What's behind the sense of "I am"? Who's living, and who's facing
death? Who or what am I, essentially? Will some part of me continue on after
death? Is there an unchanging, eternal part of me? Am I a part of some
unchanging, eternal essence?
Occasional individuals throughout history have told of finding the answer to
those questions, and their testimonies often have a surprising consistency.
As my friend and teacher Richard Rose wrote: "Beyond the mind is a
golden find...." For individuals seeking to find the answer
for themselves, those testimonies
provide helpful clues for pursuing the search
to a successful conclusion.
For some searchers, working by themselves is the preferred method. Others
intuit that finding a few fellow seekers to work with may expedite their
progress. Still more fortunate may be those who find a living person who has
made the journey and can provide assistance from the perspective of that
realization. The Self-Discovery site is designed to offer all three modes of
help.
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Monday, Feb 6: Discussion Group
Monday, Feb 20: Discussion Group
Monday, Mar 12: Discussion Group
Monday, Mar 26: Discussion Group
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The Philosophical Self-Inquiry Group of Pittsburgh, PA is a group aimed at
implementing maximum systems of self-discovery – an approach which can be
duplicated anywhere by finding a few people to work with. See FirstKnowThyself.org for examples.
Maximum Systems page: Common denominators of maximum systems of
self-realization such as the Albigen System of Richard Rose, Advaita Vedanta, Taoism and Zen.
Conquest of Illusion: Is What We See Real? (J.J. van der Leeuw)
+ Rupert Sheldrake, Minds Beyond Brains
+ Douglas Harding on headless seeing
+ Cézanne and Neuroscience
"Now this is what they really mean in this Zen literature about no-mind. They mean the point where the head stops. And they talk occasionally about killing the Buddha, or killing the mind. But you can't kill your mind. These were terms that were either lost or had something wrong with the translation, or misinterpreted. The mind is killed for you. You can't set out to kill your own mind. The only thing you can do is set out to find the truth. But in the process of finding the truth, you have to somehow put a stop to this relative hassle that goes back and forth: 'It could be this but it also could be the opposite. Or let's look at it from two sides.' No, you have to go right down the middle. Look at it directly. Become one with it. You can't reason it out, back and forth."
~ Richard Rose, Definition of Zen talk at Kent State U, circa 1973
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