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Nonduality As An Acquired Taste
Posted by Holger:
Walter at FORS NY suggested that
“Nonduality is an acquired taste”
may be the title of my next book.
We spoke about Coca Cola,
what a fantastic drink it was.
Jon shared that he stopped drinking it;
and after 10 years someone offered him a Coke,
which tasted awful
(I forget how wonderfully he described it).
Yes, Coke was an acquired taste,
coffee was an acquired taste,
cigarettes, sugar, TV, people, “me”…
Maybe it all had to do with habits and beliefs.
Trying to find myself in making-sense,
to be someone in name and form.
I remember my grandparents introducing me to coffee as a child, and how special it felt, even though the taste was awful. Cigarettes came into the picture as well, at a later time, with different people. It tasted disgusting, but somehow there were beliefs, hopes, expectations that helped to acquire a certain taste; maybe the wish to grow up, to belong?
On the surface.
So simple, so amazing,
that happiness never was in the object out there…
And so much longing and suffering,
simply because of believing myself to be this “me”,
this bundle of ideas, memories, assumptions.
What about nonduality…
What is nonduality for me?
Maybe to experience Love,
to allow openness, to learn to discern,
to simply be with what is.
—
What am I, beyond beliefs and habits?
What do I really know?
What do I really want?
Nothing to think about right now.
Rather a relaxed listening.
Effortlessly aware of simply being.
No lack.
Appreciating something, that is not a thing.
Unexciting, priceless.
“The pearl of great price.”
Someone used the phrase “quiet joy”.
Another one called it “feelingless feeling”,
“placeless place”…
The words don’t matter, but can be initially very helpful in relaxing attention, in recalibrating the sense of self; from “me” to “I am”, from one who was driven to be someone, to simply being myself.
In a way that’s an acquired taste from the me-perspective;
appreciating, honoring, valuing, loving…
noticing and being the space
in which all experience arises and subsides.
All words as concessions.
It is too easy to be misunderstood.
I still find the distinction between “me” and “I am” very helpful.
“Me” – the conceptual person,
the one I belief myself to be,
the mind-made self,
the assumed core of thinking and feeling.
And “I am” – the direct, fresh experience,
before Mr. Mind comes in and
renders this world of name and form.
Gratitude for friends who share and those who don’t,
Holger
Life as Art,
reading between the lines:
One Source
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Created: November 2, 2023
Last modified: November 2, 2023
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