeningtoreality.blogspot.com/.../acarya-malcolm... )”
    ...
    Scott Kiloby this year: Some nondual teachings say that you (awareness) are like the
    screen on which the movie of “self” plays! Rubbish. You can’t split the universe. Only thoughts say there’s a split! There’s no separation between you-the screen-and the movie of self! This is love! Don’t try to understand this. Experience it!
    Also can you see where bypassing comes in when you try to split the universe between awareness and what arises to awareness? Things hide in our unconscious. Believing that you are the awareness is a great way to keep things hidden from view!
    August 2010:
    (11:07 PM) Thusness: for example u see AF description of insight and experience are very similar to what i described in anatta article.
    (11:09 PM) AEN: oic.. ya
    (11:11 PM) Thusness: there is no ending to this realization
    (11:12 PM) AEN: oic..
    (11:42 PM) Thusness: Allow the muddy waters of mental activity to clear;
    Refrain from both positive and negative projection -
    leave appearances alone:
    The phenomenal world, without addition or subtraction, is Mahamudra/liberation.
    -Tilopa
    this is very good
    (11:46 PM) AEN: oic..
    (11:51 PM) Thusness: ask how will what he realize thus far can lead to the insight that The phenomenal world, without addition or subtraction, is Mahamudra/liberation.
    ask luckystrikes
    (11:52 PM) AEN: ok
    (11:55 PM) AEN: posted
    (12:29 AM) AEN: Scott Kiloby: If you see that awareness is none other than everything, and that none of those things are separate "things" at all, why even use the word awareness anymore? All you are left with is the world, your life, the diversity of experience itself.
    (12:30 AM) Thusness: very good.
    (12:31 AM) Thusness: This is anatta
    (12:31 AM) AEN: oic..
    (12:32 AM) Thusness: what left in is the intensity of practice.
    (12:33 AM) Thusness: until there is completely without trace of awareness
    ....
    The Case Against Awareness – A Little Blasphemy Goes a Long Way
    Acarya Malcolm on Dzogchen and Advaita Vedanta
    AWAKENINGTOREALITY.COM
    Acarya Malcolm on Dzogchen and Advaita Vedanta
    Acarya Malcolm on Dzogchen and Advaita Vedanta

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    On awareness as weather:
    14/4/13 7:35:01 PM: John Tan: When u say "weather", does weather exist?
    14/4/13 7:35:20 PM: Soh Wei Yu: No
    14/4/13 7:35:42 PM: Soh Wei Yu: It's a convention imputed on a seamless activity
    14/4/13 7:35:54 PM: Soh Wei Yu: Existence and non existence don't apply
    14/4/13 7:36:02 PM: John Tan: What is the basis where this label rely on
    14/4/13 7:36:16 PM: Soh Wei Yu: Rain clouds wind etc
    14/4/13 7:36:25 PM: John Tan: Don't talk prasanga
    14/4/13 7:36:36 PM: John Tan: Directly see
    14/4/13 7:38:11 PM: John Tan: Rain too is a label
    14/4/13 7:39:10 PM: John Tan: But in direct experience, there is no issue but when probed, u realized how one is confused abt the reification from language
    14/4/13 7:39:52 PM: John Tan: And from there life/death/creation/cessation arise
    14/4/13 7:40:06 PM: John Tan: And whole lots of attachment
    14/4/13 7:40:25 PM: John Tan: But it does not mean there is no basis...get it?
    14/4/13 7:40:45 PM: Soh Wei Yu: The basis is just the experience right
    14/4/13 7:41:15 PM: John Tan: Yes which is plain and simple
    14/4/13 7:41:50 PM: John Tan: When we say the weather is windy
    14/4/13 7:42:04 PM: John Tan: Feel the wind, the blowing...
    14/4/13 7:43:04 PM: John Tan: But when we look at language and mistaken verb for nouns there r big issues
    14/4/13 7:43:22 PM: John Tan: So before we talk abt this and that
    14/4/13 7:43:40 PM: John Tan: Understand what consciousness is and awareness is
    14/4/13 7:43:45 PM: John Tan: Get it?
    14/4/13 7:44:40 PM: John Tan: When we say weather, feel the sunshine, the wind, the rain
    14/4/13 7:44:58 PM: John Tan: U do not search for weather
    14/4/13 7:45:04 PM: John Tan: Get it?
    14/4/13 7:45:57 PM: John Tan: Similarly, when we say awareness, look into scenery, sound, tactile sensations, scents and thoughts




    ...............



    2007:
    (10:50 PM) Thusness: at the more refine level of non dual experience, when the sense of self is gone to a great level, there is absolutely nothing but only everything...what does that mean?
    (10:50 PM) Thusness: many though said so but is still not there even he is already at the level of non dual.
    (10:51 PM) AEN: not where?
    (10:51 PM) Thusness: he must feel completely nothing and only the 'concreteness', 'solidness', realness...
    (10:51 PM) AEN: icic..
    (10:51 PM) Thusness: must feel the 'solidness' and that is things....
    (10:51 PM) Thusness: that is awareness
    (10:51 PM) AEN: oic
    (10:52 PM) AEN: Thusness says:
    many though said so but is still not there even he is already at the level of non dual. --> huh not where?
    (10:52 PM) Thusness: there are different level of non-dual experience.
    (10:52 PM) AEN: icic
    (10:53 PM) Thusness: feeling crystal clarity and 'no one there' is the same as only the solidness, hardness, sound, vividness, realness.
    (10:54 PM) Thusness: that 'sense of self' must be completely gone. 🙂
    (10:55 PM) Thusness: u must remember this.
    (10:55 PM) AEN: oic..
    (10:55 PM) AEN: this is like mindfulness rite
    (10:56 PM) Thusness: so now u know why buddha teach mindfulness?
    (10:56 PM) AEN: icic..
    (10:56 PM) Thusness: and why advaita din. 🙂
    (10:56 PM) Thusness: this is important.
    (10:56 PM) Thusness: it is the direct way
    (10:56 PM) Thusness: u c, the teaching and the practice is in line.
    (10:57 PM) AEN: oic..
    (10:57 PM) Thusness: so non-dual as in no-self.
    (10:57 PM) Thusness: into impermanence and just the manifestation and DO
    (10:58 PM) Thusness: and authenticate this with insight meditation.
    (10:58 PM) Thusness: however it is taught wrongly. 😛
    (10:58 PM) AEN: icic
    (10:58 PM) Thusness: but when one experience deeper and understand better, why buddha taught and said those things will become clear.
    (10:58 PM) AEN: oic..
    (10:59 PM) Thusness: u will realise that advaita always tok about the Self.
    (10:59 PM) Thusness: but when a person tat is enlightened, he doesn't like to use this word.
    (10:59 PM) Thusness: Self is a by-product.
    (10:59 PM) Thusness: it is the production of thought.
    (10:59 PM) AEN: no leh ppl like nisargadatta still always talk about it
    (10:59 PM) AEN: hahaha
    (11:00 PM) Thusness: even if u call it Brahman, it is still sinking back to a source.
    (11:00 PM) Thusness: but when one gets clearer and clearer, and know more about manifestation
    (11:00 PM) Thusness: there is only arising and ceasing of phenomenon according to conditions
    (11:00 PM) Thusness: that is dharmakaya
    (11:00 PM) AEN: icic
    (11:01 PM) Thusness: it is understood in crystal clarity.
    (11:01 PM) AEN: oic
    (11:02 PM) Thusness: just understand that there is no self until it sinks to the inmost consciousness.
    (11:03 PM) Thusness: and know the different layers of consciousness but do not think that it is different type of consciousness
    (11:03 PM) AEN: icic..
    “While it may be contrary to the suggestions of many that claim to represent Zen or Dogen, true nature, according to the classic Zen records (including Shobogenzo) is ever and always immediately present, particular, and precise. Notions or assertions suggesting that Zen is somehow mysterious, ineffable, or inexpressible are simply off the mark. The only place such terms can be accurately applied in Zen is to definite mysteries, particular unknowns, and specific inexpressible experiences. Indeed, in Zen, the terms definite, particular, and specific accurately characterize all dharmas. Dogen’s refrain, ‘Nothing in the whole universe is concealed’ means exactly what it says; no reality is the least bit obscure or vague. To emphasize this truth, the assertion that ‘real form is all dharmas’ runs like a mantra throughout Shobogenzo, for example:
    “The realization of the Buddhist patriarchs is perfectly realized real form. Real form is all dharmas. All dharmas are forms as they are, natures as they are, body as it is, the mind as it is, the world as it is, clouds and rain as they are, walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, as they are; sorrow and joy, movement and stillness, as they are; a staff and a whisk, as they are; a twirling flower and a smiling face, as they are; succession of the Dharma and affirmation, as they are; learning in practice and pursuing the truth, as they are; the constancy of pines and the integrity of bamboos, as they are. Shobogenzo, Shoho-Jisso[199]”
    - Ted Biringer
    “It is extremely difficult to express what is ‘Isness’. Isness is awareness as forms. It is a pure sense of presence yet encompassing the ‘transparent concreteness’ of forms. There is a crystal clear sensations of awareness manifesting as the manifold of phenomenal existence. If we are vague in the experiencing of this ‘transparent concreteness’ of Isness, it is always due to that ‘sense of self’ creating the sense of division… ...you must stress the ‘form’ part of awareness. It is the ‘forms’, it is the ‘things’.” - John Tan, 2007
Scott Kiloby:



    Anonymous
    Jan 9, 2019, 2:17:00 PM
    What does it mean to live in the world selflessly?  It is even possible?  Desirable?

    In spiritual circles, the term selflessness can mean different things, depending on the context.  It can refer to living in service to others, the realization of “no self” similar to what Buddha realized or some other hybrid of those definitions or realizations.

    Let’s start with Webster’s dictionary for a simple definition:  selfless means “having no regard to self, unselfish.”  In that definition, there is a reference to being unselfish.  Selfish is defined as “caring supremely or unduly for one’s self, regarding one’s own comfort, advantage, in disregard, or at the expense, of those of others.”

    In Buddhism, the Visuddhimagga states:

    “Mere suffering exists, no sufferer is found.
    The deeds are, but no doer of the deeds is there.
    Nibbaana is, but not the man that enters it.
    The path is, but no traveler on it is seen.
    Further:
    No doer of the deeds is found,
    No being that may reap their fruits.
    Empty phenomena roll on!
    This is the only right view.”

    The eight fold path in Buddhism refers to moral conduct, how one lives and acts in the world.  It is not limited to a realization that one has while sitting in meditation, a realization merely of the unfindability or unreality of the self.

    This is where modern nondual teachings often divorce themselves from the history of some of the great traditions, which were concerned with more than just a spiritual experience or realization.  They focused on selflessness as referring to living in the world in a less selfish way.

    Quite often, the reference to unselfishness is stripped away from the modern teachings, perhaps in part because of western culture’s infatuation with the idea of a one time, life-changing transformational fix, where one simply becomes fully enlightened or fully liberated in one fell swoop.  In the rush to experience this realization of no self, much of the wisdom of this other meaning of selflessness gets left behind.

    This is why we see teachers who claim, explicitly or implicitly, to be fully awakened while still being attached to their own image as a teacher or still attached to how they present themselves to others or even attached to fame, acknowledgment, attention, praise or some other worldly possession.

    Head awakening is the term I use to refer to the initial phase of nondual awakening where one experiences an absence of self, either as a sudden experience or gradual realization.  The focus is on how the self cannot be found when one looks.  In finding the emptiness of that self, there can be a sense of “I’m done, this is it, the final realization.”   And yet, because of how the mind and body (especially the body) hold tight to old conditioning, one is not truly done at all, unless one holds a very low standard in mind when it comes to selflessness.

    I have personally experienced attachment to self-image, worldly attainment and material possessions both before and after my head awakening.  I am not particularly ashamed of this because I find it to be a necessary aspect of “growing up” spiritually.  The first true dawning of a head awakening merely revealed that, from within and while looking from awareness, the self is not there.  But that is all that a head awakening really shows.  It’s in the movement of life, the every day living as an individual on earth, where the rubber meets the road.  To live selflessly, meaning to live in an unselfish way, is quite another endeavor completely.  A head awakening is merely the door that may or may not lead one towards living such a life – it is by no means a guarantee.

    Anonymous
    Jan 9, 2019, 2:23:00 PM


     The body has the final say.  Even after a head awakening, the body stores everything surrounding selfishness – possession, control, greed, addiction, anxiety, trauma, desire, fear, all of it.  To move through and leave behind these aspects of one’s self is a higher calling on the spiritual path.  To use an admittedly sexist phrase, it is what separates the men from the boys.

    Take, for example, the stomach, which I call the engine of ego.  Like any engine, it is a driving force.  It carries a pull towards earthly wants and desires, and a pull away from fearful threats.  This combination of wants and fears acts as the driving force behind the ego really.  This is where selfishness gets its fuel in large part.  To have experienced a head awakening, while having a stomach that is clenched like a fist, is to be led around the world in a very awkward and divided way – seeing that there is no self and yet being pulled into the somatic experience of the self’s desires and fears at the same time. This can be terribly painful and confusing.

    How does one live truly selflessly while the engine of the stomach is still yearning for the self’s desires and acting on the self’s fears?  I submit that it is virtually impossible – a fool’s game.

    Many teachings and programs that do not focus on nondual realization (including the 12 step program and many modern therapies) instead focus on cultivating a positive “selfless” self-image.  They often fail for an entirely different reason.  They are asking of human beings something that is quite impossible.  They are suggesting falsely that one can live in the world in a truly selfless way without doing the hard work, the deep looking, the body and trauma work and without seeing that there is no self even as a head awakening.  These positive self-help type teachings are proposing something they cannot bring about, because their aim misses the mark entirely.  Living selflessly is not a mindset.  It is not a switch that we can merely turn on or realize just be acting selflessly.  There really is no “fake it until you make it.”  The deeper selflessness does not truly come about through positive affirmations or only through selfless service.  There has to be an internal transformation on every level of the body and mind, or else the body will pull the individual back into selfish motives.  Even acting selflessly in the world can have selfish underpinnings, where one is helping others in order to gain something in return such as a positive self-image, praise, acknowledgement, attention, fame or love.

    And so, just as many modern nondual teachings fail to go deep enough because they stop at a head awakening, many other modern spiritual and therapeutic teachings (including life coaching) do not go deep enough for entirely different reasons.  They ignore true awakening altogether, in favor of an ego-based mindset or programming.

    Where does that leave us?  Are we left with half-baked notions of true selflessness as something unattainable, like a dream we are always chasing?  I don’t believe so, not if we change how we examine the whole notion of self.  There will be some who are not interested in going as deep as they can go. They will be content to stop somewhere along the way, at the stage of a nondual head awakening or within a positive self-help program.  That is their right!   But the calling to true selflessness will appear for some people.  So the question is, “How?”

    Here’s an exercise which may help:

    Anonymous
    Jan 9, 2019, 2:25:00 PM


    Start by getting very quiet.  Look from awareness out into the world.  Notice that the world is made up of thoughts, emotions and sensations.  Then begin to imagine the world without you.  Whenever you see a want or fear that is truly ego-based, witness the thoughts and feelings around it.  Let them be as they are until they naturally and effortlessly vanish.  An ego-based want is any want where you are trying to get something personally in return.  An ego-based fear is a fear that is not based on physical survival but rather on survival of a certain image you have of yourself in the mind. Let all of that vanish, each thought and emotion, one at a time.  See what is left.  Where does your attention go after all those fears and wants have vanished.  Do you find yourself wanting to help others without anything in return?  Do you find yourself at peace with life?  If not, notice what is happening in your stomach.  Notice the pull towards worldly things, attention, praise, acknowledgment.  Let that pull be felt and let it vanish into space.  What is left?  When you get to the point where selfish wants and fears have subsided, open your eyes and start your day.  Notice where those ego-based wants and fears return.  And when they do, love them to death.  This means let them come fully into awareness and dissolve naturally without effort.  And then just live from that place.  See where life takes you.  It is likely to take you down a completely different path, with different values, perspectives and priorities.  Do this every day of your life!  Recognize that the fruits of living selflessly have nothing to do with you.  You get nothing in return.  This is what makes it selflessness.

    I first began this practice when I left the teaching world and opened up the Kiloby Center.  Many people come to the Kiloby Center without knowing who I am.  They do not come to praise the teacher because they don’t see me as a teacher.  In leaving behind the satsang world, I was left to question the remaining attachments to many different worldly possessions and self-images.  Then I took a position with a company that works entirely within the addiction treatment field, a company that does not have my name on the front door.  In that company, I am working within a team of people who do not recognize me as enlightened or as a teacher.  More and more, I feel that I am working within the addiction treatment field without bolstering the name Scott Kiloby, without bolstering “me.”  The deeper questions around selflessness naturally arise in this scenario.   I encourage every teacher to leave behind the teaching world for a while and ask these important questions – do this important self-investigation.  I encourage it for everyone, teacher or not.  There is still work for me to do in this area.  Selflessness is not a game of being done.  It is an ongoing exploration.

    Imagine living a life where you do not resign yourself just to some positive affirmations, programmed mindset or selfless service.  Imagine a life where you do not consider a head awakening as the final realization.  Imagine living a life where true selflessness is your aim.  You get to watch yourself fall short of it over and over, which just shows you the ego-based wants and fears.  They are all there to examine. But falling short does not have to be a game of fruitlessly seeking some future version of yourself.  That would be yet another ego game.   There is no seeking in this.  There is only the pure creativity of living more and more without self.  Doors naturally open in this way of being, doors that you never knew were there.  Walls that you didn’t realize were creating division in your life break down.  This is what allows your creativity to shine.

    Anonymous
    Jan 9, 2019, 2:27:00 PM


    This is more than just a seeing also.  It is not about having an experience on a meditation mat and then starting a blog or becoming a teacher or having others think that you are enlightened because of a fancy Facebook post.  That’s the stuff of head awakening.  It is much, much more humble than that.  It calls upon you to go deeper into your own life, however that shows up.  It is a living, in every sense.  Not just a new mental perspective, but a perspective in which your entire body and mind is transformed, in which every relationship feels and looks different.  In this living, you do not discard the notion of individuality.  Your individuality shines forth even brighter than before.  It is your selfishness that is increasingly missing.  These are two different things altogether.

    In this examination, you are not living in the spotlight.  You are not getting anything in return.  As your ego-based wants and fears increasingly vanish, you begin to feel more attuned to a deeper calling in life.  You finally get to see what it is that you really want to
Taken from http://kiloby.com/what-if-awareness-isnt-real/

Scott Kiloby:

What if awareness isn’t real? A recent scientific study found that awareness or consciousness is a construction of the mind like everything else – like the self, our world views, all of it.

This latest scientific discovery is not particularly groundbreaking. In fact, postmodern philosophical explorations in the last century have essentially obliterated inherent metaphysical notions like awareness or spirit. They have torn these notions to shreds in so many ways and from so many angles that it is embarrassing in those circles to posit such notions. Whatever we think is pregiven as a reality is exactly not that. It is a construction. This has been dealt with so directly that there are now things like non-metaphysical nonduality and post-metaphysics popping up. Yet, most of the spiritual community is ignorant of what science is currently saying and what these postmodern explorations have uncovered about how our minds conceive – essentially “make up” – everything, even our most profound metaphysical notions. Even though our spiritual circles are slow to see this, we have all already seen it, yet we often turn a blind eye to it. For example, those who follow certain regional traditions and teachings tend to see what those teachings and traditions teach and nothing more. For example, a Buddhist is not going to find Union with Christ. A Christian is not going to realize nirvana. True nature is realized only by those who follow teachings that say that there is a true nature and that this is what you are. I found this out long ago when I would meet with people who had experiences of the dropping away of everything. They didn’t follow any teachings. When I suggested they were seeing their true nature, they looked at me as if I had just said “You are a squirrel.” Even when they began to call their realization “true nature,” they did so by taking that on as a conception, a context for what had been seen. And that’s the mind, through and through.

Awareness gets thrown around as if it is the final realization, as if everything is just awareness. But look around – nothing in the universe is labeling itself awareness. Labeling happens through the mind. And to say that we have to be aware in order to even see a universe is still the mind, for it posits a division between what is aware and what one is aware of. All divisions are of the mind. They are constructions.

The perennial philosophy itself, which is the notion that there is one pregiven reality that we all come to see, regardless of our particular tradition or spiritual view, has been obliterated also. If there is one pregiven reality, why is everyone still arguing about it? Is reality arguing with itself? How would that happen anyway if there is one reality? Why do Buddhists, Advaitists, Scientists and Christians still assert that whatever they are realizing is what everyone else is realizing as one fundamental truth? Could it be that what they are realizing is only what their teachings and traditions make room for? Could it be that the notion of one fundamental truth is just another way the ego wants to be right? If so, that has nothing to do with a pregiven, nonconceptual reality. That is all about self.

Is this the end of metaphysical notions like awareness? I say “no.” It just means it is time for a change in how we view these things (or non-things). Setting up the notion of awareness can be helpful on one’s path to freedom. It provides a way to identify less with thoughts and other arisings that come and go. But inevitably, many land on that conception as a final realization, still dividing the universe in two, between awareness and all that other stuff that comes and goes.

We often hear that all there is, is Oneness. But did you know that many schools of Buddhism do not posit Oneness as a final insight. Instead, they say it is empty too, like everything else. It is a construction.

Wow, this sweeps the proverbial rug out from under us. It calls on us to look at our reality differently – to stop taking the words of spiritual teachings, science and religion on face value. It calls on us to look at our conceptions, no matter what they are and no matter how profound they appear to be.
But isn’t this what freedom is about anyway? Isn’t it about not getting cozy within mental prisons that create more divisions and, instead, letting the fire of freedom burn everything up?

If you are willing and ready to let that fire burn it all up, nothing that is said here will offend you. Instead, it will excite you at the possibility of going deeper then where you are currently landing in your conceptions of reality. If this offends you, and you wish to argue with me, be prepared. I’m not defending a view here. I’m merely inviting you to examine your own. You’d only be arguing with yourself. Apparently, that’s what reality does.
http://www.kiloby.com/writings.php?offset=0&writingid=253

By: Scott Kiloby


The Flow

Have you any idea why your body is moving, why the sun is shining, why love arises when you see a friend, or why anger appears as you see an enemy?  Science and philosophy and all sorts of other disciplines have tried to give explanations.  They act as authority, giving us causes and conditions, and more theories.  But to really answer the question "why" one has to stop trying to understand it.  To let this dynamic flow of life just happen brilliantly and spontaneously on its own requires the absence of the one who is trying to nail it down, understand it, and theorize about it.

Analyzing and understanding have their place.  The intellect has its place.  In fact, it is part of the flow itself.  But this dynamic flow, this vibrant life with all its dancing forms, seamlessly interacting with each other...this cannot be known or understood.  To be free is to be this flow.  In Buddhism, they talk of "entering the stream."  This is not about understanding the stream or figuring out why this part of the stream bends into that part of the stream or how deep one area of the stream is compared to another area (yet all of that knowledge is part of the flow of the stream also).  To enter the stream one has to jump into a place where one is free of all fixed conceptions.

When you think you know what life is, or how it moves, be willing to let that thought float away.  Let each thought be what it really is, just another temporary current in the flowing river of life itself.  Don't pretend that ideas are more than what they are.  The ideas of a separate me, you, and all other objects are just that.  They are ideas.  Can an idea (a current) become the river?  It is already the river.  This depth of freedom remains out of reach so long as you fixate on one current.  If you believe that only a particular conception, idea, thought, or other form will lead you to the river, you are pretending again.

Take a look around and see that you have no clue how or why this life moves in the way it does.  You aren't doing it.  Others aren't doing it.  It's being down.  Your very effort to awaken and your very movement to control life are already currents of the river itself.  They cannot bring about the flow.  They are it.
And there is no reason to stop ideas from flowing.  They too are already the flow of the river.  Just see that ideas cannot bring you to what you already are.  And if you have the idea that this flow or this river is a thing, you are fixated on a conception again.  Don't believe the river of life is a static thing.  Let it move.  Laugh at every thought that tries to pin that movement down.  And see that the thought itself is the movement.

Sometimes reading words like this can unhinge the idea that life can be understood or captured by an idea.  All that seeking, all that effort to try to be at ease with life, can slip away.  It leaves you realizing that you already are the easeful flow of life itself.  This flow doesn't have to be free of concepts.  Often, in spiritual teachings, we overemphasize the absence of concepts.  This is unnecessary when you see that concepts are not pointing to separate things.  They are just arisings, currents in the river that constantly change, move, and swirl.  When you believe concepts are delivering truth, they do not move and change.  They become static things that you repeat, believe in, rely on for identity and truth.  In seeing that concepts are not delivering absolute truth, that they are merely a way of communicating, concepts and freedom are seen to be one in the same.  This very sentence, which is conceptual, is already part of the flow of life.  It cannot capture the flow itself.  A current cannot capture the river.  A current only "eddies" into another current, all of it being the flow of water itself.

All forms (thoughts, emotions, sensations, events, experiences) are seamless currents of an unknowable river.  They have no individual, separate existence.  A current can never stand apart from the river.  It cannot divide itself even from another current.  The river of life is seamless in every direction and depth.

You can't jump into that river.  You are already that.  You can, however, stop pretending that you are other than that.  You can stop telling the story that the river is something that you, the current, can know.  When you stop pretending, all effort falls away.   All control falls away.  There you are, just flowing.  Nothing in life feels like a separate thing.  Total inseparability.  You are not a thing that flows alongside other things, but the seamless flowing itself.  Not a noun, but a verb.  Flowing, moving, changing, living, loving, seeing, being.  That is the flow of life.
(also related: The Two Kinds of Bonds)

16th August entry on Scott Kiloby's facebook wall: http://www.facebook.com/#!/kiloby?ref=ts 

Scott Kiloby:  If you see that awareness is none other than everything, and that none of those things are separate "things" at all, why even use the word awareness anymore? All you are left with is the world, your life, the diversity of experience itself.

...

We talk about awareness only to see that what we take to be separate objects are really thoughts, emotions, sensations, etc appearing and disappearing within awareness. As that is seen through, we see that the word awareness is actually pointing to the world itself. But the separation is now sweetly missing.