the leaf’s budding and dying are my own!

Posted on by miriam louisa simons

 

Leaf and drawing - artist unknown

 

When I am totally absorbed in drawing … and have become leaf or grass, when the split between I-as-subject and It-as-object is bridged … I am now in touch with the process of Life itself. The leaf’s budding, unfurling, wilting and dying are my own! For however short a span, IT – instead of Me – has become the center of my universe. It is no longer a thing observed: but an ever-changing, ever-fleeting mystery, which, like myself, flashes past at the speed of light. Then, in this flashing Now, I may glimpse Reality, I may recognize the Self, that Original Face I share with all that is; I may glimpse the Buddha Nature: the Pearl of Great Price.

– Frederick Franck
The Awakened Eye

frederick franck at the artisans’ gallery

the Face of faces

seeing-drawing as meditation

the 10 commandments

carse, katz, and the vast view

Posted on by miriam louisa simons

Announcing three new pages on the site:

subtle sideways seeing
– perfectly brilliant words from David Carse

what is this ‘nonduality’?
– Jerry Katz puts it all together

the vast View
– no duality, no observer, and nothing observed.
A Dzogchen perspective

pages index

stalking the mirage of the ‘me’

Posted on by miriam louisa simons

 

The essence of direct seeing is to see that there is no separate me.

If there is no separate me, there is no separation.

How do we see that there is no me? Simply speaking, we just look for the me. If we don’t find it, then we look for what-it-is that sees that there is no me. We might think that then is the true me. In that case, we just take another step back and look for what-it-is that sees that. We might think that we will have to keep on stepping back forever but that proves not to be the case. Once we see that there is no me, the next step, the step of seeing the witness of no-me, is likely to be the last one because the seeing of the witness likely dissolves the witness, and then there is only pure awareness.

– Extract from an article by Stanley Sobottka, author of The Course in Consciousness

The Course in Consciousness is a continually updated free online book.
Stanley Sobottka is Emeritus Professor of Physics at The University of Virginia.

Stanley Sobottka’s pages on this website:

stalking the mirage of the ‘me’

the course in consciousness

dialogue in consciousness

art and consciousness

Posted on by miriam louisa simons

Chris Hebard from Stillness Speaks interviews ceramicist and nonduality writer Rupert Spira.

Where is beauty located?

A dialogue about art, consciousness, advaita and nonduality, this video is a must-see. I’ve been trying to upload it onto the blog for ages now – guess I’m seriously lacking some tech skills.

Never mind – you can hop over to Rupert’s website and watch it there, or visit Stillness Speaks and watch it – plus others – there.  And I’m sure Rupert  and Chris will enjoy your feedback …

Enjoy!

… and colour was god

Posted on by miriam louisa simons

 

Painting by Fritz Rauh

 

The earth was the heavens and the heavens the earth.  Everything was alive and bursting with colour and colour was god, not the god of man.  The hills became transparent, every rock and boulder was without weight, floating in colour and the distant hills were blue, the blue of all the seas and the sky of every clime.  The ripening rice fields were intense pink and green, a stretch of immediate attention.  And the road that crossed the valley was purple and white, so alive that it was one of the rays that raced across the sky.  You were of that light, burning, furious, exploding, without shadow, without root and word.  And as the sun went further down, every colour became more violent, more intense and you were completely lost, past all recalling.  It was an evening that had no memory.

– J Krishnamurti, Krishnamurti’s Notebook

Painting by Fritz Rauh
thepainter-fritzrauh.com

the act of seeing

awareness, meditation and creativity