Exploring Non-Duality with Bradley Bemis
Non-Duality is nothing, yet it is everything. It is the encompassing idea of the world beyond time, form, words, people, structure, and religion. It is life itself. In reality, it cannot even be discussed using words or pictures, because once it is, it is removed from it’s essence (non-form) and is constricted to the world of form. It can only be experienced, and it is a state in which only very few on this planet have ever fully encompassed. Using words minimizes what it actually is. Is-ness is what it is. Beingness is what it is. It is the heart and center of what everything is – eternal, unmoved, unchanged and timeless. When ego has dissolved, all that is left is the pristine state of Life itself. It is the allness, fullness, everythingness, and nothingness – divinity itself.
It could be said that nothing in life is more crucial to understand and ultimately experience. Yet, paradoxially, there is nothing to experience because you are already that, experiencing itself. And while these may seem like abstract ideas, how is it is really possible to talk about the Source of Life using words? Yet, in this chat, we will try to tackle some of these ideas.
The mind thinks only in duality. Duality is what separates all of us from each other and ultimately from the Source of Life. Us vs them, good vs bad, right vs wrong, better vs worse are all dualities. Most of us live in the stories of our own experience of duality. Transcending duality is the key to our full experience of consciousness.
Bradley had what he calls an awakening and life has never been the same since. He talks about this and how it changed everything for him. I encourage you to listen with open ears. If you notice yourself judging something you hear (which is a duality), try to set your judgments free. Listen with ears and an understanding that is simply backed by Love and Peace, which is what you are. Judgments only get in the way of us from experiencing the fullness of Life.
Highly Recommended – Dr. David Hawkins – Discover of the Presence of God: Devotional Non-Duality
0:18 – Tao De Ching – Stephen Mitchell
2:12 – From being an athiest and an a**hole to awakening
3:00 – Living in the illusion of control in our lives
3:50 – Who am I behind all my masks?
4:52 – I don’t see the world as it is, I see the world as I am.
5:16 – Sri Nisargardatta Maharaj and Sri Ramana Maharshi
9:10 – Being present with Life just as it is
11:46 – We are infinite spacious loving awareness
14:01 – “Wisdom tells that I am nothing. Love tells me I am everything. And between these two my life moves.” – Maharaj
17:37 – What is Non-Duality? Its undefinable, but absolutely inclusive.
29:12 – The Buddha and being struck by two darts
30:34 – Meeting everyone where they are by getting out of the way. People aren’t falling apart, they are falling together.
34:38 – “Attachment is the root of suffering”
37:03 – Suffering as an invitation into Life and Fullness
42:21 – What is the right view? Recognizing that all right views are wrong views, and that there are no views at all.
43:24 – The Bhagavad Gita and war – no one is being killed and no one is dying.
45:30 – Detachment vs non-attachment – a subtlety
51:02 – Adam and Eve in the pristine state of Non-Duality
54:22 – The Cosmic Joke – you are the punch line and always have been.
56:40 – Perfection is always perfecting itself at all times.
1:04:27 – Relinquishing the idea of yourself as the most profound sacrifice – death to self
1:08:15 – Adyashanti Falling into Grace: Insights on the end of suffering – The erosion of self, the blossoming of Self.
1:09:12 – The darkness as the entry point into the Light. Happiness is a byproduct of Truth.
1:12:30 – Mooji – Vaster Than Sky, Greater Than Space: What You Are Before You Became. Jack Cornfield – No Time Like the Present: Finding Freedom, Love, and Joy Right Where You Are
1:14:33 – The “Why” questions of life are answered when you let go of the force behind the question.
1:17:45 – Ceasing – letting go of the one that has the questions.
1:25:22 – Alan Watts – Becoming an authentic fraud. Allowing people to have their own illusions.
1:30:53 – Letting Go – The Pathway of Surrender – Dr. David Hawkins
1:32:20 – Allowing you to fail into yourself, to exhaust yourself and surrender into Reality.
1:34:01 – Bradley’s voluntary homelessness – everyone was really teaching me.
1:40:20 – Ram Daas – Be Here Now.
1:43:45 – Consciousness Speaks: Conversations with Ramesh S. Balsekar
1:49:30 – Books can be completely different every time you read them.
1:50:35 – All Else Is Bondage – Wei Wu Wei
Would you like to connect with Bradley? Visit his website here -> Awakening Into Life