White Robed Monks of St. Benedict

2.0000 Experiential Approaches and Spiritual Paths

2.0100	Advaita-Vedanta
2.0101	The epistemology of non-dual knowledge James Sivartz The Epistemology of Non-dual Knowledge Knowledge requires a means. If reality is non-dual consciousness, then the means we have evolved for understanding ourselves and the world are inadequate means for consciousness because consciousness is subtler than perception. Therefore, an investigation involving perception will never verify the non-dual nature of consciousness. At the same time, the existence of consciousness does not need to be scientifically verified, because it is self evident. If our instruments of knowledge, the senses and the mind, are inadequate means, and we do not need to prove the existence of consciousness, in so far as we cannot seek any kind of knowledge unless we are conscious beings, how will we come to appreciate the non-dual nature of the self in so far as the self can only be consciousness, if reality is non-dual? Knowledge is nothing but the removal of ignorance. Therefore all that stands in the way of self knowledge is ignorance. Vedanta, the Science of Self Inquiry, is a time-tested proven means of self knowledge. It not only reveals the non-dual nature of consciousness, but makes the significance of this knowledge in terms of the removal of suffering obvious. Liberation, freedom from existential suffering, can only be gained by understanding the nature of the self, not through experience, mystical or otherwise, because consciousness, the nature of all living beings, is not available for objectification and perception only works with reference to objects. This talk will outline this remarkable means of knowledge, the Science of Self Inquiry, from beginning to end. It begins with a discussion of the four human motivations, considers the two basic theories of enlightenment, the qualifications necessary for enlightenment and the nature of the self. It ends with an overview of the value of the Yoga as an indirect means of self realization.
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2.0200	Buddhism
2.0300	Christianity
2.0301	The Compassion Practice: A Christian contemplative path to non-dualistic experience Frank Rogers (Spiritual Formation, Claremont School of Theology) This presentation introduces a contemplative practice, rooted in Christian mystical traditions, that nurtures a non-dualistic communion with the sacred in ways that promote both personal integration and social connectedness. It is called the Compassion Practice because it cultivates a deep experience of compassionate communion with God that fosters both a sense of compassion toward oneself and an active compassion toward the wider world. A unique feature of the Compassion Practice involves the nonjudgmental engagement of mental states (for example, bodily sensations, emotions, images, and reflections) as means toward rather than barriers from non-dualistic experience. This radically nonjudgmental posture both embodies and cultivates the unitive states mystical traditions seek. Though it can be engaged from multiple spiritual perspectives, the Compassion Practice has distinctly Christian roots. Its heritage draws on the Christian kataphatic tradition that includes the ancient Desert monastic way of 'wrestling with demons'; the symbolic sensibilities of Francis of Assisi; and affective, imaginal, world-engaged paths such as Devotia Moderna, the spirituality of Ignatius of Loyola (with its image-filled practice of lectio divina) and the spiritual traditions that flowed through German Pietism and John Wesley. The Compassion Practice thus exposes a non-dualistic current within a religious tradition notorious for its contributions to dualistic alienation and it offers a contemporary path toward unitive experience that offers both personal and social healing.
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2.0400	Consciousness and Awareness
2.0401	Towards A Unified Field Theory of Human Behavior - Global Cultural Evolution Marcus Abundis (GFTP, Graduate School of Business) This paper develops a new structural psychology, and therein proposes a specific model for the scientific study of consciousness. The presented model uses Earth's geologic history of mass-extinction & recovery (evolutionary dynamics) in determining humanity's adaptive response (conscious and non-conscious traits). It argues humanity adaptively mirrors Earth's basic evolutionary dynamics, in a "mythologizing of natural adversity" as foundation for all human knowledge - a process that continues well into the modern era. The intellectual lineage used to develop this model includes: - Evolutionary biology offers a context for this study - answering Chalmers' "hard question;" - Paleoanthropology defines the circumstance of human emergence from Gaia; -Environmental forces on n euro physio logy derive an ambiguous but instructive narrative logic (mythic sensibility); - Psychology tracks humanity's shift from animal-self to modern creative-self, using work of Hegel > Freud > Jung > Rank > Joseph Campbell > Arnold Mindell as a new structural psychology; - Fractal geometry offers a holographic design for modeling consciousness; - Memetics presents a tool for measuring conscious traits, in a variation of the Hall-Tonna values inventory; - Finally, Structured Opportunistic Thinking, a hybrid of NTL's T-group, and Pierce's Power Equity Group Theory, suggests a developmental methodology. This work presents a "general hypothesizing model" of human consciousness, in attempting a science of consciousness.
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2.0402	The Frame(s) Problem and the Physical and Emotional Basis of Human Cognition Carlos Acosta This paper focuses on the intriguing relationship between mathematics and physical phenomena, arguing that the brain uses a single framework to order, arrange, and process basic information into more complex thought and knowledge. It is proposed that multiple incremental permutations of this single format eventually give rise to all abstract thought. The main thesis overcomes the epistemological complexities of the Frame(s) Problem by asserting that the primal frame of reference — from which all conscious thought ultimately emerges — is essentially a chaotic representation of the four dimensional properties of existence plus the genetically derived causal objective, and the embodied emotional behaviours that even the lowliest cognitive organisms are born with, and which they automatically express as they struggle to exist within an ever-changing and often hostile environment. (Technoetic Arts vol. 4, no 2. (2006), pp. 151-165)
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2.0403	Non-Dual Awareness and the Resolution of Afflictive States John Astin The idea that something must be done about disturbing mind states is one of the most deeply held of human assumptions. Underlying the notion that so-called afflictive states such as fear, anxiety or jealousy must be either avoided, altered or in some other way transformed is the pervasive belief that the presence of such states is actually the cause of our suffering. But what if this were not the case? What if the sense of unhappiness and discontent we experience had nothing to do with either the presence or absence of particular mind-body states, but was instead simply rooted in the failure to recognize the basis or fundamental ground and essence phenomenal states and is ultimately inseparable from them.
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2.0404	The synthesis of the relations: a way for the nonduality Maribel Barreto(Department of Education, Fundagao Visconde de Cairu) The present research has as aim to show that the understanding of the significant and real value of relations in the day-to-day of living, mainly of the human race, the most precise way for the integration, is directly proportional to the degree of consciousness. In this way, the more conscience, greater understanding concerning the life, as a whole, from the own human being, remembering that the life cannot leave of being understood. In such a way, it is perceived that the only activity half that is surely given to the human being to understand the final activity, is to live, what is act on the relations. In this dimension of studies, we consider that no religion, philosophy or science has separately condition of explaining the whole secret of the universe, of the creation, of the life and of living; that is why imports to do the unity from the diversity. We also built this work with this purpose. Based on the reflections about the universe, the life and the human being, making them stand out that there is nothing in the universe that lives in isolation, since everything is action into the relations. Furthermore, to absorb its real value, the human being must use his faculty of consciousness that is an internal potentiality of the human being that favors him to relate in a much more balanced way faced with the temptations, pressures and/or provocations of the life, starting from the self knowledge processes, leading it from the fragmentation to the totality. As a result of the research, it is made to stand out the need of understanding the synthesis of relations starting by ourselves as a mean of brief development of the consciousness, resulting in the nonduality or in the human integration.
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2.0405	The Natural Unfolding of the Psychotherapy Process Into Non Duality: The Plane of Immanence Becoming Manifest Rudolph Bauer (Washington Center for Consciousness Studies) Non dual psychotherapy will be placed in a historical sequence of the naturalistic unfolding of the psychotherapy process into the manifestation of non duality. This naturalistic unfolding reflects the very nature of the mind / awareness continuum as well as the unfolding of the non dual nature of subjectivity and otherness as the field of non dual oneness, the plane of immancence. This didactic experiential presentation will demonstrate the unfolding of subjectivity within the mind based understanding to the radical shifting of subjectivity being the very basis and openness of the awareness field which is multidimensional in nature and infinite in horizons. This historical as well as personal progression from a mind located subjectivity, through the temporary phase of becoming aware of the mind being distinct from awareness(mindfulness),then through the more powerful posture of awareness becoming aware of awareness itself and the consequent experiential manifestation of awareness being a field. Here the therapeutic qualities of the co emergent field will be described and hopefully experienced with emphasis on the metabolistic function of the innate awareness dimension. The next and most radical phase is the leap wherein the emphasis is on becoming the field and the consequent manifestation of the three dimensions of non dual awareness. These healing steps in the naturalistic unfolding will be demonstrated experientially and the implications for the progressive practice of non dual psychotherapy made explicit. The background of this seminar will at times reference western phenomenologist such as Michel Henry and Merleau Ponty as well as Dzogchen Tibetan master's such as longechenpa and the psychoanalytic understanding of transitional space and the intermediate area of experience as brought forth by Donald Winnicott. The epistemological frame of the seminar is a mutltidimensional realism rather than the traditional idealism of non dual thinking.
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2.0406	The Neural Basis of the "I" Paul Bush (Blue Heart Planet LLC) The philosophy of nonduality implies that our sense of a unified "I", a seperate entity from the rest of the world, must be a construct and not fundamental. Even so, awareness of experience seems to be primary. This prompts the question, if "I" is a construct, who is aware of experience? Recent advances in neuroscience, specifically in the structure and functioning of the neocortex, cast some light on this question: Individual perceptions consist of a hierachkal pattern of activated neurons that culminates in a relatively small set of cells in the front of the brain. Each pattern constrains a set of possible motor responses. In some cases the perception and current context constrain the motor system sufficiently to select a unique response. This is termed an unconsious action, and will be denoted as such by the subject if their attention is brought to it. In other cases a particular motor response is selected on the basis of which resultant action predicts the highest degree of reward (feeling good) or the lowest degree of punishment (feeling bad). The selection occurs in the set of cells in the front of the brain at the top of the perceptual-motor hierarchy. There are a number of sites of these cells, such as in the prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex. The decision process consists of information iteratively circulating among these sites (thinking) until a single pattern emerges. This selection process is experienced as 'making a choice' and is termed a more or less conscious action depending on the degree of thinking involved. Thus each perception-action pattern sequence occurs with greater or lesser involvement of the frontal decision centers. Those with little to no involvement are not identified with (unconscious). Those with greater involvement are identified with (claimed as "I"), since they involve explicit emotional.
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2.0407	Can we talk together? Understanding the nature of scientific and spiritual discourse James Corrigan, (Philosophy Department, Stony Brook University, Department of Philosophy) There is a growing realization that reality is a nondual whole in which aware presence has a central role. Spirirual traditions attempt to remove our conceptual ideas about reality so that a direct experience of this living presence can be accomplished. For Science, however, conceptual reasoning has unquestioned authority. Science seeks to know 'what' this aware presence is, yet there is strong and valid suspicion in spiritual circles that such 'knowledge' only hides the truth from us. This has direct implications for all forms of discourse between us. I will be speaking about the emerging difficulties that exist in our common understanding of thought as a self-directed activity in light of the turn reward this nondual understanding of reality, as well as the problematic assumptions that underlie the way we all think about phenomenal experience, explaining how both hinder our progress. My goal is to show that there is a way forward to a common philosophical grounding for both spiritual and scientific approaches to understanding reality, as well as the very real possibility to 'turn the volume down' and just be - thought-free.
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2.0408	Authentic Movement: Embodying the roles of Mover and Witness allows for the possibility of non-dual experience. William Mccully, Rita Venturini The discipline of Authentic Movement introduced by Mary Starks Whitehouse and Janet Adler, creates the opportunity to experience non-duality at differenr levels. The form creates a basic duality, mover and witness, that offers different options to access moments of non-dualiry. The mover allows him/herself to bring inner impulse into form as movemenr or dance usually with eyes closed. The witness intends to empty him/herself of her own content to be present with the mover. From this perspective a dual aspect that can be transcended is the one of separation between oneself and others. Fully being with the mover clarifies the personal boundaries thus allowing the witness to recognize the "false" , projected or self imposed nature of the separation. This gives the witness access to the experience of being one with the mover's experience and they may have an intuition of the others inner landscape. The mover is encouraged to listen to their inner impulses and move. The consciousness of the witness allows the mover to deepen their ability to surrender to the point of just becoming a full expression of movement, without the conscious presence of being the one moving or doing. In the duality of the form, the self-expression of non-dual consciousness becomes possible. In the brief experience we are offering, we will all have the possibility to touch on some of these moments in which separation becomes unity. In this experiential, you will have the opportunity to see a group of experienced practitioners do a demonstration and then have a chance to participate yourself. Come ready to move - everyone welcome.
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2.0409	Embracing the unknown. A mother's sacred journey from grief to healing Renee Plsarz (Angel54.com) Life is a mystery with so much more then our physical eyes can see. I embraced the unknown, surrendered my ego, and started to receive spiritual healing. One cold day back in February of 2006, my life changed forever. My son Stephen 18 years old, left this physical realm and transitioned to the spiritual world. I began my transformation. Little did I know that I would have a spiritual awakening and open up all my senses. I was told that this was a Kundalini awakening, that was brought on from the trauma of the loss of my son. Every cell in my body was traumatized. I began picking up so many different frequencies that were in the universe. At times I had dreams of past lives and future events. I would receive messages through telepathy from spiritual guides, angels and loved ones. I know my son continues in another form. This helped me heal and survive the greatest loss, the loss of a child. There have been so many synchronicities, especially with my son's special number 54. I became multi dimensional, All my energy centers opened, and I continue to have mystical experiences. At the present time I know, without a doubt, that I have raised my level of consciousness and connected to Source. I am being guided by my higher self. It's the knowing, and the wisdom that opened me up to all that anyone could ever imagine. With rny eyes open, I go into an altered state of consciousness. I hear myself vibrating, see my aura, and then there is quiet. I feel and see the energy. With the palm of my hand, like a magnet I draw the energy towards me. Unconditional love does not die. Believe in miracles. Blessings, Renee Pisarz.
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2.0410	Vedic approach in solving the mystery of consciousness Chhalliyil Pradheep (Sakthifoundation) Consciousness is a mystery for modern scientists but has been one for every human being since the time man evolved. In the past few decades, interest in Consciousness amplified along with the words "Reality and illusion". The biggest challenge for us is to dismiss everything as "Illusion" when viewed through Quantum mechanics principles. But when Newtonian laws are applied everything seems to be a "Reality". Dr. Pradheep Chhalliyil, a Molecular Biologist, views the "Consciousness" through Vedantic and modern scientific perspective. This view helps to comprehend what is Reality and Illusion at the same time giving an insight into Consciousness. Dr. Challiyil uses the symbolic images from the Vedic tradition given by ancient Indian scientists, named the Rishis- who transcend to the inner faculties of the mind to solve the mystery of Consciousness using Yoga and Meditation. Indian mythology (Puranas), the language of Rishi's is a powerful tool to communicate the consciousness to common people as well as to the intellectuals. Indian mythology also helps to understand the universal truth about eternal inner quest into the mystery of our own existence. Dr. Chhalliyil, unfolds the mystery of Consciousness and also discriminate Reality from Illusion using the images from Indian mythology.
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2.0411	Return to the source Cathryn Roberts In the ancient philosophical system known as Kashmir Shaivism, a word is more than just a communication tool. In fact, Word is the very energy that produces the entire manifested universe. Phonemes are more than just sounds that make up words. They are aspects or energies of the great creative force of all, the supreme Absolute. As the supreme Creator manifests, Word manifests. As the Creator becomes conscious, the first sound /a/ arises, and creation unfolds. Word not only creates the universe, it creates humans. Word is active on the cosmic level, as well as the personal or mundane level. Because it arises from within us, we can use it to trace back to our source of being. We can use particular sounds, with specific vibrational qualities or energies to help us do that. These special sound combinations are called mantras. By repeating these mantras, we call forth the more subtle levels of being or consciousness within ourselves. This paper investigates Kashmir Shaivism further and examines its compelling aphorisms relating to Word.
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2.0412	The Taste of Eternity: Art, Creativity and Non-duality Rupert Spira "Nature is always the same but nothing in her that appears to us, lasts. Our art must render the thrill of her permanence along with her elements, the appearance of all her changes. It must give us a taste of her Eternity." - Cezanne. There is no evidence of a world outside Consciousness. Our only knowledge of the world is through intermittent sense perceptions. The substance of perception is mind and the substance of mind is Consciousness. The world borrows its reality and continuity from Consciousness. A mountain does not know that it is a mountain, old, solid, large and grey. Only the mind says so. These qualities of name and form are superimposed by mind onto the reality of the mountain, the 'thing in itself,' its Being, what Cezanne calls 'nature's Eternity.' Divested of the veil of name and form, its Being is experienced as identical with that which knows it, the Consciousness that we intimately know ourselves to be. This seamless totality of Consciousness/Being takes the shape of sensing and perceiving and as a result appears as a body and a world. Yet it never becomes anything other than itself. It is Consciousness that gives this apparent body, object, other or world, seeming existence. Consciousness veils itself from itself with its own creativity. However, Consciousness also reveals itself to itself with exactly the same creativity, and art is one of the shapes it assumes in doing so. Art starts with form, the perceived, that is, sights, textures, sounds, tastes and smells, nature's 'elements,' and reveals it to be made only of the intimacy and immediacy of perceiving. It then further reveals perceiving to be utterly permeated and saturated with Consciousness, the ever-present Reality that is its support and substance. It gives us the taste of nature's Eternity.
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2.0413	The Science of The Source: Yoga with Quantum Physics combined in a unique way by using The Hologram theory to put forward The Theory of Everything Hasmukh Taylor (BURNETT HONORS COLLEGE, University of Central Florida, Burnett Honors College, Orlando) Consciousness and Awareness: There is a good reason behind these two words Awareness (Self) and Consciousness (Soul). Clearly, they are two different kinds of processes, which feel very differently to us intro-spectively. Consciousness is something, which is metaphysically prior to that which I am aware. As a result I would like to call this Light, the Consciousness or Soul. So, in the language of religious experiences as well, there are two distinct parts to us. Behind the busy rational Self there is something else without which the Self cannot exist. The problem is that it is extremely difficult to see this essential Soul directly. "We can only sense its presence from what it illuminates, the intuitive with which one has insights. I understand to explain that which is simple can be difficult indeed. Much of the Presentation is devoted to the process of making simple obvious through the use of concepts and models designed by my self. If we can understand these two different things i.e., Consciousness and Awareness in depth, we will have greatly expanded our capacity for comprehending the nature of the Soul and the Self itself. With the quest for an organized understanding of the nature of Consciousness and Awareness through the use of models, verification of which, includes my own subjective experiences has transformed the way I envisage Absolute Reality. All avenues of research eventually converge at a common meeting point, The Source. I feel the urge to speak about this through my background of Yoga and Science in the context mentioned above because it will also form a solid foundation for my Presentation where I shall attempt this to combine Yoga with the Western Science in a unique way by using The Hologram Theory to put forward The Theory Everything explaining Non Duality completely.
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2.0414	Active Attention and The Mystery of Presence: Using Movement Meditation and Gurdjieff Bodymind Exercises to Re-enter the Mystic Field of Nonduality James Tomarelli (www.gurdjieffdance.com, www,bennettbooks.org) As a human being I can be aware of myself being aware of myself. Sustaining this, I can become aware of others and what we are doing together. I can use my attention in three directions simultaneously: inward, outward, and all around: toward myself, the "other" and the meaning and purpose of what is present. Such an amazing ability! How wonderful to have such an attention of mind! But does this ability have usefulness outside of itself? When I meet another human being I ask, who is she? Then, what does she do? Join movement meditation specialist and street-cognitive therapist James Tomarelli in a body-centered bare-attention breakout session answering the perennial questions: Where am I? What am I? Who am I? What can I do? Time and space permitting, this session will be in three parts: 1) I "sense," therefore I am: Going beyond the Cartesian paradigm we will use active attention and movement meditation to lock-in the bodymind actions of "sensing," "feeling," and "seeing" — to become more "present" within ourselves. 2) Letting go and opening up: By intentionally invoking gravity, breath and the organic sensation of life inside an expanded present moment of active attention and somatic experiencing, we will re-member and re-experience preverbal natural states of relaxation, posture, breath, and life — while integrating and deepening the bodymind actions of sensing, feeling, and seeing. 3) Empirical mysticism and a science of collective being: Deepening our practice of attention in a mutually created field of collective presence, we will experience the embodiment-transcendence paradox by using a ritual movement (with live, consciously composed, piano music, if conditions allow) to deepen the mystic field without dissolving our individual embodied presence.
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2.0500	Devotional approaches
2.0501	Beat and off-beat, tuned and de-tuned: Complex oneness through Kundalini- Tantra devotional Dvaita-Advaita Kirtan Stuart Sovatsky (East West Psychology, California Inst. Integral Studies) As in modern improvizational jazz, pre-classical Indian group chanting (anahata-nad kirtan, "spontaneously guided gtoup chanting") gives pre-eminence to emotional flux over "classicalized" melodic and rhythmic forms in the pursuit of nondual or, more precisely, "dual-nondual" (dvaita-advaita) states of consciousness or "merger with dieties." In the tantric glandular transformations (urdhva-retas) known as rasayana (hormonal vibrational alchemy), these highly variable shifts of tempo, mood, tune or mantras during group chanting are held by the pre-classical traditions as most effective in provoking the pineal secretion of the endogenous psychedelic known as amrita (hormone of immortality) perhaps akin to endorphins and melatonin. Two-thirds group experiential practice of anahata-nad kirtan and one-third didactic group discussion.
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2.0600	Doership/Nondoership
2.0700	Emptiness Teachings
2.0701	Beyond the beyond: the question of suffering in nondual therapies Peter Fenner It is easy and quite common to interpret nondual awareness as a state that lies beyond suffering: as a space in which suffering no longer arises and simply cannot occur. This is so. But it is only half the story. The Heart Sutra says that in the field of nondual wisdom, there is no suffering and no absence of suffering. If nonduality can arise only where there's no suffering, nondualism is a conditioned state. In nondual awareness we can't say that anything is missing, including suffering itself. We can't say what it is that isn't happening! It's important to fully integrate the radical non-conditionality of nondual awareness. If we believe that in nondual awareness there's no suffering, we create a destination, when in fact there is nowhere to go. We have the strange situation where suffering is thought to threaten something that doesn't exist, as such. On the other hand, if therapists and teachers believe that suffering can still arise within nondual awarnesss, we betray the fully liberating capacity of nondual awareness. We short-change clients by limiting them to conditioned forms of freedom or fulfillment. In contrast, nondual therapies dance within and beyond the belief that in the ultimate state there is no suffering, or even freedom from suffering. They point to "just this," as it is here right now, in a way that undercuts notions and experiences of lack and fulfillment, attachment and aversion, entrapment and freedom, and pain and pleasure. This presentation is dialogkai in nature. Together we will presence and clarify how non-dual awareness is a totally paradoxical space wherein there is no suffering, and equally, no absence of suffering.
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2.0702	Integration of non-duality and non-locality John Powell (EducationalHeuristics) The question arises: is the Hindu-Buddhist notion of nonduality (advaita) congruent with the concept of non-locality in physics, or are they inhabiting two different worlds, the philosophical and the empirical? Non-locality has been established by repeatable experiment, where the data are accessible by the entire scientific community. This author maintains that the evidence for non-tocal phenomena is a validation of a nondual universe. The evidence lifts the notion of nonduality out of the nebulous domain of speculation and places it in the everyday discourse of the emerging paradigm of physics.
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2.0800	Enlightenment/Liberation/Realization
2.0801	Sweet silence, listening, spiritually: Towards a worldview Alva Barnett (x) This presentation will explain the concept of nonduality as reality. A brief review of selected personalities will be highlighted; their views of life, experiences of living will be discussed. There will be an exploration of their spirituality (spiritual knowledge) with an emphasis on the processes of expansiveness and creative growth and development. A sense of seeing, hearing and knowing themselves and the world about them has taken place generating experiences of inner contentment, harmony and balance. Understanding and wisdom abounds. One of the questions to be explored and discussed is: What is the impact, the significance of these processes on spirituality and the potential for health and well-being?
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2.0802	Realization Process: Nonduality, Embodiment and Psychological Healing Judith Blackstone Luminous, all-pervasive spaciousness is the description of nondual awareness found in Asian wisdom teachings, such as Advaita Vedanta, Kashmir Shaivism, Mahamudra and Dzog-chen. This workshop teaches a method called Realization Process, for directly experiencing one's own being as this subtle dimension of consciousness, and for maintaining nondual realization in relationships with other people. In Realization Process, the radical openness of nondual realization is based on deep contact with the internal space of one's body and access to the "wisdom channel" in the subtle core of the body. We therefore uncover a qualitative, authentic experience of ourselves as individuals at the same time as we transcend our individuality. When two people attune to nondual awareness together, they experience mutual transparency: a single expanse of awareness pervading them both as a unity. Most approaches to nonduality focus on breaking through fixed conceptual patterns. However, the fixations that obscure nonduality are not just conceptual. There are also rigid holding patterns throughout one's body, limiting our capacity for emotional responsiveness and physical sensation. The subtle core of the body is disentangled from these rigidities. When we access it, we can let go of our fixed patterns of self and other, so that they actually dissolve. Then we are open to the present moment, effortlessly, throughout our whole body. The workshop will also explore the relationship between psychological healing and nondual realization. It will show how nondual realization enhances the therapeutic relationship, by cultivating empathy, subtle perception and authenticity, and how it helps heal specific psychological conditions, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, dissociation, boundary and attachments issues, deptession and anxiety. Two pilot studies at New York University Medical School showed that Realization Process reduces symptoms of post-traumatic stress and enhances positive mood.
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2.0803	Waking up from the dream of separation Jeff Foster Using simple language and drawing on both personal experience and age-old wisdom, Jeff Foster shares with us the possibility of waking up from the dream of subject-object separation. The possibility of absolute freedom, right here in the midst of this 'ordinary life'. The possibility that all the confusion and seeking of the mind can come to an absolute end, revealing the wonder of 'what is' - the origin of all religion and all science. Jeff is not talking about a special state of'enlightenment' reserved for the lucky few. He goes to great lengths to remind us that his message is totally simple: a description of what is already happening, right here and right now. That awareness is not separate from the contents of awareness. That the seeker is not separate from what is sought. That nothing is separate from anything else, as the spiritual masters and quantum physicists have discovered. Jeff graduated in Asttophysics from Cambridge University in 2001. Several years after graduation, following a period of severe depression and illness, he became addicted to the idea of'spiritual enlightenment', and embarked on an intensive spiritual search which lasted for several years. The spiritual search came to an absolute end with the clear seeing that there is only ever Unity. In the clarity of this seeing, life became what it always was: spontaneous, clear, joyful and fully alive, and Jeff began to write and talk about his experiences. In his meetings, Jeff clearly and directly points to the frustrations surrounding the spiritual search, to the nature of mind, and to the Clatity at the heart of everything. His uncompromising approach, full of humor and compassion, shatters the mind's hopes for a future awakening, revealing the awakening that is always already present, right in the midst of life.
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2.0900	Islam
2.1000	Judaism
2.101	Torah non-duality Henoch Dov Howard Hoffman (Shalora Al Yisrael) In Torah thought monotheism is a high goal that few attain. The human mind is naturally dichotomous. In linear thought the mind choose either A or B, black or white , good or evil. This enables me to be right and others to be wrong. However, it means that I must suppress my own darkness in my subconscious mind- It is then inevitable that I will project my darkness on another. Scapegoating is a key Totah word that describes this process that is an inevitable result of the divided mind. This attitude is manifest as arrogant insecurity resulting from a nagging sense of defectiveness emanating from the darkness trapped in my subconscious mind. The linear thinking results in an overdevelopment of daat, the linear rational part of the brain. When the person hears or reads the stories of others, It's always a morality tale of righteous heroes and defective villains. The undivided mind is counter instinctual. It takes hard work and is often uncomfortable. Paradox is the only truth. There is no word in Torah for God. Since that is a name that seeks to pinpoint the ultimate mystery at one point. Maimonides said that anyone who pinpoints where the ultimate mystery is - is worshipping Idols. In Torah we speak of Torah dialectics or dialogics. We build a geodisic dome of thought made up of dialectical triangles. Each triangle has a thesis, antithesis and synthesis. There must first be a conversation between the thesis and antithesis with each one establishing its differentiated identity. The ultimate reality is always found in the tension between the thesis and antithesis but can never be pinned down precisely. The synthesis does not absorb or destroy the thesis or antithesis. They both retain their special identity.
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2.1100	Kabbala
2.1200	Meditation
2.1201	A survey of subjective experiences during Tantric yoga meditation Richard Maxwell Most physiological research on meditation emphasizes the influence of brain-based mechanisms. Increasing evidence indicates that peripheral systems interact with the brain and may at times determine brain responses. Many religious/spiritual traditions recognize states in which individuals experience profound alterations of normal subjective experience. These experiences have been associated by some with a force or energy that has been called kundalini in yoga literature and the Holy Spirit in Christian literature. An extensive survey of sensory, motor, emotional and behavioral experiences occurring during meditation was completed by 84 individuals practicing a tantric yoga concentrative form of meditation (Ananda Marga). The characteristics of reported experiences varied greatly across individuals, but some types of experiences occurred more frequently within the group than others. Literature describing similar experiences in Christian Pentecostal/charismatic practices reports similar frequencies of occurrence of many experiences. This research supports the conclusion that, despite the multiplicity of forms of religious/spiritual observance, there is a common human experience that may include discharge of energy through a varied combination of systems. This process culminates in a profound subjective experience of non-duality, or universal oneness.
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2.1202	Bridging Worlds: A collaborative between a university scholar and a teacher of sacred dance, with methodological issues and results of a phenomenological study Betty Rambur, James Tomarelli (Nursing and Health Sciences, University of Vermont) Inquiry and experimental observation are common practices within both contemporary Western science and ancient meditative traditions. The language, manner, and context in which "experiments" occur, however, varies dramatically among these different ways of knowing, creating perceived dualisms. Narrative overlap between spiritual and scientific vocabularies can be difficult to identify and shared understanding is thus impeded. This paper describes a bridging collaborative between a teacher of movement meditation and a university scholar. The qualitative method of phenomenology was selected to explore, describe, and understand the lived experience of movement meditation participants at a ten-day residential intensive exploring Gurdjieff Dance and Inner Exercises. Findings illustrate paradoxical, non-dual themes. These include existential calm juxtaposed with heightened sensation including physical and visual acuity; time elongation yet a sense of immediacy and intensity; and notable bodily vigilance coupled with simultaneous relaxation. In addition to full results, methodological issues are detailed. These include strategies related to challenges antecedent to data collection such as funding, development of the research team, Institutional Review Board approval and recruitment of study subjects, and post-data analysis issues such as dissemination of findings in scientific journals. Strengths and challenges of the phenomenological method for investigation into spiritual practice, meditative traditions, and non-dual states are described.
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2.1300	Miscellaneous
2.1400	Mysticism (Eastern)
2.1401	One Seamless Cosmic Web of the Unity of the One Doer of All Doings in Non-Doing Where Nothing Ever Happens Ayshegul Ashki (Tustin, California, Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Order) ALLAH: 'Wheresoever you turn, there is the face of Allah, The One.' Holy Quran MUHAMMAD: 'The greatest teaching of Islam and of all religions is 'La ilaha Illallah', There is nothing apart from The One.' Hadis Qudsi IBN AL-ARABI: "There is no place which is not encompassed by the One.' Journey RUMI: 'Both the ones who assert the transcendence of God, and the ones who assert God's immanence are bewildered by You, O You, who, being without external appearance, are appearing in so many forms.' Masnawi According to Islamic Sufi Wisdom, there is only The One. Emanating from the One,, all manifold aspects of the entire creation blossom forth majestically as One Seamless Cosmic Web of Unity of the One. The One is everywhere, transparently. The One is all-time, timelessly. The One is every person, impersonally. The One is all-colors, colorlessly. The One is all forms, formlessly. The One is all sounds, silently. The One is object-less, and even subject-less, yet appears as object and subject simultaneously. The One is One all-encompassing Unicity of Being, appearing as Many-in-One-Cosmic-Dance. The One gazes at the One, within the One, through the One, as the One, with Its own timeless eyes. Essentially, The One is form-less and attribute-less, sheer Transcendental Transparency,in this way totally Un-manifest, yet completely inseparable from any part of the manifold aspects of the entire manifestation on all possible dimensions. RUMI: Tve been knocking on a door. It opens. I was knocking from inside.' The-Playful-One-at-PI ay. The One veils Itself from Itself. Then inspires Itself to search for the door to Itself, finally finds Itself, realizing that there has never been any separation,nor union, neither a door, nor going, nor coming! One Doer of all doings in Non-Doing, where nothing ever happens! There is only The One.
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2.1500	Mysticism (Western)
2.1600	Neo-Advaita
2.1700	Nondual Inquiry
2.1701	Spontaneous evolution: Our non-dualistic future Steve Bhaerman (Wake Up Laughing) In a world beset by crisis, we find two inadequate belief systems - religious fundamentalism and scientific materialism - keeping us stuck in positionality and polarity. Fortunately, the latest discoveries in evolutionary biology, fractal mathematics and quantum physics are pointing us towards a new paradigm of integrated wholeness. Join Spontaneous Evolution co-author Steve Bhaerman in a hopeful and enlightening discussion on our non-dualistic future and signs it is already here. (Presentation will also include a "remote field report" by Steve's co-author Bruce Lipton.) Intention of Presentation: To answer three questions — What's so? What does "new edge science" tell us about the true nature of life and human nature? So what? What are the implications of this world-changing knowledge? Now what? Now that we understand the new information and its implications, what do we do? How do we bring this new foundation for reality into our individual and family life, our communities, our country and the world? Topics covered: —What evolutionary biology is telling us about humanity's holistic future. — The four "unshakeable pillars" of scientific materialism — and how science has proved them untrue! * Our institutions are failing ... because they have to. — What our cells have to teach us about health, happiness and success.— Transforming "dueling dualities" into a "dynamic duo." " How we can create a love based "Heartland Security" in place of the fear based "Homeland Security." Steve Bhaerman is a writer and spiritual and political "uncommontator," who has performed cosmic comedy for the past 22 years as Swami Beyondananda. In collaboration with cellular biologist Bruce Lipton, Steve is the author of Spontaneous Evolution: Our Positive Future and a Way to Get There From Here (Hay House: September, 2009).
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2.1702	Body/Minding Hie Gap - A nondual, nonHumean solution involving the proprioceptive sense appplied to the Copernican and parallax problems of how a self-moving sentient body active in a causally inter Bruce Carruthers The proprioceptive sense provides a stable "here and now" to allow a moving sentient body to orient its own actions and movements in the world. From where does this viewpoint arise? The crucial importance of proprioceptive function is confirmed by the devastating clinical effects of its loss. However the concept remains confused since the usual dualistic conceptions of body/mind generate an image, where subject and object are clearly separated. A nondual situation where "subject" and "object" are not fixed in separation, but can revers-ibly take the same stable allo-egocentric coordinate position, thus establishes a dynamical identity that crosses the gap. This allows flexible,(irreversible, corrigible deictic relations to develop. The body interior, when sensed directly with prop deception, is empty of objects but full of nonbounded, informed, articulated (inter) actions or force dynamics. Is this a misperception that is providing us with a clear, accurate and continuous sense of "here and now" within a world of endless body and causal interactions, moving in many directions, whose "objects" are regions of homeostatically stable gaps within an environment of ceaseless change? Can this provide accurate steering in the world for the mobile sentient body that you are, while body/minding these gaps? The proprioceptive sense, which gives us a continually updated "here and now" thereby also gives us entry into the nondual world of Emptiness, the field of "pratitya samutpada" or dependant coorigination, as first described by Sakyamuni. What is it that grounds and centers our proprioception?- why another level of sunyata, etc. ad infinitum, and nondual all the way up/down. Our project in life is to keep our proprioceptive "here and now" centered to align us bodily in the material world while connecting and grounding fields of nondual sentient existence that we may choose/be chosen to explore.
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2.1703	Seeing and Being Seen Through Love's Single Eye Dorothy Hunt (Moon Mountain Sangha, Inc.) Profound healing occurs when we are seen to be whole rather than deficient, loved and lovable for what we are rather than for what we should become. Only our true nature sees and loves from such wholeness and depth. From the eye that is undivided, seeing is identical with being seen. The whole world is a mirror of our Self —single in essence, yet ever-changing and unique in form. True seeing is impersonal yet completely intimate; it is seeing with the whole body and mind. It has nothing to do with labeling, comparing, accepting or rejecting; it is a direct encounter from the Seeing that simply does not divide itself in two. Such seeing is a movement of love that separates itself from nothing or no one. What do we see when we see our self, the world, a client? Pathology or innocent misunderstandings? Problems or an invitation to love what has been unloved? Limitations or an opportunity for liberation? How do we meet suffering, division, the longing to be loved, the fear of being seen? Ultimately, only our own Seeing will heal separation, but how we are seen by an apparent "other" can be an invitation to greater wholeness or greater division. Psychotherapeutic interaction arising from nondual Seeing is a spontaneous, creative movement that continually invites a deeper touching and loving of what is on the part of both therapist and client. Though the "two" are essentially one, these unique expressions are honored as each informs and expands the apparent other. When Love sees itself, the Seeing is the healing. In such openness, whatever needs to be seen appears. Through experiential inquiry, silence and dialogue, this presentation will invite participants to explore the differences between looking though the mind of interpretive thought and seeing through Love's single eye.
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2.1704	A Grounded Theory Investigation of Awakening/Realization in Direct Approaches Arvin Paul The intention of this study was to explore the process of awakening or realization in individuals that occurred by direct means, especially as it appears in the current day. Using a grounded theory methodology, the study analyzed 20 archival interviews. Next, 9 in-person interviews were conducted and analyzed for greater scope and depth. Finally, to perform the function of constant comparison, the elemental codes that constituted the tentative grounded theory were put in the form of 535 questionnaire items and administered to 40 participants. The end result of data gathering and analysis is a provisional grounded theory of awakening/ realization by direct means providing a view on perspective, process, and fruition. At the heart of the grounded theory were discovered core principles, perspectives, and attitudes, contained in a subcategory called Orientation, and subsumed under the headings of (a) Truth and Authenticity, (bj Guidance and True Conscience, (c) Noninterference, (d) Openness, (e) True Peace and Fulfillment, and (e) Direct Approach and the View. Results are provided, as well as implications for the field of psychology, nondual wisdom, and further research.
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2.1800	Pure Land Buddhism
2.1900	Satsang
2.2000	Shamanism
2.2001	Scientific shamanism is a multi-discipline approach to look at non-duality reality through the lens of Western scientific methodology instead of the unquestioning, though often effective, indigenous SamuelBreidenbach (Tucson Scientific Shamanism Center) There are many examples we use for this paper, but only a few are used in this abstract as examples. Arnold Mindell , the psychiatrist and physicist in his book "Quantum Mind: The Edge Between Physics and Psychology," shows the relationship between the mathematics of quantum mechanics and the nonordinary and ordinary realities of the shaman. He does this by using complex numbers called imaginary numbers (such as -1) for "Non Ordinary Reality" (NOR) and real numbers to represent "Ordinary Reality" (OR). "We have seen that the patterns found in the psychology of perception in shamanic experience are consistent with patterns found in math and now in physics. This consistency points to the unified field, the dreamlike substance of experience, which is basic to life, to psychology and physics, to electrons and their observers, to all of us as we live and grow." There appears to be a strong correlation Between Near Death Experiences (NDE's) and shamanism also. Writes Raymond Moody in his book Eife After Life, "the near-death experience is an established fact in our culture." And with over 10,000 cases documented and studied the claim he has made of the "status as the most thoroughly researched spiritual, mystical, transpersonal experience ever by modern Western scientists. "I see science and mysticism as two complementary manifestations of the human mind; of its rational and intuitive faculties." (Fritjof Capra "Tao of Physics.") " Furthermore, all societies are obliged to divide up the spectrum of consciousness into (probably) named sections, even as they divide up the colour spectrum in one way or another. Human communities are not viable without some (possibly contested) consensus on which states will be valued and which will be ignored or denigrated. Bluntly put, madness is culturally defined." ( Lewis-Williams)
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2.2002	The Vine of the Dead: Shape Shifting the Western Psyche Stephen Trichter Vegetalismo, the indigenous shamanic tradition of the Amazon Basin, uses the visionary brew, ayahuasca, as a diagnostic tool towards healing the patient's interwoven mind, body, and spirit. Specifically, it uses a combination of plants and chanting to invoke the spirits to assist with purging out the energetic, psychic, physical, and emotional blockages in the patient. Ayahausca has found increasing popularity among Western spiritual seekers due to its reputation of creating mystical, non-dual states of consciousness. However, this popularity and subsequent usage by Westerners brings its own challenges to adopting non-dual thought. The integration of centuries-old shamanic practices into the context of the postmodern world requires a careful balance between traditional shamanic and Western ways of thought. The balance lies between the ability to recognize and absorb the perennial mystical wisdom unleashed by the brew, and its responsible and safe incorporation into Western cultural psyche. This presentation will look into original research on the spiritual and mystical affects of the brew on Western subjects and examine the benefits and risks of practicing this indigenous non-dual tradition.
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2.2.2100	Spiritual Healing
2.2.2200	Sufism
2.2201	Discovering the infinite reality within the heart of the finite world NahidAngha To understand the entirety of our world and the governing laws within the existing universe, scientific inquiry requires analyzing, dissecting, and itemizing the object of inquiry. Science may go further to the point where the element can no longer be divided through laboratory tools. Yet, within the core of that indivisible element remains a hidden mystery, the essence that declares: I exist. The beautiful world of nature with its dimensions, harmonious melodies, and colorful reflections tells us that there is finality to all that is created. And religion, my focus is Islam, tells us that there is nothing except a divine unity, there is the divine infinite essence within all that exists. Therefore within the realm of nature's dictations and the spiritual hope, we have to find a common ground where these two realities: the world of finite and the realm infinite, meet. In the language of Islamic Sufism, the law that brings all creation together is attraction, and the principle that attunes the attractive powers between all that exists is harmony. Since the principle of harmony permeates all that exists, then, possibly the key to the realm of infinite is to understand the heart of the indivisible finite world, to understand that connecting point where the finite world and the infinite realm meet. In Islamic Sufism this point of connection is called: the heart. But what is that heart, the heart that connects the finite world to the infinite reality, and how can one reach that heart, has been the core of the teachings and practices of the Muslim Sufis for the last fourteen centuries.
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2.2300	Theravada
2.2400	Tibetan Buddhism
2.2500	Vajrayana/Tantra
2.2600	Vipassana/lnsight Meditation
2.2700	Zen
2.2701	PokerZen is as much a ceremony as any ZEN ritual, it is a carefully choreographed give-and take of power, rhythm, parry,thrust,withdrawal, and retreat. Mastery and virtuosity appear.. Dongzhe Sun (Pokerzen) Part of my ambition was to create a philosophical organization or a platform for philosophical thinking. A remarkable revival of interest in mysticism , witchcraft, mythology combined with some kind of ceremony , one observation coming from dealing with gamblers in the casino in the earlier days, being a dealer placed me in a position to observe how other people react on uncertainty performing a risky action, I also began to learn at that time the structure of casino organization has certain appeals to me however the atmosphere was intensely charged. Then, a thought that comes to mind is : is that possible for uncertainty and comfort to coexist ? The anchor of Pokerzen is an attempt to bring a presence into a game with rituals where people can see things the way they really are: to not only master the game but to master themselves, and develop awareness and insight through direct experience. The greatest mystic of them all, Gautama Buddha, knew that there were many methods of achieving enlightenment. Why not the game of poker? poker has all the attributes of a great meditation technique. It is a mind game of the first order. It calls for a knowledge of math, psychology strategy, tactics, and self-discipline. Meanwhile, Practice mindfulness (zen lifestyle) through some kind of tools that are more approachable, in this case the poker game itself, as Suzuki Roshi first came to US has said" our inmost natures is the same, there Is no Japanese feeling or Amercian feelings, if we drop off various superficial ways of understanding things it is the same," the west and east, the poker and zen. on the other side,based on the zen concept of beginner's mind, a state of openness that lead to artistic exploration, the pieces predate the more modern concept of "ambient".
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