Many factors have gone into this seeming decision. The precipitating factor is that the lease on my office is coming due, and it makes no sense to renew it. The office is my “recording studio”, and without it and the big, fat fiber optic Internet connection it provides me, I cannot broadcast satsang as I’m doing it now. The bottom line is that the office costs me a considerable amount of money each month, and when you add in the other expenses to bring satsang to you all each month, the economics are just plain lousy.

I think it might be possible to create a new “studio” in my home as well as fix the technological obstacles to doing so. However, for the near future, I simply don’t have time to devote to doing all the above. Maybe by the end of the summer or end of the year, but for now, Tom is a busy beaver!

You may have some type of idealistic notion about such things, that satsang and spirituality should not be dependent upon money and income and rent and all these normal, every day human elements that affect our worldly experiences. Sorry, but you would be misguided in your views. We must meet the world on its terms and deal with what we find. Argue with the world of form at your own peril.

On the other hand, when we hit seeming obstacles in our worldly experiences, we get a nice “test” of how clear and awake we are at this time. These obstacles are really, in fact, obstacles within us, points of conflict in our consciousness. That’s not to say that all difficulties are “problems within us.” Rather, they can and usually are pointers to what we need to look at next.

Life can be a simple “flow” from one situation to the next. Even when the situations are not easy or solvable, they can be effortless. In the extreme case, death, while it may not be solvable, i.e., the body is going to die, we can meet it and experience it with no effort. Now that is flow!

Upon exploration, I have discovered that there is something within me that is “blocked” with regard to spiritual teaching. I don’t know what it is yet, but something is in conflict that I need to take a good long look at. As a result, the outer experience of the role and “business” of spiritual teaching has not gone smoothly. I am determined to see through these blocks, and then we shall see what we shall see.

For now, please enjoy the Shortcuts if you are still receiving them. I may, from time to time, write new ones. And I may also post an article or two on the website.

Thank you all for the past 2 years of being able to bring satsang to you via the Internet. Maybe we will get to do it again someday.

Until then, be well. Namaste.

Takuin.com: A Question for My Peers →.

Enjoy!

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

I’d like to thank Gregory at Redwerks.org for all his help over the past year helping to redesign the site. I think it looks great!

So, head over tomorrow and check things out. Be very well. Namaste.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Since many guides for beginners can at times be long and confusing, I’m going to attempt to keep these articles simple, in other words, no more than five to ten simple steps that one can take or brief comments awakening and spirituality. That should make it easier for someone just starting out to dive in easily and quickly (which is exactly what I would have liked 22 years ago).

Today’s article:

8 “First Steps” for Someone New (or Old) to Spiritual Awakening

1. Start sitting. As I often say, you probably can’t sit too much. I’m far less interested in what you do while sitting, more interested in that you spend time sitting often. However, I think it safe to say that fantasizing and planning your day are not the best uses of your time. Rather, spend time doing absolutely nothing. You are not trying to still your mind, you are not trying to focus on breathing or a thousand other meditation techniques. You are just sitting still, maybe noticing what is here, what is now, what is your current experience. There are no mental tricks or games or practices. Just sitting and being. That’s really enough. Maybe try doing some sitting, allowing everything to simply be, for 15 minutes every day.
2. A little bit each day, put your attention on awareness. If you would like to know how, read this article and follow the suggestions.
3. Find a teacher or two or three, and pay attention to their teachings. Don’t try to precisely comprehend it all, but instead allow the teachings to “soak in.” You don’t need to become a follower of these teachers, take them as your “gurus” or send them all your money. But having someone (or several someones) to guide you along the way can be very, very helpful.
4. Read a wide variety of spiritual books. These books can be very helpful. Don’t try to find “the answers” in those books. Rather, allow them to move you and guide you, not satisfy your minds desire to figure out everything. Some suggestions for books? Here are two: Emptiness Dancing by Adyashanti and Ask the Awakened: The Negative Way by Wei Wu Wei. You can find both at Amazon (using these links help support this website).
5. Make-up your own damn mind about what’s what in the spiritual world. Don’t believe a single word any teacher says, any books says, nothing(!), unless it really resonates with you. You don’t need to be an out and out skeptic. But don’t take anyone’s word for it. So what if Swami Salami says that enlightenment is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Is it? Do you know that? How about sitting with it and seeing what arises in you?
6. Attend a few satsangs. Satsang means “talk or gathering about truth,” and attending, watching or listening to one can be extremely helpful. If you don’t live near a teacher with whom you resonate, then watch satsang online (and no, that isn’t just a plug for online live satsang with yours truly). There are a number of teachers doing satsang and posting videos online. Adyashanti has many short video excerpts available for free, as well as full satsangs in video and audio form for a modest cost. Rick Archer from Buddha at the Gas Pump has done 85 (and growing) video interviews with various teachers and placed the videos and audios online for free (including one with me). And YouTube has more videos on spiritual awakening than you could ever hope to watch. For those of you who live in Hooterville like I do, the Internet is a veritable godsend.
7. Recognize one very important truth about spiritual awakening and spirituality in general: most of what passes for spirituality is not going to help you in the slightest. I know that sounds extremely critical, but I don’t intend it to be. The issue at hand is really simple: what is going to help you the most on your journey? That’s all the matters. And the crazy part is that there is no “one-size-fits-all” path or approach that works for everyone. In a very real sense, you have to discover the unique path that is for you and you alone. And so the obvious realization: most of what’s out there just isn’t going to work. That’s why I keep encouraging you to…
8. Sit some more. Really. I know I am making a big deal about sitting, both in this article, during satsang, and in the Shortcuts, but it really can’t be over-emphasized. It is a rare person who sits too much. If you will notice, most of the teachers and gurus out there, as well as most historical “enlightened” folks, did a lot of sitting. It’s about seeing how the mind/ego ticks. Most people won’t see through it without some time getting familiar with it. Sitting is the best way to do that. Remember, how is less important than actually doing it.

I think that’s more than enough for anyone to get started. I’m quite certain that many will read the above and want to know, “okay, but what do I do?” I know, I’ve been there a hundred times. But you just have to know, right now, at the beginning, that it isn’t about what to do. It’s all about seeing truth for yourself, realizing what is real and true. That’s the spiritual journey.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

The practice is discussed in a book by Sri Sadhu Om, a disciple of Ramana Maharshi, and it is what Sadhu Om calls “Self-Enquiry”. Now, self-inquiry is batted around in many spiritual circles, and I’m sure it gets defined in many, many ways. But according to Sadhu Om, Self-Enquiry is exactly the same as a practice that Adyashanti refers to as “putting attention on awareness”.

Sadhu Om says that this simple practice is the only real practice, and further he insists that it is the heart of Ramana’s teaching. Interestingly, this coincides with statements made by one of Ramana’s principle disciples, Sri Muruganar. Interestingly, Adyashanti has said on more than one occasion that the only thing you really need to do is put attention on awareness.

It’s funny, but once you know this simple practice, it shows up in all kinds of places. Nisargadatta, Ramana, Adyashanti, Eckhart Tolle, it’s everywhere! And yet, most of these teachers spend little time talking about it even though it is a practice that they most glowingly recommend.

You might ask: why do they spend so little time talking about it? And the answer, I think, is that almost no one will do the practice! You see, the practice is too simple, too passive, and too “vanilla pudding” (in other words, bland!). There are no bells and whistles, nothing for a mind to get excited about.

I suspect, too, that if you are a spiritual teacher, and you talk about putting attention on awareness (Self-Enquiry) all the time, you’ll drive away the crowd! Not that Adyashanti or Eckhart Tolle per se are concerned with having a crowd (and the same can be said of Ramana and Nisargadatta), but they are all very focused on meeting people exactly where they are. And if the people coming to you as a teacher are not ready or able to even hear you tell them “do this one practice,” then what is the point of repeating yourself over and over? It will do no good. Adyashanti spends 90% of his time helping people get to the point where they will do the one thing that will work. And Adyashanti has said many, many times: the hardest thing for a human being to do is one simple thing.

Several years ago, I did this practice every day for about 9 months, and then I experienced awakening. I can’t say that the practice CAUSED awakening, but I suspect it made me “more accident prone” as Ken Wilbur says (“Awakening is an accident. But we can make ourselves more accident prone” – Ken Wilbur). Doing this one practice has a curious effect on me, almost as if it is dissolving me from the inside out. And in fact, it is.

But you want to know what is REALLY humorous to me about this one simple practice? I resist doing it! It really is hard for a human being to do one simple thing. I have never, repeat never, done a practice (you can’t even call it a practice, really) that has such a “Swiss Army knife” practicality to it. In fact, it does it all. I’ve taken almost every single life issue one can have into “putting attention on awareness” and watched the issue literally dissolve. Amazing, really.

The reason for this all-purpose-ness is simple. When you do this one simple thing, you are in effect disconnecting from the entire mental-emotional system. You don’t have to find the particular thought, feeling, belief, memory, trauma, experience etc, that is causing you problems. You don’t have to weed through feeling after feeling, belief after belief. You are, in effect, choosing to chuck the whole lot, even for a brief moment. And that creates an opening for the divine to enter. All it takes is a very tiny opening, too, for the Universe to do it’s thing!

Okay, that’s a pretty good sales pitch. Now the obvious question: how do you do the practice? Well, you just do exactly what it says: put your attention on awareness. That’s really it. You absolutely cannot do it wrong. But if you want to read something that will give you a good idea of how it works, I suggest you read the following:

• The Awareness Watching Awareness Practice Instructions
• Further Clarification of the Awareness Watching Awareness Method Practice Instructions
• How I Discovered the Awareness Watching Awareness Method

The author of the above, Michael Langford, does a nice job of presenting the practice.

You also can have a look at John Sherman’s eBook, “Look at Yourself”.

I find John a bit like a broken record, but what he does is very valuable. In fact, John is a nice contrast to Adyashanti. John has one teaching: put attention on your Self (awareness). Although his teaching is a bit monotonous, he is a very interesting guy and a good teacher.

This one practice is quite likely all one really needs. That said, never take my word for it. Try it out, and if you feel inclined, do it for a few weeks. If not, then do something else. By all means, follow your inner guru. But once you try Self-Enquiry, you will probably find yourself drawn to it time after time. Then someday you just might recognize that you are being dissolved from the inside out, and even better, you just might realize that there is no you to be dissolved.

And there really is no greater source of amusement to me than, well, ME! Tom Stine is a walking comedy act, and he can do the silliest things. One thing he has always done, from the earliest memories I have, is get his cart before his horse. No matter how much experience he has with how life operates, he still manages to be surprised that things always take longer than expected. Have we all not experienced this inescapable fact? Things just take a while, and it would seem “prudent” to simply allow things to unfold as they unfold. But Tom is always a bit ahead of himself, and so things unfold a little later than he plans them. No harm done, and often good for a nice laugh and a bit of wisdom gained.

All of which is a very long winded way of explaining that, unfortunately, one of the air conditioners in my office, which serves as my “broadcast studio,” is out of whack, and so the office is a bit on the hot side. Compound the malfunctioning equipment with a mid-July heat wave of 101°F (or 38°C for those of you in the civilized world), and we can upgrade “a bit on the hot side” to “sweltering.” Thus, it is going to be impossible for me to have everything ready, willing and able to do satsang this coming Sunday, July 17.

So, our first satsang together in 2011 is now scheduled for July 24 at 2:00pm CDT (click this link for the time in your locale). I look forward to seeing you then. Just point your browser to live.tomstine.com on the appointed day and time and join me as we explore the nature of reality together.

Her question was: “Do you know what he is talking about?”

Have we not all stumbled upon a teaching or two that left us scratching our heads? At times, we can even sense a real vitality, a real aliveness in the teacher or teaching that gives us a sense we might be served by paying attention. But try as we might, we just can’t figure out what the hell the teacher is talking about.

So, with that in mind, I visited this other teacher’s website, curious what had my friend so stumped. I must confess, I didn’t last 2 minutes, as the first article I started reading was dense, wordy, convoluted and long. Very long. And for me, too long.

Let’s start with the obvious. As I told my friend, there are many great teachers out there. If a teaching really resonates with you, if the teaching grabs you and you connect with it, then by all means, dive in. But if the teacher or teaching leaves you at a loss, or does nothing for you, then move on as there are plenty of others to choose from. On the surface, it really is that simple.

That said, however, while I’m not in the business of knocking other teachers and teachings, I think I can safely say, from my experience, that teachings such as the one I looked at are, to some extent, less helpful than others. Why? Because the very complexity of the teaching, the very depth and sophistication of what is presented is, for most people, a definite hinderance to awakening.

Teachings that are complex and “deep”, while appealing to the mind, while having a semblance of depth that must be valuable for one who wants to get to the bottom of things, are more often than not just food for the mind. They have lots to offer a hungry mind, but in the end, they really aren’t useful to what is actually waking up in awakening.

A good teaching, as I have experienced in my own journey, is a teaching that cuts to the heart of the matter and stays there. Quite often, it is a teaching that is simple, direct, and, in hindsight, ridiculously obvious. A good teaching is one that speaks to that which you truly are, that which will in fact awaken when awakening occurs. Not the mind, but the very truth of your being. That’s what awakens, and that is what is being spoken to in a good teaching.

That is not to say that a good teacher won’t use lots of words to convey a simple teaching. Ramana Maharshi said many, many things to a wide variety of people. There are books and books filled with transcripts of his dialogues. While it would seem to a casual observer than Ramana had a wide ranging, deep, teaching, it doesn’t take much time spent with his words to realize his teaching was incredibly simple:

“Find out what you are.”

That’s it in a nutshell. That’s Ramana’s teaching. “Find out who you are.” Over and over, like a broken record, Ramana would point people back to this one simple teaching. And other teachers that we revere, the ones who really seem to have lit the world on fire, had a teaching that is the utmost of simplicity.

Nisargadatta Maharaj’s guru told him, “You are the Supreme Reality. Now go find that out for yourself.” Wham! That’s it, that’s what Nisargadatta had to work with. Beautiful, simple, sublime. And Nisargadatta’s teaching reflects that simplicity.

A good teacher will often say much more than Nisargadatta’s teacher. Just as I’m writing several hundred words to answer this one question, a good teacher will address a questioner in whatever way is needed. Ramana would talk about mantras, meditation and various spiritual practices with his followers. He met each one where they were. But in the end, back would come Ramana: “And can you find the one who has that problem? Who is it that wants to know the answer? Who is asking this question? Who are you?”

If you run across a complex teaching that resonates for you, that’s fine. You may have something very valuable to learn from it. I studied A Course in Miracles for a number of years, and most would agree that The Course can be quite complicated (or at least convoluted). Yet, The Course was a necessary part of my journey. I used to be quite the intellectual snob, so I guess I simply needed something that would appeal to that facet of my persona. But in the end, I found I had to jettison the complexity in favor of incredible simplicity, and thus The Course left my journey.

And in case someone might read the above and assume that I’m just some ignorant hillbilly from Missouri who needs lots of one syllable words, please understand that, if truth be told, I have one of those minds that most people would love to have. It got me through an Ivy League college with high honors back in the day, and being “the smart guy” has always been my defining characteristic. But it has done me virtually no good when it comes to waking up. It comes in handy at times, to be sure, for many worldly things, but in the spiritual realm, I am quite certain it’s power and sophistication has been a hindrance all along the way. So while I have the capacity to understand any teaching intellectually, there really is no value in doing so. I’m hoping you will see that an intellectual understanding is not an advantage in the spiritual realm.

In the final analysis, the Truth is very, very simple. It cannot be expressed in words, but the closest we can get are with statements like “It’s all one” or “Thou art God.” These simple statements, inquired into by a spiritual seeker, can have tremendous value, much in the same way as Zen koans. A simple phrase that drives one beyond the mental workings and into Silence.

Feeding the mind is not going to get you very far in the end, so why not quit feeding it? You will eventually, either in this lifetime or another. But at some point, the mind becomes less and less of a concern for you, and the simple light of Truth becomes all that is known.

The time away from teaching was very good. I traveled some, I sat a lot, I read some good books, I spent lots of time hanging out with my son. It was restful and, I must say, delightful.

However, to say more than the above would be to say too much. It would imply there was a reason for taking a sabattical, and it is never fun to get caught in the mental loop of trying to assign reasons to things and events. To be perfectly honest, I have no idea what the purpose was. I can look back now and say, “Ah, yes, that was good for me.” But with (almost?) everything in life, can we not look back and say, from a certain perspective, “Ah, yes, that was good for me.” Even when the events were brutally difficult, can we not always say these words?

So, I prefer not to ruin a perfectly good sabbatical by inventing stories about it. Let’s move forward, shall we? Let’s get on with our journey together.

I will begin publishing new Shortcuts on the Spiritual Journey, so for those of you who are up to number 46, expect to see a new one in a few days.

And then, of course, there is Satsang…

Online Satsang Begins on July 17th

The next Online Satsang will be Sunday, July 17, 2011, at 3:00 pm
CDT (20:00 GMT) (click on the time to convert to your time zone). It will follow the usual format, and so I invite you to send questions to me via email or call in during the
broadcast.

To watch the satsang, please use the following link:

live.tomstine.com

Be sure and check the online schedule for the time and date of future satsangs.

See you July 17th!