spirituality

Is reality impersonal?

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

Children playing

This is a question that often comes up, and many teachers often state that reality is impersonal. I myself have written a piece stating just this (complete with an impersonal looking image). However, like so many things we can write and say about reality, it is often correct in one way but false in another. As I’ve stated many times before, reality cannot be captured in words.

We could say that reality is impersonal or both personal and impersonal, or we could say that it is neither personal or impersonal. All these statements would be correct in the correct context.

But are these statements helpful? To say that reality is either personal or impersonal is ultimately besides the point. The essential point is to see things as they are, or rather to stop believing in all our concepts about reality – then reality shines, as it always has done. Who cares if it’s personal or impersonal?

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Sufi mystic Abol-Hasan speaks

~ Tom Das ~ 1 Comment

soul and loaf bread

Here are some gems from Sheikh Abol-Hasan, a Sufi mystic from the 11th century AD. His words continue to astound me. I have followed each quote with my commentary in italics and hope this does not detract from the quotes themselves.

One may speak of those absent,
but one who is Ever Present,
one can say nothing of
Sheikh Abol-Hasan, saying 92

How can we speak of Him? How can we talk of Him? All talk of Him is fanciful, all the more so if we take our descriptions and theories about Him seriously. Continue reading →

Eckhart Tolle: Your true self

~ Tom Das ~ 5 Comments

Lake sunset

‘You find peace not by rearranging the circumstances of your life, but by realizing who you are at the deepest level.’
Stillness Speaks by Eckhart Tolle p. 52

The truth is that you cannot know your true self. You are your true self – already. It’s difficult to put into words, but when you know who you really are, it is not the same as knowing how tall Mount Everest is or knowing what your favourite colour is. These worldly things are known with the mind, with thought, with the intellect. These things are known by ‘you’, the ego who knows, the false non-existent self. Your true self is not known in that way.
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What are the health benefits of yoga really?

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

stretching-498256_1280

As someone who has practiced yoga since being a young child, I would highly recommend it. There are so many benefits – even a relatively superficial physical practice can be transformative.

However I do get tired of reading about the endless benefits of yoga as a cure-all for everything from cancer to haemorrhoids.

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Zen Teachings: The Four Kinds of Spiritual People

~ Tom Das ~ Leave a comment

buddha silver

“There are four kinds of people who study.
The highest are those with practice, with understanding, and with realization.
Next are those with understanding, and with realization but without practice.
Next are those with practice and understanding but without realization.
Lowest are those with practice, but without understanding or realization.”

Zen Dawn, J. C. Cleary

Practice, understanding and realisation are all important, but we can deduce from the quote above that of these realisation is the most important. Next in importance is understanding, and least important is practice.

How can this be? How can understanding be more important than practice? Isn’t it often said that an drop of practice is worth an ocean of theory?
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Jesus and non-duality

~ Tom Das ~ 4 Comments
Jesus appears to Mary Magedelene after his resurrection
Jesus appears to Mary Magedelene after his resurrection

Also see:

The Non-Dual Vision of Jesus Christ and the teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi

The Sermon on the Mount According to Vedanta (Jesus, Christanity, Advaita and Non-Duality)

In non-dual teachings, the basic teaching is that the sense of self that we presume ourselves to be is a fiction. What remains after this is seen is a mysterious and ordinary sense of ‘divine oneness’. One ramification of this teaching is that we can learn to see that we are not the authors of our own actions even though we appear to be. This is known as non-doership. This teaching is often stated explicitly in non-dual traditions such as Advaita Vedanta, Zen, Dzogchen and Taoism.

In theistic traditions like much of Hinduism and the Abrahamic traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, non-duality is still expressed, but its form often differs. Continue reading →