Briefing Document: Non-Dual Spirituality and Self-Knowing

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1. Introduction

This document reviews key concepts from an exploration of non-dual spirituality, focusing on the nature of self-knowing and the core understanding that our true identity is already present and complete. The primary message emphasizes that suffering and seeking arise from a misunderstanding of our real nature. This misunderstanding can be resolved through direct recognition of what we already are: being-awareness. The text uses questions to guide the reader towards this direct recognition. The excerpt also includes a quote from T.S. Eliot as a kind of framing for this idea.

    

2. Core Themes and Ideas

• The Aim: Self-Knowing: The central purpose of non-dual spirituality is not to attain a future state, but to realize the true nature of the self as it is right now. As the text states, “The discovery of what is real and the resolution of suffering, seeking and doubt is obtained by a clear understanding of one’s real nature. In short, the aim of spiritual endeavor is ‘self-knowing.’” This is not about gaining something new, but about clarifying what’s already present.
• What We Are Not: The document begins by systematically excluding common identifications of “self”. It explicitly says “none of the following can be the essence of what we are because they all appear and disappear: Thoughts, Feelings, Sensations, Perceptions, Experiences, States, Perceived objects.” These things are all fleeting and changing and therefore cannot be the essence of what we are.
• What We Are: Being-Awareness: After excluding impermanent elements, the document identifies our essential nature as being-awareness. It states, “There is still something more to consider. First, there is a sense of being, the sense that “we are.”… Furthermore, this presence is not void or inert. It is conscious, cognizant, aware.” This is not two things, but one principle looked at from two perspectives, often referred to as presence-awareness, being-consciousness, etc. The terms are used interchangeably to “refer to the same principle, your essential true nature.”
• Immediate, Non-Conceptual Knowing: Recognition of this being-awareness is not a mental or intellectual process. The text emphasizes, “Notice that when you are questioned about the sense of being or the capacity of awareness, you can immediately and intuitively affirm the presence of both of these. You do not need to reference thought or engage the use of reason in order to respond.” The mind, which operates with concepts, cannot grasp this non-conceptual reality.
• Present, Unchanging Nature: This being-awareness is not something that arises in the future, is lost, or is unstable. It is ever-present and constant, “Your presence remains unmodified and undisturbed in and through all appearances.” The document argues, “You do not wait for the future to know the fact of being and the presence of awareness…Being-awareness, which we have already determined to be our essential nature, is already here.”
• Effortless Recognition: No practice, technique, or exercise is needed to recognize being-awareness. It is not something that we have to do, but something we already are. The text notes, “You do not need to do anything to be present. You do not have to do anything to generate awareness…Self-knowing, which is the recognition of your true nature, is not the result of a practice.”
• Not from External Sources: The recognition of being-awareness does not come from a teacher, a book, or a divine being. The text states, “The fact of being-awareness is already available. Nothing needs to be brought in from the outside.” Therefore, there is not ‘source’ of this within a dualistic context.
• Beyond Suffering and Duality: The text argues that because our true nature of being-awareness is unchanging, it is free from suffering, doubt, and fear. Furthermore, the text emphasizes that our true nature is non-dual (not separate). It notes, “Being-awareness is non-separate from who we are. It is what we are…This shows that the ‘goal’ of the non-dual teachings is not a distant objective. The real aim is the revelation of what we are… There is nothing beyond non-duality.”
• The Illusion of Separation: The pursuit of spiritual practices or the belief in a future attainment of enlightenment is rooted in the illusion of separation from our true nature. The text observes, “All approaches that rely on gradual attainment, deepening, stabilizing and so on are still in terms of the illusion that we are something that we are not… There is no attainment beyond self-knowing because the self, our essential being, is perfect wholeness and absolute freedom.”

    

3. Guiding Questions and their Purpose

The series of questions are designed to help the reader recognize their true nature. The questions serve to help move beyond conceptual thinking towards immediate, non-conceptual awareness of self.

The questions explore:

• The direct experience of being and awareness.
• The non-conceptual nature of this experience.
• The unchanging presence of being-awareness amidst changing experiences.
• The ever-present availability of our true nature.
• The lack of need for practices or external sources.
• The immediacy and non-objective nature of being-awareness.
• The non-dual relationship between us and our true nature.
• The freedom of being-awareness from suffering and duality.
• The all-encompassing nature of being-awareness, which is the context for all experiences.

    

4. Conclusion

This text presents a clear and concise explanation of non-dual teachings, emphasizing self-knowing through recognition of our inherent being-awareness. It calls for a shift from seeking a future goal to recognizing the ever-present reality of our true nature. It ultimately concludes, “There is nothing beyond self-knowing because the self, our essential being, is perfect wholeness and absolute freedom. Who you are is non-separate from the one reality itself. There is nothing beyond non-duality.”

    

5. Supporting Quote (T.S. Eliot):

“We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time.”

This quote from T.S. Eliot encapsulates the idea that our spiritual journey is not about finding something new, but about recognizing the truth of what has always been here.

The purpose of non-dual spirituality