Plenary Session Thursday Oct. 21, 2010
PLl. The Wonder Of Being/Consciousness/Oneness
The Wonder Of Being: Awakening to an Intimacy Beyond Words, What if life is infinitely simpler than you ever imagined?, Jeff Foster, (Nonduality Author)
We spend our lives seeking wealth, success, love, fulfillment, and even 'spiritual enlightenment' in the future. Yet right at the heart of life there is an intimacy, a simplicity, a wholeness that is totally beyond words – and which cannot be reached through any kind of effort. In our attempts to change, to improve ourselves, or become 'enlightened', we end up ignoring this wordless intimacy which is our birthright and our true home.
Jeff Foster shares the timeless message of nonduality (non-separation), something that is ultimately impossible to put into words, in a simple, human and down-to-earth way, avoiding as much as possible the arcane, heavy, outdated and often self-righteous spiritual language of the past. Jeff is not affiliated with any spiritual path, teacher, tradition or lineage, and believes that the truth - that which is present and alive - is absolutely free and cannot be captured by any religion, ideology, philosophy, belief system, or person. However, perhaps it can be shared, in friendship and openness, with those who are open to going beyond their beliefs and concepts about life. With great humour, compassion and clarity, Jeff reminds us of something we have always known – that life, as it is, is a miracle... and beyond our thoughts, we are already free. Meetings with Jeff are always very friendly and informal, and there are plenty of opportunities to ask questions, if questions arise. And of course, if you just want to sit in silence and listen, then that's fine too!
Quantum Consciousness–Biology, Physics, Spirituality, Stuart Hameroff, Professor, Anesthesiology and Psychology (Director, Center for Consciousness Studies, The University of Arizona)
The notions that consciousness involves something more than electrochemical processes in brain neurons, that it could somehow also connect to a deeper reality, to all beings, and a cosmic wisdom embedded in spacetime geometry are termed quantum consciousness. In particular, the Penrose-Hameroff Orch OR model suggests that consciousness is a synchronized sequence of quantum computations in microtubules within brain neurons. The quantum computations are 'orchestrated' (Orch) by synaptic inputs and memory, and terminated by Penrose objective reduction (OR), self-collapses of quantum superpositions/separations in fundamental spacetime geometry. Thus consciousness in the brain is also a stream, or self-annealing ripples in the fine structure of the holographic universe.
Oneness Manifesting in Uniqueness, Bavi Ravindra, Professor Emeritus, Professor of Physics and of Comparative Religion (Dalhousie University, Canada)
Throughout the Indian spiritual tradition there is a resounding affirmation of the oneness of all there is. Sages in India have repeatedly said that there is an underlying unity of all that exists, which includes everything we call animate or inanimate. And it is understood in the tradition that the cultivation of wisdom consists in realizing this truth. The expressions of this fundamental insight vary, but the insight itself is said by the sages to be a part of Eternal Order. It is not only coexistent with the cosmos but it provides its stable foundation. Unlike scientific knowledge, the insight of the sages concerning the oneness of all there is is not an abstraction or a logical derivation or an inference or a generalization from observations. It is a concrete perception of a person whose entire being has been radically transformed so that the ego does not intervene between what is real and what is experienced. Such a person is a mahapurusha or a mahatma, a First Person Universal, with a clarity of perception which is simultaneously able to appreciate both the multiplicity of manifestation and the underlying unity. In general, in contrast to the traditions of India, the Biblical traditions have emphasized the uniqueness of everything rather than the oneness of all there is. However, insights and experiences of oneness and of uniqueness are complementary, not contradictory. A sage simultaneously sees the oneness of all there is and the uniqueness of everything. It may well be, as is said in the Bhagavad Gita, that all there is is Krishna, but even Krishna cannot replace a single child. Oneness without uniqueness is unmanifested; uniqueness without oneness remains insignificant.
The Ever-Present Seamlessness of 'Knowingbeingloving', Rupert Spira, (Artist and Non-Duality Teacher)
We normally think that to be a thing and to know that thing are two different events. For instance we think that the existence of a tree takes place 'over there' and that knowing the tree takes place 'in here.' That is we think that Knowing and Being are two separate things or events. However, if we look clearly and simply at our experience we find that there is no distance or separation between the being or existence of an apparent object and the knowing of it. In fact the being of an apparent object and the knowing of it are one single irreducible event, which we could simply call Knowing/Being or Experiencing. It is only dualising thought that seems to divide this Knowing/Being into two apparent objects or entities, a subject that knows and an object that is known. However, no such objects or entities are actually found in experience. In experience all we find is the ever-present seamlessness of Knowing/Being. This seamless intimacy of Knowing/Being is referred to as 'I.' It is T that simultaneously knows a thing and is that thing. To know an apparent object is to be that apparent object and the intimacy of'knowingbeing' that apparent object is called 'love.' In fact all experience is only this Knowing/Being/Loving. However, when 'Knowingbeingloving' is seemingly divided into two apparent objects or entities by the arising of dualising thought, this intimacy of love is seemingly lost. And when dualising thinking dissolves, experience recognises itself as it is, the ever-present, utterly intimate seamlessness of'Knowingbeingloving.' T is simply the name we give to this intimacy of experience. It is known as love in relation to an apparent other, as beauty in relation to an apparent world and as peace and happiness in relation to an apparent body.
White Robed Monks of St. Benedict