While I was drafting the post “Who Do’s“, an email arrived from Burt Harding. Burt is a local fellow from the Ramana lineage who used to do satsangs but now focuses on one on one and video presentations on Youtube.
His latest is How to KNOW who you are!.
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=UUEyLf9lNKM
Burt said a few things that are interesting:
He talked about why you can’t experience being.
He differentiated between Present and Now. He said that Now was the container of the present and the present arises from the memory of the past. In other words, the present is the field of action.
He said that love is the changeless moment in which there is no memory.
We have the freedom, born of love, to choose misery or happiness.
The clip is about 10 minutes.
Last Updated on January 30, 2014 by
Hey Davidya, could you clarify something he’s saying?
Whether I agree or disagree with Burt depends on what he means by the “you” who tries to experience being.
Self-realization is literally the Self experiencing the Self. It is true that the self can not experience the Self, and if this is what Burt is saying, then he’s right on.
It says he’s from the Ramana Lineage. If so, he’s familiar with the awareness watching awareness that results from Ramana’s self-inquiry. It is only the Self (awareness) which can be aware of awareness. It is by doing this that we are aware of being.
It is by going beyond the mind that we can experience the Unmanifest, what he calls being.
The Unmanifest and the Manifest really are the One. Yes there’s a separation in a sense, but ultimately it is all the One. There is either awareness of being or lack of awareness of it. It strikes me as odd to hear that he’s saying you can’t experience being.
Burt comes from a different place than I and uses the terminology a little differently. I’ve read a little of his material but have never seen him speak. We corresponded briefly once and he came by this blog.
Yes, I think Burt is clear about “experiencing” the Self. Words get to be a tricky thing around pronouns. In the evolution of awareness, the I arises in babies, dies in awakening and rises again as cosmic for example. Yet there is always a person, whatever the state. The difference is in perspective. Who we seem to be.
You may consider a little different track. Rather than considering what he is saying with the mind and judging if you agree or disagree, try listening to a teacher with silence. It doesn’t matter if you agree or not, mind has nothing to do with being and will not add anything to becoming. But listening with the silence, the observer will connect you Self to Self. Certainly, the mind may come up, but just favour the silence/peace and listen.
This may seem pointless, but I know people who have awoken, just listening to someone awake talk, Self to Self.