Category: philosophical counseling
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All Experiences Conceal & Reveal The Self
Dear A, Maya = Lila 1. The finite mind, which is where I may inadvertently take my stand, sees a separate, seemingly independently existing world. Thus, from the point of view of the finite mind, Brahman, or Absolute Reality, is veiled–by name and form. 2. From the point of view of the Self, all experiences reveal Me, the Self.…
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You Are Not The Body
You are not the body. This can be demonstrated in myriad ways. Here’s but one: C1: I am the body. C2: I own the body. (The body belongs to me.) Note that there is an obvious logical contradiction between C1 and C2: C1 and C2 can’t be true at one and the same time. I…
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An Experiment In The Direct Path: Exploring A Feeling
1. Nobody wants to suffer; everybody wants to be abidingly happy. 2. But most of us are suffering. A lot. 3. The key to suffering is to see that what we essentially are has gotten to be all mixed up with what we aren’t. 4. The direct path teaching offers ample ways of disentangling. 5.…
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The Blessedness Of Self-knowledge
Astavakra sounds positively Shankarian when, in Chapter 18: “Peace,” he states, The ignorant person does not attain liberation through repeated practice of control of the mind. The blessed one through mere knowledge becomes free and is unaffected by change. (Astavakra Samhita XVIII.36, trans. Swami Nityaswarupananda). 1. The pointing, the sloka, is almost shocking in its…
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How An Ordinary Hike Is Turned Into A Nondual Teaching…
You go for a hike. The sand, silt, or dirt crunches beneath your boots. You see the path stretch out before you. And you get intrigued. The direct path teaching invites you to investigate all of these things to see whether seeing or touching provides any evidence that there is, for instance, an objective world…
Andrew Taggart, Ph.D. 