what is no-self? Abiding non-dual awareness. Okay, what is—? I can’t tell you what it is; no one can. It’s not a thing, it’s not a concept, it’s not a place. There’s no explaining fire to someone who’s never seen fire; no description can do justice to the direct experience of fire. I use terms like abiding non-dual awareness and no-self and

In the knowledge of the Atman, which is the dark night to the ignorant, the recollected mind is fully awake and aware. The ignorant are awake in their sense-life, which is darkness to the sage. Bhagavad Gita

SPIRITUAL ENLIGHTENMENT IS the damnedest thing. It is, literally, self-defeating. It is a battle we wage upon ourselves. Truth is a uniquely challenging pursuit because the very thing that wants it is the only thing in the way of it. It’s a battle we will kill to lose and must die to win. The great enemy is the very self that wages the war, so how

Yes, the unenlightened look like zombies to the enlightened; like fictional characters animated by mysterious forces. No one home. If a person were born enlightened, rather than going from unenlightened to enlightened and having the experience of being made of straw, I think he’d find this a damn spooky place. Busy, populated, yet strangely

“The Tao says that the sage sees people as straw dogs, and that’s what it means; all exterior, no interior. Empty costumes populating the stage like zombies. All appearance, no substance.

“And it takes, like, every ounce of energy just to stay afloat and stay with the group. I can see that. All anybody’s really doing is pretending. Everything I’ve ever done… my whole life…”

“So everyone’s just treading water… not really doing anything… not really going anywhere… Because it’s a boundless sea, right? Endless. Where’s there to go? You go forever and ever and you’re still nowhere. Everyone’s just pretending… it’s all just…”

I, as an enlightened person, have direct and abiding knowledge of self. You, as an unenlightened person, don’t. You, therefore, have built an identity with which you, uh… well, identify. You think of you as you.

the countless ways in which society encourages the externalized self and mocks, discourages and combats the very notion of turning inward. Alan Watts called it the taboo against knowing who you are. In order to break with one’s false self, one would have to break with…” “…everything.” Julie says. “Family, friends…” Her voice falters as she